I have started creating the models for the exterior of the Lincoln Memorial, the Lincoln statue and the Old Man.
I enjoy modeling - my process is slow and because I am a perfectionist I rework the mesh quite a bit from session to session. Sometimes to the point of scrapping something and starting from scratch. It's easier than continuing down the rabbit hole.
I use two very basic techniques "box" and "patch". I don't have a preference. Although I find patch modeling to be great for cars and complex surfaces, box modeling is also fun and rewarding. As I started my homework tonight, Larry Schultz (a.k.a Spline God) came over to see what I was working on.
Larry and I work together on "afterworld" and he is an extraordinary CG artist using Lightwave . His website is: http://www.splinegod.com
He also happens to be one of the best and fastest modelers I've met...so I was a little shy about showing him my work for REQUIEM. I mentioned that I enjoy modeling but don't care about being an amazing modeler -however I don't want my models to suck. Which sparked a "Nothing Can Suck" conversation.
Basically what this means for me is this: My focus is story telling and I don't want the story to suffer in it's telling because of a poorly executed visual element. And because of time constraints there is not always time to create everything at the most amazing level. But there is a quality bar below which I won't allow my work to go. That's the "Nothing Can Suck" bar (NCS).
Every project I have worked on in my career ends up with a handful of defining visual elements. Might be lighting or visual effects, or animation, color palette or production design. Those elements rise above the NCS bar and are the elements that get a disproportionate amount of time and attention. They are the "stars". Everything else must be good (can't suck) and are, essentially there to support the stars- the ultimate star being the story.
Of course, the cool thing is, because of progress and experience, the NCS bar gets higher all the time. Someday I might even make something that is really good. Beyond my current limitations.
I certainly hope so. Why else do we keep creating - if not for the journey to grow in talent and vision realized?
That's all for this week. I'll post some WIP pictures of my models.
D_
