Happy New Year!

Our move went well. We are now currently living in Katy, TX. So Happy New Year from Katy everyone.

New Sculpt

I'm going to play around with the Fiber mesh tools in Zbrush. Right now, just WIP.

Places of interest...

The Animation Guild

Licensing Expo

CTN Expo - On Demand

Monster Concepting

I'm always looking to pick up a few new techniques from other artist when sculpting in Zbrush, just purchased Kurt Papstein's "Monster Concepting." Check it out, great stuff.
Monster Concepting

 Kurt Papstein's website, http://ikameka.blogspot.com/

The Death Of Freelance Illustration...

Check out this article and pod cast on the death of be freelance illustration over at ChrisOatley.com.Interesting stuff.

The Death of Freelance Illustration

Lucas Marquez - Sculpey Dance

 Check out the dance animation by Lucas Marquez called, Sculpey Dance. You can find more from his site, acertijo

Sculpey Dance 

I Sold Too Many Copies of GTA V To Parents Who Didn't Give a Damn

I Sold Too Many Copies of GTA V To Parents Who Didn't Give a Damn  - Your Average Video Game Retail Veteran

The Visual Difference Between Linear and Non Linear Workflow

Article by Neil Blevins on Linear and Non Linear workflow.

The Visual Difference Between Linear and Non Linear Workflow

O'Neal Pignani is a Crook

Saw this over on facebook about an guy hiring artist to work with him but never paying those artist for there services. A must read article titled, "BEWARE of Swamp Ape Studios."
O'Neal Pignani is a crook

Shawn Dickinson's facebook page link, https://www.facebook.com/shawn.dickinson.12/posts/10201388173299511

Real time shaders for Maya

Here are a few links to realtime shaders for you game artist using Maya.
Leocov CGFX shaders
Mental Warp - Generic BRDF Cgfx shader
Koddeshader
TGA physically based shader

A link to more shader info.
PolyCount shaders

Zbrush and photoshop rendering tutorial

There are a lot of subjective tutorials on the process of multi-pass rendering in Zbrush and compositing those passes in Photoshop. Check out the vimeo video by Leo Haslam. A lot of good information here.
Blanka: zbrush and photoshop rendering tutorial

Procreate

For you concept artist looking for a great mobile, artist software package; found this tablet software called, Procreate. Looks amazing, but wish it was available for my Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1. Those of you with Apple Ipads, you can find it in the apple store, or over from the software developers website. Here is a link, Procreate.

The art of daarken blog / Should I work for free.

Check out the blog of from a great artist, Daarken. Blog is full of really good information, especially for those looking to get into developing Illustration and concept art. Here is the link,The art of Daarken. Also check out the section of his blog titled, "low pay, no way." There you will find a link to a flow chart by Jessica Hische called, "Should I work for Free."  Chart is great if you have any doubts about working for free. Thanks to Jessica Hische for creating the chart and to Daarken for sharing the link. You can also find a link to Daarken's art site in the artist section of my blog.

Creature Lo-poly version

Low poly version of a creature sculpted for a 3D print project. Here are a few Marmoset Toolbag renders. Ambient Occlusion and Normal Maps applied. Normally, I would use Zbrush or Modo to generate both the Normal and A.O. maps. This time, xNormal was used to complete that process. Posing and texturing next.

Flat Shaded and Normal Map

Wireframe/Shade, AO and Normal Map

Wireframe/Shade, AO and Normal Map

Creature for 3d print

Hope to get some time soon to finish a 3D print creature sculpt. In the mean time, check out what I have completed so far. Sculpted in Zbrush. More models can be seen over on 3dbrats.com

Found these old Softimage XSI rigging demos I put together back in 2007 & 2008. Gotta love Softimage. It's still one of the best rigging packages. Just hope it's new owner, AutoDesk will keep it around.

Character Rig Demo (2007)
https://vimeo.com/73814379

Foot Roll Demo  (2007)
https://vimeo.com/73814378

Bot Rig Demo  (2008)
https://vimeo.com/73814377

3dBrats.com updates

New images have been added to my site, http://3dbrats.com. More to come.

"7 Deadly Sins of Worldbuilding"

http://io9.com/7-deadly-sins-of-worldbuilding-998817537

Also, "The Rules of Quick and Dirty WorldBuilding"

http://io9.com/5039477/the-rules-of-quick-and-dirty-worldbuilding

L.A. Mayor...Hollywood Jobs

http://variety.com/2013/biz/news/l-a-mayor-declares-state-of-emergency-as-movie-tv-production-flees-hollywood-1200589182/

Can't sleep creature sculpt.

Have a long drive ahead of me, and can't sleep at the moment. So I decided to start a new creature. Not sure where I am going with this design. Not sure I even like it right now. Design is weak, but I will pull something out of it.

Toy Making

I love both traditional and digital sculpting, and try to sculpt every chance I get. Someone posted the link below over on Facebook, and I thought it would be a good opportunity to post it here on my blog. Check it out.

http://www.fastcocreate.com/1683539/see-the-surprisingly-human-process-of-making-action-figures-in-the-secret-story-of-toys

Pilot Hi Tec C pens

There are a lot of different pens for illustrators on the market, and you should always use a tool that brings comfort to you. With that being said, I love usibg the Pilot Hi-Tec-C, and highly recommend them to any artist looking to showcase clean lines in there art. I buy them by the boxes when I can. Check them out.
http://www.jetpens.com/Pilot-Hi-Tec-C-Gel-Ink-Pens/ct/284

10 must read books for artists

Check out the article called,10 must read books for artists.

http://kirileonard.com/10-read-books-artists/

Top Ten Industrial Design Schools

http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/design-architecture/top-10-schools-for-industrial-design/8084

Momo for Maya and Mari

This software is getting cooler with every update. It is called Moma by developer, Jacobo Barreiro. Moma enables Maya and Mari users to preview scenes using Modo's preview renderer. You will need a copy of Modo for Moma to work.

http://jacobobarreiro.com/moma/web/#!/moma/

http://jacobobarreiro.com/moma/forum/index.php?topic=5.0

http://jacobobarreiro.com/moma/forum/index.php?board=1.40

Moma for Mari video demo:
http://www.cgchannel.com/2013/07/moma-for-mari-render-mari-scenes-in-modos-renderer/

Peter Konig

Peter probably does will not remember this but some 7 or 8 years ago while working on my thesis for graduate school, I decided to email a creature maquette sculptor named Peter Konig. I wanted to get advice on how to handle certain features of my own character sculpt. I also wrote two other character sculptors at the time, but Peter was the only one out of the group to provide really good, constructive criticism of my sculpt. Peter gave me lots of help and useful tips especially in the areas of anatomy, research, and using nature as a guide. He also gave me one of the best complements, which included a comparison of a really famous, well know sculptors in the business, Ray Harryhausen. I have always been a huge fan of Harryhausen's work, so reading that comparison was a huge up-lift in my spirits. Besides, Ray Harryhausen was one reason why I wanted to make creature sculpts and tell stories. I have always followed the works of Peter, and advise other sculpting artists, both traditional and digital, to check out his work. Peter will be teaching an online class for http://www.zbrushworkshops.com/ called, "Creature sculpting with Peter Konig." Check out the site and his work, http://www.peterhkonig.com/#!/. If Peter ever gets a chance to read this, thanks again!

Pardon My Dust

One of my business partners gave me a mini workshop on a course he took while studying design at the Art Center College of Design, called Dynamic Sketching. I Studied and received a BFA in studio art a long time ago, so I understand art and design, but this course was never taught where I trained. I find this course to be a must for anyone wanting to understand basics problem solving in art and design. Dynamic Sketching should be taught in every Art school.  Since it is not, Check out the links below.

Peter Han doesn't consider himself an artist. "I see myself as a designer," he says in Pardon My Dust, a microdocumentary about chalk art and its ephemeral nature. "I'm a designer that works in anything and everything that requires problem solving. And if I can draw it, if I can see it and I can understand it... I can do anything." ---ROBERT T. GONZALEZ

http://io9.com/these-chalk-art-drawings-will-leave-you-with-your-jaw-o-799738800

http://www.cgma2dacademy.com/

My workspace

Just wanted to share my office work space. I use the space when sculpting both digitally & traditionally sculpts, oil painting, etc. This space also works as a mini library for me as well.

Zbrush / Mudbox remesh comparison

Those looking of a remesh comparison between Zbrush and Mudbox, take a look at the link below.
http://robertvignone.blogspot.com/2013/07/automatic-topology-mudbox-vs-zbrush.html?spref=fb

3D brats

A link to our website, 3dbrats.com check it out.

Check out one of my daily sketches. Creature Sketch JP. July 2,2013

Creature sketch sculpted in Zbrush. Sketch Idea for a 3d print. Artist, Joe Perry. Music is Maximum (Bassnectar & Ill. Gates Remix.)

High Def version can be seen over on my vimeo page. Please click the link below. Please enjoy.

Lil Beastie Zbrush sketch

Standard Rez version.

Creature sketch sculpted in Zbrush

Interesting article about art school.

Discovered through a friend, an article about not going to art school. There are a lot of art schools that need to pay attention to these articles. There are a lot of people searching for other means of training and education than spending $85K or more, to get an art degree. Why is it costing so much? A traditional art school may only cost you a fraction of the cost listed above; at least it did when I was in art school, so what has changed? Check out the article.
https://medium.com/i-m-h-o/138c5efd45e9

Other works

Some of my other digital works can be viewed on Pininterest, http://pinterest.com/jgbrat/personal-art/.

ADI kickstarter Campaign

ADI kickstarter Campaign - Harbinger Down

https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/blog/harbinger-down-practical-fx-movie-kickstarter

Joe Madueira-Do you really want to be an artist?

Great read, check it out.
http://onceuponasketch.com/2013/04/joe-madueira-do-you-really-want-to-be-an-artist/

THINK. Summer Camp

Studio will be offering Summer Camps for ages 12 - 18. Check out the site. Workshops to follow in September.
http://thinkimagineart.com/thinkima/

Animation reference studio

Rhinohouse.com

Office space

Here is a look at one of my studio spaces for THINK. This space is the corporate one, and is where all corporate duties are handled.