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.

I’ve been working on my main characters for a while now, and so far I have two finished! A lot of research was accomplished too, and the first chunk of my presentation could be considered pretty much done and dusted. And, as a cherry on top: the first chapter to my dissertation is finished, and the second one is pretty much under way! this is amazing progress, considering I could be doing so much better when it comes to how i’m feeling- this last week hasn’t been the best, but i’m going to try and not let it get me down… At least I have Christmas ahead of me, which means I can always catch up and refine things.

Feeling quite guilty about not having blogged in a while, as this blog is mainly meant to show progress throughout my work. However, real life took a hold of me and this meant I was very, very busy. I was also very productive, and have a lot of drawings to make up for it. Quite bland, but at least I am getting accross what I want to, which I feel is the most important part. I gave up on the shading quite a bit ago, as I have my research project to focus on too, and shading means I spend way too much time than I should on a picture… Mainly because I tend to mess it up and I need to do it carefully in order to do it properly. The result when I do it is amazing (I mean, just look at those giants! But that picture took me all to long for me to be comfortable with it) Hope you like them

I seem to be distracting myself quite a bit with Zbrush, and losing focus on what I want the project to be, and what I actually want to achieve.

After a talk with my tutor I decided to revise my objectives and spreaded out the work a bit, which means that I will not be doing any more 3D work per se this semester, but rather all next semester. In turn, I am focusing this semester entirely on concepting and getting backstories out of the way, so that I develop all the characters this semester and model them, make them pretty and animate them next semester as part of my final major.

No drawings this post, mainly because I haven’t done much. I actually need to get back on track, so hopefully next post there will be more drawings to show!

Today was one of those days that were just GOOD. Plain, old good, and after a weekend of productive-but-not-really, there is nothing better than it.

So, weekend: it was fruitful in terms of research. Many things were identified, sketched, thrown away, re-sketched, and what not… now its just a matter of putting it together. When will I do that, I don’t know… but I really should do it some point soon considering it’s almost novemeber, and my schedule says I really should be done with my concepts soon.

Which I kind of am. Kind of.

I’ll only know how much i’ve done when I piece it together….

And when will I do that? I don’t know… I need to be in the mood for it. It’s one of those things I don’t do unless I have nothing else to.  (i can’t help it, it’s the most boring part of the work)

But back to the interesting bits, the learning bits! I did much learning today… and it is kind of embarassing that I discovered in one day what I had been hoping to do during the summer: TOPOLOGY IN ZBRUSH. 

I can now topologize in zbrush. I am very pleased with myself, as I got the hang of it pretty quickly, and in the process I obtained the most wonderful base mesh I have done to date. It’s really nothing special, I have done base meshes before, but this one is the first one entirely done in one program. All in Zbrush! i’m so happy and so pleased about it I almost want to name it :_)

Asides from the base mesh, I did quite a few bits and bobs… of human. Modelled and individual torso, arm, leg and head that I can put together to create models relatively quickly (it was doing this, and using the wonderful Zremesher that I produced the base)

and I did some sketching, as always… but nothing too special, really. I still need to do some polishing and modifying before I’m satisfied with them.

I’m hoping to be equally as productive tomorrow. Hopefully this way, I’ll be back on track. I had fallen back slightly. Then again, when I look at the pile of work done, it’s not that bad. I’m doing pretty well for being week 5.

like a record player round and round…

and although that’s not how the song goes, that’s what i’ve been up to: heads! photoshop heads, a zbrush head, head sketches… it’s been all about the faces during the weekend. And a lot of research -i’m currently plowing my way through Shadow of a Mouse by Donald Crafton- but I haven’t got as much to show about that…

My life is just not that interesting…..