DW V Public Voting and Study Update 006

First off, Dominance War V public voting has started, here is the link :
http://www.dominancewar.com/2010/en/index.php

The forum I am fighting for :
http://www.gameartisans.org/contests/minis/view_entries_cgsociety_2d_3.html

Secondly, did a study for a vintage 1960s car model. Not sure of the name though. Used reference found in google.

I have a feeling my techniques used to paint mechanical stuff is pretty weak. It always gives away this soft feeling, prolly cause of the soft edges.

Study Update 005

Environment and mood study of Rivendale, from LotR : Fellowship scene.

Next up, vintage vehicles! :D

Uploaded!

Uploaded mah work for Dominance War V in Game Artisans, here's the link :-

http://www.gameartisans.org/contests/minis/finals_cgsociety_2d_3799.html

Kind of edited the final image abit too, not much difference, just trying to make the characters pop by making the bg lighter.

So many 'godlike' artworks out there, this is a great motivating / inspiring activity for oneself.

Study Update 004

Took pretty long for this character, Galadriel. Also, from LotR. Need more practice!! I think next figure will probably be Taylor Swift, googled some picture of her. xD

Study Update 003

Abit slow today, did not get proper sleep cause I kind of forced my body to stay awake yesterday. Had a  terrible headache in the morning. o.o

Here's Gimli from LotR, the awesome dwarf. xD

Still waiting to publish my concept art for the DW V, seems that the system will start working by today, midnight[Day time in the US].

Study Update 002

My female anatomy / portrait is horrible! I need to buff up! I feel like maybe I've practiced drawing alot on the opposite sex last time during figures drawing classes that all my female drawings now has abit of guy features. This totally sucks! Whole of yesterday was spent just trying to get Liv Tyler's features right.

Also, I believe my environment skills are lacking too, so a study of Lothlorien from LotR : FotR with Galadriel inside.

Study

Recently just watched LotR : Fellowship of the Ring, pretty much boiled my blood to draw the characters and environments as study. So started today, and wow, I feel so rusty, haven't done figures in such a long time.

So well, I referenced Gandalf in LotR, and a random girl while I was googling. Here they are.

I am gonna be doing this more often, quite fun.

DW V Mini Finals

I think this will be the final, but DWV seems to be down atm. =/ Can't submit final image. Learnt alot during this process, I cheated / skipped alot of steps during the beginning, which led to the final image not being as awesome as I pictured.

Pre-DomWar V

07 Dec 2010

Okay.. should be done with this. Lightened War General characters again, didn't feel it was so dark till I started flipping the image here and there, and damn you really notice alot when doing that. Should remind myself to do that more often in the future.

Have 2 versions, I feel like the brighter background one looks better though.

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06 Dec 2010

Thanks to some awesome folks from CGSociety forums, I kind of moved the characters here and there, added more details and slight changes all around.

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06 Dec 2010

Big big update, did alot of refining/detailing, actually added some red on the War General, around the edges of his armor, looks weird so I took it off. =/

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03 Dec 2010

War General refined, exploring working from grayscale > colour, usually I just jump straight into colours. Previously the brush opacity control really made my War General feel, soft. Added more specular on the Technomage.

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Update : 02 Dec 2010

Refined and added more value. Will block in colours and refine somemore.

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Update : 30 Nov 2010

Hey hey! Another update, refined and added more details on both characters!

A little bit more refining and I think it'll be good to go for colouring. Woo!

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Update : 26 Nov 2010

Just finished the overall image, put the characters together and scribbled a rough background.

Still need to add more details on the armors, especially for the Technomage, I still have about half way to go with the War General.

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So there is the Dominance War V going on atm, submiting sketches in the concept art section in CGSociety.

I'm prolly going to be working on Technomage and War General, though, I feel like I'm having a tough time getting the War General's silhouette right, maybe I need some time to visualize and stuff. Bleh, whatever it is, I've finished the first thumbnails for Technomage. Here it is :

I used to have a hard time drawing girls, especially the face, it seems that I've improved! Yay~
But I still struggle a little, still needs more practice. Anyway, I'm quite happy with the outcome, I picture my Technomage to be stern, emotionless, and as beautiful as she is dangerous. Oh, and she glides!

I'm going to throw in more details, perhaps go even more crazy with the design, she is a Technomage, so I'm guessing maybe I can give her some robotic parts. Hopefully I succeed in not making it generic.

Next update will probably be the War General, and if I'm on a roll, I might get the rough composition of the final image done.

Anatomy

Ever since I entered The One Academy, I've always loved drawing characters, I mean, who doesn't? In college, the moment they started teaching Anatomy/Life Drawing, I immediately became so engrossed to it that ever since that day, I've never stopped learning the human anatomy. It is just so fascinating, how a simple structure can actually be so complex.

I am especially grateful that I worked on U92 a.k.a. Uranium Boy, he allowed me to explore the human muscles in 3D.




















So over the years, I've been to the library reading up anatomy books such as Anatomy for the Artist by Sarah Simblet, Figure Drawing and Anatomy for the Artist by John Raynes, Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist by Stephen Rogers Peck; and well, admirable in their own way, but not exactly what I was looking for. They usually just explain the common parts, I was looking for something more advanced, more detailed.

I actually own a great book by Burne Hogarth, Dynamic Anatomy, it consists of extreme poses with the muscles visible, some basic forms conveying the muscle areas to get you started and etc, but it is still missing that something.

Until a few days ago, when I picked up this book, Anatomy Drawing School - Human Anatomy by Andras Szunyoghy & Gyorgy Feher. This book explains how the human joints work, and is elaborated with illustrations, from the skeleton, to the visible muscles with and without the human skin. This book even threw in a little extra, like drapery studies, movement studies and the basics like proportions, shapes and etc.

The deeper you flip through, you'll find out more on how there are layers of muscles overlapping each other, and how they work in conjunction with the bone with each and every one of them labeled.

Perhaps it is just me who requires such a detailed book, but I think this is a great grab. And guess what? It only costed me a measly RM40 for something so invaluable. The only thing I regret now is not finding this book earlier. =/ Heck, now I don't need to skin someone. xD

They also did one for Animal Anatomy, but it did not look as great as this book, or perhaps I did not flip through enough when I was viewing it. Maybe I'll give it a second look.

Oh yes, once again there is another challenge in ArtOrder, Dungeon Delve. Here is the thumbnail I did. Anatomy! : D

Team Fortress 2 Pyro's Majestic Jester Hat

The TF2 craze came back to me, to the extend of me modeling a hat for the Pyro for Valve's TF2 - Community Contribute

T'was cool modeling a low poly object and texturing following their art style, I had alot of fun working on it.

Click to enlarge image.

Consists of 768 Tris / 390 faces.

Just submitted it to Valve, let's hope to see it in the game soon. xD

Copyrights

Pyro Model provided by Valve via Source SDK.

Jester Hat by Me.

H.P. Lovecraft's - The Mi-Go

Another challenge at the ArtOrder.

Here is my finalized version of the Mi-Go.

Mi-Go (The Fungi from Yuggoth):

“They were pinkish things about five feet long; with crustaceous bodies bearing vast pairs of dorsal fins or membraneous wings and several sets of articulated limbs, and with a sort of convoluted ellipsoid, covered with multitudes of very short antennae, where a head would ordinarily be.... As it was, nearly all the rumours had several points in common; averring that the creatures were a sort of huge, light-red crab with many pairs of legs and with two great bat-like wings in the middle of their back..."

- H.P. Lovecraft, “The Whisperer in Darkness”

Click to enlarge.

Welcome to C.O.R.E.

Let the rendering begin! After 9 months of production, finally we have reached this stage, and soon we'll be able to see our work come to life!

Here's a peak at what we're up to atm :-

Also, ArtOrder is having another challenge on creating a Lovecraft creature. Here's what I've came up with :-

Feedbacks are welcomed!

Lighting Part 2 and Angler Frog

Emergency lighting done by me, this is when U92 escapes.

This is the original lighting, done by Vincent Lim.

Angler Frog! This picture was put on hold for a while, decided to finish it. xD

That's about it for now.

Lighting & Log Monster

Working on environment lighting, quite tough to do esp with the long render time even when in draft quality. Atm optimizing the scenes to reduce render time, lol. Here are the 2D over 3D planning and 3D versions.

Here is the President's Quarters :

2D planning :

3D :

Opposite direction[3D] :

Here is the Cloning Lab :

2D Planning :

3D :

Bottom of Platform[3D] :












Coming up is the Cultivation Lab, there are two moods for that, and the city, also two moods, night and day. :D Will go through refinement again after this. D:

Anyway, an update on my personal 2d painting done for a challenge in ArtOrder :

Crunch Time!

"Your job as an artist is to push craft to its limits - without being trapped by it. The trap is, perfection." - Art & Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland

I love this book, there are so many inspiring words / quotes in it. This book really makes you think.

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Onwards to business.

We are really pushing ourselves now, I don't even have time to work on my 2d paintings.

Here is another update on the textures I've done :

  

I'm really happy with these, esp the tower. *Esp since I designed it* xD
Vehicles Modeling is done by : Ca_|_vin.

Just 2 in a half months to go to the launching! Wee~

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