DECIEL // Blog

2011-12-31T19:31:00.000-08:00

in b4 2012

Michael Pachter answered my question!

2011-10-03T08:49:00.000-07:00

Jump to 3:45 to hear his response to my question about early adoption of the PS Vita!

This is bat country!

2011-09-28T11:37:00.000-07:00

Little side project I'm working on to keep my skills sharp. Somewhat sorta kinda for Danielle's new project, if that team needs it.

Still alive

2011-08-23T15:28:00.000-07:00

Working on some awesome stuff right now, pimping and whatnot

Personal: Environment

2011-06-22T10:19:00.000-07:00

Made some new environmental studies to flesh out my portfolio. You can see the full production page here.
Please give me a job! lol I can do rocks & moss!

School: Env Final

2011-06-02T10:17:00.000-07:00

Hey, just posting up my final from Adv. Env. Was very rushed near the end, so there are a number of things I'd like to fix given the time, but as a bit of a sketch, I'm very happy with the turn out.

I set out to make a scene that seemed very epic in its scale and atmosphere, and I think it came out pretty well. Getting to play with depth of field in Viewport 2.o was super fun, and gives a much truer preview of how it'll look in-engine.

School: Vis Dev Props

2011-05-04T22:47:00.000-07:00

Just updated the 2D Section with some new work from my Visual Development for Games class, including the yummy bits above. Check it out!

Personal: Angel X WIP (1)

2011-04-26T10:57:00.000-07:00

Work In Progress shot of the hero character for my newest project with Dani. My first time character modelling in a high-poly workflow, so its slow-going, but I'm learning an absolute ton.

Personal: Angel X WIP (2)

2011-04-26T10:56:00.000-07:00

Personal: Angel X WIP (3)

2011-04-26T10:54:00.000-07:00

School: Vis Dev

2011-04-13T20:40:00.000-07:00

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School: Adv. Environmental

2011-04-13T18:00:00.000-07:00

School: Adv. "Environmental"

2011-04-06T18:17:00.000-07:00

Been a while. Kinda cheating, taking Advanced Environmental Modelling, but I want to focus on my character skillz, so I I'm tackling the Victoria Monument from Union Square in SF.

Deserves mentioning that these screengrabs are taken in Viewport 2.0, because HD rendering isnt working with my copy of Maya.

School: AAAAaaand... Finals.

2010-12-13T14:15:00.000-08:00

Boom!
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School: Midpoint Update

2010-11-09T14:32:00.000-08:00

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School: Midterms Already??

2010-10-18T08:32:00.000-07:00

Games Texture & Light midterm: low-poly car, no lights, 100% diffuse texture.

School: Altar Room (Light Test)

2010-10-15T01:24:00.000-07:00

Preliminary light test for my final in Games Texture & Light.

A NEW CHALLENGER APPEARS!

2010-09-25T04:35:00.000-07:00

Speed Painting: Unicorn King

2010-06-27T00:41:00.000-07:00

48 Minutes, Photoshop
VIDEO INCLUDED AFTER THE JUMP!
Quick, silly illustration of a character that I don't even know exists... Theoretical concept for a story Danielle wrote when she was 10. (which I think was last year, btw...)
More...

This was really impromptu, with virtually no backstory or planning, so.. Johns. Regardless, I had fun, though his neck anatomy really bothers me. Yay.

Random: Amazing Album Alert!

2010-06-23T15:11:00.000-07:00

Just got the new STARS album, "The Five Ghosts" and it is absolutely fantastic. Tracks We Don't Want Your Body, Dead Hearts & Opinions Versus The Sun are some of the best I've heard in a awhile. Indie without being cheap pop, and thoughtful without being melodramatic: Instant favorite.

Also: picture above is a screen cap of a random frame beginning of my demo real. I'm currently editing some stuff together in AfterEffects trying to get my reel ready for... something. E3's come and gone, schools not for a while... dunno.

Moral of the story: Minimalist design and subtle color effects take so much work!!! Look at all those points! Jeez.

Games: Baby Steps

2010-06-06T22:53:00.000-07:00

Just for fun, I decided to do a side-by-side with the Hanapu model we used in the original version of Popol Vuh. Thought it'd be good for a chuckle before moving on. However, upon looking at the actual specs, it kinda blew my socks off.

My, how things change, eh? 2K+ for that??
I used 3K on the T-Rex boss in Adrift after forcing myself to add more geometry for smoothing!
My goodness, no wonder the game had trouble maintaining its framerate!!

I kinda hadn't realized how far I've come and how much I've learned in the past year..
Guess it's been a lot, huh?

Games: A Real Boy [Update]

2010-06-06T00:18:00.000-07:00

Dani and I are toying with the idea of fixing up Popol Vuh to make it a more viable title for digital distribution. So, with all of the free time I've got, I decided to start in on the new Hanapu.

512 tris.
256px

Sup.
Textures in the next few days, we'll see.

[Update]: Here's an update with the texture. Sending it off to be rigged imminently!

School: FINALS!!

2010-05-16T23:32:00.000-07:00

Oh, its that time of year again! Just wrapped my last final for the semester, so I'm now spending the next 72 hours frantically trying to finish all the little odds and ends for the game before we "ship" on wednesday... Yikes!

This was my final for Digital Compositing. While its not the finest composite I've ever done, I think its pretty cool that it's all fully key-able for animation. All color correction, effects and mattes were done in AfterEffects, which is a first for me.

A preview of the source materials are after the jump.
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That's my roommate, Mike, and my desk plant, Arturo. Was pretty crunched for time, and couldn't find any good sources for close-ups of grass at that low angle, so I just bit the bullet and shot my own. Doesn't really fit the scene, but I had to do something lol.

Games: Tiger Love

2010-05-11T22:48:00.000-07:00

Again, nothing fancy, just a teaser shot. DeeJay's gonna be a cutie!

Stay tuned..

Games: Trex Attack

2010-05-08T16:28:00.000-07:00

I usually try to be fancy and make quality posts with lots of links and cool lightbox effects and stuff, but this week I'm just excited about my Trex.

Big guy's all rigged up and deformable, thanks to Dani, and is being animated and implemented into the game more and more every day. His wireframe and turnaround are in the 3D section aswell.

Personal: White Silver WIP

2010-04-29T01:25:00.000-07:00

Major news of late: I'm officially switching into the new Game Design major at the AAU, concentrating in Character Modeling. Between that, and my duties with Semester Games, its becoming apparent that I need to really force myself to practice drawing and modeling more regularly. So, gonna try to speedpaint a few nights a week:

Pshop, about 70 minutes.
Based on this character sketch (left) from 2006
Man, feel super slow comparatively to my oekaki days! Holy buckets.
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I keep going over this lesson Rob Steele told us in last semester's Portfolio I class, that you shouldn't apply to studios where you have to drastically change your style to match them, that it should be a smooth fit, and idealistically you're only applying to places that do the kind of work you want. That sounds really redundant and kinda stupid, but it's so true... So, to try to figure some stuff out (and also build my portfolio) I'm gonna try to work on some of my old characters from back in the day. They're pseudo-fan art for a particular studio, so maybe it'll earn me some points later on?

School: Still Life Painting Dump

2010-04-24T11:34:00.000-07:00

So, I'm taking a painting class. lol

Here's a backlog of most of my work for this semester. This is my first time painting a) with oils, b) for serious, so overall I'm pleased with what I'm learning. Plan is, it should improve my texture painting skills.

There's a bunch more after the jump:
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New: Semester Games BLOG!

2010-02-09T17:15:00.000-08:00

Semester Games now has a blog running, and that's where most of my work in the near future will be ending up. Check there often to see what I, and the rest of the Semester Art Team are working on.

Fan Art: Lara

2010-02-09T11:38:00.000-08:00

Furthering my ongoing feud with GameStop, I bought Tomb Raider: Underworld online... then promptly got ants in my pants passing the time until it arrived. So, to sate need to somersault and shoot tigers in the face, I resorted to photoshop:

Color Version Here

I didn't care as much for the color version, because I had to rush it a bit. These days I'm pressed for time enough as it is with school and my Semester Games duties, but I try to sneak in a pleasure piece when I can.
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I've always loved the Tomb Raider series for keeping its popcorn nature without actually turning into Queen's Tomb Blade Raider. Lara's one of the best examples of videogame character design that has the staying power to handle the test of time. She's beautiful, talented, and highly educated, so we don't have to be "convinced" as much to go along with it when she vaults off a pillar, shoots three dudes, flips and lands on a small beam over a 50 foot pit.

Girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

School: Perspective Dump #2

2009-12-30T15:21:00.000-08:00

A bit behind, but here's the rest from Perspective, enjoy!

Site Changes

2009-11-07T15:43:00.000-08:00

Site's under maintenance, can you tell?

It's cool, I got this.

School: Perspective Dump [Update]

2009-10-12T20:22:00.001-07:00

So Perspective's a pretty cool class, though it's a bit up in the air. My teacher's had multiple medical emergencies, and numerous classes have been cancelled, but hopefully someone will be there to critique our third assignment tomorrow.

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We've been able to work digitally since day 1, which is both a boon, and a crutch, I think. I love it, 'cause it helps me from totally sucking, but I also feel like it makes me lazy. Which is a bummer.

It's good practice though; I really need to get better at painting...

Personal: The Jaguar Queen

2009-10-10T15:36:00.000-07:00

Katie and I were kicking around ideas for her next project in her Personal Focus class, where she's doing kind of modernize, digital Alphonse Mucha pieces of powerful, iconic women. Naturally, when she mentioned the Maya, I went off.

Katie's idea was inspired by the notion of the jaguar being the most magical creature in the world. Read on for the specs!
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Photoshop CS3, Intuos 3, 90 minutes (while on a phonecall)
Provided, Katie's aesthetic is far more pretty-centric, and less open to nudity, but overall, I had a lot of fun working on this. It'll be interesting seeing how Katie's final piece looks in comparison.

I'd originally planned on doing a full-color version, but I like the sketch here a bit too much; think I'll leave it as-is.

Unofficial: Gauntlet Legend Drinking Game

2009-09-03T20:33:00.000-07:00

Since moving into our respective apartments for the school year in San Francisco, Dani, Mike and I are all left twiddling our thumbs with a lack of games, as all of our next gen systems are either out of comission or in the mail.

So, inspired by Leigh Alexander's legendary Metal Gear game, and Polybius' FFX-2 by extention, and fueled with college-educated minds, we set to work:

The Unofficial Gauntlet Legends Drinking Game

WARNING: If you're under the legal drinking age of your particular place on earth, or are otherwise averse to the idea, please refrain from reading on.

Supplies:

A reasonable amount of beer. You could try harder alcohol, but as the levels progress you'll be drinking so frequently there's always a risk of spillage. We used some 12 packs of Miller.

Rules:

1) 1 Sip - Start a level.

2) 1 Swig - Destroy an enemy spawn point.

3) 1 Gulp - Destroy a golem.

4) Finish Your Drink - Realize you're throwing axes at nothing.

Hard Mode:

5) 1 Swill - Narrator/Sorcerer says anything.

Nightmare Mode:

6) 1 Slug - You or your teammates become "IT."

Remember kids, "Friends don't let friends play two controllers at once while the first goes to the bathroom." This could lead to serious character injury, and - quite assuridly - death.

Play Responsibly.

Personal: Triangle Shoreline Test Composite

2009-08-28T14:58:00.000-07:00

It's been a while, so here's an update on how the new (still untitled) project's coming along: This is a test to try to figure out the best way to imitate a beach/shoreline. Palms have new, cartoonier textures, and I slapped some smoothed normals on the dude.

Maya, Photoshop, 3 hrs.

Naturally, the distant background/sky is photoshopped in, but the whole mid- and foreground are a render straight out of maya. Transparency maps are such a life-saver! They're helping so much in maintaining the cartoony nature of our design aesthetic. I'm very excited about this.

Nitty gritty after the jump:
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Ground (temp) - 100 polys, 1000x1000 diffuse texture
Trees - 64 polys, 256x256 diffuse & transparency
Shells - 16 polys, 128x128 diffuse
Waves - 30 polys, 256x256 diffuse & stransparency

Friggin stoked.

Triangle: Island Speed Painting

2009-08-09T23:59:00.000-07:00

So, I decided it'd be fun to make a speed painting for concept of the/an island in the Bermuda Triangle. Problem with speed paintings is that you dont always have enough time...

Photoshop, 90 minutes.

The water, sky and beach work for me, but I just really wish I had more time and/or talent to improve the forest, mountains and atmospheric perspective.

Also, that 2 second ship felt pretty sweet.

Reference pics and notes after the jump.
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Personal: Triangle Trees

2009-08-05T10:56:00.000-07:00

It's Texture Tiiime!! And Transparency Map Tiiiime..! I've got to work on my cheers...

128 tris, a while.

Ha! Hahaha! Y'all thought I was talkin crazy, but look at the results! 64 quads!? Low-poly modeling is awesome!

Again, textures arent finished, obviously still have to paint the bark, but I'm just so excited about the progress.
[UPDATE]: Upon getting some sleep and looking at this again, the palm fronds are waaay too realistic. They're definitely gonna need to be cartooned down.

Lamberts after the jump...
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Personal: Triangle MC1

2009-08-04T23:57:00.000-07:00

Good to see the blogosphere churning out some new stuff again! Here's an update and nudie-girl's game's future, now with 100% more boy!

1020 tris, time.

Dani and I want the game to have a cartoony/Disney-esque look, so a natural inspiration is Kingdom Hearts. This is a progress shot, as I've started the textures and he's beginning to look like something normal.

Inspiration and artist notes after the jump:
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Before textures...

Here's a peek at the Color Map for this dude. I'm very proud of the UVs for this model, 'cause I'm working hard to learn to standardize my shapes and I think it shows. I would say "I wish I could do more texturing" but I foresee a LOT of it in my future with this project.

Early inspiration: Nathan Drake meets Viewtiful Joe meets Prince Eric meets Mike Abatsis. It's been an... interesting process... :P

Personal: Ellie

2009-07-27T17:53:00.000-07:00

Dani's already started to mentioned Ellie, so I figure it's safe to start showing some concept. Dani describes her as "what Megan Fox should have been." kekeke Also, cartoony.

Photoshop: stupid hours, 'cause I kept getting interupted

Did you notice she's naked?

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This is the first time I'm using the lightbox on the frontpage images. Not sure if it's worth the work. If you care, shout.
Ellie's a quest-giver in the game, and is only naked briefly. No funny ideas!!

Site: CHANGED!

2009-07-24T21:33:00.000-07:00

Look at that! Not even 24 hours, and we've got a full site revamp, with no loose ends aside from having to add more work to the portfolio page! Blogs are awesome.

Please disregard the clutter on the main blog page right now, it'll all get shuffled off once I add more content. However please DO regard the new SlimBox setup in the Art Superpost! It took me forever to get right >__<

More goodies after the jump

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+ The new SlimBox is a total life-saver, because I actually lost some of the final code used for the old gallery system in the move, and now there are no annoying pop-ups to worry about when viewing my work!

+ I considered using one of Deviant's new Portfolios (the awesome version!) but decided it wasn't for me. However, it IS a pretty great system, and I'd highly recommend it to anyone who wants a professional looking gallery with little/no code recquired.

+ Hopefully now I'll get around to posting my 3D and Motion work in an actual gallery set-up.

+Last thing I want to code, though it's not really a game-breaker is getting the DECIEL title banner at the top to link directly back to DECIEL.NET and not the blog. We'll see.

Site: Changes. part deux

2009-07-24T11:05:00.000-07:00

It's actually working! Miraculous!

Expect some wonkiness for a few days, but so far, so good.

I decided that a blog/portfolio hybrid is just too cool and easy to scrap, so instead I'm working on cleaning and streamlining the site to unclutter it, while maintaining the functionality. If you're in the dark, check out my older post.

Portfolio

2009-07-24T10:39:00.000-07:00

2D: Concept Art, Illustrations

3D: Models, Development

MOTION: Animation, Video

GAMES

Resume

2009-07-24T10:38:00.001-07:00

OBJECTIVE
Seeking a job or internship in the field of game art and/or design.

EDUCATION
ACADEMY OF ART UNIVERSITY (San Francisco)
Attending: 08/2008 - Present.
Major: 3D Animation for Games. (BFA)
BFA Expected Spring 2010. GPA: N/A.
ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (NY)
Attended: 08/2006 - 06/2008.
Major: New Media Design & Imaging. (BFA)
Concentration: Visual Culture. GPA: 3.25.

SKILLS
Mac & PC literate. Very knowledgable with: Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, AfterEffects, Flash, Autodesk Maya. Now learning: Autodesk 3D Studio Max.

RELATED EXPERIENCE
POPOL VUH:LLAMA RACE: MAYA, PSHOP, AFTEREFFECTS
Videogame visualization prototype. World, level, and character design. 2009.
PERSONAL PORTFOLIO: HTML, XML, FLASH
Web-based interactive experience. 2008.

OTHER EXPERIENCE
BEANZ: Student Manager at on-campus cafe at RIT. Serving drinks, opening, closing, and handling cash. Promoted from Barista after 3 months. 2007-2008.
CAZENOVIA CLUB CORP: Presenter. Prepared and served food. 2003-2008.

ACHIEVEMENTS
GOLD KEY: SCHOLASTIC ARTS AWARDS
For a Photoshop Illustration. 2004.

CLUBS/ACTIVITIES
RIT ARTHOUSE: EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Head of Open Houses: 2007-08.

REFERENCES
Available by Request.

Personal Info

2009-07-24T10:37:00.000-07:00

Name: Jean-Marie Scheid

A/S/L: 22/M/San Francisco

Status: Taken

CONTACT
Email: Pilote.de.Ciel@gmail

AIM: pdc2046

PSN: PiloteDC

Illustration by Katie Anderson

ABOUT ME

I'm an Artist and Designer in the Video Game industry. I'm currently working with a very cozy team on various gaming projects in addition to my studies in Animation for Games at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. I'm going to get out of college some day.

LIKES
Movie: 2046
Band: Serafin
Music: Indie/Euro Rock
Writer: Adam Marston
Artist: Julie Dillon
Styles: Art Nouveau, Caravaggesque
Games: Legend of Dragoon, Shadow of the Colossus
System: PS3
Tools: Wacom Intuos3 6x11, Photoshop, Maya, 3DSMax
Quote: "NEVER SETTLE"

View my complete profile (Blogger)

Site: Changes.

2009-07-23T23:40:00.000-07:00

Mildly giving in to peer-pressure, but regardless I'm looking into changing DECIEL.NET's navigation and visual theme. More details after the jump.

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I really like(d) the blog-centric system of having everything on one page, always accessable, but I'm told it's too busy. It's sort of a given when packing a large amount of info into a small space, but, as an artist/designer, I have to take it to heart.

+ I'm first going to try to change the graphics to create a more stylish over-all look.
+ Gloat about this fancy new collapsible text :D
+ Next I want to get rid of the current format of having the blog in an iframe (so the URL will change for different pages, and the back button will make more sense) and create an actual landing-page.
+ Finally I want to try my hand at making a lightbox. If it doesn't work, I'll also consider investing in a DevArt "Portfolio"

It's my birthday!

2009-07-20T16:52:00.001-07:00

@__@
21st, yo.

Personal: Cock Block

2009-07-14T17:08:00.000-07:00

wth?

Personal: Comic Development

2009-07-11T20:42:00.000-07:00

So, I've pretty much decided to take this comic idea and run with it. Wasn't sure about what story to tell, but for now I've decided to show a bit of the first chapter of a much bigger story that I've been working on for years. However, I cant really disclose what the bigger tale is about, for copyright reasons...

This is a quick design for the main character, a bit updated from the original I made when I was probably 16 (look familiar?). He's the spiritual evolution of this guy, as well.

Personal: Girl Face

2009-07-08T22:33:00.000-07:00

Summer's a slow time for the blogosphere. It's unfortunate.

So, I've got a new project that I'm not yet prepared to announce yet, that I'm in the planning stages of with Danielle and Adam. In it, there's a girl character that I'm designing, and I'm wrestling with how old she should be. So, here's a "young lady" type.

Also, I read earlier that Sony's planning downloadable comics for the PSP, and I really hope that means stuff like the Metal Gear Solid graphic novel by Ashley Wood, rather than simply paying for PDFs. PDFs are lame. Animooted comics aren't.

I'd be very interested in trying to make an animated comic on the side, in the future : )

Fan Art: Boobs!

2009-06-20T19:11:00.000-07:00

I've been so infatuated with Kenichiro Yoshimura's Bayonetta model recently, that I decided that the best way to learn his method is to just throw originality to the wind and try my hand at recreating his work. Imitation is the sincerest form of plagiarism, or something, right?

3 hours, 2000 Tris. BOOYAH!
Provided, I'm still on my low-poly kick, but decided to go more PS2 than DS with her, 'cause, what can I say, I like the curves. Hair and props are next, but just I really wanted to share this before I continued.

Random: Holy Potatoes! SVGL Banner, GET!

2009-06-08T16:28:00.000-07:00

The wonderful Leigh Alexander over at Sexy VideoGame Land put out a call for a new banner for her site, as the public didn't think that Big Boss was suitably sexy enough.

And you know how much I love shoopin' me some vidja game characters! I was much too pleased to oblige.

Leigh ended up going with the Bayonetta image, (image), but I also made a Sheva Alomar banner that I liked quite a bit. (image) Both ladies had a pretty hefty amount of photoshopping, as portions of Bayonetta's hair didnt exist in the source image, and I got rid of Sheva's shotgun, requiring some hand surgeory, and gave her a flirtier expression.

Thanks so much to SVGL for choosing and showcasing my banner! I'm still star-struck over the whole encounter : )

Random: Post, for Post's Sake.

2009-06-08T11:46:00.000-07:00

"I'm not dead" and all that jazz. Haven't updated much, 'cause I haven't been making much that is site-worthy. Here's what's been happening:

Hyper Digitalism - Adam's gettin' his blog-thang on, with this new critical analysis on what games actually do, and why we like them so much. Check it out!

Mr. L. Paulie - He was fun, but my experiment in trying to characterize and clothe him came out... awkward. Definitely not something I want to share with the world. I'm not done with the whole low-poly thing though, no worries.

E3 - The PSP Go!'s not that bad in person, but it does give me hand-cramp, because the controls are too close together, and I've got some pretty small mitts. I'm content to just upgrade my memory stick and download anyway. Otherwise, the show was awesome, and here's a rundown of over-generalizations based on mere minutes of gameplay:

The Game For _____ Is...
Danielle (and boys everywhere) - Lost Planet 2. It probably gets Adam's and my Game of the Show for it's super-epic nature, multiplayer functionality, and incredible lack-of-chug. Oh, and there's a rocket-shotgun. I dunno.
Mike - Muramasa: The Demon Blade. Game looks awesome for a Wii title, and plays super-tight. If they have GameCube/Classic controller support, this could be a great game to tide you over on the rare occassion you don't want to play Brawl. Or when hell freezes over.
Allonte - Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Crystal Bearers. Wii game, pretty people, psychic powers, main character has a jewel in his face, and in the playable demo there was flying. Your prayers have been answered, my friend.
Austin - Get on the PSN and download FF7 RIGHT NOW, you fool!! No need to unbrick your PSP just yet, buddy!
JM - Bayonetta. Game is smooth as silk, action is easy to pick-up, but deep, even in the 10 minute demo I played, and Bayonetta is a girl. Not just a skinny boy with tits, she walks, talks, kicks and sashays like an honest-to-goodness female. Yeah, the game's quirky and silly, but if you can enjoy the humor, there's some good-times in store.
Honorable Mention - Sin & Punishment 2. Starfox + Rez + anime graphics + hilarious Engrish translations made this one of the most memorable games we saw. The Wii has an alarmingly bad-ass line-up this year, which comes as a big surprise. Aside from that "vitality sensor" mumbo jumbo..

So I've been busy! I'll get back to the art grindstone soon!

Games: PSP Go! Images Leaked

2009-05-30T14:19:00.000-07:00

Really? You're serious.
-ahem-

THAT THING IS HIDEOUS!!

Who thought that was a good idea? I'm 100% on-board with the internal memory, the sliding screen, potentially even a touch screen! But the whole point of the PSP is that it's sexy, and sophisticated. It's sleek piano black with silver detailing.

Trust me Sony, Nintendo's got the whole block-durable-portable-console thing covered!

Please, please, please be a temporary prototype design...
I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that there will be demo units at the Sony booth! Let you guys know on Thursday!

Personal: Mr. L. Paulie

2009-05-21T14:50:00.000-07:00

"Personal," man, it's been so long since I wrote that here! haha! Gotta love summer.

Anyway, my main goal this summer is to learn to get good at ultra-low-poly modelling, ever since I became inspired by Mr. Tom Tallian's work, reduxing the Team Fortress 2 guys (seen here). I just completed my first attempt at imitating that method (seen below).

Naturally, it's not mind-blowing or anything, but I'm really pleased with the results of the experiment. I mean, c'mon! 400 tris? So awesome, to me at least. Now that I've got the basic idea down, gotta start working on style.

Finals: Two For One!

2009-05-15T05:58:00.000-07:00

Two videos in one day?! Crazy talk!

Maya I is officially over with! I learned a lot, and missed a lot of sleep, but I'm totally cool with not doing any more modelling for school for a few months. These aren't my greatest pieces, but I'm proud to have completed them on-time, without compromising too much of my vision.

Popol Vuh: Llama Race Box Art

2009-05-10T01:44:00.000-07:00

Finals AAGH! (expect this every day for a while lol) Box art is GO!

I've always wanted to design the box art for a game, so this was really exciting for me. Decided to do a specifically "Llama Race" cover instead of an overall "Popol Vuh" one, because the game changed a lot after Danielle and I teamed up. After all, PV is about the hero twins, and in the playable demo we made, Hanapu isn't even in it!

Maybe I'll make another for PV over the summer, but, I'll probably have bigger and better things to work on by then. Enjoy!

School: Mike Wabatski WIP

2009-05-07T23:50:00.000-07:00

Finals are coming up! Here's a sneak peak at what I'm working on in Maya.

The model (and rig) was given to us by the prof, and was named "Morty." You cannot tell me that's not a b-list Mike Wazowski! However, due to respect for copyright laws, I'm borrowing the name and likeness of my good friend Mike Abatsis.

Popol Vuh: First Playable

2009-04-28T22:40:00.000-07:00

Holy buckets, that happened fast. Also, this post happened late. Heh..

Moral of the story: we did it! Game's pretty much done and submitted to the Spring Show. We wrapped the whole thing last week on Sunday, but it took me a bit to actually make a page for it, and even that's not super done, but, hey, it's finals.

While I'm still working on it, the link to Deciel's official Popol Vuh site now has a frontpage link on the sidebar to the right.

I'm gonna start posting my older games in that section aswell, so keep an eye out. As a matter of fact, the whole sidebar's gonna change pretty radically as soon as I have some spare time.

Working On It...

2009-04-28T02:05:00.000-07:00

giving the site a bit of a face-lift, bear with me. Things will definitely be a bit wonky, but it'll get there.

School: Figure Modeling Portrait

2009-04-13T17:39:00.000-07:00

Third project for Figure Modeling is/was a portrait from life. However, our live model was impossible to work with, so our professor told us to just make something up that looked like a girl.

My model came out much more ethnic than the very white girl who sat for us, but that's kinda my style I guess. She went through a pretty ugly phase in the middle, but I'm content with where she ended up. Got a B+.

Random: Potential Game Has Potential?

2009-04-12T23:18:00.000-07:00

So, not to totally geek or anything, but I just got word from our resident tech-geek and gamer-girl, Danielle, that she's been hard at work making a playable demo of Popul Vuh for our History of Games class. And, amazingly, it's really coming together!

How cool is that? Here's a link to her original post, with developer notes.

School: Maya I Progress

2009-04-09T14:55:00.000-07:00

I'm at that stage in the semester now where I'm steadily doing stuff, but it's mostly the little details that don't show well in screenshots and/or get really boring to explain, so I'll spare you.

So here's my turtle. He's got a skeleton and and stuff now, but you can't see it. Thought it might be nice to see my tests with lighting and the shell-top scenery.

More soon, trust me!

[Edit]: I felt like that wording was a bit patronizing, so I decided to let you in on what goes on behind the scenes. Scary right?

Popol Vuh: Xibalba

2009-03-30T21:37:00.000-07:00

Needed something quick for Intro today, so I got to work designing the Gateway to the Underworld, described in the Mayan legends as being a giant "monster maw."

Their gods would actually descend into the underworld to reclaim the good pieces of previous races to use to propagate the world with a new breed of humans, indicating that the Popul Vuh is not truly the story of the first humans, but really the first humans that escaped the maw. That inspired me to make the maw so bloated and grotesque because he's already devoured innumerable worlds before our own.

School: CAPS Bumper

2009-03-29T02:22:00.000-07:00

Older stuff, just transferred it over to Vimeo though.

This is my "bumper" (or slate to the rest of the world) for CAPS. Didn't realize until after it was done how much it resembled DreamWorks' image, but, it's "whatever." I still like it.

Popol Vuh: CAPS p.3 - 1st Pass

2009-03-28T19:12:00.000-07:00

Now that we're back from break, it's time to get back to work on newer and better things. For CAPS we need to start modeling characters, so naturally I went straight to doing the boys. Decided to do Bala for this project, because he's Katie's favorite.

Simple-shape, hard-bound rigging; this project is going to be focused on the animation, not the overall model quality. However, I still am really enjoying this 1st pass.

Popol Vuh: Midterms Spring 09 part 2

2009-03-17T16:39:00.001-07:00

Not to completely eat my words or anything, but I was inspired by The Behemoth's new video, and decided to post my own.

Trying out Vimeo now. I like it so far; probably be posting the rest of the Popol Vuh footage over there, rather than the YouTube page.

School: Figure Modelling Midterm

2009-03-15T18:48:00.000-07:00

Little late, but here's my first female.

I think she's epic.

Games: RE5 Party!

2009-03-13T12:37:00.000-07:00

Man, Capcom throw's a good party! I attended their RE5 launch event in San Francisco's Union Square last night, and it was the best midnight release I'd ever seen. Game producer Jun Takeuchi crossed the pond to come hang out (pictured below), the full mo-cap and voice cast was there, and dozens of demo units set up with the full retail version of the game so we could start jumping out of our skin before 12 o'clock rolled around.

We had an awesome time, and are thoroughly enjoying the game so far.

School: Maya I

2009-03-12T15:31:00.001-07:00

Yeah, Friday's like, "whatever." Got some time before class to show you my midterm progress on the bigger and better version of this guy.

So there you go. Kijuju, here I come!

School: CAPS Midterm

2009-03-11T13:27:00.000-07:00

Midterms, go!
Every day this week, I have 24 hours to do an entire project start-to-finish. Last night, this happened. Kinda like it.

I need sleep so bad, but tomorrow the turtle's due, so, yeah. Also, ResiE5 is coming out tomorrow night, so I'll be at the Powell St GameStop. See you on Friday!

Popol Vuh: Midterms Spring 09

2009-03-09T14:31:00.000-07:00

Just finished my first gameplay animatic for Intro to Games. I'm not sure if I want to post it yet, 'cause it's suuuper rough.. but if I like it at the end of the day, I'll post it on YouTube.

One thing I did last night that I AM proud of, though, is the text-only wordmark for the title.

It seems a shame to make it so small, 'cause there's a subtle underlight that you totally miss out on, and it's my favorite part. Alas.

[Edit]: Needed something to put on Vimeo, so I posted the animatic today.

School: First Figure

2009-02-26T22:56:00.000-08:00

Sculpting is awesome. I took Figure Modelling this semester as a fun class to get me away from my computer on Fridays and it's been great. Last time we finished our first 2 week pose, and I was pretty happy with how it came out:

Think he looks pretty good, especially for my first time working with clay!

POPOL VUH: UI Mock-Up

2009-02-24T15:22:00.000-08:00

Getting deeper into designing the gameplay, so mocked up some in-game visual targets. Rim-lit objects are interactive, and the twins are controlled with the stylus.

Pretty happy with the result. Self-art directing is a tough job : /

Big News: Popol Vuh Is A Go!

2009-02-16T12:22:00.000-08:00

As of last Monday, I have officially been given my first Green Light! "Popol Vuh" is the title of the over-arching project I've started that encompasses most all of the work I'll be doing this semester.

It's a 2D side-scrolling adventure game for the Nintendo DS, following the mythical characters of Bala and Hanapu, the Hero Twins of Maya Legend, as they solve problems and disentangle hairy situations using cleverness, rather than violence, in the ancient world. Run-On-Sentences, baby!

School: Mega Update 2

2009-01-22T11:32:00.000-08:00

Okay, Fall 2008 is over, and it's time for another update. I'm actually very excited about the stuff that came out of this semester near the end. While my modeling skills have yet to really level up, lighting's definitely coming together (as seen above from ANM 101).

ANM 180

Also added a new link to the Links Out section. L'angle B is an awesome artist, and one who has influenced my work in so many ways. Definitely check her out.

CES 09: HECK YEAH!

2009-01-20T18:03:00.000-08:00

Through my family's questionable means, I was able to go to my first industry convention a week ago in Les Vegas. The Consumer Electronics Show wasn't quite as interesting a showcase for me as it was for my A/V-saavy brother in law, but it was by no means a complete loss. For one thing, I got to spend the weekend in Vegas. And on top of that, I met Mike McWherter, Senior Editor of Kotaku! Pretty awesome.

School: Mega Update (progressive)

2008-11-06T09:25:00.000-08:00

So, school happened. I'm gonna use this as a dump-post to unload all my stuff from midterms-week 10 projects. Most will be organized by class. (The above image was our first exercise in Maya in ANM101)

ANM 180

AMERICA: OBAMOWNED!

2008-11-04T22:32:00.000-08:00

Congrats America! We did it! Just a few hours ago, we elected the first African American President of the United States. That's effing amazing.

I really don't get why more sites (namely google) haven't updated to a "Holy Crap! Obama!!" homepage yet, so I figured I'd start the trend. "Be the change," right?

On a more related note: I've finished my first midterms at the Academy, and have a bunch of schoolwork to show. Look for it in the next few days!

Games: Valkyria Chronicles Impressions

2008-10-09T09:53:00.000-07:00

Sega Party, Go! There was a really fun event for the new game held at the Metreon's Playstation Store on 09/26/08. It was my first gaming press event, well, ever, and I had a great time. Lots of swag, some cool and eBay-able, some completely random-but-entertaining. The coolest part I thought, was the special edition blu-ray jacket that was signed in front of you by the game's Producer/Designer, Ryutaro Nonaka.

Or, at least, that's what I thought until I realized an hour later that the silly little raffle tickets that we got for standing in line had a WINNER! Totally won a giant mounted Promo Poster featuring the game's protagonists in a cool action-pose. And got it signed. Nonaka-sama signed that shit hard.

They took a bunch of pictures of us, so it's a shame that they chose this one, but hey. Can't really complain, right?

Game Impressions: To business, right. Valkyria seems pretty intriguing, as JRPGs struggle to redefine themselves in the international market, usually copping out as becoming more "actiony". The game employs an interesting compromise by giving everyone guns (for the americans) while still keeping the very classic turn-based strategic elements (for the japanese). For the most part, this marriage of styles works well, though running around the field before starting your primary action each turn feels very plodding, and the cover system could really use some work.

The demo build was naturally short, so I can't really speak for the girth of the game, but the cutscene at the beginning was adequately pretty, and the battle was lengthy with each of the character classes feeling useful. My only real complaint about the game from the small portion I did play, is just a story/character bias. The male protagonist, Welkin, seems like the character that we 18-25 year old guys are supposed to relate to, but, he spends damn near all of his time during battle inside the team's tank at the rear, and only becomes useful after fighting grunts for 10 minutes, when you use a few big shells to end the sortie. He seems very distant and detached from the player, and most of the action. Sucks.

All-in-all, I'm still very excited about the game. It's one of those games that really could turn out awesome, but could just as easily be tragically mediocre. Here's hopin'.

School: ANM101 Phelps ATTACK!?

2008-10-09T08:53:00.000-07:00

Intro to Computer Graphics For Animators is boring. Kinda "Photoshop I"ish. So, I spend most of my time pissin' about, trying to keep myself entertained with stuff like this:

Viral emails lawl.
As you may have noticed, I'm pretty behind; a lot's been happening though! Here's what's on the docket:

Pre-release impressions for Valkyria Chronicles, from Sega's Press Event in San Francisco!
Little Big Planet beta impressions (since I just got in)
Cut-Paper Animation will hopefully get converted soon, to keep the ANM180 news up-to-date.

School: ANM 180 Clay Morph [UPDATE: +Bounce]

2008-09-21T13:14:00.000-07:00

More clay!

Second assignment in my Experimental Animation class, part 1/2-ish. Sphere-into-Cube morph, without simply patting it down. Thought it was pretty sweet.

[UPDATE]: I'm adding the 3rd part of this assignment here, instead of making a random post in January. lol

Wasn't too wild on this one when I first made it, but it's grown on me. It's a replacement series of about 12-16 individual scultpures. Major point of pride was that I was the only one in my class to actually suspend the ball in the air at the top of the arc, as to avoid having it appear to be "pouring."

Original: Speed Painting #2 (SWF)

2008-09-19T02:12:00.000-07:00

lookit! two weeks in a row! woo!
I'm still working on the Dominy-series characters, but the hero was giving me sass, so I decided to mess around in flash to clear my head. Here you go!

School: ANM 180 Clay Worms!!

2008-09-18T16:27:00.000-07:00

So, I go to Animation School now! Hooray!! Videos!

Second assignment in my Experimental Animation class. First assignment might go up, but dont count on it. It was a group project, and didnt really turn out the way I'd hoped. Those worms are Adorable though.

Original: Dominy Sketch

2008-09-10T14:37:00.000-07:00

What's this? Two posts in relatively close proximity?? With pictures?!? What is this madness!?

After sleeping sadly little, and lurking a bit on CGTalk, decided to just break down and do it. Said "screw it man: I'm drawing a girl and I dont care if it comes out terrible!" And it worked!

"Dominy" Character Sketch, Photoshop, 65 minutes.

Character Inspired by Final Fantasy Tactics: War Of The Lions.

Naturally I'm now seeing a bunch of ways to fix it, but I'm still very pleased with where it is, and am going to walk away from it. The name "Dominy" originally comes from a randomly generated Squire that was assigned to me in one of my playthroughs of FF Tactics for PSP, and due to my bordom and the monotony of play, I developed a fun little back-story and personalities for all of my little guys. Thought about doing a little comic about them a while back, but the plot would have been totally forced, so I'll spare you.

Original: Speed Painting #1

2008-09-08T00:56:00.000-07:00

It's a sunday night, and I decided I'm not sleeping until I just draw something. I've been seriously frustrated with my work all summer, and getting really anxious to just create. So, I did.

Two New Goals:

Make at least 1 speed painting/sketch/fan art per week. Just so I dont get stale.
Make a demo reel by this July. Dont know what will be in it, other than clips from my vid with Katie from a while ago, but I'm sure I'll figure something out. Need to show that I understand image, motion and time.

So, guess I kinda cheated with this one going all dramatic and noir-y, but it was inspired by my desire to re-record the narration to my flash "trailer" for Adam's story "A Deal" now that I have access to a high-quality soundbooth at the Academy. Once I get my voice back.

Okay, so maybe I lied.

2008-09-03T22:29:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the downtime; I was really trying to get do another revamp, 'cause I've become inspired to fix the internet/computers. Inspired by the cheesiest thing(s) too! I ended up downloading Sonique2.0 again, and its just way too cool. I cant believe that its been out of production for so long, because I really feel like it is what "web 2.0" kinda stuff really should be! Web 2.0 is all about streamlining and organization, I get that, but, Sonique is just about the COOL! Not just cool features, or cool graphics, but the whole package just feels futuristic, and when people look over your shoulder and see it, they say "whoa, whats that??"
I feel like the computer culture of the world has really been too taken in by the YouTube and Mac OSX aesthetic. Maybe it's a dying art, but the late 90's was really onto something! I want sci-fi! I want the Matrix! What happened to that stuff? I miss the cool.

Anyway, I'm in San Francisco now! Hooray! The Academy is really cool so far, and I'm really excited to get started with my major.

I know I should really be posting images soon/now, since thats really the only thing people are interested in, but, I'm working on it. If nothing else, I'll post some pics of the city, my room and roommate. Photos are good too, right?

Check it.

2008-08-15T21:15:00.001-07:00

really thought i was gonna update the site design.
guess not.

Update: Contest: "Clank Poster" (Last one, I swear!)

2008-08-03T10:18:00.000-07:00

The Rachet & Clank forums on the Playstation Boards have been on FIRE since the end of the contest, because some of the winners didn't follow the rules to a "T." While personally, I'm not surprised, 'cause the images we were given were pretty cheap, I did my best to not take sides in the situation.

However, one really cool thing did come out of the flame wars/discussion:

sith_c ( 08-01-2008 10:33 PM ): I'm excited that PiloteDeCiel won, his poster is awesome, and if they make it into a download for the psp I'd totally be in line.

Not gonna lie; that's freaking awesome. I've been out of the online-art-scene for a pretty long time, so it feels pretty darn good to hear that someone likes my stuff.

Original: Girly WIP

2008-08-02T21:01:00.000-07:00

Another "finally" post! I've been trying for the past few days to draw a sexy girl that didn't look completely forced. I wanted to spruce up the ol' site a bit, and figured a pretty lass or two would do the place wonders, but every time I tried, it just showed that I was outside my comfort zone with "traditional" (read: "cliche") sexy chicks. The D-Cups just looked retarded, so I stopped, took a deep breath, and just drew what I thought was sexy, and strangely enough, I like it! Equally strange: certainly looks a lot like Katie. lol

Photoshop, 90 minutes (so far). Obviously not finished yet, just thought I'd show some W.I.P. It took forever to get this far, 'cause I kept trying to draw from reference of real girls, and it just went nowhere. Wont waste anymore time though: back to work!

Update: Contest: "...Clank Swank Poster"

2008-07-30T08:47:00.000-07:00

The kind folks over on the Playstation Boards promise that they'll have the contest judging done ASAP, though they are a bit busy, ya know, makin' games and all...

Unconfirmed sources say we should expect some results on or soon after the 31st, but I dont know if I can believe that. You'll know when I know!

[Edit 08.01.08]: I WON! Woo! Got the confirmation email the other night while talking to Katie. Details:

As a winner you will receive a 22x28 version of your poster signed by the Secret Agent Clank Development team and an exclusive collectible Clank figurine (Approximate Retail Value $100).

Additionally, we will use your inspirations to create a Secret Agent Clank Fan Pack that will include Banners, PSP Wallpapers, Avatars and PSP Themes.

So stoked. Resume-e-e!!
>>original post.

Original: Butterfly Lamps

2008-07-30T08:13:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time coming, but I finally wrapped up my first photo & CGI composite piece. This started off as a school project, but after my teacher essentially shat all over my idea, I just moved on during the school year, and completed it in my own time.

Digital photo, Cinema 4D, Photoshop. First time trying anything like this, it didnt quite come out as cool as I thought it would, but, thats the nature of learning. Each of the butterflies is modeled on a ridiculous scale to be a battery-powered, gear-based flying machine, with glassy luminescent wings. It was difficult balancing their small size, transluscent materials, and lighting models so that they look cool, but dont get overpowered.

Will post more detail shots to the gallery soon.
P.S. - Cinema 4D sucks my dick, and I hope to never have to use that crap again.

Fan Art: Big Red Speed Painting

2008-07-08T13:14:00.000-07:00

Well it's about time! I knew that eventually I'd have to produce something decent. Hot off the wacom tablet, for your viewing pleasure:

Hellboy speedpainting in photoshop. ~50 minutes. Kinda for my mommy (kekeke) as we've been counting the days until the new movie. I miss oekakis i___i

Original: BeastMaster Concept

2008-07-08T08:21:00.000-07:00

I keep wrestling with my mom's tiny monitor, trying to pump out some new doodles, but I'm pretty much hating everything I produce. Frustrated, I started scouring the computer for anything I could post, and realized I forgot this little beaut!

It's a photoshop painting I made as a character design/concept art for a game idea I hatched one afternoon. It's not quite where I want it yet, but, it's been a month or two since I started it, so I highly doubt I'll be so inclined to go back to it, so we'll call it "done."

The final version can be viewed through the thumbnails on the right>>>>

but I did a pretty good job saving iteratively, so I figured I'd post a progress piece below. I get asked a lot "oh m'gawd, how do you doo that on the computer??" to which I generally say "i'unno.." So, here, like this:

DECIEL.NET Revamp! (2.0?)

2008-07-08T07:06:00.000-07:00

Finally got fed up enough with waiting that I sat up last night and changed the site's homepage to just be a housing unit for the blog.

Originally I wanted the blog to be a single page on the site, seperate from the galleries and stuff, but I realized while playing with the HTML editor that Blogger provides, I could really run about 85% of the site's overall content right here. So, I'm giving it a shot. It's pretty challenging to put all of the different content media types without making the page too cluttered, but I'm doing my best.

I guess we'll call this 2.0 for now, with more revisions and tweaks on the horizon. What do you think so far?

Contest: "Secret Agent Clank Swank Poster"

2008-07-03T18:25:00.000-07:00

Got an email this morning from the Playstion Underground alerting me to another of their contests. Normally I just delete these notifications, 'cause they're usually either drivel, waaay too hard to enter, or for a game I don't care about. Well, I dont especially care about Secret Agent Clank, but I DO care about poster design, and LOVE getting published for free. Image now, details later:

Contest rules were as follows: 1) Download .zip folder of Clank-y assets, 2) use whatever means necissary to design those (and ONLY those) assets into an original poster with focus on Creativity, Design, Humor, and Originality.

Okay, so Humor isnt my strong suit, but if there was one thing I learned from RIT, it was that you should always make a piece you love and can be proud of, and let some of the rules fall by the wayside (so long as you're not being paid for it.) That way, hell, even if you dont win, you've still got a portfolio piece!

Random: Spore's Celebrity Creatures

2008-07-02T09:07:00.000-07:00

As you may know, Spore's hype-machine has enlisted a gaggle of celebrities to participate in a Creature Creator "contest." You can see the results to it here:
http://www.sporevote.com/index.html

By and large, all the of the Video Game Celebs' (Geoff Keighley, Brian Crecente, N'Gai Croal) creations have been a serious letdown. However, one very pleasant surprise is that the older generation of celebs have made some AWESOME stuff! In particular, Santana's creature is completely badass; possibly the coolest creature I've seen since the Deep Crow.

Its really cool to me how the people that are outside of the usual video game demographic yield the most creative, out-of-the-box ideas. Will Wright must be a very happy man.

My Life In The Hills

2008-06-26T16:13:00.000-07:00

So, it seems only fitting that my first post after weeks of silence since starting this thing would be without any actual art, but hey, c'est la vie. Here's the update:

Last monday, the 16th, my mom and I finally - amazingly - arrived in Aspen, CO, after 5+ days (they all bleed together) of travel. We drove all the way across the country in a twenty-six-feet-of-enormous Penske diesel truck. The cross-country trek was something that I'd always wanted to do, but I'd never imagined it'd go the way it did. Everything that possibly could happen, did happen, from hell to high water. The short list: we broke down 3 times, drove past a tornado, and sped across crumbling paths narrowly escaping certain death in lakes that at one time were parks. Between insane driving and acts of God, it was quite the journey.

Good news is: we're here, we're safe, and we're only two blocks away from the liquor store(!).

Artly stuff will resume once I can get my PC online, which is easier said than done, considering that our apartment doesn't have internet. I'm planning on overhauling the site to make this blog it's main focus, writing a fan review for MGS4, and maybe doing some quick photoshoppy fanart, to tide myself over until I can get my laptop and really get down to business.

Hang in there kids, good things do come to those who wait.

[EDIT]: JUST got my wireless card! After weeks of painfully pecking URLs through my PS3's almost usable virtual keyboard, I can now steal the internet from my neighbors on my PC! Woohoo!

Bummer of it all is, I literally JUST got it. It was delivered to my sister's apartment, 'cause UPS doesn't do the P.O. Box thing, (lame) so I'm chillin' here babysitting for the next few hours. It's gonna be the longest baby's nap of my life. At least it gives me some quality time to spend with my oft-neglected PSP.

First Post

2008-06-01T20:42:00.000-07:00

Testing... 1, 2, 3