The current project given to the 3D modelers in my BFA class is to sculpt a character from a J.C. Leyendecker illustration. We started three weeks ago and it's due by Saturday, and though I've got plenty of sculpting left to do, I finally feel like I'm getting a handle on Zbrush. Especially thanks to Transpose Master, which allows me to keep my subtools separate (I have 50 on this sculpt, yikes!), but also move them together to tweak the pose as much as I want. Despite a rough start with TM, I feel like it's given me more control than any other tool in any other program I've used.

Those ruffles and pleats were always going to be a problem on this project, but I feel like I have so many ways to orchestrate them now.

Before I get too exhausted from a week of sculpting, I just wanted to reflect on how I've finally broken through the awkward stage with ZBrush. Feels awesome!

My Animation/Illustration BFA senior project class just started a cool new project. We're teaming up with the Grad students at University of California Santa Cruz's Game Design program to create three small games. Last Thursday we met in our groups for the first time, and started planning and working together.

The game I'm working on is called Tremble, and is led by Ian Dunbar from UCSC. It's a 2D (or possibly 2.5D) third-person horror game, which will feature a very graphic look. There will be shadow monsters and a integral use of sound. The viz dev has just begun, but I feel like we have a strong direction. Some of the story is still being worked out, but there were a lot of good ideas on Thursday, including some "meta" game scenarios, which I like a lot.

As people were discussing inspiration, the game Limbo came up a lot for it's use of black and white and composition. This was my first time seeing it, but it's really beautiful. Just the trailers have really made me re-think what could be possible with the design of Tremble.

There's some good thinking going, and I really love the emphasis on graphic shapes and strong composition that's happening for our game. The day after I stumbled across the work of Nicolas Delort again. Makes me wonder if we could pull of a style like that in the game. :)

I don't know how many 3D assets this game is going to need, maybe none, but it's exciting to work on a game that is also aspiring to be so artistic. I'll warming up my viz dev skills again so I can pitch in more. For now, here are some explorations trying to find good monster shapes.