Bird's Beginning

It's the second week of quarantine for us, so to keep me from spinning my wheels too badly I decided to embark on a fun 3D project :)

This is a more involved project, as I will be doing a fair bit of experimentation! But I am happy to employ my 3D modeling skills to creating a cute little bird for a video game :) The goal is to create it in parts, keep it low-poly for minimal lag, and to script some simple movements to him. Bonus if I can eventually make him chirp too!

Below are a couple screenshots of my work in progress! You can also see them on my Instagram>>

The screenshot above was taken just after I unwrapped, and had a mess of UVs to size and organize :) Below, You can better see my model in different views, and my final arrangement for my UV map, as it is currently :) As I do a test paint soon, I will see if it needs any editing- hopefully not! :D



 I forgot to take screenshots as I was modeling, but you can see the wireframe in these anyway. I will be painting him up soon, so he will look more handsome than his current grey blob-like appearance :P

That's all for now folks!

As always I wish you well, but today I send an especially sincere wish for good health to you and your loved ones. Take care until next time, when I hope to bring you a little cheer in the form of a little painted bird :)

A Workflow Experiment

To make this year a truly insightful one, I wanted to start off this month with a "bang!". This week I wanted to push myself to try new techniques and work flows in digital painting. Thanks to Udemy being a wonderful resource, I found a digital painting class by Hardy Fowler. It has been a great thing to get inside another creative's head and see their techniques and process!

So, the following work-in-progress painting project is one from this class. It's still not finished, and I will update it here when it is. But the most important part (and something that I am excited to say) is that I have learned some digital-painting specific tips that I think I will continue implementing!

Something especially enlightening is the technique he teaches for gaining more organic variability in digital painting. It is easy for digital paint-strokes to look "fake", or calculated and too perfect. His painting technique helps to soften that, and I am very thankful to learn it!

Pictured: (First below) Ink & color blocking mask, (Second Below) initial skin tone painting stage. Click each image for more info.

I look forward to finishing this guy up, and hopefully seeing you back here next week! Thanks for reading! And if you are curious about the course, you can click here. (P.S. I am not at all affiliated)

Miss Bear Portrait: Project Process Art-Wednesday

Meet the sweet Miss Bear! A digital illustration completely done in photoshop, I thought it would be interesting to some of you to see a more in-depth look at my digital process! So below her portrait, you will find my three main stages that I use in my drawings. Thank you for looking!

1) To start, I do a number of warm up sketches in the size of thumbnails until I find one that match my vision. They are usually very rough and messy. Eventually I work up to a drawing I am happy with:

 

2) I refine my design on a separate layer above my sketch, getting clear edges and planning colors:

3) On another layer, sandwiched between the existing two, I start painting! On the right, you can see my color palette for the bear. I continue with this process until the whole canvas is painted. I add another layer on top for subtle warm and cool tones. The very last step before I am done is an extra pass to clean up edges!

Thank you for reading!

Ravena Concept: Work In Progress

This month has gone fast! I have been hard at work on a body of freelance work I cannot release yet, so I will do an update on some of my personal work!

 This is an improved concept for my warrior girl 3D character model. I started the project as just practice to improve my modeling skills, but after completeing her basic shape, I realized I really wanted to make her into a real character. So I went to work sketching up a different look for her. I knew so little about armor design and through more sketching and researching I have came up with this! She is still a work in progress, but her design has definitely improved! So here she is as she exists now, warrior Ravena Arlan!

Warrior: Work in Progress 3D Model

This is a work in progress model! The screenshots of my model below show my progress so far. I have been working on this warrior 3D model in Maya for a little while, but it has been regretfully slow-going. I endeavor to pick up the pace on it so I can have a completed model soon, and move on to texturing and more detail sculpting!