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I have very conflicted feelings about how this turned out. This is definitely a verification of how art is abandoned never finished. Some parts of this project I’m happy with and others I’m completely unsatisfied. Overall I’m actually unhappy with the result. So I’d like to go over the process to give some encouragement to the other artists out there who are also feeling like their projects didn’t turn out. Also I’m posting this so I can lay this project to rest for now and move on.
1. Concept
I knew I wanted to start another long form project. I had the idea to try my hand at a Wipeout/F-Zero like style of vehicle. Thus I started thumbnailing (images not included) and came across a form I liked. Then I needed inspiration. So the way I worked is that I actually decided on three terms I liked that fit the piece and went from there
- Rally Cars
- GPUs
- Hexagons
What worked:
This was a great starting point. It helped to get concrete executions in my head. I did a bunch of studies which re-kick-started my drawing habits and helped nail down pleasing forms. Once I got something down that I liked, I loaded the left bottom of the above page as a modeling sheet. It worked quite well in that I intentionally didn’t follow it to the “T” and was able to extract a form that closely resembled that isometric sketch.
I’m really happy with how the base mesh and silhouette turned out.
What did not work:
I wish I had broken down my reference better, and asked my self why the things that I liked visually worked the way they did. Basically I mentally extracted the forms I needed, but I neglected to actually integrate any themes of styles I came across.
2. Execution
I was essentially detailing my block outs to resemble whatever I had in my head from interpreting the concept sketches. Obviously, what I had in my head wasn’t really concrete. Thus, there was plenty of trial and error when finding models I liked. I kept going back and forth between new concept sketches and geometry. This process vaguely works for me and my personal projects. BUT!
Save your block outs!
I just directly edited the ones I made and didn’t save out the base mesh. I regret that now that things didn’t turn out the way I liked.
Another thing:
You'll notice I work by check boxes. I break down the components I need to create and categorize them by what I find reasonable to create in a day. This works great for me, since it ensures that I can create a realistic deadline. I worked without timelines before, and dragged a far simpler project out by several months. Granted I wasn't as skilled then, but I still believe I could've saved time had I broken it down like this.3. Final Results
The big lessons:
Your project failed but at least you learned some things that did work.
• I learned some cool tricks that surprisingly worked, and tried some new techniques that also actually worked. Those grates over the rear exhausts are actually almost fully modifiers
The caution panels are also mostly procedural.
(It looks better when you pan around it I promise)
• The floor is also mostly procedural noise and I’m pleasantly surprised with how that turned out.
• I’m not a material artist. I keep telling myself to sit down and actually learn thing or two about proper shading and learn my way around the nodes. I think the main material suffers for my lack of knowledge on this front.
• I need to learn better quad modeling. My current skills are passable and functional, but they broke down for a project this large. I feel like I’m finally moving from beginner to intermediate status. As such I need to probably pay for some proper training on this front. (Any good Gnomon courses you know of?)
• Cutting corners when It comes to uv unwrapping may work at a distance, but certainly not up close. Plus it works better if your mesh is better.
• Good technique is not enough. You must also know practical design skills. In this case, I could have worked better a making joints and enclosures more believable. They simply exist right now, slapped onto surfaces. Had I planned out how it worked in the fiction where it exists, I think it would have turned out better overall. Again, this is where it would have helped if I had broken down my reference better.
Afterword
So thank you for having a looksee. I hope you appreciated this article. My main goal in writing this was to encourage myself and others is that your time was not wasted when a project doesn't turn out. You are only failing upward, and you can't fail unless you keep creating projects.Any advice for me and others is appreciated. Keep on Keeping on.