Explorers

Original photo credit: Eytan Zana

Material Study - Armor

This was a class demonstration for my Concept Art for Gaming II class. They have a project to create a medieval warrior and so I was showing them how to render different materials such as this armor.

Mountain Watch

Overlook

Monument Valley

 This was a class demo for my Digital Imaging & Painting class.

Process

Pushin' Tin

Spacehips

Who doesn't love spaceships?

More Trees

Another class demo silhouetting some trees.

One Tree

It's a tree.

Class Demo - Environment Sketching

Did these as part of a class demo for environment sketching.

Trooper Sketch

Han's Lament

Orb

Refinery

The Wood

Weapon Designs

Some weapon designs based on Diablo III.

Axe

Trying out some Blizzard style painting from sketch to flats to final.

June

This is an image I did of an artist named June. Original image of her is inset.

Outpost

Mr. Robot Fan Art

Some fan art for the show Mr. Robot. If you haven't seen it yet, you should. It's pretty dang good. :)

Self-Education or Traditional Schooling?

I wrote this as a response to a facebook post about not attending school and learning on your own but after realizing how long it was I felt this was probably the better place for it. It's a bit TLDR-ish but I think if you read it you'll get a different perspective of things. I started out trying to play devil's advocate and find a reason for people to attend school but found myself stating exactly what the original article was trying to enforce. Although there are probably only a very few that can endure the process of self educating, in today's digital world it is possible that the education system as we knew it will soon fade into the burning embers of history and a new way of learning will emerge from the ashes.

Anyway, enjoy!
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Don't you think self learning is a very specialized thing? Not everyone has the initiative or the drive to learn on their own. You're talking about a very select few who can actually study outside of school and make something of themselves.

Speaking as a college level teacher, I've encountered many students who wouldn't otherwise know what to do or where to begin without a teacher, a class syllabus, or work assignments in front of them. They don't know the first thing about art and they need someone with experience to guide them. So how would they know where to begin? It would take them many more years to learn their craft outside of school whereas in a classroom they would learn much of what they need in a fraction of the time. Apprenticeships date back to the beginning of recorded history where a Master of the arts takes on a fledgling apprentice and they teach them what they know. This normally took many years because it was a daily life experience for them and you had to dedicate your time solely to them for a number of years before even being considered for journeyman-ship. These days, in a three year college program, we call it accelerated learning.

Can you learn what you need to know on your own and make it out there? Definitely. But at the same time not everyone can follow Noah's "$10,000 education" either. Hell, I can barely get some students to buy the textbooks that they need for $40! A lot of students are there mainly due to financial aid which is a bit of a catch-22 if you think about it.

Students can't afford to pay for school on their own so they apply for expensive financial aid. They don't see the immediate effect of spending so much money because the government or some lending institution is paying for it all so they don't feel the pressure to apply themselves while in school to learn what they need (not all of them do this but my in experience a good majority of them do). They fail out or eventually become disenchanted with school because they realize the hard work and dedication that it takes to succeed is far more than what they are willing to sacrifice from their XBOX time so now they're stuck paying back an institutional loan that they can't afford on their current income and so they become trapped.

Is school expensive? Yes it is. Undoubtedly one of the most profitable economic mouse traps of our time and many schools put students through their entire program simply because it's more profitable to keep them there than it is to let them go. But if you apply yourself while you're there and learn the fundamentals all the way to the advanced then there is no reason why you can't land a good paying job or freelance and make enough money to pay back any loans well within a few years.

Is school for everybody? No, it's not. There are a good majority of financial leaders of past and present day who were high school or college dropouts who were very successful at what they do. Forbes lists only 1741 billionaires world wide for 2015. That's 1741 out of 7 billion people, and how many of those learned their craft on their own? I can't say, but I doubt it was a large number of them. Now move those numbers over to the art world and it would probably be very similar. For every one artist that learned on their own there are probably a thousand who can't do that. So that's where schools come in.

Now think about this. Artist goes to school, has expensive loans. Artist gets a good job that pays well, but they're still stuck paying back loans. Artist gains experience through the workplace, experience that they would only be able to get in the workplace (You know how that works - need experience to get the job but can't get the job because you have no experience). So, in hindsight, artist decides it probably would have been better to learn everything on their own so they decide to start "schooling" other artists by creating their own art courses that "students" can take online or in person. Of course Artist needs to charge a fee because Artist has bills that need to be paid. Artist requires supplies and materials for their course, eventually even opening a facility where students can attend. Artist becomes what artist was initially trying to help others avoid. 　

In our modern times the information that you need is a Google away and it is amazing how many students I've encountered who can't figure that out for themselves. But when I attended school that information wasn't as readily available as it is today. Google was a wee 2 years old at the time and still didn't know everything and YouTube wouldn't be realized until after I graduated. There were no Gumroads or Selz, there weren't any Robotpencil apprenticeships, Noah Bradley's $10,000 education, or Scott Robertson's How to Draw really cool stuff books. So we had no other choice at the time but to attend school. In retrospect however, I have probably learned more about art on my own over the past year than I ever have in four years at school.

Today, the choice of self-education is there but only for those who can discipline themselves enough to make it through, and out of those that do there is still no guarantee of success. It still depends on how much you apply yourself that will determine your future.

This of course is my opinion and is open for debate. I would love to hear your thoughts on the matter. Thanks for reading.

Lava Fields

Just wrapped up this quickie.

The Banner Saga

I did an art test recently for Stoic Studios for their game The Banner Saga.

The Watchful Guard

A facebook friend posted an image of himself on his page and this is the result of messing  around with it a bit.

                                         Original Image

:)

Lurker

Just a quick speed paint of one of my favorite subjects. :)

Silhouettes

These are some silhouettes I did as an in-class example for my students in the Concept Art class.

Helmet Designs

Did some helmet designs today.

The Traveler

Distant cities are intriguing. You never know what you'll find there.

Rolly Polly Fish Heads

Watching some Anthony Jones videos and painting, inspired.

Landscape

This was created for David Luong's Matte Painting workshop over on CGSociety.

Original Image

Night for Day

Also created for David Luong's Matte Painting workshop on CGSociety.

Original

Day at the Beach

Photoshop

Hearthstone Card

Hearthstone card. Not my design, but wanted to see if I could replicate the Blizzard style of painting. I think I did a pretty good job, no? Gonna do some original designs for these. Stay tuned! :)

Here's a breakdown of the steps I took to get this result.

Groot - 20 minute speedpaint

Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy.

Nice Sprite

Did this little guy after seeing him in a music video by Miguel Ortega and Tran Ma. (Original character design credit goes to Miguel Ortega and Tran Ma)

I really liked the subsurface scattering in him and wanted to try my hand at recreating it as it is something I've not done before. That, plus it's adorable! :)

Here's a breakdown:

And finally, here's a link to the Skrillex - Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites music video by Miguel Ortega and Tran Ma.

Enjoy!

Design Challenge 1

Did this for the Design Challenge over on Brainstorm on facebook.

Alchemy Silhouettes

Downloaded Alchemy and tried it out on a few silhouettes. Why doesn't Photoshop have a mirror function? Hello? Adobe? We need to talk.

Quick environment sketch. 30 minute speedpaint.

Mountain Lake

2 Hours in Photoshop.

Here's a breakdown of this image.

http://youtu.be/Ouo9Ep0RgiM

Departure of the Odyssey

Completed in 4 hours using Photoshop.

Original photo credit goes to Noah Bradley.

Godzilla!

I got inspired after watching the new Godzilla movie trailer. Yeah, it's an already completed shot in a movie, but still, I thought it was epic enough to recreate so, here ya go.

P.S. - Much respect to the original concept artists who probably already conceptualized this epic shot and, I'm sure, did a much better job than I did. :)

R.I.P. Zina Nicole Lahr

I read an article today about a young woman named Zina Nicole Lahr who was an artist and was only 23, at one of the best times in her life. Sadly, she was tragically taken from this world recently. She had an amazing spirit, a zest for life and everything in it, and was a remarkable talent as well. She made things. Everything. She claimed to have a self-diagnosed disorder called CCD, or Creative Compulsive Disorder, in which she felt an incessant need to create things. She made a lot of things.

I never knew her. Never met her. Never new she existed until someone posted on my facebook page about her. Still, I couldn't help but feel saddened by the loss of this beautiful soul at such a young age. I thought it unfair that someone so young, so talented, so creative, was taken from this world while so many heartless, cruel, and undeserving souls remain behind. Sad... how that works.

But all that I read about her, all that was published online, the articles, the videos, her artwork... her accident. Nothing struck me as being so tragic as when I left a message in condolence for her to show my respects on one of her blogs. I posted anonymously. Nothing wordy or poetic. Simply saying goodbye to a sweet soul I never knew. But after I pressed the Enter key to forever lock my message into digital cyberspace, I noticed something that struck me as being the most heartbreaking thing I've ever seen. Above my post was a little message that read; "Your comment is awaiting moderation."

Your comment is awaiting moderation... Apparently she set her blog messages so that she could approve them before posting. She wanted to interact with every person that posted there and make the decision to either post it or not. She wanted to  interact with people she didn't even know whether they be there to admire her work or be the usual internet troll. It didn't matter to her, she wanted to see it, to read it, to be part of it. She wanted to connect with people from all over. She was a good soul.

Your comment is awaiting moderation. When I saw that I thought how sad it was that that message would never be moderated. It will forever hang in cyberspace, unread. It will go on for eternity, or until the server that her blog is on is shut down, but it will never be moderated. It's like shouting into a wide, empty space with no one else around. The falling of a tree in the woods when no one is there to hear it. Like space, where no one can hear you... well, you know.

Sad, I thought. So much so that it brought that heavy feeling to the center of my chest, a swelling in my sinuses behind my eyes, and then I felt a cold, lonely tear run down my cheek. I didn't even know this person and I felt as if I had lost my best friend. Even as I write this I'm fighting back tears. Just the thought of those words forever going unread. For you creationists, it's like if God made the Earth, so beautiful and amazing, and then never populated it with beings to enjoy it.
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Before the Internet we all lived our happy, little lives, same as we do now. But when things happened, they happened and then they were slowly forgotten. Memories that faded over time as we grew older and were replaced with newer ones. Now, in this digital age, things can live on forever. Her facebook page shows her final post just six days before her death. She posted about her grandmother, whom she loved very deeply. Her blog told the story of her life in her small Colorado town and the losses of friends and family she suffered during. Her life, her loves, her art, her spirit... these things will live on forever in cyberspace. But so will that one little message that nearly brought this man to tears.

Your comment is awaiting moderation.




Zina Nicole Lahr - February 13, 1990 - November 20, 2013

Worms

I got worms.... really big ones.