If You Think You Know, You Don't. You'll Know When You Know.

Today is the three year anniversary of this blog. I knew what I needed to learn, but not exactly how to go about the new process. Quality instruction, consistent application, and critical analysis were things I knew I needed to pursue. I've been lacking on the foremost mentioned and leaning more on the analysis. That's a part of me that gets the most exercise, hence the quote on my first post of this blog - which also ties in to the name of this blog.

A head drawn and painted from imagination. The only reference used was a b/w image of a model for lighting. The jaw or chin could stand to be elongated.

My direction was and still is a bit fuzzy, though. I see a lot of concept artists-in-training getting caught up in the glam of finished pieces. Splash art and concept art are two different areas. It took me awhile to let that sink in. I was happy when it did as I seem to think along the same lines of some concept artists. Also, concept art, character sculpting, and character texturing are three different disciplines. I've been basically studying for all three. They seem to be merging a bit based on industry trends I've been picking up on, but if I focused just on one I wonder how much further along I'd be. I have to believe that all my studies are informing each other. Is that naive? If a person is "naive" long enough does this persistence wind up proving the naysayers wrong? As if I give a crap about a naysayer (whom I define as people whose talent isn't at a level I admire/respect. If it is, I'm all ears).

I felt like I wanted to spend a bit of time on a piece. This is my second study of this model and was rendered with one brush, no smudging. I want to vary my brush textures, but I need to make sure I'm able to simulate different materials with any brush I have. Getting back on the theme of 'then and now', when I compare this to my Daniela Cosio portrait (and especially my Liu Wen portrait) this came out much better and faster. In the time I spent rendering the Daniela Cosio portrait I could've done maybe 5 of these. 5x as fast and at higher quality is pretty good. Nailing planes and values faster is something I need to work on.

What have I been doing this all for? For some reason I never took up the challenge of making a character sheet. I felt like I needed to learn more about anatomy. There are some things here that are a bit off (lats taper too much at the bottom). Also, this amount of shading isn't necessary for the model sheet, I think. I could've spent that time doing an actual texture to the model. I have dozens of pant and shirt designs and a few sneaker and gauntlet designs for the character. I was too systematic in their creation. I need to remember to loosen up.

I followed a series of Youtube tutorials on modeling a character and came up with this. His body was a bit shorter than I liked (I think 7 heads) so I lengthened it a bit. I've yet to study in depth the planes of the face so some things are off, but I really wanted to dive into modeling. My plan was to rig it and use it as reference for poses, but holy crap did I run into problems when rigging it. Seriously, dude. Also, my learning source ties into seeking out quality instruction. I picked up some useful tips, but there were some things I could toss. Current character workflows involve sculpting, then retopologizing. The instructor did most of the detail in the modeling software (3DS Max).

I feel a bit more confident on what to learn and who to learn from. I made a Pinterest as another place to store reference and subscribed to different architecture, fashion, and science/tech blogs on FB (which I only opened for professional purposes). A fear of mine was losing my fluidity of taste to the rigid structure of study. I'm not in this to be an academic. I still feel like I'm one of few people that holds a big secret regarding concept design. Do people know that the heavy lifting has already been done? All you have to do is translate your taste to the language of your desired audience and wa-la! I know I spelled that wrong, but anarchy reigns in the Land of Onomatopoeia.

These were from a Digital Tutors tutorial on modeling a low-poly game character. I was able to practice decent topology and wanted to learn to say more with less. Working within limitations (a poly count) forces creativity, unlike the model I created with the Youtube instruction. I could've topologized the head better, but I did my own thing because I didn't like what the instructor initially had. He made adjustments later and I tried to implement them in my own model. 

This is the character with accessories. I'm ignoring the fact that this character seems as typical as they come. This is for practice. Also, I want to learn this "classic" workflow before diving into something more current. My plan is to follow the unwrapping and texturing tutorial, then use what I learned to redo the original character I modeled.

Not too shabby for three years of part-time study. There were some serious growing pains, but they had more to do with my learning process. Next summer is my deadline for an industry-compliant portfolio. But man, am I a character concept artist or a character artist? The latter it seems since I have zero concepts up. Ah, in due time. I'm currently doing hard brush color studies of paintings before starting the next phase of the barbarian (or whatever he is) model. I also have my eyes on AnatomyNext's upcoming book on facial anatomy. Material studies are also on the to-do list. I have my eye on Dongjun Lou's tutorials, but am anticipating Marco Nelor's online class.

Going to squeeze in some more color studies before playing a little more Xenogears. I swear Krelians lab is grindy AF. If you're going to make me grind, at least vary the scenery. Probably too much to expect from an almost 20 yr old RPG, though.