I think I have the woods ready enough for color testing now, so here's a little blip of color thrown onto the render. plan to cut the render up into a bunch of different layers (on for the trees, one for rocks, various foliage layers...) so that I can change the patterns on each object individually rather than fighting with one big painted layer but I don't know how to do that yet...
In other news I'm doing some new illustrations for Classics Club, which I haven't mentioned before on here, but basically I'm commissioned to do some designs of ancient Greek gods and the like for an educational group in Pittsburgh!
Probably too many ferns and I still haven't figured out a good way to make pine needles without killing my polygon count. Foliage is hard.
Sam finished the Night soundtrack! It's a humble, quiet piece that gets its energy from the fading storm. And on another note I think that I finally have the outline for Dawn done to a point that I can start working on it! I guess I'll put the outline here because I'm that excited about it. DAWN
Dawn introduces the natural realm to TotemHead. He is a newly-incarnate spirit and although he has ventured here before, it has been a loooong time. So exploring the forest is as beneficial to him as it is you. TotemHead can interact with the trees, rocks, and other natural landmarks of the forest and as he does the world becomes more animated and bright. The forest is happy he has arrived and celebrates his presence. TotemHead journeys through the forest unsure of his purpose, and as he brings whimsy and color to the world, the animals are attracted to the scene. TotemHead is invited to speak to the animals (they communicate with him through dialogue - the only entities in the game to do this). The animals are at first overjoyed by his presence. The great protector of the forest has returned! Slowly as your interactions continue the animals grow concerned. Protector of the forest? It's great that you're here... but what exactly do we need protecting from? Are we in danger? TotemHead does not know the answers. The animals suggest he seeks out the Shaman. The Shaman will tell of why he has been called to the natural world. The chapter ends when TotemHead finds the Shaman. Here's what I continued to work on today and I like how it's looking so I wanted to share! Right now the background's an alpha channel (Maya default) but it looked cooler in black in my opinion... but I'm not changing it right now because for whatever reason the Boucke computer is stubbornly refusing to recognize the file. Anyways not too shabby, eh? Ummmm in other news... I am just hanging out and loving summer because it's been awesome so far. I just started printing out new shoe flyers too so with any luck I'll have that up and running before Memorial Day! (insert overenthusiastic crowd cheering here). Also I have the first Storyboard for the TotemHead animation thingy done, in fact the scene above is one of the key moments in the story! I'm going to do one for each chapter but first I need to organize exactly what is going to happen in each scene. And I'm just not quite there yet.
Alright all of you who are dying to know where this alleged SHAMAN lives, here is a beautifully rendered Work-in-Progress shot of his humble abode. Presented to you in the fabulous shade of default Maya-grey. I will be texturing it next.
I don't know if you know this about me, but each project I work on is neglected and nurtured in waves depending on my mildly bipolar interest in them. In other words I've been drawing a lot of TotemHead stuff again lately. I guess I shouldn't be in charge of a project because anyone who is trying to keep up with me find it pretty much impossible to follow my brain. But since I'm not all that stellar at committing to an idea and finishing everything before my brain decides to hate the project again, I'm just gonna make a thing out of what I get done as I get it done. I'm just making a Work-in-Progress TotemHead collection that eventually will look like a finished project, but maybe not exactly be a finished project. It's a good way to channel my energy into creating 3D models and developing concepts, but I'm not going to work toward a specific goal yet. Hopefully I'll compile enough W.I.P images to work it into a full book or something, but even saying the word book scares me a little so I'm just going to stick with portfolio. Besides, I have an awful lot of pretty good TotemHead stuff lying around, and I think that working with the concepts in just a raw, unstructured way will help me decide what the best way to tell the story might be. If you feel like getting into the TotemHead mood I'm in, you can check out the soundtrack. It's by Sam Arnold, a very talented friend of mine. Here are a few of the songs available on Soundcloud, he composed them entirely and I critiqued them ruthlessly until I was satisfied, and he put up with me quite well so I thank him for that! Yes I did just embed each song individually, and yes it's because I don't know an easier way to do it. So you get to see Sam's face 5 times. Deal.
This jovial piece of work was a QUARTER. I went to Goodwill on Sunday and GUESS WHAT. They were having a sale. Everything with a blue tag was only 25 cents. Granted this means the lines were awful, but overall I gotta say it was worth it. I discovered a new band I am loving, also. Them Crooked Vultures why had I not heard of them before now?? Umm newest pair of shoes are officially under-way. I suppose this update is pretty scattered and somewhat mindless, but I just needed to share my joys of Goodwill. Peace out. OMG Ashley WHERE have you BEEN? It really has taken me a long time to update my blog and i'm not really sure why. But that is that and I'm here now so I'm moving on. So I have a new project in-the-works. Game Developers Club is creating a video-game based on my pitch and I am lead Creative Director for the work. The game is TotemHead, and I'll be updating my blog according to it's completion. So far we're in the development stages, with StoryBoarding Thursday. Conceptually it's a story-based game; an epic following the adventures of "TotemHead", a Native American deity. The game takes place over the course of one day... I don't want to get to into the details because I don't know them yet, but long story short it's gonna be fantastic. Okay, so what else is new? These shoes for my cousin Allie. They are "Skulls in Tiaras" themed.
...Oh wait, where's the picture? On Kristine's camera... which I can't find... so picture coming... I want to say soon but that's only a maybe. |