Nate The Artist

Go Ducks!

2011-09-14T20:04:00.001-07:00

Football season is here.

Work In Progress - Modular Tech wall

2011-01-10T18:47:00.000-08:00

High Poly Tech wall

slow progress

2010-12-22T22:22:00.000-08:00

Its hard to find time outside of work and home life to find free time, but I managed to find a bit tonight!

Finished low poly, unwrap, and bakes for my sci-fi tech Pillar:

Cephalopod Love

2010-12-07T00:41:00.000-08:00

This started out as a scribbly figure practice, then I moved it into a lighting practice, and realized it was gaining too much polish to warrant tossing it in the "bin of scribbly scraps, so I started to polish it. ...then it felt awfully boring, even if only a simple figure practice, so I added the octopus. ... How we ended up here, the world may never know.... I'm putting a stop to this before i put any more time into what was supposed to be a test.

High Poly Pillar

2010-10-02T17:24:00.000-07:00

Found some free hours!
I feel pretty satisfied with this high-poly. Time to move onto other things. To bake or not to bake? ...well. I will bake it down, but perhaps I'll use my next bit of free time to start concepting other new pieces. Time will tell.

Modular Pillar Concept

2010-09-25T02:36:00.000-07:00

As I work on the environment mentioned in previous posts, I will be concepting and creating much of it from scratch to generate a full environment.

Since i will be reusing this asset occasionally to break up large walls, I will likely remove the small screen on the 3D model, and instead, create separate geometry that can be applied to only one or two of these. The back area with the repeating circular shapes represents the area that wall geometry will connect, so in the final 3D environment, these likely won't be visible.

Critiques are welcome.

Progress

2010-09-12T17:04:00.000-07:00

UDK Work in Progress
[updated]:

"Curbs" (the edge-pieces) have been modeled, unwrapped, baked, and imported.

Some time ago (before I graduated) I started an environment (see here)

Since then a lot happened. That project hit a very long stand-still as i was busy with graduation, life, and my new career as an artist at Buzz Monkey Software.

However, I've recently been able to find some free time and I've decided to return to this.

Here's a peek at some progress:

This shot realtime from UDK. As you can see, i've completed low poly models for a few assets along with bakes and unwraps. Textures and many, many more assets to come. Lighting is very much temporary right now.

Time to paint

2010-06-22T01:39:00.001-07:00

edit:
tweaked colors. Last one was WAY oversaturated. Still trying to get my monitor and photoshop to calibrate

Monkeying around

2010-04-12T23:54:00.000-07:00

A quick draw/cleanup/color before a trip!

what I'm working on

2010-02-25T04:29:00.000-08:00

I've decided to base my next project on a concept done by jubjubjedi of DeviantArt.

Because part of the interest of the piece stems from its 2-point perspective, I am going to incorporate the look of 2-point elements into my interpretation of their design. I will also be scalling/re-proportioning a few things to work well in true 3D space.

I haven't had much time to poke at this yet, but here is some early progress:

Entry to the Catacomb City

2010-02-19T21:56:00.001-08:00

Presented in-game.
Direct Screenshot from Unreal Engine 3.

Parrot's Beak Cove/ Belly of the Beast

2010-02-06T21:36:00.001-08:00

A quick video flythrough of the Freerealms prototype environment that I worked on.

This project was overseen by Sony Online Entertainment, and presented to them with exceptional review. The goal of the project was to create multiple nodes in the style of the free online children's game: Freerealms (http://freerealms.com).
It was an interesting experience creating stylized assets and environments rather than realistic versions.

Steel Faery

2009-12-24T17:56:00.000-08:00

I was going to put her on the arm of a giant mech, but...nah. I think this was a better idea.

Unearthly Eatery Environment

2009-12-22T12:00:00.000-08:00

Presented in Unreal Engine: Direct screenshot from game.

I Concepted, modeled, textured, placed, and lit the buildings, props, skydome, and smoke effects.

Credit and thanks to Jacob Norris for our grass alpha-cards.

Vehemence progress

2009-12-05T23:40:00.000-08:00

Dumping progress here. This has become a team project. Here is some of my work on realizing my previous environment concept into a game ready environment:

Vehemence: END GAME edition

2009-11-07T05:16:00.000-08:00

As time passed and the critiques flowed in, I decided to shape my concept more towards an "End Game" scenario. I reconcepted the twin towers in the back, and added a massive fissure leading from the refinery, steam pouring from the site of its meltdown; slum homes falling into the ground. The Vagabond's Aircab home and town eatery sit on slanted chunks of the land, tilting toward a foggy-green-fate.

VEHEMENCE -concept

2009-10-21T01:45:00.000-07:00

Another time, another place.

There was once a small town, poor and simple. The people lived in peace with each other, despite their lack of money, and struggle to survive.

The town hungered…
…Until one day.

The townspeople found Vehemence, an organic material which can be refined into a power source. The news spread quickly, and the forces of government opted to build a refinery in the slum.
The structure towered over the town. The citizens were offered employment at the refinery, which they accepted hastily.
They were paid only enough to maintain a livable poverty.

But one day, the Vehemence source dried up.

The refinery shut down. The people lost their small income, and were left with the abandoned structure at the heart of their town, and unusable, broken down transport ships and debris littered across the streets.

Scene:

the town has been overtaken by nature. A massive structure looms over an abandoned aircab. Left rusted and wrecked, a vagabond now uses the shell of the ship as a shelter.
The makeshift home is adorned with scavenged amenities and found goods.
The plants have been held back by the vagabond as much as possible, but they have begun to creep onto the dwelling.

concept building

2009-10-08T00:31:00.000-07:00

quick building concept

AC: Great Tree

2009-09-25T04:26:00.000-07:00

re-optimised and re-unwrapped, retextured and added foliage.

Alchemist's Catacomb's progress updates

2009-09-23T11:40:00.001-07:00

More work from the environment I'm piecing together

AC: shrine

2009-09-20T16:24:00.000-07:00

this will be attached to/ behind the stairs, there will be candles and scrolls inside the inset, and a waterfall will flow over the top.

Alchemist Catacombs: Dock WIP

2009-09-20T03:46:00.001-07:00

quick shot of the dock in engine. Decided to break it down a bit. more to come

Alchemists' Stairs : work in progress

2009-08-07T15:37:00.000-07:00

UPDATE AGAIN!

:UPDATE!:

The Alchemist's Catacombs: Lamp and Diverter

2009-07-30T00:19:00.001-07:00

Assets completed thus far for the environment I'm working on.

Pet Accessories Vendor

2009-07-30T00:16:00.000-07:00

A concept for the node I'm designing for FreeRealms

Parrot's Cove Concepts

2009-07-23T22:58:00.000-07:00

treescape thumbnail

2009-07-23T03:39:00.000-07:00

messing around with a tree brush i made

The Tree Village

2009-07-18T03:58:00.001-07:00

Dragons Skull Dwelling

2009-07-18T01:06:00.001-07:00

The Time Machine (update)

2009-06-28T13:35:00.000-07:00

What I got for Christmas

2009-06-26T17:51:00.000-07:00

Lip Synch practice. :D

Heavy Lift

2009-06-26T11:42:00.000-07:00

Needed to do a heavy lift animation.
Thought I'd have some fun with it.

Time-Machine

2009-06-19T06:55:00.001-07:00

Here's the Time Machine I've been working on for about 2 days now. I built it from a reference, which I believe is from the original The Time Machine movie. I began a texture, but after deciding to add more detail to the model, I have opted to redo it. Diffuse, Spec, and High-low bake are on the way!

Explodo-Squid Dispenser

2009-06-04T21:18:00.000-07:00

A TF2 Dispenser concept

Environment First Pass

2009-05-28T18:38:00.000-07:00

Here's a first pass at the environment I'll be working on. For the moment, its just a structural layout. I'm going to start designing props and elements soon.

I tossed some gray onto the first image so the line art alone isn't so blinding. I'll be doing a greyscale and color comps shortly.

Look Before you Leap!

2009-05-20T14:23:00.000-07:00

ANIMATION!

low poly liniage sword

2009-05-20T14:22:00.001-07:00

GUI Console

2009-05-04T08:04:00.001-07:00

GUI Console

2009-05-04T07:55:00.000-07:00

Modeled and textured from scratch. Based off pre-existing concept sketch.

low poly assets

2009-04-17T01:50:00.000-07:00

1110 tris, 1024 diffuse, spec, and normals

low poly speed-modelling

2009-04-16T22:20:00.000-07:00

A low poly utility/powerbox.
About 4-5 hours of work. 568 tris. 1024x1024 diffuse,spec, and normal maps.

Self Portrait

2009-04-07T12:16:00.000-07:00

its been a while, so here's a self portrait, Probably around 6-10 hours-ish, who's counting?

Ol Jasper demo

2009-03-26T02:16:00.000-07:00

Here's a video spotlight of Jasper's phasing so far. The walk cycle needs a lot of work, but its mainly there to demonstrate the rigging.

dry erase board sketching

2009-03-05T02:15:00.000-08:00

sketched this on a dry erase board while waiting for a fellow classmate to finish class.

just a regular square tipped expo marker. This isn't really supposed to be a specific kind of fish or koi, just something swimming through my head at the moment. :p

Zbrushing with color

2009-02-06T16:38:00.000-08:00

About an hour and a half of painting color in Zbrush.
All scratch, no refference, no custom brushes.

Zbrushing

2009-02-06T13:17:00.001-08:00

Concept work

2008-10-29T03:59:00.000-07:00

This is part of a bigger project I'm working on. Here's a lil' concept work for Wattana's Hip-Hop Sword Shop.

BioClock

2008-10-25T03:15:00.001-07:00

Here's one from my Material and Lighting class. Had to do an object in the style of BioShock.

a quick tree

2008-10-21T02:43:00.000-07:00

just a quick tree. I experimented with some brushes for the leaves and bark.

All from scratch in Photoshop.

CAHG Victory

2008-09-12T10:33:00.000-07:00

low poly model. Assignment was to use exactly 2000 tris; no more, no less.

Another doodle

2008-08-28T10:49:00.000-07:00

Another quick doodle from class.
I wish I had more free time to do some finished personal pieces.

A quick one

2008-07-24T09:42:00.000-07:00

Well, this came out a little bland. ...Okay, its very bland.
But I had to do a quick black and white environment for Background Design and Layout, in which i was supposed to experiment with brushes. However, i barely used brushes thanks to my stubborn, purist mindset. anyway. Hay, look, its a swamp!

The Big Fish

2008-06-11T18:38:00.000-07:00

Fortune Cookie Art

2008-06-04T03:04:00.000-07:00

For my art history class, I had to create a Wu-Zhen influenced piece with meaningful words.

I once got a fortune cookie which read "If at first you do succeed, try something harder."

These words are very meaningful to me, and directly relate to my mindset.

4th quarter finals are killing me!

2008-06-02T00:23:00.000-07:00

Heres some stuff

First off is the castle I designed for my concept art class:

A landscape I made while experimenting with brushes:

Here's something interesting; I did a neo-Expressionist version of my earlier painting influenced by the style of Georg Baselitz.
And here's a cubist revision of my earlier painting based on the style of Georges Braque:

Project SOULdier

2008-05-21T16:10:00.000-07:00

Had to do a new version of Frankenstein for my Character and Object design class.
Made of fallen soldiers, here's my inhuman war machine

Doodle

2008-05-07T19:07:00.000-07:00

Character Design

2008-05-04T22:55:00.000-07:00

For Character and Object Design class, I was given a descriptions of several characters from a western story, and chose one to design. My group (which I don't understand, as we all worked individually) chose an artistic style to reference when creating our own designs. We chose the style of the game Psychonauts (which you desperately need to play if you haven't).

Anyway, Here's my character design of Ol' Jasper, the hobo father of the main character.

Lets go Photoshopping!

2008-05-03T02:52:00.000-07:00

Felt like doing some Photoshopping and a friend supplied a picture.

Below is the work, followed by a comparison to the original image.

edit:

comparison shot:

The Cursed Woman

2008-04-19T15:06:00.000-07:00

I cant remember the last time I actually completed something (though, to be honest, I'm forcing myself to call this finished, even though I want to do a lot more to it.
These were for my Concept art class. I think I spent somewhere between 5-7 hours, give or take.

The story behind this involves a princess who is covered in black because of a curse. As the curse is lifted, the black starts to pull away from her skin, regains her original beauty.

Side note, i did look at some images for color reference.

A new class

2008-04-19T14:50:00.000-07:00

today in concept art class, we had to design a new character class for the game Team Fortress 2.
I came up with the "Lumberjack" class. An large, angry woman with more testosterone than a UFC fighter. ...reminds me of my friends' roomate

anyway, here's the lumberjack class.

Thrasher

2008-03-29T12:48:00.000-07:00

Well, i finished modeling my character concept. Sorry the video is such low quality, I'll see if theres a better way to get vids up on this blog. So I've decided to call this creature a Thrasher, based on the way I picture it attacking it's prey.
Hit the play button to see the turnaround.

You can view my concept art here: Thrasher Concept

Once I rig it, I'll post some renders.

Finals are Over!

2008-03-26T17:26:00.000-07:00

Yay! Finals are over!
Here's a couple 20 minute sketches with 15 minutes or so of cleanup from my life drawing class:

Path Less Traveled

2008-03-20T07:46:00.000-07:00

Hey I'm back!

Finals are crazy, and next quarter is only going to be more hectic. I'm still managing two jobs and full time school an hour's drive from my home.

Anyway here's the art part. (w00t for rhymage)

For my Game Design and Game Play class, I conceptualized and created a fully functional board game (well, actually, the "board" is made up of rearrangeable hexes) from the ground up. The game is entirley playable, however I hope to find the time to add more artwork someday soon.
So here are a few pieces of artwork from Path Less Traveled:

Everything was made from scratch in Photoshop, mainly with a tablet.
If anyone is interested in playing the game, let me know and I'll send you everything you need. Just shoot an email to NateTheArtist@gmail.com

2008-02-23T23:35:00.001-08:00

This is a character concept that I'm going to be modeling in 3D. This is kind of a work in progress, but I'm mainly just using it for brainstorming and reference purposes.

2008-02-23T23:03:00.001-08:00

This piece above is still kind of a work in progress, I've been on and off working on it for a long while now. I'd say its about 65% done here. This one was done with a Wacom tablet in Photoshop.

These last two were drawn in pencil, then cleaned up, scanned and colored in Photoshop using a laptop's touchpad.

2008-02-23T22:59:00.001-08:00

Gouache again.

2008-02-23T22:53:00.001-08:00

More gouache work.

2008-02-23T22:41:00.001-08:00

More gouache work from color theory. Same scene, four different times of day. Morning, mid-day, evening/sunset, and night.

2008-02-23T22:38:00.000-08:00

These trees were done in gouache for my color theory class. The assignment was to do the same simple scene using different color schemes. Here, the image with the orange background uses a tetradic color scheme, while the bluish-green image uses a monochromatic color scheme.

2008-02-23T22:12:00.000-08:00

Alright, lets try uploading a picture. Seems to take a while on here... Oh well, here's an old watercolor of some vineyards.

Getting Started

2008-02-23T22:02:00.000-08:00

I've decided to set up this blog for the purpose of posting my artwork. Hopefully this will function both as a method of display, and motivation to post new pieces. I'll probably be posting both finished and in progress works. Lets see how it goes!