The World Didn't End

It's 12.22.12 and I'm still here, so I might as well write about the things I'm doing. Since I now have access to a PC capable of handling more than my aging Macbook, I decided to install 3DS Max and start adding that skill to my resume. Since I've taught myself Blender, I knew it's just a matter of getting used to the interface and idiosyncrasies, and putting in the hours. Not much to show yet, but it's coming. Speaking of going back to things, I've also started capturing and editing videos of me doing my speed paintings, uploading them to my Youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/user/Hamsta180 Here are some of the latest:

And a few studies:

Back in the Game

I'm working on my board game again, after a brief hiatus to do a couple of art test, and hitting a rougher patch of the unemployment roller coaster.

At least I kept up the daily speed paints. Here are a few samples.

Went to the 5th Israeli Games Unconference after being at the 3rd, and made a few new contacts. I still think I need to leave this country ASAP, but it isn't easy. Made good use of a website I found offering game internships in France a couple of weeks ago, though I've only received a few rejections for my efforts.

Card Sketches and airships

Progress on the board game. The resource cards are the first thing I tackled, thinking they would be relatively straight forward, and I tried out a realistic approach, but it didn't feel right.

While researching standard playing card sizes I stumbled on website dealing with their design, and while walking on the beach, I realized it would be a lot more interesting, and fitting for the theme, to make illustrations based on classic face card design. It's going to be a lot more work, but I think it'll be worth it in the end. Here are my WIPs

To rest my brain a bit, I switched to some airship silhouettes. The plan is to eventually model these in 3D so they can serve as victory track markers.

In other news, I'm looking into the University of Washington's School of Information Master's of Science in Information Management, as a way of getting myself back into the US, in a gaming hub, and learning something which will hopefully give me enough of an edge to break into the game industry despite my non-immigrant status.

Board Game 1 - A New Project

My cousin had me play Settlers of Catan for the first time about half a year ago. I was instantly hooked, and have been delving deeper into the hobby ever since, first in the Bay Area, and now home to Haifa. I've found a group to play with on Monday, and we pull out Catan whenever my brother and SIL come to visit. I listen to blogs about it and watch videos on youtube. I figured I would try my hand at it, if only as an excuse to design some art. Here's what I have so far, some rough layouts and ideas. Prettier thing are soon to follow.

I couldn't start this project without first finishing the monster studies collage, so here it is in it's final form.

And a few more of the podcast paintings:

Core Runner

Core Runner started as a speed painting done to the Armada podcast. It was episode 81, with a runtime of 15:56

The wonky perspective really bothered me though, and I felt like I needed to fix it (but first I needed to sleep.) The next day I also noticed it got some likes on facebook and some faves on deviantArt, so I went ahead and fixed, tweaked and embellished. I think it was still under an hour of work total, and here's what I ended up with.

Score so far: 5 facebook likes, 2 dA faves and 1 Tumblr like for the original. 3 likes, 1 fave, 1 reblog for the rework. And here's the latest on the monsters, only 4 more left:

Nothing but disappointment from the job search, and nagging from my mom.

Monsters and Podcasts

Here's an update on what I've been working on since my last update, I felt it was needed. I have been steadily working through the monster studies.

I also realized I needed to do more, and knowing myself, I do that best when I give myself small goals. Painting to podcasts seemed like a good idea, giving me a limited time span to play with ideas and see how far I can take it. Here are a few of my favorites:

Still looking for a job, art test results weren't good enough for 2K Czech, unfortunately. Israel isn't that bad, I guess. Went to my first Israeli con, joined a board game club, meeting English speakers and seeing old friends.

Monster studies

I did this page of monsters / animals yesterday, just to see what I can come up with. It was well received on my social networks, and one of my friends went on a 'like' binge through my art folders, including one of my studies, which made me realize it might not be a bad idea to do another one based on the monsters. I have been struggling lately with finding a project, this should kill some time.

No news on the job search, local or globally. It's the holiday season for us Israelis, which may be partly to blame, though I doubt there will be a torrent of phone calls at the end of the month.

Succubus Heads

Finally back to doing something along the lines of I would like to do, concept art. This is an exploration of succubi heads based on different horned animals. This is part of the redesign of an earlier work of mine, a military style insignia.

Here's a study I did yesterday, a photo of an F-106 Delta Dart hit by a missile which I stumbled upon while looking for reference for a quick painting. Figured I haven't studied that many explosions, even though they are useful in this line of work.

No real news on the job search. A few people said they will call, but I'm still waiting, and someone from Monkey Mind called (and woke me up) but could only offer a job in sales, so I said no thank you.

Wooga Style

I talked with a Wooga representative during GDC Europe, and I told him I would do something in their style, to increase my chances. Here it is, a demoness based on something I did when I was 17 or 18 and had on my door since.

In other news, there's no news about employment, whether it's from game studios or the few local places I contacted. Been messing around more in Photoshop, made use of my GDC Vault access, started reading a book about making games in Unity, and installed 3DS Max to add to my skills.