Design Class: Weapon Assignment

CGMA "Intro to Design Process" class: Weapon assignment. again, ostensibly, for Halo environment.

Design Class: Tool Assignment

CGMA "Intro to Design Process" class. Brief: pick an intellectual property, design a tool. I chose to do a jet pack for Halo.

Prometheus study after Procter/Burg

I am preparing for the "intro to the design process" class at CGMA by drawing lots of stuff as simplified 3d forms. This is an attempt to understand how real world things (and non-existent things made by other artists) are put together, form-wise. Here is the latest, a study of the "Prometheus" from the same-titled movie. While the movie itself was a huge disappointment to me, the design work was fantastic, and I will be studying it for some time.

The goal was to only capture the big forms. I'm pretty sure this is the most complicated thing I've drawn in perspective.

Halo "Infinity" ship study after John Liberto

another form study. Ever since watching "StarBlazers" as a kid, I've been a sucker for flying space battleships. And while I'm not a Halo player, I'm a huge fan of the design work, so, expect to see more of it turn up here.

Landscape Study ala Shaddy Safadi

I used this photo I found on web (is it yours? I'd be happy to credit you) to do a landscape study, butchering... I mean, trying out techniques outlined by Shaddy Safadi in his awesome blog. again, not exactly what I was aiming for, but, I'm sure I've learned something in the attempt. there were more versions, but, I'll spare you the gruesome details.

aside from trying out new brush/mark-making techniques, the main issue was that I couldn't decide on a focal point.

Lil' Red Riding Hood "Woods" Concept

also for CGMA Dig. Painting class. the brief: do an environment for Little Red Riding Hood, no characters. Again, not crazy about how this turned out. I need to spend a lot more time at the thumbnail stage exploring compositions.

I really tried to "push the shapes" more than I ever have, more of an animated feel.

Material Study

For CGMA digital paint class. another great exercise.

Film Composition Studies

done for a digital painting class at CGMA. Great exercise, will definitely do more of these. First two are from Kurosawa movies, third from "Prometheus"

Djemila: Roman ruin study

study from a photo. I did a line drawing, then a value study, then a full-on model, zbrush sculpt, and texture. Rendering from zbrush. Eventually, I'll pull this stuff from zbrush and render with proper lighting in a finished environment (that pic to be added later)

Ctrl+Paint Vase Study

If you want to learn how to paint in photoshop, and you haven't yet, you must head over to http://ctrlpaint.com Matt Kohr is the author of the site, and tons of really concise, clear, well-thought-out instructional videos. While it is mostly free, he does have some "premium content" stuff that is a whopping $10 per lesson. This is an exercise from one of those, called Basic Rendering. Matt did a drawing of the vase, I rendered it. Pretty obvious, but just in case: reference is on left, painting on right ;)

This was a pretty big turning point for me in learning to paint digitally, and I can't thank Matt enough for his generous teaching.

Mag Lev Train

A quick sketch to start building some Design muscle.

observed objects

Trying to get used to drawing in photoshop. all the cool kids are doing it these days.

Env Sketches

done about a year ago, I think. Started using contours for landscape. Done for Environment Sketching class at CGMA

Elysium

I was fortunate to be able to contribute to "Elysium." I did a generic Earth shot and a specific low-level over the clouds shot, both in Terragen. These were used as bases for matte paintings which were finished by matte painters at Image Engine.

Dystopia #1

Gotta have at least one ;) and I'm sure it won't be the last. I did this for a 3DTotal workshop a few years ago. Disappointed in how it came out, but I like the idea of a canyon of buildings.

Castle Test

an ongoing, sporadically worked on test to integrate terrain packages like WorldMachine with zbrush and matte painting. While this effort is half-baked, I hope to circle back at some point and finish this idea.