New Post For Old Work

Wanted to share some older studies that I haven't posted here before. All environment related, sketches and color keys some reffed and some without.

These were some basic warm ups for a project I was fortunate enough to be apart of with Raul Ramos, Brent Pickrell, Stephen Ehrman and Jayson Miller. It didn't make it quite as far as we would have hoped but it definitely gave us all an insight into communication and working in a pre-production pipeline. I have a few other pieces from that time that I'l post in the coming months.

First set was 20 minutes a piece, second set took 45 min - 1hr.

These were some weekend studies based off various photos I found scouring through my friends Facebook photo albums. The video time lapse can be seen here.

This next set was fun to experiment with. A while ago I decided to fill 2 pages in my Moleskine with nothing but black and white environment thumbs. It was a quick way to practice composition and break down the value patterns into fundamental shapes. From that list I picked off a handful and spent 30 minutes or so laying in values and playing with the lighting. Definitely learned a lot working with these.

Small Update

A few quick renders of the building silhouettes from break. I've been busy getting a logo finalized for a new client, and school has started back up so I'm taking advantage of every assignment I get to  create another piece for the portfolio.

Between the Fubar and Sprawl mods, class assignments and personal work I should have a more well-rounded portfolio. That was something I was missing a few months ago, a nice balance between characters, environments and vehicles/weapons/props. So long as I can keep up with the sketchbook and continue producing development work AND illustrations I'll have the confidence to start submitting to the industry once and for all. And by that point I'll be able to showcase some new work that hasn't been seen before in my final grad show...

Thanks for checking!

Last Post Over Break

Haven't posted much in the past week or so. Been busy getting through an editorial piece for my dad's department, a new logo for the children of Africa as part of a new clothing line (information to follow in the coming weeks) and making more headway on the album artwork.

On the mod side of things, Sprawl has been working hard to get the demo out in the next few months. I'm still in the middle of getting through the city piece. By that I mean I haven't touched it since last post and need to set aside a solid day to finish up. Hope to make that happen this Friday. In the meantime I knocked out some quick and simple building silhouettes for the first level. Should have a couple of these fleshed out with the city so they work together on the final style sheet.

Also, if anyone is interested, we're looking for a few additional concept artists to help with the 2D side of things. If anyones interested feel free to e.mail Rui (with portfolio samples) at: rui.coelho86@gmail.com or check out the CA Thread, Blog, or Forums.

Fubar has had a bit of a challenge gaining members as it's just myself and one other individual drawing up designs. Just the beginning stages of James character thus far:

My progress took a hit with the cold that I now have (thanks little brother ;) and working on these additional projects. Its been a blast! But definitely a lesson in time management. Unfortunately that meant the 2 personal works I wanted to have completed before school started never made it. But with my new term schedule I'm hoping to have enough space to get focused on personal work for the portfolio.

A few people on deviantART were asking that I post a tutorial on the Cartographer piece I made a few months ago. Finally got around to it over the weekend:

Had a nice sketch day with Raul Ramos, Jon Baker, Brent Pickrell, and Vic (someone tell this kid he needs a blog already!!) over break. Was fun getting to sit down with everyone and just observing the people around me. I don't do that NEARLY often enough. Also gave me a chance to congratulate Raul in person on his new internship at http://www.direwolfdigital.com/!! I'm stoked to call this guy my friend and wish him nothing but the best. Can't wait to see the work he does for this new company because it's gonna be KILLER ;) Plus I owe him a sack lunch.

And Osama was killed yesterday so that's......news.

Laters!

Sprawl city update

Thought I'd post a brief update on the first piece I'm working on for the Sprawl mod. These guys push non-stop 24/7 so there's always something to do. Everyone on the team is constantly giving and receiving feedback round the clock (I think there's members in something like 5-6 countries?) so the work gets refined rather quickly. Great environment to work in.

This first piece I started just today actually. Had to push it off for a bit while I tackled the Fubar characters, so this stage represents 50% completion. I'll make sure to post a tutorial once it's done sometime by the end of the week.

For now, I started by building a basic block-out in Sketchup from a top-down view Adam provided the team a while back. I took a few shots and played around with some values in the early thumbnails.

But my build wasn't nearly as accurate as what the team had already begun to construct. So Liam shot me a few screens of their current model and I used this to begin the paintover process.

Thanks for looking! Like I said, should have this guy finished by the end of the week. I need to get through some more album revisions and work on a logo for a new client for tomorrow, but my late nights from 10-2 have been set aside for personal work/mod projects. I'm really enjoying this new sleep schedule outside of classes..

Quick Sketch

Wanted to give the mod projects a break and get started on an idea I've had milling around for a while now. This will hopefully be 1 of 2 personal illustrations I complete before heading back for my final term this summer. The primary goal I have for this piece is executing multiple light sources coupled with multiple figures.

I took some time to sit down and watch Dave Finches dynamic figure drawing workshop before starting this. He has a nice loose approach to quick sketching that I'd like to get more in tune with. Definitely helped to get some of these basic block in's started.

Thanks for checking! Should have an environment to post soon for the Sprawl team ;) They're doing some nice work getting multiple assets together in tandem so we'll see how the rest of the artwork comes together in the coming weeks.

Sarah Full Ortho (Almost)

Ahhhhhhhh! Almost there. This whole process has really taught me a lot about design coordination and time management. I definitely need to get more structured lines out of my sketches so I don't save ALL the functionality questions to be answered in the final stages of development.

Still missing her headset. I think what I;m gonna end up doing is a full callout sheet with facial expressions and prop designs, because those seem to be the two areas that are lacking in these static poses.

Sarah: Front/Back Orthos

Man, this got more intense than I expected. It's one thing to quickly sketch out a design from one angle. It's entirely different to make it WORK in the round. No place to hide your flaws. LIKE FACES FOR EXAMPLE!!

Just the front and back for now. Should finish up the side views by tomorrow. Then i can move onto James. Damn, i had expected both of their turns to be done by today :/