Russian Churches and Medal of Honor

Nothing like waiting a whole year to make a new post!  Wow life got crazy busy since the last time I posted here.  Since my last post I worked at Electronic Arts - Danger Close Games on two AAA video games.  Medal of Honor: Warfighter and Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel.  I also happen to get married to the most amazing man in my life!  Needless to say between work, dating him and preparing for a wedding there wasn't a whole lot of time for blog posts!

I'll get straight to the point.  While I was at Electronic Arts I worked as an Background Artist on the Environment team.  However I was a bit of a liason between the Lighting Department and the Environment Department; I was the Enlighten mesh Queen.  Some of you reading this may know what an enlighten mesh even is is and some of you may not.  What I will say is that everything I worked on at EA, unfortunatly isn't seen front and center at all in the video games I worked on.  Everything I did was more behind the scenes to make the lighting read correctly on the buildings.  The problem with this is I don't have a whole lot to show on my portfolio as far as Environment Art goes from my 10 months at EA.  And most everything on my modeling reel are characters.  I need more Environment Art - especially since I've been looking for an Environment Art position at a gaming stutio!

So I the first project I started working on after my contracted ended at EA is a Russian Orthadox Church.  I've just finished modeling it in Maya and I'm about to bring it into Zbrush for texture and color.  I can't believe it's been a year since I've moved around in Zbrush.  Hoping to never let that happen again.

Right now I simply have Maya screen shots of the Russian Church to post.  Once I get more into the texturing side of it I'll have some Zbrush stuff to post.  And hopefully I'll get this done fairly quickly and have it on my reel soon.  After that I think I'm going to revisit an old project I never completely finished.  My Hummingbird.  The Maya modeling is pretty much finished on it, I need to check out the UVs and then bring it into Zbrush and have some fun on the texturing.  After that I might revisit my Chevy Aveo and cleanup a lot of that typology (it needs help).

And here is a picture from the wedding just for fun.  If you're curious and want to see all the pictures the photographer's album of our wedding, the password is Irvine.  You can find our amazing photographer at his website: The Brides and The Bees

Zbrush realistic man sculpt

My focus over the last several months has been to learn Zbrush. It's been a slow process, only because my time gets divided with so many other things in life. But I finally have my first project completed and a temporary Zbrush turnaround on my demo reel. I ran into some issues with getting things to render out correctly in Maya/MentalRay but I've worked through those issues and will, hopefully within the week, get a Maya turnaround rendered for my demo reel. I have much more control over the speed and rotation on the Maya turnaround then the Zbrush one.

This project really has been a learning process, which is good because I definitely know what I will not do and what I will be sure to do next time around. Because this was my first Zbrush project and I stumbled my way through learning, this project took much longer then hopefully all of the following Zbrush projects will take. I started learning Zbrush with a great tutorial I found. Learning Sculpting in Zbrush (Beginners to Advanced) by Jason Welsh. This was incredibly helpful to get started in how to navigate around Zbrush and get familiar with the tools and such. I don't think next time I would approach starting a new character in Zbrush the same way, only because I ended up having to go back and spend a bunch of time retypologizing my character in Maya so that the typology was correct. However the tutorial did serve it's purpose for the time and I am very thankful I found it and was able to use it. I'm sure I'll probably go back and reference some of the points every now and again.

The thing I liked about this tutorial vs other Zbrush tutorials I've found online is this really did start at the beginner level. This assumed the viewer was a brand spankin' new Zbrush user and had no idea how to navigate around the software, which was the case for me. I wasn't able to really find any others that had this approach even though they may have claimed to be for a beginner. Most everything else I found came with the approach that you were already familiar with the software. And while those do have their place, it was nice to have this completely novice tutorial as well that was free.

Ok so here is the final turnaround and then I'll post images of the process going through it.

The very beginning of the sculpt I posted in Pipe head and learning Zbrush, this is the part that I was following along the tutorial. Then I decided to do a complete full body and take the pipes off of the head for a realistic sculpt of a man. I wanted to show that I could do a sculpt with realistic anatomy. I will go back and do a another sculpt with this guy and then I'll bring back the pipes and give him a full outfit with a lot of hard surface sculpting. It's going to have a steampunk feel to it. I want to be able to show a range of what I can do. However, I think before I do that I am going to go back to a previous project I never finished In flight and on paper and bring the hummingbird geometry into Zbrush. I want to really get into the detail of the feathers and do a full texture painting in Zbrush to learn what I can do with materials and textures in Zbrush. I'm sure that will take some time as I'll be in the learning phase of color within Zbrush.

Ok onto the images. When I did the initial layout of the muscles in his stomach and back everything was much harder and more defined. After having to retypologize the geo in Maya when I re-imported it back into Zbrush it softened the projection back onto the geo, which I realized in the end looked so much better.

12-10-11

As you see in this next image everything gets a whole lost softer here. Plus he now has hands and simple feet. I also unified his head to his body. All of which next time I will do first in Maya before I ever go into doing any finer detail.

02-09-12

Here are some images of some of the detail I worked on for his fingers and the simple progression of it. The final images being the typology of his hands and detailed skin textures.

Here is a close up of his chest before I started putting skin texture on. I ended up having to do the veins twice just because of loosing information on the re-projection.

His face actually changed through the process. I thought I had everything done (this was before I retyplogized) when I realized I couldn't ignore the typology in his head and that he really needed more typology around the ears, eyes, and mouth. I ended up bringing it into Maya and retyologizing his head... when it got projected back into Zbrush I lost so much detail that I had to re sculpt his face... which ended up making him look a bit different. The first image is the before, the second the after. I must admit I like the second one better because there is much finer detail.

Before

After

I love the detail you can get in Zbrush, the texture of skin!

I could go on posting all the random maya screen grabs I got when I was having issues with trying to get the normal and displacement maps to render correctly but perhaps I'll save that for the next post once I get the Maya turnaround finished. In the meantime here are the final turnarounds for my dude.

Hugo Cabret and my soon-to-be break

I don't really have any of my own artwork to post this time around as I came here for a different reason. Yes, I realize this is "The Art of Jasmine Hope" blog... perhaps along the way I'll dig up some old art and post it here and perhaps not. Right now I have a bit of time to post a blog and felt the whim to do so. Since these moments are so sparatic it's probably good to do it when I actually feel the move to.

The real reason I came here is to share that in 2 weeks time the show that I am currently working on, Hugo, will be ending. The hope was that there would be work coming in after this and that I would be able to transition into a 3D modeling position, as I am currently a Render Wrangler for Pixomondo. Unfortunately, they're moving into a slow season and there is no new work to transition into. So that means come November 4th I get to take a forced break. As much as the thought of being unemployed freaks me out, I am pretty at peace with this. I am really looking forward to spending time in Zbrush and strengthening my skills in that awesome software.

I've been told by so many people here, that have been in the industry for a while, to check out Gnomon School of Visual Effects. Looking right now on their website, I can see that there are definitely a few classes I want to take. I hear it's a great place to update one's skills and to learn new skills. It's nice to know there is a place in LA like that. The goal is to get a good handle on the software so that I can use that to my advantage in my demo reel. As with any artist, one needs to keep updating one's skills to keep progressing and advancing.

Ok now that, that is out there for the world, lets go ahead and move onto something I find so much more interesting. Something related to art! This last Wednesday the author and illustrator of the book "Welcome To The Invention of Hugo Cabret", Brian Selznick, came to Pixomondo to tour the place and to take a look at the film "Hugo", directed by Martin Scorsese, that we are working on. We're doing over 700 shots for the film if I remember correctly. Well my boss ever-so-kindly ran down to Barns & Nobel to purchase some books for a few of us to get signed!

At first my intention was just focused on getting the book sign... then I opened the book. What a beautiful book! It's absolutely gorgeous. I had no idea. I'm really looking forward to delving into the book and loosing myself into the world of Hugo Cabret in 2 weeks. I strongly suggest you check out the website for the book. I wanted to share some images of the book as they are so thoughtfully and carefully cross hatched. What an amazing, patient artist.

Taken from here

Taken from here

Taken from here

Taken from here

Taken from here

This site has a ton of pictures out of the book for your enjoyment and I'm sure if you Google it you can find many, many more of his art.

Pipe head and learning Zbrush

In 12 days I will have been at Pixomondo for six months; which means it's been six months since my last post. Looking at my previous post I realize I haven't touched that digital painting since then. Now I want to run off and go work on it. There always seems to be something to take me in a different direction though. I often find myself skipping from project to project so quickly I never actually finish anything. While this can be very frustrating, the more I talk to other artists, the more I realize that a lot of us operate the same way. But it is nice to have something finished, otherwise I feel like I'm spinning my wheels really fast and going no where.

However, reflecting back on the last six months I realize that I haven't accomplished nothing. I have in fact accomplished a lot. Most of my hours are spent at Pixomondo as I work a minimum 50 hour work week. Who knew 50 hours a week would suck so much of my time up! I'm also very involved in church activities which take up a lot of my time. After that, I get a few hours here and there to create. And just think, I want a husband and kids someday. That will suck up any remote chance of free time.

I have ended up spending a lot of my extra time working on making jewelry for my Etsy shop. I've started a new steampunk series that I have spent a lot of my stolen free time on. It's been a blast and I've had a grand time running around Los Angeles looking for bits and pieces to use. I've ended up spending a lot of money and time on this little venture and hope to actually start making money back at some point. I bought my first feature spot on Etsy for next Thursday October 6th and a week later bought another for October 12th. I'm really hoping this drives some business to my shop. Otherwise I'm going to go broke on this little hobby! You can visit my blogspot dedicated to my shop or you can Like my shop's facebook page.


I've ended up having to pull back a bit because I found myself spending way too much of my time on it. Now why in the would should it matter if I spend my free time doing something I absolutely love? Well that is because I need to learn a certain software called Zbrush that I didn't have the opportunity to learn in college. Because I'm pursuing a career as a 3D modeler, knowing this software is an absolute must.

I, however, am really good at procrastinating with my free time and for some reason haven't been spending as much time learning this software as I know I should. I have come to the conclusion that because I spend 10+ hours a day in a dark room staring at duel monitors, the last thing I want to do is go home into an even smaller dark room and stare at duel monitors. Thus I end up spending my time on jewelry making instead of software learning. Well last week I came to a header with myself. It's a do or die situation. My current job here at Pixomondo will be ending at the end of the month. The goal is to move me into a modeling position. However I'll be extremely ill prepared if I don't learn this software ASAP. So I've started cracking down on myself.

Right now I'm going through an awesome free tutorial that I found online. I'll come back in later and post the link in here, I don't have it on the computer I am currently writing this one. I will post some pictures of my progress. I haven't spent much time on it yet, but for the little hours I have spent, I think it's progressing nicely. As you scroll down you'll see my progression.









I have to say I am absolutely loving this software. It is the coolest thing since sliced bread in my world! So why in the world do I procrastinate when it comes to sitting down in front of it? Once I actually get started it takes everything to pull me off of it.

As you notice the there is a progression of proportions on his head. At first the top of his head was too short, fixed that. Then someone else pointed out in the second group of images that it looks like the back of his head is too far in. That's actually an illusion created by the pipes on his head. I should post a picture without them for perspective. And yes those are actually going to be pipes eventually, not horns. Something with this type of feel (mainly I like the connection points on these - NOT the coloring):



I have a feeling this model is heading in a steampunk direction but I have no idea really and probably shouldn't even put that out there in case it heads in a whole different direction. Oh well, it's already out there. We'll see where this goes. I'll keep you posted.

A start of a new life! and a new painting.

A lot has happened since the last time I posted a blog. I have to say I'm pretty lame at keeping this thing up. I have officially moved out to California! I packed up my car and headed west on Feb 10th. I stayed in Albuquerque the first night mainly to visit my friends Jodie and Matt, their daughter and their new baby boy. Matt was an animator of Sony Albuquerque on Green Lantern. I arrived in North Hollywood on Saturday, February 12th to my friend Agnes' house. Where she graciously let me crash on her couch for the next four weeks while I looked for work. I have to say I really enjoyed my time there.

Two weeks after arriving in North Hollywood I landed a freelance job as a 3D Pre-viz artist for Post Mango, thanks to my friend Mitch's referral. I didn't start the job until the following week so in the meantime I went up to San Francisco for the Game Developers Conference, which was quite fun and a bit exhausting as well. So much walking. I stayed with my friend Mari who currently works at EA as an animator and I got to see so many of my friends that I haven't seen since graduating Ringling 9 months previous. I also got to attend a Ringling Alumni get together which was a lot of fun! The last day I skipped out on the conference and went and toured EA, bought $150 dollars worth of video games at their store for $30 bucks! I also got to visit my friend Cat Hicks who is an animator at Pixar. She gave me a tour of the place of which I do have some pictures of... but I'm too lazy to upload right now.

The following Monday I started work at Post Mango. I had a great time and really enjoyed doing the work. The shots where a lot of fun to work on and I'm excited to see what happens with the movie Chronicle. A week after working there I moved down to Culver City for a short 3 months lease. I didn't want to be tied down to anything as I knew this job would end soon. The job ended sooner then expected, but that seems to be the nature of the game. However I got to meet a very cool story artist named Troy and an awesome 3D Generalist named Jocelyn.

After the job ended I went over and spent a few days at Rareform Pictures doing some UVing for them. It's a volunteer project but it's something I can get on my resume. Come and go as you please and spend as little or as much time as you want on the project. It will give me some more experience and really like I said, get something more on my resume. I think I will continue to go over there when I've got time. But onto what this was all leading up to.

I will be starting tomorrow at 10 am at Pixomondo as a Render Wrangler, Jr. Max Artist at their Burbank office. I'm excited about this oppertunity. You know that friend Mitch I mentioned earlier that referred me to Post Mango, well he just so happens to work at Pixomondo as well, however he works at the Santa Monica office where I had my interview. All artist hope for an artist position, however this one will not be an artist position. At first I was a little surprised as the add didn't mention that it wasn't an artist position. But I'm totally ok with that now. I will get to learn something I've never learned as they are willing to train me and it will put one more good thing on my resume! Plus help pay the rent! And in the mean time I get to network as much as possible and continue to work on my art.

Sooo onto the real motivation for this post, since this blog is not called "The History of Jasmine's Life" but instead called "The Art of Jasmine Hope". Last night I was wondering around the internets (yes I said internets) and came across this awesomely cool clothing website Too Fast Online, I of course had to check out their awesomely cool artists, which then lead me onto the art of Marcus Jones.


It so inspired me I decided I needed to start a digital portrait. It has been YEARS since I've done any painting. Literally years. The last digital paintings I worked on were my junior year of college for my Drawing for Animators class. So last night I chose a picture of a friend from high school, Nikki. I colored out the background so it would be less distracting for me.


I hooked up my live stream page and I worked on it last night for about 2 hours and got a nice basic outline going. Like I said it's about 2 hours long so you can skip around to see the progression of it. Here is the recording:

jasminehope on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

I think when I finish this painting I'm going to take the videos and speed them up put them together so you can watch the whole thing done in like 10 minutes, then youtube it! I've always wanted to do something like that but never taken the time to.

Here is the finished simple outline with no real detail.

I'm moving to LA

A big change is coming for me soon. This past Tuesday I made the decision to move out to LA and hunt for work with an LA address. After speaking to friends who are also in the same field as me (and graduated college with me) and out in LA working, it was determined that this really is the best course of action for me. I need to take that leap of faith and just go. So in a few weeks I will be heading out there and couch hopping if I can locate some people who are willing to let me do so. So in the mean time my mother bought me a GPS system for a month early birthday present. We're praying it gets here before I actually leave. I know I don't ever talk about God on this blog and just try to keep this art/work related. However, I really feel like He's behind this sudden change, and I'm super excited about it, and a bit nervous. It's going to be a big adventure!

In the mean time as preperation I'm going to be scrambling to finish modeling, UVing, and texturing my car so that I can get it on my demo reel. I've been putting it off since the last time I posted on here, but now I really have to kick it into gear.

I've business cards I need to get printed and I've a bunch of leave behind portfolios I need to print and a bunch of demo reels I need to burn.

Anyway the real reason I am posting today is to let you know that I have officially updated the galleries on my website! They are much better and totally different then what I had on there before. I had no idea that you could make galleries using Adobe Bridge. When I discovered that I was super excited. It was so easy. I just need to code in some back buttons to get to the main gallery page. However, that right now is kind of on a back burner.

Here is the link to my galleries page: http://jasmine-hope.com/gallerymenu.html

There are four different galleries on there: 3D art, digital, traditional, and my photography. Leave me some feedback and tell me what you think!

3D Modeling of my Chevy Aveo

I've come to realize, it has once again been too long since my last post. While I have set things aside for previous posts, they never managed to happen. So this post I will dedicated to my current 3D modeling project. Which I have actually been working on and off now for about 8 months (amongst many other projects), much more steadily recently however because I want to get this project done and on my demo reel

Today I also plan to update the galleries on my website as they desperately need to be updated. I am not a webmaster and I don't know all the coding that goes behind decent websites so I built my website using a Dreamweaver trial version. While I got it all done in time... I am unable to update it because the trial is now over. And while many other people would just pirate the software and do what they need, I have a strong aversion to using pirated software. All of the programs I have on my computer are bought and paid for.... yes the CS5 Production Premium that I have on my computer, I paid an arm and a leg for, but it's legally mine! And the Autodesk Maya and Renderman I have a year license, bought and paid for. Unfortunately Dreamweaver was not included in that package... and after spending $1600 on the CS5 Production package I just didn't have another $400 to spend.

Anyway the point is that today instead of working on my 3D Aveo model, I am going to attempt to stumble my way through updating my website via the coding! This shall be a fun attempt.

Ok so on to the reason I'm actually making this post, to show my current modeling progress on my Chevy Aveo. I chose my car because I love it for one, and it's right outside my window for me to pear out at while working. Here are some pictures of my little car that I love so much! This is actually the second one I've owned, my first one got destroyed in a tornado that hit my home in 2008.



I'm a long way from done but here is the progress so far.


These two images aren't the same, one is smoothed and one is not, click on them and you'll see the difference.






And as you can see the back is so not even close to finished... it's not even started!


And so that's all I have to show you for now. I want to have this done, UVed, textured and up on my demo reel within the next couple of weeks... that is the hope anyway.