Mirn's Book of Renders

That is the last one. Finally.

A little piece I am working on atm:

This is looking great so far Michael! Where is your inspiration coming from for this piece - or is it something you've come up with yourself? 

beefkeef well, I have worked as an illustrator for awhile + I draw pretty often. So there are always a lot of sketches/ideas floating around the table or in my mind) And I write too. As I have mentioned before -- I've got a book on its way + around 25 scripts. So inspiration is basically everywhere. Right now I'm trying to produce these scripts but I've hit a wall. Not just in a technical sense but more of a scaling type I suppose. It is quite like the "Hello world" Java thing if you know what I mean -- when you got your basics covered and then there is a whole world to explore. And a huge gap between "Hello world" and the actual world.
So this is just an attempt to move my boundaries a little further and step out of the comfort zone. Sorta the same thing I did with that Reitwagen model after the donut course) It is much easier to work on anything after that.

Yea I think I understand what you mean, I also get that feeling of being overwhelmed too from time to time. 

Kudos to you Michael for stepping outside of your comfort zone, that's definitely the best way to grow new skills and polish the ones you have. 

Looking forward to see where you go with this piece!

Well, I've just made a space suit) Cause I need to populate the area (I'm not saying this place is populated though). Plus it is a handy model -- everyone likes space suits!
The next goal is -- not to loose all these details in that pitch dark atmosphere. And add more details! It's still too empty and not chaotic enough.

Plus it'd like to make a bit of an animation with that scene. Just a glimpse, 3-4 seconds. But my rig is coughing up blood already so we will see about that.

I think that is the final one:

I am out of my comfort zone!
Sadly, same goes for my rig. That station makes it cry, way out of its league :(

This looks really nice Michael, I think you've really captured that sci-fi feel in your work!

Sadly, same goes for my rig. That station makes it cry, way out of its league :(

Sounds like it might be a good excuse for an upgrade??  😅

Thanks, beefkeef

I did an upgrade last year. Now thanks to these fucking miners these prices look really broken. Because DOGE might hit 1$ cap you know. Everyone is a financial shark right now doing nothing)
I'll wait a bit I guess. Renting a render farm feels way more convenient (for animations, stills are doing great).

Must be the scene after all, 56 sources of light + I try to keep up with 4k.

Some really cool stuff here. Always love to see progress on these projects.

ponchismaaan thanks! Glad you like it.

Now, thanks to constant beefkeef 's updates I've decided to visit that character's valley too.
I am going to create a humpback whale. I used to make some works dedicated to these magnificent creatures so here is my reference:
 
That's a humpbach whale. I'll try to put this creature in 3D and make it float for real.

Awesome, I can't wait so see it in 3D! 👍 Is the reference one of your own works michaelmirn ?

And apologies for constantly spamming my polybook 😃😃😃

beefkeef it alright, Keith) these notifications keep bringing me back to that nice and cozy place. And that's good! Otherwise I would have missed that HUMAN course. Really neat one.

Yes, that's one of my works. I've made a series of 12 ocean dwellers: humpbacks, blue whales, sharks, sperm whales and so on. And this is one of them, It's 30*90 cm, plaster on wood + resin + acrylic paint + coating. Handmade 100%
It was a very nice experience and I am glad that I was able to sell 10 out of 12 already.

Anyway, I'll try to create that humpback whale and I'll try to stick with the routine. Right now I'm sculpting it.
Then retopo / texturing / rigging / animation. I always try to cut some corners and that's a bad thing actually. Have to follow the flow even if its tedious sometimes.

Step 1: Blocking

Let's follow the process step by step)
Damn it looks so good! Should I stop and call this final?

😃 It's finished already, congratulations! 

Seriously though, it looks like a decent block out! Just keep polishing and it will look great in no time 👍

It was way easier than expected!

Step 2. Sculpting. The most peaceful, soothing and pleasant process.

Looks like you're having a whale of a time Michael......   😅

This is starting to look really nice! The skin on these creatures is really interesting with all the bumps and cracks. 

Yes, the skin of these creatures is truly amazing. It's like a print of whale's life: all these scars, shells, wounds, harpoons, bites, squid marks.

Actually, I am trying to choose which one to do: the realistic one or the "shelly" one. I really like all these tiny details but it seems that I'll simply lost the actual whale under all that seaweed and such. And eventually that model will become a fairytale like creature, too generic and full of generalizations, not an actual whale.

Sculpting is done.

Still thinking about these shells and seaweed. Maybe I'll add them to the finished/textured model.
But firstly I gotta complete that retopology thing.
And retopology is the main reason I always try to avoid sculpting)