“Radio Flyer.” (c) 2013 Michael J. Barnes. www.lookingtodraw.com.
This is a new model based on the sketch I drew up and posted in a preview post. This model will be used in a future illustration I am working on.
So what we have here is a little red wagon enhanced with two supercharged jet rocket engines. This over-powered rocket wagon will send any kid flying through the skies, and through his or her imagination.
Let me know what you think.
Petal Power. (c) 2013 Michael J. Barnes.
I decided to try a different tack with this piece, hopefully to display a little diversity in my illustrative style. Petal Power shows a little girl giving a ride to her puppy and dolly through her neighborhood. And, yes, that is an octopus tugging at the end of his leash and snarling at the mailman (because its a well-known fact that octopi are the sworn enemy of mail carriers — at least it’s well known in my head).
The characters were created and rendered in Zbrush. The background (houses and such) we produced in Sketch-up with texturing and rendering done in Bryce. All elements were brought into Photoshop and Viola! (or voila) Petal Power.
I have decided to work up a couple more images based on this theme. I have four ideas in mind, with the next piece including a rocket-powered wagon.
Girls Bike. (c) 2013 Michael J. Barnes.
I know I’ve been throwing a lot of wips (works in progress) updates recently. The fact is that I am working on three different illustrations at this time (I just wish these were commissioned pieces) for some self-promotion pieces. Since working up the PALS logo last week, I find myself with some extra time to do up these drawings.
My latest WIP will have a little girls bike in the illustration. This model (seen above) I worked up over the weekend – about eight hours total time. I know it doesn’t look scary, or mystical, or fantastical like many of these 3D sculpts that are usually posted… but it came out so much better than I hoped that I had to share it.
In actuality, it is a very scary, evil, demon-possessed bike that will transform the rider into a hellchild that will torment her parents for many years. Okay, not really. I’m not going to go to much into the future illustration. Like I said, I liked the way this turned out and wanted to share. Hope you like it.
Girls bike sans texture. (c) 2013 Michael J. Barnes.
Rusty Corridor Background. (c) 2013 Michael J. Barnes.
Completed updating the background for an illustration currently in progress. My plan here was to make the background a little eerie. Hopefully, it will give the impression that something might be amiss with this ship. In order to accomplish this, I painted in some volumetric lighting, and darkened and desaturated the walls. Let me know what you think.
Completed body sculpt of my Monster Creature Dude.
Recently completed sculpting and texturing the body my latest personal project. I learned some new techniques (and when I say “new” I mean new to me) to produce a more life-like model. I learned some techniques on sculpting believable anatomy. Also learned how to create a more life-like skin texture.
Back view of my Creature Monster Dude’s body.
As for the texturing, I picked up on a technique to “layer” the skin. Basically working to have the “epidermis” be a bit translucent, much like real skin.
Updated head rendering.
Although my Monster Creature Dude here is going to be the focal point of a new illustration, my intent with this sculpt was also to learn how to retopologize the mesh so this model could be used for animation and/or gaming. I realized that I couldn’t call myself a 3D modeler unless I knew how to do this.
Body sculpt with base topology shown.
Sculpt with topology frame displayed.
Head sculpt displaying base topology.
Monster Creature Dude Head Texture and Render Test.
Monster Creature Dude Head Texture and Render Test.
I completed sculpting and texturing the head of my new creature character last night. I learned a few more polypainting techniques recently and I employed them with this sculpt. This head was created and rendered in ZBrush and I composited the multi-pass renders in Photoshop. Let me know what you think.