A day at Criterion Games?... Not this time!

To get straight to the point, I was unsuccessful in my application for the open day at Criterion Games. I know that places were very limited and competition was extremely fierce, so this has far from doused my drive to get better at 3d art work, if anything, it has only made it stronger. I will continue to improve and one day I will earn my invitation to other great opportunities like this in the future!

Female torso sculpt.

My second go at sculpting in Zbrush, this time of a female torso. There are some anatomical errors for sure, which I will iron out as I study anatomy more in depth over time.

Update: I have applied very basic polypaint over of the female sculpt, adding a skin base colour, nipple tone and very subtle shading in different skin-type areas. I also re-adjusted the rib cage shape and reduced the tension of the neck ligaments a touch.

My first Zbrush attempt...

I have spent some of my time off from work by kick-starting my studying of Zbrush. So far I had only read about the UI layout, some basic brush functionalities and simple import/export procedures, so diving into creating my first piece was a little bit like having a boxing match in the dark; something bad is sure to happen. After a little while spent testing out some brush and stroke types on a simple sphere, I went straight ahead and set up a simple Zsphere foundation, with the aim of finishing up with a male torso sculpt. This was the result of an hour(ish) work:

The course I study doesn't currently teach Zbrush or Mudbox, so it is absolutely essential to begin teaching myself how to use sculpting programs like these. This is bread and butter knowledge that someone wanting to enter the games industry (Eventually as a character artist) should possess, so expect much more Zbrush work from me in the future.

A day at Criterion Games?

Criterion Games in Guildford, creators of the Burnout racing series, are opening their doors (sort of) in an open day on 12th April 2012 aimed at final year A-level and first year university students, who are passionate about having a career in the games industry. There are only 30 places available (A mixture of art, programming, design roles etc), so I would of thought the amount of unsuccessful applications heavily outweighs the number of invited applicants. A select few from the open day will also picked for a full work placement at Criterion Games! (Registration for the open day closed on Friday 9th March).
To be in with a chance of being picked for the open day at Criterion you had to send a ZIP file of your CV with a few examples of your work, alongside answering four questions:
- Why do you want a work experience placement at Criterion Games?
- What would be the top 3 learnings that you hope to take away from a work experience placement at Criterion Games?
- How would this work placement opportunity help towards achieving your career goals?
- Tell us a little bit about yourself and why we should choose you above anyone else for this great opportunity?
For me a chance to go to any games studio would be a great experience, but to be able to visit one of the UK's most acclaimed would be amazing, so naturally, I applied. I would take so much from the day to increase my knowledge of the games industry and how it works and also to help me take my work to that next level.
The chances are that I will be unsuccessful (à la Blitz Games open day), but if they can spot someone from a crowd that has bags full of passion for the games industry, an infinite drive to work and learn until they can be the best they possibly can be and see a glimmer of potential from what I have learnt and work I have produced in one short year, then I might just stand a chance, right? You will find out shortly what the outcome of this is...

The 'Double Fine Adventure'

Double Fine Productions (Grim Fandango, Psychonauts, Brutal Legend) have been running a fund-raising project through Kickstarter, a website where you pitch a creative idea to the public, set a donations target and see if people are willing to back the project by helping to fund it.
Tim Schafer's team were looking for $400,00 to make a classic 'point and click' adventure game, but the target was smashed and is currently sitting at $2,394,261 with 8 days left to pledge.
You can pledge any amount you want, but by pledging at least $15 you are entitled to the finished game in all of its awesome glory (DRM free on PC, Mac, and Linux, or via Steam for PC and Mac), exclusive access to the Beta on Steam, access to the video series, and access the private discussion community; there are other pledging reward tiers too ($30, $60, $100 and so on).
I pledged $15 towards the project, as there needs to be more awesome, innovative adventure games and less boring, monotonous, money-fuelled games that seem to saturate the market today (I'm looking at you Call of Duty!).
Get on board today if you like the look of the project and be a part of the games creation, pretty cool! CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE ADVENTURE

UPDATE: Funding has now closed. Double Fine Productions received $3,336,371 in total from contributors.

New Facebook page. You WILL like it!

I have been setting up an all-new Facebook page for the last couple of days, that will feature all the juicy creativeness that comes out of my brain; it would be great if you Like the page and also follow this blog (Shame on you if you haven't already!)

http://www.facebook.com/JamieRead3dArt

Vertex paint.

I am currently learning about the Vertex Paint modifier, fiddling about with the settings etc. I don't know if it's just me, but I find it a little tricky getting good brush settings and making decent complete maps with Render to Texture from the vertex paint information. At the moment, it's just easier for me to use masks in Photoshop and paint on the UVW template. Here's a few pieces I created using vertex paint:

A little something.

Here's an animated GIF I have created for a Train2Game assignment. It's a little jumpy in places, but I not too worried about going back to refine it too much. It did give me a couple of hours of fun though.

Blitz Games Studios: Open Days 2012.... DENIED!

Unfortunately the character model I submitted to Blitz Games Studios, for a chance to be invited to one of their 2012 open days was unsuccessful. I gave it a good stab and poured every ounce of 3d ability I currently have into the piece, but this time it just wasn't good enough. I have learnt so much during the process and will be back with vengeance next year, applying for a spot at the 2013 open days. Revenge will be mine!

Blitz Games Studios work? Submitted!

Today I finally submitted my 3d model of myself as an MMA fighter to Blitz Games Studios for a chance to be invited to one of their 2012 open days (Phew! Just in time for deadline day).
Below you can see the final model I have been working on for the last month. It definitely needs a few minor tweaks, but I needed to send it today otherwise it would be too late.
I modelled my character in 3ds Max (9834 tris), textured it in Photoshop (Only diffuse) and rendered up a final image in the newly purchased Marmoset Toolbag (So awesome!); so check it out.
EDIT: Here is another link to the image below for a zoomed-in view, click here!