Turned my attention to the UI for this morning after meeting up with a friend.

Currently the visuals are at a very basic stage, my focus is on ensuring the experience looks smooth and all elements are in place. The nightmare scenario I'm trying to avoid is investing time in assets I don't need or pursuing an aesthetic that doesn't translate well to in-game. Once everything is laid out the most work will be on copy+pasting animations/polish.

Going to grab some food and return back to the Temple Guard, he's near finish but I stopped to work on this. I really had to establish a draft logo, UI before I went further.

Finished the Temple Guard!
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/405eL

Currently working on my environment work...

Today's progress so far, going to go to the gym and maybe start another project in the evening so I can get sort of balance going in my workday.

Hi all, as some of you may have noticed I've been floating between projects recently and then stopped posting. This is the result of getting some really good advice from leads of recruitment at some top game companies which I wont name. Although the advice was solid it left me a bit rudderless and questioning whether I still wanted to pursue a career in games.

1) If you cant work in production (Maya, Texturing knowledge at least) you are not employable. (SketchUp doesn't count for obvious reasons) This makes sense to me although how I will teach myself these skills I don't know.

2) You need to do realistic work (photobashing etc) so you can get your foot in the door at more companies. This also makes sense, I have to make the decision if I want to pull a complete 180* on my portfolio.

The path to employment is mostly clear to me now. Learn 3D, go Photoreal, build out portfolios with Characters, Environments and Vehicles. I'll have to make a decision soon.

For now I'm starting another illustration, a Temple Gaurdian, half man half lion

Posting another update before I head to the gym! The theme has really come together. I pulled some more reference from Buddhist monks and changed the trees to cherry blossoms to unify the asian influences.

I lost some of the strong shapes from the sketch, so I'm going to work that back in tonight. After that I will merge the gradient maps so I can correct my values as it looks a little washed right now (maps are pushing my dark values to midtones).

Another post before I head out today, didn't get to merging the gradient maps but that will be soon as certain elements I just want to move through without negotiating multiple masks.

Corrected some hand and arm anatomy, refined fabrics/materials. Probably in desperate need of a curves adjustments to the whole piece as it is all very light and lacks the atmospheric fade to the background elements I want.

Another day another update!

• Altered Composition
• Rendered Background
• Merged layers, added bounce lighting, fixed braid structure on belt and hair

Little late on today's update, I went to the gym and came back to refine more this evening. I just started watching Last Man animated series, and it really pumped me up to get some more hours in tonight.

Further refined materials and value across the entire image, added thematic elements like better god rays and motion blurred petals. I find I'm adding a lot of rendering that could have been done easy at the start had I been more patient and confirmed my values.

Happy Monday, more lion updates

Morning update, wish I could spend more time but have adult things to do. Yesterday it was setting up COBRA, today it's calling up the IRS to confirm my identity so I can get my return....thought Turboxtax was supposed to make this easy.

Today is a double update, first the lion illustration.

So a lot of changes. Prior to today I felt I had slowed down and begun rendering problems I hadnt fixed. Took a closer gander at my reference and realized the image fell short in a lot of areas especially the face and arm. Much happier with the direction this is going in now!

And low and behold a new project!

The goal is to bring to life this idea I have been rattling around in my head for a while for a magic shop called 'Baba Yaga's'. I got a huge burst of inspiration after finishing 'A Letter to Momo' it wasn't a Ghibli production but was really of the same caliber.

The deliverables for this project will be eveyrthing a moderler needs, turnarounds/floorplan, interior and exterior shots and sketches.

Baba Yaga Sketches.jpg974x600 293 KB