Partly Metal, Partly Real

Almost ready to order those new business cards. As 250 cost about the same as 100, I'll order the larger amount.

It's important to periodically change the design, as it may be the first of my art someone sees, so there's going to be pressure to get rid of these as soon as possible, which could be a good thing. Try to leave them all in foreign lands with my planned trips towards the end of summer.

Finished watching all 65 episode of Silverhawks, and began my new project to redesign the franchise as an exercise in concept art.

Started with characters, struggling to find a direction at first:

But came upon something I liked with this version Steel Heart, which I continued to a few of the other characters:

Now I'm changing direction to keep things interesting, exploring shapes for a redesigned Miraj. This vehicle feels so awkward to me though, I'm going to try some other ideas that aren't "airplanes in space"

What do I have in speed paints that's good?

New Promotional Material Taking Off

You may have noticed a change at the top of this blog. I've changed my header image, as my retro futuristic airplane project is coming to a close, taking it's place on my social media profiles, as well as a new design for the back of a new batch of business cards. The front part will get some minor changes to the information presented on it.
Going to let my eyes rest for a couple of days, take another look at these, and if I don't spot any mistakes I'll order new cards.

 Some progress shots:

Speed paint dump:

Not Resting On Laurels

I have not been completely slack in my art making. If anything, I've turned on the afterburner.
I post to deviantArt or Tumblr far more frequently, check those out if you haven't yet.

The situation at the day job has gone from bad to worse. The part time job has turned full-time as far as hours go, but without the benefits of such. My calculations show I have made less than minimum wage for November. Not sure whether night shifts will earn a higher salary, we'll see when the pay slip comes in on the 10th, I guess.

All this extra work is leading to a lot of stress and fatigue, but I realized that making more art is my best bet to get out of it, so I've decided to dedicate an additional half hour or so a day to it. I've learned that giving myself small goals such as that is the best way to stay motivated and working.

Been using the time to model an airplane / spaceship design I came up with for the back of a new batch of business cards. Started with some speed paints to visualize the idea, moved on to silhouettes and found a retro-futuristic design I liked, fleshed it out some more, tried different patterns on it, and taken it to 3DS Max.
I got the basic shape down, and I'm currently working on the hanger environment for it to sit in, but might came back to refine the shape once I see how the lights work on it.

  For my speed paints, I decided that after a year's worth of them, it would be worth while to do studies from my growing photo library, with the occasional completely imginative work.
A few favorites:

I need to get back to art

GDC Europe and Gamescom did not disappoint. Met friends from last year, made a few new ones. Showed my portfolio around, exchanged business cards, expanded my Linkedin network and came home with plenty of swag.

Already planning on how next year will be better. I need a bigger bag for all the freebies, might try to contact people ahead and see if I can score more free stuff - the kind that goes to the media and business guys. My feet will and back will be sore, but there isn't much I can do there.

It's been super busy at work since I returned. Only 2 operators to cover 2 shifts per day, people on vacation because of the holiday, a secretary that was so fed up with the way she was treated she quit and with new stores coming in with teething problems, I haven't had time to do more than the daily speed paints.

Hope the new operator is integrated quickly and I'll have some time to work on my own projects.

I may even take the advice I was given and try to freelance, or do some pro bono illustration... We'll see.

The sensor ship didn't quite make it into the portfolio. I mainly blame the extreme perspective. At least I got a nice background out of it.

Enough chatter, time for the speed paint update: