Long time no post!  Apologies for the extended silence but I’ve been kept fairly busy with professional work, freelance work, personal work, and grad school – all while trying to maintain a healthy social life (important!).

Some updates since the last time I’ve posted – The Sky Fisherman got into the Character Modeling 3 book put out by Ballistic Publishing – you can check it out at the link below.  It’s an honor to be included in this collection of some of the best modelers in the world (my stuff totally sucks compaired them!).  It’s definately worth checking out for the brilliant tutorials and page after page of inspiration.  http://www.ballisticpublishing.com/books/dartiste/character_modeling_3/

I’ve got about 8 (!) finished models I still need to render and post up to the site, I’m hoping for a few free days over holidays to get around to that.  Finished Time Trap, 4 characters for an animated TV series being developed by Shiny Pear studio, 2 characters that were turned into 3D prints for a client, and a totally new character named Yack… so check back around early January for those updates.

Big News!  I’m going to be taking a short break from Grad School to work as a Character Modeling intern at Walt Disney Animation Studios in Burbank, CA!  I’m looking forward to working at a studio with such rich history, alongside some of the best artists in the world.  Check back soon for pictures and updates!

Hey all, apologies for the lack of updates, freelance work has taken priority and I haven’t had too much free time to work on personal projects lately.   But check back soon for the final updates on ‘TimeTrap’, as well as a new character I’ve begun working on named ‘RecordLove’.

In the mean time, I’ve been invited to give a few Character Modeling demos at this year’s Game Developers Conference here in San Francisco.  This’ll be my first time at GDC and I’m looking forward to seeing the conference and giving the demos.

So if you’re going to be in the Bay Area next week, drop by the booth and say hi!
Here’s a link to the official Dominance War page with all the info:  GDC 2009

Happy New Year everyone! – I hope your 2008 was as fantastic as mine, and here’s to an even better 2009!
I’m back home in the DC area for a few weeks, so updates on Time Trap and some VFX projects I’ve worked on at school will be posted up as soon as I get a chance.  Talk to you next year!

As I mentioned in one of the earlier posts, I’ve been working on a Ad for HP Wireless Printing.  One of the shots required a specific camera move on the printer – but the film crew didn’t get the shot, so they needed a fully accurate 3D model of the printer to perform the move on – and thats where I come in.  The printer was done using the PowerNURBS plugin for 3ds Max.  It’s very good for complex curves and hard-surface shapes.

The model has been handed off for texturing, and I’ll be getting back to work on the Time Trap project soon.
 

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I’ve got something pretty sweet to share today – a 18″ tall 3D print of my Sky Fisherman model – built by Offload Studios. 

Their work is truly amazing (magic as far as I’m concerned), and it’s been awesome to see them do what they do best.  The rest of the photos of the 3D print can be seen in the ‘CG / VFX Gallery’ section of the site.  Also, be sure to check out the other 3D prints they’ve done at: www.OffloadStudios.com

Sorry for the lack of updates recently – been very busy working on other projects, one of which is an Ad for HP Printers (more on that in the near future).  Had a chance this weekend to work on the proportions of the Handman, and finished modeling the watches.  I’m thinking about animating this guy in the near future, so we’ll see how that goes.  ZBrush detailing up next.

This weekend I had some time to work on the Time Trap project a little more.  Brought it up to SubD level 4 – blocked in more of the larger forms, muscle groups, folds in the hands / feet, etc.  Now its ready to finally kick it up to the higher SubD’s and really get into the details.

Began sculpting the handman today.  Brought it up to SubD level 3 so far – just blocking in the larger forms and adjusting proportions.  Almost ready to kick it up a few more subdivisions and really start getting into the details.

Heres the finished high-res Trap model – modeled in 3ds max.
Just need to model a few watches, and its time to take the handman into ZBrush.

Heres the finished basemesh for the handman.  Just need to model a few of the props and it’ll be time to take him into ZBrush.

Note: I’ve kept the character as symmetrical as possible so I can get the most out of my sculpting in ZBrush.  When the time is right, I’ll move the left arm back into its correct position using ZBrush’s transpose tools.

All settled in to my new home in San Francisco, and ready to start cranking out some new work!
The next modeling project I’ll be working on is titled ‘Time Trap’ - after Lior Arditi’s fantastic concept art:

I’ve arrived and unpacked at my new place in San Francisco.
I’m already loving the new environment, and excited to start taking some VFX classes here at AAU!

Once I get a bit more settled in and into the groove, I’ll start posting some new work.