So! It's a new year. What did I miss?

I recently went through a ZBrush course at the Gnomon School of Visual Effects in Los Angeles. A bit expensive, but worth every dollar for the quality of education provided. Together with the Discreet Certified Training Course in 3ds max I took at the Renaissance Center in Dickson, Tennessee, it was a pretty big year for me. That one afforded a spiffy new piece of paper to sit next to "Microsoft Certified Professional" and "Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer" until I find a wall suitable to hang these on. Oh, and my "Outstanding Leadership Award," issued by the District Governer of Rotary International - I'm quite proud of that one.

But, enough about my relentless search for outside validation. Let's show you some pictures!

I call this guy "Dogboy", because... he's a dogboy.

Modeled in ZBrush, rendered in Max, this was one of many experiments trying to replicate the style of comic book print. Some older works in this style can be found here.

Comics are, of course, one of countless non-photorealistic rendering styles. I'll have more to say the subject later, but here's a page I threw together a while back if you're not sure what that means.

Just a quick experiment, really, but I'm happy with the result.

Two hours in ZBrush, one hour in Photoshop.

Picture a cotton sheet billowing on a clothesline.
As the wind catches it just right, you imagine
you can make out facial features among the folds.
Only, it's not so much a sheet of cotton as it is human flesh.
He seems content to hang out, though.
Strange laundry day!

Yeah, I can't really explain where that came from, either.

I think this one's endearing, but a lot of folks seem to be creeped out by him. It's sad to be misunderstood.

I still need to restructure the galleries and such -- I'm not so proud of any of this as I once was. But you've got these few pictures here to tide you over, so that's good, right?

I know I've said this before, but... Try back next week for all manner of tasty goodness.

I won't pretend that I actually mean it this time, but it's nice to dream...

Thanks for stopping by!

--Aaron Levitz