DWIV - 3D - Agent-X - Alien Skaarj

[Agent-X]

I want to thank everyone here at 3d total who helped me along the way to make this model. I am sorry I didn't finish, but I did what I thought was best for me. I want to make a special thanks to my best friend in the 3d world and partner in crime EvilEngine (Charles Jones). Thanks. For those interested in what we got plan check us out here.
http://forums.epicgames.com/showthread.php?t=680443

[chris_solo]

too bad for DWIV but cool character for UT3!

[Darchand]

Sorry you didn't finish but you made a great character and a great portfolio piece. Way to go man!

[BiG ToE-3DT]

looks to me like you got him textured and even got a basic rigg going on, so my question is, why are you not submitting your work.

You know there was a time extension right?

[JuST]

I agree... it's sad that you don't submit it. It looks awesome!

[Agent-X]

I didnt submit for several reasons.
1. I couldn't bare the humiliation of being disqualified for entering 2 contests.
2. I am true and faithful to my best friend. I had to make the choice between the two.
3. Unreal requires 2 2048x2048 texture maps. And I went beyond 20k polygons.
4. I might have made it in the top 50, but um, I am really struggling for money and looking for work. And with Unreal, I do have a chance to win something thanks to my friend.

I am so sorry if I dissapointed you guys. I do look at it this way, I have a portfolio piece and something in game playable. In my opinion, I couldn't ask for more. I could have submitted and baked the texture I did for Unreal on to mine, but I just thought what if I got disqualified, I just couldnt bare it in my eyes.

[Epic4Life]

The Skaarj are the Unreal world's main enemies. They look like highly-evolved reptiles, but they reproduce more like insects, with offspring being born of a single Queen, and only certain male Troopers and Warlords being the only other Skaarj with any reproductive organs at all. (Culturally, this is one reason why the Skaarj put such a small emphasis on wearing any clothes; most of them have nothing to conceal.)

http://images.google.ca/images?hl=en...-8&sa=N&tab=wi

Restrictions
For Norms and Demons: No vehicles allowed.
Pets and steeds are allowed for all races.
No Teams, groups or collaborations. Everything must be made by 1 single person. Keep gore and nudity to a decent level please! Don’t get DW banned in various countries!
03/18/2009 - All sketches, ideas, concepts, models, 3d meshes etc must be created exclusively for this competition. Note: No previously made Base meshes!! If you use a base mesh and get caught, you will be asked to restart your entry from scratch. No exceptions.
Artists wishing to enter 3d and concept art categories must create a new idea for each category. No 3d entry and concept entry can look the same.
Creating a forum thread and showing your work in progress is MANDATORY. Entries submitted without showing their work in progress will be disqualified. Entries who keep their work a secret until the last few days can potentially be disqualified. You Were Warned.

[Agent-X]

Yup, thanks. I will not be submitting for dominance war.

[hulahuga]

Well the model turned out great anyway

[miycko]

Too bad you wont be submitting for dominance wars and hope you win that unreal contest. Great work man.

[Agent-X]

I want to thank 3d total from the bottom of my heart for their sincerity, honesty, support, admiration, opinions, critiques, and love. I did what I thought was best. I would like your feed back on something though guys, regarding demo reel. I would like to hear your thoughts. I was thinking of just show casing this model, Highres, followed by the low res(showing wireframe, normal maps, and then completely textured), Then showing my character in game. Do you think that would make a good demo reel for me? I really want to work in the game industry. Please give me your thoughts.

[DeadlyFreeze]

Tha'ts not really a demo reel. Demo reels for character artist usually consists of 4-5 of their best models and maybe some supplementary work (life drawings, 2d stuff). If this is the only model you have then your probably not ready yet.

[BiG ToE-3DT]

true, true. You need at least 3 really good models. Nothing half done, and don't put anything in there that you don't think is that good. Also, ask others how they think about your models. Sometimes we artist like our work, no matter how crappy it is. Ask people you are not friends with too, friends tend to not tell the truth to spare feelings. If you can, ask other artist that know what they are looking at, someone who can say more than just it sucks, but, rather say, this area is lacking, try this to fix it.

As far as showing your model in game, you can, but I would make that the last thing to worry about. The guy looking at your demo reel is going to want to see your high poly, but most importantly, your low poly, because that is what makes it into the game. So, you need to show the wires, the textures, and to make it all less boring, have your character in a pose that is not a basic t-pose, or relaxed arms to the side.

[Agent-X]

Cool deal. Thanks.

[Puckducker]

I agree with all the above.

I'm going to add that breaking into the industry as a character artist is very difficult. Because characters figure so prominently in the game, these positions are usually held by more experienced artists.

My recommendations is to apply for environment/level artist positions. You can certainly use characters in your demo reel for that, just be sure to include some environment pieces too (can be full environments, or just props like a gas pump and phone booth). Establish yourself in the industry first and then work to getting into the character department.

I do a lot of character stuff, but I work as an environment artist in the industry. Characters get all the glitz and glamour on forums, but 90% of the art needed for videogames is environment art. Don't give up either. Took me about 8 months of sending out resume's and demo reels without a single response before I got my first job.