Next Project... Battle Armour

So over the christmas period I decide that 2015 I'm going to design, build and publish one piece of finished art per month. This will be original work by me and will help me to take my art to the next level. So first part is getting my 3d skills back up to speed so I've decide to start off easy and create a robot :)

So this will be the first. I've kept the concept quiet reserved as I'm going to use several new programs to achieve the look and quality of a high end Game asset.

Mini Tank Update 2

Ok next, I continued to build up the shapes in 3d and work out the animated parts. Once I got it to a decent state I did a quick render to see what it was looking like.

I chucked on some quick materials to separate the sections. At this point the company I was working for began to fold so I needed to get some portfolio work done quickly. The mini tank became part of that but time meant I couldn't make it like my concept images. So I did a glossy render pass to add to my folio and will return to finish it proper this year.

...So lets get building...

So work has been busy and I've been too knackered when I've get back home so the 3D version has taken a back seat for a while. Any how I've now started the base model. The first image is a quick outline image to show the components and adjust sizes for each piece before building. Once done I begin blocking out with simple blocks. Just following my outlines and begin to add bulk and weight to the mesh.

Crab Tank - Concept final

I've now added a few layers of shading a rough idea of where the lighting is falling from. I try at this point to try giving the tank more detail by separating various shapes of the tank.

I next start adding glints and high lights. I like mange style art and my style is more tailored towards that type of colouring.
I've now completed the concept up to the standard I need to create my 3D version. I could have spent more time totally cleaning and really nailing all the shading and colouring but I rather get cracking on the 3D mesh. Hope you like the final concept. Jas:)

Multi limbed tank - Cleaned up and ready for shading

So I've started to clean up my image using vectors to create the sharp lines and t adding weight to various ones. Going back and forth trying to find the right weight. I keep doing this for several hours... So finally after redrawing and adding more detail I have the base image. The added detail really makes the tank pop out. I like the details around the ball joints, they really add to feel of a real working machine. Once I'm kinda happy with the lines I add a base colour to start adding the shading.

One man tank - First Pass

So once I've got the general feel and shape of my tank I did a very quick mesh mock up in 3d to give a very loose feel of the proportions. The reason I do this is so not to constrain myself if I want to totally redesign something. So I have a very simple mesh to work from I do a number of print outs so that i can draw over them to get my basic outlines. Once that's done I start to weight certain lines on my first pass of fleshing out the tank...I'll find a proper name later. As you can see the armor plating and the gun arms are are the main focal point of this concept. The legs are still a little loose in design as well as the rear section.

New concepts 20/09/10

So here's the first of my new concept ideas. I wanted to create a one man tank and to have an organic look. It has to feel strong yet compact. I wanted it to have a high maneuverability and feel weighty so the armour had to feel right. I looked at the spider tanks from Ghost in the Shell which looked great but felt a bit weedy. I also looked at other multi leg tank concepts to try and get a good balance of heavy armour look with in a compact unit. I want this tank to be able to take a beating and still keep going. I like the idea of the robot co-pilot like R2-D2 in the Stars War movies so I've added a weapons gunner pod to the rear of the unit. The ball/wheels on the end of the legs have` feet` that extend to allow the unit to walk if needed. The main engine core has a powerful electro magnetic generator which allows the tank to walk/run/jump from buildings or any other structure that has a metal infrastructure.