Seems like I haven't been updating this year as much as I planned on doing. Work continues to drag, and light at the end of the tunnel continues to tease; ONE day, I'm going to be making 3D assets again!
I've updated my "professional work" section with some new CryEngine in-game renders. I think these shots show off the weapons a little bit better, especially since I used multiple lights to really pop off the details and normals.
Despite not doing a lot of 3D for the past few months at work, I've picked up some other skills that may come in handy some day: making 2D line-art diagrams (I've made a ton now) and a HEFTY, HEFTY, HEFTY (tm) dose of technical writing. I'm essentially a Test Engineer in the making at the moment. Does an artist need those skills in today's world? Ehh, I'll wait and see, haha.
Other than work, I've been revamping the design of the HARPI unit (yes, again). I think this time it's really paid off though. I've slowly found out what my problem was with concept design: First, I had figured, "OK, blank slate? Let's nail this silhouette." So I clobbered the silhouette until it finally made me happy, but then I realized..."Alright...now I have to work in some details...not to mention, how does this stuff operate? Function? Move? Does it even look cool in 3D?"
I had jumped the gun on modeling a lot of the parts, and therefore, I found myself further tweaking and concepting in 3DS Max...for almost way too long. Time was seriously just wasting away as I was pushing and pulling vert's and edges to try and "Nail the Silhouette" again, but even if I had succeeded, the details were still missing!
The solution? Concept in 2D, but with a 3D mind. If I focus too hard on making the 2D image look cool, I lose out on understanding the third dimension of the subject. It's a new mentality that I've added to my process, and I have to say it's definitely helped with making better design choices.
Add to that the painting process I discussed in my last update (using the tones of the image to build form, instead of black and white) and I think my 2d design skills have gone through the roof compared to last year. It definitely excites me knowing I've got a stronger foundation to work with.