Coupla Paintings

Here are a couple of digital paintings I did today. The first is from a 4 hour life painting session in class. I'd like to go back and figure out something for the background to make it more interesting.

This second painting is the result of about 20 minutes of experimenting with a method of "finding" an image in an assortment of random found images. I like the mood of the piece, and I'm afraid to do anything more to it, lest I ruin what it has going for it. I'll probably go back and add some more, but here it is for now.

Film Study

I'm kind of a latecomer to Westerns, but I've spent the last year finding and buying every Western featuring Clint Eastwood that I can find. They invented the term "tough as nails" for that guy.

Here's a study I did from one of his movies. Bonus points go to whoever can name the specific film that features this shot.

Santa Ana Airport Sketch

Here he comes, here comes John Wayne. I'm not gonna cry about my pa. I'm gonna build an airport, put my name on it.

Kitbash, Part II

I've managed to do a little more work on my kitbash project this week, and I want to make an effort to show my progress. Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos of the build, but I'll try to update the further ideation steps as I go. I've never done this before, and I think showing the process can be useful in finding what does and doesn't work. What better way to motivate oneself than falling flat on one's face for all to see?

So, this week, I took a straight-on side view photo and used the path tool in Photoshop to create a line drawing. I really like the orthographic line drawings you find in books about airplanes, and I wanted to recreate that kind of drawing here. After doing the line drawing, I experimented with various color combinations.

In my head, this is a scout/recon vehicle designed for navigating moderate terrain. It doesn't travel very far, but it can travel rather quickly. It has one large gun, used primarily for self defense, as it is not an attack vehicle. After trying several color combinations, I realized that a type of camouflage would probably suit it best. From a design perspective, camouflage is not necessarily the best coloring, as it masks the contours and shapes of the design. However, that masking would perfectly suit a vehicle with this purpose, so I think I may take it in that direction. Perhaps the camouflage reacts to its environment, like a chameleon, so it can be used in various types of locations. I will probably experiment with it a little more, but here's what I've got so far.

Please share your opinions and suggestions! Which color schemes do you think are working, and which ones should we never speak of again?

Kitbash, Part I

So this last week, I decided to do a little design experiment. Well, it was an experiment for me, as I'd never done it before and was not quite sure how it would work out. For those of you unfamiliar with the term "kitbashing", it refers to the activity of taking parts from various model kits and combining them into something new and original.

So I got an Apache helicopter kit, a jetfighter kit, and a couple of Gundam kits, and put 'em together. Then I painted the whole thing with matte gray primer to unify the whole thing, as many of the different pieces from different model kits were a wide range of colors.

Below are photos of the finished model, and I'm pretty pleased with it. Next, I'm going to take photos of the model in specific lighting scenarios and do some digital paintovers to experiment with paint schemes, weathering, environment, etc...

It's nice to work on some personal stuff amidst the professional work, but often hard to find the time. I really want to finish this project, though, so stay tuned for Part II, coming soon...

Walker Concept Indoors

Our assignment this week was to practice rendering an object with an indoor studio lighting setup. For consistency's sake I decided to use the same vehicle as last week's.

Walker Concept

This is another rendering exercise. I tried to get more into it and really develop something I'd really want to work on.