gausswerks.com, the new site for cool kids
polycounter lvl 18
so you say to yourself, over and over: man, i wish i was cool. also, wouldn't it be cool if gauss had a new homepage on his own, easy to remember site url instead of a long-ass PQ one, one that featured an up-to-date portfolio as well as a blog where he posted all of those great images he posts to the forums, all in one place?!
well it's here now. i know having all the images i post in one place just might completely preclude people from visiting these boards or other websites altogether, just sitting at their computer in a trance-like state hitting f5 over and over again in hopes that i'll post a new sketch, but that's a risk i'm willing to take.
click on the scary ol' butcherbot to visit the new gausswerks.com!
well it's here now. i know having all the images i post in one place just might completely preclude people from visiting these boards or other websites altogether, just sitting at their computer in a trance-like state hitting f5 over and over again in hopes that i'll post a new sketch, but that's a risk i'm willing to take.
click on the scary ol' butcherbot to visit the new gausswerks.com!
Replies
only problem i see is that once you go to the portfolio/resume there's no linkage back to your blog.
blog to port/resume is okay, have to go under your profile. maybe a little self linkage on the front there
ye lotsa goodies i haven't seen before.. great stuff man
i think you could chop off a few pieces from the portfolio area tho!
'tighten the belt' so to say.. 'squeezing comfortably in between the boobies'.. perhaps 'giving 'er yee ol' brazillian shave' even??
oh man..
snem: good thinking. if you look now, there's a darker gausswerks logo on the portfolio and resume pages that link back to the main site, allowing you to go to the blog or whatever. you're a crafty sort, you know
Makkon: i do it for the kids. coolness is not guaranteed, but it's definitely a lot more likely.
shotgun: trim off too much and you don't enough steak for a full dinner, know what i mean? i think i'll leave your metaphors alone
The problem with them (including the arial one) isn't that they are bad, but they could use tighter composition, some of the perspective looks a little wonky to me, and the forground, mid and background use a lot of the same contrast levels and colors and tend to blend together a little bit (especially in the image of the trucks).
Awesome stuff generally though.
I respect your design abillity, and your individual drawings are really good. I hope you don't take this as me shitting on your stuff. I can post up a paintover I tried out if you are interested.
if you look back on when i posted the valve concepts here and on CA.org (especially my big reply in the latter), i talked about how i was really trying to make myself grow beyond my usual, by drawing complete scenes.
i agree completely with your comments. the perspective is a little wobbly in places, composition weak, color choices unsure, and on down the line... but i've got to start some where.
how else do you transition from drawing vehicles/people/etc. with no backgrounds to drawing scenes? i know i'm going to hit a plateau if i don't do more full-scene stuff, so that's all i can do.
that's all well and good, you say, but why are they in your portfolio if they're not up to par with the isolated vehicle/character designs? i almost left out the scene drawings underneath the ortho stuff in the portfolio, but i've kept them in for two reasons. the first is what i replied to shotgun... they might not be my absolute best, but they do represent my best in that area. i don't think they're so horrible as to be omitted entirely. and the second reason is a bit more practical--especially for the mobile barrier, but also for the CPC design, to me it's important to show them "in action," despite my relative inability to do effectively. since you've seen the ortho drawings with them you might prefer not to see the scene drawings, but without them it's harder to conceptualize what they're supposed to be doing in the game world.
so i end up thinking along the same lines as when i posted this stuff to CA.org--i don't really think i'm cut out for illustration and i don't consider myself an illustrator. to me there's a considerable gradation between a concept and an illustration. i suppose my failing is not sticking more clearly to my preference for the former. a concept can be presented beautifully illustrated, but if your illustrative skills aren't up to par (mine aren't) you're better off focusing on presenting things clearly and cleanly, instead of a muddy photoshop painting, so it's my fault for betraying my design formation.
well good going man, now my incessant inner monologue has bubbled up into public discourse again and it's all your fault
The guy in the green coveralls...whats with the payphone?
As for "muddy photoshop painting" I always like the texture of your work, but some of it does seem a little unfinished at times. A bit lacking in polish.
As a model/texture artist, I would be wanting for more explicit detail, rather than suggestion of detail, when realizing some of these concepts.
Your tank/carryall designs clearly show you can do clean drafting quality stuff, I'd just like to see a bigger dash of that style in the rest of your body of work.
In terms of doing full scenes, I think most of doing it well can be summed up with "tricks" and methods, and the hard part is the skill (which you have) so you shouldn't worry. I think this stuff needs tweaks not starting over.
Recently I have started taking note of colors and compositions that I think work. More or less this is stuff you can rip off that nobody will notice or complain about it. There is a limited number of set-ups that look good anyway.
scoob: yeah, what is up with that payphone? mysterious!
Ninjas: thanks a lot man, I appreciate it. Some good words about just basic tricks about lighting (the main old light/fill light trick I still manage to keep in mind) that I'll have to investigate more later. Feng's got a lot of great tricks, but on the other hand, despite my enjoyment of the industrial design style as exemplified by Robertson and Zhu and the like, i'd rather not get into such a homogenic rendering style. I know that doesn't mean I can't make use of some tricks though... I've got a few Gnomon dvds that I ought to take another look at. thanks again for the comments.
Lee3dee: I'd love to, but the majority of my professional work is still under NDA unfortunately. Churchill from SSX 3 I can post since I own the character and it was public before it made it into the game--here's the drawing:
http://www.gausswerks.com/img/churchill.jpg
steady: poop had asked one a while back so I have one ready--thanks for reminding me of it
I do really like it, and I like how you divided the blog and the folio, makes it good to have them each accessable but not married too tightly.
That my friends is from Rock School with Jack Black. He doesn't say Monahan but it fits, anyhow
http://gausswerks.blogspot.com/ -- the topic at the top of IE: "<img src="....jpg">
Looking really nice and simple though
Spark
hawken: what do you mean, where's churchill? a newer drawing will make its way onto the new site soon enough, i think
Daz: thanks mate, that's something i've always appreciated in site designs so i knew that's how i'd do my new site. that, and i do all the html myself and i don't know much past basic html
thnom: yes, i'm aware of the issue, it's because i'm using an image in the title of the blog.. it's a bit of a hack, i should be able to figure out a way to use the image and keep a proper title on the page.
thanks zatoichi, means a lot. butcherbot's one of my favorites.
oh and there's a new image up in construct, be sure to refresh if you don't see a new update!