Brand New Demo Reel

Yet again, here is a new demo reel.

I may get the hang of this yet!


I Hope you like it, Let me know what you think!

Robot Compositing, With breakdowns!

Here is what I have been working on at school lately.

This is the robot model I built and textured, comp'd into a photo of the schools cafeteria.

We had a lighting class in which we shot HDR light probes.
I also shot a few stills for background plates that day, and this is the result of a days or so work.

Pretty happy with how it turned out. I added a breakdown sequence this week and I'll probably put this on my upcoming Demo reel.

Environment for next semester !

One of my big projects for quarter 6 is doing an environment model.

So, over the break I'm scouting locations for my model.

I haven't decided which location I'm going to make, but here are a few ideas that I'm kicking around.

The showcase in front of the Nova Scotia Art Gallery

The Dominion Public Building on Bedford Row

The Alexander Keiths Brewery Market

The Nova Scotia Divinity College

The Halifax Armory on Agricola St.

The Halifax Commons Fountain

The Halifax Commons Skate Park

Quinpool Education Centre

Quinpool Video Difference

Quinpool Tower Apartments Green Space

Most of these are Halifax landmarks, the green space is actually a park that is located on top of an apartment building!

I like all the locations but I think my favorites are the Skate Park, the Greenspace, the Brewery Market, and Video Difference.

The skate park is nice, due to its large size, but its relatively low detail, most of the interest comes from the texturing of that environment, however I'm not super into skating, and I think one of my classmates may be interested in it as well.

I like the Green space, because it is a neat area that many people, haven't seen.
But it has a lot of trees and plants, which I feel may give me some trouble when modeling. Also, I think having a recognizable location on my demo reel would be a good thing.

I love movies and Video Difference is my favorite video store. There is a great deal of detail on the storefront, which could make an impressive model, and I love their neon sign.

I still haven't decided, and will keep looking for new locations around Halifax this week. I am trying to stay away from modeling my apartment, as that has been very popular at school in the past.

New Demo Reel Q5

Its that time of year again!

I feel good about this one, I got almost everything I wanted to show, in my reel this time.

I feel like every semester is getting better and better, and ya cant ask for more than that!

Enjoy and leave comments!

Soldier Concept Painted!

It has been very busy in my world in the last two weeks. It is the end of my fifth quarter at the Centre for Arts and Technology. As with every semester I am in the middle of preparing a new demo reel! It is a very stressful time of year, but also very rewarding, as I am forced to complete projects I have been working on over the past few months.

Here is one of the many things I have finished up in the past two weeks!
A painted version of my Soldier Concept!

I should Have my new demo reel up soon!

John

Yet Another Character Design!

I Did one final character design for my instructor Simon West's character design class.

I took a doodle I did a few months ago and fleshed it out somewhat more.

I am pretty happy with how it came out, I had fun doing a cartoon character for a change.

If I can find the time, I will make him in 3D. Or sculpt him at least.

Stay tuned!

And check out Simon West!

Another Character Design

Here is another Character Design I have been working on for school!

Rough Sketch

I decided to lift my character from an existing story, due to the fact that I have a lot less time to complete this character than I have had for my previous ones.

The idea comes from the movie "The Rock", in which the main antagonist is a military officer played by Ed Harris, that is holding people hostage, until the government pays benefits to the families of soldiers who died in a unpublicized war/engagement.
The essence of the character is that he is a life long military man, who's allegiance is to his men above all else. He has been pushed to the breaking point, and seeing no other alternative, is willing to do something awful, in order to bring about a positive change.





Structure Drawing

My character is a career military captain, who has worked his way up from the bottom ranks. He cares more for his men than military politics. His squad is outfitted with advanced technology, his weapon is a backpack that generates an electric charge and shoots lightning from a robotic glove on his right arm. After some of his men get killed in a skirmish where the enemy have similar technology, he feels responsible and vows to set things right. He fights for justice, against a ruthless corporation selling weaponry to the enemy, and a General who tries to cover it all up.








Clothing Rough

Lightning Rough

I was a little scared of a short deadline on this project so I decided to come up with a idea as fast as possible and start work immediately. It only took me 20 minutes and a cup of coffee to decide on the base idea of Ed Harris shooting lightning haha. Greg Brown, one of my instructors at the Centre for Arts and Technology, has helped me quite a bit with this project, and how to begin working on my character design chops.

The best parts of character design are the details. The little things that hint about a deeper story, but don't draw attention to themselves. I easily gave the character a cool lightning backpack and a military style outfit. But Greg suggested some ways to think about the character and start adding details. For example, He started as a grunt and has worked his way up, so he probably has military style tattoos from his boot camp/first assignment. Does he have a family? Does he need eye protection from shooting lightning? Should he have a sidearm? What division/company is he from? Where was he before now? Did he come straight from a warzone, dirty and tired, or has he been home and is all clean. Most of the best stuff comes from actually trying to make a story for the character, and adding details from that. A person just looking at your pretty 3d model ( or painting ) will likely never read your back story, but it will add visual interest and noise none the less.

All roughs put together!

This is my 3rd character design that I have done at school, and I feel like I'm finally sinking my teeth into how to think about design.

These photos were roughs I have done up, the somewhat more polished ones will follow soon!

Thanks again to Greg for the help!

Check out Greg's Blog!

Robots!

This semester at school we are making robots!

We are going to start with concept and move all the way to renders.
An exciting project but also a daunting task.

I originally thought it would be interesting to do an African mask inspired robot. But as I was Google image searching for inspiration I found an amazing picture of an Aztec statue that I was really into.

I decided to take this head and design my robot around it.

I have always loved how people take mythology or legend and take it in a new direction. Zbrush central is full of realistic sculpts of cartoon characters which I have always loved. So I went on to Wikipedia and read all about Aztec mythology. I found a very interesting story about a god named Tezcatlipoca. Tezcatlipoca was the guardian of the underworld but was not an evil god like the devil. He was a devious deceiving character. He would sometimes trick evil people into doing bad things and then claim their souls. He and his brother Quetzalcoatl were responsible for creating the earth. They battled a massive crocodile god long ago. In the battle Tezcatlipoca lost his leg but they eventually killed the beast. The brothers transformed the crocodile god into the earth as we know it.

This is my design for a robot Aztec god. He still has the same head that I found. I have tried to work in as many design elements from his story as possible. He is a deceiver so I thought it would be interesting to have him have the posture of an old man. I want him to seem like a man at first glance but when you look closer you see that he is definitely not. I am going to put robot eyes somewhere other than the face. I think this will make it clear that the robot is pretending to be a human.

It’s been a very interesting project so far but now I have the task of starting in 3D. It’s tough to get started but I am very excited to see him come to life in the renders.

New Demo Reel

It's the end of my first year at the Centre for Arts and Technology.
At the end of every semester we cut a new demo reel with our most recent work.
So here it is! Enjoy!

Sculpting Creatures

Here is my first sculpt.
A Creature Bust made in Maya, Mudbox, and a little Photoshop.

Concept

Sculpt

Sculpt with Texture

Render with Displacement Maps