One step forward. Two steps back. One step forward. Two steps back.
It’s really not that bad this week. It was actually, a fairly successful week even if I don’t have a lot of cool stuff to show. I have some cool stuff to share.
I have a week and a day off from the day job next week. I’m really excited because during that time I will be testing for my Black Belt in Taekwondo. And as always with time off from the day job, I am looking forward to ignoring my alarm clock. I’m also a little
excited about my new plan. I’m hoping it works out. I did some prep work for it last week and then had a chance to basically start it over the weekend.
What I did was to take a concept I read about and decided to use it with how I approach my vacation time and what I might do with it. I’ve said this before. Vacation comes and I have a bunch of things I want to do and plan to do and then very very little of it gets done. So this time I decided to flip a coin to determine what, besides a couple of other key things, I would focus on during that time. I made it basically as random a process as I could. I wrote two options on some paper, folded it so I couldn’t see the choices, then I asked someone else to assign an H and a T to them. Then I tossed a coin. Whichever matched the result of the coin toss, H for heads, and T for tails, that is my focus for this time period. When I sat down this weekend and was trying to decide what I wanted to do with my time, I realized that since that was my focus for this period, then if I am indecisive about what to do, it will also be my default for what to do.
My choices were to work on programming type of things. I do have a computer geek day job. Or to work on 3D modeling and the like. The 3D modeling is the option that won the coin toss. So, when I couldn’t decide what to do I defaulted to that. That option doesn’t just mean that I only work on models and modeling. It means I could be learning how to do something by watching tutorial videos. Or doing research for an idea. Or, obviously, actively working on a model in any of the programs I use. For that matter, it could also include learning a new program related to the process.
When I got stuck. I took this idea, opened up my Pluralsight (formerly Digital Tutors)
account and chose a course to start watching. I chose a ZBrush one and it was about zspheres. The idea of zspheres is cool though I have struggled with them in the past 
but this tutorial provided the right tone or information that made me grasp them a little better so that then I had to open ZBrush and give it a try. Good thing I didn’t have plans for my evening. I glanced at the clock once and it was a round 9:30 or 10:00 at night. I was finishing up things for the night and didn’t think I had really been at it that much longer. When I closed ZBrush to stop for the night and go to bed it was 12:30 in the morning. That was a good 5 or 6 hours well spent. And here’s the result.
After thinking about the guy for a while I decided he really needed eyes and eye lids so I had to add those and a little more detail. I haven’t detailed the hands or feet. I may not. I may stop here and move on to something else. Right now my goal is not necessarily a “finished” product but more a learning product. For this piece, I got more comfortable with the zspheres and adjusting them before making them into a skin. I figured out that unless I start with the head, I’m probably better off zsphering the body and then dynameshing a head on later, or vice versa. I did a little with the extract tool for this and later watched another tutorial on some of the topology tools in ZBrush so I’ve a different idea of how to maybe work with adding some clothing. Here’s that weird looking guy now.
I got to thinking about what inspires me. Or what appeals to me visually in the things I like. If it’s a game universe, what is it, the universe or the look of it. If it’s a movie, same thing. If it’s art what is it about the art that appeals to me. I think this is important because those are the things that influence the work an artist does and the style that they develop for their own. I’m pretty eclectic right now. I’m not overly consistent, I’m hit or miss with some of my characters and their appeal. So I’m actively looking at things and trying to understand what it is I like about them. Some of it is very hard to quantify. So I like the look of the movies Big Hero 6 and Frozen. I also like to read cyberpunk and some of the dystopian future stuff. I like sci-fi movies and space and so much more. It all influences what I have floating around in my head and it hasn’t quite all gelled into a cohesive thing yet. To help with all this, I picked up a couple of books that had some stuff in them that gave me a couple of ideas. One I was able to bookmark the page so I can easily get back to it and the other, I just had to sketch out a little of the idea.
I’ve recently discovered the coolness of the squid and the octopus. One of the groups I follow on twitter or instagram have in the last few months shared pictures of some really fun and interesting variety of both these species. That’s probably why Squiddy is
getting developed. As I was looking at some of the pictures in the books, which is primarily what I got them for, not the words. I got this idea. I just have the basics here to remind me of what I was thinking and I haven’t figured out which program I’m going to do it in yet.
I’m excited about the idea. I have some thinking to do on how to place things and what I want to happen with the different characteristic parts. This is a start though.
That’s my news for now. I will confess, I considered spending some time working on the Funky Bird before I wrote this so I would have new pictures of that to share. But, given that I got lost in ZBrush on Friday, there’s a good chance I could get lost in Maya and not get this all ready to go in time. So you will have to wait a little longer for an update on the Funky Bird.
If you were wondering about the other items I am focusing on for that vacation time, well they are studying for the test that I need to take for the day job. I have about 4 and a half chapters left to read and then I can start working with the practice tests. I’m also going to finish putting away the stuff that came out of the art room. Some of that still needs to go back in, I just need to make the right spot for it, and some of it needs to find a new room to live in. I am also preparing for the Black Belt test. Which I’m really excited about. I need to make my travel arrangements for the ZBrush Summit, and I need to have my car serviced.
With a little luck I have chosen just the right amount of stuff to focus on.