http://soulburn3d.cgsociety.org/gallery/ soulburn3d's gallery of images en-us 120 http://soulburn3d.cgsociety.org/gallery/1050211

Here's a finished painting based on a quick speed painting from a few years back. The sucky bit was, I made the original speed painting at a tiny resolution (like 600 pixels wide), so when it came time to do the final painting, I had to upres a lot of layers by repainting them from scratch, layers that probably would have been fine to use if the original document had just been larger. Serves me right]]> Thu, 10 May 2012 13:06:31 +0000 http://soulburn3d.cgsociety.org/gallery/1045296

I am a big fan of the Halo games, so did this piece of fan art for fun. The grunt characters are some of my favorites, not only do they have tons of personality, but overall I love the design. Since I own several of the McFarlane Halo Grunt toys, I did a little photoshoot, and used the photos as the basis for the character's pose. Painted in about 3-4 hours, the last couple of hours were mostly subtle color corrections, usually I start off with a pretty strong color scheme in mind, this one ended up coming together at the end of the piece. ]]> Mon, 09 Apr 2012 15:55:39 +0000 http://soulburn3d.cgsociety.org/gallery/1043006

With very limited painting time this week, I started this one image, and after 2 hours, I was like 1% done. It turned out to be way more complex than I had originally hoped, and here I had wanted to do something quick. Frustrated and tired, I quickly whipped this gas city rough out to relax. I promise I'll get back to the other image some week when I have some decent time to devote to it. ]]> Mon, 26 Mar 2012 15:35:21 +0000 http://soulburn3d.cgsociety.org/gallery/1041894

One of a number of starship hull test images. I made these images to explore variations in greebling and hull plate shapes and configurations. The tests are a little less practical and a little more abstract, but they have been really helpful, and should be a great source of inspiration and practical experience the next time I decide to make a full fledged 3d model of a starship, space station or even a mechanized planet. Parts were modeled in 3dsmax, rendered with brazil, some was painted in photoshop, and many patterns were inspired and produced by Darktree, Bercon Noise and Filterforge procedural patterns. This is my first new Tech Floor after a 2 year break. ]]> Mon, 19 Mar 2012 17:51:25 +0000 http://soulburn3d.cgsociety.org/gallery/1037629

Fire Elemental, originally he was supposed to be Stone, but had too much fun adding the blazing fire.]]> Sun, 26 Feb 2012 12:25:22 +0000 http://soulburn3d.cgsociety.org/gallery/1036228

A quick tribute to the robot paintings of Ashley Wood. ]]> Sat, 18 Feb 2012 17:04:40 +0000 http://soulburn3d.cgsociety.org/gallery/899451

Matte painting depicting the fleet's return at day's end to the homebase. These were the sorts of images I loved from the original star wars films, very moody, lots of atmospheric, harsh lighting. This is my homage to this sort of imagery.]]> Tue, 06 Jul 2010 20:51:35 +0000 http://soulburn3d.cgsociety.org/gallery/869669

Painting for a CD cover for the band "God Fear None". Depicts a desolate landscape, our travelers come upon a mysterious ancient building, so tall it breaks the clouds that enshroud the planet.]]> Mon, 05 Apr 2010 21:38:44 +0000 http://soulburn3d.cgsociety.org/gallery/964163

It's that time of year again, sunsets over the mountains on the drive home. This sunset was the day after Marin Sunset V, which is why they are so similar, the atmospheric conditions were almost identical.]]> Sat, 12 Mar 2011 21:56:07 +0000 http://soulburn3d.cgsociety.org/gallery/964162

It's that time of year again, sunsets over the mountians on the drive home.]]> Sat, 12 Mar 2011 21:54:41 +0000 http://soulburn3d.cgsociety.org/gallery/897853

One of a number of starship hull test images. I made these images to explore variations in greebling and hull plate shapes and configurations. The tests are a little less practical and a little more abstract, but they have been really helpful, and should be a great source of inspiration and practical experience the next time I decide to make a full fledged 3d model of a starship, space station or even a mechanized planet. Parts were modeled in 3dsmax (many wires were done using my wirebundler script), rendered with brazil, some was painted in photoshop (so the image isn't 100% 3d, but the majority is), and many patterns were inspired and produced by Darktree, Bercon Noise and Filterforge procedural patterns. ]]> Thu, 01 Jul 2010 10:58:56 +0000 http://soulburn3d.cgsociety.org/gallery/897854

One of a number of starship hull test images. I made these images to explore variations in greebling and hull plate shapes and configurations. The tests are a little less practical and a little more abstract, but they have been really helpful, and should be a great source of inspiration and practical experience the next time I decide to make a full fledged 3d model of a starship, space station or even a mechanized planet. Parts were modeled in 3dsmax (many wires were done using my wirebundler script), rendered with brazil, some was painted in photoshop (so the image isn't 100% 3d, but the majority is), and many patterns were inspired and produced by Darktree, Bercon Noise and Filterforge procedural patterns. ]]> Thu, 01 Jul 2010 11:00:32 +0000 http://soulburn3d.cgsociety.org/gallery/894713

One of a number of starship hull test images. I made these images to explore variations in greebling and hull plate shapes and configurations. The tests are a little less practical and a little more abstract, but they have been really helpful, and should be a great source of inspiration and practical experience the next time I decide to make a full fledged 3d model of a starship, space station or even a mechanized planet. Parts were modeled in 3dsmax (many wires were done using my wirebundler script), rendered with brazil, some was painted in photoshop (so the image isn't 100% 3d, but the majority is), and many patterns were inspired and produced by Darktree, Bercon Noise and Filterforge procedural patterns. ]]> Wed, 23 Jun 2010 11:50:32 +0000 http://soulburn3d.cgsociety.org/gallery/894714

One of a number of starship hull test images. I made these images to explore variations in greebling and hull plate shapes and configurations. The tests are a little less practical and a little more abstract, but they have been really helpful, and should be a great source of inspiration and practical experience the next time I decide to make a full fledged 3d model of a starship, space station or even a mechanized planet. Parts were modeled in 3dsmax (many wires were done using my wirebundler script), rendered with brazil, some was painted in photoshop (so the image isn't 100% 3d, but the majority is), and many patterns were inspired and produced by Darktree, Bercon Noise and Filterforge procedural patterns. ]]> Wed, 23 Jun 2010 11:51:20 +0000 http://soulburn3d.cgsociety.org/gallery/893107

One of a number of starship hull test images. I made these images to explore variations in greebling and hull plate shapes and configurations. The tests are a little less practical and a little more abstract, but they have been really helpful, and should be a great source of inspiration and practical experience the next time I decide to make a full fledged 3d model of a starship, space station or even a mechanized planet. Parts were modeled in 3dsmax (many wires were done using my wirebundler script), rendered with brazil, some was painted in photoshop (so the image isn't 100% 3d, but the majority is), and many patterns were inspired and produced by Darktree, Bercon Noise and Filterforge procedural patterns. ]]> Thu, 17 Jun 2010 12:14:33 +0000 http://soulburn3d.cgsociety.org/gallery/893106

One of a number of starship hull test images. I made these images to explore variations in greebling and hull plate shapes and configurations. The tests are a little less practical and a little more abstract, but they have been really helpful, and should be a great source of inspiration and practical experience the next time I decide to make a full fledged 3d model of a starship, space station or even a mechanized planet. Parts were modeled in 3dsmax (many wires were done using my wirebundler script), rendered with brazil, some was painted in photoshop (so the image isn't 100% 3d, but the majority is), and many patterns were inspired and produced by Darktree, Bercon Noise and Filterforge procedural patterns. ]]> Thu, 17 Jun 2010 12:13:57 +0000 http://soulburn3d.cgsociety.org/gallery/893105

One of a number of starship hull test images. I made these images to explore variations in greebling and hull plate shapes and configurations. The tests are a little less practical and a little more abstract, but they have been really helpful, and should be a great source of inspiration and practical experience the next time I decide to make a full fledged 3d model of a starship, space station or even a mechanized planet. Parts were modeled in 3dsmax (many wires were done using my wirebundler script), rendered with brazil, some was painted in photoshop (so the image isn't 100% 3d, but the majority is), and many patterns were inspired and produced by Darktree, Bercon Noise and Filterforge procedural patterns. ]]> Thu, 17 Jun 2010 12:12:43 +0000 http://soulburn3d.cgsociety.org/gallery/862526

Environment rough. Did a rare winter piece, which is odd, my life in Canada had so much winter in it, you'd expect I would do lots of winter scenes. Need to do more of that.]]> Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:03:54 +0000 http://soulburn3d.cgsociety.org/gallery/783880

This is not only a model for my friend Stephan Bugaj's short film "Measured Assessment", but also for a new Gnomon DVD on how to Shade and Texture Hard Surface Models. Modeled in 3dsmax in polys for subdivision, this character is approx 2000 objects. Shading and Texturing took about a week of work, a mixture of hand painted, photomanip and procedural textures. Rendered in Brazil 2.0, photoshop was used for all the texture painting and photomanip. My Wirebundler script was used for the couple of wires on the character's underbelly.

Here's some textured views...



Here's a smooth shaded view of the model from two angles.



Some closeups of the textured model...







Click here to see a smooth shaded turntable (approx 18.7 meg).

Click here to see a textured turntable (approx 12.3 meg).
]]> Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:14:45 +0000 http://soulburn3d.cgsociety.org/gallery/834816

The inspiration for this piece came from the lighting I saw driving into work one morning. The sky was dark with rainclouds, but the sun was pouring through the clouds behind this one hill near the Berkeley / Oakland border. Rather than doing a normal study, I decided to use the ambiance for a more imaginative piece. All painted in Photoshop.]]> Tue, 15 Dec 2009 19:24:55 +0000 http://soulburn3d.cgsociety.org/gallery/808359

This started off as a speed painting, ended up finishing it off to be more of a matte painting (total of 4 hours of painting over a few days).

A few words on the technique. This is based on a photograph my wife took, I decided to paint this all by hand rather than doing some sort of photomanip (it's good practice), using the photo simply as reference. The only photo used in the actual painting are the two photoshop tree brushes, which I created by taking real photos of 2 trees against the sky, making them greyscale, and then contrasting the heck out of them. 99% of the image is the three brushes below.



May I say that painting clouds is both fun and incredibly frustrating. But I'm happy to get the practice in.
]]> Fri, 18 Sep 2009 12:59:59 +0000 http://soulburn3d.cgsociety.org/gallery/785889

This image started out as a simple sphere in the mist. As I continued to work on it, my results kept deviating from my original idea. Finally, I let go of my original idea and finished the piece the way it needed to be finished, the result is this finished image. The lighting isn't as dramatic as I had originally been going for, but it has some other details I'm happy with. Painted in photoshop.]]> Wed, 15 Jul 2009 08:40:30 +0000 http://soulburn3d.cgsociety.org/gallery/778159

The name Golem (not to be confused with the character Gollum from Lord Of The Rings) refers to an animate creature in Jewish Folklore created entirely from inanimate matter. These creatures would be created to do the bidding of their masters, large, bulky, and powerful, usually they were mindless, took orders literally, and didn't speak. This started off as a quick speed painting, ended up being a little more finished than I'd originally intended, but I dug the composition and felt it deserved a little more polish.]]> Tue, 23 Jun 2009 09:59:41 +0000 http://soulburn3d.cgsociety.org/gallery/759709

This would qualify as a more "finished" speed painting, but it still only took me about 5 hours. The image is all hand painted except for the lower tentacles which are simple 3d painted over in photoshop. The creature looks something like an ambulatory stingray, of course I had to throw in the giant teeth filled mouth. I'd hate to be marooned on a planet and have this thing walk out of the swirling dust, or worse yet a whole flock of them. ]]> Mon, 04 May 2009 12:16:47 +0000 http://soulburn3d.cgsociety.org/gallery/755017

Here's an odd story of inspiration. So I was going through the gallery section of cgtalk, and I saw this thumbnail that really caught my eye. When I clicked on it, it turns out the thumbnail was actually taken from a rather minor part of the final image, it wasn't the focal point at all. I loved the thumbnail so much, it inspired me to make this image, which of course looks nothing like the final image they made. I totally can't find their image anymore, so I can't credit them for the initial inspiration, but if anyone finds a thumbnail that looks kinda like this image, let me know so I can credit the original artist. It's funny how an artists mind can make odd associations, you see a set of shapes or colors, and one artist sees a loaf of bread, another sees the potential for the same shapes to form a scary monster.

I painted this image really big (like 5k) so I can print him out really huge one day, I think he'll look pretty imposing on the wall. About half paint and half 3d. Already have a Hive Mind II in the works that has a similar creature, but totally different composition.]]> Mon, 20 Apr 2009 12:29:59 +0000 http://soulburn3d.cgsociety.org/gallery/753323

This started off as a speed painting, but eventually I added enough detail that I decided to just keep going ahead and finishing it off. The lighting was inspired by some lighting I saw driving into work on a stormy day. Everything was done in photoshop except for the ships, they are a 3d element. The towers are a mixture of handpainting and photomanip, as is the sky.
]]> Wed, 15 Apr 2009 11:55:01 +0000 http://soulburn3d.cgsociety.org/gallery/753322

An armada of ships being lead through space by what I could only describe as a giant flying wing. Speed Painting, maybe took me 4-5 hours. ]]> Wed, 15 Apr 2009 11:52:31 +0000 http://soulburn3d.cgsociety.org/gallery/682994

This is a rough concept sculpt made in Mudbox 2.

A little history on the character. This guy comes from a highly religious race of beings. The best and brightest become priests, their eventual objective is to be chosen as a high priest. As well as receiving vast political power, the high priests also receive bionic enhancements, including a new synthetic brain that’s implanted in the top of the head to work alongside their organic brain. This brain contains the memories and experiences of all the previous high priests of the order. High priests upload this information on a weekly basis as part of a complex ritual to a centralized computer, so that their experience is not lost should they go missing or should the implanted brain get damaged.

Made a simple base mesh in max, sculpted all the detail in mudbox 2 (the final mesh is 32 million tris), then back to max to be rendered in Brazil 2.0. Wanted to get that “real clay” look, I’m pretty happy with the results.



Click here to see a turntable (approx 8 meg). ]]> Wed, 08 Oct 2008 15:00:22 +0000 http://soulburn3d.cgsociety.org/gallery/683485

This is another rough concept sculpt made in Mudbox 2.

Made a simple base mesh in max, sculpted all the detail in mudbox 2 (the final mesh is 16 million tris), then back to max to be rendered in Brazil 2.0. Depicts a predatory creature who glides in the thick gas filled atmosphere of an alien planet, much like how a sting ray would glide in our earth's oceans.



Click here to see a turntable (approx 10 meg).]]> Fri, 10 Oct 2008 03:34:50 +0000 http://soulburn3d.cgsociety.org/gallery/695212

This is a study from a photo I found on the net. Unfortunately, I can no longer find the original photo, and so I don't have the name of the photographer to credit. Painted in about an hour in photoshop.]]> Wed, 12 Nov 2008 15:59:24 +0000 http://soulburn3d.cgsociety.org/gallery/694637

A new image in the style of my Mountain King image, maybe it's just the red color, but this guy feels more sinister to me.]]> Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:09:06 +0000 http://soulburn3d.cgsociety.org/gallery/664563

Probably one of the most complex hard surface models I've ever made. I sketched this guy while trapped for 2 hours on an airport runway. His basic function is to be a forklift, his antigravitational abilities allows him to get into areas a standard forklift would not be able to reach. The Class 1 Loaderbot (this model) is for lighter lifting, it's bulkier cousin the Class 2 (which I may build one day) is for heavier objects.

Modeled in subdivs, all the pipes were modeled using pretty standard methods, no automated script to help me out here (I did use wirebundler for the wires that attach the eyes to the main body). The texturing was done using photoshop and a number of shader tricks I've been developping, for example, a more automated way of adding knicks and scratches to the edges of objects, and then paint overrides to add manual detail where needed. Like laying down a foundation of paint before painting details, the shaders provide a base layer on which I layer lots of hand painting and photomanipulated specific details. Rendered using Brazil 2.0.


Here's a smooth shaded view of the model from several angles.


Here's some closeups of the smooth shaded model.


Here's some closeups of the textured model.


Here's a wireframe of the model, this basic wireframe was then converted to subdivs for the final render.

Click here to see a smooth shaded turntable (approx 7 meg).

Click here to see some closeup views of the smooth shaded turntable (approx 11 meg).

Click here to see a textured turntable (approx 7.5 meg).

Click here to see some closeup views of the textured turntable (approx 16 meg).]]> Sat, 16 Aug 2008 01:01:46 +0000 http://soulburn3d.cgsociety.org/gallery/653924

This is the first in a series I hope to do based on a short story. The gist of the story is that an alien race populates a series of planets in a far away solar system millenia ago. The sun of their adopted system is now going supernova, and so the inhabitants of the planets are being evacuated to a neighboring system through these giant teleportation gates. The gates and ships are 3D with some matte painted details, the rocks are assembled from about 7 or 8 rock photos I took during a recent trip to Big Sur, manipulated and painted over heavily in Photoshop.]]> Thu, 17 Jul 2008 03:45:13 +0000 http://soulburn3d.cgsociety.org/gallery/642011

This is one of those models that came to me during traffic. WTF you say? Well, I'm sitting in my car, stuck on the 580 going towards Emeryville, and I'm behind this big truck for a mile going at 5 mph, and the truck's rear bumper has all of these brake lights. Suddenly, it dawns on me that the warning lights look like a strip of eyes, staring back at me. The creative juices start to flow, and this is what I end up with. The eyes also remind me a bit of the Sentinels in the matrix films, but then again, people driving to ESC to work on those films were probably stuck in the exact same traffic I was, since their facility was only 5 exits south of where I was headed My inspiration also came from printer cables, and a beast that shows up in the middle of the film Naussica. There's something about the long and flat creature that I find unusually appealing, probably because it's not something you see in nature all the time.

The wires use my wireBundler script, Darktree for some of the texture, other parts of the texture were hand painted in photoshop. Rendered using Brazil 2.0.

Here's a smooth shaded view of the model.

http://www.neilblevins.com/artgallery/media/prey_smooth.jpg

Click below to see a turntable (approx 20 meg)

http://www.neilblevins.com/artgallery/media/prey.mov]]> Thu, 12 Jun 2008 17:59:13 +0000 http://soulburn3d.cgsociety.org/gallery/642661

Another new cattle image. Why I am obsessed with alien looking cows? I don't know, I just am. Painted in photoshop in a couple of sittings.]]> Sat, 14 Jun 2008 16:59:56 +0000 http://soulburn3d.cgsociety.org/gallery/640347

Quick speed painting, done in a few hours. Depicts a swarm of enemy spacecraft surrounding a larger craft, flying near the center of a gas nebula.]]> Sun, 08 Jun 2008 00:50:07 +0000 http://soulburn3d.cgsociety.org/gallery/572122

Been working on this one off and on for about a year. This is one of those images that started out cool, got really, really ugly looking, then kinda came together at the end again. The image has probably been overhauled 3 or 4 times, but I decided to stick with the original composition, and maybe some alternate compositions will appear as sequels in the coming years. Everything modeled in max, the creatures uses my WireBundler script heavily. While no geometry appears in the final image, the original concept for the creature came from experiments using Groboto, a procedural modeling tool by Braid. Rendered in Brazil, comp in photoshop. I decided to inject a bit of a narrative in this image, which is rare, my work is usually a little more abstract.]]> Wed, 12 Dec 2007 04:55:06 +0000 http://soulburn3d.cgsociety.org/gallery/574726

A reworking of a digital painting I did last year. I did a sketch for the painting, and the final result was very different. This is closer to the original design. The lilipad shaped towers were built in max, rendered in brazil, everything else was painted in photoshop, the rocks, the background, the ships, etc.]]> Wed, 19 Dec 2007 15:54:32 +0000 http://soulburn3d.cgsociety.org/gallery/572779

A reworking of my original Mouths To Feed image from 2003. I've done sequels before, but this one is more a tweak of the original image rather than a total reworking. I liked aspects of the original image, but I always felt like I could have done more with it, and this is my attempt at adding that "more". Most of the same elements are there, but I totally changed the mouths to add more detail, and fixed a number of problems with the pipes. I also improved the focus of the image by carefully placing new areas of light and dark. Finally, changed the orientation to a portrait instead of a landscape. Modeled in max, rendered in Brazil, photoshop for the comp. Much happier with this incarnation. ]]> Thu, 13 Dec 2007 21:14:41 +0000 http://soulburn3d.cgsociety.org/gallery/568997

Sequel to my original Cattle image, this one is a little more like what I was originally intending for the image. I did my best to give it a sense of perspective and depth, while still feeling very flat. ]]> Tue, 04 Dec 2007 18:33:02 +0000 http://soulburn3d.cgsociety.org/gallery/572482

Last year I started this speed painting, but evolution took over and it ended up looking very different in the end. So this year I decided to revisit the original concept and see if I could get something closer to my original vision. The painting makes strong use of custom brushes for the mechanical stuff, and my usual gassy treatment.]]> Thu, 13 Dec 2007 03:21:56 +0000 http://soulburn3d.cgsociety.org/gallery/567997

A really quick image, I was stuck on a plane on the tarmack for 2 hours and did a bunch of sketching, then threw this together in 2 sittings. While not really complex, there's something about the composition that I like.]]> Sun, 02 Dec 2007 01:07:46 +0000 http://soulburn3d.cgsociety.org/gallery/571108

This model started off as a much loftier concept of a sand dwelling robot character, in the end the most interesting part of the concept was his head, so I decided to turn it into a bust. The first image shows him with his faceshield on (to avoid his internals getting totally encrusted with sand), the second shows him open, with voice and ventilation unit exposed. I imagine each of his three eyes to have different lens sets, sorta like how humans use bifocals, or how you change lenses on your camera to go between extreme wideangle and extreme telephoto. If he needs to see close up, he uses the bottom eye, to see far off in the distant sands, he uses his top eye, the middle eye is for mid range viewing. Would love to get this made into a realworld articulated model. Modeled all in subds, Rendered in Brazil 2, I'll try and post a turbtable at some point.]]> Sun, 09 Dec 2007 19:22:15 +0000 http://soulburn3d.cgsociety.org/gallery/569497

This started out as an unused tshirt design from a bunch of years ago, I always liked the composition, although not the details. So I decided to redo it as a bit more abstract. Kinda reminds me of the MCP in tron. ]]> Wed, 05 Dec 2007 19:49:32 +0000 http://soulburn3d.cgsociety.org/gallery/512279

Quite a mix on this one, lots of 3D, lots of manipulated photos, lots of painting. The image started as a painting to get the overall atmosphere and the ominous black figure. Then I added the 3d elements made in max and rendered with brazil such as the face, the cloth (no cloth sim used, just modeled geometry), and other robotic elements. Then I used a bunch of photos I took last year from various construction sites to plus out the model. The complex part was integrating everything together lighting wise, since many of the photographic elements had lighting that didn't match up. Still kept it a little loose, didn't want to overwork this one. Part 9 in the ongoing reaper series.]]> Thu, 28 Jun 2007 12:13:00 +0000 http://soulburn3d.cgsociety.org/gallery/503287

Had some bad health problems these past 3 months, I'm so happy to be well enough to actually get excited about making my own art again. While I didn't mean to, the image shares a similar theme and composition to my Swirling Sands image, so you may consider this a sequel. Modeled / shaded in max, rendered in Brazil, photoshop for the atmosphere and then a bunch of painting on top to add all the details.]]> Mon, 04 Jun 2007 00:18:09 +0000 http://soulburn3d.cgsociety.org/gallery/428729

While I can't pinpoint the initial inspiration (this composition just sorta came to me one night while I was drifting off to sleep), the final figure kind of looks like a tribal doll of some sort. Maybe a mechanical voodoo doll who has trapped a mortal soul in an electronic hell. The figure screams in agony at its imprisonment. Modeled in Max, rendered in Brazil, the hair was generated with Wirebundler, and the mist and sky painted in photoshop.]]> Sun, 12 Nov 2006 22:08:09 +0000 http://soulburn3d.cgsociety.org/gallery/472370

New speed painting done in four one-hour sessions this week. Some very minor 3d work to help with perspective, everything else is painted and photo texture.]]> Fri, 09 Mar 2007 17:03:01 +0000 http://soulburn3d.cgsociety.org/gallery/467299

Part 2 in my king series. I was originally going to do a full 3d render of this guy, but decided to keep him 2d for the moment. Lots of custom brushes, photo collage and hand painted stuff.]]> Sun, 25 Feb 2007 02:25:42 +0000