2013 texturing showreel

I have finally decided that it should be okay to make my 2013 private texturing showreel public. It's made up from some of my film texturing (and some sculpting) work from 2009 to early 2013 whilst I was at MPC and Cinesite.

I might also finish off my modelling reel at some stage.

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Beans...

Well it's finally out, the short CG film that Cinesite made this year. There were two texture artists working on this; one for the astronauts and myself who worked on the creature for a few weeks, until they decided that they wanted to change the look and feel of the creature at the last moment just before I left to go to Framestore. So some of my work is still in there... somewhere. 

Anyway, it all looks fantastic and it was a fun project to be a part of.

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A couple of films I've worked on this year

The first trailer for Edge Of Tomorrow was released today. This is what I have been working on at Framestore for the past 3 months and also when I was last at Cinesite.



I  also got to work on 300: Rise of An Empire whilst at Cinesite for a month or two earlier in the year.

Until later...

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Environment...

Just some quick, low quality renders. I'm busy with the environment, working on the pillars - they should go pretty quickly. I just need to texture the upper part above the column then do some sculpting on them to break up the edges and such, and then do some secondary maps (bump, spec, etc.). Then I can focus on the layout, lighting, etc.

I was also playing about with the colour of the gown and some depth of field in the scene. I like the white version but will most likely keep it dark. I might try red as well...

I'm also mucking about with my 4th Living Dead Girl as I work on this.

More to come...

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Wax on wax off

I've been working on the environment for my 3rd Living Dead Girl. I'm done with about 90% of the modelling in Maya (yes I've made the switch to Maya for modelling - I'm still rendering in Max though); just one or two more things left to model. This candle stand is the first asset that I've textured and done some test rendering on with VRay in Max. I haven't put too much effort into this as it'll most likely be in the background; none-the-less I'm quite happy with the results.

I'll be moving onto more of the environment texturing and sculpting later in the day.

Until then...

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More render tests...

I posted these to my deviantArt account a few days ago -  thought I should share them here as well.

Another one of many test renders that I've been doing (I'm enjoying V-Ray). The image on the right is rendered with GI and 2 lights (+ one for the eye highlight). The one on the left is the same but with no GI. Neither are using V-Ray Environment.

I'm mostly done with the sculpting (still might tweak one or two things here and there) and texturing - the bump map still has one or two areas that are inverted (the eyebrows which will be removed when I do the grooming and one or two moles, etc.).

I should be starting the hair and clothing for her soon, meaning that she'll actually start to look like a character.

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Render tests...

I started testing out VRay for the fist time in ages. Okay I lie, I tested  it on a earlier version of this model months back and she's changed a lot since then. It was quite a basic quick test only using a diffuse map and no SSS. But honestly, the last time I used VRay was back when it was free and still in Beta testing.

These are a few of the latest renders I've been testing. The first two in the row of four have GI enabled whilst the last don't, thus their more waxy quality.

This full figure one is the last one that I've done today. The shading is by no means finished, but I'm still really happy with these results. There's still a lot to do to her, mostly:

- Finish sculpting and cleaning up her anatomy;

- Add asymmetrical anatomical detail; 

- Her texturing (diffuse) is about 95% done - finish a few things here and there;

- Update and tweak secondary maps (glossiness, bump, etc.);

- Add hair (her eyebrows are only textured in at the moment but I'll be grooming those with a proper hair system as well);

- Pose her;

- Clothe her;

- Create environment;

- Render, render... and render...

More to come...

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Latest Showreel!

Showreel HD July 2012 from Gary Newman on Vimeo.

This is my latest showreel which I can finally reveal. It's an updated version of my older private showreel.  The work in this reel is made up from the past 3 years work whilst I was at MPC and Cinesite. It features some of my work on John Carter, Harry Potter and the Deathly hallows: Part 1, Clash of the Titans, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Robin Hood.

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Some new character stuff...

I have just finished a couple of months freelance work on some characters for a game trailer cinematic, so now I'm officially back to some of my own work for a bit.

This is what I started working on a while before I started the above mentioned work. Nothing too exciting, just a standard base nude figure for a character I'm working on (more on her at a later date). The nice thing about doing this base figure is, I can use her for multiple characters just by making a few model changes and texture tweaks, which will allow me to focus on the character. She's not going to be a real-time character either.

(edit: I have just realised that this base mesh was derived from an older model made a couple of years back that was never finished.  I've essentially adjusted a lot of the anatomy and proportions - I think I've also added in some extra topological detail as well. Looking back at that old one it's really quite bad and I think this one is quite an improvement over that... hopefully...)


The texture work is about 98% done - just a few small touch-ups here and there. At the moment I've got one 8K (8192x8192) texture for the skin and one 4K (4096x4096) texture for the eyes. I've left her eyebrows in for now as a guide for when I get to do the grooming of the hair later on.

As far as the sculpting goes, I'm only 3 subdivisions in as I'm still just fleshing out the shapes of the muscles and proportions, etc. She'll most likely be a lot less toned than she is now, so I'll be smoothing those muscles down a bit when I move on to higher subdivisions.

Hopefully I'll have more updates on the actual character soon...

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Gary Newman Texturing Showreel 2012

Gary Newman Texturing Showreel 2012 [HD - public] from Gary Newman on Vimeo.

I'm finally getting to post this. The work in this reel is made up from the past 3 years of work whilst I was at MPC and Cinesite.

I've delayed finishing my reel for some time now as I haven't really needed it, until now. My contract at Cinesite is up so I'm looking for a new gig. I also have a private reel online which I cannot show yet. But if you're a prospective employer get in touch with me and I'll send you the URL and password for that showreel.

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John Carter was fantastic!!!

I just saw John Carter at a special cast and crew screening at Leicester Square and loved it to bits. It was presented my Andrew Stanton and producers Lindsey Collins and Jim Morris. I might be a bit biased because I worked on it but so what! I did pour more than a year of my life into it, but loved almost every minute of it. I feel very proud to have been involved in the production of this film and I must say that it looks fantastic. I really hope that they get to make more John Carter films...

In other news I've started working on another personal project and should post some progress on that soon; I'm busy building up the base texture in Mari. I should also hopefully post a link to my show-reel some time soon. I've been working on it on and off for over a year. I'm still having to use trailer shots for some of my work from John Carter.

Oh yeah... I really need to update this blog more often '^__^

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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 VFX Breakdown

Some of  the texture work that I did for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 whilst I was MPC last year. I textured the caravan (1:25 minutes into this clip). Unfortunately the digi-double that I also textured isn't really very visible in the film - I spent around 3 weeks texturing him :(

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Playing with Marmoset...

I've decided that I'm most likely going to render her in Marmoset from 8monkey Labs. I'm quite happy with the results so far - still busy tweaking secondary textures (specular, etc.) and shaders and lighting. I'm also busy posing her and thinking of a way to actually present her for the final beauty shots.
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She should hopefully be done soon... and then on to some new work... finally >__<

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More drawing...

Another drawing from last weekend, I changed the hair today as she originally had a messy bob.

In other news: I'm busy baking the textures for my Punk Girl onto one large texture sheet and getting ready to play with some shaders for lighting.

More to follow...

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Finalising tattoos....

I'm mostly done with her tattoos now (I might still tweak them a bit). You might have noticed that I desaturated most of her tattoos. Which is more in line with my original idea for her. Besides I also think they work a lot better this way.

I'm going to step away from her for a few days, and hopefully come back with a fresh pair of eyes. Then it's on to one or two other tweaks and then stick all the textures onto one texture sheet. Optimise (a bit). Set up proper shaders. Pose. Light. Render! I might still make a base for her. Not sure what yet... and then... hopefully move onto another character - non real-time!!

More drawings to come...

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Tattoos

I'm finalizing all the tattoos now. Still got a few left to colour and possibly then blend them a bit better with the underlying skin and then I can call them done. What a pain...

Once these are done, it's just a matter of baking all the textures onto one sheet (I've textured each part on a separate texture page), posing her and creating a base. So, hopefully not too much longer to go. I really, really need to finish her off... really!

At the moment this is still just a viewport grab from within Max so the specular, etc. is still not perfect. I'll be creating proper shaders for her when the time comes.

I think she is quite possibly going to be my last "low poly" model for a long time.

Comments always welcome.

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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

There's a rather interesting article over at fxguide.com detailing a lot of the work done on the most recent Harry Potter film: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

It breaks down most of the work done by the various studios that worked on the films. There's even two breakdown images of the caravan I textured whilst I was at MPC.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

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I haven't updated in ages...

Okay so most of you have probably forgotten by now that I have a blog. And I honestly don't blame you, seeing as how I haven't updated in ages. I promise you that I have been working, quite hard, to finish off my Punk Girl. I'll post some images sooooon.

In the meantime I have updated Unearthedart.com with some shots taken from the  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 "Epic Finale" Featurette. I did the texturing of the caravan (1:45 into the clip) in case you were wondering. I also did some digi-double work, unfortunately that's not in the featurette.

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Don't worry, I'm still around...

I've been doing some texture clean-up and modelling on Punk Girl and one or two other things. I'll hopefully have a small update soon. I also need to get my portfolio website back up and running. Mostly just cleaning it up. I might possibly do a total redesign at some stage. Not now though.

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My first day as a Texture Artist at Cinesite...

Well, today was my first day as a Texture Artist at Cinesite. I'll be working on the very exciting film, John Carter of Mars.

I've just spent the last month working with the very talented guys over at Slide London on an upcoming AAA video game title. I really enjoyed myself working there and will really miss working with them. Hopefully I'll get the chance again in the near future.

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