Arabia #1

Back in the Game. I missed last month, but will make it up. It is that time of year: the holidays, family visits, crunch time and I caught a nasty stomach flu that laid me out for a week & half of sick time. Here are some development sketches I started for a new project at work. Thought I would start with some ideas we began with before jumping into MAYA designing. More to come in future posts.

Factory #3

Factory #2

Factory #1

As I look back for some reason I always seem to have a Factory to design. So I thought I would list them all here in my next couple postings from past designs to present. Thanks for stopping by...

Awesome Books from The Con

I have been so busy the past couple months...so sorry for the late information. I went to the Comic Con this year and had the chance to buy some AMAZING art books from artists that have made thier own sketch book collections. ( Just missed the signing of the amazing Surfs Up Book from the development guys at Sony ...next time) First off I must say to all, congratulations on your hard work and effort placed forward; thanks for displaying your work and sharing it with all of us. I have been blessed knowing some of you and watching you come up through the years, working hard and developing your skills as artists. It is such a small world and a pleasure meeting some new artists listed below...
Below is a cover shot and sample page listing.
The Amazing Patrick Morgan:

books available at www.patrickmorganart.blogspot.com

The Amazing John Nevarez:

books available at www.john-nevarez.blogspot.com

The Amazing Jose Lopez:

book available at www.desoluz.blogspot.com

The Amazing David Coleman:

book available at www.davidcolman.blogspot.com

The Amazing Joe Weatherly:

book available at www.amazon.com

The Amazing Stephen Silver:

books available at www.silvertoons.com

The Amazing Mucci Fasset:

books available at www.stuartngbooks.com

The Amazing Out of Picture: a collection of artists from Blue Sky development team... (a what a bunch of really nice guys)...
After Cover, sample art work in order by artist: Dice Tsutsumi, Robert Mackenzie, Peter De Seve, Daniel Lopez Munoz, & Michael Knapp.

book available at www.outofpicture.com

Out of Maya Land

Hey ..thanks everbody for stopping by and for all the great feedback. I really appreciate it. I promised myself I would post every month, but I sure have been swamped the past couple months...so I just made it in ...at the end of July. Here are some designs I was working on...they are out of picture now...so I thought I would share them. (Hopefully they wont have me take them down!!)
It is great getting to draw again, and taking a break from Maya.

Who needs lunch...

Have you ever worked so long on a computer in Photoshop or Maya, that when you go home or get in your car you think of Ctrl Z or another hot key command that doesn't really apply to the real world you are currently in. These are a series of locations I had to produce that all had to hook up to each other for one show, so lunch was out the window for a little. I included some reverse angles because I spent a lot of effort being concerned about what we would see after the camera turned around. I wish I had a little more time to push a couple designs. I was really excited because at the end they gave me credit for Production Designer.

Solitary

Finally get to draw a little before modeling. I have always loved working with markers then moving into photoshop, its quick & easy, and you can get a lot done in a day. We changed the lighting direction in a Maya pass to accomadate a open ceiling, for blistering sun light. Next post I will dive into some color for this location.

SIM-R New Blog

My favorite Irish buddy of all time: the amazing and talented Simon Rodgers, better known as SIM-R has created a new blog over at http://www.sim-r.com/blog/. Stop by and check it out. Such great work. Its a mixture of a website and blog all placed together. Nice work Simon.

Before and After

This location is a older stylized victorian house that I made for work. What was cool is that it was going to be used twice in the story, once as new clean location, then later as a spooky rundown dilapidated dwelling!!

Freelance Designs

Here are some freelance designs I did for a great studio in Texas, called Reel Fx. (Really nice people!!!) These are some drawings I did to support a script for a 3D project. We had to stay very close to the script description, it was very realistic, and we could not variate or place our own spin on things. (SHUCKS!!!) I wish it was the other way around, designing environments in a development phase that 3D departments would use to build around. Anyway, due to the fast pace time schedule involved, and budget we had to move very fast and efficiently. Oh ya it's freelance... ( I wish I could have got my hands on some of the key locations, but I came in a little late in the process.) It still was a lot of fun and a good learning experience.

Pirate Sketches

Just having some fun on a friday night while the kids are sleeping. Not really going anywhere with these, just searching for some shapes and ideas.

Story Department Gift

When I get involved with the design of a new location, one of my main concerns is making sure I accomplish the needs of the story department. So up front as I work , I meet with the board artist in charge of a sequence and try to accomplish his/her needs as best as possible. Since I am modeling in a development phase, when finished I prepare a packet of information to hand off to the story artist. In that packet I include main angle shots of the location, a orthographic top view with camera locations, then I go through and set up 40 to 50 cameras to supply other information that might not have been thought of yet. This really aides in the consideration of new places to place a camera, and how to set up a sequence. Later on after the boards are locked we can go through and make the necessary changes in production to accomodate camera layout, and the finished set. I have found the director and story artists to be really responsive to this early mode of thinking since we are not just working with one or 2 images of art. It helps open the possibility of what we can do with a camera in a 3d set. Where it can go, and should not go.