15 posts tagged “jesterarts”
This blog is being moved to Wordpress.com http://jesterarts.wordpress.com/
Thanks for following thus far...things are really gonna get fun now. Be sure to subscribe to the Wordpress blog for all sorts of tutorials and cool JesterArts updates!
It can also be viewed from http://www.jesterartsillustrations.com/
The JesterArts/Leo Blanchette Design and Illustration blog has moved to WordPress: http://jesterarts.wordpress.com/ Check it out for designer tutorials and JesterArts updates!
A special thanks to Clipartof.com (Kenny Adams, Jamie Voetsch) for helping in Redesigning JesterArtsIllustrations.com. The new layout works beautifully, and now like ClipArtOf.com, collections are available for download for the customers who require more images at a reduced bulk price. Without a doubt a lot of special programming had to be accomplished for certain functions of the website, and Kenny has been one awesome problem solver! A special thanks to ClipArtof.com!!! Screenshot below.
The JesterArts/Leo Blanchette Design and Illustration blog has moved to WordPress: http://jesterarts.wordpress.com/ Check it out for designer tutorials and JesterArts updates!
I get many inquiries asking me to create "custom robot mascots" for people's businesses, often "like AO-Maru" the robot I sell through microstock libraries. Here are some basic questions answered, if you ever wish to have a custom 3d robot mascot created. After the questions, see some examples of custom robots I've recently created for people.
Q: How much does a custom 3d robot mascot cost?
A: 1,500 on average, depending upon complexity. First four renders are free, then $90 a pose/render afterward.
Q: Do I own the 3d model file itself, and can I manipulate it and re-render it myself?
A: Yes, after the model is complete you get the Blender 3d file (download free program from www.Blender.org) and you can do whatever you want with it, including use other designers to create renders! Wow, cool huh?
Q: How long does it take to create a custom robo for my business/mascot needs.
A: About two weeks. May take longer depending on busy-ness. Depending on my situation, you may be on a waiting list, but be sure to contact me -- I may have an open time slot.
Q: Do I have to put money down?
A: No -- you pay after project is complete. Copyright is transfered at time of sale. If you choose not to pay or project is terminated, I simply keep the robot for my own use.
Q: Can my robot be animated?
A: Yes, simple animations. I create the robot for basic still posing, and is not optimized for animation. Also, animations cost different depending upon complexity.
Q: Can you supply a list of people you've done projects for of this nature so I know what I'm getting into?
A: Yes. No point in having all that money on the line and not know what your getting into!
Q: Will this be a fun project?
A: YES!
See past examples below.
http://leoblanchette.vox.com/library/post/jesterarts-project-round-up----tuba-robot.html
http://leoblanchette.vox.com/library/post/jesterarts----mindsystems-project-overview.html
The JesterArts/Leo Blanchette Design and Illustration blog has moved to WordPress: http://jesterarts.wordpress.com/ Check it out for designer tutorials and JesterArts updates!
I've just completed a new robot for the AO-Maru series! Since a hard drive crash some time ago, I had lost the original model for a webcam robot that had gained some popularity, so this new robot will be replacing it! I was going for "Clean" and also wanted to create a few variations simulating sketches and technical drawings. He will be a good friend for AO-Maru!
The JesterArts/Leo Blanchette Design and Illustration blog has moved to WordPress: http://jesterarts.wordpress.com/ Check it out for designer tutorials and JesterArts updates!
I often get inquiries -- "Can I buy the entire set of orange men for a reduced price?" For perhaps over a year this little known opportunity has existed on the rare gem of a website known as "Clipartof.com".
A little factoid concerning clipartof.com: The Orange Man practically lives there. I like to think of all of the websites I supply my art through as cities that I visit as a traveling merchant. Examples to follow:
Istockphoto is like that bustling super-metropolis filled with art and talent of every sort, fully populated with coffee shops where people exchange ideas and vision together. Its a supercity that is sparkling and refined.
Shutterstock strikes me as a more industrial city with merchants hurriedly running in and out, with their product selling faster than it can be stocked. Its a little more unrefined, but useful to those who have more creative ability.
Dreamstime and Crestock are somewhat like those medium sized towns with their own set of strengths.
Clipartof.com, though, is far different. Its like a small private town, almost a gated community. Only a few artists in comparison are found here, but the selection is the cream of the crop as far as illustrations available. Its more family oriented, and there is not even the slightest hint of beaurocracy. One might think it was a private club secretly opened to the public -- the best of both worlds! Any artwork bought from clipartof.com also has a much wider ability for use due to the user license agreement.
This is where the orange man has truly blossomed and discovered himself, and where the best deals can be found in his use! Most sites have one or two color versions of the design mascot (also known as orange man), but Clipartof.com has 11 color versions! Clipartof.com is also the only site that sells them in bulk packages for a reduced rate. For those of you who have taken a liking to the orange man, its highly, highly suggested that you see both the package deals as well as the color versions.
Feel free to contact them with questions. They will treat you like family.
The JesterArts/Leo Blanchette Design and Illustration blog has moved to WordPress: http://jesterarts.wordpress.com/ Check it out for designer tutorials and JesterArts updates!
As promised, here is the first free image hot off the render pipeline! Nikola Tesla's Magnifying Transmitter. More than likely I will be producing many more images on this subject.
The JesterArts/Leo Blanchette Design and Illustration blog has moved to WordPress: http://jesterarts.wordpress.com/ Check it out for designer tutorials and JesterArts updates!
Bringing to Life a Historic Dream.
I sent out the call to those interested in being a part of resurrecting this interesting, yet almost forgotten piece of history, the Wardenclyffe Tower. Especially a drafting person to fill in the technical gaps in design. The response was overwhelmingly non-existent! One could hear a cricket chirp all the from the village of Smiljan near the town of Gospić, Austrian Empire. In response to that half interested cricket, I've begun and am now well into this project of creating a somewhat realistic visualisation of this forgotten dream.
I have acculated a small collection of visual references plus some overall measurements of the tower, but much of it as like piecing together a fossil, having to to re-invent certain parts of it to fill in the gaps that have been lost to the erosion that time tends to exert.
Despite the extremely low response, I do believe these images will be very helpful on the subject. After scouring the libraries and internet for resources, its now apparent that any future individual looking for Nikola Tesla related imaging will be benefited. See screenshots of the progress in this blog post.
Oh, Nikola Tesla was born in the village of Smiljan near the town of Gospić, Austrian Empire.
The JesterArts/Leo Blanchette Design and Illustration blog has moved to WordPress: http://jesterarts.wordpress.com/ Check it out for designer tutorials and JesterArts updates!
Wardenclyffe Tower 3d Visualization,
Upcoming JesterArts Illustrations.
Would you like to read an inspiring, powerful, and yet sad story? Read Man out of Time, by Margaret Cheney. Nikola Tesla was different from other inventors of his day or prior in many ways. He is credited for pioneering the concept of alternating current, creating the alternating current motor, plus a few other concepts that literally drive industry today.
But who has ever heard of the wireless transmission of electrical energy? He had hoped to accomplish this through his concept of the "magnifying transmitter". This was his greatest dream, of which all of his work was leading up to. It would be a clean, efficient, and elegant way to provide communications services and energy to the entire globe without power lines or environmentally destructive methods of any sort. It seems like a thing of the future, and yet it was on the verge of becoming a reality as far back as 1903.
The Wardenclyffe Tower which was to house the magnifying transmitter was near completion and then shut down when investors realized a disturbing fact concerning this invention: Who can profit from supplying free energy? A new type of technological society was at its birth in those days. Industry much the same as our present day was powered not by electricity, but money. So many of Tesla's inventions and endeavors were really just stepping stones to this grand invention which he would never complete due to economic reasons. He did not see this as a defeat. He stated: "The present is theirs ; the future, for which I really work , is mine."
Photo example below of the almost completed Wardenclyffe Tower:
So this project, a realistic 3d depiction of the Wardenclyffe tower, has been on my to-do list for a long time. I'll be using the free open source software Blender 3d to create it, and the resulting illustrations will be free to use keeping in stride with the purpose behind the invention itself: Keeping it FREE.
I'll be giving attention to all of the important details and will be making special efforts not to stray from accuracy. I will also do various renditions of the same model to serve educators and enthusiasts alike for any purpose they find. It will be free, and no, its not a marketing ploy. Keep checking back for updates.
NOTE: I am looking for qualified volunteers to help with layouts for the tower itself. See this thread:
http://www.scienceforums.net/forum/showthread.php?t=40841
The JesterArts/Leo Blanchette Design and Illustration blog has moved to WordPress: http://jesterarts.wordpress.com/ Check it out for designer tutorials and JesterArts updates!
PROJECT: Mindsystems Robot Mascot.
This is a brief project summary for customers who would like to know the process of completing an illustration project for their business through JesterArts.
I worked with Mindsystems on the creative development of a new mascot logo, for their new product 'Mindsystems Amode'. Mindsystems runs a fun, dynamic and experienced work place...they wanted to reflect their corporate culture in their new mascot. So I came up with Mindbot! Asides from being a fun bunch to work with, it looks like their new product is awesome! (http://www.mindsystems.com)"
Here is the initial render with the bare shapes, based closely on the concept sketch:
The details on the body of the robot were loosely represented in the initial sketch, but a lot was open to creative flow. Alex had already created a professional and attractive pattern for the website involving semi-transparent squares, so it was a no-brainer to make sure the robot himself included these. I did a vector derivative of his initial pattern, and then adapted it to the robot in the UV mapping. Squares pattern example below:
It was a great example of an ideal project in the creative flow, the fun shared, and basically what one can experience when coming to JesterArts for such projects.
Related Links:
The JesterArts/Leo Blanchette Design and Illustration blog has moved to WordPress: http://jesterarts.wordpress.com/ Check it out for designer tutorials and JesterArts updates!
I've been doing so much 3d work lately I've been dreaming in polygons. To get to sleep I count vertices, and when I wake up I'm subconsciously thinking of rigging strategies to get the best movement out of a character.
Its time for a vacation, I think. Today I stopped at a bike shop and checked out some Kawasaki Ninjas, and for once I actually found myself interested in the real thing, and not just wondering how I'd make a model of it.
But while I'm still locked in the 3d thing, exploring new horizons with concepts, here is a small breakdown of how this stuff is done! Are you a customer? This will be enjoyable to see what is done to get to the finished product.
No doubt you've seen enough behind-the-scenes extra features -- heck, a twelve year old knows it by now -- to know whats involved in the creation of a 3d character! But here's another one in case you haven't had enough!
Most 3d artists enjoy showing the rendered product, but many 3d artists want to see the wireframe where a true assessment of quality can be made. Its not enough to construct the 3d model to "look right" but the "Edge flow", that is, the arrangement of the geometry, must be properly created to allow the greatest and most natural range of movement.
The hardest part of the entire process, for me, is rendering and re-rendering to get the lighting and materials right. Thats because its so incredibly time consuming. But the end results are usually worth the time involved.
The ant series is probably going to be more practical to the needs of the market, and I'm glad I spent a little extra time on it. The textures were created in Zbrush, a program made specifically for adding detail onto the model as one might paint a sculpture. Here are the texture maps created for the ant:
The multicolored map on the left is responsible for adding the smaller geometric details in the texture. It "fakes" things like cracks and bumps in the texture. It uses the RGB values as coordinates instead of color, telling the renderer to simulate the effect of changes in surface qualities. This map is called a "normal map" because it has to do with the "normals" of the polygon faces, that is, the direction in which the polygons face.
The map on the right is a typical texture map, wrapping an image around the model itself. All 3d model textures are stored as flat images, assigned to "UV coordinates". UV coordinates are the same as XY, except with different letters, so that its not confused with XY coordinates of 3d space.
The end result is an ant of low geometric detail that looks realistic, due to a strategic use of textures.
Hope you enjoyed this brief walk-through of the JesterArts workflow! If you have any questions, let me know. These models are available on my website http://www.jesterartsillustrations.com/ if you'd like to use them!
Leo