Dimind: The Digital Mind

Getting ready for Africa... but wait!

2011-07-14T11:45:00.001-07:00

For the past month now I have been planning and preparing for my humanitarian trip to Uganda. This included things like renewing my passport, spending lots of time in the sun, (I tend to spend much of my time on the computer and am not too used to hot weather anymore) and a 10 day fast I wanted to do for health, and as a start to re-train my stomach to not want as much food. I think American portions are too big, and sometimes get a bit carried away with them. :)

Well, about 4 days into my fast I got word that the volunteer group that I was heading over there with lost a bunch of people (no one died, they just opted out) and a bunch of other things happened that resulted in loss of group rates of air travel and ended up just being canceled outright. I was pretty bummed, but at least I found out before I went in for my pin-cushion worthy number of preventative shots including Malaria, Typhoid, Yellow fever, Hep A, B, C, etc.

Today is day 10 of my fast, and I am excited because TONIGHT, WE DINE... well, I haven't really decided where yet but I get to eat again!

WOO HOO!

Ugh... finally an update! :)

2011-03-25T09:19:00.000-07:00

Well, here it is. It has been a while in the works but is finally up and running. The totally new redesign of dimind.net.

When redesigning the site, I decided early on that I wanted drop down navigation menus for ease of use and comprehension, but to do that I needed to teach myself CSS. No big deal, CSS is easy... right?

Well, it turns out that when using CSS, the basic work flow of web page front end design to back end programming is pretty different from how I have been working with my previous sites. Matching a design through photoshop is a HUGE pain, especially if you are determined to have things like custom fonts, gradients stuck to the sides, etc. so what I thought I would get done in a week to two turned to a couple of months... and that is with the help of some friendly forum followers over at csscreator.com. If you are looking for help with your CSS problems, I would defiantly recommend heading over that way.

There are still a number of things that I am unhappy with (including the stupid redirect emailmeform added to the form code that I am going to have to replace with new code and the pdf's not opening in fancybox) but I thought it best to work on that after the site is live. It was time for it to be up.

Other than that, I haven't really spent any free time away from the computer. The town I am in has only one dance club and I got over it real fast. Those who know me can attest that I am not really into the "thug" scene. :\

I actually uploaded the site monday morning, then kind of collapsed with a combination of exhaustion and illness which has kept me near constantly bedridden till... well... about 25 minutes ago. Couldn't really sit up fully without getting dizzy for about 4 days, but most of it is gone now.

On that note, I have been dealing with some unfortunate health issues lately and still have a ways to go before feeling healthy again.

I was however able to watch the entire series of Farscape in 4 days. Yep, that's what I said. For those of you who don't know the series, that's 88 forty-five minute long episodes of sci-fi goodness ending in the most surprising last minute plot development before cancelation fiasco that I have ever seen. And I thought the series end for "My name is Earl" was aggravating.

Thank goodness for fan forced wrap-up movies.

Anyways, feel free to take a gander at the new threads. I really wanted to stress an elegant and professional theme with this one, and really couldn't think of something more fitting than pinstripes.

Makes me want to head back to Vegas and check out the Armani store. :P

I hope you like it, and feel free to send a message if you guys spot errors in spelling, things not working or just flat out suggestions.

Oh, and yes, demo reel is down currently... that was my project for this week, but being sick changed the plans.

-d

Fun with Illustrator...

2011-01-13T00:33:00.000-08:00

Going through some sketchbooks and bringing some sketches into illustrator. I have been trying to draw a bit more cartoony lately since I tend to work more towards realism.

I will be adding some more to the post later...

There are also a bunch of page elements I did for my friend Mosh's website.

Also, here is the one that I am working on right now. Bramble Tanglewood. I found this guy in what I think was one of my freshman sketchbooks from Ringling. I still have to finish his eyes, hair, hat, shadows and fix the environment.

Posting some covers...

2010-12-22T17:16:00.000-08:00

Some new, many old.

I have been working on a lot of advertising stuff lately, as well as being bombarded with a number of cover jobs sent to me after their due date and being told, "We need this yesterday."

Nice!

2010-11-15T22:06:00.000-08:00

I was cleaning out files and found the characters from Jorge's thesis he sent me a while back.

I haven't animated a quadruped yet, so should be pretty fun.

A quick post...

2010-11-05T09:49:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to add a quick post showing a design I did yesterday. I have been doing a lot of promotional pieces and catalog work, and it was nice to get back to something a bit more artistic. The composition of the retail packaging is a bit different, but I really liked my concept's composition better so I thought I would post this one.

A zombie cover...

2010-09-21T13:22:00.001-07:00

"This is the most gory book cover we have ever done." -Blackstone Audio

So I got to do a zombie cover... and they actually let me go wild. Covered in damage, this not so happy chap is gracing the cover of our new "Patient Zero" title. I listened to the book after and have to say that I really enjoyed it. There is a 50 minute swat-like team vs. zombie battle and it gets pretty intense. I have a lot more covers, but I have been so busy I have not had too much in the way of time to post.

Finally a fantasy title...

2010-07-27T18:44:00.000-07:00

The BG photomanipulation for The River Kings' Road. This is actually the 2nd version I did because after doing the first my boss looked at it and said... "He wears chain mail, not plate."

Ah well, I like this version better. The composition is like that because of the spine and back of the book. I will edit in the full cover later.

I thought I would post this too because this is the first time that I have seen a photo using difference as a layer style that I liked. I was just playing with a photo for Jade.

A work update...

2010-07-25T20:55:00.000-07:00

A couple shots of my covers in a catalog. I know... I know. Don't say it.

On this page I did The Devil knows how to ride, The Case of Jennie Brice, and the Golf title. Oh yeah... and Jacob's Room. I have also done the covers for Viper's Tangle and No Good Deed but the ones here are the old ones (not mine). I just finished Viper's Tangle on friday.

2010-07-12T23:33:00.000-07:00

So...

2010-06-26T21:55:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in a while. Work has kept me pretty busy in a mindless sort of way, although every so often I get some covers that I really enjoy. I have started working in Illustrator and am having fun with it. It can be a really good tool.

As for my life, I have been spending a lot of time getting past some things that I was not strong enough to get over. Time does make pain lessen, and at least it didn't break me this time. A year and a half in and although I doubt I will ever be over it, I think I am almost past it.. so that is nice. It just sucks that I have to take the long way around. Dancing helps. :P I have found that being away from Ringling has made me a much happier person and I am almost completely back to the plucky guy I was before that acursed place.

As for art, I will post some covers that I have done. I just finished my first traditionally painted book cover and it was approved depending on the approval of the author. I will post that if it gets approved. I think later tonight I will be able to post some covers if I can find them. I guess I will go look now.

...

The flash drive was sitting right in front of me. Smart Dan.

These two are done pretty much completely in illustrator.

Here are some covers done in photoshop, illustrator, indesign and grabbing tons of assets from shutterstock. My relationship with shutterstock is kind of love/hate right now because I am working on a fantasy cover, finished a version and found out that the knight wears chain mail and not plate... so I have to start over and can't find any good shots. Grrr. Arg.

I like the Amusing Ourselves cover... it was fun, but am starting to wonder why I keep getting books about Nazis and the World Wars. :\ The Rinehart book is a mystary. I think I have done about 15 covers this month, but these are my favorites. Support your local libraries. Check 'em out.

EDIT / UPDATE: The Shadow Hunter cover was just approved by the author, so I am able to show it. Took about 5 - 6 hours to paint it, the bear and boy vector is from a sketch while I was brainstorming the cover and I liked it so much I had to add it. I think I would have liked the cover much better if I had time to do the piece in oils (I don't think the clouds are very convincing), but I like how the mountains turned out in the watercolor. A Wreath for Rivera is the first in a series of old murder mystery novels that I am redoing the covers for the library version of the audio books.

I think one of the best parts of working with an audio book company is access to all the audio books that I can listen to... which is quite a lot.

I am taking a hiatus from shooting right now because after this last photoshoot I was in a rush to get back in town and forgot to reclose my gear bag... meaning that when I pulled it out of my car my 5d went flying. Lens is in two pieces, battery grip's catch is broken but the camera looks ok. Could have been a lot worse. I switched back to my non L series lens before heading back because it fits in the gear bag better... saving a $2000 lens and only damaging a $400 one.... so I guess I was lucky. Might as well show some from that shoot. Make it a more complete update.

I will see what I can do about posting some 3d updates too, but I will save that for later.

-d

Happy mother's day...

2010-05-11T17:27:00.000-07:00

Here is the card I did for mother's day. Hope you all had a good one.

Quick test..

2010-04-22T17:23:00.000-07:00

I am going to try to embed a turnaround from Vimeo... bear with me.

***EDIT: DELETED VIDEO. It was too wide and overlapped the text on the right.***

Cool. Looks like it is working, but is way to wide. I might have to render out a separate blog-friendly version from now on. I am still dealing with problems with flickering in the lights and I need to add more edge loops to retain the hard detail for RfM, but I think it is looking better than it was.

What now?

2010-04-13T02:49:00.000-07:00

So apparently I have taken to singing in my sleep.

...

Loudly...

...

...

Crap.

EDIT: Well, I guess while I am here I should show what I am working on now... It is strange. This is the first character I have ever modeled from the feet up. I have an idea in my head for an imp character that I need in a photomanip/painting I am working on... and I since I needed to modify one of the feet I made a while back that is where I started. The rest of the character is just being continually extruded from the top.

I am not sure if I am going to work this way again, but it was fun to get lost in. The shapes are in the blocking stage, and I will be refining the edge loops quite a bit so they look pretty. I am just working on proportion of the major shapes right now.

... Oh yeah...

2010-04-08T23:09:00.000-07:00

I forgot about dusting off the files. I got an idea for a self portrait and wanted to try it out. I created the zbrush model in about a half hour, then brought it into photoshop for the rest (another 5 hours). I like this method of concepting and I think I will be doing it again in the near future.

I would love critiques about what people think could make it better/more believable... but until I get some, I am going to leave it as it stands and call it done.

I have so much work that I could be posting :\

2010-03-31T23:17:00.001-07:00

I looked through an old hard drive and found some files that I was playing with during school that got lost in the madness that was thesis. I am dusting them off and will be posting them over the next little while. Here is a gun and a shot of the image I worked it from.

Back to Chibi...

2010-03-30T19:46:00.000-07:00

A bit of progress shows Chibi Juggs closer to animation stage. I am almost ready to do normal map texture, but I still need to offset the eye holes in the mask for asymmetry. I am going to be dropping a quick rig in him to see where I need to fix things in the model first though. I also want to redo the eyes so the pupils are more to the scale of the painting.

EDIT: So I got the asymmetry in the mask and think that he is pretty much done. A little cleanup and a quick work on the UVs and I am going to stick a rig in the bad boy for some tests. Then off he goes in to Zbrush. I am going to look at the painting again, but I think the pec plates might be a little small.

EDIT EDIT: Helmet is in Zbrush and I starting to add damage and sharpen the forms. I am going to just keep overwriting this image for new details. Man, it has been so long since I have listened to the Manhattan Transfer. Fun fun!

New sculpt...

2010-03-18T20:31:00.000-07:00

So I am having fun with Zbrush and have moved onto another model. I just did a base mesh in Maya, and am about to import it. I will update progress in this post. :\

EDIT: A bit of progress. Flat material, a bit of noise to get the look of stone and some sculpting of the model. I need to add eyes, a bit of detail in the wings and paint it, but I think it is close to being done. Oh yeah, this is intended as a still sculpture for 3d toy printing and is not going to be rigged for animation. That is why he is sitting in pose.

EDIT EDIT:
So I needed to tweak some things. The wings needed to be bigger and I wanted some more fat over the back feet, but I think this is working better than the last one. I found a new brush that works really well called "Damian Standard" which gets some nice sharpness to the lines. I am not sure if I like his eyes right now, but I will talk to the original artist before tweaking it again. I added a toy material to it so the detail could be better seen.

Meh,

2010-03-18T00:03:00.001-07:00

So I think this is a far as I will go with this one. For my first Zbrush model, it is nothing special, but I think it will work for my idea. Time to get it back into Maya for a stone texture and some dynamic fluid goodness.

... and yes... it does kinda look like a happy cow.

EDIT: So after spending 15-20 min painting a base noise texture on the model, I noticed a tutorial on Pixologic's site called "Noise". So apparently there is a noise feature built in... that you can layer... nice. :)

Oh yeah, I am also adding a screencap of the scene I am going to be testing fluids in. The gargoyles in it currently are going to be non renderable objects for more accurate fluid dynamics. I am deciding between modeling a background or just making a matte painting.

So... here is the plan...

2010-03-17T20:51:00.000-07:00

I am still going to work Chibi Juggs in Mudbox, but I also wanted to learn Zbrush... so I decided to start getting comfortable in the program. I have also wanted to learn more about fluids, so I decided to make a gargoyle scene in Maya, bring it into Zbrush for detailing, then bring it back into Maya to add water.

Here is the model that I am working on right now. It is based on a gargoyle found on the Notre dame cathedral.

Here is the Maya base mesh.

It is kinda tough because moving around inside Zbrush is completely different than in Maya, but the longer I work in it the easier it is getting. This reminds me of teaching myself Photoshop 15 years ago. I feel so awkward. :\

Misc. WIP...

2010-03-15T03:24:00.001-07:00

I saw this character on conceptart.org and really wanted to see how he would move, so I started modeling him in. I am close to done with the blocking and need to work it a bit more before I take it into Mudbox for the details.

I really need to add the cape loops and start working the helmet, but I think he is going to be a hoot to animate.

And now for something completely different...

2010-03-12T04:59:00.000-08:00

A shot of Evan with his guitar. I retouched it in an attempt to make it look like it was taken in the 70s with a film camera.

And... here are some animals.

2010-03-12T04:46:00.001-08:00

Well, Here are some of the pictures from the zoo. I am going to try to start uploading work to this site at least every week.

"So there, bleh."

I really liked the situation in this one, but I am not too fond of the composition. It is two koalas snuggling in the wind. I call it the koalaball.

This is my favorite of all of the shots from the day. It looks like a cub, but it a full grown snow leopard.

Oh yeah,

2010-03-10T14:21:00.000-08:00

I also brought with me my sketchbook (of course) and drew a giraffe and a chimp when sitting and taking a break from shooting.

AFK... Finally!

2010-03-10T04:34:00.000-08:00

I haven't been out to the stables yet, so I have no new horse sketches... but since I have been rather depressed the past few... months... I decided to go to the zoo. I have some fun new pictures, so I decided to post a bunch here.

This here is a preview. :) Loads of adorable animals, and although it was too fast for me to catch on camera (as well as rather shy) I found out I have a new favorite animal called the serval. Complete awesomeness. I might go back and see if I can catch him when he is not so rowdy. In the meantime, here is a snow leopard.

As I warned... a little bit of adorable going on here. There was also a hippo playing with a ball, and I was amazed at the sheer size and power that it had moving through the water. Look for more images over the next few days.