Baby Steps in 3DS Max

Trying something new - attempting to wrap my head around 3D programs. Using 3DS Max and the tutorials at 3D Total, I whipped up this little thing. You know the phrase, " a face only a mother could love?" That's the vibe I'm feeling - this is a real early attempt and yet I'm so excited that I made something.

Big Illustration Party Time

If you're a budding illustrator heading to school, just starting out in the real world, or even been around the block, there's a great podcast out there. Big Illustration Party Time is hosted by freelance illustrators and published cartoonists Joshua Kemble and Kevin Cross, and covers a lot of technical aspects of illustration.

The format's informal with loads of helpful content. They cover topics such as starting out, building a portfolio, promotion, and process of projects. It's the first podcast I've ever heard that gets into the nuts and bolts of illustration and never resorts to generalizations or vague insights. While they go off topic from time to time, it's never a distraction. In fact some of their tangents provide even greater bits of info. Plus it's a lot of fun just listening to other artists "talk shop" - a definite joy for any freelancer working from home.

It's been a personal boon this past week, seeing as I've been redoubling efforts into producing work at a steady pace. I got so caught up over finding a job that I feel the need to place just as much emphasis on daily practice and steady content. BIPT is a great listen and a smart addition to any playlist.

King of Fighters 12

The King of Fighters 12 website has a contest running. Submitting art for their upcoming game under "Fan Art" and there's a $1,000 first prize attached.

I grew up playing a LOT of video games, KoF being one of them. So I have an affinity for doing this sort of thing and since the Darkstalkers thing went so well, I thought "why not?"

For one it gives me another project to work on. For some reason I become way more productive when I have a defined goal or end point to work with. When I'm drawing just to fritter away time I may get some good ideas, but I never flesh something out to the point of completion. Psyching myself out into viewing any artwork as a project tends to accomplish more.

In that spirit, take a gander at some of these process drawings. All characters are copyright SNK/Playmore and I'll update as I put more work into this thing.

05/20/09 - New process at top added.
05/21/09 - Background added.
05/22/09 - Added type, not too sure if I can call it done.

Linking Things Together

With a LinkedIn account I found a neat program that aggregates my blogs from here as well as my Deviant Art page. Not too shabby - I'm all about integrating elements.

Which got me to thinking about owning a domain, and consolidating everything into one website. It's about time too - having patchwork elements on the web may have passed in the 90s, but not today!