Tumblr!

So this blog has been getting a bit stale as of late, so I've moved some more updated random posts to tumblr while I revamp this page: http://jamizzles.tumblr.com/

What I've been working on this year...

First things first:


This past year I've been working full time at Harmonix on the game Dance Central. It was my task to help create over 650 individual flashcards that aid in the learning of each dance move. I've never been very good at rhythmic ceremonial rituals, but after a good deal of playing our game I'm not half bad.



The game was a great opportunity to learn from a lot of awesome artists along the way. I got to see the characters develop, the venues fall into place, the cinematic story-boarded, and the QA department dance till they dropped. Not only was I creating the icons, but I was absorbing the lessons of the artists in the room about their processes and techniques for bringing characters to life.

On that note! Here are a couple of more recent 3D designs that I've worked on in my spare time:


A quick study of fred astaire, done at lunch.


An old time pilot based on a sketchbook drawing


My still in-progress entry into the Polycount Brawl Contest. (hopefully to be updated soon!)

I've still got a lot to learn, but I can say I'm a great deal further along then I would have been trying to learn all this on my own.
Plenty more art updates to follow soon!

New Stuff on the way!

So I've been bad recently about updating the ol' blog, but it's mostly due to being really busy learning the ins and outs of 3D. I'll be posting up a bunch of new stuff very soon. Till then here's a collection of tree sketches done at various lunch hours.
The last one is a blend of 3d and 2d, just made as a test to see if I can start working with both to get results I like.






And here's a 3D silo made in my spare time to try out detailing a simple mesh with crazybump. I also wanted to try out hand painting some details, and using an alpha for the weather-vane.

Wedding Cake Topper

Over the summer two of my very good friends Alex and Lindsay tied the knot. It was a pleasure to sculpt a topper for their sweet and delicious chocolate wedding cake. It was made out of LaDoll airdry clay over a wire base. I then used a few coats of spray gesso and sanded it smooth. I used an airbrush for the larger areas and a small brush for the details.
I'd love to try something like this again in the future!

Art for Auction

One of my degree project pieces is going up for auction this weekend at an event called The Opening Gala. It's hosted by The Unorthodox Arts Foundation, which is a local company that supports different types of art and theater projects. There is also a pretty spiffy show going on at the same time as the auction. Visit their site for more information:

http://www.unorthodoxarts.org/gala.html

The event is this Saturday at King's Chapel Parish House at 64 Beacon Street in Boston.
The auction will start at 7:00 and end at 9:00

Zbrush Faces

Took some time at the end of the summer to try and learn zbrush.
These were the first few experiment heads I've created. I still need to learn
the technical side of making them game ready, but I want to learn the sculpting aspect first. Plenty of updates coming to the blog soon including a cake topper, an art auction, and some t-ride sketching.

Lunch Break Sketchin'

Nothing too fancy to update with, just two quick portraits done over lunch break at work.

The first is a portrait of Mortimer Stränge, a guide from Boston's Ghosts and Gravestones Tour. Be sure to check it out if your in town, I had a swell time!



The second is just a scaggy Joan Crawfordish sketch from a secret project I'm starting up with my partner in crime....more things to come in the future.

Busy but Learning!

It's been a busy, but amazing past few months! Back in February I came into an exciting opportunity to work for Harmonix. So far it has been not only a blast, but also a chance to learn some new techniques.

The past couple of months I've been using my lunch and after work hours to teach myself 3DS max and other software at the company. I only have this one little sample, but I've already gotten a little bit better since I made it a few weeks ago. I hope to post up more like this along with some of the 2D designs I've been drawing on the T. I've filled quite a few sketchbooks up with pictures of the crazy people who inhabit my daily commute , andI'll try to get some of those pages scanned soon.

Happy New Year!

Here's the full view and detail shot of the christmas card image I put together for my mom this year. I took the liberty of cleaning up some of the yard trash/broken cars of course. I was also experimenting with a new set of watercolor brushes for photoshop, and I've been really pleased with the results so far.



This piece is still in progress. I'm trying to study more from film to get a stronger sense of color and layout. The final version will have a much punchier/interesting foreground. I'll be posting that up soon!

More Sketchyness

Here's the last batch of the recent backgrounds I've been whipping up for my portfolio. There was a problem mailing it out this week when it was sent to the wrong zip-code, but the status is finally at "delivered" so I can breath a sigh of relief!

Shall we Dance?

I made some composition/value thumbnails while watching some of my favorite Fred Astaire films. I'll definitely be doing this kind of exercise again in the near future.





And here are a few tree sketches to show shape and variety.

Full Steam Ahead! Backgrounds HO!

I have a bad habit of only wanting to show fully finished colored images. So I'm trying to let loose a bit and post more sketches.
The color study of the aerial farm came from the plane ride back from California. I'm not a big fan of planes, but the impressive scenery outweighed the terror for most of the flight this time.

I've also changed around the look of the blog to better match my portfolio, and added a gallery section. Right now the coding is a little messed up so the images have been displaying washed out, but I'll be fixing that shortly.

Back From CTN Expo 2009!

I'm back from Burbank where I attended the CTN Expo this weekend. It was easily the greatest convention I have ever attended. With industry professionals everywhere you looked, and like-minded peers passing around business cards, you couldn't ask for a more creative atmosphere! I was lucky enough to be selected for a series of private interviews, and on top of that I had several of my favorite artists give me helpful critiques on my current portfolio. I'll be posting more (with pictures) soon of some of the highlights of the event, but for now I need to kick my art making into full gear! One of the interviews I had was very promising if I can deliver some fresh sketches of backgrounds before the start of december. I'll keep you posted if this opportunity goes somewhere!



Here's a quick composition done in about 20 minutes using a similar color scheme from an N.C Wyeth painting.



Another 20 minute composition, playing with brushes and angles.

Portfolio Additions

As you may have noticed my main website is currently down for construction, so I'll be moving a small gallery right here on the blog to house the portfolio temporarily.


This was a redo of a piece from last year, where I took the time to make the character look more like the puppet I had created. In the original drawing I think I went a bit overboard on the finicky details, and I like this simple version much better.



These are the results of a trip to the zoo and some visual research. The giraffe was meant to look like a small toy or sculpture. I'm still experimenting with flat/3D elements working together.

This weekend I'm heading off to the Creative Talent Network Expo in LA to see some of the industries best character designers, and some of my childhood heros. Expect a nice big post all about it when I get back!

Cooking Up Good Designs...

Inspiration can come from such unusual places! With a big recruiting opportunity coming up , I've been working on revamping my portfolio. I had to buckle down and really figure out what I want to do with my art in the future, and what I need to do to improve from where I am now. While I have found quite a few quality sources of inspiration recently, I found exactly what I was looking for.....on a cooking show.




In almost every episode Chef Gordon Ramsay turns around a failing restaurant using the same solutions. He creates dishes that are simple and honest, and buys only the freshest local ingredients. This is almost always enough to turn even the worst kitchen into a success. I started really thinking about how those solutions could apply to character design.

Simplicity: Not getting bogged down with fussy details. Everything should serve the main idea, and all the “ingredients” should come together and not fight one another. Nothing should get in the way of the overall opinion.

Honesty: The difference between a doodle and a sketch. Honesty is all about backing up your design with some form of observation and opinion.

Freshness: Always seeking out new ways to approach a project that keep you on your toes. Never getting too comfortable with the way you usually solve a design problem. You don't know when the next inspiring moment could come along, so give it every opportunity to appear.

Now I know I've been quite guilty of going against these theories in the past, but I'm hoping to approach all my new pieces with these goals in mind. Speaking of which.....I have a portfolio that needs attention right now...so why am I on here!? More images coming soon!

BACK!

I thought it was about time to revive this blog after a somewhat extended summer break.






The wonky background is concept art for a story me and my roommate Sam are writing. (more on this later) After an ordeal this summer where I lost a bit of my artistic voice, it was really nice to make something so purposely flat and textual again. The character sheets were based off 40's actresses, life models, and a trip to the beach I took back in july (that poor woman with no chin). There's also a Charlie Chaplin snuck in for good measure. Expect much more here soon, with an inside scoop at what went down this summer.

Off The Path (In HD!)

I finally got around to fixing up my YouTube site to be a bit more professional. Since I had to delete my degree project from my old username anyways, I took it as an opportunity to get it out there in lovely High Definition.



While I was at it, I decided to upload an old classic from my Massart years. Me and my old roommate Ashley Sexton provided the voices:



And if any of you are Vimeo people, I've also added an account: http://www.vimeo.com/jmckiernan/
So please feel free to start building my views back up! (You know you want to)

Graduation!

After five years the big day finally arrived. As of Friday I became part of the MassArt alumni association. A big thanks to all my friends and family for helping me along the way, and to the staff and faculty who made it a great place to be!

The last few days have been spent trying to get this summer’s work situation all figured out. It’s a scary time to be out in the workforce, but I’m feeling better now that I have a better plan for the year. Part of that plan involves a great deal of artwork improvement and practice here on the blog, so expect some serious art updates.

Promo Materials 2009

So this week was spent getting my new branding together. Of course it's going to change as soon as my website changes again, but it should be good for a few months. Here's some of the pile of final promotional packets before they were put together :

Here's a close up of the final design for the new business cards:

And on another random note, I had sylized an image of some trees in a cold looking woods and decided to do an autumn themed version, just to play with some various styles. I'm hoping to get into some serious personal artmaking as soon as our portfolio night is over, and in the mean time I am on the hunt for some full time work for the summer.

Degree Project Show

This monday was the day of the big degree project opening, and I'm happy to report that everything came together at the last minute. The show itself has tons of great work from this years graduating seniors. It's still up at massart till the 4th if anyone hasn't had a chance to check it out yet.