Cintiq test

We've been test driving the new Wacom 24 inch Cintiq and it was my turn today!  So.... I made an alien... I had a lot of fun using it in Zbrush and definitely think it's worth it for that... took a bit of getting used to in Photoshop though, I might try just drawing in it next time.  A great product for sure, although I think I'll be going 22 inch for home (when I can afford it) as it would be nice to move it around a lot more... chur!  :)

3D Artist

Been a shockingly long time and here I go talkin myself up again!  Shameless really...

I was lucky enough to work with 3D artist magazine on issue 49.  It was good for me to get down some of my process and talk a little about working at Weta and my journey getting there from good ol South Africa.  If I haven't bored you already,  and if you're brave enough to read and see more, check it out!  :)

3D artist issue 49

Here's the piece I did specifically for the tutorial and the sculpt along with it  :)

PRIME - Pre Order

Hey all... a plug for the soon to be released, and available for pre order, kick ass selection of books, AND a game!  Holy hell what more could you need!?  The fella's and fella es's at 3D total put together an amazing collection of digital art.  Check it out HERE

Life sized DemonGirl Figure

My boss, Sir Richard Taylor has been an amazing support and bought a copy of my sculpt and decided to mill it out lifesize and turn into a figure for his sculpture park to be released!  I was hugely honoured and you couldn't ask for more as an artist to have something you created turn into something like this.  It was milled 1/1 from my zbrush file, then refined by some of the artists at Fred Tangs studio in China, and these are the progress shots!

old Bugalugs the giant...

A fun sketch in ZBrush over the weekend.  Bugalugs was the first name I could think of, but i imagined him being a tad tipsy at the point of this study!  I might do a colour up version, red nose and all :)
I haven't had maya on my new machine, so rendered this on my old machine (which chugged and moaned a lot!) but I miss doing renders like this, so am gettin me mah copy running again!  I think of Maya as my photography studio now, where zbrush and photoshop I use mainly for concept illustrations, getting the most out of ZBrush.  But for me, I really like doing set ups in maya/mentalray for presenting form studies this way.

Yena

Another throw away alien head.  Mucking around at work, when i probably shouldn't  ;)  I've always loved Steve Wangs fish head designs and this one is totally inspired by them!  I find his forms totally inspiring with the simplicity in their basic structure but complexity in surface detail.  This is NO WHERe near that.  But I had fun breaking away from fantasy for a bit  :)

Prime Wars card game.

This looks set to be an interesting game!  Artwork featured is from a number of artists around the world with different genre's and styles all combined into one game!  Great way to use it I say!  Here are a couple of my pieces featured, but there are tons more, please feel free to help out on Kickstarter to take it all the way!
Kickstarter Pime Wars

Alien Monkeys...

.... are fun to do!  I created this guy as a test for a demo I'm going to be doing soon.  I tried to record a video through ZBrush but ended up being a bit messy, next one will come out and I'll design something a little more exciting than a colourful monkey... although I call him an alien!  The video making process has become very easy in Zbrush and look forward to actually getting it right soon!  The record history states is going to be very handy. 
I will be doing 2 tutes soon one covering my maquette methods for 3D conceptualizing and the other creating conceptual art using Zbrush and Photoshop in a couple of hours like this guy.
Thanks for takin a look :P

Trying some tech...

Here's a little bot head I did, inspired from jumping spiders faces, hence the name.  Have been so focused on organic forms for so long, I need to get into learning tech again.  Thought I'd start easy with something fun.  Mouth parts came out a little more awkward than I'd hoped but decided to call it done.  I used Zbrush and photoshop for this.  ZBrush is getting a lot better, or should I say, I'm getting better at using clipping brushes etc. still a little bubblegummy in certain area's, but I'll get there  :)

The tall lady Grey

A female alien study  :)   She's not exactly grey, but was meant to be inspired by the Grey alien typical design.  Done in ZBrush and Photoshop.  Just updated with a different view and close up  :)

topKnot Bot

A quick maquette done in zbrush.  Just had the urge to do a cyborg samurai guy, with a face!  Not an original idea, but enjoyed doing it.  Zbrush is really great to use for quick studies like this, I used Curve tubes and insert sphere/cylinder a lot as you can lay out pipes or individual components really quickly.  It's still really rough but gets the concept across hopefully. Rendered in ZBrush as well with final comp in Photoshop. :)

3D total interview

Well shucks, the really nice peeps over at 3D total asked if it would be sweet to do an interview with me and so over e mail, we chatted about a few things regarding where I came from (where did I come from?), what I kind of do, where I do it and what inspires me.  The result is in the June issue found here

3DCreative: Issue 082

This will be my first interview, and was a little nervous doing it but they did a brilliant job on it.  I sounds smarts... i fhink?  Oh, and just to clear up the intro, I work at WetaWorkshop Design Studio not Weta digital  :)
There's some rad articles on droids, armored beasts and great industry and software based articles, not just me!

Digital Art Masters Vol.7

Hi all,

I'm very fortunate to be featured in this amazing volume of books by 3Dtotal .  If you wish to pre order please follow the link here

Order Digital Art Masters Vol7

It also comes with a neat pack of cards featuring the art from the books!

Dragon Sktech in Photoshop

Taking some time to do a sketch of a friendly dragon.    It's pretty sketchy!  :P

Formal Alien

Another goddam alien!  This artist is extremely limited!

I called him formal because it looks like he's wearing robes, but it could be anything really?  A badly rendered flower?   Done in Zbrush and Photoshop.

holiday spaceman

some fun on the easter break  :)  yet another alien, and thought he looked like he was on vacation with that shirt! 

praise the holy balamah

he is holy... and will save you from your destruction!!

wanted to add something, colourful to this blog. ZBrush and Photoshop.

In the spirit of tribal aliens....and testing Fibremesh...

...I decided to do this guy! I wanted to play around with the new Fibremesh feature in Zbrush and sculpted up this guy to do so. I've always loved the Babirusa boar, which was the inspiration for the growing tusks from his face. The hair was what consumed most of this image, as I'd never used it before, but after a little while, I got used to the settings and was kinda happy with the result, so I thought I'd share. The sculpt took around 1.5 hours and finished the piece in an evening after work with colour etc. But Fibremesh, now learned, looks to be a powerful tool!

Maker of Dreams.

Well, it's been an embarrassingly long time since I last did any personal work. This was a very rushed attempt to get something done yesterday after work to update this blog before the internet kicks me off for loitering! It was a lazy sculpt again, and not intended to be any "concept art"more experimentals of the mental kind. I decided to call him Maker of Dreams, or the Sandman.


I created him using Zbrush and Photoshop.

Zbrush Character Sculpting - Publication

Hi all. Another plug for what looks like will be an awesome book featuring a lot of rad ZBrush work! There'll be a couple of shots of my work in there to bring the tone down, but don't let that put you off ordering a copy! Follow the link for your purchasing needs :)

ZBrush Character Sculpting

Prime- The definitive art collection.

The guy's and gals over at 3Dtotal are putting together an awesome series of books which I'm honoured to be featured in. They are looking for more entries so please, if you have anything you want to submit, click the link below: -

Submission