Textures!

I'm in another Digital Illustration class this summer, working with Justin Kunz. He's a worked as a texture artist at Blizzard, working on the terrain and skies for World of Warcraft which is (obviously) a pretty big deal.

So, he assigned us to make some textures. Which sounded awful at first...I've tried to do things like textured backgrounds in pieces before and let's just say it's not my strong-point. Mainly because I don't have that kind of patience.

But the nice thing about doing texture-tiles, as Justin makes and as big video game companies ask, is that you're just doing a small square of details. Not an entire mountain range, just a few square feet that repeat and cover the mountain entirely. And I found out that I LOVED making textures!

Tree Bark

Snake Skin

Probably the best part of the assignment wasn't the work itself, however. It was definitely the critique afterwards. When I approach art assignments, I like to pretend I'm on a reality TV show- I need to try my best to win, and if I get in the bottom two, I sure better lip-sync for my life save myself with an awesome re-do. And lately, I've been...well, not performing as great as my fellow students. But with this assignment? Guys, I think I actually got the MOST praise out of everyone!

Justin LOVED them. And teh snake skin one particularly, he was going nuts over the color and texture, as far as asking me how I did it! He praised my color usage and said that was where my talent lies, that I can use my talent in color to propel my drawing abilities and support me. Which is both incredible advice, coaching, and SUCH a compliment. (Justin is also a Color Theorist, so he knows what he's talking about.)

Anyway, so that's that assignment. It was actually the second of the summer, but the first iiiisn't quite up to posting-on-the-internet scruff yet.

(By the way, these both totally tile North-South and East-West seamlessly!)