Number Thirty One.

Triangulation. :)

we are approaching breakthrough territory.

Number Thirty.

Part 1. My Nephew's happy mug. more to come.

I just realized that this blog thing has been up for exactly two years now. Shoot.

Number Twenty Nine.

Imagine an old man in a knit cap with glasses.

Number Twenty Eight.

Two new sketches tonight; one an excercise in reproduction, the other an elaboration on an older, more incoherrent sketch.

Number Twenty Seven.

I've spent the last month rethinking how I draw.

Might be on to something.

Number Twenty Six.

On being 16:

When I was 16, this was the kind of stuff I drew pretty consistently. The Eye. I'm not entirely sure why, I think it might just be endemic to the age. Actually, I think 12 might be more accurate. Dark was cool, bio-mechanical was cool. Psuedo-Geiger. Angsty? Sure.

I did some cleaning/organizing tonight and I stumbled across a handful of sketchbooks I kept in high school. I guess that was the inspiration tonight.

The new job is going very well. Things in general are pretty groovy.

Number Twenty Five

Today was my dad's birthday. Happy Birthday Thomas Guy Williams, aka Dad.

I spent the day working on this one. I finished the initial thumbnail a little after midnight this morning. I spent the last 4 hours "Hd-ing" it.

I like to think maybe, somewhere at the bottom of the ocean, a couple like this might live. A man, and a giant octopus thing. That's what love is all about.


Enjoy.

Number Twenty Four.

I'm not sure if you heard, but my studio, my *first* studio, EA Chicago, bit the dust last week. And it bit the dust without warning.

But don't panic! While heartbreaking and shocking, all hope is not lost. In fact, it looks as though things should be working themselves out quite nicely here in the short term. It just sucks to know that I will probably never work with the same group of talented, hard-working, wonderful people that I have worked with for the last year. At least not all at the same time. This was my family.

So here I am again. And I come with gifts.

Over the last month since I got a new PC (the last one died promptly after I unpacked it from the box after I moved), I have been working on little random digital sketches.

I start with a 100x200 pixel thumbnail. For whatever reason, working that small allows me to loosen up a little and concentrate more on value and shapes. When I get something that I like, I then create the "Hd" version, which I draw directly on top of an up-rezzed (how do you spell that?) version of the original thumbnail.

The two I am posting are "Zombie Lurking in the Woods" and "Mario: A Portrait", which each took a couple of hours to create. The idea is to keep busy and keep those sweet creative juices flowing.

Beyond that, If I need to start making new 3d stuff for a demo reel, at least I am keeping myself loose.

How have you been?

Number Twenty Three.

Finally, a demo reel.




This is a test version I slapped up on YouTube. It still needs a little spit and polish here and there, but, overall I am happy with it. Oh, and it needs a different song I think. (The black borders are there to compensate for both TV safe, as well as to preserve the aspect ratio.)

I need a job.

Number Twenty Two.

A lamp!

Number Twenty One.

I have made a few new tileable textures. I think these textures live well together. Oh, and I also figured out how to turn off the "doom mitts", so no more hands in the screenshots.


Keep on truckin...

Number Twenty.

I added a chair!

I am going to build a few more props, some debris decals, a few new textures. and stuff.

Number Nineteen.

I made a grungy hospital bed. It's quite filthy.

A few more props and I will begin work on crafting the overall environment. From there, it's on to polishing everything to a grungy shine, recording a walkthrough of the whole thing, doing model turn-arounds, wireframe passes, adding some subtle postprocessing effects, a soundtrack, and... yeah. I still have tons to do.

Number Eighteen.

Another rendering.

I am also making a bed, but it's not textured or imported yet.

Busy tonight. Back Tomorrow.

Number Seventeen.

I added a new bucket model into the mix. It still needs some work, but it's well on its way.


Update: This is a comparison of the original version of this prop I made in Maya back in June with the latest rendering. Pre-rendered vs. real-time. What a difference a few months makes...

Number Sixteen

I spent a little time this morning creating a wood panel texture to be used for various kinds of frames. I also embellished a little on the walls and ceiling. I would consider this more "messing around" than true progress for the environment.

Even in this premature state, I am very happy with the "un-doomishness" of everything.

Number Fifteen.

After a brief hiatus, I returned to discover a nasty problem with my computer that caused my computer to crash at inoportune times while using Doom 3, or Studio max. Not good.

Turns out, as far as I can tell, the problem was caused by not having enough space on my windows drive. I haven't had any problems since I cleared it up.

Anyway, I started making little debris pile objects. Right now, they need to be sculted and shaped a little bit more.

***Update:****


Note: I have shaped them a little here. More importantly, I have figured out some cool tricks you can do with editing elements of an object in studio max. (ie. rescaling, repostioning, duplicating, etc.)The moral of the story here, I think, is that I can make rubble objects. I will probably not use this particular piece, it was more of an experiment than anything else.

Number Fourteen.

Not much has changed since yesterday, I addded some work to the ceilings underneath the second floor, and i covered the bottom of the stair cases so you cant see the steps from below.

I need to take some more time to flesh out the overall design of this area, maybe even find some real world inspiration.

Number Thirteen.

I built a rough window. It is very tall. It is something I saw in my initial concepts of this particular environment. This is not nessicarily how it will look in the finished version-- it is a merely a suggestion, or place holder.

Oh. and the bloom lighting coming through is courtesy of photoshop, I don't think this version of the engine supports it.

Number Twelve.

(not sure what that strange black box is that is hovering over the abyss in the video)

I spent all day revamping my staircase environment idea. And I did it! I made my first "environment" that is not just a room, or a hallway and a room. It hasn't been textured, and its missing lots of details, but its got railings, and banisters. Progress!