Unfinished Business…

I was posting some of my “in-progress” work over on my Facebook page, and I realized that I had left a significant number of pieces in that gallery in that state –unfinished.

Usually what happens is I get distracted by another project and forget about it or I lose interest in whatever reason I decided to do the piece in the first place.

I decided to list a few here and go over why I left these ones to rot in the graveyard of unfinished work.

1. Girl running from…something.

UPDATE: This one is now finished! Check out The Horror of the Corridor to see it in all it’s glory!

This is a 3D piece created using Daz Studio. If I recall correctly, I had just finished watching a double-header of Sigourney Weaver in Alien:

and the awesome sequel Aliens:

As the credits rolled and silent tears of triumph rolled down my cheeks, I decided that honor demanded an homage to both of these films.

Even though it was like 2 in the morning, it was time to fire up the 3D studio and create some art!

I got as far as you see in the image. The yellow opening of the hangar doors was supposed to contain some sort of monster. I couldn’t decide whether I should hand draw something and scan it in, or search through the available 3D models I had and try to cobble together a convincing enough creature.

In the end, I chose to sleep on it, and the piece never saw any more development since then. I threw it into my Facebook page gallery, fully intending to come back to it.

But I never did.

2. Squiggly Robin.

Wacom sketch of Robin (Damian Wayne)
Wacom sketch of Robin (Damian Wayne) -Click to view larger

Here, I was on a Batman and Robin kick around the time of my previous Batman post. Except this time, things would be a little different.

I was looking into going all digital with my workflow. That would mean dispensing with pencil and paper, and replacing it with drawing straight into the computer with my Wacom Intuos tablet.

At work one day I decided to go for it. When lunch time rolled around my coworkers came in as usual and said it was time for lunch.

I yelled out “FOOLS!! I have no time for ‘lunch’! This is the time for ART! BEGONE!

They stood there frozen for a second. Then they just rolled their eyes and walked away, never to be heard from again -at least in this story, anyway.

Back to me, I was in Photoshop, furiously drawing away with the Wacom pen, changing brush sizes, opacity, brush hardness and shape, doing my best to approximate the look of pencil on paper in a purely digital medium.

When I got done it looked like crap. Curses.

I can’t quite get the hang of the digital drawing, unfortunately. I have every intention of buckling down and devoting serious time and effort to doing so, but results like these are a bit discouraging. So once it was done I let it drop for now.

So even though this Robin was technically finished, what I dropped the ball on was going further and working harder at drawing with my tablet.

Damn you, squiggly Robin.

3. Brotha Sci-Fi Warrior.

I was on a sci-fi kick after watching an episode of Stargate Universe (oh man, it kills me that the show was cancelled!):

and I decided to come up with a black character to fill in the gaps in mainstream sci-fi.

This character would be some kind of a cybernetic warrior from the future, he’d have all kinds of powerful weaponry built into his body. He’d be a good guy but most of the time he would end up destroying stuff, just because I like to see stuff blowing up and people running and screaming in slow motion like “NOoooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

So I was all gung-ho for it, but fate intervened once again.

By fate I mean I got bored with it and determined I would finish it later. Except later never came. Aw, shucks.

4. Nova Helmet Redux.

This piece will not go away. Mostly because I won’t sit down and finish it.

The helmet is created completely from scratch in Blender. I’m pretty happy with the modeling of the helmet, but it’s the texturing of the metal that upsets the apple cart every time.

Right now I’ve kind of faked the metal texture using a mix of cartoon shading and lighting tricks. It’s not really behaving as true metal would. This sort of thing is always disappointing to me.

I’ve outlined my previous attempts at perfecting metal in Blender. My last post on metal texture got me pretty darn close.

This was the time to go back to this piece and update the textures with my new methods. Except I was too lazy.

I even have a new book on Blender texturing so there really are no excuses anymore.

The Nova Helmet will be completed one day soon or my name isn’t John “McLuvin” Garrett!

5. Maya from True Tales of the Soryan Order.

I was just in the mood to do a new piece for my online novel True Tales of the Soryan Order, so I once again fired up my 3D models and set out to create a stunning new piece to add to the story.

Well, then the mood passed, so this is all I did.

I know it looks “kind of” finished, but I meant to do a whole lot more with this one. I can’t remember what exactly happened but I know I had the idea for another 3D piece and I broke off work on Maya to begin the arduous “model collecting” process of setting up a 3D work in Daz Studio.

I think it was my Marie piece for The Bill Collectors that sidetracked me. She’s definitely the one to blame, not me.

Oh, all right. I guess there’s no one to blame but me. Unless someone out there would care to step forward and share blame?

Anyone?

Sheesh. It’s all on me, then.

6. Pete from Mad Men.

Here’s a rough drawing I did of Pete Campbell from the tv show Mad Men:

What happened with this one is that I wasn’t very happy with the accuracy of the likeness.

As most of you can no doubt tell, I’m trained more as a comic book artist than a realistic portraiture artist, but I feel I should still be able to get pretty darn close.

When I can’t do it then I get frustrated, and I might just drop a piece, never to be completed.

That’s exactly what happened here. Instead of completing this one, I might just start over on it with another reference shot.

Also, don’t get me started on the state of the show. I’m mighty pissed off that it won’t be returning this year. That I gotta wait until 2012 is a load of BULL*ishhhhhh.

I guess I’ll have to settle for True Blood for my tv fix this summer.

Final Thoughts

So anyway, hot tears of shame spill from my eyes as I write this. I’ve made a vow to complete these pieces and erase some of the dishonor from my name. Nothing short of hari kari will completely erase it, but I’m not going out that way. I’m willing to live with some shame, I guess…

My children and my children’s children can commit ritual suicide to restore the family honor if they want, but I must LIVE.

Well, aside from the stain on my family name, stay on the lookout for these completed works in the near future!

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34 thoughts on “Unfinished Business…

  1. Your work is very unique and entertaining, keep doing what you do and the sky will be your limit.

    “Black Seo Guy “Signing Off”

    1. Thanks, Traffic! I appreciate you stopping by here to check this stuff out, man!

    1. Hey Andrew! I started working on some new drawings of this guy and I still need to go back and finish this one! lol

      now that I’ve put it out there I gotta finish it, though :)

  2. My favorite two are Squiggly Robin and Brotha Sci-Fi Warrior also this running girl seems to be realy nice!

    1. Thanks Jane! I guess people do like squiggly Robin, maybe I’m looking at it from the wrong angle. it didn’t come out how I meant it to come out but maybe it’s still interesting…

  3. I like the Sci-Fi brotha :) I like how you made him ice cold looking because he’s “cool” (pun intended). Aliens have freaked me out and watching those clips again make me remember why I couldn’t watch that movie.

    1. Ohhhh those puns! I love it though :)

      Yeah those movies freaked me out, too, that’s why I love ’em!

      Thanks for the comment, Diane!

  4. The worthy warrior takes his own life to expiate his shame, but the TRUE warrior grabs his shame where the sun don’t shine and makes it cry for Mommy!

    Yes, the art of distraction of the Short Attention Span Theatre is strong, McLuvin-san, but your Kung Fu Brutha Style will defeat them!

    Delena

    1. Ahh the wisdom you have written here is profound, indeed!

      Hey can I borrow “Kung Fu Brutha Style”? You didn’t copyright that yet, did you? :)

  5. LOL! You are totally welcome to use Kung Fu Brutha Style. =) Glad my great wisdom amused you, grasshopper.

  6. Hi John

    You are one talented guy John. Your artwork is amazing. Both my parents were very talented with their drawings…me, I can’t even rule a straight line lol

    Oh well, I enjoy writing but certainly appreciate the talent you display here, finished work or not :-)

    Patricia Perth Australia

    1. Hi Patricia! Well your parents drawing talent definitely transferred to writing for you – you know your way around the written word.

      Do you still have any of your parents artwork? If so you should post some!

      Thanks for checking this out :)

  7. I’m pretty sure #1 is how I look when I’m running away from a living room full of toys or someone asks me what’s for dinner. I need to order a print. :) I love seeing all your creations! Amazing!

  8. Hi Melinda! I’ll turn her hair blonde when I finish it up so you can use it as an avatar lol.

    Or we can superimpose a shot of your family in the yellow area with a word balloon asking “honey, what’re we having tonight?”

    Your word balloon will read “aaaAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!” (kinda like DragonBall Z)

    I’m working on my print store so one day people will be able to buy this stuff…once I finally finish it, that is.

  9. Hi John,

    The unfinished works look awesome already. :) Unfinished business happens so there’s no shame to that. Also, its not too late to finish them. We’ll be watching out for the completion of these works. :)

    1. Hi Calli! Thanks for commenting, and thanks for the compliment :)

      this is a vendetta now, so I have to finish these :) I’ll be posting back here when they are done. See you around!

    1. That’s a good idea, Andrew! They could take him and put him in high school, then it could be a similar show to “Smallville” (which I guess just went off the air).

      Hey, I’d watch it!

  10. Hey, John,
    but what is wrong with Maya and the helmet? They seem finished to me, but then again, I am far from a pro in art drawings. Anyway, it is nice you found the way how to use them, and make them a part of this post, although you lost motivation to finish them. After all, some things are better to be left the way they are.

    1. hey Kristina!

      well the Maya pic I just wanted to do a whole lot more with. To me it’s kind of a flat basic image, but I didn’t really get to jazz it up the way I would like. When I finish it you’ll see what I mean :)

      The Nova helmet is another beast entirely, it just doesn’t behave as metal should react to lighting. I got frustrated and faked the metal texture instead of studying how to set up the model and get the lighting right. I have a book now that will help me with that.

      I’m going down the list of all these and I’m going to finish them up and post them when they’re ready. Thanks for commenting!

  11. As you can see those art that you have created that is not finished look very fantastic.

    1. I still miss Stargate Universe. they need a TV Movie or something!

      I don’t earn that much money from my art (yet), but I don’t take the time necessary to market myself the way I should, so as usual it’s all my fault :)

      I draw by hand and use Photoshop and 3D software so I’m pretty much a Jack of All Trades…

  12. You’ve just made a reference to some of my favorite SF series and movies. I simply adore Alien. Think I’ve seen the last sequel for thousand of times.

    I’m off to see how the “running girl” worked out!

    1. Hi Ana, are you looking forward to “Prometheus” then? I believe it should be out next summer!

      1. Of course! I can’t wait! My biggest problem is that I get all set up for a show, and then forget about it until the time it should go on air.

        Actually, I’d go for a show like Galactica right now…

        1. Yeah I don’t think there’s anything out there right now. I was watching “Falling Skies” but I didn’t think it was that good unfortunately…

          Stargate Universe was a favorite of mine -but apparently not of anyone else’s since they cancelled it. curses!

  13. Hey JG,

    It’s the one thing you can never ever replace….Time. I wish I had more of too! Time management seems so corporate, and getting distracted by things like sleep is probably good for the soul, but not good for productivity. Ah the limitations of being human.

    1. you ain’t lying Chas! there are only so many hours in the day, and no matter what you do , you’re only going to get so much done.

      someone needs to invent some way to create more time…all the ways we could abuse that, huh?

  14. I enjoyed looking at your images. Very unique and interesting. Keep on doing your passion. Stay focused and inspired :) Cheers!

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