Concept Design class...

IS AWESOME! I'm learning a ton of amazing new techniques, especially in digital painting which I was  really horrible at. I find it way harder to control a tablet than a paintbrush or pen...it's a little frustrating, but the process is becoming more enjoyable because im finally getting somewhat satisfied results. I love how freely I can work without worrying about making that mark-of-no-return. I'm still better at mixing and matching colors with physical mediums, on the computer I tend to make my colors look too muddy.

Anyway, here's what I've been up to...

This is an apple digital painting practice based on Dice Tsutsumi's great tutorial (he did a lot of amazing digital concept pieces for Toy Story 3). Took about 45 minutes total.

Thumbnail sketches and final design in different views. Assignment was to design a musical instrument for World of Warcraft. My instructor opted for a simpler design since we're all kind of noob at digital painting =P

Very quick practice in digital matte painting class to distinct background, foreground and middle ground elements. Ahh tangents everywhere!! I worked too slow and wasn't able to get anywhere near finished haha. My first time working with environment sketches this way but it was fun.

Warm-up assignment in digital matte painting. We had to fill in the rest of the drawing with our own ideas. Would've added a lot more if we had more time, but it was just a quick warm-up.


Oh and update on Ikea X Ai competition, I made it to top 20 so I will be getting a dresser to dress up soon.

Ikea x Ai collab scholarship

Our school collaborated with Ikea for a dresser design contest. Basically we had to submit a proposal, get selected in top 20, and then the final three will receive a scholarship (in different amounts). The winners will have to decorate the Ikea dressers and it will be displayed at our school's art gallery and then auctioned off with proceeds donated to a charity.

I've been having a thing for vintage/rustic dressers and furniture, I think they make a great contrasting element to a modern home interior. My original idea was to stencil a bunch of words on the side and then make the dresser look like an old sign (with layers of paints sanded off), or do something very simple like a white drawing against a dark grey background with bright yellow accents...but in the end, none of them really felt like me so I ended up drawing on instinct. The design can't be too crazy cause the winners are probably only given a short time to finish them (plus my schedule is crazy intense this term so if I get placed I might loose all my hair).

Yesterday night I miraculously managed to finish my models/renders AND my research project for earth science before midnight. I've been wanting to submit a design for this contest/scholarship, but I didn't know the deadline was so early so I didn't have any ideas in mind. I managed to get around 3 hours of sleep before I had to get up for school. It's a very last-minute design, but here it is anyway.

Do note that I drew a template with a thick black border so the actual design on a real dresser will probably look quite different.

The first design is the one submitted...I really wanted to keep some of the natural wood texture, but im kind of doubting how good it'll look in real life so I did a back-up design based on recent painting I did for my cousins restaurant. The rain on the side is far from perfect but that will be fixed. You can also see my proposal at the bottom, written with my eyes half opened. Click to enlarge thumbs.

The 'dots' on the brown sections are supposed to be upholstery nails. I love the look of them on refurnished furniture.

Panda-Z

This took way more time to model than I'd expected. I haven't modeled or rendered anything since two terms ago (that's almost half a year ago) so needless to say, I was a bit rusty...or very rusty. I'd forgotten how to set up lighting properly so the rendering alone took me a few hours to figure out and its still not perfect (a bit flat). Also had to create a turntable video which I still need to put into Aftereffects tomorrow.

Modeled and rendered in Maya. No UV texturing (just color accents), that's why the mouth details are gone.

Click thumbnail to enlarge

 

Im disappointed by how flat the final render came out...so here is a screenshot of what it looked like in Maya. What took me forever to model were the details on the large panda head.

Quick Sketch

Took Quick Sketch last term (ended last month)...don't be deceived by the title, its really anything but 'quick' (I'd say around 10-15 minutes per drawing). Mainly drawing from references and then coming up with our own concept. We were not allowed to draw with pencils (except for the final), so all of these were done directly in pen.

Environment Design sketches.

Final toned drawing had some issues (a bit of scale issues as well), I'll probably get it fixed when I have free time. Overall, quick sketch was an enjoyable class. It made me realize how much I enjoyed drawing in with traditional media =)

Background design

Basically designed our own environment based on gathered references and knowledge in perspective drawing. Started with references, thumb sketches, and then finally drafted (in pencil) and toned digitally or traditionally.

Ack. My two final toned versions turned out too muddy and messy. I'll probably go back and fix it some time. Funny how the toned draft versions that took me like 20 minutes each were actually better than my final toned which took hours.