Sketchbook: Skylebones

skylebones

I love the idea of sketchbooks, and figured I should start my own. I've been in the game industry for a few years now and I'm currently on the job hunt again. This will be a good place for me to experiment and post various test while I search for a new position.

Here is a model I finished up last Wednesday. I'm not much of a character artist, but as soon as I found out about the Marmoset toolbag I knew I had to make something to test it out.

I spent about a week on it. Base mesh modeled in XSI, High-Res Mesh created in Z-Brush.



Here is this weeks project. I modeled it on Friday. Next step is to make the high-res and textures. I'm doing some test with baking the Normals out of XSI, ZBrush, and XNormal to see which one will give me the best results.



Thanks for checking it out! I've got plenty more to come.

JohnnySix

Would be interested to see the high-poly of the lizard man. What ref did you use, was it based on a Games Workshop miniature, or your own/another concept?

skylebones

Hey thanks, It's something I came up with on my own. When I originally made him I went with traditional stuff. Normal looking Plate armor and a sword. But then I was thinking, why would a different race create something we would use. So I wanted things to look familiar, but different. So I came up with some strange looking armor and added the abstract lines to make it seem a bit more 'alien'.

I'll try and get some screenshots together of the high-res assets out of Z-Brush.

Here is the finished hatch posted above.

I've been swamped with doing art test. But I had a week where I had no test scheduled and figured I'd do a personal test.

I gave myself one week to sketch out a concept, model, uv map, create the high-res assets, texture, and get it all working real-time. There is a bit more I'd like to do, but I'm out of time.






Now back to the real art test so I can get a job.

JohnnySix

Very cool! If LOST took place in the antarctic instead of the Hawaiian desert island then this'd fit right in.

Great texturing - especially on the snow - really has that soft powdery feel to it. :thumbup:

skylebones

Hey Thanks johnny six.

I kind of like it actually. I think I'm going to go back when I have some time and give it a proper texture job.

ZacD

I like it too, just for 4 hours? Damn. looks like the normals were just done in crazy bump or something, right? I see some tris that could be remove but it looks great, a mix of Team Fortress 2 and real life.

Ged

really nice, not sure about the lines across the handle and front grip and the texture could use a bit of dirt and scratches

ngs616

Great work. I really like that revolver.

skylebones

Thanks guys! After making the revolver it gave me an idea for a character. So I started this one today. I've been working on it off and on while doing an environment art test. I've got some clean up and more work to do (Real eyes, a proper pose, etc.). Then I'll texture him and give the revolver a proper texture job.



ZacD- The normals were actually baked off a high-res model. I'll have to take screenshots of that. I usually create the low-res model then make the high-res off of that. Because of the time constraints I only modeled the high-res stuff that needed to be baked. Like the lines in the handle and the notches in the cylinder.

DeusExMatteo

Looking forward to see the revolver with final textures:) I get the feeling you have a good work flow when I read your comments. Would really appreciate to hear you talk a little about it and to see the hi-poly of the gun. Keep it up!

skylebones

Then I've got nothing else lined up (Sadly ) I'll post some more WIP images to better show my work flow and the process I use.

DeusExMatteo

Awesome! what kind of education is it? I assume it's a test for school, but maybe it's something else? Hope you ace the test! I'm attending a school in malmö, sweden that works together with Massive, the guys that made World in Conflict.

Looking forward to learn more about your work flow.

skylebones

I had to put the above character on hold while I finish my environment stuff.

Here is the second of my one week environment challenges. Started this one on monday. All textures are hand painted, no photo overlays.



I'll be starting the 3rd one on Monday. I've had a blast working on these.

skylebones

Here is the One Week Environment Challenge #3.



I'm a huge off-road racing fan. So this one was the funnest, but it was also by far the hardest. I wanted to model the truck to be as game ready as possible. I modeled the shocks, the engine, and a ton of other stuff that isn't visible in this image, but would be visible jumping around in a game. It was a lot more work creating this in one week than I thought it would be.

I'll be starting #4 tomorrow. Unlike the other ones, I have no idea what I'm going to make tomorrow.

skylebones

I recently re-did my website, and in the process cleaned out a lot of the old images. I apologize that the images above are missing.

Anyways, Here is a model I made about 6 months ago that I decided to re-texture.

skylebones

And just finished this one up today.

I'm a big submarine fan.

skylebones

Here's an environment I started. Doing something cartoony and stylized with some hand painted textures. Just started the diffuse maps. I'll be posting the progress.

marlfox8

i like your ideas keep it up

skylebones

Landed a job at Cartoon Network and I just barely got things situated. Here's a speed painting to help me get back into the groove of being productive after work.

JohnnySix

Wow, congratulations!

Looking forward to seeing your island & boat.

Baker

Grats. I know its a speed painting but I gotta critique if you dont mind, the trees are fading due to the atmosphere(since its fading blue?) however the mountains are clearly visible and so is the foreground , thus throwing me off. Did you free hand paint each detail or was it a mix? Mabey add some clouds as it looks like theres cloud reflections in the water, dunno.