My Art Skills
I've always loved art, starting with sketching, I used to make comic books when I was 10. From there, my interests have always evolved. I feel that for every new component of art I learn, the more joy I find in it and the better artist I become.
LightingI started studying lighting through making maps in the Source Engine when I was 13.
I continued my understanding of light when I started modelling and created my own ray tracer. I taught myself how light travels, bounces and reflects on different surfaces. I took my knowledge even further when I started getting into PBR and photorealism practices. Seeing the world from a different perspective, the use of light in every day life and to bring it all into cg/video games is simply fascinating. Technical ArtEarly on, I'd always see other people's game artworks and wonder how they make their work look as fantastic as it does.
Technical art allows us to present our works precisely the way we want them to in terms of look or behaviour. I believe it is imperative for any cg artist who wants to go far. Most of my technical art has been materials, shaders and creating Ray-Tracers in Gmod. My love for it began when I started making my own materials in the Source Engine. When I was working on Chicken Chaser I used the udk Material Editor for the first time, adding cool effects like swaying, multicoloured grass. In the Source Engine, I've made a semi-realistic flowing river, detail sprites and particle effects. I've extnesively used the Material Editor in Unreal Engine 4 in many different projects and experiments. Anyone who explores technical art can be as creative as they want without restriction. |
Models and TexturesI started photoshopping gamertags when I was 13 and after a couple years I began to create my own textures for my Source Engine maps, which gave me much more control over my 3D art.
When I was 17, it was a very good year, I used blender for the first time to create models for my Albion Gamemode in Gmod. Towards the end of that year I started working on Chicken Chaser, in which I learned to create character models. I studied as much anatomy as I could during that time. But with tight deadlines I couldn't get facial animations implemented. However, I did create many world assets and 2 animated characters. Moving forward I developed methods to achieve my own style of low-poly meshes and shaders while working on Putt With Friends. When I started studying Games Design and Production at AIE Sydney. We had an Art module, at the time I was interested in PBR and photorealism, so I decided to create a cafe in a few weeks, which turned out very well. - Just missed a coffee machine... |
Colour and CompositionWhenever working on a scene or when I need to take some beauty shots for my games, I always take colour and composition into account.
Using softlamps in Gmod, I was able to easily build scenes and use any kind of lighting I wanted. This also means I could easily play around with setting up compositions while messing with scene colours and post-processing effects in photoshop. Knowing colour harmonies and composition allow artists to better present their work and it is something I always recommend early to fellow artists. |
My Oil PaintingsThroughout my schooling years I've always chosen to do art, which definitely helped my understanding art theory, history and interpretations.
But during my final few high school years, I found a love for oil painting, gone where the days of water colours and acrylic. I can have as many happy accidents as I like without consequences. For my Year 12 Major work I made a collection of oil paintings called "Four View of Beacon's Nest", I think I was directly inspired by Rob Briscoe's version of Dear Esther. I had been drawing the main piece over and over in pen for years and felt like it needed to be something bigger. After high school was over, I started getting into Bob Ross artworks and tutorials, watching hundreds of episodes on my second monitor while I worked on various projects. My best friend asked for a painting for his birthday, I had a few ideas but thought I might attempt Bob Ross's style of painting. It took 3 days but I ended up with a classic and colourful landscape. Later my Nan asked for one, which took a little longer but turned out pretty nicely in the end. While I love oil painting, I do need a break from it! |