Second-Life statue

Ive been hard at work creating and experimenting with second-life.
Sculpted shapes were used to create this statue of John Marshall for the university.

Id like to do some more with sculpted shapes as they are finally a way to create complex shapes and baking shadows finally adds decent lighting to the washed out world of second life.

New demo reel

www.GregWark.com

Ive finally got around to putting some of what I have into a reel. Ive actually taken out a lot but i feel it is stronger. Once Fjorg animation is more finished i can add my shots in and the length will be much better.

sketchbook #1 full

Drawing continues as I have met my goal of completely filling a sketchbook. I feel im starting to get a much better feel for drawing now and most importantly have become much more confident to put pencil to paper. Also experimented with some pen.

Dawn of War II Review

I have spent some time taking advantage of the public beta for Dawn of War 2 available on steam. Ive decided to write a game review for it.

The good

One of the most outstanding elements of this game is the deviation from standard RTS elements into a newer breed of RTS. Gameplay focuses on constructing smaller fighting forces then other games while resource management is attained by using your fighting force and controlling territory and is rather passive. In essence the game focuses on micro management rather then macro management. This leads to higher focuses on planning and tactics and allowing for a higher attachment to your units.

Another element which adds to the above mentioned tactics is the use of cover and destructible terrain. Large tanks and armor can ram through walls and entrenchments, bombs leave craters which can be used as cover. This does wonders to add to the atmosphere of war and destruction while adding tactical elements as well. A battle field will actually evolve over time.


The bad

The other side of the coin of the newer gameplay elements is accessibility problems. New users will be confused by some of the mechanics and UI. This was a very big problem for the beta in that single player was unavailable and there was no tutorial to be seen. You cant even do a direct vs AI game, you cant even pause. This lead to an inevitable rocky start for me while I had to blindly feel out the game. This may be nullified by a comprehensive single player which functions as a tutorial to ramp up new users. But even then the game will take some getting used to for anyone.

The most unfortunate problem ive encountered is the maps. There are only 5, two 1v1 maps and three 3v3 maps. Of all of them only 2 feel right. Victory is achieved by capturing 3 points across the map and holding them to wear down the enemy. But all the maps are extremely open ended allowing for extreme mobility. Its basically impossible to defend multiple points because of this, often making fighting your enemy and holding points separate elements. I don't want to get too into the exact problems of the maps as I don't have the time.

In my experience the game has also been suffering from connection and stability problems online, partly due to depending on both steam and games for windows for validation. This is especially frustrating since no matter how good a game is, if you cant play it reliably its not worth booting up.

Final opinion

The game is good I've really enjoyed playing it and watching relays of other matches.
But there are numerous issues with lag/map playability which are holding me back from pre-ordering it. I feel the game is coming out a few months too early. If relic knows anything about what their doing which I think they must. The game is really only now finding its correct play style and refinement through patches will do wonders for the game and community.

I guess if I had to give it a number id say - 8/10

I'm going to hold of on it until a sale, or a good patch comes out which alleviates many of my issues with it.

Fjorg my first scene wraping up

Work Continues with our fjorg entry. Ive decided to tackle the moom character scenes and this is 1/3. I still think it needs tweaking but cant be exactly sure.

More drawing progress.

Ive been successful in keeping up with my drawing. Filled around 25 pages in my sketchbook since last week. Been trying to do fast, forceful drawings that capture better action and pose. But Im still struggling to keep my drawings clear aswell as quick. As you can see I tend to make alot of marks. Im not sure how im going to address this and I really really want to find a "style" and work flow that I can be comfortable with, never have achieved that.

Dog Drawings

I have become determined to learn how to really draw. I borrowed a few books from James and will be working more on refining my gesture and form while trying to free myself from my dependence on reference. I will likely be doing alot of dog drawings due to my access and interest to them.


These are older drawings which I hope can be an old benchmark for me to pass.

A wip and an epiphany

This is another animation im working on at the moment. It will change, as ive determined i lost the direction of the subtext part way through, by trying to push a dramatic reaction. He will hurriedly run off when he looks at the phone now, not be upset. but heres the animation anyway.



But I have come to a great epiphany in the way that I work. I always feel like I do 90% of the work the first day or two when I work on a sequence, then I make little to no progress for weeks, or even months, working on it. This is because I never know when to call it finished. I'm always "polishing" but i really don't know how to polish. SO it never ends. And Ive realized I don't really need to do much more with it to finalize the animation. This combined with making sure I have a number of small projects in the chamber to keep my work fresh Ive been making more progress in the past week then I did in a month before. I will be thinking alot more about how I work and what I can do strengthen my workflow.

I really am feeling much better about my work after realizing this and will help me on my way to become a more confident animator.

Jan-09 Art/animation

Ive been working on several short demo reel pieces. This is a WIP of a practice bayonet charge, i was considering counting with a run into a hit with a dummy. As always critique is needed.




This is a second piece, Its still in linear and I would call it a first draft. I wanted to do something with my own original rigs more often so I dug this guy up and tried some animal acting instead of concentrating so much on locomotion.

I know it still needs work, especially in the beginning and with some of the timing. any observations are appreciated.

Jan-09 Gameing

I would like to take a moment to talk about whats going on in my current gaming routine and any observations i've had about them.

Ive been playing a lot of a game called Savage 2

http://savage2.s2games.com <-- its free

Its by an independent studio trying to make it distributing completely online.

Its a RTS/RPG hybrid where one player takes control of the battlefield RTS style while everyone else fights on the ground like an action RPG game. Its got a lot of interesting properties. They have recently made major overhauls to the combat system which originally turned me off the game, I could write a essay about the games design but I wont go into it too much.

The bottom line for the game is its flawed, but very fun, unique and well worth a try even just for the unique experience alone.

My in game name is Sarbon