Victor Gaza - Digital Portfolio

Research and Enquiry 22

2012-01-08T16:20:00.001+02:00

Woho and the promised print screens.
I`ve mostly looked around and about after asset repetition, texture repetition and polycounts of items, also payed good atention to the ammount of detail various assets had in comparison to others.

Here are some grabs.
Copyright obviously CD Projekt RED creators of Witcher 2 found @ http://www.thewitcher.com .
Also follow this link to buy the game from amazon, absolutely amazing.

Research and Enquiry 21

2012-01-07T17:32:00.002+02:00

Witcher 2 !!! WOHOO !!!

Well ripped 24 hours of my time and dedicated them to playing a game, since I haven`t properly played a game in over 2 years, not to mention I've barely seen 5 movies here ever since I started school (including tv series) and I`m kind of neglecting ... well ... enjoying myself :))

In order to make this experience as productive as possible and combine FUN with RESEARCH i've downloaded the trial version of FRAPS and played Withcer 2 (like a boss ! haha) while taking print screens and recording various elements of level design.

I love the game, it's absolutely amazing, I can play it maxed out on my pc, so I can do some proper research. I've mostly studied foliage, architecture and different ways of combining textures on multiple layer shaders. Of course I still have to learn unreal torunament engine to be able to fully simulate it but as for now, it's going great, I have tons of refference images for my future piece, though I think I`m gonna finish the game first.

I will upload some screenshots later as now ... well it's late and I have to play :))

This image is off the net, not my actualy print screen but none the less, shows the aim of this exercise .

Research and Enquiry 20

2012-01-05T21:09:00.003+02:00

Hey guys, not much to show or tell on this post, wanted to post a bunch of awesome links to communities and tutorials, that help me develop my skills everyday, and eventually will also help you guys :D

Without any further adew ...

Forums for creative development, tutorials and work showcase, some also have a portfolio feature.
http://www.gameartisans.org/forums/index.php

http://www.polycount.com/forum/

http://www.game-artist.net/forums/

http://www.cgsociety.org/

Romanian 3D/2D web community
http://www.visualart.ro/forum/

United Kingdom`s 3D/2D web community
http://www.3dtotal.com/

Best tutorials on the ... planet...
http://eat3d.com/

http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/

http://www.3dmotive.com

And an amazing tutorial I've found on polycount, which explains normal mapping processes found at :
http://wiki.polycount.com/3DTutorials/Modeling%20High-Low%20Poly%20Models%20for%20Next%20Gen%20Games?highlight=%28\bCategoryCharacterTexturing\b%29

(I`ll only post one page, for the whole tutorial please visit above link)

Research and Enquiry 19

2012-01-05T16:20:00.000+02:00

These are the last drawings I`ll post from Houston, TX.

I still have to post 2,3 A4 pages but won't as they aren't pretty good and I feel that I've recently level up my drawing skills and don't want to disappoint viewers haha :)

A few words about the technique I've "discovered" or more or less got into to.
While working on toned paper with a color like red or blue, for some reason I feel very loose and relaxed about what I draw so I just pretty much explored shapes and then just added details with white.

What's cool is that even though prismacolor colored pencils aren't really forgiving and erasing is an issue, for some reason I didn't really have the need to erase or correct stuff. Just went over the scribbles with a heavier red line and added "light" with white prismacolor pencil.

On a side note, from a methodological point of view, the reason as to why I've made so many profile dragons and none in perspective is that , from a design point of view it's easier just to design one half of a thing at a time, not really focusing on perspective but on shapes and design. Once a design/shape is found then it can be redrawn in perspective taking more time and being more careful about it, thus saving design time and getting more concepts done in less time.

Research and Enquiry 18

2012-01-04T16:30:00.002+02:00

These are just part of some of the anatomy studies I've made.
Firstly I'd like to mention of how important Glen Vilppus anatomy dvds are for me.
The guy is amazing, and the fact that you get to see the way he approaches building the figure is an invaluable work method. Drawing on top of forms and not actually interpreting contour is one of the best things I`ve learned so far, not to mention some heftly little details as to where eye attaches and how much of a space there actually is from the corner of the eye to the start of the nose and so on.

Follow this link here in order to get his dvds, the guy is amazing and the dvds are totally worth their weight in gold :)) http://anatomytools.com/products/dvds?show=dvd

On a side note I`d like to take a few moments to explain my research methods and how I currently apply them in my own practice, and why I think that the way I work is really beneficial.

One of the most important thing we, as game artists, must be careful and conscious about is the always changing and evolving trend in videogames, and how these dictate the requirements and standards of our art.
From a less technological and more plastic perspective, games now days tend to go in two major directions, either highly stylised or highly realistic,both trends requiring a very careful and methodological approach in order to be achieved.

Keeping this in mind, we have to know how do we achieve these standards so we are sure that we can always create good artwork that is desired and sells.

The most important thing we as artists can do is study. Before being able to make a highly realistic or a highly stylized character, we first need to be able to understand how and why do things work in nature the way they do, why is the sternocleidomastoid muscle there, and what does it do, why is the clavicle arched towards the deltoids, and what does it do together with the scapula in order for us to move our arm, furthermore, why does light and color behave like it does, why do reflections change according to the angle we look into them, and so on.

The only way we can understand everything around is to firstly research it, reach the concept and knowledge behind the idea, understand and acknowledge the existence of the particular phenomena from various sources, be them books, tutorials, lecturers,etc.

Now comes the important thing, being artists, we must take it a step further, and be able ourselves to imitate in our works what mother nature does so well, and that is to simulate life.
Let's say we now know of the sternocleidomastoid muscle, but now we must be able to apply it's functions and visual presence in our designs. Before doing such we must study visual references of it, over and over again, drawing our friends, drawing from anatomy books, sculpting various neck poses and understand how it works and so on.

After hundreds of studies we can then apply what we have learned into our own designs ... and be able to draw correct neck. Of course this applies to every visual field out there, anatomy is just one of the many things we need to research about aka passively study , then study them actively and finally applying them to our work.

Now go and study about anatomy, perspective, materials, light, color, volume, and proportions and so many many other things !

And now my studies, which are all done on A4 page sizes, traditionally using pencil and coffee :D

NOTE: PLEASE CLICK THE IMAGE FOR THE FULLSIZE VIEW

Research and Enquiry 17

2012-01-04T05:35:00.003+02:00

This is a bit of a sneak peak of what I've been working over the Christmas holidays away from technology.
Used watercolor pencil and a brush pen and went all crazy and such with some drawings, this is a few worth showing.

I`ll be posting up some more work once I get it all scanned and cropped, in the meanwhile enjoy.
These are done for leisure exercises, having fun and learning a bit of traditional media for my own personal skill set.

Research and Enquiry 16

2012-01-03T18:27:00.001+02:00

Happy new year and let's get back to work :))

This is a first batch of drawings, done for fun here in Hoston, Texas away from my workstation.

The shift to tradtional media has been an amazing change, I learned so much, most important patience and the importance of having a strcutured logical approach, things we tend to go over and ignore while doing stuff digitally, being so easy to erase and/or undoo all the time.

This post will also serve as an inspirational entry, would like to mention one of my biggest inspirations so far, MR PAUL RICHARDS, the one and only, author of WWW.AUTODESTRUCT.COM

This guy is a beast, making the most amazing concepts i've seen, not only shining through design and idea, but the visual representation of his concepts is outstanding ...
I can only hope to one day be half as good as a designer/concept artist as Mr. Paul Richards, and then I can go die happy :))
There are tons of other images on his website, I urge you to check all of them out, save them on your hard drives, ipads, ipods and carry them around with you all the time. Whenever bored or not in a mood to draw, open his stuff up, get pumped and draw for 10 hours straight.

Ok and now some of my drawings, done with www.Autodestruct.com open in my browser, some elements are copied some are inspired and some are original with the stuff I learned from previous exercises (but all for educational purposes.)

All pages are A4, done with pencil and rubber and here and there some watercolor soluble 3b pencil.
Hope U like them as much as I enjoyed making them

Vick.

Research and Enquiry 15

2011-12-27T01:09:00.001+02:00

It has been found !!! I`ve been looking to buy this sketchbook for over one and a half years now at a price that would not include a shipping fee of four times the actual price of the sketchbook.

Today my brother was nice enough to drive me to Houston Downtown, and I've managed to find a GIGANTIC art superstore where I've found the Cachet Earthbound sketchbook. I've bought one and another cheaper version for buss practice. The only thing now is that I`m going to draw on xerox paper anyway since I don't want to ruin the paper ... -_-"

Research and Enquiry 14

2011-12-26T06:30:00.001+02:00

Today was fairly less productive but with some research done never the less. Started with reading some literature this morning, a novel called "Silent in the grave" followed by food and sleep and some food again.

In between my eating sprees I've done eye studies after Glen Vilppu and finally gone through a Keith Thompson book about drawing and painting the Undead. (drawing to the left is made by Keith Thompson btw)

What's interesting tho is not the painting techniques that are presented within the book but the nice designs and creatures that Keith draws, all accompanied with a little mythological description of each creature, providing a nice background story for further personal development. I've drawn some undead beings using some of his drawings as inspirational reference.

I`ll try and post some of the traditional drawings I do every day here in Houston, TX but unfortunately I don't have a scanner so only option is to photograph my drawings and post them on the blog, a task rather laborious and time consuming, time I'd rather spend doing studies and/or with the family.

Talk soon and thanks for visiting,
Vick.

Research and Enquiry 13

2011-12-25T06:04:00.000+02:00

Wohooo spent pretty much all of my January UK food money on three male human busts !
On one side my sculpts should improve dramatically and so should my understanding of human anatomy, and better yet I`ll be able to learn the human male bone structure in the mirror, as my body will consume all leftover fat I had stored at Christmas.

Oh well, have an awesome Christmas and a super inspiring new year full of amazing resolutions that you and I all shall keep !

Next up for tomorrow, studies, right after home made warm cranberry sauce !!!

Research and Enquiry 12

2011-12-23T06:05:00.002+02:00

And following with a Jeremy Vickery dvd before going to bed. Not that much to talk about on this one, just trying to get some more and more color know how into my head as at the moment I don't have a pc and/or pen tablet to practice color studies, but might as well study the science behind it no ?

As a little side note I am also revising anatomy and pencil technique, I will scan everything as soon as I get the chance and post some of my recent anatomy studies.

Until then, have an awesome holiday and all that.

Thanks for visiting,

Vick.

Research and Enquiry 11

2011-12-21T21:35:00.001+02:00

Taking a little break from sculpting and rigid 3D art and turning a bit more towards traditional arts, I've taken it upon myself to study some color theory as the next step of my model`s phase will be texturing aka poly painting.

Rather than jumping into Photoshop and/or other software package texturing pipelines, starting with tutorials there, I`ve went a step further, or "backwards" so to speak, and plunged into James Gurney`s well known book called Color and Light.

Unlike other art books and/or tutorials that only give step by steps techniques, this lovely book acts a compendium of answers to a series of questions that myself and other fellow artists stumble upon. Questions that require pertinent scientific answers, and scientific questions that require a more abstract and plastic answer.

I've still around 100 pages to read through in order to finish the book, but I've already found a few things that I'd like to mention, useful information that will aid me develop solutions to my creative problems and maybe influence other people into buying this awesome book and discovering the great world of light and color.

I've found out that the traditional color wheel has a few problems such as only dealing with red, yellow and blue as primaries, Secondly that no hue is secondary to another and lastly that the hues are all stretched and out of proportion. A more detailed explanation can be found here on Gurneys blog.

Secondly that color is defined by two dimensions, hue and chroma. In addition to this value must also be taken into consideration.
Colors also have different peak chroma values, and so whilst yellow reaches it's greatest chroma peak in light values, blue on the other hand reaches it's chroma peak in darker values, and so on.
More information on this can be found here on James Gurney`s awesome blog.

Research and Enquiry 10

2011-12-19T21:23:00.002+02:00

One major important part of my workflow is reference and inspiration.
I am fully aware that I am at a stage in which I do not have enough experience and exercise to be able to produce quality designs by myself and so before I start a project , even before I start drawing concepts or thumbnails, I first am sure to first browse as many reference images as possible.

I start by looking over anatomy and different body builds, then look at other similar characters produced by other artists that fit the pattern I`m aiming for, furthermore I then look for design elements i want to incorporate in my character, and try to first find them in nature and real life, then into other art pieces.

I save everything up into a folder destined for a particular character and then start from there. I try to look at designs, understand them and then take them further, assimilate the essence but produce a new substance so to speak..

It's not about copying, but about starting from somewhere and taking it into a new and original direction.

Having said all the above these are a few of my inspirational images I've chosen for my project.

NOTE : THE FOLLOWING IMAGES ARE NOT MINE, BUT ARE USED AS INSPIRATION FOR MY WORK,ALL ARTISTS HAVE BEEN LINKED BESIDES THEIR IMAGES, COPYRIGHT BELONGS TO THEM .

Anatomy, Armor and Cloth details: Artist Soulsurvivor http://soulsurvivor.cghub.com/

Texture, Armor and Cloth details: Artist: http://mandryk.cghub.com/

Research and Enquiry 09

2011-12-15T02:53:00.001+02:00

A very important aspect is always making sure that our work as artists fits todays standards, and that we apply technical knowledge accordingly.

As usual I start with a study before actually doing work. This time I've spent some time and researched some proper modeling techniques. My main concern was learning about uniform and correct polygonal distribution, making sure geometry is optimized and even and that it does not create any folds or creases when subdivided.

I would first like to mention a website article I have found very very useful, although in Spanish the animated gifs are pretty self explanatory.
The article and be found here complete with text and gifs - http://blog.whiteblaizer.com/2009/03/subdivision-tips-hard-surface-modelling-iv/

Have learned alot of awesome stuff from this guy, stuff like properly capping a cylinde, mesh flow regarding corners and adding holes into different objects.

Another great tutorial I've found on hard surface modeling techniques and geometry ditribution is none other than Grant Warwick`s tutorial which is amazing
Enjoy it here :

Grant Warwick- Hard Surface Essentials from Grant Warwick on Vimeo.

Research and Enquiry 08

2011-12-14T16:20:00.001+02:00

A little bit of info regarding time management and why do I do sculpting the way I do it.

Unfortunately having both written and practice briefs and other additional personal studies going on time management is absolutely critical when it comes down to sculpting.

I've learned that it's better to block in shapes and stretch and tweak them when on lower subdivision levels and then detail the existing geometry after a quick polish at a high resolution level.

One of my biggest mistakes was that I was rushing and subdividing to higher levels and trying to add detail when the general shape wasn't at it`s best, lacking silouette expression, and thus it looks just as bad with or without details.

Another thing I've learned was that it's too time demanding to try and polish everything to a mechanical level when the actual size of the rollerblade is quite small when character is all visible.
Balancing how much detail and polish I add to an element and how big is that element with regards to the whole picture can change the time in which I finish the model. Adding too much detail to an area that will never be seen closely enough is useless and burns up energy and time.

Another aspect worth mentioning is the triangle count that can be held within a 1k/2k/4k normal map. There's really no point in adding 10 million triangles on a boot that will be uvmapped to 20% of a 1024x1024 normal map as barely 1kk triangles will shine through and remain crisp.

So in conclusion one very important lesson I've discovered the hard way through my mistakes, is to work low poly and get silhouette shape first, once happy subdivide and polish fast. After the whole model is polished to a satisfactory level, think about how big is that particular object, how much space will it take on the UV map and then go on to continue with detail on it or not.

Research and Enquiry 07

2011-12-14T03:32:00.003+02:00

In order to answer some of my brief questions such as how do I develop solutions to creative problems or how I generate and evaluate new ideas I've made this little example ...

I've watched an Eat3D tutorial and learned how to do some rounded bolts and rivets using multiple symmetry points, recording them as alphas and then using them as brushes with different offsets and curves.

This is a super quick result I've achieved using the alphas I've made with a few DAM STANDARD strokes PINCHED rapidly.

This is an awesome quick way of testing brushes and effects for various designs. My future post will show the outcome of this exercise, applying the brushes on my model.

The test itself was short but the actual making of the alphas did take quite some time :D
If anyone wants any of the brushes I made, let me know :)
Vick.

Research and Enquiry 06

2011-12-12T03:29:00.001+02:00

Not much to talk about this time folks, subdivided some more, polished some more, tweaked some more, smoothed some more ...

I`m learning to work faster and more efficiently but I`m still ridiculously slow ...

I've learned when to use flatten opposed to polish, or when to trim dynamic instead of trim and so on.
Next step is making some custom rivets and bolts for some finer detailing, after watching some reference artwork and tutorials of course :)

Now, back to sculptingz !

Research and Enquiry 05

2011-12-11T06:09:00.001+02:00

Ok some more updates on my character.

I've decided, in order to make it as complex as possible, to complicate myself even more and push it twards to versions, an armored version and an unarmored version of my mob.

Hoping to be able, by the end of this project, to show that I've a fairly good understanding of anatomy, both sculpting it and also texturing it, and hard surface sculpting and texturing techniques altogether.

I will later make a separate post with all the artists and artwork that have influenced and inspired me for this project, but at the moment I don't want to post my work and other artists work in the same thread, as not to confuse people.

Research and Enquiry 04

2011-12-10T22:22:00.001+02:00

Ok time to get to the good stuff.
This is my 1st portfolio entry although this is still a beta verion of it.

This pretty much the 1st step, visual exploration and concepting on the fly, instead of drawing I just went into zbrush and started carving away. I loved this approach as I was able to just undo fast through failed design attempts and quickly develop other shapes.

Another approach I took into my visual exploration choice was to quickly render out a few poses and sketch over them into photoshop, just to get an idea of possible future accessories and items, without worrying about perspective issues.

The coolest thing is that after watching some Pixologic tutorials I've learned how to use DYNAmesh and how to basic hard surface sculpt.

Furthermore I've went through a Eat3D hard surface tutorial and beginning to understand advanced high poly hard surface sculpting withing z-brush.

It's nice for a change to relate to other current activities in the field of character artists, going quickly and efficiently through this blocking shape, playing with shapes and forms and having a fun relaxed approach on finding designs.

New stuff I've learned is DYNAmesh, hard surface polishing and re-looping techniques and the importance of multiple sub-tools withing a Zbrush workflow pipeline.

Research and Enquiry 03

2011-12-06T18:19:00.001+02:00

Just some extra studies that I find worth publishing.
Lack of updates is due to the fact that I am currently researching and practicing hard surface techinuqes. I will post some progress on that matter ASAP. Just need to go over a few things before I can achieve the end result I want.

As a side note I might be buying some medically correct artists busts for a better understanding of anatomy, tho they are SO expensive, and to make things worse, shipping costs another bunch !

These are so important for character sculpting and painting that I think eating less in January might be worth it ...

Not yet sure but I am fully aware that one way of making sure that my work fits industry standards is through good reference and good understanding of anatomical features. I`ll be hungry soon ...

Research and Enquiry 02

2011-11-27T16:02:00.001+02:00

As some further research, I have done a cloth study as my character will be wearing drapery, and have done some other studies and drawings for practice.

As a short mention I would like to explain why do I work in this way, doing more studies than personal work, investing 99% in practices that can not be showcased as portfolio work and so on.

One of the most important things that art enthusiasts are not aware of, is that talent is a misconception, a work used wrongfully as a substitute for "experienced" or "more aware of visual circumstances"

In order for me to generate and evaluate new ideas, and to be sure that my work relates to the current activities in my field, I feel it is necessary to undergo a series of steps in order to prepare properly for each and every task.

For example I know that my future character that I will be working on in the near future will have an organic anatomical part, a hard surface metallic part and a cloth part, be it pants or other cloth related accessories.

In such cases I will always start with a painted study after a reference stock image. The study below deals with materiality, cloth deformation and general painting techniques that I hope to apply rigorously when the time comes in my future portfolio characters.

I will try as often as possible to undergo this approach, making sure that the visual choices I take have good pertinent reason behind them.

Hope this helps,
Vick.

Research and Enquiry 01

2011-11-25T05:00:00.001+02:00

Hey guys....

I know I haven't posted that much text in a long long time and just dumped images after images without any proper information regarding their purpose or meaning but all that is now about to change :)

We have recently been asked at Uni to log our work from a methodological standpoint, showing how do we approach today's industry needs and how do we prepare our practice to meet modern and next generation standards.

As some people have been asking me recently how do I go about my work, how and what I want to do after I graduate and so on, I will try to answer as much as possible as many questions I can, through my own research and development for my Research and Enquiry brief.

As a beginning post I will just take the time to explain shortly what I aim to achieve by the end of my degree and how I plan to achieve it.

My first priority is to generate a highly detailed sculpted 3D character that will be later retopologised, reprojected, uv`ed with baked maps and showcased within a 3D game engine.
I will put high emphasis on incorporating hard surface mechanical elements within the organic masses of the character. As far as the character goes, it will be a male humanoid character with slight mutant deformations, slightly massive but far from the standard male hero bodystandard.

As a first approach regarding my methodology, I will spend time doing 2d studies on anatomy , cloth and hard surface objects while in paralel sculpting and concepting within zbrush.

These are thee of the recent studies done in order to better understand anatomy for my future character, the front and 3/4 view took to paint around 3-4 hours each and the back study took around 5. Photographies of sculptures were used as refference.

Updates will follow shortly.

Color and Light Games Art School Brief

2011-11-16T19:12:00.001+02:00

Thank you for watching and please watch www.vickgaza.com for my other works.

Engine used was http://www.8monkeylabs.com/toolbag

Apps used were Maya, Zbrush, XNormal, Topogun, Photoshop and Adobe Media Encoder to encode files :)

Bboy Practice - Dorm Session

2011-11-15T01:39:00.001+02:00

Latest Videography test, for the sake of some slowmo shots late at night.Enjoy.

School Brief - Pod Racer Modeling

2011-10-27T07:08:00.000+03:00

Some of my recent stuff

2011-10-27T07:02:00.001+03:00

Dance to The Core Trailer / U-MAN Pa-Parazzi Contest

2011-09-21T05:38:00.002+03:00

This is a trailer done for the Dance to The Core event hosted by UMAN SHOP (Link: http://www.u-man.ro/)

This video is shot and edited entirely by me. More of my works can be found at http://www.vickgaza.blogspot.com

Gear Used: Canon Eos 7D, DIY Cage,
Lens: 8mm 3.5, 18-55mm 3.5, 50mm 1.8, 28-105mm 3.5
Edited in Adobe Premiere and tweaked in After Effects (stabilization and twixxtor)

Soundtracks used:
Featurecast - Party Starter
Skrillex - Rock that body (BEP remix)

Special props go to all the dancers that were awesome and helpful ! ONE LOVE !

Thanks loads for all of those who shouted "IT'S LIKE THAT" and other retarded shit. BLESS !

Mad respect for MR. Coffe, one of the illest beat boxers in Romania, mad mad respect.

Props for U-MAN shop for hosting the event and the video contest.

Props for Featurecast and Skrillex for the awesome noize !

Finally special thanks for BBOY GICK for lending me his laptop and his hard drive and helping me with my heavy bags and such.

......................

http://www.vickgaza.blogspot.com

Lumina din lumina, breacdance adevarat !

2011-08-25T03:42:00.000+03:00

"Tati nu ma atinge acolo" productions, impreuna cu asociatia striperilor fabulosi, prezinta cu mare mandrie, o productie proprie in haus si in parc, in colaborare cu pastorii ritmului melodic - Lumina din lumina, breacdance adevarat !

Soundtrack by Stickybuds - Bass Now VIP

Note: This was shot for fun on a Canon 7D camera in pitch blackness at maximum ISO. Sorry for the video quality and the grain but there wasn't much I could do. This is edited for fun and practice, and should not be taken seriously.

Special thanks to Bboy Gick (Stripperul) and Bboy Sebastian (Leul Onte) for the awesome night.

Portrait study/Demon portrait concept

2011-06-16T13:50:00.001+03:00

Spent around 6 hours on the portait study of the old man and around 16 hours + on the demon portrait :))
For those who want to know, I use Photoshop CS5 and a Wacom Intuos 4 Large pen tablet. I have also updated a gif image of my painting process. You just have to right click it and "open in new windows so it will animate".

Thanks for visiting.
Vick.

This is a gif with my painting process.

Some of my recent photography ...

2011-06-13T03:26:00.001+03:00

I`ve been secretly doing some photography here and there in my spare time.
These are some of the photos I've managed to edit so far.

I've been helping my friend Dani (click for his website) as a 2nd cameraman at a few weddings recently and I managed to take a few photo shots for fun. Special thanks for taking me on board.

I would suggest you also visit Dani`s Motionography Website and check out some of the stuff he does.
Prepare to be blown away though.

These photos are taken last weekend at the countryside. We left the city a bit for some heavy drinking and/or finding peace within nature.

As for the last three pictures, they are taken at the same place but different time, had a bit of fun with a portable 60x60 softbox and a 430 ex2 canon speedlite flash.

Will start working some more on lighting as soon as I manage to get some spare time.

As for the gear I use, just some entry level lenses such as 50mm 1.8, 28-105mm 3.5 , 8mm 3.5, 18-55mm 3.5 (kitt lens) and had some fun with a 11-18mm 2.8 recently, all mounted on a Canon 7D.

Hope you enjoy the photos and thank you for visiting.

Feature - Daniel Ciorba - Videographer

2011-05-20T19:25:00.000+03:00

I never featured anyone until now but thought it would be more than appropriate this time to feature my best friend, Daniel, since he was nice enough to take me practice video shooting at an amazing wedding last weekend.

Daniel shoots weddings for over 6 years now, having around 5 years of experience as a steadycam operator. He also does cutting and editing of his videos and color corrections/post processing.

You can find him at www.DanielCiorba.com , where you cand find more samples of his work, contact information, equipment information and specs, and many many more.

I urge you to visit his website and check out the amazing things he does.

The following trailer is for the wedding I helped out shoot.
Though please keep in mind that my contribution to this trailer is extremely little, besides two or three shots taken from above, the entire trailer has been shot, edited and color graded by Daniel.

Magda & Adrian - Trailer from danielCiorba on Vimeo.

Comission?(s)?

2011-05-10T00:44:00.000+03:00

Some extra work I did at home for practice and/or commissioned.
I`ll be uplaoding some more stuff soon.

Thanks loads for visiting and for all the positive feedback I got recently from you guys and galls :D

Bless !

Back to photography

2011-04-22T00:37:00.001+03:00

Back to photography ! More to come soon :)
Gear used - Canon 7D, Canon 430 ex2 flashes and some basic entry level lenses such as 50mm 1.8, 28-105mm 3.5 and 12mm wide.
More to come soon, need to finish edititing this batch, just wanted to post new stuff :)
Special thanks to Bboy Gick for doing tens of jumps over and over again !
Check back for more soon.

Thanks for visiting,
Vick.

<<< CLICK PICS FOR FULL VIEW PLEASE >>>

Some extra stuff

2011-04-11T02:38:00.001+03:00

More to come soon.
Sorry for not updating more.

NOTE: Click images for fullsize view.

Animated Gif below with 3 steps

Click the image below to open animation in new window (size - 480k)

Dominance War V sketches

2011-03-31T01:23:00.000+03:00

Just a few baby steps, hope to get all crazy with this.
Umm work is burning up all my time but will try and get more into drawing soon. More updates to come just need some time to scan the drawings.

Thanks for visiting and enjoy,
Vick.

And a few more extras.

2011-02-12T18:02:00.000+02:00

These were done at work during my luch breaks. Unfortunately I've lost the main zbrush file due to a corrupted overwritten save, so this is the only render I have.
The zombie dude, somewhat still a WIP, was done over a few weeks, 1hour a day :))

Enjoy and thank you for visiting,
Vick.

PS - Cick for fullsize view

3D Wip Demon

2011-02-07T17:25:00.000+02:00

And some extra WORK IN PROGRESS.

2011-02-02T02:46:00.001+02:00

EDIT: And some extra late night sketches. Around 1 hour of doodling.

Enjoy :)

Some late night posting. Random doodles for practice :)
Thanks for visiting :)
Vick,

Late night painting

2011-01-31T01:50:00.005+02:00

Not much to say. Late night painting. Intuos and Photoshop.
More to come soon.
Thank you so very much for visiting :)
Vick.

PS. CLICK IMAGES FOR FULL SIZE PLEASE

High Poly Sculpting

2011-01-05T08:05:00.003+02:00

5:00 AM EDIT: Just finished the texture. This is a screengrab out of zbrush with levels/contrast fiddled around with in photoshop/ Also added glow to the eyes. Enjoy :)

Now off to sleep since I got work in 2 hours ...

PS. CLICK THE IMAGE FOR FULLSIZE PREVIEW

Started from a poly sphere and worked my way up, then retopologized using Topogun to get better edgeflow and a cleaner mesh.
Reprojected all the high poly detail onto the low poly base mesh using Zbrush and sculpted some more, after which I started texturing withing zbrush.
This is still a WIP as I am about to bake out maps for a next gen pipeline. This sculpt serves both as a sculpting exercise and a next-gen pipeline integration excercise.
Modeling took around 5 hours, texturing around 3.

Will post some more as I come closer to finishing it.

Thanks for visiting,
Vick.

PS. Please click the images in order to view them in FULLSIZE.

Digital Paintings 2

2011-01-03T18:11:00.001+02:00

These are somewhat more recent. Somewhat considering these 3 as my best digital paintings so far. Portrait after a photograph, a concept illustration started at work and finished at home and the final piece is a thumbnail silhouette sketch that I developed further.

Special thanks to Alex Negrea for taking the time to guide me all the time and always having time to point me in the right direction. Show some love and visit his gallery here please : http://alexnegrea.deviantart.com/

Digital paintings

2011-01-03T17:59:00.001+02:00

Some older digital paintings I've done about two months ago, will upload more recent ones soon.
Sorry for the total lack of updates but work has been burning through my free time like crazy.

Used Adobe Photyoshop cs3 and Wacom Intuos 4 Large

1 love and happy new year !
vick.

The ?Sharkalisk?

2010-09-03T12:33:00.000+03:00

The ?Sharkalisk? - 3D Game Model - Rendered in Marmoset Game Engine

Once Zbrush 4 was released, I wanted to start a project and keep it inside of zbrush for as much as possible, figuring out a work flow that would best fit me.

I've started with a zsphere armature on top of which I've added zsketch strokes. After I was satisfied with my zsketching turned into an adaptive skin and went on with sculpting.

Added wings and teeth and an inside mouth using GoZ feature and sculpted some more.

After I've finished my sculpting I exported the mesh and remade the topology within TOPOgun and reprojected the mesh inside zbrush.

Texturing and UV projection is made withing zbrush although I've taken the uv map and tweaked and relaxed it into Maya.

Final maps were baked out of zbrush and tweaked into photoshop.

Note: Final poly count is 10.340 triangles, obviously expensive even for a current/next gen mob character but I wanted to show a nice and clean seamless texture on a perfectly normal-baked character.

2010-08-20T02:05:00.000+03:00

Have been busy busy busy lately ...
Some updates with even more to come :)

Enjoy.

German Flintlock WarAxe - W.I.P

2010-07-10T04:45:00.000+03:00

Some progress shots ... and yea the Germans used such weapons before Final Fantasy go figure...
Basemesh in Maya, High poly details sculpted in Zbrush, Retopologized in TopoGun then Uv mapped in Maya, details reprojected in Zbrush and normal map baked in Zbrush. Normal, Diffuse, Specular, Ao - 2 x 1024x1024 files.
Poly count is 2449 triangles. Only triangles and quads, no Ngons.

Enjoy :) Updates soon. WIP Images.

Summer on 50mm

2010-07-03T16:40:00.000+03:00

Some shots I took in the past week. Not that much to say, Canon 450 D, 50mm 1.8 Canon Lens, sun and girlfriend, adobe photoshop for editing and lightroom for raw handling.
Enjoy :) First time I try 1x1 crop ratio, no wide format here ladies and gentlemen :))

Btw I've added shortlinks after each post that you guys can use to share content such as photos or other updates directly on facebook, twitter,stumble uppon, etc :)
Give them a try :)
Thanks for visiting and enjoy the photos, one more to be uploaded here soon.
Vick.

Romanesti Cave Photos

2010-06-20T00:16:00.000+03:00

Blog skin revamp and a quick update with some photos I took recently.
Sorry for the lack of updates but been hella`busy with my exams.
More posts soon with tons of new stuff.
In the meanwhile enjoy and thanks for visiting.
Vick.

Digital Study and SPOTW

2010-05-31T19:42:00.000+03:00

A study from life around 2 hours and a half and a piece for the speed paint of the week community thread on 3D Hit.
Enjoy, more to come, more to serve :)

Last month's work

2010-05-21T00:35:00.000+03:00

This is what I drew last month, Loomis portrait studies and Vilppu anatomy studies are all on A3 paper size. All brown paper is A4.
Enjoy :)

Get fresh artwork and some studies for now

2010-05-04T00:21:00.000+03:00

Have worked on the artwork for the hottest Bboy event in town, Get Fresh v.3 hosted by the one and only Moonwalkers crew and the hottest upcoming 100% Romanian bboy brand Reprezent. Have posted the final flyer with all the info on the right of the page. Click the little flier over there for a direct link to the Reprezent Homepage and check it out.

The other pics are some studies I did a few days ago, more to come soon,
Thank you !

Portait and color study, will update more soon

2010-04-14T13:13:00.002+03:00

Sword Chick

2010-04-03T13:43:00.002+03:00

My 1st illustration-ish/character digital painting attempt and this 2 stdies started this morning.
Thanks for visiting :)

Update: Forgot to add some older stuff and some traditional stuff as well.

Got accepted to Hertfordshire University

2010-04-01T20:02:00.000+03:00

I`ve been interviewed today and accepted on a 3D animation course at Hertfordshire University.
There have been around 750 applicants for 100 places and I've managed to get it.
I'll pretty much move to the UK and start the course in September 2010 if everything goes well.

Enough chit chat, studies here:

Demon Bust - Zbrush sculpt

2010-03-29T02:10:00.001+03:00

This is my newest creation, made in about 2 rounds of 6 hours and 2 rounds of 12 hours, totaling around 40 hours of actual work.
Pretty much began with a sphere and modeled on the fly ... Done completely in zbrush with the exception of the horn teeth and eyes which were in fact base meshes imported from maya.

Thanks so much for visiting :)
Vick.

PS: Click the images for a FULL SIZE view.

Various studies

2010-03-16T05:08:00.000+02:00

Various studies - various life drawn objects from around the house and some photo studies. More updates soon.

2D Studies

2010-02-21T19:29:00.003+02:00

I have joined the "Crimson Daggers" for about 1 week and it's been a blast. I do a study every day for at least on hour, most of them though take waaay more than that.

I've also found a nifty tutorial on deviant art on how to digital paint from life which added up to my current exercises.

These were done as my 1st digital study exercise. So far I was hating the digital medium as far as 2d practice goes but becoming more and more proficient. These studies are from the tutorial I was mentioning.

Following these studies that took around 20 minutes for the rock thingies and 2 hours for the light bulb, I've started actually drawing from life various objects around the house.

Also had an attempt to speed paint a landscape from a luminist painting which didn't quite turn out as I planned...

And finally the piece of resistance ... I kind of pushed myself a little bit and attempted to master copy one of Malcom Liepke`s paintings. Took around 14-16 hours because I kept getting bored of it and slacked every 20 minutes or so. I`m quite happy with the final result even though proportion and color values are off more or less.

This particular study was also made as a token of appreciation towards my girlfriend whom I thank madly for all her support and kind words regarding my art struggle. Thanks babe :)

And this is the original painting done by the very talented Malcom Liepke

And this is an animation with the step by step process is used for this study.

Robot character sheet

2010-02-14T07:44:00.001+02:00

Finally finished after a ton of texturing and re-texturing and re-re-texturing.
Reason why this took so f-ing much is because I had to learn how to create some stuff for him in the process, meaning that I had to check out tutorials on normal , ambient occlusion, displacement maps, etc.

Final texture is made out of a color map, a specular map and a normal map, the colormap having an ambient occlusion map multiplied over it. Map sizes are 2k. Poly count is 13 300 triangles for the final model. The hi-res model was about 13 million.
Maya for modeling, Z-Brush for high poly sculpting, poly painting map baking (x normal was also used for map tweaks) and photoshop for texture tweaks.

NOTE: This was created as a workshop exercise on low poly game models. The concept idea was provided by the very talented George Munteanu aka GeMNT.

Enjoy and thanks for visiting,
Vick.

Final presentation sheet:

Zbrush high poly version:

Low poly finished version with the old textures:

Fresh Town Get Down @ Scartz Timisoara

2010-02-13T00:22:00.000+02:00

Even though I`ve been slacking lately as far as blogging goes I have been doing quite a lot of stuff which I'll upload in the future days.
I still haven't received a final date for my interview but some guys I know in the UK have already been scheduled so I`m guessing that international students are left for later dates.

As for the pictures, shot a week ago in Scartz, a local pub/bar here in Timisoara hosted by a close friend of mine, Dj Raffu spinning for the Fresh Town Get Down initiative. As a short review the place is quite small but friendly, with awesome decorations, cheap drinks, mad music and an awesome all-around vibe. Definitely worth checking out.

Short side note: I've taken these using a Canon 50mm 1.8 lens and a Speedlite 430ex2 flash. Sorry for the grain but my Canon 450D isn't really a big fan of dark places/high iso settings.

Enough bla-bla-ing !
Enjoy the pictures, stay tuned for updates and thanks loads for visiting and supporting !

Vick

Photo Comeback

2010-02-04T17:23:00.000+02:00

I know I've recently been slacking with the whole blog-folio stuff but things are hyper random at the moment.
My interview with Hertfordshire University is drawing closer and closer and I still can't seem to find any spare time to finish my portfolio. My current exams are fucking up all my spare time.
What's even worse is that I had to miss out on bboy training as well which is pissing me off like crazy.

On the brighter side of things, I've managed to draw a few croquis and male studies for my portfolio and almost finish up a low poly game character (which I will post up once I get a better texture going on).

On top of that I've made a few photos of my girlfriend using a flash as a main light source and a small silver board to bounce light off (which worked out like crap since the board was small and not that reflective). I did manage to throw in a color spot on the back wall though using a mini flash with an orange scarf on it :))
I guess I should buy a flash or two soon ...

I'll post up some of my other work soon, just need to find some spare time.
In the meanwhile enjoy the pics and thanks for reading and/or visiting,
Vick.

Getting ready for Herts Univ.

2010-01-09T11:17:00.000+02:00

These are some better drawings I've made lately. I've just laid them down and took a shot of the whole bunch.
The pastel on brown paper are A4 size while the ones on white paper are A3.
Each of them took between 2 and 4+ hours to make.
I`ve also started using watercolors since I need to have some color work in my uni portfolio, these three are literally my 1st watercolor paintings so far so don't be harsh.
Slowly getting ready for D-day. I'm currently waiting for a reply from Hertfordshire University.
After that I'll have to hand in my portfolio and probably wait for an interview request afterwards.
Other than that I'm working like a fu*king machine, murdering myself with 3D modeling, digital sculpting, drawing and painting as much as I can while getting ready for my management exams which blow and are useless.

Thanks for reading and enjoy the wannabe-artwork.

NOTE: The images are quite big so click them for full view please.

Digital Painting

2009-12-23T12:58:00.000+02:00

Here's my 1st attempt at painting over a sketch previously made on paper. Made this dude a while back but thought it would be a good idea to post him up along with the initial line art I made.

You can click the images to enlarge them.
Thanks for visiting,
Vick.

Get on the good foot 2 - Andrei Workshop

2009-12-01T15:35:00.009+02:00

Here are some of the promised pics taken at a workshop hosted by Andrei from Original Crew.
Props "Get on the good foot" for the invite and really sorry for the delay y`all.
Enjoy the pics and support !

Game Level Design

2009-11-23T17:15:00.001+02:00

A game level design I did after a reference image of Valve's game, Team Fortress.
The Romanian Visual Arts community put together a workshop on this topic and I jumped in. It was hell`a`fun but I missed the deadline because of my other projects. All in all was a great experience.
The scene is around 11 000 triangles. The background mountains are photo slapped btw.

And as a side note, as of today, my blog has proper tags. Took me some time to add proper tags to the blog and clean up the less interesting posts.
Furthermore, I've only allowed posts from 2008 until today, the older ones just seemed useless.

Thanks loads,
Vick.

Zbrush Sculpts

2009-11-23T16:53:00.002+02:00

I've started practicing some sculpting. It's still digital though but it helps with understanding volume and muscle mass.These are my latest sculpts in zbrush.
The face and bust are sculpted after a low poly cage I modeled in Maya , then imported into Z brush.

Click for full view please.

Get on the good foot

2009-11-22T23:03:00.001+02:00

Took these photos at a friend's gym a few weeks ago but only got to uploading them today.
I just shot another batch today, "get on the good foot" first workshop which was fun as hell.
The workshop was hosted by Andrei from Original Crew.
Updates as soon as I can...

Thanks so much for stopping by and thanks for all the positive vibe on my drawings
Vick.

Sorry for the late update

2009-11-17T03:16:00.005+02:00

Here are some extra studies I've recently done, they are all on A3 paper done in cheap HB pencil.
The muscle studies took quite a lot to finish, the back view took around 6-7 hours while the front view took around 4 hours.
Enjoy and thanks for visiting.

So sorry for the late update but my ISP just tortured me with a whole week of "We`re on it, a team will be there in a few moments and fix the problem"

Well back on track, here are a few of my latest drawings, done in pencil and in charcoal.
They are all made on A3 size paper.
The little gnome fellow is drawn after an illustration by Carlos Huante. I really liked him and tried to draw him bigger with pastel pencil. Credit to Carlos Huante for the concept.

Updates updates updates

2009-10-27T16:11:00.004+02:00

I've seen some blogs lately that really amazed me (as far as artwork goes rather than usual crap people talk about) and made me think of updating this blog to a more professional-ish level.

I've also been getting some commissions lately which is great, even though I end up charging way less than I should, but for art sake/safety sake/quality sake, why not ...

On the other hand I've also been drawing quite a lot lately since I'll apply to University in 2 weeks or so and need to get a traditional arts portfolio up and running.

Here are a few drawings, and more will come soon, once take a photo of them since they are too big to fit into a scanner.

Thanks for visiting,
Vick.

2009-10-18T02:25:00.003+03:00

Shots I took in London and/or Hatfield this weekend.

2009-10-18T02:22:00.003+03:00

More 2d work ... updates updates updates.
Thanks for watching ...

Drawings

2009-10-07T01:08:00.010+03:00

It's been a while since I posted anything but I've been busy as hell.

Very sorry to the very few of you that actually watch this blog/dumping thread.

I'm currently working on a traditional arts portfolio that will serve as my college application if everything goes well.

Note:
All of the drawings are made after reference images and/or studies after George Bridgman and other such artists. Mostly done in pencil but some are done in pastel as well.
The charcoal drawings are on A3 paper while the others are A4 or less.

CLICK ANY OF THE IMAGES FOR A BIGGER VERSION.

As always, thanks for visiting
Vick.

Castle scene

2009-09-07T19:51:00.004+03:00

Not sure if this is stil a WIP or not ... either way enjoy what's done so far :)

Sunset Shoot

2009-08-21T05:41:00.005+03:00

Really happy about this batch ...
Got a pair of wireless flash remotes and boy they are awesome :)
Mainly used 2 flashes, 1 main light and another as a dimm fill light, and sunset as ambient light.

Enjoy :)

The Sweet Jam , Timisoara

2009-08-10T17:12:00.008+03:00

This is what I salvaged out of 6 gigs of pics. The rest will be batch uploaded to a site which I'll soon post so everyone can download.
Thanks and enjoy the pictures.
Vick.

2nd Update Greece 2009

2009-08-07T13:22:00.002+03:00

2009-08-07T11:39:00.006+03:00

The new Smart Roadster model and an old Mitsubishi Eclipse that I modeled before and decided to re-render together with the smart.
Inspired from Mr Urahara , Bleach episodes.
Enjoy the renders and thanks for stopping by,
Vick.

Update Greece 2009

2009-07-29T02:30:00.003+03:00

Updates Updates Updates ...
Sorry for the over photoshoped hdr image but felt like going a bit over the edge with that one :))

Greece Panoramas

2009-07-27T15:34:00.004+03:00

Some panoramas in Greece. Will upload more soon.
Thanks!

2009-06-14T19:15:00.002+03:00

Hell Girl Turntable from Vick on Vimeo.
Low poly game character, around 10 000 tris + 1000 tris weapon. Mostly quads, color map + bump + spec, hand painted.

Still WIP but meaning to get some feedback.

2009-06-14T02:32:00.002+03:00

updates updates updates

2009-06-12T02:38:00.002+03:00

speedpaint thinghy :D way to much fallout lately ...

2009-05-14T14:51:00.004+03:00

Shot these at a recent event. People were so nice and friendly, it was a pleasure shooting at this graduation celebration. Will upload more soon-ish.

Enjoy the pics and thanks for the support,
Vick.

2009-04-16T01:58:00.004+03:00

Shot these this week. Canon 450d and thank Jesus for photoshop !
Enjoy and thanks for the support,
Vick.

Afro Hell Chick

2009-04-06T14:59:00.004+03:00

Enjoy the new finished model, somewhere around 9800 tris, 99% quads, texturing will follow shortly.

Enjoy and thanks for the support,
Vick.

Speedpainting

2009-04-03T04:38:00.003+03:00

2009-04-01T14:45:00.003+03:00

First attempt at speed painting ... 1 point perspective, about 20 mins. Enjoy :)

More Wips

2009-03-18T11:54:00.004+02:00

Not much to say ... will be around 10 000 tris but aiming for 8000. Enjoy.

=-= CLICK PICTURES FOR FULL VIEW =-=

=-= CLICK PICTURES FOR FULL VIEW =-=

New Wip

2009-03-16T23:22:00.004+02:00

Enjoy the new wip demon chick ! This is what I've done so far in about 5-6 hours. Going rather well ! Really happy with it so far. Will try to get it into 9000 - 10 000 tris the most !

Enjoy and thanks for the support !

=-= CLICK FOR FULL VIEW =-=

Update

2009-03-13T19:02:00.002+02:00

A few random renders for show-off purposes ... Enjoy

A few random renders for show-off purposes ... Enjoy

2009-02-27T15:34:00.003+02:00

Doua panorame facute cu obiectiv obosit de kitt, fara lumina in biserica.Enorm de mult photoshop pentru a compensa claritatea mizerabila a imaginii.

February 18th

2009-02-19T10:40:00.003+02:00

A few shots taken yesterday. The black and white ones were taken in my dad's little studio, tried out some new lights he made. And the ones with my girlfriend were taken in the park. Had a few snowy days recently and had to make the most out of them.

Enjoy the pics and thanks for visiting,
Vick.

More screenies ...

2009-02-11T04:15:00.004+02:00

Well a few extra hot prints out of the maya oven.
Enjoy :P

p.s. Around 8000 triangles at the moment, and made up of 99% quads, 2 triangles on the nose and a few other here and there for edge loop sake. Will be textured and accompanied by a female archer or smth.

Male warrior - work in progress

2009-02-06T03:02:00.003+02:00

Well this is my latest organic wip. Gonna texture this guy after he's done.
Enjoy :)

Thanks for the support :P

2008-11-08T15:07:00.005+02:00

A few pics taken with my new 430 Ex 2 Flash from Canon.
Enjoy the pics and click them for full view.
Vick.

New pics

2008-11-04T19:42:00.007+02:00

I took my old sony f828 camera out for a walk today so I could test out my fish eye converter ...
I also took a few portraits of my 2 classmates, Ale and Marcel, which turned out quite ok, considering the awful quality of the converter.
Sorry for the extensive use of photoshop editing but it was mandatory :)

Enjoy and come back soon,
Vick

A few shots

2008-10-31T19:08:00.009+02:00

Shot yesterday on my Canon 450d :)
Thanks and enjoy the pics.

2008-10-15T02:38:00.001+03:00

short update, shot at Dognecea, near Resita, Romania

2008-10-12T18:35:00.003+03:00

and some extra pics

Bboy shoot-out

2008-10-10T13:11:00.003+03:00

Been a while since I uploaded some shots. More bboy photos will follow shortly.
Enjoy the photos,
Vick

Extra 2d stuff doing lately

2008-09-24T21:44:00.005+03:00

A few attempts with my new wacom

2008-09-18T21:59:00.005+03:00