Tomorrow, a professional Environmental Artist will be giving a presentation about game art and what the industry expects of you, what your job requirements and demands are, etc.

I will not be there.

This is not a good thing for me, because recently I decided that I just wasn’t very good at the Game Design process (I don’t come up with good ideas–I’m more like an editor, striking down bad ideas and correcting problems) and I really love painting and drawing. So bam, I decided to change my course of study around a little bit. The issue with that is that I have only one year to gather up a portfolio and be really, really good. This is challenging.

Still, the amount of time I spend drawing at some point has to amount to something, so I’m just going to keep pushing the envelope, learning techniques, etc etc etc. So I’ll be posting a lot of what I learn on here, as well as the usual droll about how Jack Thompson is a lunatic and I love the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

Also, I will be opening a new section in my blog soon–”Portfolio”, where I’ll put up recent digital and real media artwork I’ve done, so people can see how much time I waste.

So yeah, I’ll be missing the Environmental Artist because I’ll be elsewhere, doing stupid things like writing a paper for finals and painting a character sheet. That’ll be fun.

I’ll have a 3D model of myself, too, soon… which will be weird, and I might not upload.

Hope you everyone is good because I’m exhausted–work is killer, life is drama and sleep is the only heaven.

Spring break only a week away.

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I haven’t gotten enough rest for the past week or so, and I’ve been trudging along with my daily schedule, working like a maniac to get work done. Back from the convention but still utterly exhausted, uncentered and needing a serious vacation. I’ll try to get back into gear for game news again soon.

I’ve started up a new modeling project in which I shall be modeling myself, and my professor has assured me and my class that our projects are all going to look like crap.

This man is an idiot.

But either way, I’m pretty sure I can pass his class. After working 15 plus hours on my last model, I was relatively happy with my end result. I did, however, decide I would never be a modeler. If anything, I can model for fun.

Here’s my B2 Bomber. Enjoy.

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Please bear with me. Commissions are almost done, and then we’ll be back to our scheduled stupidity.

So we’ve started modeling (finally) and I’ve given the old Maya a few spins. I really wish we were working on 3D Studio Max instead, but apparently the school wants to “phase out” 3DSMax from the program. Which is unfathomable. Then again, I guess 3D Studio Max is about to be phased out anyway, now that AutoDesk has purchased both it and Maya… in a while we’re going to see something called Maya 3D Studio or something retarded like that, and it will be severely far removed from either Maya or 3DSMax.

Or maybe I’m being pessimistic.

Anyway, here’s the first model I’ve ever really accomplished properly that isn’t a lame NURBS rendition of a planet done in Blender. This is actually something I made, though I used a few choice images for textures and reference (thank you, Layne Johnson) so I can’t take credit for everything. I can, however, safely say that because my teacher is mostly incompetent, this model could never be used in an actual video game–not only is it not rigged, but it’s made of the most horrible geometry ever conceived, and only after having completed it did someone let me know that I should try working in only perfect quads.

I was infuriated on learning that I have been learning modeling wrong from a teacher that barely has the capacity to teach. I’m not saying he doesn’t know what he’s doing, or that he’s a bad guy–no, he’s a nice fella, really sharp. But he sucks at teaching. He is an awful teacher. I can’t figure why nobody has complained and gottem hin removed from the class yet–I imagine because they feel guilty because he’s a nice guy. But look: my education is absurdly expensive, to the point where I’m driving my family into debt and am constantly finding ways to scrounge for money. I cannot pay such exorbitant prices every semester and accept not being taught. I am spending way too much for that.

Still, have a looksee and critique if you like. I applies normals and a bump map, which gives the skin a fun bumpy feel, despite the fact that it may never actually work inside a game engine. I had fun making it, to my surprise, and I’ll probably keep trying to keep modeling (my goal for the end of the semester is to make a fox samurai model, which will be interesting) so I can upload final images here as I progress, if you all like.

Without further ado, the images. Leviathan, Lord of the Seas.

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