Things changed a little...

Well, things changed a little bit regarding the itfs trailer I am going to make. A few other students had a great idea for a trailer and so I decided to join their team. The other project is still something I want to do, but not right now. We are still in an early development stage, but I hope to post some wip-pictures as soon as they come available.

In my free time I am still sculpting some creatures. Yesterday I found time to do the legs for Enki. Still unsure what do do with the armor. I might change it to a more tribal like one. I think one more draft on the body and texturing can begin.

Back to normal

Well, I have been busy with a lot of stuff lately but things have settled and so again I have some time to update my poor blog.
Yesterday was the first Sculpting-Round at the Institute of Animation and I think it went very well. After a few problems in the beginning everything went smooth. Most people have their basic structure ready and can start sculpting next week. It's a lot of fun and I will try to keep this up as long as possible.
Besides that I did some digital work aswell. Since we still do not have any ZBrush at School (which is really bad) I am mostly working with Mudbox these days. For my next project which I started to work on a first character sketch.

I am alive

Well. A lot has happened since my last post. I successfully moved back to Germany and since a few weeks I am back at the Institute of Animation. It is nice to be back and I am looking forward to the remaining time here. Things started quite relaxing - for a change I am doing a matte painting for a film right now while I am working on concepts for the upcoming itfs trailer. Another cool thing is that the first official Sculpting Round will start this thursday... more creatures will follow :)

Dooodles

Having the pleasure of doing the tax right now, besides looking for a room and working doesn't leave me with a lot of spare time these days. A few sketches is all I found time for, but that was very relaxing.
Within the next weeks I hope to get my hands on first storyboards, moods and designs for the ITFS Trailer I am going to make. It is going to be awesome (I think :)

A quick look back

My plane left 6:20 pm from Vancouver Airport - back to Germany and eventually the Institute of Animation. It has been almost one year in Vancouver now.

It was an amazing time and I feel lucky to have had the opportunity to live and study in this great city. The exchange program with VFS was a great experience, because not only did I have the opportunity to learn many things in 3D and Animation, but also did I meet many interesting people along my way here.
I have seen and done so many great things in Canada that I am certain that I will come back some day. Thank you for the great time!

And here comes a picture of my class at VFS. Funny people!

Texturing

I started texturing mr.alien today. I decided to use Zapplink for the first draft. This way it was easier for me to decide on the direction I want to go for. I did a quick render in Zbrush which I touched up in Photoshop.
That's what I came up with so far.

Enki

Based on a project which I intended to do with Felix some time ago I started to model my interpretation of one of the main characters. Due to time restrictions and the size of the project we never got beyond the design stage. I still like the designs and therfore I started to work on Enki. Tools of choice are Maya and Mudbox - as usual :)

Mudbox again...

I still dont know which program I prefer. Sculpting feels better to me in Mudbox, but ZBrush seems more flexible and versatile... ayayayay. I finished the sculpt on this guy today. Texturing is next - this time with mudbox.

Ha!

Woman Paint Colo(u)rs.

old paint

Update

A new female sculpt. I am still working on it. The hands and the stomach area are the parts I need to fix most I guess.

Sculpting

Well, here is HEAVY work in progress shot of my latest sculpt. Within the next days I'll hopefully finish this one. I want to try out some clay head studies as a next thing. And by the way, make sure to check out Giovanni Nakpil's Portflio, which I added to my List of Modeling Grand Masters.

Photoshop

For fun!

New ZBrush Sculpt

Done today out of an old base mesh.

The final version

I already finished this picture a few days ago, but unfortunately I don't have any internet access right now. I hope this will be solved within the next few days, when the Telus people find their way home:) I just enhanced the picture I posted a few days ago with some more assets and I rendered it out at a higher resolution. Comments and suggestions are highly appreciated :)

Dropzone - Illustration

Today I made a still frame out of my existing assets from the vfs modeling reel. Thats fun! :) This one I called "dropzone".

Dominance War IV

Well, the Dominance War is over and the finalists artworks are outstanding. I think the chosen models and artworks raised the bar once more. What has to come next year to win the finals - we dont know yet, but I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO THAT.
For the fifth installment of the competition I will be participating for sure. Although it might be virtually impossible to win I am sure it will be a great learning experience. Congratulations from my side not only to this years winners, but everyone who took part and finished his model... you might not have won, but I am sure you learned a lot :)

I was following Vadim for some time and I think his entry was inredible and therefore a well deserved winner of the competition. He now has been added to my list of modeling grand masters - make sure to check out their portfolios.

I will see you on the battlefield 2010!!!

Mudbox

Took a break from human face studies and did an Alien. There was no concept in the first place, so it developed while sculpting.
This was also a break from concept development. I am making up my mind for my next project at the Institute of Animation. I got a couple of loose ideas, but nothing is decided yet. It is still time as school will continue on October 1th...

Reference Mesh Modeling

For a project I am working on I did a Character Base Mesh today. All done in ZBrush with no intention to retopo it, since this will be only used for proportion reference in Maya. Still WIP - mostly on the hands and feet. Took me .... emmmhhhh... about 6 hours so far.

On the Road.

It's been a long time since my last update. Well, I took the opportunity to see California these last weeks. The trip was amazing and while I am still recovering, I am slowly getting back on track. Soooooon there will be some new updates.