Skechfab

This is a new 3D model viewer I have fallen in love with. One of the sole reasons is because it works where others have failed.

Chinese Painting Plumb Blossom

Plumb Blossom Digital Painting

I have been considering the text for quite a long time now. I researched Chinese poetry for a little while, to be frank I'm not much of a creative writer and I mainly tried to mimic what I saw. What I meant to say is down below there is probably a lot more lost in translation than I would like. 

-Spring

Flowers and grass rise up through the snow

The melting snow lets the branches swing
Sun warms the bright face 

The north wind causes the trees to dance.

Chinese Mountain Painting

Chinese Mountain Painting

Wip

Chinese Stairs Textured

Unreal Viewport

Stairs Maps -Spec, Nom, Diff

Chinese Roof Molding

Molding has been my naming convention for these pieces, I am not aware of the correct term for these.

Molding End piece

 

 Molding Tileable

Composite Image

Reference Images 

Paper Lantern Normals

Paper Lantern Screen Capture From 3Ds Max

Reference

Rock Highpoly

Highpoly Rock Render



Chinese Roof Update

Screen Capture from 3DsMax

The Thief & Tessika Range (Mokos Tales)

I'm going to spend this time to talk about two things. Number 1 if you act fast you can get this story
-> The Thief & Tessika Range for free on kindle. This was co-created by an associate of mine, and hey free short story what else do you want? Topic number 2 I'm giving a shoutout to Surena Watts a close friend that is primarly an actor/geek her blog can be found here -> Brass Canary. That's about it until I can find more time to work on artwork, thanks for reading.  

Art Commission

Process



Final



Roof Edging

My Reference is down below.

Roof Edging Sculpt

Roof Test

Modular Pieces WIP

Small Chinese Roof Update

Lighting Issues/ Tiling Issues Fixed



Chinese Roof

Roof Tile Sculpt

Low Poly Projection Normal Map

Test Roof

Reference

 

SkyUpdate

Default UDK Sky

Sky After

These are all the maps used to make the sky material.

for information on how this was created check here 

UDK Composite

Bokeh Hexegon - Diff Alfa

   

Large Circle - Diff Alfa

Middle Circle - Diff Alfa

Small Circle - Diff Alfa

Star - Diff Alfa

Star Stretch - Diff Alfa

 

Rainbow Iris - Diff Alfa

Screen Space - Diff Alfa

Chinese Creatures

                I chose the dragon and the phoenix to place on either side of the relief.

Dragons in Europe are normally considered evil, Chinese dragons traditionally symbolize potent and auspicious powers, specifically control over water, rainfall, hurricanes, and floods.   The dragon is a symbol of  power, strength, prosperity, good fortune, adaptability, transformation, and is also a symbol for the Emperor. Dragons can be found throughout China however it is common knowledge that dragons with 2 or 3 claws are reserved for commoners. Dragons with 4 claws are reserved for nobles, and a dragon with 5 claws is reserved for the Emperor. Many pictures dragons show a flaming pearl under their chin, the pearl is associated with wealth, good luck, and prosperity.

The Chinese Phoenix also known as Fenghuang symbolizes virtue, duty,  humanity, and reliability. When paired with a dragon the phoenix becomes a symbol for the Empress and also a happy marriage.

Shishi Lion

          Chinese guardian lions, known as Shishi which literally translates to "stone lion" it is also often incorrectly called "foo dogs".  Traditionally the Shishi Lion stands in front of Imperial palaces, Imperial tombs, temples, and houses of the wealthy. It was often a sign of upper class citizens. These lions are always created in pairs, with the male with a open mouth resting his right paw upon the world sometimes having a geometric pattern. The female lion has a semi closed mouth restraining under its left paw a playful cub that is on its back. The pair keeps with the yin and yang principal China holds so dear. The Shishi Lions were originally believed to have powerful mythic protective benefits. The look of the Shishi lion changed drastically during its transportation along the silkroad.  What I found really interesting was the Komainu or the Korean Dog was based off of the Chinese guardian statue. Eventually it spread to Japan where it became Kitsune a fox statue, which is offered to Inari shrines by worshippers, as part of the Buddhist culture. The reason I picked the Shishi Lions for my scene was because it was something that was distinct and allowed artistic license to it.

Chinese Painting

       I made this Chinese painting so I could experiment with the intentional brush stroke that defines Chinese art. I have always been fascinated by the horizontal orientation that screams eastern culture. I learned quite a bit about Chinese paintings through the process of making this digital painting. Through my research I learned that the red mark in the corner is calligraphy print of the artist’s name. Also there are normally a number of these printed marks on the painting indicating the people who have owned that specific piece of artwork, each person adding to the legacy of that painting. Poetry is often found on Chinese paintings, usually pertaining to the subject matter or sometimes the trials the artist had when making that specific piece of artwork. There is a larger value placed on words and how things are worded in Chinese culture.



work in progress

The printed mark in the corner is my name Mitchell, Alan which is read from right to left, which was a little bit confusing. Eastern culture puts the family name first, followed by the individual’s name and it is read right to left traditionally. I learned one more thing from my research, the tree I used actually isn't a cherry blossom as I first thought, but it's actually a plum blossom tree.

Chinese Level Start

UDK - Chinese Level 

UDK - Chinese Level

Unreal Viewport

Base Maps -Spec, Nom, Diff

Shishi Lion Body Maps - Spec, Nom, Diff

Shishi Lion Head Maps - Spec, Nom, Diff 

Crosshatch Brickwork Maps - Spec, Nom, Diff 

Ice Maps - Spec, Nom, Diff 

 Snow Maps - Spec, Nom, Diff

Shishi Lion Sculpt

Skull Sculpt

 UDK Vertex Blending

 Skull Maps - Spec, Nom, Diff

 Coin Maps - Spec, Nom, Diff

Gold Coin Maps - Spec, Nom, Diff
Gold used in this article Link

Medkit

Medkit Maps - Spec, Nom, Diff

Da Vinci - Digital Paint

Sherlock Holmes

2004 - scratchboard

one of my favorite pieces