ZBrush Night Class Day Two

I am happy to report that there has been some progress made in learning ZBrush! Hurray! Here's a time line for my latest homework assignment, a lion head door knocker. We were allowed to use any reference material, so I used a lovely stone lion head image that I found on the Internet. I thought he would make a great lion head door knocker! I didn't follow it to a T, but it was a useful guideline.I started off with an image plane and began to pull the general shape of the lion head out.I started adding details like the nose, snout, etc. And pushed in some eye sockets.Here, I'm reshaping some of the facial proportions to fit my image better. He was a bit too narrow before.I went up a level of detail in ZBrush (you can go from a very low level of detail to higher levels of details by subdividing the mesh), and this lets me smooth things out and add some finer things like eyes. You can see the details better when the mesh has been subdivided, but it's good to work in general shapes with the lower subdivisions.With more subdivisions available, I can now give the eyes a cuter shape and work on the lovely lion's mane. I just keep working on the mane to make it lush and full all around, including the top and around the ears. ZBrush is so intuitive for this kind of thing. I really love it.As you can see, ZBrush lets you change the appearance of the material at any time quite easily. It defaults with this waxy red material, but I like to work with the lighter gray since I can see the shadowy parts better when it's brighter.

I have done some more reshaping of the face at this point and pinched up the center of the fur on the mane to define the tufts more. I have also added the knocker.With the main fur sections more defined, I continued to work on building up the details of the lion's mane. This was quite tricky to draw smoothly, so I had to use a tool called Lazy Mouse to help keep the strokes more even. I'm not sure why it works, but it does. The general idea is that the line drops down slower than your mouse, and the lazy winding somehow draws smoother lines. It took a long time to draw all that fur, but the end result was pleasing. I added some more detail to the eyes (like the tear duct), and I called it a day. It was hard work for a beginner, but very good for only day two of ZBrush class. Remember Day One of this class?It looks kind of scary with the metal colour because the eyes look beady, lol.

I am looking forward to another fruitful day tomorrow. Fingers crossed that the teacher will give it a good mark :)

Have a great day!

Z-Brush Night Class Day One

In searching for the perfect job for me, I considered many options. There was teaching, but that would require two more years of school and multiple years of teacher-on-call work. There was nursing, but that would also be two more years of school and then blood and gore for the rest of my career. Finally, I came back to art. Maybe there's still a place for me in the art world?

So last night, was the first of my Monday night classes in Brush-based Modeling. I'll be learning Z-brush!
I made a head. It's really not so great looking, but it's the first class. We were mostly trying to figure out how to maneuver in the program and what each tool or brush did. It was a lot to take in.

Zbrush is a pretty cool program. You start with a sphere and basically push, prod, and pull until you have the general shape you want. Then you take various brushes and start to build up or cut out the details. Some brushes add details like textures.

Once you're done with that, you can paint on it! That's probably one of my favourite parts.

Okay! That's all I have to show for my first day of brush-based modeling. I'll go watch some video tutorials on how to become better at it now.

Here are some resources if you're interested:
http://pixelogic.com
http://cgcoach.com
http://scottspencer.com
http://www.andrewklein.net/aiinfo_tutorials.html

Enjoy!

Sneak Peek At The Robots

I finished up the first three paper robot jointed dolls, and decided to take some pics. Unfortunately, we had a situation.Stress bot got really agitated about photo taking. He wanted his pose just right for the picture. He tried to look intimidating with one arm up and one arm out.
He tried a jumping pose because he thought that would look cool, which it did, but it was hard on his knees. And after that, he was just a wreck because he couldn't find the perfect pose, and nothing was going right, and people were going to laugh at him, and what if they thought he was funny looking, and...
Control bot thought it would be best if Stress bot just calmed down. He picked Stress bot up and waved him gently like a leaf on a tree, and Nuture bot sang lullabies to him. Stress bot thought it was very nice of them, but then he worried people would think he was weak. He was glad when the photo shoot was over so he could worry about something else.
Coming next? Zen bot, Vintage bot, Garden bot, and Glee bot! Stay posted!

Have a great day!

Paper Robots in Disguise... Well, in Progress Anyway

I am really excited to show you some new paper dolls coming to my shop soon! They're robots!This fellow you see here is freaking out over it. Actually, he's freaking out all of the time. He's a Stress Bot. He can't help it. He's frequently frazzled, most of the time anxious, and all of the time stressed out.
What you see here is his dichotomy. This is a Control bot. Control bots are calm and they take action to solve problems. They are thinkers, and they are technically savvy.

Stay posted for the finished robots. You're gonna love 'em!

Have a happy day!

A Pink And White Friend For... ?

and so,

I was itchin' to crochet again, so I grabbed some yarn on my way out the door this morning. The commute was thankfully quiet so I was able to find a seat early on. With the balls of yarn tucked neatly inside my work bag, I pulled out two threads and started the base chain. I already knew what I was going to make. I smiled secretly to myself, thinking how odd it would be if someone stopped to ask me what I was making.

I'll post pics of this mysterious new friend soon. I'm looking at the new friend now, and I can safely say that SHE is super cute.

Have a lovely day!

Unloved Paper Doll In Progress

So, the super secret project that I'm working on is... an Unloved Monster paper doll! Yes, that's right! I've been cutting and snipping night after night to get him *just* right.

Once I had come up with a design I liked. I marked all the holes for where the arms and legs would attach. Then I printed out some demos in black and white to test out. The verdict? It's super fun!

I loved cutting the pieces out and it's fun to lay all the parts out in their correct places. The birdies and the big, red heart don't attach by pins to the little monster. You can just place them/tape them/glue them wherever you think is best.

I headed to the print shop to do a test print today, and they look pretty snazzy. The print shop lady thought so too.

I'll be off to Michaels this weekend to see if I can find some mini brads to complete this project. I'll put some up in the shop once they're ready. I think they'd make a great project to do with kids. It would make a cute, unique Valentine's card too (although it probably won't get to you in time for that if you're far away...).

I'm personally quite smitten with the little black and white fellow I'm playing with right now (I haven't cut out a coloured version yet). I love those little birdies too.

I packaged up some ACEOs to send away this week. As you can see, I used one of my For You from bluepandemonium stickers on the bubble cushioned envelope!

I was really quite delighted by it. There's also a picture here of an ACEO ready to go. It has been tied with raffia paper, and I have included a complimentary pumpkin bookmark in this order (because it was my 10th sold item!).

I have also folded a little origami bird and drawn some details onto it. The thank-you note has been folded into a pocket which is decorated with a nest design so the little bird can sit in it. I put a lot of effort into my packaging because I really want my customers to have a good experience. I know that I appreciate it when someone puts effort into something they send to me, so I try to make it great for others too. Decorating everything manually is a luxury I can afford right now because I don't have a lot of sales and I do this for fun.

I hope my customers appreciate it!

Working Up A Storm

I've been dreaming about making something very fun for a long time now. Wednesday night, I put it into motion, and I can't wait to show you what it is. For now, I can only tell you that it has to do with this fellow:

It's Unloved Monster! He's going to be the star player in my next invention, and I'm very, very excited. I've been drawing late into the night to get it just right.

Today, I'll be heading to the printers to see my creation realized. Wish me luck!

I'll post pics soon!

Here are some cool finds from Etsy this week:

Robin's Egg Nesting Bowls from alinahayes, Treasure from Atlantis IV from valleycreekstudio, Rocket Ship I spy bag from thosegreatwomen, and Baby Guinea Pig Plush from Morumoto.

Have a great weekend!