A Job and the Wondering Knight

Greetings and salutations earthlings! Hope all is well with everyone. It's almost been a week since my first post, so I figured it might be a good idea to get another one up on here. I figured I would update you guys on a couple things.

I said last time that I would fill you guys in on my job situation, so here we go. LA is packed full with game development and animation studios. When I first moved here, I was kinda freaked out a little bit and one of the first things I started doing when I moved here was applying for jobs. Well as time went by, it became clear that I needed to work more on my skills as a 3D Game Artist and as time went by, a peace came over me and I realized what kind of season I was and am in my life. With that, I decided to stop applying for jobs, and just work on my portfolio, trusting that there would be a job at the right time for me. I did that once with the level I created titled Windy Village (finished it around November), and that turned out to be the best thing I had created to date. After that was done, I began to work more on applying to studios in the area once again. Bellow you can see a simple screenshot from my level.

Windy Village screenshot

While I was doing that, applying as a World Builder or Level Designer, I was also toying around with some new ideas for characters and environments, just sketching them out. A couple ideas were awesome, but would take forever to complete, one in particular was especially really cool, but it would be a bit too complicated for my skill level. The character idea that I'm speaking about, was none other than this ent drawing. 

ent concept

As tempting as it was to create that guy, I decided to keep coming up with some ideas. Resulting from that was this knight concept. Not only would he be something that I could achieve, but it also would help strengthen my portfolio with a good human character, since most of my characters thus far have not been the typical fare.

original knight concept

Conceptualizing with him a little more, I came up with a more detailed version of the character. This really helped give me a clear idea for what I was going to do with him. And as a bit of time went by, I decided to name him Wondering Knight. Perhaps that would be the actual name of the game he would be in, because of the background story I created a bit for him. But anyways....

refined detail concept

I figured it would be doable. It would require a little extra work than my last environment I had created, just because I would have to re-learn this program called Zbrush (something every 3D Artist should have). So as time went by, I worked away on him. Went through some tutorials and such, and after a couple of months of working on him, I am happy to say that he has turned out really good. In fact, I am rendering out a rough animation that will demonstrate him in different poses and such as we speak. You can get a glimpse of it just bellow. I will probably tweak the lighting, and I might work on some special effects and create some cool scenery around him, but for now this more than suites my needs. On top of that, I hope to send it to one of my best buds back home in TN, Tyler Smith, to see if he can put some music to it. Yay!

final result of Wondering Knight concept

So all that to say, now that I am just about finished with the character, I believe I will now move on once again to applying to studios. I guess I should have said it earlier, but no, I do not have a job yet in the industry. Bummer. But I feel the time is approaching soon. This season in my life has really been a time of preparation, and God has really been teaching me on how to have a keener eye for excellence, and how to achieve that in my work. Who knows though, maybe I will get a job by the traditional means, but I have a feeling it will be through the right people. After all, as they say, it's not about what you know, but who you know. Although what you know sure can help. : )

There you have it, a little bit about what I've been working on, along with my whole job situation. And as far as my finances go, there really isn't any need to worry. While I was in school God gave me wisdom to save up money. Thanks to that, I will be good out here for at least a few more months without a full time job, so it's not like I'm just wracking up a bunch of debt while I hone my skills.

Thanks for checking this out everyone, and check back soon for more. I'm thinking I will either create a desert environment to go with my knight, or create a new character. We shall see!