Author Archives: michatah

It’s been a while!

Shortly after my last post I got a contract position as a junior graphic designer at Rubicon Publishing. I started work on July 2nd 2014 and my contract ended on January 16th this year! I was hired as a designer for the series Trickster Tales. It was a great experience with a quick paced workflow that kept me busy each day.

Since my contract expired I’ve been organizing myself and trying to get my portfolio updated. Unfortunately this is taking longer than I would like. Those six months spent working on Trickster Tales really drained me and I didn’t work on many personal pieces during that time. Most of what I did work on were doodles, or half started projects.

Ideally I’d like to completely rework my portfolio, but I know this will take some time. If you’d like more frequent updates from me including works in progress and doodles, I’m quite active on my sketch blog.

Creative Weekly Recap!

Creative Weekly Recap

Over the past few months I’ve been participating in a secret group called “Creative Weekly”. In this group there is a deadline set for 8 pm every Wednesday. We have to complete a project or drawing for that deadline every week. This week marks the end of the 3 month chunk and we were tasked with reflecting on the past 3 months. I plan to post my finished images in a larger format over the next few days.

 

Creative Weekly Reflection

This art group has been a huge encouragement for keeping on time and keeping me drawing each week. Thanks to this group I’ve had a deadline set each week for a project which keeps me on my toes. It’s also been a great way to brush up on how to critique others and my own work. It’s given my critical eye practise and helped me pick up the vocabulary of art once again. It really reminds me of being in class together which I’ve really missed.

Two weeks into January was when I joined Creative Weekly! I decided to push myself and tried to finish a painting that first week. I wasn’t successful but I made a lot of progress. I also created my reference sheets for my minecraft roleplay character. It was great to get feedback on both the projects I was working on as I would come back to them later and fix them up.

February was a bit strange for me. I played with my “lineart” style of drawing this month. I tried my hand at redrawing some old images and started another new project. It was a lot of character exploration this month and a lot of sketches. I didn’t really finish any of my big projects but I did get a lot of work accomplished.

March found me finishing a few projects as well as completing a lot more sketches. I also started another new project. I was continuing to explore my roleplay character. I also did a couple of speed paints. I finished one of the projects I had started at the beginning of creative weekly while working on a bunch of other things.

Overall I feel like I’ve been struggling to finish my larger projects. I noticed I started a lot of new things but every time I started something larger I would lose interest partway through. I’d struggle to decide how to finish the image. I guess this is something I’m going to have to continue to work on. I spent a lot of time these past few months trying to improve my weaknesses. I worked really hard at drawing people (which I still need to practise) and I tried to finish a few paintings. I also worked with a bit of perspective and character design. I think in the next rounds I’m going to have to keep practising with my weaknesses. I’m also going to work towards finishing my larger pieces.

Modelling and Texturing!

So I’ve been spending the last few months learning 3DS max! I’ve modelled a few objects including a box, a crate, a barrel, a dumpster and a lamp post.

As of yet I’ve only textured one of those objects and that’s the lamp post! I had fun learning to unwrap the object and create a neat looking texture. So here’s the final result!

Lamp Post

 

I’m not sure what I’ll model next. I might model a character to try something more complex!