THOUGHTS OF CHOYCE

1: Up and At ’Em

2010-02-06T10:31:00.001-08:00

This is a great little web series I recently got turned on to after watching the "Zombieland" DVD. The extras are pretty cool actually. But anyway, this is a pretty cool show. I posted the premiere episode; If you like this one, then I definitely suggest going to crackle to watch the rest of the webisodes.

From Crackle: 1: Up and At 'Em

Current CCS Project

2010-02-06T10:21:00.000-08:00

In an attempt to work with the Parks and Recreations committee on public improvements, ideal conditions, and many other things, we have decided to recreate a park environment, showing the growth and potential of such an investment. Below are a few quick shots (as promised) of some of the project.

The Work of An Honest Man

2010-02-06T09:33:00.000-08:00

It has been over a year since my last post. In that time I have graduated with my bachelors, gotten married, moved to TWO different states, and started my own creative services business, Choyce Creative Services (CCS).

It has been a hard year, mainly because I am trying to build my company in a courageous fashion; without loans or investors. I have had to put my time, money, and effort into this business and, frankly, it is taxing at times. However, the feeling that you aren't stiffing people or ripping them off just to make a profit to pay off someone else is a very rewarding endeavor.

So, in the last year I have had to build my clientele from a measly family member or two, to more than 50 paying customers :). However, it is still not substantial enough to claim success. I have managed to create what I feel is a marketable company, just getting the world to see my side is the struggle.

I am working on a quick shot of the project we are working on at the moment to post next. If you go to the company website, www.choycecs.com, you will see what the business is all about and maybe even decide to use us in the future for your design needs.

Success is Near

2008-11-10T11:36:00.000-08:00

As graduation day nears, I feel more and more confident in my abilities to perform at the professional level. Being that it has been so long since my last post, I thought I'd catch you up on what I have been working on...

With our game, Tesla's Wrath, there is a lot to say about the guys (and girl :) ) on the team. It is a team of very talented individuals and I am glad to be a part of it. When it releases in the spring of next year, I hope it gets as much, if not more, recognition as our predecessors. I will not be posting any of the work from the game here, but I will be keeping you posted as to when it will be released and when the website will be launched.

Ferrari Enzo Project Coming Along

2008-08-03T23:26:00.000-07:00

I have been up for countless hours putting this thing together. It is in it's final stages and I am confident in its outcome. I really struggled with coming up with a less time consuming way of completing it. Using all kinds of methods to get it done; using separate objects, uv unwrapping, and so on. I finally felt that using procedural mapping would be best and it has proven to be a good choice thus far.

"Desolate" Rig Test

2008-08-03T20:41:00.000-07:00

I had a tough time getting this rig to the point that it's at. There were so many vertices and areas that were affected by bones on the complete opposite side of the body. It was so tedious, yet, I love to get to this point in the modeling of the character and it will definitely be in my portfolio very soon...

"Desolate" Main Character (cont'd)

2008-08-01T22:28:00.000-07:00

I got a bit further with the character and feel confident that it is headed in the right direction. I began the rig for the character using "biped". Reason being, that at the moment, I am just interested in getting the character to perform basic movements for my portfolio demo reel. Later on, I may incorporate a more versatile rig...

"Desolate" Main Character

2008-08-01T15:27:00.000-07:00

As you may have seen before, I had the idea for a game revolving around a diluted human population with what I feel to have a Resident Evil feel mixed with the movie "Waterworld". When making the pitch to my peers, I froze up and was not able to present the idea to the fullest. Still feeling strong about the idea, I decided to go ahead with the concept of the main character and place him in 3ds Max. What you are seeing in the shots are very early renders that show the progress of the character so far. I decided to go ahead with this project because of an old blog or article written by Ben Mathis. In short, he said it was important to get as much work out of yourself as possible. I have always heard that, and always followed it, but reading it from him made that statement so much stronger. Therefore, even though this was not picked by my peers at the time, it may prove vital in the long run to have it worked on in depth.

Nascar Truck

2008-07-08T23:42:00.000-07:00

In order to get my portfolio more filled with high quality work, I began this truck in 3ds Max roughly 6 hours prior. If you have gone to my portfolio site, you have seen that the 3D section is a little skim and in the need for some more work. Therefore, I have been putting a lot of work into coming up with things that I could showcase very well in 3D. I also loved the way it looked when rendered, even at this point in the modeling, so I decided to share it with you all...

Enzo Pt. 2

2008-06-15T20:08:00.000-07:00

With more progress made on the final version of the Enzo before it is textured, I felt the need to show the most up to date model.

The Crew

2008-06-15T00:36:00.000-07:00

Seeing as how a lot of boy bands, rap groups, r & b groups, and dance crews all seem to fall into some kind a cliche niche that consists of 5 guys, I decided to come up with a group that shows just that, as a small spoof of the sort; a group of young guys who portray a rap look, yet have the characteristics to fit the role of everything else in this entertainment realm. If you grew up in an urban environment, then you know what I was getting at with 4 "light-skinned" guys and a dark one :)

Please enjoy my work and keep checking for the new works to come.

I did this piece in photoshop taking about 6 hours from concept to completion. All of the designs of the clothing were all custom designed. I wanted to give an impression on what my "fashion design" skills consisted of.

Asylum Concept

2008-06-11T15:18:00.000-07:00

With the current project I am a part of, there is a hospital level proposed to be in the game. I, however am not certain of what sections of the hospital will be seen in the game. I did this concept of a crazy escaped committee from the psych ward. I really think this could work very well and is a great concept with a lot of emotion and feel for the character. It may just be one of my best concepts to date (in my opinion).

Ferrari Enzo

2008-06-11T15:03:00.000-07:00

In the recent weeks, I regained my focus to be able to begin creating some great work that I feel very confident in and can say is a large improvement in my previous works. I decided to put the WIP of this project up because the methods by which I created were something that I, personally, have not seen anyone do with a mechanical or hard object...

I started the project with a simple line silhouetting the car, making the appropriate cuts when needed. Once the outline was finished, I extruded the the line out and collapsed the two layers. This then made the object an editable mesh. I cannot stand working in editable mesh, so I converted to an editable poly. And after a few breakless hours, I have gotten to a point where the time and effort really shows and shows well. As you can see at the top, the car at this point is exceeding 5,000 polys. I didn't want to give myself a poly limit because I wanted to get all the detail possible with the modeling versus the texture.

I decided to show the model with the wireframe attached to it to show the how cuts were made and to show the inner workings of the model rather than just showing the gray model itself. At this point in the render it is roughly 10 hours in.

Concept Renders

2008-05-14T23:37:00.000-07:00

As a pitch for my original game design, these are concepts that I included in the pitch. Unfortunately, my game idea was not chosen and it is still up in the air as to when or if I will ever be able to create this idea in a full game. Each was done in Photoshop CS3.

Choyce Cinemas

2008-03-13T00:10:00.000-07:00

Ha ha, yeah, I like the sound of that. Anyway, here is an early render of something I started just today. I have had the idea to model out a movie theater for quite some time now. I just never got around to doing it. I have so many ideas swimming around in my head, and a lot get lost along the way. But this idea is sure to stick and will hopefully come out on top.

Breathing Animation

2008-03-11T16:48:00.000-07:00

With this model, I used morph targets to animate the breathing motions rather than completely trying to key animate every motion. This works a lot better than trying to manually animate simple animations such as breathing, blinking, or subtle facial expressions.

If you look closely, you will see the chest move out with the neck inhaling and cheeks puffing. I forgot the video doesn't loop on its own, so you may have to view it several times to see the subtleties of the animation.

Weekend Warrior

2008-03-02T18:16:00.000-08:00

Somehow, I found the time once again to handle some unfinished business; modeling business anyway. I got the urge late Saturday night and just started to work on whatever I could get my hands on. I found myself working on 3 or 4 projects at once. Going back and forth, fixing this, adding that, modifying over here... I feel relieved at this point that I can honestly say that I am no longer at a plateau of nothingness. But below, as you can see, this is just another update of my previous character, just with some better lighting that I was working on. I found out this new technique with final gather and just wanted to test it out on something that I had already started on. The other is a brand-spankin' new scene that I worked on for quite a while over the night and most of the afternoon today. I am loving this apartment. More renders will be made available once I get a little further ahead. Please enjoy, and please leave a comment.

Meshes, Meshes, and More Time!

2008-02-24T15:34:00.000-08:00

Here are some updates I have been working on for our upcoming project, Toonville Horror. These are just some screenshots of some of the characters I worked on for the game as well as some 3D assets and such. Nothing is ever a finished piece of work, but for now, these are the versions that are currently "finished". Enjoy!

Current Projects

2008-02-13T14:11:00.000-08:00

It's been a month since my last post. Since then, I have been promoted to Art Lead in the upcoming prototytpe student work of "Toonville Horror". We have been working on this for the past 4 to 5 months or so and the date is set for March 22, 2008. The last 2 months is how long it has been since my promotion. Eventhough it is only a small team of 6, it is a very large load to carry. But lately, the team has been able to pull through to meet about 90% of the projects deadlines. The purpose of the game is to bring the toon world to the nightmarish "Silent Hill" feel. So, you can expect twisted ideas, creepy little toons, and just a mix up of reality and imagination. Very soon, I will be posting the game cover to give more of a feel of what the game contains. Until, keep posted for I will continue to show my worth through this blog and my portfolio site. Don't forget to check out therightchoyce.com to see the finished works of many of the updates on this blog.

Basketball Court Project

2008-01-11T19:51:00.000-08:00

Here is the initial render of a fictional court that I had the immediate idea for. At the point in the render, I am about 3 hours in.

Christmas Break

2007-12-19T15:53:00.000-08:00

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

2007-12-11T22:43:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-16T11:30:00.000-08:00

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

2007-10-07T18:36:00.000-07:00

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

2007-09-29T22:18:00.000-07:00

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

2007-09-29T22:10:00.001-07:00

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

2007-09-29T00:19:00.000-07:00

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

2007-09-28T18:27:00.000-07:00

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

2007-09-25T19:33:00.000-07:00

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

2007-09-25T00:39:00.001-07:00

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

2007-09-25T00:29:00.000-07:00

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

2007-09-24T20:59:00.000-07:00

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

2007-09-17T11:02:00.000-07:00

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

2007-09-07T14:22:00.000-07:00

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

2007-08-24T12:16:00.000-07:00

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

2007-08-22T14:26:00.000-07:00

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