Time to Go Back — September 6, 2016

Posted on September 6, 2016 by SusanG

The vacation from the day job is over and it’s time to get back to a regular routine. There’s good and bad with that. It helps to have a routine or structure of some type because it is easier to stay on track with things that need doing. Sometimes though, the schedule for that routine isn’t really optimal for other things you want to do. For example, I found that I seem to be able to settle in and get a lot of stuff done when I start working on them at about 7 or 8 in the evening and work until 11 or 12 or even 1. This doesn’t work so well with the day job routine because for that I have to start work at 7 in the morning. Which means I get up a bit before 5. Getting to bed that late and then getting up that early, not a great mix. Aside from that I’d say this break from the day job was reasonably successful. I loved getting to work to my own schedule and having all kinds of time to work on projects. I didn’t spend near as much time working on them as I had intended. Then again. I did have lots of mental space available to think on them. So maybe I did work on them more than it looks like.

One of the best things to come out of this vacation is that I have had a chance to regain some enthusiasm for my art projects, both computer and non-computer. That for me is a big thing. I don’t know about you but when I start struggling with finding the desire to work on things like that, that I really enjoy, it starts to wear on my confidence and self esteem. I see now that what it really means is that I’m needing a break, some down time, maybe a few hours or a couple of days with my head buried in the sand. Good to know.

This week I made some progress on the Halloween House. I tackled the door, the windows, the steps and porch deck and even a roof. I’ve got a bit more work to do on the porch in general. I want a porch light and I want a bit more structure under the roof. It
probably won’t show in the final render for the card, but I want it there because I think it will make a difference in how the lights behave when I light the scene. I would like to be able to use a night sky type of picture for the background but that could get tricky.

When I was preparing the pictures for this post I noticed that I didn’t have the panel for the door quite right. There is this white area just below the middle brace and before the bottom panel. I thought maybe it was to do with a shadow rendering wrong but found it again in another render. I opened up the project in 3DS Max and had a closer look. It turned out that I didn’t have the panel in the right place. I had to open up the door group to adjust the location of the bottom panel. While I was doing that I checked the top one and it was off a little too so I fixed it. The first two pictures are progress renders before I fixed the panel and the last one is after I fixed the panel.

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In addition to working on the Halloween House I also made progress on the Gretsch Guitar painting. I got the base layer of black completed. I even got some of the details, that are in black, roughed in. Now I’ve started on the second layer of black. For that, I pretty much started back where I originally started, in the stamp of the Gretsch logo. Instead of starting the second layer of black I thought about starting on an area that is a different color but decided not to, yet. I will need to mix most of the rest of the colors. That means that for some sections and details, I’m going to want to do either the whole thing, or at least the whole layer in one or two sittings so I don’t have to try to match my colors part way through. It’s easier to do a second layer in a slightly different color if the first layer isn’t dense enough. It adds depth. But to have to match the color part way through a
layer, that’s just a pain. So for now, I’m working on a second layer of black.20160905_164856_c_sm_wm

 

As much as I would have liked this last week of vacation to be as productive as the first week I’m still happy with the progress I have made. I got some relaxing in along with working on projects and that’s a good thing. The only slight disappointment is that I didn’t manage to make it to Myrtle Beach. The hurricane/tropical storm that decided to make a run up the coast did it about the time I was planning on being on the coast. And, since changing Mother Nature’s plans isn’t very easy, I decided to change mine and not go. I’ll have to plan that for another time. For now I’m back to the day job and working on projects in the evening. I’ve got more work to do on the porch of the Halloween House before I bring in the jack’o lantern, add the materials and textures, and then add the lighting. I’ve also got the Gretsch and Ovation Guitar paintings to work on. It might be enough to keep me out of trouble for a while. Maybe.

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Oh Yeah, I Need to… August 30,2016

Posted on August 30, 2016 by SusanG

I got so involved in putting dots on canvas board that I nearly forgot to write this post. Glad I remembered it. I’ve been pretty busy this week. In spite of it being vacation. Or maybe because of it.

In case you missed it, I finished the Gibson Guitar Head Stock painting last week. I’m excited to have it done. And of course as soon as I had the varnish dry I had to start on not one, but two new ones. Not the same size and certainly not anything as simple looking as the Gibson. Here are the beginnings of the work. As you can see, I sort of went from sketch outline to ink dots pretty quick with one of them.
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So I’m doing the tail piece to a Gretsch that belongs to a colleague of mine. It’s a nice guitar. But he says that it’s not one that you can pick up and start playing if you are a bit rusty. He says it really requires you to be in playing shape to do it any kind of justice. Fortunately that is not the case for painting/stippling it. Because I’m not quite back into playing shape. But I’m in stippling shape. As you can see from these W.I.P. (work in progress) pictures.
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I am also working on the shoulders of an Ovation Celebrity. This one is mine. And as I got to sketching it out and looking at the finish on it and the detail around the sound holes I realized that I might have bitten off a bit more than I counted on. It’s certainly not going to be as basic as the Gibson either. Still, I think it will turn out pretty cool if I am able to execute my vision of it. It’s a little larger than the Gretsch piece or the Gibson piece so there is a lot more work to be done. I’m making pretty good progress I think. Here are a few of the W.I.P pictures so far.
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Oh, and I even tried to paint outside one day. It turns out that 10:00 in the morning in August in the Carolinas is not really a comfortable time for that. But, hey, my coffee stayed nice and hot.
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2016_HolidayCard_08222016d_sm_wmAnd guess what. I did indeed finish this year’s Holiday Card. Yep, the 2016 Holiday Card from SusanG Productions is complete. Here’s a preview of it, in case you miss the official notice when I post it. It will be up on the store by the time you get this.

I usually try to have W.I.P. pictures to share as I go but I got so involved in putting this together that I forgot to stop and save some of the test renders.

Now, in addition to the guitar paintings, I’m back to putting together a Halloween Card. I’ve settled on the basics of what I think I want. Now I’ve got to put it together. It does require some modeling. Though not for the pumpkin. I’ve got a Jack’o lantern I want to use, so, I need to build the scene and whatever additional staging I want. Here’s the start. I’m going to use a front porch. I am still working out all the details. In poking around, I found that 3DS Max has some pre-modeled architectural features that I can use. I’ve inserted some windows and a door here. I thought I was going to use them but I’m not very fond of the HalloweenHouse2016_08292016a_c_sm_wmlook so I will use them for guides and place-holders for the moment and I will model what I want.

I’m not sure I’m going to have this done for Halloween this year. I’ve started very late on it. But I will do my best to have it up by the day, even if it’s a little late to send it to someone, at least it will be there for next year.

And if that wasn’t enough to be doing I also went to check out the Blues Jam. I played with these guys for about a year when I first moved to the area then things got a little crazy and I had to take a break. It was their last Sunday jam until the end of football season and since I’m on vacation, I figured it would be my best opportunity to see what’s up. Though I was invited to, I didn’t play. I’m a bit rusty. And wow, I need to practice. There were a lot of good musicians there. I’m not sure I could have kept up with them. But who knows, maybe after football season ends. I should try to get some practice time in before then.

With all the art projects and Taekwondo and the day job, that could be a challenge. I’ll have to see how that works out. I have a few art projects that I really want to get done. The Halloween Card, and the Worm Guy and the squirrel and squid, just to list a few.  As always, I hope to make even more progress on things this week, even if I decide to brave the tropical storms and make a trip over to Myrtle Beach. Ah, hurricane season.

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Holiday Card 2016 Now Available

Posted on August 30, 2016 by SusanG

Just to let everyone know, the Holiday Card for this year that I have mentioned needing to get done. It’s done. It is finally complete and ready for you. You can check it out at: Cheery Snowman Holiday Card or browse my Zazzle Store, just use the link at the right.

For now here’s a look at the finished design.

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Choosing New Projects — August 23, 2016

Posted on August 23, 2016 by SusanG

I am finally on vacation from the day job. And true to my usual pattern I am still plugging along getting stuff done, just at a slightly less frantic pace and with a little more goofing off20160821_111851_c_sm_wm thrown in the mix. I’m not very good at the sit on the porch or the couch and veg out type of vacation. I prefer to have something to do, that I want to get done. Which is a good thing for you because it means I will still have something to write about.

 

So far, in the few days that I have been on vacation, I have managed to finish painting the walls of my music room. Or at least I have deemed them to be finished. I’m pretty sure the tan color is bleeding through still even after two coats. But I’m tired of painting walls for now and having my home all a disaster so they are done. And I have started putting guitars back in there. I think they look much happier with the blues than they did with the tans.

 

I have also managed to finish the Gibson guitar head stock painting. I know you probably thought it was done the last time you saw a picture of it. It was close. I did go back and do one final layer of really tiny black. It evened it out and filled everything in nicer. I brightened and tightened up the lettering. That made a huge difference. When I started on it, I was just going to see if I could get the lettering color mixed up. I didn’t expect to have time to actually do the work. I did though and was still able to get to my class on time. So here we are now. It’s basically complete, it lacks only a third and final coat of varnish before calling it totally done with nothing else to do to it.

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With the Gibson painting complete it’s time to decide what to paint next. I’ve chosen two. And I have even prepared their canvas boards. Here’s a view of the boards and a peak at what I’m planning to put on them.

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So I’ve also got computer art that needs to be worked on and I’ve made progress there. I finally decided on an idea for the Holiday card for this year. I know, I was planning on Halloween this year and I’ve totally skipped over it. I may yet get it done, just maybe not as early as I had hoped. Anyway, back to the Holiday card. I’ve decided to use one of the ornaments, the glass ball type that you put on the tree, and show a reflection of the Snowman in it. At least that’s what I think I want to do if I can make it work. So I loaded an ornament into a new 3DS Max scene and then created a cylinder and gave it a material so I could see how well it would reflect and so I could tell if the lights and the camera were at the right angles. That was a real challenge. Trying to get the light just right so that the specular highlight didn’t wash out the reflection of the object, and also so that the color of
the ball still showed. Here are a couple of picture of the testing process. I made a tweak to the material for the glass ball on the second one and it made the reflection a little more clear so that’s the one I think I’ll use.

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Now that I know roughly how to make the scene work it’s time to actually put it all together. I know I want the Snowman in the reflection, I’m not sure yet if I will have him holding the ball or not. I probably should because otherwise it is sort of creepy and disembodied type of thing and that’s not really what I’m going for. I guess I’ll figure it out once I start putting all the bits and pieces together. That should be fun.

As you can see, so far the vacation thing has been pretty productive. I have few more things I want to work on in addition to finishing up the Holiday card. I do have an idea for a Halloween card that I would like to get worked on and maybe even completed. And there are two new guitar paintings to start. And of course there is the Worm Guy and a squirrel and a squid. I should be able to stay out of trouble for the next few days while enjoying the opportunity to ignore my alarm clock. Yes, I did leave my alarm set just so I could have the satisfaction of rolling over and turning it off and going back to sleep. I think I’ll go do some of that goofing off for a while before getting elbows deep in the next adventure.

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Still Trying — August 16, 2016

Posted on August 16, 2016 by SusanG

I’m still trying to get lots of stuff done. Some days are better than others and some days, everything you’ve been trying to do catches up with you and hits you like a sledgehammer and you just have to take a little break.

That break day was Saturday for me. On Friday, I managed, with some help from my parents, to get the entry way in my home painted. Two coats. And then we went to the movies. Saturday morning I took the tape off and went to Taekwondo class. After that was when the sledgehammer hit me. So the rest of the day was an easy one. Some play time and then I worked on the painting.

Yep, the Gibson head stock painting. That’s coming right along. Remember I noted that I was going to need another layer of the black. I worked on it fairly consistently this week and finally have that layer completed. I want to work on the lettering more. The color isn’t quite right, I hope to get closer. And It just needs another layer to crisp it up. So here it is so far. Nearly done.20160815_164936_c_sm_wm

 

After I played with the Fibermesh in ZBrush I got to wondering and thinking, that it might be worth it to try to make the worm in ZBrush, for fun and to work on my ZBrush skills. So I got started. I used a fairly low poly dynamesh sphere to start. I’m trying really hard to keep the poly count low for as long as I can. I did use dynamesh but made sure to set the target polygons to a lower number than just the standard. And mostly, I created it by inserting more spheres. The good thing is that I am getting a little more comfortable with the Transform tools (move, scale, rotate).

So inserted sphere, dynameshed, inserted sphere. That’s the big part of building up the form. Once I had what I wanted then I started with more shaping. With the lower poly count and dynamesh combo, I lost some of the distinction between the spheres for the WormGuy_0816_08072016a_sm_wmbody so I used some inflate brush to help bring that back. And some move brush to make the nose. For the eyes I masked them out and inverted the mask and then used the move tool to create the cavities where the eyeballs will go. I’ve got the thing a little off center in the scene so the symmetry isn’t working very well. I think he’s coming along nicely. I look forward to getting back to him. There are a few things that I haven’t really done before that I think I’m going to need to do with him, like set up poly groups and figuring out how to get proper UV’s of him. For now here’s a look in rough form.

I’ll be on vacation from the day job starting next week. I’ll have 2 weeks off. I’m excited about that. As you probably guessed, I have projects around my home to work on. I’m also looking forward to working on more art stuff. I’ve got some things in mind that should be fun. And I might even be mentally ready to tackle some of the animation stuff. I may take a day trip to go see some sights. I haven’t really done that in a while. And I hope to finish the Gibson painting and start the next one. I’ve a good idea of what I want to start next.

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