Friday, January 29, 2010

Raise The Rufus

          So this morning i started messing around with sketchbookpr (continuing from last night) and i just wasn't feeling it, so i decided to go through my vast collection of images from the net and DJ to see what i thought might be fun coloring and getting used to my tablet, and i came across a few chibi versions of notorious FFVII characters. I knew i wasn't going to be able to color all of them, so i picked the one with the simplest outfit and printed out a hard copy. I scaled it down and layed the paper over my wacom tablet and traced over it, transfering it to photoshop. The image to the left is what i got.


          I darkened it a little bit, because when i first traced it (and mind you, no line was gone over twice) i had the pencil's opacity on about 30% - so if i went over a curve a few times, the median of them would be darker than the rest. But i realized that without taking more time to go over and refine it in PS, it would be faster to ink the printed copy, and scan it into PS to then color.




     So the left is the inked version of the drawing DJ did so long ago. It's of Rufus Shinra from FFVII. And the right is what i ended up with after...an hour or so? I'm not sure exactly when i started, but i know i first got on my computer around 10 am and i finished this around Noon (and there was time spent in sketchbook pro, looking for images, printing, inking, and scanning....so an hour is a good guess). It still has that 'sketch' look to it - because of all the little specks and stuff around the lines, but when i'm done coloring it, i'll go in and use the smudge tool to get rid of em.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Look A' Muh Dais

          So this is an isometric sketch i did a few days ago (forgive me for not cleaning it up in photoshop and getting rid of those isometric guide lines). It's basically a concept for part of the set where the FF Sonic short will take place. There's not a whole lot of detail in it just yet, but there will be - well....it's only fair to warn you that only so much is going to be done by pencil and digital drawing....it's much faster for me to do detail actually in Maya than on one medium and then in Maya.


          So here's me going over the Isometric Sketch in Sketchbook Pro (the drawing tools and aids are awesome in this btw). I'm only going to do a small section of it (only the stairs will get the most drawing done, the pillars won't cover all of the stairs drawn). I'll go in afterwards and try my hand at coloring it just to give it some characer (and practice on my end). But that's what i've got as of tonight, tomorrow i'll work on it a little bit and try to finish the new menu for my job.


          Smaller details and 'Sectional' layouts of the pillars and arches will definitely be in the mix (tho mostly just for practice). So i'm trying to keep stuff on here fresh...check back later.

Monday, January 25, 2010

Stroke Of Luck

          So i got my Wacom Intuos 4 (Lg) digital tablet today, as well as the 2010 version of Sketchbook Pro, and was taking it for a spin to get used to using a pen instead of a mouse and all the 'sensetivity' behind it, and the only thing i really got out of it was this sketch dejon did of Cloud as a hedgehog. Now, granted it's not the best work, i was just getting used to changing brush szes, using the opposite end of the pen as an eraser (which i thought was incredibly intuitive), the only part of the picture i like myself is the gloves.

          So since i've got sketchbook pro now, and it allows for extremely acurate arcs and lines and various other aspects of drawing my free had is always void of, i should, though i'm not sure what they'll be of, be able to post some pretty detailed conceptual designs on here from now on (though probably as sporadic as everything else). My classes only really focus on techniques and concepts (like lighting and texture, rigging, and basically anatomy), so i won't really have any 'projects' that i'll be posting stuff done in sketchbook (though the things i do in ZBrush when i get into it will definitely be posted).

          So that's really all i've got for now, i'm off to read Stop Staring, one of the books i got this semester that i think will really o pen up the way i tackle projects and modeling things. So far i'm onyl a few pages into the book and it's already changed the way i think about lip synching and the way most people go about it (with dozens of various blend shapes for each phoneme, each pose of the mouth keyed on a timeline).

          I've got a couple of other books (one focus entirely on particle systems - maya only - that i'm going to attack in the summer if not earlier). So as i get into my books, if anything visually intriguing comes of them, i'll be sure to post it.

Monday, January 18, 2010

A Head On Our Way...

          So since i got kind of board waiting for stuff i'd rather leave up to "professionals", i went ahead and started making some things on my own for the FF/Sonic Mash-Up. One of which is a few facial expressions that a "Hedgehog" character might have (cuz in the Sonic Universe, certain 'species' have different facial feature constuction - like eyes that are connected or eyes that are seperate from one another).






          So I took this "Shadow" (as only he would look so angry by nature) profile picture DJ drew and erased the majority of the arching 'eyebrows'.




          That gave me this picture. I took this image and went over it a couple of times, drawing in the rest of the eyes as they might appear for various expression (much like eyebrows are used.....though evidently Hedgehogs, through some evolutionary marvel, are without eyebrows and have the capacity to camoflouge their mouth when not talking). So after i thought of the most common ones, the ones i'd need to make Blend Shapes for, i put them side-by-side and got this:




          I then started to go over them with pencil to plot out my edgeloops (*wink* Alex *wink*) and how i'd need to deform the default face to get good representations of these expressions. I haven't finished doing that yet, but i'm well on my way. One of the main hurdles is that i haven't plotted edgelopps on the defaul expression.....so i don't really know how which loops would move since i don't know how many and where and what-have-you.


          But to remedy that, i started making a clay head for what Cloud would look like. I only got about an hour and a half on it (a little less after getting situated and figured out what not to do). I only got as far as his 'jaw' and the left half of his eyes (and while i threw a crude ear in the picture....that's no where near what it's going to look like, just to show where on his head it is and how it looks prior to putting in spikes/hair).

          So this is what i got so far. The eye/pupil is just for kicks...i won't need to plot edgeloops on that - so the finished model won't have any iris/pupils. With the exception of the ears and the spikes, the eye/face is probably only every going to get as far as what i've got now, since it's symetrical i only need to model have and just mirror it when i'm finished. I'll model both ears since they'll be helpful in determining where the spikes go on reference pictures.





          Since it won't really matter unless I got way further than the scope of this 'Short', i figure i might has well post it somewhere...otherwise it'll just be on paper forever.


= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =



          So everyone pretty much knows the elements that compose a Sonic The Hedgehog game right? Robotnik/Some evil force threatens the world in some way and Sonic is seemingly the only who can stop him with his carefree attitude, disregard for personal safety, and a psychopathic desire for the consumtion of Chili Dogs. Early in the Sonic games, it was possible for the player to beat the game without need of the 7 Chaos Emeralds, but not too long ago (i think it might have been Sonic Heroes as the first game to do so) Sega started making it part of the sotryline to collect all 7 Emeralds in order to completely beat the game. If you didn't have them all, you'd get someone of a happy ending, with a little teaser at the end of it.

          And I'll be the first to admit it....Final Fantasy isn't for everyeone or even just anyone. So not too many people might be familiar with the elements that make a Final Fantasy game (although to a certain extent, they're the same as Sonic sans the Emeralds). So rather than generalize it for a Mash Up, DJ and I picked a specific scene that is basically Iconic in the FF Realm - where Sephiroth kills Aeris (and i really don't care what people say.....it's ends in S not TH!)

          So how we're combining the two is by taking the general character designs of Sonic characters and transfering Final Fantasy 7 characters to match the Sonic universe. We're really only going to focus on 3 characters; Cloud (Hedgehog), Aeris (Hedgehog....probably much like Amy), and Sephiroth (Echidna...so as to allow for long 'hair' rather than spikes). We're retelling 2 parts of the FFVII game; where Seph. kills Aeris, and the end where Cloud uses Omnislash. We're also going to encorporate a "Super Sonic" element to allow for the Omnislash (which will be similar to the upgraded version at the end of Advent Children).

          We'll encorporate the Chaos Emeralds too, although they'll basically be like Materia and have powers by themselves (more than Chaos Control too i might add).

          So below i'll go over the concepts for the Emerald/Materia breakdown as far as i took it (and i'm just using stock imagery of gems, actual materia/emeralds might have their own unique look to them - definitely color).

So here we have the Materia of Force. It allows it's user to control Fire based Magic and gives them great physical strength.




Here is the Materia of Agility. Its user can manipulate Lightning based Magic and gains unparalleled speed.




This is the Materia Longevity. User gains limitless Stamina and the power to control Earth based Magic.




This one is the Materia of Mentality. It bestows upon its user the skills of Air based Magic and great Mental Fortitude.




The Materia of Knowledge grants upon its user Water based Magic and unbelieveable Wisdom in every aspect.




This is the Materia of Being. It allows its user to conjur Spirit based Magic and provides Imortality.




This is the rarest of Materia - it might not even truely exist. It is the Materia of Unity. It allows for the manipulation of Time and all Magic and gives its user the ability to assimilate any and all other magic and Materia.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Tip Of The....Iceberg?

          Okay, rather than try and include everythig in one long ass post, i think i'll chip away at it till i'm all caught up (Usher). So a lot of things have happened since my last post way the fuck back in October; I switched jobs (from building roof and floor trusses to being a waiter in a restaurant), I barely passed my classes last semester (one i actually got 'administratively dropped' because things were so hectic i had technically been 'absent' for 3 weeks), and some other things that can't be quickly summarized.

          The job thing really isn't all that important, it's a typical job change - miss the guys i used to work with and love some of the regulars at my new job (and the extra cash and not having tax taken out of wages doesn't hurt either......not till April 16th anyway).

I've been working on a lot of things (mostly in the concept stage tho) like the collaboration with my friend DJ with using Sonic characters and elements to recreate the "Death To Aeris" scene from Final Fantasy 7. I've been chipping away at the major "Kingdom Hearts/Final Fantasy" story i've been working on....i won't be comfortable doing anything in the 3D realm until i've got another few classes or semesters of Maya under my belt (and certain 2D artists quit dragging their feet *cough*DJ*cough*).

          I've already registered for the Spring '10 semester, and i'll be taking ALL MAYA CLASSES (finally). I've got a class on Rigging, one on Lighting & Texturing, and my last one is Organic Modeling (using Multi-patch techniques and what-have-you). So i'm really looking forward to all of those classes (especially the Light/Texture cuz i usually spend a good amount of time on that anyway just for fun).

          This semester feels like it's going to be a good semester, all classes that involve maya (so actually having to be home to use clay or charcoal/canvas isn't the slightes bit of an issue). My Tax return should be pretty good, so that'll probably go to flying some friends out during spring break or my birthday. And the way my work schedule is and my 'projected' schedule for working on school, i'll probably have a good amount of time to go to the gym on a regular basis (i really love running and would like to, as goofy as it sounds, fill my shirt a little more.....too bad there's no excersize i can do to fill my underwear a little more - "Ladies, am i right?"

          Well that's about all i've really got to say, the sparknotes version anyway, and the next post, now that i'll be taking my laptop to a job that has WiFi, shouldn't be too far off and should be pretty frequent.