Finally starting that Elden Ring cosplay, and not any of the characters that I initially thought I'd do. 
After 150 hours (I've still not finished my first play through), I'm fallen in love with the starting Warrior set. The leather, the beads and coins, the stitching... It's everything I've been looking for in a more fabric based cosplay. 
First step was to get in-game shots, but those are okay. What I really wanted was the actual in-game assets. Which I found thanks to a discord group. 
I took those assets (model and textures) and applied them in Marmoset to get a better reference. There, I was able to zoom in and see how things overlap, play with materials to make certain things stand out and make others disappear. ​

I was also able to directly reference the texture sheets to get more detail for the creation of the decorative bits. The plan is to print some inversely to make a hard resin mold and then use PMC aka precious metal clay to create real metallic pieces. Other will be printed the normal way, with silicone molds created and then cold cast. Really depends on the location, thickness and durability needed for the piece. 
​

Currently got a good amount of the decorative bits modeled in Zbrush, as well as the chest piece patterned out. ​

You may have noticed some changes on my site. Been consolidating some pages and making things easier to navigate. Main reason is because I'm going to be closing my Etsy site and moving all my wares to this site. 
I'm not going to be bringing everything back though. I'm going to be focusing on fan garage kits and even try to make my own original kits. 
​Stay tuned!

I recorded most of the process and made a quick (18min) video of how I created this sculpt. 
Weirdly enough, this makes me want to get back into streaming my 3d work. 

I started this sometime before my mentorship project, but finally got to finish it up. I love this scene so much. 
https://killsixbilliondemons.com/
Sculpted and polypainted in Zbrush and rendered in Toolbag 4.

Finally finished up my project today! 
Took just under 2 months. I had a total of 4, 1.5 hour meetings with my mentor Joshua Singh throughout January. He helped me with each step and gave me great tips for all the programs I use. 
I started this because of rumors I heard back in 2021 about a remake or remaster for Chrono Cross. I wanted to play around with what Glenn might have looked like if upgraded for current graphics.
The full breakdown on my artstation can be found here: 
 https://www.artstation.com/artwork/ArvJDV

Since so much of my professional work is under NDA right now, I decided to try my hand at the most recent ArtStation challenge: Untamed. Here's part of my submission, and a link to my full work blog

And exciting news for Jan: I've got a mentorship! I'll be spending the month working with Joshua Singh, an art director at Marvel. I've already got a character in mind for my project. I plan on spending my holiday break collecting reference and starting on a highpoly sculpt. I spoke with some others who've done similar mentorships and they suggested I get a head start since a month will go by so fast. 

I want to continue with the CT/CC love, so I updated my old Frozen Flame model for print. My brother printed it off on his Form2. 

I plan to follow a similar pipeline like what I did with Frog, but I'll be using transparent resins. Might even try to make it glow in the dark.

I blinked and it was 2021.

Finally finished Frog and got him posted to Etsy. I'll only be making 50 kits. Each comes with a fancy card to show it's number in the series. 
https://etsy.me/3CWbo72

Next figurine will probably be the Frozen Flame. I like the idea of playing around with casting crystal, especially since I now have a pressure pot. I've done crystal stuff before, but it always involved a lot of cleanup. 

2020 has really been something... 
On a high note, I've finally gotten my first 3D industry job. I'm working for an animation start up as a character artist.  You might be able to see some of my stuff on YT in the coming months.
Prop and figurine-wise, I'm still slowing working on Frog. I think I've stalled because I'm weary of how tedious claying him up is going to be. In the mean time, I've made a mini sealed chest from CT. I'm also selling a few on my Etsy.  
Oh, and I have an amazing collaboration in the works with one of my prop buddies. Expect to see more on that near the end of the year. 
My apologies for the lack of updates. I'm more active on my insta and twitter if you need more art uploads. 

And a new blog.
I saw someone post on Twitter reminiscing about following artist's blogs, instead of finding tidbits across all the social media platforms. Makes sense.
So here it is. 
I haven't been as active as a prop-maker last year because I've been focusing on my 3d portfolio. I want to get into the game industry, and collectibles. I'm looking for more financial stability. As much as I loved building custom props for people, it didn't help pay the bills.
Plus, there was the burn out. 
Focusing more on 3d has reignited my creativity. And speed.
I've been collaborating with my bros in the PropMakerCoalition as a 3d artist. It's such a great feeling to create the 3d files that they use to make final products. 
I'm not giving up on props and cosplay though. I still plan on doing stuff just for myself ( or any industry stuff that comes my way) 
A personal project I'm working on right now is a Chibi Inosuke figurine. My brother got me a pressure pot and compressor for Christmas, so I can be legit. I should have him posted for sale on my Etsy in the next couple days. 

Till then, here's some of the stuff I made recently: