Swarm environment style guide

Environmental style guide I made for the art team. Had to think a bit about this one, more so than the character one. Probably will do a more detailed one later down the line 

Swarm Style Guide

So I was made Co Art Lead on the Swarm AGP. First task was to establish some guidelines for the characters. Will probably get more specific within the context of the actual game later on since these are fairly general. Onto environments next!

First prop

Here's the modeled out version of a coffee maker for my first prop for class. I actually really prefer modeling props and environment stuff over characters. Maybe Zbrush will change that in the future. Kevin's a really great teacher. Dedicated, straight-forward, and professional.

Another semester at LCAD

Here are some storyboard type stuff we did in class yesterday for my Visual Storytelling class which we were supposed to do with 3 main values. The PC at school didn't have any pressure sensitivity so I ended up using a lasso tool. I finished some of these up with a soft brush to blend in some of the hard edges.

I really like my teachers so far. Dan Quarnstrom for Environment Design is super awesome and motivational!

Fixing up old work

One piece of advice from Justin over at 343 told me was that it's a good idea to revisit old work and try to improve upon them. In my last post I talked about how I was unsatisfied with this piece. Well, I took it into Photoshop and put a B&W filter over it and found a lot of inconsistencies in some of the values. 

Her upper body and face should be the focal point in the piece yet her legs and lower part of the painting had to most contrast between the bright background and dark leggings. I kinda messed around with it a bit and feel like it looks a bit better this way.

I'm still not completely satisfied with it, but I think it's a step in the right direction. I'll probably go back to some of my other concepts and rework them before I apply for internships this Winter!

Not good enough

So I spent several days on this piece but yet I'm still not satisfied with it. Perhaps it's because I struggled a bit in my process. I tried to go straight to color but couldn't get it to work out so I spent most of the rendering time in black and white. I also wasn't completely happy with how the face turned out. 

I guess this is sorta a good thing. I know that there are areas I need to improve at least!

CTN and Networking

A few days ago my friend and I went to a Robotpencil workshop featuring Anthony Jones, Dan Luvisi, and Kalen Chock. This was really one of the first workshops/art gathering or whatever you want to call them I've been to outside of LCAD and it had a ton of industry professionals attending.

What do I even say to these people? How do I network? Part of me just wanted to shove my portfolio in their face, fall on my knees, and beg them for a job. Unfortunately, it's not that simple. Networking is an aspect of the industry that everyone talks about and yet don't explain how to.

I shook hands with a couple people, did some small talk, but that was it. How do I find you later? How do you find me? My website?

Now having experienced that, I feel like my next major networking opportunity, CTN, will hopefully go a little bit better. I just designed and ordered some business cards and I'm going to make sure I bring my tablet to show off my portfolio next time!

Meanwhile, here's a little doodle for WideAwake after a month long break!