The trend seems to be updating with massive weekly posts explaining what I have been up to, and updating from time to time with little things that I have learnt that are worth me preparing a massive screenshot post for. I have done a few of them already, but it does annoy me that it takes me much longer to produce those tutorial posts than I should. It’s part laziness part exhaustion; by the time I get back from uni I don’t exactly feel like sitting down in front of a computer again and getting back to work. What my body tends to ask for is for a cold drink -water, wine, pepsi, juice… anything I can get my hands on- and chill for a good hour or two before getting back in to the swing of things. Throw working out and dinner in to the mix, and by the time i’m done all I want to do is sleep.

I do have a pretty thorough work schedule that I tend to stick to, and it means I don’t exactly fall behind in my work… I do everything I need to do, just not always when I should. I tend to neglect my blog a bit more than I should, but that will be rectified soon enough.

So how can one best describe week 6? High-lows. I finally got the hang of how to produce a low poly mesh from a high poly mesh (which meant my hours of researching worked out!) and I can now confidently say I am in the next stage of my workflow: reducing the models.

The selkie was the first one I tackled; the model had hit the very scary polycount of 10 MILLION polygons (even Zbrush was starting to struggle) so that was the one I tackled first.

I now have a reduced model with topology i’m relatively happy with, and all the texture information it should have, but much easier to deal with. The topology of the model will be refined later on; my focus right now is to reduce all the models before attempting to bake or uv anything out.

Which leads me to my complaining/ranting moment: UV MASTER in ZBRUSH.

That thing, is a nightmare. During my research moments everyone praised UV MASTER, and made it sound really easy to use. And I took diligent notes and made sure to follow every step and do it as accurately as one can.

So then…

why does it refuse to work?!

or more like: why does it have to do things ITS OWN WAY INSTEAD OF LISTENING TO WHAT I HAVE TO SAY?

If i wanted the UV seams going right through the middle of the face I would ask you to put them right through the middle of the face. But it so happens I want the seams to go round the back of the body, so please do as I ask. The program, however, decides to ignore any of my imputs and does whatever it wants.

So I end with a lot of seams going through the front of the body, face and eyes, and it refuses to remove them even when I correct them.

Hence, my decision to reduce all the models before attempting to try again. I may also give MODO a try (a new program which is supposed to make UVing very easy), depending on how i’m doing.

Sunday evenings are usually the time I spend organzing my work and other things for the following week. I sit down, draft new checklists, tick off old ones, re-evaluate how I’m doing work wise, stress a little… I don’t always remember to post about it, but I did this time.

This week’s balance is overly positive, and it’s also a reflection on how I’ve done so far and where i’m heading/what I want to do. A hectic week awaits me, but I think I can manage.

A big thing this week was my birthday. I’m 21 now! Celebrations were had, and although work was not forgotten, not as much of it was done as it should have been. However,  I am at a stage where I feel I can afford to take half a day off to celebrate my birthday.

Asides from that, I have been trying my best to work as diligently I have been, although it seems like I have reached a bit of a stagnant point. Having four characters at a very similar stage, I have finally reached the dreaded point of SMALL DETAIL. Which does mean spending countless hours going over the models and adding those little bits that will be baked on to the normal maps.

Which has also led me to research. A lot of research. Research for methods, techniques and advice on how to do those things I want to do in order to make my characters look pretty. Baking textures and maps, reducing topology, UV mapping, texturing… The fun stuff. I may have to change the tablet pen for the pen and notepad for a while as I plough through the research, but it will all be worth it… I hope.

It is moments like this in which I wish that knoweldge was something innate for people. Learning and discovering is fun, but if you got things straight away instead of having to sit down and remind yourself every time because you got distracted is not as fun.

Considering week 5 is up, and I have four characters that are currently being polished, I am quite happy with my work. I am very very pleased with it. There is a bulk of work here, and although I did focus on the 3D for a while and have not done as much drawing as I may have needed to, at least the drawing I can do in my spare time. When in class it’s always better to take advantage of the powerful computers to work on Zbrush as much as possible. Even if it means having people stare at your work from time to time.

The stares are usually followed by good comments and helpful feedback, but it is distracting nontheless.

Where am I going?

Well, I can safely say that the improvement I have made in the space of two/three weeks has been AMAZING. I never actually thought I could do the things I am doing right now, or be as confident in Zbrush as I am. It used to scare me, but now it is the program I swear by. I will become a master of it one day, that’s for sure.

I don’t know about the future, but my immediate plans regarding Zbrush are these:

• Finish polishing the characters
• Bake out the details
• UV and retopologize

This might take me a week or two, but I’m quite confident I’ll make it. The ideal plan would be to have all that done before the end of the month. As for drawing (as I NEED to draw more), it’s just a matter of:

• Silhouette concepts
• Body shape diversity drawings
• Situation sketches
• A couple of polished drawings

My new laptop should be arriving at some point this week, and with it it means that I can now draw anywhere I want. It is a small and portable little thing, which will be a lovely contrast to my current 17inch macbook (affectionately named THE MONSTER because of how huge and bulky it is). The new laptop will also mean I have no excuse not to do any research or work when I’m in town or near uni, as I can take it anywhere. So far, the attitude has been ‘I’ll take my sketchbook and do some traditional art’. Which I do, don’t get me wrong, and it’s lovely to go back to a traditional medium… but it feels like it’s more of a distraction than things that will go fowards to the actual submission.

This has mounted up to quite a lengthy post. I will update soon with a full balance of how much I have done and how much needs doing still, as well with a small update on my self-taught polypainting technique. I am enjoying the tutorial blogging, and I have already been told by others that they like it. Horray for me!

I suppose one could say I have an excuse for taking a bit with this update: I was gathering enough screenshots so I could make a decent post about it, and in a way share my newfound knowledge with those that peak into this blog from time to time. I remember mentioning I had been given some feedback by a Jagex senior artist. Well… here are the results of some of that work:

Four massive images explaining some of my work process. I have more screenshots now, so more will be coming, and hopefully with more detailed explanations. For now, this is all I have. I may do a small tutorial post concerning IMM tools and how I came across them later on…

… When after spending countless hours working on something, you lose some of the information on it? And find yourself having to backtrack and spend more hours trying to get the model back to it’s previous polished state?

Well, this has happened on two of my character models, and has me quite annoyed at the moment. Luckily, the information loss was minimal, and I had had the common sense of saving it in a different format so I could just easily import it and not that much damage was lost…

But damn it zbrush. If you tell me you’ve saved something, and the date and hour on the save file says you have… Why don’t you!?

Rant over. I will do a big post on the afternoon explaining the countless new things I have learnt (It’s a happy post! yaiiii) but for now, let’s go back and finish the two characters that I had finished last week already…

So that thing about posting regularly week by week? It may be a bit harder than I thought, mainly due to the hectic rhythm that my life seems to have taken. Thankfully I do keep progress notes of what I do (and checklists. So many checklists) that I can roughly update on what has been going on.

WEEK 2 (last week)

Consisted mainly of concepts and completing research I already had on the go. Completed informations on the selkie, started on the gem giants and roughed up Lahja’s design things… Lahja is proving to be a bit of a challenge, but the other two characters, so far named Ila and Baldr, seem to be doing quite well. So far there’s more development going into the selkies than the giants, but I am aiming to rectify that very soon. The aim is to start modelling as soon as possible, but there are some things I want to get out of the way first.

Overall I am getting very good feedback from the people that are seeing my work, and that is pleasing me It’s always nice when people enjoy what you’re working on!

WEEK 3 (this week just ended)

Things took a turn, both for the better or worse, depends on how you want to see it. Mark, a senior artist from Jagex, came in on thursday and reviewed our work, giving us one to one feedback. I like to think he liked what he saw, as he gave me a lot of very good pointers that will surely help me improve my work! The downside is, his feedback somewhat renders the research i’ve been putting into the characters somewhat useless, as he did suggest to focus much more on the individual as opposed to the back culture. The suggestions he gave as to presentation means that more work can be easily produced to rectify it and hopefully improve it for the best, but it does mean that I need to somewhat change the angle  on my work.

I am keeping all the research I’ve done (there’s no way i’m leaving all that to waste!) But it will most probably go into separate blog posts as opposed to featuring in the final submission. It is part of the research I have conducted into the characters, but not relevant to the individual personality of each character, which leads me to what I will be doing this week:

WEEK 4 PLAN:

• Amy (second year student) messaged me with regards with her digital practice module. Apparently she’s having some trouble with it, and would be interested in animating some of  my characters. I am very much excited about this idea, as she is a brilliant animator, but I need to talk to her in order to iron out exactly what her time frame is and how to go on about it. But I would be extremely happy if she animated one of my characters having worked with her in the past and knowing what she’s capable of is a bonus
• Sculpting wise: the aim is to get Ila’s model (the selkie) finished. Or at least the base, which would mean I would only need to fix topology and add the detail to her before baking it.
• If i got time to start on Baldr’s model that would also be brilliant, but not to fussed if I don’t. I’d rather have a near-finished model than two started but not quite there ones.
• This also leads into my third character, Lahja: her design is being tweaked due to the feedback from Mark, so when not modelling I will be working on variations for her. Silhouetting during my free time and then completing some of those sketches on photoshop seems to be the way to go, so I shall be doing that. I am taking everything he said on board, as she was the most troublesome of the trio, so perhaps this will lead me to a design I am 100% satisfied with. She is a character I am very much attached to, so being satisfied with how she looks is quite important.

Quite text heavy post, but I suppose it does make up for lost time. Hopefully posting will be more constant from  now on, as the changes made to my work means there will be more stuff to post about

So I’m taking the sign that the tablet drivers crashed and pressure sensitivity stopped working on Photoshop as a sign that I should stop work. Wether I should actually do this could be up for debate, but I’ve been working since pretty much 9am and I think half 4 is a good time to call it quits.

At least to the digital work. I have some sketching to do still before I can call the work day over.

So, what have I been up to today?

Well, it’s been a day of general doodles, with the purpose of warming up to the characters I have chosen. Quite a few selkie drawings, as I do not seem to tire of them, and quite a nice pic of Baldr the Gem giant talking to Lahja, who to him is nothing more than an annoying lizard-ling.

I also spent a good part of the morning reading up on the inuit culture, partly out of boredom partly out of curiosity, as they could prove to be a very good source of material for developing the selkie clans. I also took a couple of notes (which I will need to decypher later due to a massive case of chicken-scratch handwriting) on the adaptations to hot and cold climates. It was surprisingly interesting, and it pointed out certain aspects that I may need to add to my characters to make them more accurate.

I am aiming to be done with the concepting stage roundabout next week. I have a massive amount of research done at home that I will be posting about in the next couple of days as I piece all of it together, but which I hope illustrates my thought behind the designs of the characters.

Then, back on to the 3D modelling Exciting stuff!

Ten days after my last post, I post again to somewhat announce that my tiny break is over, and to run the people that might read this blog over my thoughts for next semester, and why I took a turn and went for something a bit different to what I had originally planned.

The main reason for the change is some personal problems that happened during the last project that made me resent the work a bit, and to avoid full blown hate over the concept, which I actually adore. As such, I will be doing something more investigation based rather than story based, which will also hopefully lead quite nicely into what I want to do in my masters.

The idea was planted in my head by Baris, who suggested anthropomorphism as something to look into when I do my masters degree, due to my obsession with humanoid characters with animal traits, monsters and the sorts. I love a bit of Frankensteining, getting two or more elements from various species and creating something that could work, so I am actively chosing to pursue that next semester and fully developing monster-like characters.

I’ll be using the character concepts I already drew up as a base for these ones. I’m not going to let all the work I did go to waste. However, I am not going to let myself get into another project so big. I will only develop five characters, the five I like most: A selkie, Lahja the Swamp mongrel, a gem giant, Gea the Human and her friend Aras Bleu, who I like to call the peacock.

I’m currently on the train to Brighton to take some days off, but ideas have started flowing into my head and I’m already taking notes and planning things in my sketchbook. I actually feel like I have this one under control, and this time the idea is not as daunting. This concept already feels different to the one from semester one, and that couldn’t make me feel happier.

Bring it on, Final Major Project. I’m gonna best you.

Two days until hand in, and I can say pretty safely I have not much left to go!

Dissertation is finally finished, and only needs binding. Shame I only finished it this morning, after a long and thorough spell check from Adam, as I could have handed it in yesterday and have one less thing to worry about.

I suppose I cannot complain much about things, as I am doing much better than other years, and I’m not feeling the stress that much!

This week, instead of a specific drawing, you get a screenshot of my presentation, and hope you enjoy as much as I do how nice it looks now that it is almost full with all the detail it’s supposed to contain

As I wait for my mother to call me for dinner, I will update this blog to say what I have been up to.

Drawing has been slow, as I have been completing the presentation notes I needed done and only managed to finish one character. This, however, means I am officially done with the main characters! I now just need to add all their information and notes to the presentation.

Dissertation is becoming my main focus, as even though I am pretty much finished it it is now being proofread by various friends, and once that is done I can finally concentrate on ultimating the presentation.

I am reaching a point where I am so tired I just want to be done with work, and would actually want to have more of a holiday than just one week. Nontheless, I suppose I will be getting a much later christmas holidays after I hand everything in

Meanwhile, enjoy Lahja, the final main character!

and another drawing I found of Lahja that I don’t think I uploaded here, to bulk this week’s submission up a bit

I got another two characters done, which I am quite pleased about. I am also almost done with my dissertation, which I am even more pleased about as I cannot wait to get that monster of an essay over and done with, as I am starting to lose my will to finish it due to how long it has become and because of having to retrace my steps and rewrite bits of it so many times.

I do not know when I’ll be able to post my progress next, as I am heading over to a friend’s house to finish my dissertation once and for all, and after that my week will be full of catching up with family, friends and christmas shopping. It is the only week I am allowing myself to have off, so there is a very big chance that the next post will be after the christmas days.

Two more characters done, just a couple more to go! This last week has been mainly me focusing on the Dissertation, which I am aiming to finish before I leave for Spain, which is in a week’s time. The fact I had time to finish these two is a miracle, as I’ve been feeling pretty run down due to stress. Nontheless, something is something! I doubt i’ll finish the dissertation by the day I leave, but if I finish the first three chapters, or at least have a pretty detailed draft of them I’ll be happy.