ENDER'S GAME

 "On their home worlds, do the buggers put on human masks, and play?"
-Orson Scott Card

Just having some fun on the weekend after re-reading one of my favorite Sci-Fi novels. Initially i was starting to do some sort of Nirasawa looking creature, but then changed it into something more fitting to the book....this one being some sort of larger warrior class of Bugger. It's still not pushed far enough in my opinion (or scary enough), i will try to do a more alien version.....possibly with multiple eyes/limbs and more insect inspired forms pushing it away from its current anthropomorphic proportions as another direction.

One thing i wanted to capture with the Buggers was something that could initially seem scary, but by the end you could sympathize with them (as Ender does by the end of the book). It could go either way really.....as some scary completely unrelatable creature that even the audience has a hard time understanding visually (which would probably be the most interesting) or something that is easier to understand and can quickly get sympathy from a larger audience (but not nearly as interesting). Anyway.... here were a few ideas, if i have time i might do some spaceships or some concepts of Ender at Battle School.

Bugger Brute

H+ beginnings...

In the late 21st century, experiments in transhumanism are accelerating. Tests started in chimps and other primates to begin merging the mind with technology. This being an early experiment in successful implantation in a chimp, his rate of cognitive development and capacity quickly surpassing that of a human, post operation.

This has been sitting on my laptop for far too long, just couldn't get a version i was happy with...too conservative or something? don't know, decided to just put it out there and move on to something more interesting. I have a few different versions of this, i might upload the other ones to various other art sites.

ALTERED CARBON

"Zao's body was too old to cope with advanced augmentations, the hand-me-down neural implant from a few decades back was decent enough though. This body was old, frail.....but he could blend-in and stay hidden from the Envoys in the slums of Neo-Shanghai. It would have to do until he could afford a proper download into his combat sleeve and get the hell out of this city. For now, he waits."

Just some fun from this weekend, inspired by Masamune Shirow and the book 'Altered Carbon' by Richard K Morgan, one of my favorite cyberpunk novels to come out in recent years. Maybe i will flesh out some other ideas if i have time. ZBrush + Photoshop + Modo.

(click for high res image)
Exposed brain case, these main plates would close then some sort of skin cap would fit over top of it to hide internals. (click for high res image)
Functionality of eye plate and old neural-link device that connects user directly into cyberspace. I imagine modern versions of this tech to be far less invasive.

Here were a couple images done in 2010 for a feature film called 'QUALIA' being directed by Michael Reisinger. At the moment the project is on hold and was told it would be ok if i shared these. You can see more of Michael's work here LINK

Pencil + Photoshop + Google
A couple illustrated scenes.Surgical device.

Spring Update...

Feel bad for taking so long to update but finally have something to share. In my downtime i have been starting to learn Zbrush and am finding it to be a really useful tool in a film production environment. This is an early experiment from the weekend created from a simple basemesh. It was fun sculpting all the little details in the face, i really learned a lot. Seems like most of my co-workers have a "Primate with Horns" design in their portfolio so i thought i would give it a try......(even though it doesn't make a ton of sense from an evolutionary standpoint) it was still fun to do. :)
An early test while learning the tools in ZBrush, rendered in Keyshot.Thanks a ton to Andrew Baker for putting up with all my questions while learning the program over the past month or so, and to the Eat3D guys for making such informative tutorial DVD's. Will hopefully have something more interesting to show soon!

New Year

Yikes, time flies and a new year is here already. Feeling guilty for not updating this thing so i will try to add some more stuff over the next couple weeks before i get wrapped up in work again. Been extremely busy at my day-job, but i will make a concerted effort to do more personal work this year. A wip i started over the weekend, not sure what else to do with it.
Some mech spam for the time being. Junky industrial machines found in the lower sector of a ruined city.....lots of garbage to clean up down there....Carlo, u win this round. :P
Some sort of larger processor machine.Might do a separate post for this soon, i wanted to show the mini sabot rounds functionality in a bit more detail. So here is the White Wolf™ anti-material SMG.Another design in the same world as an earlier piece last year. A smaller pistol sized unit, with the same 'centrifuge weapon system' as the larger rifle.

BIG DOG LS3...

Read that Boston Dynamics got the contract to develop a militarized version of their BigDog robot called the LS3 (legged squad support systems)....here's what i thought it could look like. Its very much an idealized "hollywood" version, i doubt some of the servo-based joints i used could take the +400lb loads that the real one needs to take and still function properly.....might work everything out a bit more at a later date. Really excited to see where that technology goes by the time its ready for mass production in 2012!And heres his older brother, 'BigSpider'.I will be updating over the next week or two with development work/internal designs on these that is almost done.

Autonomous Military Patrol (AMP) robot.
Also turned off comments....blogger commenting has turned into a mini AIM...gets too distracting for me.....there also seems to be an abundance of spam posts linking to buy shoes....in China. So just email me or something (but not about shoes in China).

Back into my cave for another 6 months. :D
Chur Chur.

Summer 07'... Internship

Had to take this down but am told it is now ok to post it again. This work is for an upcoming book from DesignStudioPress in conjunction with the IP creator of "Mas Macho", Wil Stahl.

Here are a couple things from an internship at DSP way back when. At the time i was really burnt out and a little uncertain about what i wanted to do with my life/career.....I hadn't picked up a pencil in over a year and was in a creative slump when i took the job... working with Scott Robertson and John Park really turned things around for me, sort of re-started my brain and i learned how to draw/design/think all over again. I owe both of you big time. :)

I was more of an illustrator on this project....coming up with the visual style for the characters and environments in the brief we received. While i did some design work early on, most of the finished character images are based Johns drawings for the final direction of the main character (which i have labeled). One of the most collaborative projects i've ever worked on for sure....hopefully it gets edited down when the book comes out....some pretty wonky stuff from me back then.

Pencil and Photoshop 2007. Copyright DesignStudioPress in conjunction with Wil Stahl.

Some of the designs i did early on.Where some of the finals went.

Holiday Break...

New year approaching fast, still time to get some work done! Nice to have a little downtime to experiment with different aesthetics.

A homage to all the artists/teachers/friends that worked on AVATAR, the film really captured my imagination like few things have in a long time. just some exploration for fun.Coming up with multiple fictitious weapon manufactures for fun, one is a slightly more advanced line of human based weapons than what is available today.... the others will be off-world manufacturers of alien technology. Time to explore!Still a modeling noob, here was a model i built in Maya and rendered in Keyshot. Couldn't find the most up to date file, so excuse the low-poly grip area.

Summer 08'...Internship

Some of the other guys have started to post work from the canceled project, here are a few things i did at the internship a couple years back... if there's a problem i can take it down.

Some really fond memories of that summer, one of the most creative times of my life. There's a lot i would do differently on these now from a design/rendering standpoint, but at the time i remember being happy with them. Really learned a lot working with the talented folks at SPA!

There's more, but i think this is all i will post. :P

Pencil & Photoshop. 2008. Copyright Sony Pictures.
Sorry...kind of a lot to take in...

Late Summer Update...

K.I.W.I. + Camo 1K.I.W.I. MechCockpit Breakdown WIP.Not a whole lot of new work i can show. Refined an old mech design from a few years ago, finally fleshing out the last ten percent i never got around to. After seeing District 9 i had to try out some sort of cockpit design as well. :)

Took a little longer than expected but i am finally off to NZ this week. Thanks again to Carlo Arellano, Paul Lasaine and all my teachers/friends for their support and encouragement along the way. See you all when i get back.

Books and Model Kits!

Alien Race is (finally) complete and shipping out soon. Advance copies will be available for sale at the DesignStudioPress booth during Comicon this year and available everywhere else shortly after.

Many thanks to Scott Robertson for making this project happen and to Thom/Peter/Justin for letting John and I help out......its been a wild ride.

Enjoy! :)MARKOV: Model kit. (Click image to buy)
A review from AFV modeller magazine in issue 3. Neat!
A talented italian modelmaker, Alberto Longo, has been turning one of my designs into a garage kit over the past year or so and it is in the final stages of completion. Check it out if you're into modelmaking, there's going to be a limited run of kits. Get one before their gone!

Summer Update...

Got the go-ahead to show some work i did for a HL2 Mod last year, Dinosaurs and Nazi's.......who knew? I will see if i can find anything else i did for the project. Hopefully i can show some newer stuff soon.......back to work!

Download it here: Dino D-Day MOD

Speedie.Vehicle practice.