CG CHOSEN | issues 6 | November 2007
r o b o t s
FEATURED IN THIS ISSUE MAKING of’s
BattlefiFIeld by Carsten Holtmann Beholer by Georgi “Calader” Simeonov Refueling by Ted Terranova Caterpillar Police by Nikolay Yeliseyev Prolog by Artur “Tortur” Sadlos
Chosen Artists
Axel Medellin Georgi Simeonov Lorenz Hideyoshi Ruwwe Jinho Jang
Article
GALLERY
Alon Chou André Kutscherauer Artur “Tortur” Sadlos Carsten Holtmann Daniel ‘Mirach’ Zak
Jochem van Wetten Mehran Khan Khan Nikolay Yeliseyev Ruidan Lv Ted Terranova
CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
Lord Retro by Kim Anderson
INTERVIEW with digital artist Axel Medellin
Content
issues 6 | November 2007
INTERVIEWS Axel Medellin
MAKING of’s
BattlefiFIeld by Carsten Holtmann Beholer by Georgi “Calader” Simeonov Refueling by Ted Terranova Caterpillar Police by Nikolay Yeliseyev Prolog by Artur “Tortur” Sadlos
page 4
Chosen Artists
Axel Medellin Georgi Simeonov Lorenz Hideyoshi Ruwwe Jinho Jang
GALLERY
Alon Chou André Kutscherauer Artur “Tortur” Sadlos Carsten Holtmann
Articles
Lord Retro by Kim Anderson
page 9
Daniel ‘Mirach’ Zak Jochem van Wetten Mehran Khan Khan Nikolay Yeliseyev Ruidan Lv Ted Terranova
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page 15 page 29
page 36 page
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http://www.3dexport.com 3DExport is professional online shop on sale ready to use 3D models. You can buy high quality model or start to sell own models and to earn money!
Artists
Chosen Robots Artist Axel Medellin Machain appeared in this world in Guadalajara, Mexico, in 1975... he fought hard to become a serious and respectable industrial designer, but after graduation he decided he liked drawing far better... got seriously infected by Frank Frazzetta, Mike Mignola, George Lucas, and the rest is history... After several stints at advertising, he became a freelancer in illustration, storyboarding and comic books... he has worked for tv spots, a couple of short films (the one with the cosmic pole dancer, his favorite), is currently doing storyboards and concept art for a thriller to be in cinemas next year, had an almost two-year stunt at a local newspaper with a comic strip that shocked good and respectable people, has been making up comic books and characters since he can remember, has appeared in several comic book anthologies and illustrated educational books. His first art gig in the US (and French) industry was for an Alexandro Jodorowsky’s story that appeared in Metal Hurlant 7; another story with the same guilty artist has just come out in Heavy Metal magazine, and one more in the forthcoming Fablewood anthology... he loves telling stories, he could to this the rest of his life. After being in the top 50 of the Comic Book Challenge two years in a row, Platinum Studios’ Incursion is his first full-length miniseries. And he’s engaged to the most beautiful woman in the whole wide world... http://nancynismo.deviantart.com/
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nancynismo@yahoo.com
CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
Axel Medellin Behemoth
Artists
Description: I wanted this to be the poster child for power... massive, solid and unstoppable, something like a force of nature made robot. I was seeing gorilla references in the sketch phase. Done in: Ink line drawing, everything else in Photoshop
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CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
Axel Medellin Robot 01
Artists
Description: This was basically a joke... I had some sketch lying around that looked just like a pregnant robot, so there you go. I tried to make this as logical and functional-looking as possible, double and triple thinking behind each mechanism. Done in: Ink line drawing and Photoshop
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CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
Axel Medellin Saxobot
Artists
Description: One of those stupid ideas that just refuse to die till I draw them... Done in: Ink line drawing, everything else in Photoshop
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CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
Axel Medellin Wood Robot
Artists
Description: This is part of a comic book I’ve been working on for some time. Let’s say that the Renaissance was way more advanced than we tend to credit it. Let’s say there were robots walking the streets of 15th century Florence. Let’s say they had their secrets. Done in: Ink line drawing and Photoshop.
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CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
Artists
Chosen Robots Artist
Georgi “Calader“ Simeonov
I was born in 1981, with Metallica and the IBM PC. From very early age, I was always drawing and even creating my own board and dice games. Driven from my passion for creating games and worlds I started studying programing on the ELSYS colege in Sofia. In the final years there I made my first touches with digital painting and 3D graphics. Just before I graduated, I decided to concentrate on the art aspect of game development and gave up programming and music in favor of that. In 2000 I started sdudying animation, and I’m still to graduate. It just happened so I lost interest in that particular aspect of art. In the meantime I educated myself in drawing, painting, concept art and design, thanks to the infinite source of information - the Internet. Aftrer high school I started my career as an artist for several unpaid game and animation projects, doing concept art and modeling. Meanwhile I was making small illustrations and caricatures for the IT column of a large Bulgarian newspaper(Capital) and small freelance design jobs from time to time. At about the same time I was co-author and illustrator of the first Bulgarian Pen&Paper RPG - Endyval and its two sequels. My firts fulltime job in the game industry was at Haemimont Games. For the four years there, I was creating concept art, UI art, modelling environment assets and characters, as well as doing visual effects. Some of the titles I worked on are: the two sequels of “Celtic Kings” (“Imperivm” in Spain) , “Rising Kingdoms”, “Glory of the Roman Empire”, and other three unannounced projects, as well as many small freelance projects. I’m currently working as a concept artist for Digi-Guys, in London, on a next gen hybrid game/movie project called “Wardevil”. www.caladerart.com
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calader@caladerart.com
CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
Georgi Simeonov Signs of Triumph
Artists
Done in: Photoshop.
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CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
Georgi Simeonov Armour Brigades
Artists
Done in: Photoshop.
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CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
Georgi Simeonov Beholder
Artists
Done in: Photoshop.
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CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
Georgi Simeonov
Veteran Heavy Shouter
Artists
Done in: Photoshop.
13 page
CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
Artists
Lorenz Hideyoshi Ruwwe Chosen Robots Artist “My name is Lorenz Hideyoshi Ruwwe and I was born on 4th Januaray 1985.
Coming from an artistic background with a Japanese mother and a German father, I quickly grew my own interest for art. I trained from a young age on and acquired all my skills through self-learning. I have been working as a freelance artist for various clients such as game developers, authors, filmmakers and individuals since 2004 with a main focus on Sci-Fi orientated depictions of urban sceneries with futuristic architecture, vehicles and characters.” http://www.hideyoshi-ruwwe.net
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lorenzruwwe@freenet.de
CG Chosen magazine | August 2007
Lorenz Hideyoshi Ruwwe Burning Cold
Artists
Description: this is an older artwork of mine. It was done as a cover art for my own manga volume. Done in: All done in Photoshop.
15 page
CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
Lorenz Hideyoshi Ruwwe
Cementary Robot & Darksharks Melee
Artists
Description: I based a video tutorial on this speedpainting. It was also done as an entry for a so called ‘3CH’ activity at Conceptart. org. Done in: All done in Photoshop. Done in 2 hours.
Description: a competitive entry for the “Industrial Design of the Week” (IDW) activity at www.conceptart.org. Done in: I used a combination of traditional pencil drawing and Photoshop rendering.
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CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
Lorenz Hideyoshi Ruwwe Metalman
Artists
Description: this was created for the Metalman Project www.metalmanproject.com Photoshop 7, 12 hours without reference. Done in: All done in Photoshop.
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CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
Artists
Jinho Jang Chosen Robots Artist I was born and grew up in South Korea. I graduated from Busan National Universaty and majored in visual computer graphic design. I’ve been working professionally in 3D Animation and game since 2000. I am currently working as a senior modeler for Huxley-Studio Art Team in WEBZEN(http://webzen.com). I am a teamplayer and like to work in a tight team. http://www.jinopix.com/
18 page
jinopix@hotmail.com
CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
Jinho Jang
Robot 18 Charlie
Description: I made this robot as my portfolio to find job.
19 page
Artists
Done in: Maya and Photoshop.
CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
Jinho Jang
Robot Experiment 18 Charlie Chamber Detail
Artists
Description: Because I am buliding my showreel, I go through all projects from the past and remodel them to look better.. and this was one of that revisited pictures. The idea was to create a hallway with chamber which was used to conduct all kind of experiments by some mad scientist. Done in: Modelling/Rendering was done in Maya/Mentalray. Postprocessing in Digital Fusion. Hope you like it... Description: I made this robot as my portfolio to find job. Done in: Maya and Photoshop.
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CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
Jinho Jang Zeroc
Description: Robots in Aquakids-Professional 2003.
21 page
Artists
Done in: Maya and Photoshop.
CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
Jinho Jang Igma
Description: Robots in Aquakids-Professional 2003.
22 page
Artists
Done in: Maya and Photoshop.
CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
2Textured - High Resolution Textures for digital artists | Huge collection of textures blueprints, photo references, human anatomy. All for 3D Artist Wants. Updated weekly! Check it: http://www.2textured.com
CG CHOSEN
Robots
Making Of
BattlefiFIeld
by Carsten Holtmann I’m a completely self-taught german 3D artist. I currently am employed by Synetic (www.synetic.de), as lead Car and Environments/Set-Pieces modeler. I´m in CarRacing Games for 10 years now. I also do some Charactermodeling as a Hobbyist. I like to watch TVshows like Buffy, Angel, Firefly and Smallville. I listen to Crystal Method, Metallica, Rage Against the Machine, etc. Preferred tools: 3ds max, Brazil r/s, Photoshop, ZBrush choltmann@gmx.de
24 page
CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
CG CHOSEN
Robots
Battlefield
by Carsten Holtmann
Making Of
Well, since i have only a little time, it is more a kind of overview than a real tutorial. But i hope it´s still interesting and perhaps it gives you a few hints. Please don´t take this as “state of the art”, since i know that a couple of things can be improved. I´m still learning as any other does.
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Modelling: The main body is based on the design of Kow Yokoyama and his “Maschinen Krieger”Series. I changed a lot details, but it´s only fair to give credit to an awesome designer. All parts are done with polymodelling. I try to use low geometry levels, because it´s easier to edit a clean uv mapping. At last i ad a turbosmooth modifier to get a nice surface.
25 page
CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
CG CHOSEN
Robots
Battlefield
by Carsten Holtmann
Making Of
Texture: The uv mapping should be without any overlapping, because i use the “render to texture” feature to get a nice basic texture. This basic texture can be paintover in photoshop. It is the base for color, bump and specular textures.If you use gi-lighting, you get a good idea where the dirt would be visible.
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If you like to know how to make good textures for hard surfaces try the tutorial of Stefan Morrell. He is a true texturewizzard and i´ve learned a lot from his tutorials. Thanks for share it, Stefan! http://mos.futurenet.com/ pdf/3dworld/TDW88_t_cyborg.pdf Bump
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Color
Specular
CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
CG CHOSEN
Robots
Battlefield
by Carsten Holtmann
Making Of
Here is the final textured model:
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Scene: After building the Battlesuit, i need an enviroment. I build some loose bricks, metallplates and bulletshells. I scale them in different dimensions and scatter them on the groundplane. The scene uses only two lights, a skylight and a directlight. Since i use the Brazil Rendersystem, gi lighting is very easy.
27 page
CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
CG CHOSEN
Battlefield
by Carsten Holtmann
Robots
Making Of
Background: The background is done in Photoshop. I searched the web for some pictures of destroyed buildings, warscenes, etc.. Then i cut the elements out and put them in layers. Since i have a Wacom Tablet, i do a paintover for some parts. In Photoshop i adjust the colors, levels and saturation. The background sets the mood of the final picture, so I use it as a reference for reflections and lighting.
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At last background and renderscene are composed in Photoshop. As for the background colors, levels and saturation are adjusted and a final grain is put on top, to get away from the clean render look. And that´s all for now! Have fun,
Carsten
28 page
CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
CG CHOSEN
Robots
My firts fulltime job in the game industry was at Haemimont Games. For the four years there, I was creating concept art, UI art, modelling environment assets and characters, as well as doing visual effects. Some of the titles I worked on are: the two sequels of “Celtic Kings” (“Imperivm” in Spain) , “Rising Kingdoms”, “Glory of the Roman Empire”, and other three unannounced projects, as well as many small freelance projects. I’m currently working as a concept artist for Digi-Guys, in London, on a next gen hybrid game/movie project called “Wardevil”. www.caladerart.com calader@caladerart.com
Introduction First a few words about my process. It changes in many ways and differs from image to image, I often like to try new things and oproaches, and partly it’s really chaotic and nonsystematic. The Beholder was one of my first tests to make something more finished based on a rough 3D model, and it worked quite well. It was fast and saved me many worries with 29 page
Making Of
balance to give myself a nice color base to work on. Most of the time when I paint start like that, nomather if it’ll be a model or just like in most of the cases really rough, quickly shtaded thumbnail. As for the idea and the concept, in this case I had already a clean idea of the overall proportions and function ot the vehicle and its base elements, maybe even had some extremely tiny thumbnail no larger than centimeter or two, but unfortunately that is ireversibly lost somewhere.
the lighting, which in the case is really simple, and perspective and it was in the same time great exercise in both lighting and perspective, unconsciously memorising how thing’s naturally work.
01 First I made a quick and rough model
in 3DS MAX, and made a simple render, with a single light, from a nice point of view. Then got it into photoshop, and played a bit with the levels(or curves) and the color
CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
CG CHOSEN
Robots
Beholder
by Georgi Simeonov
Making Of
02 I quickly started to suggest materials
and roughly define some key elements - the large siege cannon, the heavy plating that shields the main energy source that fuels the cannon, the control cabin. At this stage I was using large rough chalk-like brushes. I was looking from time to time to some references for inspiration and a better idea of materials, and detail proportions - mainly old steam locomotives, and heavy agricultural machinery and the ocasional tank from time to time.
03 Once I had key elements layed down,
I quickly started to sketch with a thiner harder brush some smaller and decorative details: pipes, valves, heat exausts, some additional reinforced coating on the gun, added more definition to the cabin, and some quick indication of a support machine gun on top...
0506 I continued to add details and
meanwhile refine shapes and elements and if I were thinking of something interesting to add, like the smaller secondary cannon. I continued with the detailing of the metal plated wheels putting expanding the shapes of the segments. Also the point is that I remembered that I’m doing a color piece after all, and not just detailing on a colorised grayscale image, so I decided to put some variation in material making part of the shapes coated in this cooper/golden type of stuff. I also put some more rust on the piece that is holding the rear wheels, the usual places where water will condense and wet mud will stick, corroding the surface.
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CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
CG CHOSEN
Robots
Beholder
by Georgi Simeonov
Making Of
Decided to put some more bulk at the front to better balance everything, balance is one of the most important thing that I looked for in the design. Balance and good composition of every element and every level of detail of the design is what I’m usually looking for. Also you may have noticed, that I have the habit to write alot of notes to remind me of important things I had in mind of the beginning, I also write down all sort of cool and crazy idea that I can use at some point.
07 At this point I was almost ready with the Beholder, I was still finding excuses not to finish it, so I was reafining things, fixing some small mistakes and so on, oh and I almost forgot the inside of the wheels. I was also starting to clean all the mess and notes around I usually tend to do.
08 Almost there, paint markings signs,
division numbers and so on, just to give it a feel of purpose and story. It is useful to look for a reference on that some WW2 tank and plane markings, but you can also use all sort off crazy stuff like the logos and color schemes you can find on food packs for example, just look all around you, everywhere it’s full of logos, signs and markings (unless you’re living in a hut in the forest I guess, but we’re talking about heavy industrial stuff here, right!).
09 And that’s it. Some beauty tweaks on the background, some levels to fix the contrast, and of course until the end I added small details that I was thinking of here and there.
Info: “BHOLDER Class, Heavy, Anty-Armour, Self-propelled Cannon”, used to penetrate extremely heavy fortifications, vaults, bunkers and the armour of heavy vessels.
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CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
CG CHOSEN
Robots
Making Of
Refueling by Ted Terranova
Introduction When I set out to create the image “Refueling” I began with a few simple ideas. The first was to have a mech in the scene that looked like existed during WWII. It should look like it utilized the design and manufacture techniques of that time period. As inspiration for a “look”, I chose the German Tiger tank. In its day, this was one of the most technologically advanced weapons in the world so it seemed like a good choice. Secondly I wanted the scene to feel like a diorama. I’m a huge fan of models like Tamiya’s tank
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Ted Terranova graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a degree in architecture. He is currently working as lead artist on a next-gen RPG title at Big Huge Games. In recent years Ted has lectured about the art of game creation to students at the Maryland Institute College of Art, University of Maryland Baltimore County and local high schools as well as to architects. At the UMBC continuing education center Ted taught the classes Introduction to 3DS Max and Advanced 3DS Max Techniques in games creation. His published artwork can be seen in Spectrum 11, 13, 3D World Magazine, Max9 Bible, Elemental 2 and Expose 4. He has also contributed articles to such websites as Cgsociety.org. http://www.terranovaart.com tedterranova@yahoo.com
kits and books like “The Verlinden Way”. Military dioramas always have a great sense of purpose and narrative. I hoped to capture this same feel in “Refueling”. Hopefully the image would look like a simple moment in time when soldiers had a chance to resupply, refuel and plan for the next attack.
CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
CG CHOSEN
Refueling by Ted Terranova
Robots
Making Of
Because I only have so much time to spend on personal projects I like to break them down into smaller easily handled chunks. In the case of this scene I had the following. • The mech – a two legged artillery piece with a main gun, engine compartment, and details. I would just model this guy until I felt he was done. • The soldiers – the commander, machine gunner, and the grunt troops. These would all be based off the same pieces to save time. • The Famo supply truck – I didn’t need this for the scene but I felt it was important to add a sense of reality and scale to the scene. It was also a good chance to practice modeling something from photo-ref. • Trees, boxes, fuel tanks, ammo, etc. – I’d just make that stuff as quickly as I could. I decided to use a photo that I’d taken as the main background to save time and add to the realism – a technique used by many diorama builders.
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Concepts The first part of any image is making sure that there is a good concept or reference image to go on. For the soldiers, famo and other elements of the image I had great historical ref, but the mech needed a design. Designing in 3d is fun, but it can lead to certain decisions based on how easy or hard elements are to make in a 3d package. So for this reason I design using the old paper and pencil method. When starting I gathered lots of ref about Tiger tanks – pictures, drawings and TV shows. It was also important that the mech feel functional so there needed to be an engine, spot for a driver, gunner, etc. There was also a great deal of influence from anime designs like Votoms and Dougram. After knocking around a few ideas I had something I liked and was ready to get into 3D.
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CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
CG CHOSEN
Robots
Refueling by Ted Terranova
Making Of
Layout The next step is massing out the scene and the elements. Using low-poly stand-ins I’ll position the camera, figures, vehicles, trees and background image. This is probably the MOST IMPORTANT step in the process. Everyone wants to just jump in and start modeling the cool stuff but you need to make sure that the size is right, figure out what details will be viewed in your final image, and most importantly what you DON’T need to model. This will help you focus your time on what is necessary to make the image and put detail where it is needed. In this case I only needed to model the one side of the mech which would save me time that I could put into other elements in the scene.
Models Because the layout was all done I knew exactly what pieces to make and what scale they needed to be. 3DS Max is my favorite 3D package so that’s what I used. For the characters I started with the same body and mixed up the details to add variety. The heads are also the same with simple changes to give variety. For the uniforms I used a lot of photo reference to add realism and a sense of history. The Famo was fun to make because it is such an interesting vehicle – part Tank, part truck. This was all done with box modeling except for things like the wheels which I lathed from splines. Because of the repetitive elements, this piece went together quickly. I saved the mech for last because it was the most fun and was sort of a reward for working on all the other stuff. It began as a rough massing based off of the concepts. Then the legs were modeled, followed but the main body and arms. Then little details were added like the armor, handles and all the bolts. These were all details that I observed on the Tiger tanks and they helped give the mech a sense of scale and utility. The engine was really fun to make and might have been too detailed for what you see of it, but it was neat to try and recreate a diesel engine to power this WWII walking juggernaut. Almost every diorama has an open engine compartment revealing a beautiful little engine inside so this scene had to have one. 34 page
CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
CG CHOSEN
Robots
Refueling by Ted Terranova
Making Of
Textures For texturing I used a lot of photos of different materials. The armor on the mech was a mixture of metal images which I then took into photoshop. There I would overlay a screenshot of the wireframe. This let me see where elements met up and allowed me to paint in rust and dirt where it would naturally occur. I’m also a fan of specular maps. If you don’t spend time on a spec map the light will never really interact properly with your material. For this scene I added lots of rust and mud so in the specular map I made sure to keep these areas black so as not to reflect light. Where there were scratches and the paint was worn off I would make white or bright so that the light would glint in these areas making the viewer feel that there was steel beneath the layers of grime.
Final Rendering Once everything was all together I used one main directional light to act as the sun. In photoshop I created a black and white image of a large leaf canopy. This was used as a mask on the light. In this way it looked like the sun was shining through the leaves of a forest and then down onto the mech and soldiers. This saved the time of actually modeling the trees and it made render times way more manageable. The final renders were then taken into Photoshop were I adjusted the levels until I had the image I was looking for. I even faked some bloom effects by selecting the bright color range, then filling this selection with white in a separate layer. This layer was then blurred until I ended up with the desired effect.
Final Words I hope that there are some items here that will be useful to you creating your own scene. I know that all the up-front planning can be a bore but it’ll make the rest of the project much smoother and keep you on track to finishing with a great image.
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CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
CG CHOSEN
Robots
Making Of
Caterpillar Police by Nikolay Yeliseyev I got involved in CG not so long ago. About four years passed since that time. The main direction I work in is digital painting. I work as a freelancer at the moment making different kind of illustrative materials for various printable products and also illustrations for computer games. I’m always glad to have time for painting just for fun. http://www.yeliseyev.ru nik@yeliseyev.ru
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CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
CG CHOSEN
Refueling
by Nickolay Yeliseyev
Robots
Making Of
Introduction I can say that I use to work on a standard scheme of painting. I make a sketch on a paper canvas (in the current case I used A3 format paper and a pencil). It is possible to create line-art using Liner instead to achieve more quality contour. But I usually end with pencil sketch-up and then paint over it after scanning.
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Step1 I completed all colour work in Photoshop using a regular round brush and a wide brush with smooth settings. On the first stage I painting under the contour spreading colour spots to find correct direction of artwork development. I don’t try to set some certain colors of objects. I’m just looking for overall tones, mood, atmosphere and illumination. In the current artwork I decided to make natural cloudy morning illumination.
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CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
CG CHOSEN
Robots
Refueling
by Nickolay Yeliseyev
Making Of
Step2 When I’d approximately defined the overall idea I created three layers: front, middle and back. I painted the caterpillar and the character in a separate layer.
Step3 I start to draw the details from the background scene though adding details starting from the foreground is also applicable. But it’s more convenient for me starting from the back. In this case I had not completed the background instantly and was planning to add more details in colour.
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CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
CG CHOSEN
Robots
Refueling
by Nickolay Yeliseyev
Making Of
Step4 On this stage I tried to create sunny weather but I don’t like that version much. So I had planned to correct gamma later. I changed the background scene totally here. I decided to fill the background space fully with different buildings. The overall structure of the background scene remained the same. Then I started to draw the details and define their position. I detailed the character and the Caterpillar.
Step5 I finally set the ultimate gamut. It would just be a bright morning or a cloudy day. Such a soft diffused daylight. This gamut allow me to create expressive air atmosphere. Adding details sequentially I finished the background at first. It was not going to be changed significantly so I started to add details to the rest of the space on the base of the background’s gamut.
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CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
CG CHOSEN
Robots
Refueling
by Nickolay Yeliseyev
Making Of
Step6 Then I detailed the middle part of the scene. It is important to keep defined air perspective and light. Medium shot should serve as a separator between the background and the foreground without giving much attention to it. Then I detailed the machine and the character.
Step7 Then I finished the frontground, detailed some small objects, add labels and correct mistakes on the whole picture. But without fanatics :)) Of course I could have given more attention to the character but I decided it is more expressive in the way it is now. I left the artwork on a couple of days before the final edition to rest from the work and have mind fresh on the final stage. The I saw what I need to correct more clearly. The artwork was finished, I could rest ))
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CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
CG CHOSEN
Making Of
Robots
http://www.artoftorturr.blogspot.com
torturr@gmail.com
http://www.artoftorturr.blogspot.com
torturr@gmail.com
Step 1 I started with a very rough sketch. Just to catch first idea from text given by the script writer. Im always trying to catch the mood of scene first. I dont care for the details or anathomy and stuff. Just shapes and overall composition. When i got idea in my mind im trying to put it on canvas as quick as possible to get get all the juice from the firt impression. As you can see there is a few robots in big machines factory (shipyard of robots). Later i throwed away smaller robots and left only the biggest one in center. I wanted to concentrate scene only on one but really huge machine with lots of people doing their stuff to build it. You can see theres a texture of some random picture on it (prop-
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ably some grass or ground) just to make some dirt, undefined shapes on it. It helps me to push up my imagination. I like to build shapes and details from “chaos”, like in dark
room you see some shapes but barely and you see more than it is for real. Imagination works harder then.
CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
CG CHOSEN
Robots
Prolog
by Artur Sadlos
Making Of
Step 2 I built here some very basic perspective. U see here some simple shapes, blocks and guides (im lame in 3d programms so im not using them:). I putted vanishing point on lower part of robot in center of him to concentrate whole attention on him and make him looks hudge. Also some randome texture added with very low visibility and overlat blending (mechanical parts etc) to make picture looks more complex.
Step 3 First rendering on robot. Just to find good shape and look. I wanted to build a ols fashion robo firsty. Like from WW2 or smth. Steampunk style robo.
Step 4 Some painting on robo and whole scene. Ive changed left side. Ive added platform, some cables and factory machines&stuff. I had there to much free space stealing atention from robo. Now space is more closed around robo. Also i made first lights test. One more time i made it in way that to give weight to scale of robot. BTW Ive been painting all mechanical parts to be cool, not fuctional:)
Step 5 More painting stuff. Ive added some “engine like thing” on the left, some details on first plan and people workin in stage.
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CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
CG CHOSEN
Prolog
by Artur Sadlos
Robots
Making Of
Step 6 I gave attention to robo. Ive done some detail work and redesigning head to be more complex. Also ive lightened plan with robot to make it more distant from viewer. Ive done detail using textures with some mechanical parts and setting layer on overlay with small opacity. Using that trick i can paint some complex parts in easier way:)
Step 7
Step 8
Ive added more details and changed first plan. Also few more light sources added. Painting, painting, painting:)
Final touch. I was working on detail usung textures with diff layer blending. Ive changed right side. It was to simple previously. I wanted there more complex structure to build fine scale for scene. Iv made also color correction with color balance, some work with levels and hue/saturation corection. At the end ive used sharpen filtner to make all detail visible enough. And done!
43 page
CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
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Article
Robots
by Kim Anderson
http://www.lordretro.com
44 page
CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
CG CHOSEN
Robots
Lord Retro by Kim Anderson
Article
Producer/composer Justin Lassen (“Eternity’s Child”, “Red Isle”, “Out of Hell”) has created a new multiplayer FPS game entitled “The Rise of Lord Retro.” This phenomenal game combines robots, drones, swamp monsters, desert people and other new exciting elements. Some of these features include 5.1 surround atmospheres, proce-
Alex Ruiz http://alexruizart.com/ dural audio and an entirely unique multiplayer experience. “I really liked combining the artwork and aesthetics of two strangers to each other (Martin Bland & Alex Ruiz) and introducing their designs into a singular world where they peacefully (or not so peacefully) co-exist,” says Lassen. “The enthusiastic collaboration of so many talented people within the industry made this IP take on a life of its own.” Some of the amazing artists and talent associated with this project so far are Derrick Davis (Surround Mastering), Long Nguyen (“Out of Hell”), Dave Taylor (“Doom” & “Quake”), Damien (“Red Isle”), and of course Martin Bland (“Medusa Fields”) and Alex Ruiz (“The Simpsons”). Others are joining in on the project as it continues to develop. Although this game is in its planning stages, the soundtrack is already completed and soon to be released, both in Stereo and 5.1 surround format. Lassen has composed this work over the course of 5 years, combining electronic and orchestral music in a cyborg of meticulously crafted sound. The 5.1 format, mixed by Derrick Davis, leaves the listener’s ears swimming in aural bliss. Whereas most games are developed with the end-story in mind, “The Rise of Lord Retro” was developed based on the soundtrack and Lassen’s deep seeded appreciation for CG and concept artwork. The 24-track score tells an interesting story on its own, generatAlex Ruiz http://alexruizart.com/
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CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
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Robots
Lord Retro by Kim Anderson
Article
ing an elaborate world that gave breath to an entirely different type of creation. Concept artists Bland and Ruiz would listen to the music and suddenly vivid images sprung from their interpretation of the music which then further fueled the world of “Lord Retro.” Groundbreaking procedural audio has been planned for this game. While every other video game uses pre-recorded .WAV files to generate sound effects, procedural audio allows for sound effects to be generated on the fly using synthesis and acoustic modeling. In other words, the data size of the game will be dramatically reduced while offering a much more advanced listening experience. In addition to the game and soundtrack, other “Lord Retro” media are in the works. “It has been thrilling to work in this ‘Lord Retro’ universe,” says Lassen, barely containing his excitement, “because it is continually being expanded as the collaborative enthusiasm gains momentum, especially considering the extremely grass-roots and DIY nature of this project.” Martin Bland http://www.spyroteknik.com/
With the ongoing corporatization of the video game industry, it is getting rarer to see a project with as much promise and indie-spiritedness. “Lord Retro” seems to be a return to a former game making attitude when original ideas were esteemed over the deluge of sequelization and done-to-death games. The story focuses on a world populated by Drones – autonomous robots with extraordinary powers, Sanders – desert dwelling people, Breathers – underground cave dwellers, and Fragwoods – swamp dwelling creatures. With four different environments, gameplay will involve tightly balanced map design with amazing technology and weaponry. Production begins Spring 2008. Check out: http://www.lordretro.com
46 page
CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
Interview
Axel Medellin inter view with
His first art gig in the US (and French) industry was for an Alexandro Jodorowsky’s story that appeared in Metal Hurlant 7; another story with the same guilty artist has just come out in Heavy Metal magazine, and one more in the forthcoming Fablewood anthology... he loves telling stories, he could to this the rest of his life. After being in the top 50 of the Comic Book Challenge two years in a row, Platinum Studios’ Incursion is his first full-length miniseries. http://nancynismo.deviantart.com/ nancynismo@yahoo.com
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CG Chosen magazine | November2007
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Robots
Axel Medellin
with
Interview Artists
Tell us about yourself please? All the lies that are my life? Well... I was born in 1975 in Guadalajara, the second largest city in Mexico (and the pretty one). I was a straight A-student until I studied industrial design, and then I decided I wanted to draw for a living, which here in Mexico is almost like hanging yourself from the beggining. I’ve worked in advertising, illustration, storyboards and comic books. I’ve been a freelancer for the better part of a decade now, which is all right, since if I had a boss and had to wear a tie I would have gone berserk long ago.
Where did you learn CG? That would have to be in some of my advertising stints... I learned some Adobe Illustrator in the second job, then I dusted Autocad for the next two... in the fourth (or was that fifth? Jeez, those are a lot of agencies) I started playing with 3d max and Photoshop, but actually I devoted seriously to CG when I became a freelancer.
What was the most inspiring stage on our learning way? Those would be three epiphanies... when I was eight I watched a behind the cameras of the Dark Crystal, where they showed those beautiful drawings that had to be
made before anything in a movie could be constructed, and that’s when I first learned that drawing could actually help to create something. The second moment would be at the industrial design school, we had a great drawing teacher who had studied under Sid Mead (and it doesn’t get much better than that!)... the third was when I used my first Wacom tablet, God’s gift to artists of this century.
What software do you use and why? What tablet? Mostly I use Photoshop. It feels like painting or drawing without the mess or the hour of
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prepping the canvas. For precise stuff I use Illustrator, and that’s about it. I’ve wanted for a while to get into Painter, but I just can’t figure it out (I hate that blasted insufficient memory message). My tablet is a Wacom Intuos 3 9x12, I just love that sweety. I’ve played once or twice with a Cintiq, that’s on my Christmas’ list.
Do you have some special painting techniques that you can share with? I don’t know if I’d call them special... actually, my techniques are the same that have been used for millenia, just with different
CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
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Robots
tools. I always do the line drawing first on actual paper and with an old-fashioned pen or brush (I suck at painting over pencils), then I scan it and go over it in Photoshop flattening colors first and adding layers for background, midground and foreground.
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Axel Medellin
I always keep it simple, I basically use the round brush with different transparencies to make it look like watercolor. I stay away of filters and effects, I don’t like doing in the computer anything I can’t do on paper. If there’s any advice for this, it would be learning to draw with pencil and paper first... then it comes naturally on the computer.
with
Interview Artists
Your metal painting technique is very good. How did you learn to paint metal objects? Thanks. That would be from my industrial design background, we had techniques of representation and had to learn to draw any material. That was done with markers and color pencils, actually. Markers with their solvents helped to activate the brain, too.
CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
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Robots
Axel Medellin
with
Interview Artists
and I just took it from there. These are not to be build (well, hopefully for a movie) or to be justified, so I just try to go wild and have fun... that’s when the best ideas come.
and science are just different names of the same thing? Jeez, that’s how my mind works, it’s not easy being with it all day...
Tell us more about Wooden Robot please. What is the story behind?
Where do you work now? What is your position there?
Well, once I started doing one wooden bot after another, I cobbled a skeleton of the story, and so they are Renaissance technology. And eventually I’ll get to tell a great comic-book saga of those great geniuses building their impossible machines and changing the world. Maybe they are built by the problematic teenage daughter of Leonardo Da Vinci . Maybe it’s an impractical concept, they would burn and break easily, right? But I think there’s something magic about wood as a limitless material... say, what if our technology wasn’t metalbased? What if it wouldn’t even follow the laws of physics we know? What if magic
Freelance... work at home... so I’m CEO, designer, executive, and gopher.
Are you spending much time creating new artworks in your free time? I wish! There’s never enough time. Right now I spent most of my time with a comic book series called Incursion for Platinum studios, and doing storyboards and concept art for a mexican horror movie. I have just too many ideas I’d like to bring to life. Well, the days will be longer eventually.
Have you tried your self in 3D? Why? I did, I worked for a couple of years (in my last nine-to-whenever-it-takes job) doing architectural renderings, products and some character modelling in 3d Max. I took a course of animation which included 3d. I respect 3d a lot, but I’ve never gotten passionated enough to follow it. You need passion and you need enjoying what you do so you can take it to the next level, and 3d is just not my thing. 2d, I can understand, I never tire of drawing, 3d feels a lot like doing models, I suck doing models.
Some of your robots are quite original (for example Saxobot and Wooden Robot). Where do you get such ideas? Thanks. Robots have been one of my favorite subjects since forever. I watched any movie no matter how pitiful it were if it had a robot. I love the idea of artificial life and its endless possibilities, but it bothers me that most robots in fiction must stick to the mold of Terminator or now the Matrix sentinels. For saxobot I think I was wondering how would a robotized orchestra would be (oh, yes, most of my ideas do sound silly). My wooden robots were an accident, I was doing a sketch for a retro-looking bot and some extra lines looked like wooden texture,
50 page
CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
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contact: sales@3dm3.com
Gallery
Gallery Robots
52 page
CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
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Alon Chou
www.alon.tw
Robots
Gallery
Transformer-Death Blow
Description: MEGATRON High above the explosion and jumps out from the heat, lunging at OPTIMUS PRIME with a Crackdown. OPTIMUS PRIME is preparing to face the attack, he is skidding forward, resulting the flake on the ground and raising his fist, and going to give the destroyer a Death Blow…. , The purpose of the composition is to create a complete frame filled with dramatization. Hope you like it, thanks! Done in: Photoshop
53 page
CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
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Robots
André Kutscherauer
www.ak3d.de
Gallery
Brute Force
Fairplay Description: A new football playing technique :-) Here In germany (especially here in munich) the football delirium overlabs at the moment because of the WM 2006. Unfortunatly I could´nt resist to think about this theme and so this picture happen. Here is the idea:It´s a concept for a Remote Controlable Ball. It works with 3 “dynamic unbalance” modules (red). Every single module is driven by a single electro engine. These are speed controlable. (yellow cable) The core of this hole system is the “gyro stabilizer” sensor. (the transclucent cylinder in the middle) With the help of a metal sphere in the middle of this element and a lot of sensors on the outside (the black dots) this module can realize within split seconds how the ball is positioned at the moment. With this information, the electronic is able to control the influence of every single unbalance unit of the ball, so that it can be controlled by the remote control. This could be really really interesting games I think... ;-) Done in: 3D Studio Max; Rhino; Mental Ray; Photoshop.
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CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
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Robots
André Kutscherauer
www.ak3d.de
Gallery
Selfillumination 2
Description: ...a picture about self-fulfillment. The bulb is completely modelled in 3dsmax. The plug and the jack are modelled in Rhino 3D. The pose was made with the help of an biped in 3dsmax, so i was able to finalize the choreography very intuitive. This picture rendered about 8 hours on 2 P4´s (3Ghz + 1 Ghz) Finally i´ve slightly added a glowing filter. The final resolution is A4 @ 400dpi.
Selfillumination 2
Description: ...the dark side of success Software used: 3dsmax, rhino, photoshop, wacom tablet This picture was created for the 3D World Cover issue 79. Thanks to Jim Thacker, Shaun Weston and Kai Wood for their great support and ideas.
55 page
CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
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Artur Sadlos
www.artoftorturr.blogspot.com
Robots
Gallery
Prolog
Description: This is promo art for upcoming game Battle Rage www. battle-rage.com. I wanted to catch the mood of giant robot factory. Feel welcome on my blog www.artoftorturr.blogspot.com. Done in: All done in Photoshop with Wacom intuos3.
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CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
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Carsten Holtmann
choltmann@gmx.de
Robots
Gallery
Battlesuit
Done in: I used 3dsMax8, Brazil 2.0 and Photoshop.
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CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
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Robots
Daniel “mirach” Zak www.mirach.pl
Gallery
Battletoaster
Description: The Battle Toaster Mk. IV was a personal project made in free between job and studies. The whole project took about 2 months to complete, mostly because of design changes. Done in: It was created in 3ds Max 8, Vray and Photoshop. Modeling was done on AMD 1,6 GHz with 1 GB RAM, rendering on Pentium IV 3 GHz with 2 GB RAM.
Description: The Racing Toaster is a remake of my previous project, for which I used textures from 3DTotal.com. I wanted to make it look like a toy model. My inspiration were Matchbox toy car models I used to collect as a kid. Done in: As with the previous project, I used 3ds Max 8, Vray and Photoshop, and rendered on Pentium IV 3 GHz with 2 GB RAM.
Racing Toaster
58 page
CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
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Robots
Jochem van Wetten http://www.jochemvanwetten.nl
Gallery
Sad Robot
Description: I want that the people feel that the robot is almost human. Done in: My brain and Photoshop
59 page
CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
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Mehran Khan
usmanukem@hotmail.com
Robots
Gallery
The Cingularity
This image is the property of Trango Interactive, Pakistan Description: Concept art, modeling, texturing, rendering and Post by Mehran Khan. The singularity was done as a part of Trango Interactive Pakistan’s show-reel. Done in: 3dsmax Vr.9, rendered with Mental ray, textured with Adobe Photoshop 7.0
60 page
CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
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Robots
Nikolay Yeliseyev
http://www.yeliseyev.ru
Gallery
Caterpillar Police
Description: I am glad to you present my new work, I wanted draw especial vehicle in an environment) In a cabin sits pilot of this vehicle and drinks coffee ) On a background the city which nothing threatens, under protection of such formidable terrible machines. This vehicle the Caterpillar, can stand on hind paws, run on tiptoes, and can carry out a lot of different surprising functions, even give coffee ) Done in: Photoshop
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CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
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Nikolay Yeliseyev
http://www.yeliseyev.ru
Robots
Gallery
Pigs Robotics
Description: Small, heerful concept, Big cyber-pig! The fastest racing pigs from” Pigs Robotics Inc.” !)) Description: Photoshop
Extraction Point
Description: This Heroes make the way over the lifeless and destroyed territories to a extraction point , in hope that there were territories where leave is a life.
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CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
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Ruidan Lv
reqing_bj@tom.com
Robots
Gallery
The Watcher
Description: Hi, my name is Ruidan Lv, I am Chinese student. The ‘Watcher’ is my the first 3D work last year. But this work is a single frame of 3D animation “circus” in 2006.The animation was made by my two classmates（Yao Yin; Li Yang;） and me. We are students of Animation School of Beijing Film Academy. We have used MAYA for Modeling, Animation, Software Render; Photoshop for Textures; Premiere and After Effects for Affect Clips. The animation is 10 min 30 sec. We have taken a year to complete it in 2006. My job was to design scene, the scene modeling, role modeling, animation setup, animation, MEL script, lighting, material, render, the late effects, synthetic. The ‘Watchers’ are two survival robots drizzling after the war, which have been used for military were totteringly walking in the ruins with smoke of gunpowder… After the war, their maker--human being, abandoned military robots. Facing with the scene of desolate city, the two robots were in the dark, but they still seemed to have a bit belief. So they quietly waited, hoping that, one day they could come back to their master... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaEB5PFYEwY 63 page
CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
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Ted Terranova
www.terranovaart.com
Robots
Gallery
War Machine
Done in: Made with 3dsMax and Photoshop.
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CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
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Ted Terranova
www.terranovaart.com
Robots
Gallery
Iron Grip - The Invasion
Done in: Made with 3dsMax and Photoshop.
65 page
CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
CG CHOSEN
Thanks!
Robots
Thank You
Special Thanks
For supporting our magazine by Your outstanding artworks:
For providing exclusive materials and patience during our collaboration. This issue exsists because of your kind support:
Alon Chou
www.alon.tw along1120@yahoo.com.tw
André Kutscherauer
http://www.ak3d.de info@ak3d.de
Daniel ‘Mirach’ Zak
mirach23@gmail.com
Jinho Jang
http://www.jinopix.com/ jinopix@hotmail.com
Jochem van Wetten
http://www.jochemvanwetten.nl jochemvw@hotmail.com
Lorenz Hideyoshi Ruwwe
http://www.hideyoshi-ruwwe.net lorenzruwwe@freenet.de
Mehran Khan Khan
Artur “Tortur” Sadlos
http://www.artoftorturr.blogspot.com torturr@gmail.com
Axel Medellin
http://nancynismo.deviantart.com/ nancynismo@yahoo.com
Carsten Holtmann
choltmann@gmx.de
Georgi “Calader” Simeonov
www.caladerart.com calader@caladerart.com
Nikolay Yeliseyev
http://www.yeliseyev.ru nik@yeliseyev.ru
Ted Terranova
http://www.terranovaart.com tedterranova@yahoo.com
usmanukem@hotmail.com
Ruidan Lv
reqing_bj@tom.com
Sincerely yours, Gleb Kobzar (SpWaR) Sergey Gusiy (Stryker)
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CG Chosen magazine | November 2007
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