House of Gauss

Portrait Sketch

2012-01-27T19:51:00.001-08:00

From a sketch I did of my character in Star Wars: The Old Republic. Don't think it really worked but it was fun to do.

That field goal kick

2012-01-25T11:53:00.000-08:00

Well, it was a chance to play with vectors!

Purple Foil!

2012-01-18T16:43:00.000-08:00

At work, we wanted a design to show off the AWESOME PURPLE FOIL we recently bought. I whipped up a quick design in honor of the Ravens!

So shiny!

Sketches and a Job

2011-12-27T12:39:00.000-08:00

Greetings! It's been way too long since I've posted - I was engrossed in job hunting. And it finally paid off - I'm a week into a full time position as a designer at Capt Jerry's, a screenprinting company that focuses in promotional T shirts, apparel, and products, local to Baltimore. I'm haven't lost sight of my goal to get into production and game art, but this quickly out of college I'm just relieved to not have to work any longer as a barista!

I don't yet have any shirt designs that I'm able to show, but I'm planning on doing some personal projects in addition to the concept art portfolio building. So here are some weird sketches instead! I've been trying to draw more creatures as well as people.

3D Modeling - Hobbithole

2011-11-17T17:45:00.000-08:00

This was the second successful model I did. I tried to do something a little more organic and with different textures. Not sure how successful my maps were here, but c'est la vie. I also learned a lot about Scatter and other tools that I would proceed to not actually use for the final model. C'est la other vie.

Not really intended to be 'THE' Baggins' house from the Lord of the Rings films - just something from my head / what I remembered.

3D Modeling - Stilthouse

2011-11-14T10:10:00.002-08:00

I haven't had a chance to revisit 3DS Max since the Game Art class I took last summer. I wasn't really that pleased with that model, and I wanted to learn more about concepting from a modeler's point of view - or anyone who would have to be looking at my drawings for information, for that matter. You may remember the environment sketches I did in August; I've been picking the best of those and producing them as 3D models.

The stilthouse was the first model I was actually a little satisfied with! It was based on this sketch:

You may remember it!

Kind of Myst-y? Maybe?

The untextured images are up at my website - samgauss.com - as well as the most recent model I did (under Concept Art), which I'll be posting up later this week.

Things have been very busy. Been sending out applications and resumes like mad. But I wanted to make sure I got a chance to put these up, it's already been a while but my blog's been looking dusty lately!

Spectacle Obscura Posters

2011-11-08T12:34:00.000-08:00

Cleaned up jpegs of each of the five posters I designed for "Spectacle Obscura." The last one is a bit of an easter egg for those in the company - we all love Tarsem Singh's work.

You can see all of these at my website which has also gotten a little cleaned up. Check it out!

The Wall

2011-10-16T08:23:00.000-07:00

The posters I designed will be reuploaded to my website as soon as I can make some adequately 'distressed' versions in Photoshop.

Last night to see "Spectacle Obscura," today at 5 PM in MICA's BBOX.

"Spectacle Obscura" Performing Now!

2011-10-14T12:48:00.001-07:00

Opening night was great last night with DNA Theatre and Boister! Tonight we again have two performances of "Spectacle Obscura" in MICA's BBOX Theatre in the Gateway. "Spectacle Obscura" is a circus arts show, with aerial trapeze, silks, straps, harness and more! The posters I've been posting WIP photos of are all part of the set, in addition to more made by Hope Meyers.

Buy tickets online here or at the door! Two shows: 8pm, considered PG-13, and 10pm, a naughty 18+! The show is only about 70 minutes, so please come show your support!

Spectacle Obscura, part 3

2011-10-05T19:14:00.000-07:00

Almost finished.

Come see "Spectacle Obscura," an aerial show October 13-16 in MICA's BBOX."

Spectacle Obscura, part 2

2011-10-03T21:17:00.000-07:00

They continue to progress nicely, but have I mentioned these are huge?

Buy tickets online for my aerial show, "Spectacle Obscura."

Spectacle Obscura

2011-09-30T22:20:00.000-07:00

For the set of DNA Theatre's upcoming show, "Spectacle Obscura," I was asked to create five old fashioned circus posters to decorate the set with. Rather than print them out full and in color, we would print them ourselves, on 11x17 sheets of paper, b/w, to be painted afterward. I vectorized all of my drawings so that they could be indefinitely scaled to fit Kel's needs. The posters you see here are in the process of being painted, and are very large - that first one being 4.25'x4.5.' It's a time consuming process, but cheaper, and the end result has a nice quality.

I have other work of a completely different nature, but I'll save it for the next blog post. :)

Pam

2011-09-16T11:06:00.000-07:00

Kristin Bauer van Straten as Pam from HBO's "True Blood." Haven't worked with ink and more-or-less flat color in a long time, so I wanted to revisit.

I have a lot of work I'll be sure to put up soon, some stuff for DNA Theatre's new show, "Spectacle Obscura." I'm in it, so if you're in Baltimore you should check it out!

More Environment Sketches

2011-08-12T07:53:00.000-07:00

I did these a while back and never got around to scanning them in. Naturally as soon as I set a deadline I get caught up with other things! I'm currently working on some things for DNA Theatre's new production opening in October, which I'll be able to start showing as soon as I have some finished work.

Things have been busy, hopefully soon I'll be able to show more of it!

Environment Sketches

2011-07-31T08:59:00.000-07:00

Taking a break from the epic painting thing and working on some more practical environment/landmark sketches. My buddy Nick Iluzada challenged me to 500 of these. My goal is 100 by the end of this week and 500 in a month. :)

Game of Thrones: Daenerys WIP

2011-06-19T16:16:00.001-07:00

Been so long since I posted! I actually have been working, but it's all stuff I can't show - what's nice about having an influx of work is that it motivates you to make your own. I've recently been watching Game of Thrones on HBO, which I love - have never read the books, but I bought the first one to read as soon as the show ends. I can't help it if I love being surprised while watching!

I'm planning a triptych of the Targaryan/Dothraki: currently I'm working on Daenerys. I'm not sure if she's my favorite character, but I'm having fun with it all the same. I haven't decided yet if I'm going with the show's interpretation of her with green eyes, or the book's where the Targaryans have violet eyes.

Hope everyone's having a great summer! I'm moving at the end of the month to my new apartment which I'll hopefully be staying in for a good long time, I'm so done with packing and unpacking!

City Landscape and Commencement

2011-05-20T12:43:00.001-07:00

City Landscape, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

Wow! It's been a long time since I posted!

Commencement was last week, and it was awesome! Everyone had amazing work. I didn't post up any pictures since they were on my parents' camera, which is now back in KY, but a friend did take a picture of my show, which is here so you get an idea -

All three pieces are from my thesis. The book on the shelf is essentially my print portfolio for interviews!

I've had an awesome time at MICA and now I'm looking forward to the summer, to get this blog more straightened out, touch up the website a little, and I've got time now to really promote myself. I've also gotten a freelance offer which is pretty exciting already. :)

Stay tuned!

Ciel Main Characters

2011-04-11T09:00:00.001-07:00

I've been trying a different way of thumbnailing that is less gestural and more specific. I'm not sure yet how I feel about it as a process, though I like these characters. While it simplifies the process of going to the next step (a single or a few colored finishes), I'm concerned about diversity. But these are designs for a character that has to fit in a world that's already pretty defined; it might be useful to try this approach when making a character completely out of context.

Sorry about my lack of posting last week. On April 1 we had the Internship Fair, where a lot of great Baltimore companies came to talk to students about local opportunities for work. It was great, but I think it took a lot out of me!

There was a great panel on the game industry given by a few friends of mine. Colin Campbell of Big Huge Games was my professor for Advanced Photoshop Techniques, one of the best classes I took here at MICA, and Taylor Fischer of ZeniMax Online is a friend of mine who happened to TA that class. Go check out their work!

Colored Characters

2011-04-03T15:40:00.000-07:00

Played with Dermot Power's approach in doing these. From now on I'm only going to upload 'finished' pieces to Flickr, and used Blogger's image uploader for WIPs or uncritiqued pieces.

Portfolio Website is Live!

2011-04-01T15:57:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted much this week because I've been swamped with work for senior presentations and commencement. But I'm happy to say my portfolio site is now live!

SamGauss.Com

It's a little bare while I try to get all my work organized, but all the concept art is now up :)

Hopefully soon I'll be able to revise this blog to look a little nicer!

Ciel Character Designs!

2011-03-28T15:57:00.001-07:00

Sorry I've been gone, I didn't want to fill up the blog with WIPs - while I like the habit of posting 3 times a week, I think I'd rather post something fresh or skip a day than post something that's in progress. It also saves me the trouble of uploading it to flickr when I'm just going to want to delete it later.

So here we have something - this is Ciel for Advanced Concept Art, finally we're moving to character designs, where I'm more comfortable as opposed to landscapes. These are 20 assorted 'villagers,' based loosely off of Mongolian attire and styles. Expect 20 more within the week, and I have to take at least 3 of these to a more finished look. But they were really fun to do and I'm happy with how cohesive they look.

Okamiden Fanart

2011-03-15T20:24:00.000-07:00

Just a little something for fun. Don't actually have the game (yet?), but still excited for it.

Hope everyone's having a good spring break!

Orochimaru / 'Zine Submission

2011-03-10T05:56:00.000-08:00

I've never seen Naruto, but the illustration seniors were organizing a 'zine for Naruto fanart. A few years ago I might have gotten all uppity about the idea, but at the moment I was grateful for a) an excuse to reignite my love affair with sumi, and b) a break from thesis!

Also, in researching the characters to decide which one to do, I was like, I'll watch one scene with Orochu-whoever and see what he's like! It turned out to be the scene where he and Sasuke fight. In trying to describe exactly what this first impression was like, I've told people that it's like wanting to see some hot lesbian sex, so going to see this movie you heard someone talking about called "Black Swan."

Thesis: Architect!

2011-03-07T12:39:00.001-08:00

He's finally finished now, too! It's satisfying hahaha. The rest of thesis is going to be a few narrative pieces and as many pages of concept sketches as I can muster!

Thesis: Queen DONE

2011-03-06T09:42:00.001-08:00

Well.. she still has to receive my midterm critique's blessing, but for the most part... done and done. Whew! I'm not quite sure about this presentation format, but I wanted to get something ready for Tuesday. Also lacking are notes on materials/purpose, but I wasn't quite sure what to put other than what metals and fabrics inspired her clothes. I can do metals, but frankly the fabrics will require a bit more research.

The Architect will be posted tomorrow :)

Thesis Work! Characters!

2011-03-03T13:26:00.001-08:00

This is going to be done by Monday!

So will this!

Hooray!

Ciel: "Nook and Cranny" Landscape

2011-02-28T05:28:00.001-08:00

Hoping to get some more time to work on this tomorrow, but I think it's at a good stopping point for now...

Spaceship Design

2011-02-25T15:28:00.000-08:00

An in-class assignment for Advanced Concept Art was to take another student's spaceship silhouette, and without altering the silhouette use their design to make our own styled spaceship. Here was mine - a quick orthoishthing and what it might look like in space. I was looking at bioluminescent fish, if that wasn't obvious.

Also! SamGauss.com is online! There's nothing there yet, but there will be in the near future! I'm very pleased I managed to get this far, really! Haha.

Figure Sculpture: 2/21

2011-02-23T06:50:00.000-08:00

This is a really great class. I have to say, though... tearing the sculptures down at the end of each class is perhaps as much fun as sculpting them... and cathartic, too!

There's something satisfying about working diligently on a project for several hours, just to completely destroy it afterward.

In two weeks will be thesis midterms! I promise that my Friday post will be of thesis material. I wish I could post more complete work instead of just WIPs all the time. I need to split up my time a little better between projects. So hopefully in the future, my updates will be a little more varied. More appealing that way I think. :)

More Ciel

2011-02-21T20:35:00.000-08:00

This piece has been fun and came a long way, I was hoping to put up some thesis stuff tonight, but that's going to have to wait for Wednesday I think. This still isn't finished: I want to define the buildings more, right now they're just value and color placeholders... and per Sean's suggestions, go ahead and pump up the height/scale of that big building, because why not? It's fantasy art, go for it.

But even just as it is here, I think it's a big improvement on the last piece. And I didn't even mind the last piece too terribly. But this one's better!

And here are some thumbnails to do some more intimate environments for Ciel. I know I'm going to do #4 and #9, but I'm also looking at #2 and #8. And #7. I super dig #7...

Figure Sculpture!

2011-02-18T14:07:00.000-08:00

Sculpting is hard...

Ciel Environment Remix

2011-02-16T20:35:00.001-08:00

The general consensus on the last landscape was that it was uninteresting, so I'm going at it again! Not done yet naturally but I wanted to get something up. I should really work on thesis someday.

Ciel Environment

2011-02-13T18:30:00.000-08:00

I liked doing the color alternatives. This one is okay. Got frustrated with it, and still not quite sure, but that's alright!

Also, my canvas is a perfect square. Not quite sure how that happened. But now I can make coasters for Art Market next year!

Ciel Environment WIP

2011-02-09T20:13:00.001-08:00

This underpainting was actually due Monday, but I didn't make a blog post because I wasn't really happy with the way it looked. Nothing wrong with it, but it wasn't working conceptually. This fictional culture is one obsessed with math and logical reason, and at the stage the underpainting was there wasn't enough architecture and repetition that represented that. I also have this really bad habit of painting in coral, ornage, and purple.

So, a lot of Shift+drag with the Brush tool and one Gradient Map later, something I don't feel as ashamed to put up. It still has a long way to go.

Architect, v. 2

2011-02-02T20:41:00.001-08:00

Very happy to revisit this character's design, which is a bit less bizarre now but I think much stronger overall. Here are the main color palettes I'm considering, with the addition of this one which is really more of a less clashy alternative to #1.

And here are the rest of the automobile designs, which were all drawn and shaded before I started work again on the Architect. Now that the Architect is done, I want to go back to these and make 10 more designs -- but more 10 variations on the ideas posed here that I think work best. That five-wheeler, far left and one down, and the two motorcycles, are what appeals to me the most.

Advanced Concept Art

2011-01-30T16:56:00.001-08:00

Todd Pittman, a man from Cincinnatti, OH, falls asleep behind the wheel on I-71. He wakes in a city he's never seen or heard of before. The society that inhabits Ciel is based in fantasy, worshipping mathematics as its religion, disinterested in beliefs identified as faith-based. The city is carved out of a mountain's peak, structured to follow the Fibonacci Spiral. Though Pittman has never seen anything like this city and the people who live in it, they have encountered humans before. The people resemble the mythological depictions of angels, perhaps in the same way dolphins and manatees have been mistaken for mermaids. There are other mountaintop cities like this one, but Ciel is the focus of this project. This design bible will represent Pittman's encounters and observations of Ciel and its people as he tries to learn where he is and how to get home.

These are two maps for Advanced Concept Art - the first assignment, a map and a synopsis of the culture we're going to spend the semester individually building. I'm not sure if the second one makes any sense, but it was an effort.

Jade Statue

2011-01-28T17:04:00.001-08:00

Jade Statue, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

I submitted four pieces to the Society of Illustrators' student competition this year: the butterfly and dice still life I did a year ago, the reflected city landscape, the Vibhishana final, and this. I was going over my pieces with Rubino and the most drastic suggestion he had was adding that rightmost foreground tree -- I know it's not exactly a new piece, but I was so happy with how it changed the composition that I wanted to repost the new version.

Wish me luck with SoI! Let's bring the battle to 'em, MICA!

Vehicles (WIP)

2011-01-26T13:48:00.001-08:00

Vehicles (WIP), originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

Some thesis work. Not exactly complete; I still want to get at least 4-6 more ideas down, the more the better. But these are potential vehicles for my main character. I'm going for something that's boxy or at least a little clunky, specifically for desert travel, not really designed for speed... but is light enough to go fast if necessary.

I've drawn vehicles before, but not with this much intention. It's been a fun challenge and I'm getting faster at it, which is always good.

"91"

2011-01-25T10:49:00.001-08:00

91, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

This is the final for the thumbnails I posted a few days ago. After painting rocks and water, it was nice to try something completely different.

This was for "91," a fun text-based RPG that's retro and yet with a modern story. Play it here, free online:

91.

Thumbnails for "91"

2011-01-21T09:52:00.001-08:00

Thumbnails for "91", originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

I've been working on a landscape commission for an online RPG called "91." I don't want to post the final until the client's approved it, but here are the four thumbnails I sent him initially. He picked #3, so you have an idea of what to expect!

And you can check out "91" here, and immediately play a demo version online.

http://startcontinue.com/ !

Though I'd read the 'How to Play' first :)

Queen Portraits

2011-01-20T08:50:00.001-08:00

Queen Portraits, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

It's back to thesis!

Starting to really visualize the queen. Not all of these are as different from one another as perhaps they should be, but it was still a good exercise. Used reference for a few of them in an attempt to break out of my habits.

Facebook friends, if you recognize yourself.... I'm sorry. LOL

Happy New Years'!

2011-01-01T21:44:00.000-08:00

Already my final semester in school?! Wow.

I've had a great winter and am feeling refreshed, ready for the final sprint! Thanks to everyone who's been following me. I've EVEN done some work while here at home. I will be returning to Baltimore tomorrow, so with any luck I'll have something to scan in and show.

Hope everyone else had a good holiday!

Finished Vibhishana

2010-12-16T00:17:00.001-08:00

vibhishana_painting_web, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

My final for the Ramayana project... finished painting feat. our story's antihero, Vibhishana. Very pleased with how this came out!

Thesis: Architecture

2010-12-14T23:39:00.001-08:00

Thesis: Architecture, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

The last of the three landscape paintings. Not quite as strong as the other two, IMO, but I still like it... and it still marks an improvement I think :)

Onward with finals!!

Finished Landscapes... finally!

2010-12-13T08:27:00.001-08:00

The architectural one is still on the way, but for now these two are fini. Took long enough! :)

Vibhishana Movement Study

2010-12-09T08:14:00.001-08:00

Movement study, some cyborg-zombie heads for underneath the headwrap, and because I was curious I animated the movement study very quickly in Photoshop... and thought it looked kind of cool, so posted it. I think it also better illustrates exactly what the movement is -- even if it's not very useful beyond that!

Finished? And More WIP Landscapes

2010-12-06T10:47:00.000-08:00

These two are more progress on the landscapes -- the second of which I haven't posted yet, just some ideas for the architecture and look of the Glass Coffin city, though we don't see it much.

And then this painting might be just about done. Finally!

Thesis Landscapes

2010-12-05T08:50:00.001-08:00

Finals are in full swing, and I was never satisfied with these paintings (last published here), so I'm glad to have the opportunity to revisit them. They're still not quite finished, and I have a third on the way which I'll be posting up soon, but I'm much happier with them as they are.

Glass Coffin

2010-12-04T00:25:00.000-08:00

Some portraits of the Architect (hero). More to come.

Vibhishana Sketches

2010-12-03T19:38:00.000-08:00

Lots more Vibhishana sketches... some potential silhouettes, some movement studies, and a bunch of variants on the sword/hand.

Thesis Characters

2010-11-22T14:49:00.000-08:00

More tightened sketches, revisiting the Architect; some thumbnails for the Naturalist. Actual thesis work!

Vibhishana

2010-11-19T17:13:00.001-08:00

Took three of the thumbnails that were the best from the last post, and sketch-elaborated on some of them. Also an excuse to draw headwraps - who needs faces? The bottom figure is an idea for Vibhishana "unfurling" so to speak, for fighting. As well as looking at scary life-support systems, I was trying to research character profiles that I found particularly disturbing. Cthulu was the most prominent inspiration, haha.

New Character Design for Ramayana

2010-11-18T14:18:00.000-08:00

Character: Vibhishana. Renegade Demon/Foil

This character serves as a foil to Rama, a demon that is more human than most, to be relatable to the player. Vibhishana is skeptical of Rama's ability. Vibhishana also represents what Rama could achieve if he underwent the augmentations of the demons he fights; but he is twisted, not seeking to help out of protecting humans but because he does not like Ravana. Motives likely more complicated like in any good RPG.

~~
These were the silhouettes for class; they picked #3, #5, #18, #30 to experiment with. More to come!

Rama Environment - ReRevisit

2010-11-16T03:54:00.001-08:00

In Illusionism, we're working on rendering monumentality, or in other words how to scale objects. I asked if I could just keep working with my Rama environment, so I'm applying critique that I received Thursday to it as well. Not sure how I feel about it at this point, but I learned a lot doing it, which means it was a success regardless!

It'd be excellent if I could revisit my thesis backgrounds for the illusionism finals.

Speaking of thesis. Hey, remember that? Don't worry, there will be an update soon.

Rama Environment

2010-11-11T08:25:00.001-08:00

whoooosh

Updates Updates

2010-11-04T12:00:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since I updated, and I'm sorry about that. I do have a few things at least. First, work for my thesis:

These sketches are for the Old Man and the Naturalist/Antagonist. I'm not too happy with either of these sets, though I do think I will steal one of the Antagonist thumbs (#2) and use it instead for my Protagonist. Some of the critique I got on the old Architect/Protagonist was that it was too busy, and I have to agree. I was not too happy with him anyway. But I like this guy, though I need to figure out a way to make him visually interesting since he's very recognizable with Western trends.

With both sets overall though, it's helpful because I am at least getting somewhere. I'm also trying a new way of thumbnailing where I focus more on interior detail than outside silhouette, while starting with the blue pencil (removed in Photoshop) to figure out basic shapes.

And for the other project, a repaint of Rama -- critique that I received was that he'd lost some of the energy in the drawing, and gotten too muddy.

And and -- the assignment that was due this week. An environment 50%/ish done!

Whew!

Rama Painted

2010-10-20T23:15:00.001-07:00

He will have none of it.

Thesis: Character Studies

2010-10-20T19:24:00.001-07:00

Color studies for the Queen and the Architect. I was supposed to have the Brother done, too, but that was a bit of a stretch. I'll make up the lost ground this coming week.

I have a tendency to noodle paintings a little too much, so rather than go for an overly-rendered-finished look -- which isn't the sort of thing you'd see much of on a concepting desk anyway -- I used no opacity control and instead went for bolder opaque strokes. Rama will likely be getting a similar treatment, I want it to stay fresh.

Rama Drawing and Colors

2010-10-14T07:47:00.000-07:00

In class we decided on Rama design #29 with #28's bow. So here we go -- a tight drawing and also a color study. The painted version will be due next week.

Rama is supposed to be holding an arrow, but as it's a super-duper 'energy arrow' it's not drawn in. I didn't forget it!

So Many Ramas

2010-10-06T21:09:00.000-07:00

Thumbnail designs for Rama of a video game rendition of The Ramayana. I love silhouettes, so much fun and loose. These are each probably four inches tall. I use a black Copic marker for these -- I'm not usually much of a marker person, but for quick shapes like this the brush tip is fantastic.

The Glass Coffin - Synopsis

2010-10-02T10:46:00.000-07:00

For those of you following my thesis, I am designing environments and characters and props -- essentially creating a concept art portfolio -- based on my take of a Brothers' Grimm story, The Glass Coffin. Here is a very quick summary of my version of the story, enough that you can see the characters and environments it centers around.

Once upon a time, an ARCHITECT who was fascinated with ancient ruins traveled to a distant world in search of a beautiful city that he had read stories of. Upon arrival, he found nothing but a huge wasteland, and in the distance what looked to be a solitary palace above a vast lake. In the wasteland he encountered an OLD MAN fighting for his life against two massive beasts, and rushed to his aid. Once the beasts had been slain, the architect began to ask the old man about the city. The old man brought the architect to a cliff overlooking the lake and palace, where the architect saw for the first time the reflection of a beautiful city that only existed in its mirror in the lake.

The old man told the architect of a QUEEN who had ruled the city, bound to it by an amulet, with the help of her BROTHER as an advisor. A NATURALIST traveled to them one day, and befriended both queen and brother, but then he slipped into the queen' bedchamber one night, and attempted to steal the amulet from her neck, hoping to take the city for himself. No sooner had he lifted it did the earth quake, for the amulet could not be removed from the queen without destroying the city. Alarmed, the queen woke, and her brother suspecting the worse stormed her quarters. But she feared the naturalist would try to kidnap him, being the one way to control her, and so she commanded her brother to flee. He did, and the naturalist sealed the queen in a glass coffin under a deep sleep while he tried to find a way to take the amulet, hiding her by burying the coffin within the castle. The city vanished into the ground and had not been seen ever since. The old man told he architect of this story, and asked for his help, the architect being much younger in years. The good hearted architect agreed.

Both men snuck into the palace, and tricked the naturalist into revealing where the queen was. To create a diversion, she put the amulet on the old man's neck, and he reverted to his youthful age, revealed as her brother. The three fled to the city, shaking at its foundation, while the naturalist pursued. The architect then took the amulet and placed it upon the naturalist's neck. The city was falling apart, and as it crumbled into rocks, it destroyed the naturalist along with it.

The queen and brother were saved, but the city was destroyed. The architect promises that he will help rebuild. The ending is hopeful and the story ends with a summon being sent for the villagers who had fled many years ago to return.

Character Ortho and More

2010-09-30T05:09:00.000-07:00

Sorry I missed yesterday for posting. Here's a few images to make up for it, both for the Cyberama project. The first is a quick ortho/turnaround for the minor character I designed, as well as an update version. Sean Murray did paintover crits with suggestions and comments, where we were then to bring them back with such changes incorporated (or with a very good reason to omit them). The ortho reflects the new design along with a few smaller details I encountered while Googling, such as more details on the turban.

The next image is an in-class project where we took one of our team members' thumbnail designs and brought it to a more completed state. This design is for a demon boss, created by Amanda Christensen. It was pretty fun to take someone else's rough concept and focus on the technicalities! Some of which mine are a bit questionable -- does she need to be THAT long? -- but eh, you know.

Landscape - Progress

2010-09-27T19:06:00.000-07:00

I meant to upload something I did for Advanced Character Design, but got held up, so here is the progress on my two landscapes. The reflected city is more of a color shift than actual painting. Hoping to have these finished by the end of this week.

Landscape Thumbnails

2010-09-24T21:03:00.000-07:00

My two color and composition starts for the landscapes for thesis. I'm hoping to condense my story into about two paragraphs, at which I'll post it up here on the blog. In the meantime, enjoy these and hopefully they'll both be finished Thursday.

Minor Character Design

2010-09-21T21:03:00.000-07:00

A human villager for the sci-fi Ramayana. I wanted to do an ortho or even just paint out that big staff, but I got a little pressed for time as tomorrow's going to be hectic! I thought the staff might be able to be thrust into manufactured wells - basically holes in the ground with which water can be retracted. The staff also filters the water before it would run out the spout. Once finished, the spout can be pivoted back into the staff. Water might be scarce - especially clean water - and they would have these manufactured wells to make water more of a communal thing, which pressures people to consume it with care and not take half hour showers. Having people like this little dude who are the ones who can withdraw the water is extra pressure to be considerate about consumption.

ETA:
Redid the face and colors.

More Character Silhouettes

2010-09-16T18:15:00.000-07:00

It's been way too long since I last posted. Classes are really kicking off and I've been working on thesis. On the interim I've been working at a bookstore and cafe. It's been pretty alright.

I'm starting to collect work to put up for this semester, but I'll start with something for Advanced Character Development, which I am taking with Sean Murray, lead concept artist at Big Huge Games in Timonium. We essentially have a semester-long project to focus on in a small group. I'm already enjoying the creative dynamic we share - I think the right enthusiasm in a team can be very productive.

We are currently designing minor characters for a hypothetical video game inspired from the Hindu epic The Ramayana. Of the nigh-30 silhouettes I drew, these five were my favorites.

A few monkey villagers, a few human villagers. That short little guy with the huge staff-thing was the group favorite and so you'll be seeing him return as I develop his design further.

Bioshock (linework)

2010-06-25T08:34:00.001-07:00

Ariel Bioshock, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

I've got nothing to put up yet -- still working on getting my final work all together for the Game Art class. So in the meantime, here's the linework I did for the character painting a few weeks ago.

I was really pleased with these lines -- but it was also the first time I ever liked the colored, painted version as much as the linework. It was a good exercise nonetheless.

Also, in the painted version, his shoes don't look quite as ridiculous considering Bioshock takes place in the 1960s. Whoops, my bad.

In other news, I SUPER need to spruce up this blog.

Thumbnail Practice

2010-06-24T17:50:00.001-07:00

Took one of my thumbdudes (#52 on the first page) and painted into him with grays to play around with interior shapes. Next time, I should pick one that is a little more humanoid! But it's still good practice.

Bioshockin' Weekend

2010-06-21T01:43:00.001-07:00

Ariel Bioshock, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

I always liked how Ian Jackson manages to post things every MWF without fail, quite admirable really. It gets a little complicated from my summer dwelling since I have no internet, but I will do the best I can to stick to some kind of schedule until I have proper and consistent access.

In the meantime, my summer class is almost over. I will post up some images of the texture process, but until that's done, here's personal work. I just beat Bioshock (very behind the times, I know) and loved it, especially the subtle design for Jack, who you play as, despite it being FPS. While I know this isn't Jack's true design, this was how I imagined him -- though I forgot his wrist tattoos. I always did like them too, damnit. Oh well!

Quick Character Silhouettes

2010-06-15T18:40:00.000-07:00

So one of my projects this summer while getting ready for thesis is to build up the concept portfolio. I spent a little while churning out a bunch of tiny dudes, and I'm going to take a handful of these and take them the next step of character design.

Regardless, I thought it might be cool to post these up - and see if anyone has any preference firsthand, hahaha. I already have some ideas for which silhouettes I'll take, but I always like to get outside input.

None of these took longer than a few seconds, and were all done with a black Copic marker. I really like the Copic for its nib and brush tip -- the thin tip on the Prisma marker I always found useless.

Zbrush

2010-06-09T18:37:00.001-07:00

Been learning ZBrush and 3DS Max. They're very different and both quite fun...

Summer into full swing!

2010-06-01T15:06:00.000-07:00

Hey guys!

So I don't have internet at my home residence, but I'll try to keep up with updates.

I'm taking a Game Art class at MICA. It's super rad! Here's a concept sketch for the Bogeyman that we were to finish up and paint. He grabs children with that handwhip and flings them back into his cauldron. :D

skulldude, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

Advanced Photoshop final

2010-05-06T05:28:00.001-07:00

Advanced Photoshop final, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

So, this was originally supposed to be a diptych, and eventually it still will be -- Gackt as Genji with Gaga beside him being the other poster, so they would be a set. But I couldn't get that one painted in time, so this one remains for my final.

Lady Gaga as Eve/Lilith/Serpent, Gackt as Adam, the story of Genesis. Promo material for a fake concert featuring the two. Also a pin-up. Experimented with linework+painting and Mucha style.

It was fun. I'm sleepy though. This WILL be revisited, I want to add text and of course the other piece, but for now I'm happy with it.

And now for something completely different.

2010-04-22T21:37:00.001-07:00

Hand Mirror, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

Not much to say about it.

Leaving Home

2010-04-22T10:23:00.001-07:00

Leaving Home, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

So I'm pretty sure I'm going to go back to this and PAINT it, but I had a lot of fun with the drawing. I decided to slightly cartoon a boy. Then I put him on a boat. Then I gave him a dragon companion.

...Shrug!

I think it turned out pretty cute though. I ALWAYS heavily thumbnail and plan things out for formal projects, so it was nice to let a project just literally develop on its own, without any forethought.

And I had fun with colors and textures, but I'm still probably going to paint it. Would still love your input.

Katydid Book Cover

2010-04-08T01:15:00.001-07:00

Katydid, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

And this is due in a few hours. Whee!

Advanced Photoshop, we were given an excerpt of Andrew Auseon's "Katydid" and asked to illustrate either a book cover or movie poster. I got fed up with making Photoshop files that were literally 7x11, as my computer has trouble processing the file when I get into painting it. So this'll have to be blown up for the final print. Probably will hurt the quality, but we can see at least. The usual process for this: sketched by hand, scanned in, painted. The title is handlettered: I used a sharpie and composition/tracing bond paper to figure out the exact title. It took a few attempts to get something that I liked.

This might be a little too comic-booky or literal... but eh. It was almost a little tricky not to spend a lot of time painting things that wouldn't be very visible. Also I just liked the idea of writing in a fogged train window.

Recital Poster

2010-04-07T16:29:00.001-07:00

Recital Poster, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

This was for the lady in my life, who's graduating in May and headed to grad school in Rochester. She's an opera major as well as linguistics, and is giving a senior recital in April. I find most recital posters hilariously dismally put together, so I offered to make her one instead.

It was nice to get a break and do some personal work, and this is sentimental, so. No crit please, especially on the type, THAT MEANS YOU IAN JACKSON -- I know the fonts aren't wonderful but to hell with it, I used Garamond at least for the non-title fonts. Hahaha.

Life Drawing

2010-04-03T16:58:00.001-07:00

sp10_back_wristrope, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

sp10_back_mirror, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

sp10_backstudy_turnaround, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

These were all in-class drawings -- the flickr description has lengths. Conveniently, these were all the same model. I have been drawing feet too big, though.

Humpback Skuttlefly v. 2

2010-04-01T02:26:00.001-07:00

Humpback Skuttlefly v. 2, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

Phew. NOW it's finished. Hope you think so too.

Flying Machine

2010-03-25T08:25:00.001-07:00

Flying Machine, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

Ugh, this was challenging. I spent about a week making silhouettes and several newspaper sheets of rough sketches before finally coming to this strange conglomeration of a lobster, a butterfly, and a humpback whale. Machine. I was painting it last night and while I liked how it was coming along, it was very monochromatic-bronze. So at the last minute I took a file that was composed of flats making up the machine, colored them in a way I thought was nice, and Overlayed/Soft-Lighted/Something-or-other them over the machine.

While I am decently pleased with the current color scheme, the painting aspect is definitely not finished, which is disappointing. It's something I plan to come back to soon because I still have some momentum from working on it. Ideally, it will become painted enough that I can drop the sketch layer, which is flattening out the ship.

Otherwise, it's also looking a little static, but that's something I'm hoping to fix once it becomes more rendered.

After placing the ship and very quickly blocking out its silhouette for composition, I completely painted the clouds because I wanted to decide how light would be reflecting from them, before even attempting to paint and color the ship itself.

Words on Wheels

2010-03-11T09:45:00.001-08:00

Words on Wheels, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

My Words on Wheels entry... the poem was chosen for me. Purple Snow... very fitting, considering the week I was working on it was the snowpocalyse, and of course... I love the color purple. This is for my Concepts 2 class, not a Photoshop class assignment! Astonishing.

Midterms

2010-03-11T09:40:00.001-08:00

Butterfly Still Life, v. 2, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

Minai Landscape, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

Making revisions of some of my Advanced Photoshop Class pieces. Click if you want to see the blog posts of the old still life and the old landscape.

Going to post one of my Concepts 2 assignments soon.

Cat

2010-03-10T22:59:00.001-08:00

Cat, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

Just another Photoshop assignment. I do have other classes, I promise. I'll post those things up soon, too.

In the meantime, this was done from life and I obviously should have put more time into the rest as I did the face, but I like how it turned out.

Minai Landscape

2010-03-04T01:52:00.001-08:00

Minai Landscape, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

For my Advanced Photoshop class. Photoshop gave me a heart attack when it crashed -- I guess it didn't record my saves, or I didn't actually save, but I lost about 3 hours worth of the polishing.

FORTUNATELY, I'd screen capped it to show a friend.

So... I lost a ton of my layers and the high-res of the image. BUT I didn't lose EVERYTHING. And I was much more up to just scale it back to the size it needed to be and keep going with what I had, then paint everything again and have the saddest face.

Anyway, yeah, it's done.

EDIT:
Revision!

Heather Christian

2010-02-25T09:06:00.001-08:00

Heather Christian - Jewel Case, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

Heather Christian - Label, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

Heather Christian - Postcard, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

Heather Christian - Poster, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

An Advanced Photoshop Techniques assignment where we had to make a postcard, poster, jewel case and CD label using templates and paying attention to the bleed, trim, and safety designations of the PDF. It was a lot of fun.

The artist's name is Heather Christian. Check out her music! She's quite snazzy. And the first classy Myspace page I've seen in years!

http://www.myspace.com/heatherchristian

Butterfly Still Life

2010-02-11T00:45:00.001-08:00

Butterfly Still Life, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

Just finished this. I like butterflies and purple DnD dice. Not sure how long this took me but I'm very pleased with it, if I can be honest, lol. I didn't fashion myself a painter before.

This is for Advanced Photoshop Techniques, a 1 week assignment. Click on the image to see its full dimensions -- the blog crops it a bit.

EDIT:
Revision!

Versus

2010-02-04T18:45:00.001-08:00

Versus, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

An octopus man. I want to go back and fix this because I had a lot of issues with Photoshop crashing and having to restart it -- thus I had to rush. A few edges look really bad up close. But overall I'm pretty pleasantly surprised with it.

I love painting this character -- he's created by a friend, though I help conceptualize him sometimes. Tentacles are awesome. You just put them where you need more compositional shapes. Like, what more do you need.

Self Portrait

2010-02-04T18:41:00.001-08:00

Self Portrait, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

Something for Advanced Photoshop techniques. The hair looks bad, but I was focusing more on the face.

Trucker Pin Up

2009-11-03T15:39:00.001-08:00

Trucker Pin Up, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

This was my first assignment for Eros, but it wasn't until the midterm that I got the colors on it. It's half-toned, as well; I liked the comicky aspect that would have. I think the hardest part was not letting the bg get too drab, and keeping her brighter. Also not making her look like a postal worker or an inmate.

Harlotry

2009-10-05T15:35:00.001-07:00

Harlotry, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

This was for my Eros class. I think it's a huge improvement over HBC and so I'm quite happy. I'm also including the original linework because.... I like it. And I'm always pretty klutzy with colors.

EDIT:
Received my midterm crit over this piece, uploading the new colors now instead!

Harlotry (inks), originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

I should be doing other work, but I was too pleased with this and too sad I hadn't updated my blog in a while. I still have more Economos sketches, too, so those'll have to come up later.

Helena Bonham Carter

2009-09-29T14:38:00.001-07:00

Helena Bonham Carter, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

For Illustration 2's independent study. There are some things that I want to change, but it's done for now.

A Crit with Economous

2009-09-18T15:21:00.001-07:00

A Crit with Economous, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

This really isn't an exaggeration. This is exactly what the guy's like.

He's amazing and DAMN if he can't whip out a beautiful figure drawing faster than you can say Michelangelo.

Roller Girl

2009-09-17T17:27:00.001-07:00

Roller Girl, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

I've been organizing my portfolio for study abroad and went back to touch this up. This was an assignment for Brian Ralph's character design class. I had fun drawing her.

I promise I'll get some current things up soon, when I make them!

From Fall 2008; Re: Fall 2009

2009-09-13T11:36:00.001-07:00

Ariel Screenprint, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

It's looking like another busy semester.

MON: Illustration Concepts 1 with Jose
TUE: Critical Studies
WED: Eros with Jose; Independent Study [Illustration 2] with Daniel Krall; Screenwriting Workshop
THU: ----
FRI: Life Drawing with Economous

18 credits? Am I a complete and utter fool or what?

Anyway, I was uploading things for my portfolio and stumbled across this. I was never that keen on screenprinting, and the scan kills the colors here a bit, but c'est la vie, yeah?

Watercolor Sketch, Gackt as Kagetora

2009-07-04T21:23:00.001-07:00

wtrclrkagetora, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

You knew I was going to try and paint Gackt sooner or later. I think I'm getting a little better at this.

Speaking of Gackt, July 4 was his birthday. Happy birthday, Gackt, and happy 10-year anniversary as a solo artist! May the years bring more of your music and your spirit.

What I want to do is try adding some linework to it, but I think I better save that for a new image. Even though this IS just a sketch, I like it and want to leave it alone. Truth be told, I've been tempted to add lines to EACH sketch I've made, even two failures I haven't bothered to post (but I probably will if for no other reason than archival).

I also want to start doing some images from my head, but for now I need to hold off on that urge and keep to the reference. I don't think I'm good enough for the former yet.

Watercolor Sketch, Shingen Takeda

2009-07-01T20:32:00.001-07:00

wtrclrtakeda, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

Otherwise known as Ichikawa Kamejiro from NHK's 2007 taiga drama Fuurin Kazan.

...Wait, were you expecting Gackt?

Don't worry, I'll be painting him soon enough! But I draw him constantly in my sketchbook, to the point where it's almost a bad habit. XD

Watercolor Sketch, Random LJ Friend

2009-07-01T15:50:00.001-07:00

wtrclr20090701, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

Found this photo off my LJ friend-list (and going to leave it anon in case she wants it that way XD;). Wanted to try some more watercolor. It looks alright in person, but really funky scanned in. Definitely overworked it, will have to be careful not to next time.

Watercolor Sketch, Maria-Antoaneta Tudor

2009-06-30T22:27:00.001-07:00

mariasketch, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

I've always sucked with watercolor and I've always wanted to fix that. I don't think this is so bad -- the portrait itself at least, the bg color looks nicer in person and the bottom I was just playing around.

On another note, Moleskine watercolor notebooks are nice.

The subject is Romanian actress, stunt performer, and singer Maria-Antoaneta Tudor. Isn't she pretty? Google her, she has a website -- she's very talented and works very hard.

Is this thing on?

2009-06-11T18:35:00.001-07:00

I'm succumbed and am going to try to start an art blog like all the other MICA cool kids. Stay tuned.