It was certainly a long summer. It is always tempting to just sit and do nothing after the final hand in from 2nd year, but I put myself in the mindset of being productive and get something done.
Social/Network:
I kept in contact with some people I met at the Game Republic's showreel to the point where we became friends and even started doing some pet projects, like a horror game in which I'll be doing the animations and some props.
Also, it's thanks to them that I manage to get into Game Republic's team and now I've been attending to their gatherings and others like TIGA and GaMaYo; something that keeps me in contacts with other people, get's me to spread some business cards around and get some feedback of my portfolio.
I also got invited by a friend I met in LinkedIn to join an unofficial art jam that him and a bunch of his friends do constantly just to keep themselves practising under certain rules and time limits.
 |
| This is one of the illustration I made for one of the art jams. |
Competitions:
So far I only manage to participate on the VG Remix in Polycount working on a low poly video game diorama. My game of choice was DarkStalkers from Capcom. It was a lot of fun to make and difficult because everything from polygons and textures where incredibly limited in size. The ultimate goal was to keep a WIP blog and submit the final piece on Sketchfab. Towards the end and when I had everything done, I had some problems with my account where transparencies wouldnt work. At the end I didn't submit on time, but at least I managed to get the work done.
Profesional:
Due to many reasons, I'm desperate for a job!... The main reason still being the fact that I want to stop working for the food industry and join the game one. Therefore I've been applying to different companies in the proximities that would potentially let me join their team and at the same time finish what's left of my studies. Obviously that's not as easy as it sounds, but I still gave it a chance.
From the many applications I've sent, T&T in Manchester (responsable for LEGO games) put me and many other applicants a trial task. The challenge was to make an original Lego figure (not done by them before), model under some poly count restrictions, UV map and texture within a week. If this phase was successful then they would call you for an interview.
My choice was the character Hellboy; I've always love this character, looks and on the plus side, it's already part of Warner Brothers.
The modelling certainly was the biggest challenge as Lego figures turn out to be ridiculously hard to model under a limited amount of triangles. At the end you endup looking for a balance between what's necesary, and what's visible. The UV mapping part I thought I had it dominated, but now I'm thinking that my arrangement might not be a industry standard. The texturing part was definately the easiest part and more enjoyable; Lego figures are quite restricted on where textures can be place, therefore it becomes a challenge to give the character the right personality.
This is the final texture and some model renders:
Unfortunately just this week I got an email from them saying that it was a really competitive position; many applicants where doing the same project and I wasn't selected due to still being a student (I'm sure my model wasn't up to standards, but they where nice enough not to say it). It's good to at least start getting an idea of what the industry is looking therefore I will be more prepare for the next time I try applying. So far it was fun to work on it and it kept me practising on softwares like Illustrator.
