Sunday 24 July 2011

I'm not dead, just working

So it's been nearly two months since I posted anything. So just thought I would do a quick update.

So we left off with me getting a job as a character artist at Traveller's Tales. Since then I search high and low for a place to live and was seriously running out of time. But luckily I found a one bed flat about a 4 minute walk from work. Which I have to say is so helpful, considering the trains here are very infrequent and is like a 60's bus on rails! Bit of a change from London where I have lived for 2 years in various parts.

So I've started work and been there for a month now. And everything is in full swing for working on Lego Harry Potter 5-7. I'm mostly on costume change duty due to the sheer amount of character we have and the different outfits they wear. I'm also getting to design some minor characters from scratch too which is great considering I haven't been there long. We also have other stuff in the pipeline which we haven't started on yet which sounds (and looks) awesome.

But the number one thing I've discovered about the games industry since I've properly started in it? It's the people! I love people in general and the guys are work with are awesome. Being a company of 200+ people it's not too large that you get lost but big enough is that you can meet lots of different types of people. The feeling of camaraderie and team working is immense.

I'm so excited for our games release and I can see the fruits of our labour being enjoyed by people around the world!

Monday 6 June 2011

Happy-awesome day to me!!!

Well firstly, this past month has been the most crazy/busy month I think I have ever had. Firstly I finished my elephant, which was actually ages ago, but when I first finished it and found time to sit down and blog it with pride, I found that blogger was down!!! So here it belatedly =)

Steampunk Elephant Turntable from Holly Pickering on Vimeo.

But perhaps 1000x more exciting than that is the fact I started sending out my work and got an interview at TT games, the folks behind the awesome Lego games. At the interview I had that awful feeling of being out of my depth, what with it being not only my first interview for a jobs games but my first job interview EVER!!! >_< But I took it as a good sign that I ended up laughing with them by the end of the interview.

So my interview was on a Wednesday and they said they would let me know by the end of the week. So I was sat on my dad's laptop constantly refreshing my email. Then in the late afternoon I got the job offer!! I'm going to be the latest addition to their character department and absolutely can't wait to start. Which should be 2 weeks, depending how the house hunt goes ^___^

Currently doing some character concepts at the moment as a side project to keep me busy. So will hopefully be able to post something soon!

Tuesday 3 May 2011

Quick WIP update

I'm getting to final render stage with my elephant and building a themed turntable to place it on.

I've had SSOOOO much fun with this project and I've learnt a lot too which is even better. I feel a lot more confident in my abilities and feel I'm ready to start sending my stuff to companies. Hopefully I will catch a break and get an interview even in these hard times. But only time will tell.

In the mean time.... Here's some marmoset renders of the elephant. The material on the ears needs a bit of tweaking but all the the model and textures are there =)



I may rig it at a later date but that's going to take quite a while and I really just want to ride this wave and see if I can get into a company right now.

Let's change the world with games!

Monday 28 March 2011

Me and Yoshi!


Me and Yoshi!, originally uploaded by ballooncity247.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting Yoshinori Ono! He's a really lovely guy and got to trade some miis ^_^

Thursday 24 March 2011

Quick Update

Just incase anyone is interested in this.... Here's a 3DS ad for the UK that I'm in >_<



I heard there is another one about with me in as well but I'm yet to see that for myself.

All in a days work for me apparently =P

Wednesday 9 March 2011

Elephant modelling near finished

Just a quick update really. I've been working on this project for the past couple of weeks on and off. Between moving back into London, battling a cold that just doesn't want to go away and all the general stuff life tends to throw at you. I was hoping to get to this point a lot earlier but I've built and rebuilt it quite a few times so far. I didn't have the clearest idea of the finicky details which actually would detirmin some things about the model that I hadn't really considered. So quite a few times I've had to go back to the drawing board and work these things out in 2D first before jumping back into the modelling process.

Anyway enough talking, more showing

By no means perfect the inner-filler stuff still needs adding, but I like it! I've never been into robots and that stuff but I love steampunk so I've enjoyed the challenge. Next is UVing ..... great =P

Wednesday 16 February 2011

Mech time

Ok, first things first, big woop to Union VFX for being featured here about the use of Nuke in Danny Boyle's 127 hours. Nice one guys ^_^

Secondddddlllyyyy, I might be featured in the nintendo 3DS tv ads here in the UK. I've seen the rough cut and it's actually a good ad, even if I look like a bit of an idiot but nevermind =P

And finally, I'm working on a steampunk robot elephant at the moment. It's going to be the last piece added to my portfolio before I send it to a couple of people who want to see it. Though trying to figure out how some of the parts would work it slowing things a bit but I'll get there eventually. Also finally biting the bullet and learning about rigging since I'm thinking it's going to help make some decisions about how to model some of this stuff.

Any advice on making mech stuff would be greatly received ^_^

Tuesday 18 January 2011

Hero Tree

There it is ...



The hero tree!

Completed without much strain on brain or time so that's good ^_^

Monday 17 January 2011

Quick update ^_^

Hey everyone!

Hope everyone is doing well today. I'm feeling very chipper today... Always so when things work to plan without too much head scratching (for a change)



Here's a quick WIP to prove I'm still working =P
The base of the tree is all textured and normal mapped ... looks pretty cool in when it's in engine!

Which brings me on to my next point. I've been playing with Unity this weekend. Looking at rendering my stuff in that instead of Unreal. I know everyone loves UDK but I think Unity is my favourite. It's so easy to use and the pipelining is much more stream lined than the Unreal one. Anyone who hasn't checked it out, I really recommend it. It's the main 3D engine used for iOS games but is now suppoirting PS3 and XBOX production. Plus the normal version for publishing games to the web is free! Not only that, but you get a free 30 day trial of the pro version of the web version which includes some really nice Post-production effects and water (among other things of course)

http://unity3d.com/

Two more hours of placing planes then I can get on with reading and video watching for my "Becoming a Better Artist" course!

Later folks

Wednesday 12 January 2011

I'm not dead!!!

Well, I'm back from my travels in Asia (if you didn't know I had gone). Chiang Mai, Bangkok, Krabi, Koh Phi Phi and Koh Lanta in just over two weeks! And then three weeks at my boyfriend's family's home in Kota Kinabalu - Malaysia. The weather was rainy but lovely and warm. Now being back in England, I really miss it there. Maybe one day I'll go work in Singapore one day!

In the mean time I've been busy work away. Decided that this year is my year to shiny after spending last year trying to find my feet and trying to grow as an artist - a term I am finally ok with using about myself ... well sort of =P

Here's a WIP of my next portfolio piece. It's changed a bit since this screen shot and it's currently being retopo'd as we speak.


In other news ... I've been having some 2D fun on the side


Not the full thing and it's not finished since it's a seated full figure but I like to think that the face is pretty much there =)

Until next time!