Hi-Rez, day 7

Apparently I don't have a post for week 7, so I'm doing it a bit late. I just hope I'll remember everything...

So on the seventh week I went to Hi-Rez alone with Leandro, as Vivi had something to do. I drove there for the first time and managed not to get lost (apparently both Leandro and me have terrible orientation sense). Upon arrival, as usual, I went to Jerry to talk about my assignment for the day, then went to my usual computer to work on it.

I was starting a new concept, which I had researched some the week before, so I went directly to work. I probably already said some of this but when doing these concepts, the first thing I do is look for a pose that might suit the character. Then I sketch as many variations as I can think of using reference and my imagination. I use three different values to show which materials will be different, only three because it is best to keep the materials limited. It also adds interest to the concept.

So that is pretty much what I did all day... It's pretty fast to write but rather time-consuming to do. The hardest part comes after having done a few concepts, when trying to think of something new. The interesting part is, the best concepts are rarely the first ones. In the later concepts you can start to reuse the parts from the earlier concepts and re-use them in new ways.

Hi-Rez, day 8

Yesterday Vivi and me went to Hi-Rez for the seventh time. Jerry had sent me an e-mail the night before telling me that he wouldn't be there for that day and that I should talk to Ben, another concept artist, if I had any questions. He also sent me a lot of feedback on the project and told me what I was to do the next day. I was to draw a more finalized illustration of the character I had been working on the previous week.

When we arrived I went to Ben to say hi and present myself and then started working. I spent some time working on the pose of the character, I know it's a big weakness of mine. My poses often look very stiff so I looked for reference that I could use. The character I'm drawing needs to convey a lot of personality through his attitude. Once I decided on a pose and worked on it for some time, I went to Ben to ask for feedback.

After the corrections I started drawing the clothes that had been chosen during the conceptual stage. A few hours later, once the clothes were sketched on the character I went to Ben again for feedback before starting to draw the final line drawing.
I finished the line drawing just when it was time to leave.

When Vivi went to her supervisor before leaving, I talked to Ramon and showed him what I was working on. He showed Vivi and me a very useful way of using paths in photoshop to create smooth linework with simulated pen pressure. It's a bit time consuming for most lines, but when a long smooth line is needed it can be very useful.

Hi-Rez, day 6

Yesterday, Vivi, Leandro and I were finally able to go all together to Hi-Rez again. As soon as I arrived I went to Jerry in order to see what I'd be working on that day. He suggested I render the concept I had done last time and showed me some techniques with photoshop that would help me produce a higher quality drawing, some of which I already knew.

He showed me some customization options of photoshop brushes, as well as how to use a texture by making it into a pattern and applying a layer mask to it so that it only covers relevant areas. He also talked to me about adjustment layers, and shared with me his texture library, which I greatly appreciate. Once he was done explaining all this, I went back to my workstation and spent most of the day detailing my concept.

I was almost done with it when Jerry came by, as it was time for him to leave. We talked about my next assignment, and I got to decide which character to work on next. I'm pretty excited about the next project. As I was doing some research, I could hear one of Hi-Rez's concept artists, Ramon, share his expertize with Vivi. After a moment I decided to go and see what he was explaining. He shared a lot of tips on customizing photoshop and wacom's properties in order to make the workflow faster. We all talked with him for a while, and once we were done it was time to go. He's a very nice person and I enjoyed the conversation a lot. On the way out we stopped by the workstation of Vivi's supervisor, where he was showing some of the special effects they had for the games.

The Dragon's Nest

Another sketch for my book illustration class.



Yes, confusing. Color should help though.

The King was in his Counting House

Here is my latest finished project for my other illustration class (the one where I'm not drawing dragons. Not as exciting right?)
Just hours and hours or stippling. I'm too obsessive compulsive for this technique to be time efficient for me. I always want to put the next dot right in the middle of other dots so that the value is just right. Considering there are thousands of dots here, it takes forever.

It's an illustration for the nursery rhyme 'Sing a Song of Sixpence'

The Supper is Singing

Here is a preview of what I'm working on in my illustration class. It's a series of illustrations for "How to Train your Dragon" (the book, not the movie, which has a quite different story). This one is at the sketch stage, still a lot to do before it's finished.
I'm enjoying drawing dragons, as usual.

Hi-Rez, mid quarter

I can't believe it's already the fifth week... There still so much to do before the end of the quarter! Time to start panicking (as every quarter I uess).

So, yesterday was my fifth time at Hi-Rez. Leandro went by himself again and Vivi announced in the morning that she had just learned that she couldn't come with me that day, so I found myself going to Hi Rez alone. Upon arrival, Jerry informed me that the game's aesthetic had completely changed and that pretty much every drawing done for it was now obsolete. They're keeping the mechanics though. I was to finish with the concept I had started for that day, and then move on to the different style.

Not much to say about the day aside from that. I finished the drawing in pretty much the same way as the last project, I redrew the line more precisely and added detail, I added value and color study, and it took me almost the whole day. I then started to make some drawings for the next project. I must say I'm personally happy with the change of aesthetic as it fits what I do and enjoy much more than the previous one. I know it's all very vague, but I don't think I can say more.