I've been adjusting my workflow recently by starting my models from scratch in Zbrush instead of Maya. The advantages to this are that I can move much faster and block in entire forms in a matter of minutes, though the lack of control over edgeflow is rather frustrating. Retopologizing in Zbrush is doable but I'm still really slow with it.

Here's a quick sculpt I did today, going to keep working this up and incorporate it into a 3D illustration I'm planning... more on that soon.

Still a work in progress, though it's coming along... can't decide whether I'm happy with it or not.

and after a while, you can work on points for style...

Got a phone call from Animation Magazine informing me that my illustration for their poster pitch contest won second place! Always enjoy waking up to good news. Pictured left is my submission (which is a revamped version of an older illustration I did).

Can

Work in progress, have a long way to go still. Though, it's cool seeing it with a carpaint shader on it...

With the school shutdown for the break, updates to this blog are (and will be) less frequent. But I've still managed to get some work done on the thesis project, here's a work in progress render of BOX, with the look/development getting pretty close to final...

More updates soon.

No Talking

So the back obviously isn't done, and the feet look awful, but coming along so far otherwise...

Hoping I can retain all of this detail after bringing this guy back into Maya from Zbrush...

Fly

Zbrush model, work in progress. Will be putting all those bones and muscles I did last semester into this guy once done...

Four Tet Remix

Still not finished, but coming together...

Eight Line Poem

Photoshop promotional piece. One new technique I've been using to help generate abstract shapes is the copy pieces of the image, distort them, then composite them with half opacity. It helps add more detail and form on the fly, while maintaining consistency in style and color. Happy with this one, took about 20 hours.

Star Me Kitten

Work in progress shot from Viridian, depicting one of the last moment's of the film where... well, I don't want to spoil it. The idea with this scene is to take an environment that is initially ominous, but make it tranquil, lush, and inviting at the same time. Am I there yet? Not quite, but I'm happy with where it's going so far. This shot will be multi-planed in After Effects to give it a "fake parallax" effect seen in old Disney animation.

Film will be done first week of June, so far so good.

Djed

After having not touched it in months, I've remembered why I love Zbrush so much. Anyways, just now starting the skin detail from my anatomy class, I'm going to put a transparent shader on the skin so all of the bones and muscles will be visible underneath. If I have time, maybe even the cardiovascular system, but knowing how busy this quarter has been, don't count on it.

Ignoreland

Two speed-paints from this afternoon, about 45 minutes each.