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Kat Yu - Art Director

Website Update Alert!

1/31/2015

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Sorry for the back-to-back blog posts, but.....


I just updated my website!   


The main page looks the same, but if you click on thumbnails of my characters/props, it now links to a new page.  These pages include way more detailed info, photos/ break-downs.  Hopefully it's clear and helpful for you guys.


You are more than welcome to leave feedback in a comment.  I take all C&C to mind :).
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Character Retopo Update

1/31/2015

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I've just been hacking away at retopo'ing my 4 Thesis characters.  Since Zhul'Thun and Guelivar only need touch ups to their topology, Leera and Karnys are the huge pieces I've been needing to tackle, Leera first.  I have managed to complete Leera at just over 21,000 Tris (which is what I was aiming for)!  


One thing that took a little bit of thought was deciding which pieces I would group together, and which pieces would need to be separate.  Ultimately, it came down to which pieces would/could be swapped out or move around a lot (example: quiver, shoes, tiered shoulderpads), and which would be stable (example: straps, belt, shin guards).


Here's the result:
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I managed to start Karnys, but as of now, his retopo isn't close to being done.  My goal is to hopefully have him done by the end of Monday.  


The huge thing that I didn't anticipate for this one was having to topologize his clothing folds to the direction of the fold (totally slipped my mind!).  At first I started WAY too high poly from trying to catch every slight fold, but then I realized that I would have to reduce it, and that a TON of that detail can be faked in the normal map.  The example that I've been looking at is this: http://en.9jcg.com/comm_pages/blog_content-art-180.htm . It displays great break-downs of how the character was made, including maps, wireframes, high poly, low poly, and finish product.  And this is the exact project that reminded me how much the normal map can fake - SO much!


Here's the progress on this guy:
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Blizzard Student Contest: Evil Mantis Queen Update!

1/15/2015

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IT IS DONE!  My week-long sprint to get this piece done has ended, and I just submitted my entry.  Hope you guys like it.  I'm just going to continue my day-by-day process here:


NOTE:  My awesome friend and classmate Brianna Weaver (www.briannaweaverart.com) gave me invaluable critique for this piece.  She is the best.  Please check out her awesome stuff.

1-13-2015

Today, I ended up fixing a few more modeling issues (an individual on Twitter pointed out that my model looked difficult to pose, which was true!  Not enough edge loops!) as well as clean up some UVs.  I then did some basic texturing on my mesh, in 3D Coat, and figured out colors.

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1-14-2015

I just continued texturing!
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1-15-2015

My final day!!  I fixed everything up, posed my character, and prepared the presentation to submit to Blizzard!
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Blizzard Student Contest: Evil Mantis Queen!

1/12/2015

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Okay, sooo!  I jumped in on this pretty late in the game because I wasn't sure if I was going to do this project at all.  Thesis has been eating up all my time, but after a 1-on-1 critique at my school with a Blizzard art lead, I gradually changed my mind on this one.  

1-9-2015

Disclaimer:
Please excuse the crude concept!  I'm not much of a concept artist, didn't spend much time on it (due to time crunch), and intend on making a lot of stylistic changes in 3D.


So my concept is a Mantis/Spider-inspired enemy character with a lot of Chinese embellishments tied in.  I included a Chinese headdress and charm.  I also included tiered plating on the front of the mantis which is more in line with male Chinese armor, making her a little less feminine and war-ready.  The concept doesn't show it, but I want her wings to be open to show a pop of color that matches her other embellishments.  I used real mantis reference for her protruding eye shape and her back hood.  
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1-10-2015

This was day 1 of 2  modeling the Mantis queen.  I began blocking in the basic shapes of my mantis, and sorted out some design questions that my 2D concept didn't successfully solve.  By the end of the day, I had just about half the model created.  The model will only be made in Maya (I wont be sculpting in Zbrush) since 1.) I admittedly have very little time to work on this, and 2.) It will remain low poly, anyways, since it's meant to be WoW themed.
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1-11-2015

This was day 2 of 2 modeling.  I finished most of my modeling except for the head, the back leg cobwebs, and the wings.  Additionally, I tweaked some small final adjustments.  I tried very much to make this character's silhouette strong, and I wanted to make sure her body made some sense: her back legs are huge to counter-balance her huge front pincers, as long as her leaned-forward posture.
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1-12-2015

Today, I finished the final pieces of the model and finally got to UVing.  I made pretty quick work of it thanks to Headus UV Layout and the fact that it's so low poly.  It was pretty straightforward, though, I really need to work on optimizing my seams, as well as UV space.  UVing is something I still need to work on.
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Character Model Update: Karnys & Guelivar

1/7/2015

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It's been a while since I last updated!
About a week ago, I managed to complete the Karnys sculpt.  The only additions I had to make after my final were the pant folds, fixes to the front cloth, finger details, and other small tweaks.  FYI, these are not the finalized textures that will be applied - they are just blocked-in colors.  Additionally, I plan on using PBR for all of my characters, so hopefully, they'll be looking a lot different!
I still need to model his weapon.
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This is my 4th and final character that will be included in my Thesis, but he is NOT completed by any means.  Unfortunately, I fell behind on this one, and should have completed the modeling by last week.  The first picture includes his anatomy and the second includes his very early armor (it needs a lot of work).  I really want to work on the shape language of his armor, as well as the detail sculpts (it needs Elven engravings and patterns).  Additionally, the silhouette needs a lot of changes.  I may decide to leave out the armor altogether.  Time will tell.
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    Kat Yu's Blog

    This is a blog that I mainly use to record the work I do for AAU, but I'm sure I will be uploading some personal stuff, as well.

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