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A piece a day.

polycounter lvl 9
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SandmanSeven polycounter lvl 9
So I had to drop out of The Art Institute of Pittsburgh because of money issues, this happens a lot and when it does the student, in this case myself, find him or herself in a rut. You start off strong and you work on your portfolio, but you aren't good enough. That's okay, but it becomes hard. If you're like me your work starts to dwindle, your drive and passion shrivels as you work at a shitty job, (I'm a tech at Office Depot) and get no feedback from your resumes or sites like polycount. Well my friend saw this happening to me, and he gave me a challenge, he said "Ryan, You need to take down your shitty portfolio and start working on art again. You have to make an asset a day, it doesn't have to be large, but it has to be done.

So this is my thread to track my process, join along with me if you find yourself in the same situation.

Today I made a spear. I made it for Huskar, a character in the game Dota 2, and I made all the maps for it for Dota, I'm just having a hard time getting it imported. But thats okay because I got the model done, I can get the import done some other time.

The texture size is 128w x 248h.
HuskarWIP7.JPG

Replies

  • Laughing_Bun
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    Laughing_Bun polycounter lvl 17
    Im going to disagree with your friends advice, If you want to develop a portfolio, nothing you make in a day will be worth putting in it. Work every day, Post updates everyday, don't finish stuff in a day. Do something slightly more ambitious and people will comment and you will be motivated to make and finish something more interesting.
  • thepapercut
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    I'm agreeing with laughing_bun on this one, instead of doing little projects that give you a big portfolio, go big and spend a longer time on a few projects. A few impressive pieces will do a lot more then a bunch of little ones.
  • Treboras
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    Treboras polycounter lvl 12
    I also agree with Laughing_Bun and thepapercut: Better to have 3 complex pieces as 20 simple ones.
  • Amsterdam Hilton Hotel
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    Amsterdam Hilton Hotel insane polycounter
    yeah but keep making stuff regularly and sooner or later you'll be pulled towards larger projects anyway
    The texture size is 128w x 248h.
    this might be a typo but if not, consider sticking with valid power of 2 sizes ( so 256 not 248 ) for textures
  • EarthQuake
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    If your goal is to improve above all else, small quick projects will probably get you there the fastest. Small projects provide quick turnaround an a great platform to experiment and try new ideas.

    If your goal is to create a brand new portfolio site, you'll want to spend longer than a day per asset.

    You can do both though, spend two weeks doing 1 a days, then spend 2 weeks doing a polished portfolio piece. Rinse, repeat.
  • SandmanSeven
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    SandmanSeven polycounter lvl 9
    These aren't portfolio pieces! haha sorry for the confusion, these are just to get me back and working on stuff, doing a lot of small projects also helps me improve my skills. I was actually planning on doing what EarthQauke suggested. Nothing I make in a day is going in my portfolio, its bad enough already.

    Amsterdam - I looked up the texture size needed for Huskar in dota and thats what it said, I believe they split a full 248 x 248 in half and use one side each for the main hand weapon and the offhand weapon.
  • SandmanSeven
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    SandmanSeven polycounter lvl 9
    Today I did a sculpt, just a dragon. I think I'll retopo and make the textures for it tomorrow. :D
    Dragon_1.jpg
  • BradMyers82
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    BradMyers82 interpolator
    I really dig that sculpt dude.
  • The_Blenderer
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    Yeah I also really dig the sculpt, I love how part of it is a hard bone wood plate and the rest is detailed with sharp teeth and scales, also the feral expression is really cool

    Not sure if this is relevant or what skills you are aspiring to, but just in case some conceptual critique about the teeth the teeth in the rows above don't have anything to grind against at the bottom jaw So it looks like all these teeth actually have no bite and they are more for scraping or scratching stuff..

    So it would be more cool if you add some bottom teeth row and make it so it looks like he can close his mouth without his upper teeth digging into his huge gums

    For the rest doing an asset a day is a great idea, don't give up.
  • TheDerpyChicken
    The sculpt is pretty sweet. Reminds me of a Tyranid.
  • SandmanSeven
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    SandmanSeven polycounter lvl 9
    Thanks guys! The support really helps, I'll defiantly keep your advice in mind next time Blenderer.
  • tonysladky
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    Damn, this is some good stuff. Better than most of my "I didn't drop out of art school" and "I put more than a day into this" work, but someone else clawing and scratching their way out of a rut was exactly what I needed before I could start soliciting feedback on my own little exercises, so thanks.
  • SandmanSeven
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    SandmanSeven polycounter lvl 9
    Tony feel free to post your daily stuff on here! I'm sure we would all love to see it!
  • tonysladky
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    My approach is going to be slightly different for now, but perhaps in a future round of exercises after I get over my texturing hump…
  • KristaW
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    KristaW polycounter lvl 9
    Glad that you didn't throw in the hat after school. I think its a great idea to do something everyday. Keep it going.
  • SandmanSeven
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    SandmanSeven polycounter lvl 9
    Didn't get much done today, have a lot going on. I made this new shoulder piece for an old character of mine. Tomorrow I have surgery, if all goes well I should still a little time at night to do something.
    day3.JPG
  • TheDerpyChicken
    Good luck in surgery! The shoulder piece looks good. Will there be more armor accompanying it?
  • SandmanSeven
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    SandmanSeven polycounter lvl 9
    Yes there will, I'm trying to flex out what I want the legs to look like tonight so I have something planned for when I'm super drugged up. haha
  • thepapercut
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    Nice looking sculpts man. Best of luck to you in surgery and can't wait to see more from you.
  • SandmanSeven
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    SandmanSeven polycounter lvl 9
    So my surgery went very badly. I had an allergic reaction to some of the meds. I'm in a tremendous amount of pain, I will be in bed for the next few days. I'm sorry I will not be posting much.
  • Treboras
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    Treboras polycounter lvl 12
    So my surgery went very badly. I had an allergic reaction to some of the meds. I'm in a tremendous amount of pain, I will be in bed for the next few days. I'm sorry I will not be posting much.

    So sorry to hear that! Get well and don't hurry back too soon! Being fit/at best health is most important!
  • SandmanSeven
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    SandmanSeven polycounter lvl 9
    Hey guys thanks for the all the support, I was feeling a little better and I was able to sit in my chair again so I sat down for about an hour or two and worked on some more pieces for my Vurdmeister character. The reason I'm working on this old character again is because I got in touch with Brent Weeks, the author of "The Night Angel Trilogy". He just so happens to be my favorite author and the Vurdmeister is a character class from his books, he saw my old version of him and wants to share it on his website, so I asked for a month to really get back into it and show how much better I can make it.
    VM_WIP_1.jpg

    I also want to say that I got a ton of inspiration for the new armor from the Dragon Age concept art found here.

    And you can see my old version of the Vurdmeister on my crappy portfolio site here.
  • SandmanSeven
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    SandmanSeven polycounter lvl 9
    Still feeling pretty bad, but I want to work on stuff. I worked on his boots, pants, and the armor on his legs today. I'm happy with the pants but I feel like I don't know what I'm doing when it comes to the shoes. Does anyone know of any tutorials or anything to help with that?
    VM_WIP_2.jpg
  • SandmanSeven
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    SandmanSeven polycounter lvl 9
    I missed out posting last night because I wasn't feeling well, but I did do work, I worked on his hands and some basic colors.
    VM_WIP_Hnad.jpg
    Today I worked on more polypaint and redoing the body.
    VM_WIP_3.jpg
  • SandmanSeven
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    SandmanSeven polycounter lvl 9
  • SandmanSeven
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    SandmanSeven polycounter lvl 9
    Its been a few days since my last post, I've been working on retopoing. There really isn't much to show but I'll keep working at it.
  • SandmanSeven
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    SandmanSeven polycounter lvl 9
    Hey everyone sorry for no posts for awhile, I've had to be out looking for another job, to many student loans to survive on minimum wage and all that. But I have been working every day, or at least every night. I'm starting to texture my game mesh now, piece by piece. I've really been trying to get better at hand painting my stuff. I wanted this to be styled like its hand painted but with a lot of sculpting as well.
    Vurdmeister_WIP6.JPG
  • KristaW
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    KristaW polycounter lvl 9
    Wow, the face on that guy! So crusty I love it.
  • SandmanSeven
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    SandmanSeven polycounter lvl 9
    Vurdmeister update! I think I'm calling this guy done, I have a friend rigging it. And I'm gonna make a small platform with some snow blowing around him for the final image.
    Vurdmeister_Finalish.jpg
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