Current WIP and future plans for the project

A current WIP of a small painting I wanted to do of a mechanical alien. I plan to experiment with doing some quite strong lighting in this, giving me a chance to improve and experiment. 

Under advice from Steve Goss, I also started looking at updating and designing versions of real vehicles to see how they would look in 20 years or so time. This first attempt is via using a Challenger 2 MBT. I was going to take this original sketch and draw it out better in a different position, then using the similar painting techniques as Scott Robertson to finish it.

This small sketch originally came about while testing out the Cintiq tablet and getting used to it. I liked the design for a construction or demolition robot and wanted to see if I could refine the design in the future. After taking Steve Goss' advice about trying to link my designs to real world vehicles, I started looking at JCB and CAT excavators.

The design is currently a WIP but it is something that I definately want to follow through to a finished product. 

Im hoping to build 3 very high poly models, mainly focusing on mechanical and hard surface for the designs. Along side these three main models, I will also produce a selection of concept work that will be leading up to the finalised designs. 

Sketch Work

These are a few sketches from my sketchbook that I have been working on, There are multiple mech and armour designs, including showing mechanical workings and motions of certain designs. A couple of these I decided to also give some quick colour and shading to by using photoshop. I am hoping to add more detail to them via a full painting sometime, in the same vein as some of Scott Robertson's work.

Marauder Painting

For one of my first images I decided to paint a re-design of the Marauder Battlemech from Mechwarrior using the same techniques as Alex Iglesias, primarily as an exercise to try and improve my 2D painting. From watching a timelapse of him painting, he primarily uses a silhouette and layers the gradient shades over the silhouette to build up the shape.

From 4:50 in this video, the timelapse shows his process.

I found a perspective grid that fit what I needed to paint the mech,beginning with finding reference pictures I could use. The image is still a WIP, as I am struggling to get the mech painted cleanly. I did also start on a non Mechwarrior design, trying to use a slightly more loose painting technique, yet I am not really happy with how the image is turning out.

I hope to come back to these and finalise both images some time, as I believe both have potential, and both can help me with my work and painting technique.

Preliminary research

My research originally started with looking at 3D Artists like Vitaly Bulgarov and Tor Frick. Both have worked in film and games creating extremely detailed and functional looking models of robots, vehicles and weaponry.

With Tor Frick, I looked primarily at his work he did on Wolfenstein: The New Order. The technology level of the game is not too high, being set a while after World War 2, so it shows a lot of mechanical moving parts, as well as panel lines and rivets.

For Vitaly Bulgarov I looked at his Black Phoenix Project. This was created over 7 days using some pre-made parts for the robots as well as custom made ones to create seven distinct vehicles and robots. In a contrast to Tor Frick, his work is very futuristic looking, with clean panel lines .etc.

I also had a look at a few concept artists. Scott Robertson, Sparth, Alex Iglesias and also Vitaly Bulgarov's 2D work. They all have a diverse range of styles and ways of designing and working. It gives me a few options to try and play with when working on 2D work, and thinking about how I can try and update and improve my painting by using similar techniques to them.

3rd Year project pitch and ideas

With this year being our final year of work I originally wanted to do something pretty special with it. Original plans were to make a small wave defense fighting game in Unity to early Xbox 360 level graphics. I originally came up with a set of concept images and a prototype 3D model for the player character which I had planned to build on and improve to be used for the game.

After talking to Ewan, Steve and Tanguy, I was asked what I primarily wanted to be in the industry, which is to be a 2d or 3D mechanical artist. With their advice I decided to focus down from doing a small game to work on portfolio pieces such as high poly models and high detail concept work.

Avatar project

For this project I decided to not do myself, but a general female character, as I believed it would give me more of a challenge. From the start of the box modelling I was going rather well, yet it was when it came to adding extra detailing in the hands and joints primarily that I had trouble, as well as the face. I also gave her some large boots and a skirt, attached to the main body mesh.

The hair was a separate mesh, as were the strands of hair. This was more to do with how I wanted it to look. After finishing the mesh, I exported it to Roadkill as separate OBJ files, cutting out the UVW maps to be used as separate textures later on, as there would be multiple alpha maps for the hair. I took the model into mudbox to give it some more definition, although it was only slight. I baked out a normal map as well as an ambient occlusion map that I used to create the main diffuse map. After placing the diffuse map and the normal map onto the character, I found that the normal map was not working to standards, so I removed it.

I did also add in a skeleton using Human IK. I lined up all the joints and tested the movement, yet had trouble in skinning the multiple meshes to the skeleton.

SU Project

I was tasked with building a set of table and chairs, the doors and the main bar for the SU. I first did the benches and table, making two iterations of the benches after being told to drop the polygon count down. I did also finish a table too, but was told that it wasnt up to scratch late on, the model being replaced by another variant by another person while I continued on modelling the bar.

The bar was the hardest I believe to model, as I wanted to get it as close as I could to the real thing. This would have included the small tables to hold the tills and other items behind the bar, yet I was instructed to try and simplify it a lot more. I did a few variants, eventually getting the shape and poly limits right. I then textured each part of the bar separately as they would be able to be moved about if needed. I left the bar taps white as I was told they would get a chrome shader when put into Unity.

The Doors were a bit more simple than the bar, yet were still slightly complex as I made them to be animatible. I also left the glass as an untextured piece, as I was told it would be made transparent in Unity itself.

Vertical Slice - Enviroment Assets

I began modelling environment assets with the wooden platforms that the players would see dotted about the level to help them get to higher places.I started off by making the docks, including a high poly version to sculpt the wood in Mudbox with. I decided against this early on, and concentrated on the model itself. I then also decided to make it modular, rather than having separate models for the docks, the basic wooden platforms and the platforms with supports. I then made a separate support, wooden platform piece and dock support (which was also able to be used for multiple other pieces around the level). I was able to texture them with the wooden planks texture that we were able to get from Ash, occasionally having to paint in areas myself to fill gaps or do areas he was unable to do.

One of the primary things that needed modelling was the hut near to where the character would start out. This had gone through a couple of variations in the concepts alone before it came time to model. Max had mocked up a design for it at first, which I didn't feel fit the style of the game, with the chunkier wood and cartoon style. I decided to do my own mock up and then create the hut itself. I textured it using the same base wooden planks texture from Ash, cut up and moved around to fit over the UVs, and added my own sections for the cloth. I also added an alpha map on the front too to stop the player going inside and getting stuck in what was a rather small space in the level.

There were a couple of other test objects mocked up, that never really got much further than the model itself, through either not being needed any more of other things taking over such as a lilypad and a tree stump for two examples.

I was then given the task or modelling some ruins platforms, as well as a stone archway. This would serve as the finish point for the level, with a portal effect in the middle. I modeled the main body, and although having a some trouble with getting the rocks correct, I managed to get it done to a pretty good standard. I then decided to add a small frog head made of stone, attached to the middle top of the arch, in reference to the destination where the portal would have sent the player. I did have some trouble with the smoothing groups however on the archway, not as much on the ruin platforms.

I then also did some work on smaller pieces, like signs and some debris, as well as a texture to use on a grass plane for a small bush or shrub.

Vertical Slice - Concept Art

From almost the get go the game was to be set in a swamp or forested area. I already knew that would be enough of a challenge for me, as I am not the most skilled at painting or drawing vegetation and landscapes, being more focused on characters and objects. Still, I decided to try, as it would at the least give me experience and help me improve.

When the voodoo theme and the more cartoon style was decided on, I instantly thought of the old Playstation 2 game, 'Tak and the Power of Juju'. It definitely helped me think of the more stereotypical jungle themed terrain.

I wanted to primarily use wood for most of the environment objects, with it being bound by rope or by large, crude looking nails and screws, keeping with the cartoon theme. This also gave me the the original idea of trying to make everything look rather painted, as in the top image above.

I also had a go at redesigning a couple of the characters that Ed had designed, primarily the frog and the Wooden zombie. I made the frog a slight bit more threatening and large, with a slightly lizard like appearance, including things such as fangs and large claws, as well as bulking out the body. I also did a similar thing for the wood monster, making the chest more pronounced and getting rid of its shield to try and make it more of a threat to the player. Unfortunately, neither of these characters would be used in the final game.

I also did a few sets of concepts for other objects that would be laid around the level, such as lanterns, log platforms and multiple mask designs. I then was asked to do final designs.

I also did a few attempts at painting up larger areas for the game, such as the boss arena, which unfortunately was cut along with the boss fight. I also did a sketch that was only slightly progressed into a painting of the environment as a whole. It included a few things that also did not end up in the game, such as the fishing sloth, boat, lily pads and some others.