Weekly Update – July 26, 2015 Trying to get back in the groove.

Posted on July 26, 2015 by SusanG

As I suspected the events taking place in the day job spilled over into my after work hours quite a bit last week and I didn’t get much done on any of my projects. It was very disappointing. Though sometimes that is the way things go. It wasn’t a total loss. I did get some sketching in. Including a sketch I did during a meeting.

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Not that everything was that great for this weeks sketches, my brain was a little stretched. But this first one is kind of cute.

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This started out as something different and I don’t remember what that was going to be but this is what I ended up with.20150726_0363_sm_crop_wm

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was trying to do a pose of a Taekwondo kick and thought it looked strange without a target. Now I think the target looks strange. At this point I would still like to use the excuse that my brain wasn’t entirely it’s own.

 

 

I got a little time before bed one night to spend with the sketchbook and found myself fixed on something a friend said on Facebook. She said her husband was part centaur and
part mermaid. Of course I had to see how that might look. I’m not sure. I know if you know the anatomy you should be able to put just about anything together, but I’m not
sure this is working.

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I guess the Centaurmaid got the juices flowing some because this was the next item in the sketchbook. I like it. It’s fun.

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Working up this piece I realized that I could add this, or something similar, to the Halloween scene I keep talking about. Or to the Bee project. Anyway, something to
refernce when I get back into 3ds Max.

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I figure that at least getting so sketches in with the week I had was a big start. Needless to say, I was extremely happy to see Friday arrive and then the end of the work
day.

I have these acrylic and oil paints that I inherited from my grandmother and I have been thinking I might like to try painting with them, I might enjoy it a little more than
watercolor, which is what I have used previously. The only problem with the idea is that I know very little about prepping a surface for either type of paint or what to do after that.20150726_0354_sm_crop_wm So I decided to go to the art supply store to maybe find a book or ask questions and perhaps purchase a few supplies. It was a very good trip. I found the information I needed, met a very interesting person that gave me some great information and ultimately spurred me to start my next stippling art piece. If you happened to catch my Instagram or Twitter this morning you might have seen it. If not here’s a different shot of it.

I had a chance Saturday to watch the Livestream of the Anatomy Lab from Gnomon school. That was really interesting, and a little encouraging. Both speakers were knowledgeable and interesting and shared really good information. One, Ian Joyner, shared a trick in ZBrush that I look forward to trying. It might make the rough in a bit easier for me as I don’t seem to get along with zspheres very well. The focus of the lab was the importance of understanding anatomy in your creature creation and making things truly believable. Wasn’t too excited at first about how long it was but I will say, I did continue to watch when it went past the scheduled time. I will be looking for more of
those events, and probably going back to watch a couple of the previous ones.

So today I made a little more progress on Bernice. She’s starting to get a bit more defined and has had a bit of reshape, though not too drastic.

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And that’s how things have gone since last week. I’m hoping, and expecting, a slightly less exciting week at the day job so there’s a chance I will have more energy left at the end of the day to get back to things. I’ve got several things I was wanting to work on this weekend and well, I just ran out of weekend. So there is no telling what sort of images there might be next week.

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Weekly Update – July 19, 2015 – And the Dragons Have Started to Arrive

Posted on July 19, 2015 by SusanG

Yes. You read that right. Dragons.

The significance of the arrival of dragons has to do with the challenges I have in drawing or sculpting them. For some reason I couldn’t get my head around how the wings worked in relation to the arms. I also had trouble with the wing structure. I finally decided that part of my problem might be that I was trying to draw on strictly from imagination and it might help to start by drawing one from a reference of a dragon someone else had drawn. I can’t tell you why it took me this long to figure that out.

I found a fairly simple representation of a dragon and sketched it out. I was a bit surprised and quite pleased with the result.

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So from there I decided to start a full dragon in ZBrush. I used a dynamesh sphere and the insert sphere tool these allowed me to add components were I needed more polys to start to layout something like the front feet or the back feet. I did a lot of the shaping with the move brush and ZRemesher. It’s not done by any means but here are a few work in progress shots (WIP).

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What I have learned so far is that, now that I am more familiar with the dynamesh sphere and the insert sphere brush, for the next one I will start a little different. I think for the next one I may start with the head and get it nicely blocked in and then add the rest of the body using the insert brushes.

The dragon stayed with me for my morning sketch. This one, completely with out reference in front of me. That’s a good sign I think.

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That turned out to be a busy sketch day. Later in the evening I was watching NASA channel and was compelled to make these next couple of sketches. The first being an airplane inspired by a design I saw on the program and the second being a spaceship.

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Oh, and those were the last sketches in that particular sketchbook.

The next day and a new sketchbook saw this created.

20150719_084255_sm_crop_wmThis one started out with the idea of drawing a triceratops. And then I realized I didn’t have a clear enough picture of what one looks like to do it justice or even hope to get the upper horns right. So it morphed into this creature. It’s a little creepy looking, I think.

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This one is kind of cute. And it looks like he’s going somewhere.

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I thought drawing a body part would be a good idea. I don’t draw a lot of feet so I figured I could use the practice. In the process some of my ghost lines implied bones so I added them. The idea, I like. However, it did serve to remind me that I may need to do more anatomy studies. And soon.

You may notice the watermarks in the images today. This is new. And I will likely continue to do this. It is a practice that I have known I needed to do for some time and had noticed a friend of mine, who is an artist in Austin, doing this when she posted pics of her paintings. She posted a PSA on Facebook about artists sharing their work online and some of the things we need to do to help protect our work. This is a simple version of a watermark with a copyright on it. There are also digital watermarks and a service that I found that does that is called DigiMarc for Images. There is a fee involved and it’s a little different. But still a good idea.

A finally got the ZBrush to KeyShot Bridge working on Boscoe. This did involve several suggestions from the Pixologic support staff. As well as my providing some detailed
screenshots. And then finally a recommendation to uninstall and reinstall with some specific instructions inbetween of folders to remove. Those specific instructions sent me
poking around in folders and allowed me to find out that the folder was on the C: drive and since I installed on the E: drive and the folder wasn’t in the corresponding location on the E: drive, things weren’t talking nice. The reinstall and a copy over of the folder to the E: drive allowed the plugin to be registered and now it all works.

The move of the websites to new hosting is progressing. Sort of. I was able to test moving a copy of one of my sites to my laptop, stand alone versions of WordPress and after some issues and fanangeling with the database and access user and password I was able to get it to work. I think I know now how to make this work for the live copy and hope what it’s goes smoothly. It might. We’ll see. I want to make a couple more changes to that site before I decide to do that so I think I will test them on the laptop first so I know what to do when I move it for real.

The day job this week looks to be a bit intense. I’m not sure how things are going to go. I sort of anticipate some long days and being mentally spent so I don’t know how much will get done on the fun stuff this week. Hopefully I will get some stuff worked on. I’d like to get more done on Bernice and I’d like to get back to some of my 3ds Max stuff.

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Weekly Update – July 11, 2015 – Up and Running, Mostly

Posted on July 11, 2015 by SusanG

Boscoe is almost ready. I’ve got the important software loaded and working except for one component. Not too bad. I did have some concerns about the software I use and
transferring it to the new computer. And it has mostly gone smoothly. Hooray!HouseModel_07112015a

I have even managed to get a little time in 3ds Max to work on a couple of projects. I thought I was going to use this house for both the Halloween project as well as the
Bee project. Now I’m rethinking the Halloween project and I may not use it for that. Oh well I’ve got it started for the Bee project so that’s good.

I also got started on the Bee. I’ve decided to try modeling many of the components in separate files and then I will import them into a final project file. For the Bee I am
BeeModel_07112015atrying some of the techniques I learned in the Digital Tutors course on Creating a Character for Animation in 3ds Max. I know I’ve mentioned this course before. I have found several of the techniques very useful. So I’ve got the Bee started. I’ve started the face and the body. I need a little more for the body and the stinger and then the finer
details like limbs and wings.

My one component that isn’t working on Boscoe is the Zbrush to KeyShot Bridge. I’ve got everything else installed and working but for some reason I can’t seem to get it to
let me activate it. I’m wondering if it has anything to do with everything being installed on the E: drive and the programs are expecting to find each other on the C: drive. I may have to poke around and see if I can find a setting or something for that, or a config file. Not sure.

DSCN0321_sm_cropI’m really pleased that in spite of the day job trying to take over my week, I managed to get some modeling started. I hope to get a bit more worked on this weekend. I also
got sketch time in. I’m approaching the last of this particular sketchbook.

I admit though, the first one this week was just odd. I had a headache and I think I was wishing for my bed. Of course this was after I spoke with GoDaddy and made some changes to my hosting that will mean a lot of work for me. So, yeah, I must have been wishing for my bed.

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I don’t know but she’s interesting.

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While I was working on the model of the house and thinking that maybe I wouldn’t use it for the Halloween piece, I started thinking about what I might want to do DSCN0328_sm_cropinstead. And the idea of a jack o’lantern with a witch’s hat came to mind and I sat down to sketch it out to see how it might look. However, I was enjoying the results of the jack o’lantern so much that I just sketched it and left of the hat since I wan’t sure how I wanted to put it on the jack o’lantern and didn’t want to overwrite or mess up what I had. So I just did the jack o’lantern. I did find a scrap piece of paper later to futz around with the idea with the hat and my go with that. Just not sure yet. But here’s the jack o’lantern.

Not sure where this guy came from but I’m thinking I might want to develop him. He’s kind of fun.

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So the drum thing is still a possible thing. I went with a commercial drum here instead of the one I have which is pretty much custom. It’s not as fancy or as complicated as mine. Still a nice shape and would be an interesting thing to model. So it’s still a thing.

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This one started out with the intent to be a buffalo. And then I realized it had been too long since I have seen a buffalo to be able to make even a passing sketch. So it gotDSCN0340_sm_crop
tweeked and now its sort of a mash up but I’m not entirely sure of what. I thought it might be worth trying to work out more of it but I’m not sure yet.

Things to come in the next few weeks. Well, besides the day job stuff which may get out of hand and over flow into everything else. As I mentioned, I have made some changes to the hosting account for this site and will be needing to do maintenance. I will try to post a warning for when I plan to make the changes that way if you can’t get to it you’ll know what’s up. Though, I’m hoping that any down time will be very minimal. I have another site I will be testing with to minimize the glitches.

Also to come will be more modeling and sketching. I was working on some business cards for a client and that is on hold for about a month so I will regroup and try to make progress on one or more of all the other ideas I have to work on.

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Weekly Update – July 5, 2015 – Boscoe Has Arrived

Posted on July 5, 2015 by SusanG

Boscoe is here! Boscoe is the new computer. It took a little longer to get here than I was supposed to because of some shipping delays that I found extremely frustrating. But while I waited I had some really awesome Women’s World Cup soccer matches to watch. As a consequence of the such distractions, I have not got much modeling work done this week. I am expecting to change that soon. Today is the final match of the Women’s World Cup which means once that is over there will be nothing on TV to distract me. And the computer has arrived. So I should be able to start to get back to work.

Yes the new computer is here. It’s a beast of a machine by my standards and looks it. I needed to name it as part of the setup process and it got named Boscoe. I don’t know why that name. It just came to mind and well I think it’s appropriate for the machine.

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Once it finally arrived, after being delayed, and I unboxed it, I discovered I needed new cables. I have a Cintiq that I plan to use as well as two other monitors I want to use, the video card will support 4 monitors. The problem was that the Cintiq is going to use the only DVI connection on the video card and there is only 1 HDMI connection the others are all Display Port connections. I didn’t have an HDMI to HDMI cable and I didn’t have an HDMI to Display Port cable, so off to my local big box electronics store.
They only had the HDMI to HDMI cable but were out of the other. So I bought the one cable and then ordered the other cable from Amazon with next day shipping.

A good deal of my weekend has revolved around setting up this new computer. Not only do I have to install all the software I need, I also had to re-arrange my office to 20150705_135956_SM_Cropaccommodate it. That was not a terribly easy task and though I previously created a rough model of my office and all the furniture in it for the sake of being able to move things around and see how things would look, I did not use that. I, instead, chose to wing it and just move things and figure it out as I went. So it took a while, but it’s done. And so far, I’ve got most of the software I need installed. The Autodesk software was pretty easy and so was the Adobe software. I’ve just got to figure out how to get the ZBrush, ZBrush to Keyshot bridge, and Keyshot moved over. For now though, it can at least start to get back to some work. Well, after today’s game.

I did manage some sketches this week as well. So all was not a complete loss. I ended up with some more interesting things than I have before. I quite like this first one of a bird like character.

I really like the look of that bird character but I didn’t want to stick to just birds so I thought I’d try a monkey type of character.

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When I got ready to do the next one I was thinking I wanted something with antenna. That’s not what I got though. I’m still not sure if this is a dog or a rabbit. I was thinking dog as I was doing it but, except that I don’t recall rabbits having tongues that long, it has a little rabbit look to it.

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I did get my character with antenna finally. It took a little longer than the others so I’m guessing it was just waiting for me to have the time to do it. This was the one sketch I got done while I was off from my regular job this week, so I had the time to work on it. I like it a lot too.

I may have to consider modeling something based on one of these sketches from this week.

Speaking of modeling from sketches. The little bit of time that I did get in with modeling, I started to create the alien I sketched a few weeks back. I’m not very far along. I’ve just got a bit of the head done. But it’s a start. I’m using the same technique that was covered in the Digital Tutors’ course on Modeling a Character for Animation in 3ds Max. Maybe I’ll get back to it this week so I have something to show next week.

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Weekly Update June 28, 2015

Posted on June 28, 2015 by SusanG

Ever have one of those weeks where try as hard as you can you just don’t feel like you are making head way? That was a bit how my week went. For as excited as I was about the visit to Hackerspace and the 3D printing and the added excitement from working on the cart for my computer, it just doesn’t seem to have been enough to translate to work at the computer. Very frustrating.

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Not that the week was a total waste. I did manage to finish the cart for the computer. Good thing too as it’s expected to be delivered this week. The only think I’ve left off is the stopper to keep me from pushing it off the end when I press the power button. Here’s a look at it.

 

Oh and here is a look at a cool looking church I saw on my way up to the Hackerspace last week.

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I did manage some sketching this week.

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This is a rough sketch of a stuffed rabbit that sits on one of my dressers. My Grandmother made it for me many years ago as a graduation gift. It’s quite cute I think.

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I’m a little out of practice with drawing trees I think. I may need to take the sketchbook outside more. Though with the summer temperatures we are having across the country, well, I’m not terribly enthusiastic about that.

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As always I’m hoping to get more fun in this week. I’ve got 3 days of regular work and then I’m off for the July 4th holiday. I took a couple of extra days so I could have a good long break. Now with the new computer coming, I will probably be using a lot of that time making room for the computer and getting the computer all set up. There is all that software to install and the customization and…oh yeah, I got it with Windows 8.1 so there will be that to deal with.

Of course there are the semi-finals and the finals of the Women’s World Cup this week and over the next weekend. The quarter-finals this weekend were some exceptionally exciting soccer for the most part. The France versus Germany game was a nail biter. And such a heart break for France. Though I was cheering Germany both teams played so well that I would have been happy if either team had won. I’m hoping the rest of the matches are equally as exciting and of course that means distracting.

I think I may abandon some of my structured plans this week since everything will be out of whack with the work schedule, the computer disruption, and soccer. With any luck that means I’ll have something digital to share with at the next update and not just my pencil sketches.

I’m thinking, it could be an interesting week. For now I think I’ll watch some Eureka, on DVD.

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