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.
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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. |
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| 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.
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| 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....
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| 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!
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| 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!
