Scam & Apologies

I apologise for the lack of posts these past few weeks. As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, I was doing some freelance work. However, as it turns out, said work was a scam. I should have gone with my gut instincts when I was first contacted about doing some work.

A few months ago, I signed up to Freelancer - a site for freelancers to "bid" on projects they like, so they can do the work for it and get paid. I was sceptical at first, but thought why not. I put a bid in (bids don't cost anything; depending on your account type, you have a certain number of bids per month) for a simple project regarding file conversions, from one type to another. However, the employer contacted me about a different project that was not advertised on the site; it was character modelling/sculpting, which is what I love doing.

So I had to do a 24 hour test, which was to model a toad based on Bufo, like my previous post detailed. I did this, sent him the files as he sent the payment in the form of an eCheque on PayPal. It would take 3-5 working days to clear. I was pleased - I'd be getting roughly £80 for the work I had done. He asked to send through details of the next character, to which I agreed. It was to model a peacock in the style of Kevin from the film Up, but had to be white and not rainbow coloured. When I was working on the peacock, the payment for the toad cancelled as it failed to clear the sender's bank. I was annoyed, and told the employer (Mark) that it had cancelled. He sent it again and, like before, would take 3-5 working days to clear. This is when I started to become more and more suspicious.

I won't bore you with details of sending files and creating the models...but after I sent him the final files for the peacock, the second attempted payment for the first model failed to clear the sender's bank again. I suggested to Mark we use Western Union and I would go down to my local one to collect the money. He agreed and said he would send me the details, such as the MTCN number and security question/answer. The message after really annoyed me and made me realise that I was being conned. He said the peacock file I sent him was too big and came through distorted on "their" machine (I put their in quotes as he was supposedly the project leader for a children's animation). It made me think, if it opens fine on my computer - which is built mainly for gaming - it should be perfectly fine on an animation studio's computer. So he therefore aborted the peacock, but appreciated the work I did. I took this as he implied I would not get paid for the work I did. He then had the cheek to ask if he could send through the next character details for me to work on, to which my response was that I can't commit my time to work on things for him when I can't guarantee I will be paid. I felt that I had wasted my time. And with him being in Australia, the time difference made the whole process that much longer. I was supposed be getting £280 for that model...

Mark actually never replied to that message. Nor did he send through any Western Union details. At this point I was 100% certain he just used me and no doubt passing my work off as his own and getting the money for it. I have an idea as to what I'm going to do if I see my models in an animation. And I will seek legal advice if it happens.

Freelancing can be very good and will bring in a decent amount of money. But with freelancing comes a whole bunch of risks and unfortunately, those risks were a reality for me. I am owed £360, which I won't be seeing. For me, I will much prefer working in a studio with other people. This leads onto my next point and on a different topic.

From now on, I won't be working on characters. Even though it is my favourite type of modelling/sculpting, I have literally no chance of getting a job in that field...yet. I did some research and found that roughly 1 in 20 companies offer entry level 3D character artists. Obviously, characters are a huge part of any game/animated film, so ideally companies want people with experience in the industry rather than employing entry level people. The more common and slightly easier way to get into the industry is to do environment modelling. This includes environment stuff like trees, rocks and perhaps buildings and other various models like weapons and other assets. That is what I'm doing now; I am currently working on a hammer, much like one Thor has. I'll write another post detailing my progress in that project.

Sorry for such a long post! Until next time.

A Slight Detour

Over the last couple of days, I haven't been working on my centaur/human mesh. The reason being that I was contacted by an Australian man about doing some modelling work. The company he works for are linked to major animation companies in the US, and they were starting up an animation for children.

I was asked to complete a 24 hour test to model a character based on Bufo from the film Epic. This is what I did!

The guy will finish the clothes off, however. I'm still learning how to sculpt clothes, ya see. But I really like how the body of the frog turned out!

This was my first bit of freelance work, and I'm proud to say there is more to come.

The Centaur Begins

Judging by the title, my next project is indeed a centaur. In my previous post I mentioned that I would be doing a dagger, but I came to the conclusion I much prefer sculpting creatures/humans and wish to perfect my skills in that area first before moving onto things such as game assets.

So, to begin the centaur I started creating a basic human body structure using Zspheres. It's a great way to block out the form and structure of a human/creature. I am using a book on creating realistic game characters to help me create the human part of the centaur.

So, from the picture above, the general anatomically form was created with the spheres, laying out the most obvious joints such as the knees and elbows. Although, at the time of the picture, it was looking rather manly; therefore the waste was thinned along with the arms, but the hips scaled up to give off the female form.

I didn't want to spend too long manipulating the spheres, as this isn't the final stage. Like the accompanying DVD stated, the spheres are like apprentices. They are there to start you off and get the basics done, before moving onto the proper sculpting of the refined form and details.

Moving the shoulders into their proper place, lowering the arm pits and "inflating" the bottom were done when the adaptive skin was made.

The head was shaped more at a higher subdivision level. There is still a long way to go yet, but the basic form of the human part of the centaur is coming along rather nicely. I know, obviously, the legs won't be needed for the centaur, but I thought while making the human section, I would create a base mesh that I can use for later projects which will save a lot of time.

It's Completed

My demon is finished! I did some post processing in PhotoShop to add a simple background and added some darker colours into the body. I am thrilled with the way it has turned out.

Also, there are two versions. Which one is better?

If you can't spot the difference, one has pale green eyes and the other has completely black eyes.

Check out my work on my Behance page! My next project is creating a game asset.

Detailing and Polypainting

A huge amount of progress has been made since the last post. The detailing is pretty much done and the painting of the demon is coming to end as well. I am so pleased with the result so far!

I added the eyes as well; before that it didn't look alive. But now that there are pupils and irises, it's looking more life-like and realistic (for a fictional character!). I used a mixture of alphas to detail the skin, such as the wrinkles and scratches. And using darker colours for the indented sections of the body, it really brings out the form and silhouette. I'm glad I chose green for the eye colour as it's a nice contrast to the skin colour.

I think the spikes running down the spine add a nice touch the character, enforcing his demonic nature. At the moment, the model currently has around 4 million polygons. I will eventually retopologise it for my portfolio, as well as keeping the high poly one.

Finally moving onto the render process now and final detailing.

Sculpting the Teeth

Today was spent sculpting the teeth of my demon and refining some of the facial features. The picture looks a bit crappy because I don't actually render these WIP pictures as the lighting and shadows aren't quite right as I haven't set them up yet!

Once the main form was blocked out, I could finally turn off symmetry and start defining the facial features better. Because, in life (real or fiction), people and creatures are not 100% symmetrical. So here I have made one eye a little bit droopier and one side of the face is more bony.

The horns look out of place at the moment, as I just started them as I finished for the day. I plan to (with the advice from my girlfriend) have horns running down the spine of the demon, and have a horn protruding from the elbow.

I can't wait to get onto poly-painting this character and rendering him out.

You can view my WIP on Behance!
Also, follow me on Twitter and I have a LinkedIn too!

Refining the Body

I spent most of the day today sculpting the head and toning down the muscles of the demon. In all honesty, the way I previously left the head turned out to be rather phallic! But it looks completely different now, with some finer details being added.

I really think he's coming into shape now. Of course, I am far from finished, but the more it begins to take better shape, the more determined I am to complete it. The head I am pleased with. He looks angry and mean, by the shape of his eye brow.

I've really gone for "proper" anatomy here. Obviously it will never be proper, being a demon which isn't real. But the same muscle groups apply and I have a brilliant resource for muscular structure. I have that site open on my other monitor and it makes it easy to sculpt the muscle shape and depth across the body.

I found the previous version was too muscular; I much prefer it this way. However, things change all of the time, so it may look completely different (muscular structure wise) later on!

That's all for today. Tomorrow I will continue refining the body (silhouette) and creating the teeth.

A New Project

After I completed the little worm, I spent an hour or so trying out techniques for creating rocks in ZBrush. It sounds easy and boring, but rocks and stones are huge environmental assets for games and 3D films. I learnt a very quick and easy way to make a realistic looking rock that can then be exported into various programs to texture it, if required. Obviously, it's possible to texture the object in ZBrush.

This rock isn't textured; it just has the original red wax material that comes with ZBrush. It was simply starting with a sphere and using the move tool with DynaMesh on to manipulate the points into a rock shaped object. I adjusted the noise curve (much like the level curve in Photoshop) to create the bumps and divots you see on the rock. 

However, my next main project is to create a portfolio ready demon character. Again, I will be following a guide but adding things and doing things differently.

I started off using a tool called a ZSphere. This tool makes it incredibly easy to create rough poses for characters (it's what was used to create the worm). You then turn the ZSphere mesh into an editable mesh which can be sculpted on.

At the moment, I've been working on the top half of the body. The front and back muscles are near enough defined, along with the arms.The Clay Buildup brush is amazing to add rough details such as muscles. The next step is to continue defining the muscles and start to shape the head by adding horns/ears, and the general facial features.

In my opinion, it has got off to a good start, and I hope it continues that way!