Two Years Later

Well I never finished that Land Raider so I guess there hasn’t been much to write about here.

I moved all my modeling stuff back out to the dining room table so it will be constantly in my face reminding me that it exists and wants to be finished.

Also I recently picked up a very cool new model.

More Practice

That’s pretty much all I’ve been doing lately. Which is good, I suppose, since I certainly still need much practice.

That’s my 3rd and best attempt at a face in ZBrush recently.

The first attempt looked a bit like a squashed ball with features stuck on it. Like a Mr. Potato Head, but with a smaller potato. Okay, so it wasn’t that bad. But it was pretty awful, even for something that I had intended to be orcish.

Trouble with Angry

No pictures yet. I’ve been heavy on the starting and light on the finishing when it comes to new projects.

Tried making an evil, angry demon-cat-thing in Zbrush (head only) and while it looks reasonably like a demon-cat-thing, it’s not remotely close to looking evil and angry. I think the word that best describes it’s expression is “cheerful”. Definitely not what I was going for…

Trying something new

Messing around with ZBrush today and ended up with something I thought was interesting. Just a random “practice head” but it’s different from what I normally tend towards.

I’ve imported it into Photoshop (as a document) and I’m trying out a new technique (for me) with it. So far I’m liking the result. If it turns out as well as I hope, I’ll post a picture of it soon.

On the drumming side of things, I purchased a Beatnik RA1200p last week. It’s essentially a high-tech practice pad. Not only does it have a built-in metronome, but it can give you a ton of feedback to let you know how well you are doing.

Twice the Goodness

Today I got a second monitor so I can run my computer in dual monitor mode with an extended desktop. It took a bit to get it working. Monitor 2 was just going black when I extended the desktop to it. I did a few web searches and some other trouble shooting. In the end all I had to do was update the video card drivers.

That kind of surprised me since I had just updated them less than three weeks ago. Normally it would be the first thing I tried, but since I knew I had just recently updated them I was certain that wasn’t the problem.

Of course I only got the new monitor because my old one was going black when I extended the desktop to it. I had never run dual monitors before and I had assumed at the time it was because it could not support the same resolution of my primary monitor.

Lesson learned.. and it only cost me a couple hundred bucks!

For the record though, so far I am very happy with my new Dell E2009W monitor so far.

So what was that Test thing anyways?

A few weeks ago I did a test of Windows Live Writer. It’s a desktop blog publishing application. There is nothing really spectacular about it. I’m sure there are other apps out there just like it.

But it is clean, and easy to use and, for whatever reason the Write-Login-Publish workflow I find to be less of a hassle than the Login-Write-Publish one. And because of this I (so far) have been writing more.

We’ll see how long this lasts….

Short-Cuts, Long Delays

Most days I like to consider myself an artist. Lately, though, I’ve had to face the fact that I’m an artist who has skimped badly on building her foundation.

What I’m referring to specifically is perspective. Oh, sure, I can draw your basic box in simple 1, 2 or even 3 point perspective, but a circle? curve? complex object?

While I do love my abstracts, it’s only half of what I want to do. As an artist it’s very frustrating to not be able to draw an image when it pops into my head. So I’ve decided to go back and study perspective until I  “get it”… and then practice it frequently so I don’t lose it.

I think my problem all along has been that I’ve always seen the issue of perspective as a problem to be overcome for whichever project I was working on at the time. I’ve always managed to muck through it and come up with a solution for the problem. But somehow I’ve always managed to come away from each problem without having learned anything.

I’ve decided that my entire approach is wrong. It’s a tool to be used, not a problem to be overcome. Once I have a firm understanding of it, once it’s second nature to me, it wont be a problem. It’s only a problem now because, hey, I just wanted to draw cool stuff, not work with boring lines and vanishing points and junk.

In retrospect it was a bit like trying to write a book without first learning the alphabet…

I Blame Spring

Normally I’m not into that whole “outdoors” thing, but it’s been a very nice Spring this year. I haven’t done any of the hiking/camping kind of stuff, but the yard is looking nicer and the dog has been getting more playtime. And I think I’m starting to get a real tan.. I haven’t had a real tan since.. 1986?

I need to knuckle down and finish the picture I’ve been working on for, what seems, forever now. I’ve completely restarted it once already as I noticed when I upgraded to PS4 that everything I did from there out had a different feel from everything I’d done before the upgrade. Maybe it was all in my mind but it bothered me and I couldn’t get over it.

Testing a new thing here

Wonder how this is going to work…

Erm...

... about that "easily distracted" thing. More Fallout 3 and Rockband 2 but I also recently went back to Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. Vanguard is as beautiful as ever, and, despite the fact that its been left with a very small team supporting it, many improvements have been made to it.

My main computer had a meltdown a few weeks ago. Failed boots and bluescreen after bluescreen. Limped along until the new one arrived a week and a half ago.

I can't believe how much more powerful this new system is over my old one.. or how tiny it is. Still getting used to Vista but all in all I'm liking it.

Have Adobe PS CS 4 Extended installed... that was an exercise in frustration. I have the upgrade version, and while Adobe allows you to upgrade from several different versions of Photoshop, the installation software only recognizes one of them. If you're upgrading from any other of the accepted pieces of software you have to call their customer service to get an override code. I guess they figure that since they're outsourcing their tech support it doesn't matter how much extra work they create for them.

Also have installed ZBrush 3. That was actually pretty simple once I figured out to give ZBrush admin rights so it could authenticate. And ZBrush 4 has been announced for August of this year. I can't wait to see what it will be like.

My Land Raider has been put on hold but I hope to get back to it early next month. The new work area ended up having lighting issues and I've yet to figure out a solution for it, though it's becoming a high priority for me.

So that...

...didn't quite happen the way I had planned.

Just file me under 'easily distracted.'

Between Rockband 2, Spore, WAR, FO3 and Left 4 Dead, I've spent way more time gaming than I should have. And I have to say that, while not perfect, FO3 quickly made it's way to my personal 'Top 5 games of all time' list.
I've already finished it once and I'm going back through to try and explore every location on the map. I had planned on doing this with Oblivion but I just couldn't find the motivation since most of their interior locations just had this feeling of sameness to them.
I think the difference is that in Oblivion you were, in essence, exploring Ayleid Ruin #13 or Natural Cavern #27 - while in FO3 you're exploring Springvale Elementary School or The Museum of Natural History. In FO3 you understand immediately that the locations are different and each have their own history. So even though realistically the places are very similar, in your mind you see them as two very different places. You don't have to go searching for differences to make them stand out.

Now getting back to the subject of the Land Raider. I now finally have my new work area set up and the model pieces have been dusted off and laid out on it. I will have an updated picture of the Land Raider out by the end of next week.

I've also started studying a series of videos called The Structure of Man. For any aspiring artist who is having trouble nailing the human form, this series is a must. Now, I'll warn you, I've heard the speakers voice described as 'nails on chalkboard'... While I personally don't feel it's that bad at all, he is certainly very hesitant and rambles a bit. That said, it's still one of the best learning tools out there. He doesn't just give you the rules for drawing the human form - he teaches you how to learn and apply them.

And finally, I did the NaNoWriMo challenge again this past November. I failed this time, but I have only myself to blame. I kept putting off my writing time to play more FO3. That said, in the last 5 days of NaNo, I managed to crank out almost 20k words. For me this is phenomenal. Additionally I feel that overall my writing improved. I'm determined to win the next one.

Moving Right Along

It looks like I might be back on track for finishing things up around here and getting back to the Land Raider again early next week. Soon I should be getting things up on Grimscale Studios again. I have several pieces that I think are almost ready to go up on it. If things go well I should be offering prints for sale in a few weeks.

Assuming I can pry myself away from WAR.

Best Laid Plans

My other projects are still taking longer than expected in spite of my revised plan of attack. this is partly due to things beyond my control, but mostly because of my tendency to get sidetracked.

Still I hope to have everything finished by the end of this weekend and hopefully get back to painting.

Here we go again...

Been a while since my last entry. I haven't done anything further on the model since the space I use to work on it has been taken over by other projects. I had hoped to have those projects done by now but they're taking longer than I expected. With luck, though, I'll have them finished up in the next two weeks and be able to get back to the Land Raider

I've also spent some time recently beta testing Warhammer: Age of Reckoning by Mythic. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that this game was much more fun and casual-friendly than I had expected it to be. In less than two weeks of testing I've gone from being indifferent about it to being anxious for it to launch.

Slowly but Surely

Still working on that Land Raider...

I'll put up more pictures when I've gotten to a later stage, but right now I'm still just basecoating the rest of the pieces. I should probably just sit down and finish the stage I'm on. I've just been knocking out a few pieces every day or so as I take a break from doing other things, which is why it's been going so slow. I'd like to start adding some details soon, though.

Space Marines Land Raider Mk III - 1st Stage

After a week or so of working on this off and on, I've just about finished the basecoat. I'm still out of practice and it's a bit more sloppy than I would like.

This is the inside back panel. I really should have filed off those circles up near the corners. I was being lazy and hoping they wouldn't be so noticable. Once the thing is assembled they probably won't be, since it will be difficult to see inside very well. Also, I'm still making a bad habit of thinning out the paints too much, which is why I've got all those streaks:



This is the inside left of the tank. It's actually much larger than the back panel. In fact the back panel will fit into that vertical slot just left of all the seats:


Right now the inside is more purple than it will be in the end. The final color I plan on making it will be a much more reddish purple than it is now. The final blues will be a brighter one for the main color and a pale one for some of the trim. I tried out the color scheme using the Army Painter in the Dawn of War RTS and thought it looked quite nice.

Apache Pika Pictures

Wrestled with my FTP site yesterday until it finally begged 'mercy' and let me into it. I can't believe what an absolute pain it was to access it.

Anyway, I snapped a picture of the Apache:


and the Pikathulu:



Should get some pictures of the Land Raider up soon. Tried one of the Foundation paints on it today and I really like it. Goes on smooth and covers quite well. I still need some practice adding the right amount of water as I've been getting it a little too thin.

Two down

Well, the Apache and giant Pikathulu are finished.

The Apache came out reasonably well all things considered. Seems as if the worst of the stuff not fitting was pretty much behind me. I decided not to paint it. With the excessive amounts of plastic glue I had to use to get some of the pieces to fit.. and the places where I never could get the two parts to come together correctly.. I decided painting it would just add to the frustration.. and mess. The two largest pieces (the left and right halves of the entire main body) didn't fit together properly and even with multiple gluings, clamps and rubber bands.. there is still a substantial gap right in the nose of the helicopter. I know I could have achieved better results if I had put some real time and effort into it, but I didn't really want to spend a lot of time on this particular model.

The giant Pikathulu turned out really well. I used some interference blue on the eyes (wish I'd had red, I think it would have looked even better) and some iridescent/pearlescent medium on the tentacles. That, combined with a gloss coat varnish gave it a nice slimey appearance.

I'm working on a Space Marines Land Raider by Games Workshop. It's primed and I've checked the fitting for all the pieces of step 1. The fit has been pretty good so far. And I'm very pleased with the quality of the kit. Very little flash. I did have to slightly bend and sand down one piece to get a good fit with it, but now it slides right into place. I just started basecoating the parts for the first step. I'm using regular Chaos Black for some areas, but the bulk of it will be basecoated with some of their new Foundation paints. I also picked up a Chaos Soul Grinder which I'm really looking forward to working on.

I'm also working on the smaller mini's that came with the giant Pikathulu. They're all primed already and one of them has been basecoated.

I'll start posting pictures soon if I can stop being too lazy...

Holy Cow

I can't believe it's been nearly a year since I've done a blog entry... time flies I guess.

I haven't done a whole lot in the way of MMO Gaming lately. When I've played it's been mostly back to EQ2 and PlanetSide. I did play Pirates of the Burning Sea when it came out, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I especially liked the tactical ship-to-ship combat. It ended up being a little too PvP oriented for me to take it up as my "main game", but I still like to go back and play it occasionally. I can be a nice change of pace.

I went to an eye doctor a few weeks ago after.. well.. years of problems with my right eye. Nothing major, just excessive tearing which was making my vision blurry. Turned out I was suffering from dry eye. Go figure. She had me get a bunch of over-the-counter eye stuff and gave me a prescription for eye drops to help with the inflammation. After just one day my symptoms cleared up enough for me to start working on miniatures again. Before that, the constant tearing and blurry vision had made working on them frustrating to impossible. Guess I should have taken care of it years ago...

So my first two projects since the eye doctor visit have been... painting a friend's Pikathulu (I kid you not) and I've been working on an old Revell-Monogram AH-64 Apache Helicopter model kit that I got years ago and never finished.

Painting the Pikathulu has been pretty fun so far. It's a big, low detail mini which makes it a pretty relaxing project to work on.

The Apache, on the other hand, has been a complete pain in the neck. Almost nothing fits together correctly and the instructions are pretty vague in certain areas. It didn't take long after starting this project up again to remember why I quit it the first time. I'm going to finish it this time, though, because I need the practice before I attempt my new Tamiya F-15 "Strike Eagle". That is going to be a sweet model to work on.

Did the NaNoWriMo event this past November and... I made my goal! Finished day 30 with over 52k words. I'm doing another novel challenge right now... and I'm way behind. Guess I should go work on that....

Blargh

Hardware failure at my webhost a few weeks back. Need to re-upload the pictures but I've been lazy. Which is also why I haven't updated this thing in months.

ZBrush 3 released last week. As amazing as I thought ZBrush 2 was.. ZBrush 3 is that much more amazing. Lots to learn but the basic sculpting has an incredibly natural feel to it now. Having loads of fun with it.