Week 01 - Use of Silhouettes

 

For my team assignment, I made four designs of Glinda from 'The Wizard of Oz' from author L. Frank Baum's 1900 children novel in the style of Airship Syndicates 2024 'Wayfinder'. I drew the top four silhouettes by hand and used Gemini and Chat GPT to create the four bottom designs.

Glinda is not a super well-defined character in the novels; her main character traits being her beauty, in particular her beautiful hair;

the Witch Glinda sat upon a throne of rubies. She was both beautiful and young to their eyes. Her hair was a rich red in color and fell in flowing ringlets over her shoulders. Her dress was pure white but her eyes were blue, and they looked kindly upon the little girl. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900)

As a result I tried to keep her hair as a very prominent feature, playing with different textures, sizes, and styles. Another big feature of Wayfinder is their 'class system' in regards to their player characters; each player 'hero' has a unique class they're associated with and as a result I experimented with making Glinda different fantasy classes; such as a sorcerer, cleric, paladin, and warlock.

Concept Silhouettes

Reference Board

Perforce Submission

My name has been moved closer to the top for brevity sake

Here is my files uploaded to Perforce as proof of submission of the assignment.

Hammer Project Completed

As it goes with most projects, sometimes a good bit of rest can make wonders for your ability to work. After the last update, where I got majority of the primary details established as well as the larger secondary details, I took the weekend to reset before finalizing everything.

A big difference from my recent 2D art workshops/education back into 3D has been the focus of detail, one of the biggest pieces of critique I recieve regarding 3D renders is the lack of detail in certain areas. This critique contrasts the technique I've found in 2D art which highlights higher detail at stronger interest points. I agree that all parts of a model should be touched at some point, however finding that balance has been difficult.

Final BPR Renders

Reference Images

From left to right, a visual progression of the hammer taking shape

This project was a bit odd to start, although the hammer is symmetrical, I struggled with some of the smaller details and ensuring the model didnt feel repetative, such as including the small grip directly under the hammer head, and the size of the straps on the base of the hammer.

Losely the progression follows:

1. Primary shapes
2. Secondary shapes
3. Adding wear and tear to the stones
4. increating wear and tertiary details.

Hammer Project - Check In

 Zbrush is one of my weakest skills, as a result diving in headfirst has been very daunting.

In my typical workflow I dont utilize Zbrush as I tend to default extra details to handpainting - however with FIEA one of my primary goals is to integrate Zbrush alongside my handpainting knowledge. My hesitation typically comes with baking and general Zbrush literacy, however the video for this assignment has been extremely helpful in ensuring I know the setup.

I wanted to get this done by the end of the week to continue my goal of being one week-ahead, however I found myself getting burned out by the difference in reference and product as well as stress from the first week.

Primary feedback recieved:

• A couple small things I'm seeing right off the bat is that the spikes feel a little too perfect. You have cracks and fractures along the center of the head and in the core area, which kinda makes sense, but I also feel like those spikes should be more trashed, or at least eaten away at a bit more.
  
  
• The little leather straps along the handle also look a bit too thick. And could probably do with some texturing themselves, too, since leather straps kinda have a bit of fray-ness / some kind of little strip along the edges of it? I'm not explaining it the best.
  
  
• The area just below the head also feels a little too flat compared to the rest of it. The project you linked looks like it has a little bit of riveting in that same area, so that might help break up some of that monotonous shaft-ness it seems to have.

Inanimate Object Animation

First animation assignment done!

Admittedly, I bit off more than I could chew for this project. I havent animated in a couple of years and started off a bit too strong thinking I could balance my projects while avoiding burning out on them.

I decided for this project to do the flour sack challenge, wanting to find a unique way to convey emotion with the flour sack in 3D space since the last time I did it it was in 2D. I decided to go for a strong punch, a pausing impact, and a destraught ending as it would give a wide range of emotions to work with.

One aspect of this animation that im not entirely happy with is the flow of motion. Its difficult to explain but this animation flows a bit too much, especially at the start with the flour sack 'building up' to the punch his mass rolls almost like water, which was not the intended effect.

Another note from my mentor was regarding how all of the motions happen on the same timing rather than being offset in anyway. This was something I struggled with in undergrad as well and never truly got the hang of.

Reference:

Female Punch - Slow motion. Animation Reference Body Mechanics

Punching on bag/ Boxing Reference- Animation Reference Videos

 A big challenge with this animation was found in a lack of IK controls on the flour sack rig. This small oversight made it incredibly difficult to properly position the feet on the floor of the scene, especially with my video reference I wanted to include a very cool hip turn to make the impact pose pop a bit more, but due to technical constraints I couldnt complete it.

In hindsight, I should have properly reviewed the rig with this action in mind before starting as it would have aided the final quality of the animation -- however lessons are best learned from failure.

Link to the rig here: https://joedanimation.gumroad.com/l/floursackmaya?layout=profile 

Start of FIEA Portfolio

 

Modeling:

FN EVOLYS 5.56 HELLHOUND

Completed for Independent Research during UCF undergrad with my mentor Noah Hunter.

RAMIEL THE ANGEL

Humanoid sculpt to practice Zbrush. 

THE NECROMANCER'S TOME

Book creature, focus on handpainting is rigging

THE GUARDIAN CLAYMORE

Art challenge with small group, focus on painting

Tech Art

CUP NOODLE KRAB

Monthly art challenge taking a creature from concept to final animations

THE SEAMSTRESS

Arachnid rig for Cohort 20's Fantasmagorie

VFX FOR PANDORA'S PARTY BOX

Visual effects for mario party-style game 

Animation

CERBERUS

Rig and animation for mario party-style game Pandora's Party Box's zone enemy

2D Art

 

Research First Post

 Research First Post

First Post for Common Art

 Common Art First Post

Website's First Post

Website First Post

First Post for Tech Art

 Today is 8/18/25

My primary specialization, this is the area of FIEA that I am most interested in. I've had many discussions regarding what tech art is, however I've come to learn there's no one specific answer; It means something different to everyone.

As such its difficult to pick one aspect of tech art I would like to be better at, however overall I feel I've missed out on the utility of scripting and working with the engine to make pipeline tools.

First Post for Animation

 Today is 8/18/2025

Despite being a double major in animation, it is one of my least practiced skills. As such generally working more on small animations is a big goal of mine for my time in FIEA. From what I can remember I really struggled in getting fluid motion especially when walk cycles and facial movements are involved, as such I would like to focus at least one small project in this area to allow for targeted learning. Additionally, I would really like to play around more with weight shifting in different scenes, such as someone leaning in the opposite direction when picking up a bucket.

First Post for 3D Art

 Today is 8/18/2025

Out of the three possible tracks, 3D modeling is my strongest in terms of knowledge. I understand the methods, theoretics, and workflows associated however I lack the dedicated time to make full portfolio pieces. 

During FIEA I would like to focus on strengthening my sculpting skills and overall increase my use of Zbrush. I have been able to get around a lot of the extra detail in my pieces with hand painting, however I know this is not a one-trick solution for all problems.

First Post for 2D Art

Today is 8/18/2025

Going into FIEA, I feel as though I have a pretty good foundational understanding of art concepts, specifically in terms of colour and shape language. However throughout FIEA I want to improve my storytelling skills throughout my pieces and practice my concepting skills.