New Shangri La Artwork

I've added another section to my blog that showcases the artwork I did for Call of Duty: Black Ops DLC Map Shangri La.  Click on the Shangri La Button above or click here.

All environments pictured here were built by myself primarily. The lighting was the work of Rae Chen and John Enrico.

Zombie Shangri La Video

 

Here is a video of the latest environment that I worked on.  I was the lead environment artist for this level.  I built all of the exterior areas of the map as well, the mine cart tunnel, the tunnels on either side and the cave section with the elevator shaft.

2 New Pages!

Hello everyone!

I've added 2 new pages to my blog. The 'High Poly Models' page showcases high poly models I've made. The 'Environments' page shows screenshots from video game environments I've built. Enjoy. These two pages are showcasing the work I did for the game Singularity.

Texturing the Head

Now that the modelling is mostly finished for this creature I've started on the texturing. Here is a render of the head with Diffuse, Specular and Normal Maps on it. I started out roughing in the basic colors in Zbrush painting directly on the model, and then brought the textures into Photoshop where I overlayed images of fur bone and stone, as well as some touch up painting and compositing. I then brought the model back into zbrush where I fixed any texture seams.

Primitive Jewelry

I've finished up with the necklass and jewelry. The model is just about complete, and about ready to be textured.

Still Plugging Away

I've been putting off working on this model for a while until I got my new PC at home. In July I got the new PC (quad core, 8gb ram, 8800 ultra, dual raptors) but I've been spending so much of my free time sailing and enjoying the beautiful summer here in Madison that I've been a little side tracked. Now that the days are getting shorter again I'll have more time to work on my personal artwork. I got to see a lot of artist demos at Siggraph last week and they inspired me to get back to work.

The model is getting very close to being done. There are a few more props, and then I have to figure out how to make convincing spaghetti

Those of you that have followed this thread will notice a big change to his nose. For a while I was going for a camel-like nose, but opted back to the concepts feline-ish nose.

fun with made up cloth

I've spent some more time developing the fabric on his arms, and chest. The hands have got a little attention with the addition of finger nails. I've just started to rough in the robe below the waist, it still needs a lot of work, the folds aren't falling naturally yet.

Roughing in the Arms

Its been a while, but I spent some time tonight roughing in some of the musculature for the hands and the folds on the arms and chest. You can see that the face also has some refinements since the last post.

facial reconstruction

Just spending a couple of hours on a Saturday evening doing some sculpting. I bought a book on horses from the Barnes N' Nobles bargain section, "Spirit of the Horse," only $14.95. This character isn't a horse but the book had some great reference and inspiration for musculature. I've changed the proportions of the face somewhat to what it was before, the biggest thing being the location of they eyes which I had previously made too large.

Stranger Than Fiction

I found myself a little tired tonight after eating at Abuelos with my friend James. James and I need to start coordinating our wardrobes better. We both showed up wearing the exact same shirt and jeans. Very funny and embarrassing. After a short nap I find myself in for the night and decided to spend a few hours sculpting. I watched the movie Stranger than Fiction on my laptop for a little background. I love the many times understated humor of the movie and of course I now have a crush on Maggie Gyllenhaal.

On the art side I'm just starting to rough in the forms and ad the major shapes. Thankfully the topology in the base mesh had much of this suggested in it. Now its time for bed :)

basemesh is complete

Here is the completed base mesh for this character. You can see that most things are blocked out. I did go to some extra detail on the head to make things easier for me when I get to sculpting and subdividing. I haven't included things such as the additional jewelry or the bowl, chopsticks and noodles yet, those will be added at a later phase.

Now the fun begins.

I was by myself on xmas so I thought I'd get started on this model. I've got a good base mesh for the head and shoulders, and here you can see i'm doing a quick block in to get the masses for the body.

The Concept

Mark Nelson was nice enough to provide me with a copy of this illustration to work from. He also was nice enough to let me post a picture of it. The three guys on the bottom right are all modelled. I'm starting on the big horned guy eating the spaghetti. He should be very fun. Enjoy!

Goat, Camel, Lion?

I started working on a new character today. This is some kind of lion/camel/goat guy who will eventually be eating spaghetti. This is about an hour or so of work sculpting in zbrush. Right now it just kind of looks like a lumpy mess. I'm not sure if the musculature of the face is totally right, so some will probably change before I got to a higher subdivision level.

More Self Portraitage

So I did a little more work on my self portrait. I originally started with a sphere and carved out of that which gave me bad topology on lower subdivision levels. I used zbrush's retopologize feature where you can draw a new cage around your model. Now you can see the new topology on the right which has lines following the form of the face which leads to cleaner topology. I did a little more refining on the face on the mouth and eyes. It is still symetrical. I plan on doing some hair work next before making the face asymmetrical.

Infinitesimal improvements

I've spent a couple of hours this evening refining some of the anatomy and watching Hot Fuzz on DVD. There are only some slight refinements since my last post. I've adjusted the hands and started laying in the feet and hair. I'm not sure if I'm going to sculpt the headdress in zbrush or model it in 3ds max, but we will see soon. I'm finding that if I try to add too much detail the anatomy starts to look weird. I'm nearing the state with this model where I'm going to pose it into a semi-final pose and continue sculpting it in position so that I can make any adjustments to the musculature before I go into high detail.

-Enjoy!

The Priestess

Here's the first work in progress shot I'm posting of the next character in this scene. I created the base mesh in 3ds max matching it loosely to some reference images I found on 3DSK. Don't be intimidated by the strange mass of hair, she is actually going to be wearing a large ornamental headdress. So far the form for it is blocked in. I'm also waiting on some photo reference for the face. Mark is asking the model if it is okay to pass on his photo reference to me. This is my first foray into representational anatomy. I'm finding the subtlety of the female form a challenge. The other more stylized characters allowed more of a fudge factor, which made them much easier.

-Enjoy!

The Scene so far

Here are the three characters posed so far. Also check out the drawing by Mark Nelson.

Tarot Bird

This guy was the first model I posted on zbrush central. Check out the post here.

I've posted all the work in progress images on zbrush central so check them out if you get a chance. So far its had 26,700 views. I've been very happy with the response.

I created the base mesh for this character in zbrush and then exported it out to 3dsmax to clean up the topology, then brought it back to zbrush to re-sculpt.

My Agamid Friend

Here is my very first zbrush model which I started at the beginning of summer. This was basically the model I used to familiarize myself with the program. If you are interested in learning more about zbrush go to www.pixologic.com

I actually began modelling this guy in a relaxed symmetrical pose and then later transposed him within zbrush. The base mesh was created in 3dsmax. I was very hesitant to put much detail into this model as it was my first and I didn't want to overdo things.

The anatomy was purposely distorted to emphasize the stylized nature of the concept.