Flamethrower variations

Iteration sketches on a heavy flamethrower unit meant for a hypothetical fantasy RTS. I based on the assumption of it featuring a dynamic camera, so tried to find a fair balance between silhouette readability and close-range visual interest.

Dwarven Relief

Some personal practice in dealing with texture painting.

Next-gen handheld game model (wip)

I've been doing some 3D lately, it's always good to learn and go through other people's chunk of the pipeline, both because it is fun to explore, and because it ends up making you better at your work. Can't have enough with learning stuff, everything adds up.

Anyway, the character was a discarded concept for a pitch project I was involved time ago, and I thought it would be fun to model it. I've decided to stay within the range it was initially meant for, close to modern handheld devices. Around the polycount for iPad/3DS/PSP2 (just guessing, anyway). It still has a lot of problems, but I've overcome a myriad of them already, so it's being an awesome challenge. I must really thank my pal Lasse for the invaluable help with the tools.

Might eventually reduce the maps to half the size, to make it more gentle for those platforms, but anyway... still have stuff to fix and a diffuse to paint. The occlusion map will help me with the blocking.

Used: Zbrush, 3DSMax, Photoshop and Toolbag.

Rhino guard

Love staying at the studio to have a blast with that awesome Cintiq after work, since I'm finished with the whole freelancing thing. I have fixed the drawing on the fly while painting, since I wasn't too happy about some things.

Leukotomy

Some sketching after work.
Couple hours of right-brained fun.

Her

Pencil sketch turned to practice painting at work, and eventually finished. I was really hoping to update the blog, but I'm quite busy nowadays, and can't show most of the stuff. Going back to Spain for holidays tomorrow, have a nice time everyone!

Please forgive the corniness of the title. Photoshop CS5 in my gorgeous Cintiq (can't live without it anymore).

Influence map

I've seen these "influence maps" becoming quite popular recently, and I also wanted to try mine; not only because it's a one-time answer to a quite usual question, but also because it forces me to a bit of introspection on what has influenced me over the years.

Of course, it's hard to fit everything into one page, and I've left hundreds behind, but there are these few that I think deserve special mention. Some might have pushed me to draw when I was a kid, others might be artists that I'm obsessed with just in the last few years... each one has its own reason to be there, but I can confidently thank (or blame) them all for my style/s.

And the list keeps growing!

The average Danish guy

Blue eyes, blonde beard (made mostly of remoulade), a fish tail and a huge tankard of Tuborg; that's a pretty accurate representation of the standard Danish individual.

The guys from the studio were teasing me some time ago with the "typical Spanish guy" being this flamenco-dancing bullfighter, so I kinda felt I had to do my approach on the Danish cliché. Since there is not really a Danish stereotype per-se, I can just offer my vision.

Behind the Iron Curtain

It's been a nice workshop weekend in Bucharest. Nice people around and enriching experience overall. I'm particularly glad of having had the chance of a bit of life drawing, which is something I miss since I lost the habit of doing it when I left Madrid.

It was just a single pose actually, but enough to lubrify the skills a bit.

Majordomo

Somehow managed to squeeze this within my schedule. I really missed painting for myself! Not that I have started it from the beginning or anything; just rescued it from some sketchbook.

Since I miserably failed to get a decent light scheme working when I initially tried to painted it, I left this project behind until the right time. Eventually, it has been a good starting point to test Sam Nielson's approach to break the light into several layers. I'm definitely looking forward to attend his Schoolism course when I'm able to afford it.

Anyway, since I already know some people who are interested in the process, I'm writing my thoughts on it.

The main advantage of this approach is that information is taken into small, easier to digest pills, thus not having to solve occlusion, direct light and color all at the same time. That leaves the brain more relaxed, at list for people like me, unable to breath and blink at the same time, and everything is easier to manage layer-wise. Also, the outcome is reasonably unpredictable, which turns out to be an advantage when you are stuck like I was.

Its main drawback is that it becomes a less "intuitive" process, moving much of the work to the left brain at the expense of being slightly blind about the overall look. Of course, it can be tweaked afterwards, but painting the color layer feels quite unnatural, and it forces you to have a working, finished drawing from the get-go rather than being able to correct stuff "on the fly". It is also a bit more time-consuming.

Anyway, it's very a very worthy process to give a shot, and to meet face to face with lighting in its most raw state. Also, I must recommend never painting in a laptop; that nasty LCD screen has left me close to blind.