Back from the Grave

So the abnormally long break was no picnic or vacation. Had to go into emergency surgery last month that put me out of commission for the interim, but wait, there's more! Then my (for the love of Bob, I don't know why they're called)wisdom teeth started giving me hell. I had a partially erupted tooth so that was fun. NOT. And that was ONE week after my surgery. It was a long and groggy experience...buuuut now I'm back.

Ended up rendering out a KoKo walk cycle last..err, this morning.

Please excuse him, he has turrets.

Been out exploring the world, shooting guns, and going deaf for a whole day. Figured I would just try the quieter approach to firing weapons.

New Animation Reel

Comp of the most recent animation I've been doing. Still chugging along with others, though. :D

Kickflip

Your basic kickflip. It's all in how you master control over the board. The subtle pop of the board, then a kiss of the foot to send it spiraling to a stop, a full rotation in, and back down to earth. Touchdown. Go Tribe!

Sword Pull

Quick blocking last night, just need to put tweens and polish a smidgen more.

Portrait Process - Zsphere to PolyMesh

I wanted to show the process of a current little project of a portrait bust via zspheres.

-Left is the initial zsphere setup. A large mass in the lower center to represent the chest, with 2 smaller protrusions for arms, and a slightly smaller mass, which becomes the lower sternum and pectorals. There is 1 extension for the neck, that holds the head, made out of 2 similar sized spheres. The top is a smidgen larger than that lower, that represents the slight inclination from the cranium to the mandible.
-Center model is the adaptive skin with groups that are the major changes in geometry.
-Right image is after changing the adaptive skin into a PolyMesh. The poly group wasn't as divided as I liked so I extended the top part[Center Purple], 1 face lower[Right Green]. The rest is shaped with the Move tool to better simulate the proper anatomy or close to it, since subdivisions will be used to further transform the plain geometry, into a polished piece.

Jump to Pull Up

Felt like doing some animation to keep up the skills and decided on a jumping exercise crossed with a pick/pull up one. Using the Eleven rig courtesy of the 11 second club.

Smaugshot

Eh? Smaugshot! Like mug-sho...ah, nevermind.
So now he's identifiable. It's a little on the basic side, dragon-wise, but I feel it's stronger than the one on the DOS trailer. I can't help but think, "boomerang" when I see the other guy's jaw. :shutters:

Smaug the Sort of Getting There Slowly, But Surely

Hot Dogs! Or sausage fingers!

I might change his hands up, as they're a little more on the humanoid side. :/ I just noticed his diaphragm needs to be inflated at eh bottom part of the ribs and I was having second thoughts about the head so I just planed it out for now.
And I know he has wings, I've just not gotten to them yet. You can't build a castle without its foundation. I have know idea if that can relate to this scenario. Baby steps! That's a better one. Baby steps.

Smaug the Unfinished

Having seen The Hobbit, I was redonkulously excited about how Smaug would look.

(SPOILER ALERT for peeps who've not seen the Hobbit in the next sentence)

In the end when the camera rolls through the cave and all that gold booty is piled up on a hill, but something moves from underneath it and BAM! dragon eye! 

I was thoroughly set for the next one or whenever they would reveal Smaug's design. Then rolls the Desolation of Smaug trailer and much disappointment. :( His jaw looked thin and curved awkwardly. I was hoping for something similar to the design of the The Hobbit animated movie from the 70s or 80s, it's an oldie.
This design will look similar to THAT Smaug.

Also feels good to be back in Zbrush.

Out of the shadows

Once again!
I've been super swamped, but not without production! Been rendering, lighting, and re-rendering out my thesis, which took hours and days, which led to a months. Reeeally want to get back into Zbrush! D:
Anyways, here's what I was up to.

Rhino, Rhino. Rhineed to Exercise

The back is killing me, not his. My actual back, but that's a different tale for another time.
Have you ever seen an in shape rhino? All the models online I've ever come across, have made their beasts super girthy. Maybe it's genetic. hmmm

Also got a new monitor. An AOC Q2963PM. This thing is sexy. :| It takes so much space on the desk...I LOVE IT! D: 21:9 aspect ratio, able to split the screen between two inputs...AT THE SAME TIME! :O
So much real estate.

Anyways, back to sculpting.

Butterfly Back 2

Update on the suit.

Butterfly Back

Something worked on, in the morning hours...well, before sunrise. Need sleep. I'll pop some more stuff on later tonight. Also watching me some Gundam Wing...mmhhmmm

The Ant that was a Carpenter

Hormigas! D: Most disgusting mouth I've ever seen. :shutters:

Couldn't sleep, came across a macro photo on dA, thought it'd be a fun quickie.

Well Suited

Comfort. Suits. Armor. Ahhh yeeeahhhhh

Mi Armor Dos

Take 2 on the armor genre. Getting comfortable with the brushes. Possibilities gon' be limitless! Still not finished, just started the legs. Head is there, but I want to redo it.

Y-head

Ssssssspace....the final frontier. Getting a smidgen more comfortable with armor. Shiny things are cool. I should make more shiny things.

Darkness

Shedding light on the darkness. Started uploading last night, crashed and woke up to it almost done. Slowest internet ever. Damn you, Baja! Just glad Zbrush doesn't run off an internet connection.
Anyways, a dragon form of Darkness from the movie Legend with Tom Cruise. Tim Curry scared the crap out of me when I was a wee lad. I was thinking about his character when I sketched this guy out in my Moleskin.

Dark Times

Sweet petunias! 4 HOURS! That's how long it took to upload this! I'm practically sculpting half the face right now, while this was trucking itself on the interwebs. For my WIPs I'm putting them in this silhouette style to show its form and give it a little mystique, even though this concept was submitted in the previous months.

Back, Back, Back, STOP.

Reintro/PacRim:
I'm alive! At the halfway point of the move, now bumming some super slow internet. It took 20 minutes to upload this jpeg. :| Yeah. It's brutal, but at least my computer is back on and I'm balls deep in Zbrush. Right before the move, I saw a certain monster movie...Pacific Rim. I swear, everyone online is doing fan art of it. Why? Because it's bad ass, that's why! I don't know why some critics are trying to smash it for not having an Oscar quality script. WHO CARES!? IT'S MONSTERS AND GIANT ROBOTS! NUFF SAID!

Model:
These are silhouettes of the monster in the making. Still want to add a stronger form to it. This is closer to step 2 out of 5, just getting out of concept and making a model.

More to come....more to come.

Moving mode

Computer will be packed up for the journey. Will be back to sculpting as soon as I'm able. Wish me luck!

Armor-gerd

Ermahgerd...ermerr! Slash line and pinch...THAT'S the secret! and hPolish. The one thing no zbrush sculptor has ever said in any books I've ever read. Those jerks. But now I share this with you. GO! Hence forth and sculpt armor plated minions!

Blank Space

Making blanks for later is good time filler. Still trying to get that armor genre down. Digging the Slash Line brush. I can see its neck open the elements with all the tendons tensed up.

Mech Dragon

Intertwining dragons and mechs, mechdragons, mechgons...I dunno. Also got a hold of some new brushes like slash. Not even close to finished with this guy, but still not sure what else he's going to consist of.

Whagon

Whale dragon...whagon. Way-gon or Wag-on? All I know is it's a biter.

Whale Boy Colored

Hazzah! Vale boy est complete!
...well for the most part. I didn't know how or if even it would be possible to pop in an eye for the whale part  without doing that in a separate program. Looking at it now, I'd enlarge the face in general, add a tooth, and actually sculpt hair. Painting is still in its infancy.

Done for the Day

- tightened suit and skin
- whale eye lids
- child's eyes
- lots of pinching

SOoo Sore

A full day and a half of walking around San Fran for the fourth, then trekking from Market and up Embarcadero to catch a ferry[not a bad ride], then another walk from the ferry station back home....[gasp] and I'm back in front of the computer. Still sore, but wanted to make some updates for Whaleboy.

His whale eye, mouth with complimentary buck teeth, nose and my own personal addition to him...the back hatch[for when he goes boom boom]

Cetacean Child[wip]

Another one of my already traditional pieces, but not yet up to fruition, digitally. Cetacean Child! D:
Needed to keep up the dailies, but amidst a dumb BART strike and it being Independence Day, everyone who is partaking in any activities in downtown San Fran[this guy], one must find other means of transport over yonder. I'm with about 75-80%[no actual survey done] of the Bay Area population in hating Unions because of their PERFECT timing to go on strike...but alas the sculpt.

Whaleboy concept by Patrick Morgan
this design by Bobby Chiu[Nicest guy in the business]
I could only put in 45min before having to take off at the crack of dawn to get into the city reasonably[due to aforementioned groups, but I digress]. His tumtum is very picky. One must be very diligent in finding the most effective placement to achieve proper deliverance of extreme cuteness in this child's obesity[but an obese child is nothing to laugh at!]. And look at his boom boom room! :O DAWWWWWW!
So much more to do, but it's almost time to be an awesome American and watch huge colorful explosions in the sky to celebrate rubbing our freedom in from monarchy[I'm sure they're lovely people, though]!
I'll finish him when I get back tomorrow.

Happy Fourth of July errbody!

The Colors, Duke! The Colors!

Playing with paint like a kid with a clean wall...that shaped it into this alien thing. Super quick paint job...for my experience, which this is my first time using it.
The sculpt was about an hour.[Didn't know what I wanted, it just became this.]
Painting about 45min

Wrankles

Deco brush or as I would like to call it the lazy brush...or time saver. When all ideas are out of grasp...do dragons.

Slowly But Surely

I guess now I have a digital version of the orc I did traditionally. Original concept was done by Alejandro Mirabal.
One a day shouldn't be too hard to keep up with. Last night I think the tally was at 3 or 4, but they were too horrendous to post. Better get as much in as I can before the big day. :|

Space Junkie

I've never really known what this style's name is or if it even has one. Is it future suits? Space? Sci-fi military?
Found the IMM brush and started sticking things where I pleased. hee hee
Sometime down the line, making my own IMM's could be fun. Glad someone else made the time to make these for me to experiment with. They're like LEGOs! D:

Back from Vacation

O.M.G. Longest stay from my computer I've ever had in 3 years.(last time was when I moved from Denver to the Bay Area) I felt SOOOooo....weird and useless. What's the first thing I do after delayed flights and blistering heat? How about sitting in a hot and humid house reintegrating with Zbrush.

30 min sculpt between reuniting with roommates, then breaking the news on current affairs.

But alas the sculpt...He looks like an Eduardo. Definitely a scrapper with cauliflower ear going on. A rebel with a big heart. Misunderstood. All he needs love. *BOP BADA BABA!* ALL HE NEEDS IS LOVE LOVE LOVE! Love is all he needs. :nods:

Who Nose?

Restarted the head after I found out the body and head became misaligned via topology. The head was higher than the body, as well the shoulder had somehow lost some faces. Made some super quick teeth to pop in, since his mouth will be open.

As for the title, I suddenly became fascinated with noses! D: I knew there were different shapes, but never knew they were categorized. 14 distinct shapes, then a subsequent mixture for those not so noticeable. I found the Roman to be a favorite, especially since art has always faceted the Roman/Greek statues anywhere a picture can be placed.

Pouty Face

Centaur no want eat his vegables! RAWR!

He's also got some Kid Buu ears going on.

Strike A Pose...Vogue

Lots of anxiety tonight, had to do something to calm the nerves so I started posing him in ZBrush. Didn't touch the hands yet, as you can tell they are still paddles.

I found it remotely easier, posing things in zbrush, as opposed to Maya.

Centaur 2nd Take

Feeling much better about his horse part, being that he's part Bandit. I still may shrink his human section down, as it's looking too large in comparison to his horse features.

Centaur First Take

First try at a centaur with the horse half being made with zspheres. Not too happy with the result of the topology so I'll most likely be using part of my already finished horse...well, the lower poly version of it so there goes all that detail. D:

Slim Jim

Meet Slim Jim. He has no eyes, a nasty under-bite  and a club for a left hand. He enjoys eating livestock, destroying villages, and the occasional frolic through murky swamps. I've been in ZBrush so long, needed to go back to basics, as far as medium.

I like getting my hands dirty! Kinda missed that sulfur smell.

Edit*

That large skull of his is covered with microscopic hairs that pick up electric currents from the air, similar to a shark. Being that sharks are underwater dwellers and this guy is a land walker, he must resort to living in highly saturated areas of humidity. A swamp is an ideal place because of all the fog. It also shares a trait similar to sonar to get a dim picture of his surroundings. The things that show electrical conduct only stand out that much more, making them excellent predators.

Bandit Low poly - High Res Sculpt

All that work doing the individual muscles gone D: to make room for "smooth" skin. Last thing done were the veins.

Speed Sculpt Facial Muscles

Super quick rough of the major muscles on the head. I think it lost detail from an older version of Zbrush[4] at school, into my version[5] at home.

Dragon Bust Sketchbook

Sketched this while at a session Bobby Chiu held at school. I found out we have something very similar in common. We both had German Shepherds named Major when we were kids. I was like, "Did we just become best friends?!" YUP!

Chinny Chin-Chin

I almost feel like this could be a poster. An iconic mech mask...helmet, thingy, slap some quote from the series..or OOH! "Angels are coming." I might make that a SIDE, side project.

Anyways, I added the chin-jaw for tonight. Gonna step into high gear for the horse's anatomy, tomorrow.

I don't know why, but I seem to like the grayed out color, rather than the purple and neon green.

EVA Helmet. Action. GO!

Just a side shot of the head gear that is worn by an Evangelion Unit, 01 to be precise. It's an anime about humans fighting what they refer to as "angels" with large mech robots, which are piloted by children about 12-16. Took the weekend, in between other projects, Game of Thrones, and sleep. :|
Will be working on it when I'm not doing other stuff. Not my first Mech style model, but it's been a long time.

Bandit - Blank finished

Wunderbar! Bandit is ready for Zbrush! Messing around little more with Vector rendering as well. His first photo op, previous to this one, wasn't his best day, he also looked more like a dog. Figured out the head, eyes was a real mind boggler. I found out that I was subconsciously modeling him for rigging so I toned down the edge-loops. Onto Zbrush !

Horsey

Meet Bandit. 

My overly basic, majorly malnourished colt model. I've not yet decided on feeding him miracle grow or breed, specifically Clydesdale. His name comes from the way I haven't controlled the way his eyes should look. Oh topology, how you are mystery to venturing pioneers traversing your foggy waters.

This is going to be a blank mesh to take into Zbrush and sculpt me some anatomy! Still going to work on his head, too much noise going on. Tally-Ho!

Abs-olutely in Shape

Puns! Terrible puns!

Been working on that blank mesh in Zbrush in between animating, hopefully this week brings better progress. Mostly done with thesis, just need to get some final critiques this week, but ABS that's what this guys is about and the serratus, as well. My dad didn't think this was a muscle. I told him I just amplified this guy's to a fantastical proportion. Wish I was in this good a shape... :l

Dino Binge[animation]

Quite recently for some reason I fell into some sort of dinosaur frenzy. Picked up a book that didn't have pictures in it...AND READ IT...okay, I'm still reading it, but it's Jurassic Park. I never knew there were some big differences between the book and movie. D: I also got a hold of a new rig from the awesome Joel Anderson, his T-rex is A-mazing! Spent a few hours today, not the first time I've animated it, as the first session I forgot to save progress[quite a bit, in fact], then my stupid, yet sexily powerful computer updated itself, then restarted without my consent[THE NERVE!] and POOF! no more animation, only a single playblast to remind me of where I left off.

 I can't help, but somewhat be thankful, as that version compared to this current one was atrocious. I think I was on medication and VERY sleepy. BUUUUT alas, another one of those "you have about 10,000 bad [insert art preference here] in you, before you get better. Definitely for the better on this one.

Run Doggy Run

Freshening up my quadruped ani and had this model for a while. It reminds me of Balto a little.
Maya 2013

Blank Mesh Prep

Made a blank mesh to be used in Zbrush. Vector being vector, I couldn't figure out a way to only show quads so tris will have to do. Also, rather than doing a traditional T-pose or slightly more angled A, The process at the moment isn't too much of a worry, as this model wont be rigged. This will generally be done as a study piece of anatomy.

2500 quads[5000 tris as seen]
Maya 2013

Officially Started Digital Scultping

Xenomorph Drone

So as an assignment from my instructor, my homework was to use STRICTLY just the 2.5D brushes in zBrush and create something that will be used as judgement into our souls. The class will then share awkward glances towards each other and whisper deep concerns for our mental well being. I like Aliens so kablamo!

As a piece:
I feel like it's just a waste.  I mean, he can't even turn his bitty head...or body for that matter.

Spent aboot 45min-1hour
zBrush

*Also...this is my first official zBrush piece. I've gone digital now.

Organic Modeling - EVA01

Now starting to refresh my topology knowledge.

My current mini project consists of a character known as Eva-01. This is its organic state without armor[restraints].
2000 polys
Maya 2013

Kaboom

Kaboom from JR Fuentez on Vimeo.

New computer this week! :D
Core i7 3930K 16GB RAM[soon to be 32GB] GTX 690 ooh la laa
Ermagerhd! Able to crank stuff like this, like butter.
Playing with fluid dynamics in Maya, it's pretty mesmerizing and enchanting..ooOOoooo..aaaAAAAaaaaa

Unleashed

Unleashed upon the city to wreak what it was bred to do, havoc.

On the winter break, I was at the airport, waiting for a flight to arrive so I popped out my iPad and jumped into Sketchbook Pro. Kinda wish I had the retina version so I could have done details, like windows and lighting against buildings, but the 2nd gens were a tad late on the retina display updates so alas I could not go further. An old man that was sitting across from me got a look at it, didn't say anything, but he did look as if the image disturbed him.

Haters gonna hate.

Noooo...must not lose focus

Sketchbook nonsense, been wanting to post something up, but haven't been around a scanner. 

Dunno what's up with the right's hairdo(?) and/or pigtails. Or would the left one be the pig-tailed behemoth.

And if I recall correctly, as I work with super fine lead, 0.3, I stabbed myself and touched the side of the paper and thought, "Huh, that looks like a mouth." So I drew a blob around it, slapped some wee-bitty eyeballs, and gave it a fair welcome.