Sketchbook: ZackF

Zack Fowler

Sup polycounters! Thought I'd share some of my personal 2D work, and crits are quite welcome. I mostly do environments but I like to mix it up every once in a while with mechs or whatnot. These days I'm mostly focused on 3D but I like to stay sharp so I'll keep updating this with random stuff from time to time.

Gonna start off with some of my older stuff and progress to now.























And now the latest WIP I've been poking at:

bounchfx

wow, great stuff!!

xysdf

great ideas, cool work!

Zack Fowler

Thanks bounch and xysdf!

I'm planning to build a game-quality environment scene in UE3 over the next month or so, but still haven't made up my mind as to whether to make it more rough/organic or more techy. Might try pulling off a hybrid if I'm crazy enough. Anyway, here are some quick temple scene ideation thumbs:

Zack Fowler

I've since gone with option #4 for the temple environment, the P&P thread for which is here. Most recent concept below.



Now that the Jet Moto comp is over, I'm taking a break from finishing my jetbike for a while. Got really burned out on it, sadly, although I'll be sure to finish it eventually. Since I've been wanting to for a while, I decided to spend this week cranking out some fun minor props, the first of which will be a fantasy sword:



The recent work of Art-Machine, JFletcher and cycloverid is what got me inspired to make a sword. I'm going to try to get the model and textures finished for it by the end of tomorrow.

Alec3d

Really cool stuff, would you recommend any dvd's or articles on techniques that you use?

Zack Fowler

Thanks man. Hmm, well there are a few Gnomon training DVDs by Feng Zhu and Dylan Cole that have helped me a bit. Early on, trying to duplicate reference pictures on an empty canvas taught me a lot about the fundamentals of digital painting. Recorded animations of people painting were really helpful too. Many of the popular artists on deviantArt will occasionally record such videos, so that's a good resource to look into.

Alec3d

Thanks man

Zack Fowler

Think I'll start updating this semi-regularly now instead of only posting in WAYWO. Here are a few of the latest:





updated 6/6/10:


The final version of that ancient temple:


Another sketchier take on an ancient temple scene:

Emeriastone

Great visuals, very impressive! More!?

Baker

Nice, I like the animation of the "making of" the robot, well done.

AimBiZ

Lovely stuff. You handle colors very well.

marlfox8

awesome stuff here dude. that sword is sick:)

Zack Fowler

Thanks guys! I actually ended up making that sword in 3D, have it up on my site but never got around to posting it here.

One of the things I've been poking at recently is my first attempt at sculpting a human face. Still working on larger forms and proportions but it's slowly getting there. It's encouraging to be able to flip back and forth between new and old save files and really take note of the tendencies that are holding me back.

Baker

Nice,I am sorta in the same situation however I'm trying to draw it with pencil and am currently looking into learning how to create different facial expressions, have you studied that? This sculpture reminds me of that one character from Lost, only thing that looks awkward to me is tones in the nose from the front view, something about it looks a slight bit darker, just wondering if that was intended.

dmightyone

wow this is some serious amazing work! keep posting more please!

nilknarf815

I'm sure many have told you before, so I'll make it simple. Good muthafucken work!

-Frank

Zack Fowler

dmightyone and nilknarf: Thanks guys, you both rock!

Baker - Nah, I'll probably do a bit more to get general facial proportions down before diving into expressions. It does look a bit like Locke from the front, something I've been wrangling with since it's actually meant to be Ben Kingsley. I think that thing with the nose you mention may be just due to Zbrush rendering.

Here's a little thumbnail-ish study of an urban scifi environment. It's been slow going. Despite my love for mechs I have painted hardly any scifi environments, so definitely a learning experience here. Going to try to keep cranking out more and get more comfortable with it.

bounchfx

dude the mech looks ace. I like the steps.gif you provide there too latest one as well as the temple scenes look fantastic. post more!

Zack Fowler

Thanks bounch, much appreciated! Aye aye!

Another scifi env study, trying a bit to show the idea of slummy sprawl from a metropolis.

Allan-p

Ace stuff mate! Some of your mechs remind me of mechwarrior, good ol' days I miss. And I have to say your environments are top! I lack on that department. Keep up the good work and thanks for the comment!