Christmas Break

As the quarter ends and Christmas gets closer, I feel relieved for every moment I get a break. We have only been out for less than a week and I feel like this is the best break a man can get. 3 weeks of solitude, peace, and no deadlines (YES!!!). Anyway, instead of taking the 3 weeks and slacking off, I have since added one more project to my winter tasks. I will be attempting a full color character concept as well for my portfolio. Keep your eyes peeled, this is gonna be a good one. Until then, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Pool Work

I am needing to branch out my sources and opportunities. Therefore, I am currently working on an architectural piece that will contain my own layout of a backyard with various pools and fountains. The pictures attached should give you an idea of where I am going with the project. This project is going to be done in the hopes that I will be able to get into 3D Design for various different firms and companies that differ from Game Art. I am putting a lot into this project, and with that, I hope you take a lot from it as it comes closer to me having a finished piece.

Rain

The title is self explanatory. But this is a digital painting I did just for the fun of art. I haven't had any time to just do me lately. I hear that's going around a lot too (teachers, students, friends). Anyway, here it is...

Victorian Restoration

Here is a little idea I got from watching HGTV way too much. I decided to take a picture of a victorian house that was pretty old, but not too dilapidated, and restore it digitally as if I were to actually do the restoration progress. This is what I came up with:

Character Update Pt. 2

This here is just a front view of the character for a better idea of his size. Most of the detail, by the way, will be done mostly with the texture.

Character Update

So far so good. I just finished about 95% of the low poly creation and am ready to put it into zbrush and pump it up a bit. At this low poly point, I am just below 4000 polys with 3,826. This my first attempt at a character with separate pieces (i.e shoes, shirt, glasses, shorts and hair). I can't wait to see how this is going to turn out in the finalized version. The rigging of this project is so important and is one of the reasons why it is taking so long. I am very cautious about where I make the cuts and where to put certain things on the model. But for the most part, no problems so far.

New Character Progress

I started this character earlier today and the basics of the character are coming out to be great. I have achieved a lot of success in being able to control the number of triangles and keep it mostly quads. At just above 2000 poly's, I have tons of space left for a reasonable low poly creation to function in any engine. This here would be the main mascot or character for the game I was mentioning before (mixing "nerds" and weightlifting) that would be a totally fictional and fun game... More updates to come soon

Matte Painting

Here is some more insight on what I have been doing lately. I wanted to try my hand at attempting a matte painting using Photoshop. I think it's great for now. I wanna continue working on it because I think it could be a great piece to showcase in my portfolio. I pretty much got the idea from being bored in my psychology class a few weeks ago :) . This piece follows the concept I made for it pretty well, just with some more action and life added to it. All in all, I am loving life right now... So be prepared for a lot more things from me in the coming posts.

Current Rigging Project

Here is a slightly crummy version of a concept sketch I am currently working on in 3D. I am attempting to teach myself rigging using 3DS Max. This character, hopefully, by the end will be part of another game idea I have always wanted to do combining nerds in high school and weightlifting.

Model Retouches

These pictures here are of a model with a production company I have been freelancing for for the past few months now. As you can see, the first picture is the original, and was in need of some serious retouching. I was able to get a lot of faults out without top of the line equipment. Just a lil' Photoshop and some time. I have recently done 3 other models that can't be shown at the moment, but are definitely top quality works.

Revamped Creature

Here is a comparison of the two models that I did. The top, the revamp, and the bottom the original. This project was definitely a learning experience and an actual relief to have to start over. Along the way of this project I found flaws that could easily have been fixed, new techniques on the texture mapping and layout, as well as some better quad modeling techniques.

Fictional Basketball Character

I recently finished this character in 3DS Max and ZBrush. I wanted to go for a fictional, yet realistic look for this model. I have wanted to make a game geared towards teaching kids how to play at a young age without all of the complex button schemes of today's basketball games.

The Works Are Finished... For Now

The work is done! The creature is back and better than ever and my new character is all ready. Updates will be up as early as tomorrow morning.

Update on the Game Idea

I was so hyped about getting this game idea off the ground that I may have over estimated my partner's enthusiasm and skill. This may be a little harder than first anticipated. I, myself, have pretty much withdrawn from focusing solely on this one project. I figure, the time will come when it needs to. Until then, I have better things to do.

Hard at Work

Over the past few months, a friend and I decided to create an action-riddled game, full with the documentation as well as artwork. Pretty much everything but the playable game itself. I'm talking about full out story mode. I am trying to get this to the point where anyone would be able to read the documents and see the artwork and already know how the game will be played out. There will not be one corner untouched, not one rock unturned. Hopefully, I can get this for a great portfolio doc that can one day be my bread-and-butter to fame.

Unfortunate Events

Recently, I just started a new project creating an original creature (you can view shots of it on my homepage at therightchoyce.com). I had it all textured and ready for a high-poly creation to get it normal mapped. All of a sudden, in the process of backing up my files to another hard drive, the hard drive containing all the files for the creature and any work I did for the past 3 months had crashed. Completely gone, no more. All I have left are those few pictures of what was going to be some of the greatest work to date. No looking back now... Gotta keep going forward