- The Digital World and Everything After - Thursday, August 18, 2005 For the longest time I've considered myself what the industry calls a "traditional" artist. My passion has always been sketching people, mostly focusing on expressions, however I've pretty much stuck to the traditional tools. In 2000, I discovered the wonders of graphic design since our family got it's first PC in 1999. Most of what I was attempting to do on the computer I had no clue how to do, but was determined to take as long as needed to teach myself. I remember when I first started making websites having an online conversation with Chris - the original AAO.com owner - after he saw my work. His compliments on my work were encouraging but I always stressed to him that I don't know enough about making sites to take this seriously. "You have an eye for what looks good. The technical stuff will come." Thank you, oh wise one. Taking my hand drawn work to the digital world has been a work in progress and more than anything really it's opened my world to media I never thought I'd be interested in. It has also confirmed how obsessed with gadgets and electronics that I really am. Like a moth to a camp fire, dammit. Recently, I met a friend that moved to Santa Monica, CA by way of Michigan for work. He's a 3-D model and texture artist and has worked for Sony, Luma pictures, as well as has credit for his work on movies like Crash, A Lot like Love, and the soon to be released The Cave. After seeing the new wave of CG art in movie likes Shrek and Toy Story, I would have loved to know what goes into this 3-D art medium. Obviously, 3-D software isn't as cheap as a pen and pencil, and for one to obtain such programs would put you in the hole about 7 grand. Yikes. Well, after discovering that there is a free "learning edition" of this program, my friend encouraged me to download it and would teach me the basics (super basics). I've had the program for 2 days and let me tell you, I have a new appreciation for how much work these 3-d modelist really have. The standard way of model making is done with polygons. Hundreds, Thousands, sometimes millions of them fusing together to create a single model. Day 1 I started out with a cube and from there most everything is created. Well, getting used to the interface the way the tools work is odd and the first 3-d "thing" I managed to create strongly resembled the love child of an elephant and a vaccum cleaner. Exhibit A- Vacca-phant Now c'mon, you think I'm going to show this to a 3-d modeling artist to scrutinize? I did it anyway. I couldn't see him rolling his eyes, but he did give the promising comment, "Hey, it' s contemporary art!!!" Shut up, man. Alright, so I chucked the Vacca-phant and started actually thinking about what I was going to do. My results were somewhat laughable, but a good jogging distance from disgraceful: Exhibit B - Mayan Temple on LCD I think I went a bit nuts with these polygons, but hell, it's the first day. So, after getting big laugh #2 from my friend, he tells me to start out with something simple, like a chair, or a table - something that I have a reference for. Ok, I'll get right on that.... Day 2 Exhibit C - Absolutely not a chair or table. What does my smartass try to do....? Screw makin' a table, I'm going to construct a transformer! If you're gonna fall on your ass, do it in style. My friend did say that it has good form, but apparently it's a no-no for polygons to penetrate. Well damn, I had more penetration than a 5 cent hooker on J street - time to rethink this. So today I tried to come up with something with a little more flare, little less over the top, and here is the work in progress: What have I gotten myself into, seriously people.

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