2/24/14 The Kaiten Drone is finished!

Hello Everyone!  So without further ado!

Kaiten Drone Rotate!
EDIT: Hi Def has been added!

Retrospective:  This project added a few new skills to my set and really showed me how to work a bit more efficiently and quickly.

As for the concept itself, while it differs a bit in design (antenna placement etc.) I feel the model is a huge improvement over the original concept.  The original concept was literally "Beetle Machine" while the model now reads "Thought out functioning insect robot."  Everything looks and feels right both in scale and detail. All the while staying true to the idea of the original concept!

I'll say it again, I'm really nerding out about how well this turned out! Now I need to find me a rigger... or dive deeper into my basic knowledge of rigging and do it myself!

And to remind you guys of the original concept:

Enjoy the product!


I have also added two more pages to both my flatbook and Art page.

For a closer look at these images:

And finally the texture map!

It's always fun to remember how much really goes into post!  And realize how much you had forgotten!  This model was an absolute blast and I plan on my having my next one started by the next update. (I know I said this update, but the renders and post took a few more days than foreseen!)

Until Next time!

-Jordan

2/17/14 Finishing up the Kaiten Texture and more character work!

Hello Everyone!

So this week I almost completed the Kaiten's texture.  It should be finished in the next couple days, and as you'll see it basically needs a couple more details and some dirt thrown on it to make it look weathered and used.

 As you can see, I'm going extremely simple with the bump map.  The main reason being that I find bump to be very distracting when using it on everything, so I'm limiting it only to the bolts to give it a tiny bit of reflection to give it a sense of scale.  This Kaiten needs to look huge, at least 10 ft in height.

I'm really excited with how its turned out, and I cannot wait to add the finishing touches!

The next set of images are a completed value digital painting of the Vex line work from one of my first posts, and a WIP Elsa value painting.

I plan to have Elsa and the Kaiten finished for the next post!  Along with a new 3D model at least proxy'd out!

Until Next time!

-Jordan

2/10/14 More Character work!

Hello everyone!

A little late!  But more work to show for it!

First up, I went back and colored the previous posted linework and then continued onto a more finished Goliath design. I'll add a disclaimer, the coloring work done on each of these are extremely fast in nature and more for testing color than anything else.  Its also to get me more comfortable with just coloring my gesture work and getting something in the works that I can show! Again, I'm very pleased with the style I'm going with, its a nice breath of fresh air from my more realistic approach I've done for a few years now.  I'm absolutely in love with the contrast of Goliath's top to his bottom.

These next two characters have never been seen on this blog so far.  So for introductions, on the left is Tesala.  She's connected through several disembodied pieces that float and are held together by an electrical current that runs through her entire body.  Her arms are made of electrical energy allowing her to disable cars and computers or overload systems with a simple touch.  I see them resembling ghost arms, being able to go through objects and interact with the inner workings of them.  Her normal state though, is wearing her giant metal gloves that she can use as you might expect, to smash objects and lift things larger than herself..

Union is on the right, more of the silence smoking gun type.  She's very similar in all aspects but rather than being able to move freely with electrical arms she's confined to her metal casing as a prison.  She wields and Gatling gun arm that she can wield in her other if needed for more precision firing.

The two are sisters first and cyborgs second, having only brains to show for their humanity in cold lifeless casings.  And naturally they're villains of tragedy existing in the same universe and story as Vortize, Cinder and Goliath.

In coloration I went with a more "colorful" (if you can call it that) color palette for Tesala as she tends to be the talker and more "bubbly" of the two sisters.  On the other hand I went with more earthy tones for Union giving her a more visual rust feeling about her.  She's silent and tends to be more violent at times.

This week I'll be returning to the land of 3D and approaching the finish with the Kaiten Beetle along with starting a new model!

Until next time!

-Jordan

2/3/14 More model work done and a new style!

Hello everyone!

A very early Monday post!

This week was very eventful!  I figured out the best way possible to sew on the Kaiten Legs and UV them for the least amount of work and time!

So first up, a very exciting checkerboard model with legs attached! This model was 100% ready for texturing, so that's exactly what I did!

The UV isn't as quite as tight as it could be, but for my purposes this will be just fine.

This is the same model as above, but this time duplicated with a Blinn added

And finally, a roughly lit and rendered model with the beginnings of a texture!

I'm extremely pleased with my results so far, and I cannot wait to finish texturing this model!

This next image is something I began work on only a few days ago.  It came about after remembering how much I love super heroes and villains.  And instead of taking a realism approach as I tend to direct my work, I decided on a much more stylized cartoony look, and I'm really enjoying it.  I also feel that when I model these characters they will become a medium between the textures I plan to use on the King Slayer characters and this Kaiten I've been working on.  I want to practice up to more complex modeling and textures, and I feel these characters will be just the thing to do it!

These drawings are super quick gestures just to re-acquaint myself with these characters.  These three came about years ago, in high school actually and I felt it was time to dust them off and play with them nearly a decade later.

Life drawing this week! And more texture painting fun!

Until next time!

-Jordan