The Devil's Workshop

some randomness....some craziness

2011-05-21T17:47:00.003+05:30

its been tough lately to keep pushing at the same task until deadline...so this is one of those looseing of the muscles kinda thing...
the video was just a random idea that took shape around midnight....the sculpt happened the very next morning...no topic..no thought process...just fun! :)

Theres a studio in the making!

2011-05-20T03:13:00.001+05:30

a teeny tiny preview of the logo animation for my upcoming studio......yes...i'm tryin to get one started which is taking up most of my time and energy these days!!....i;m hoping all will be revealed soon!

V

Bhim

2011-05-20T03:11:00.001+05:30

a quick style experiment....:)

SOP entry

2011-05-20T03:06:00.002+05:30

havent blogged in ages and not in the most talkative of moods...please bear with me and hopefully my artwork will entertain u for now! :)
this was done for a contest a while ago.
hope everyones doin great!
Cheers
V

Some quick sculpting....

2010-12-23T14:33:00.003+05:30

nuthin much to talk about...bored and hence the resulting image :)

game design from RSK @ Mumbai

2010-12-23T14:29:00.002+05:30

This started off as a basic exercise at our recent class in Mumbai. Decided to restart the painting when i realized that the file from the class was corrupted.
Took about 6 hours and was a lot of fun!

For more information on our classes do visit the RSK website

Marjaani Wadalin

2010-10-03T23:36:00.003+05:30

a new digital painting to get that rust off. this started of as a scribble that went a long way. The name Marjaani means "coral" in Swahili and this would be the first of my characters named by my wife:)

some old stuff

2010-10-03T23:30:00.004+05:30

hey all...i know its been forever since i posted here. sorry about the super long leave!
Heres some stuff I did last year. The parrot and the bunny where two characters for an ad that i was the concept artist and vfx sup for. I'm hoping that ad hits the screens someday!completely digitally painted pretty much on an overnight schedule.

Dejected Sneak Peek!

2010-06-24T02:48:00.002+05:30

Posting an animation after forever. Just getting my anim skills out of the dusty old cupboard so this is what we see on first attempt. Its from a short clip I'm working on.
You can view the playblast by clicking here.

RamSinghKumaresh!!!!!

2010-04-06T20:04:00.003+05:30

RamSinghKumaresh is a joint initiative between me and animation superstars Ranjit Singh and Vaibhav Kumaresh to go where no teacher has gone before! We're hoping to start with a series of seminars that hope to bridge the gaps for students to understand and learn what the industry requires or expects off them. More info on the site so please do visit and feel free to leave us your comments by email! :)

Music Icon!

2009-12-02T19:56:00.001+05:30

Another overnight Production.....
Wish I had more time on this...MJ lives on with us forever!!
Digital Paint on sculpt done for cgtantra's Decemeber modeling contest

Femme Fatale

2009-11-02T18:00:00.002+05:30

Another small update with a sculpt I made for the banner for Tantra's new modeling/sculpting contest for November.

I'm still alive!!

2009-10-03T12:47:00.004+05:30

Yes I am!!....sorry about the long hiatus. Been busy packing up and moving across cities(bangalore to mumbai to be precise). Add to it your usual dash of lectures, presentations, sightseeing and one monster of a project!
So we finally drove down to Mumbai from Bangalore as planned and the rain gods have been kind to us. Found a place and settled in. Its been a lot of fun doing the usual lectures and presentations across the country. Had a really good time specifically at Anifest and at my lecture on "Digital Art and Literature"(who woulda thunk it!) at the University of Kannur in Kerela. To think of it, I've probably done this 4-5 times a month since March 09!
We're not all play and no work though. Moving into my new role as a creative consultant/vfx supervisor, my first project took off earlier this month. Its a 60 sec commercial with a cute little cg character. I'm hoping to disclose more and put up the video here soon! Project wraps in a few more days!:)
And just so that this post isnt visual-free, here a quick 2 hour sculpt I did as cover art for August's modeling challenge on CGTantra.

Thats sums up my last few months. C'yall with more updates soon!!

Slice and Dice...

2009-06-29T02:26:00.003+05:30

Those who have been to my sketchblog might find this one familiar, and those who frequent might blog might notice that this is my first female sculpt!..Yayyy!!
Nuthin much to say on the subject apart from the fact that this was fun!:)

Rejected...Dejected...

2009-06-28T04:24:00.002+05:30

Poor guy doesnt know how to handle his recent rejection:(
Another one from the book done in a few hours. More to come soon!

One more ...Radar?

2009-06-19T01:44:00.004+05:30

Another quick sketch from my sketchbook that i wanted to see 3d-ised. First name that popped up in my head was "Radar":)

Out of the swamps....

2009-06-17T20:05:00.004+05:30

One of those bleh days.....needed to work on something. Picked this concept out of my sketchbook and brushed away. Took me about a day from scratch. I havent detailed anything, just marked out all the major areas with the clay tubes brush and left it at that...wont
be working on this any further....lets call him Crooca for now:)

Vivek Ram Speaking....

2009-05-17T22:07:00.003+05:30

Had the awesome opportunity to be interviewed by ZbrushCentral this week. Between all the travelling and lectures that I have been doing the last few weeks, this was surely a high point!

Check out the interview here.

The Legend of Ram - Hanuman

2009-03-31T02:10:00.003+05:30

Second in the series that I've been wanting to do on the Ramayan, Hanuman is finally completed. This started off as me wanting to do just the sculpt, but ended up as an illustration that I'm quite happy with:)
For those uninitiated, Hanuman is the monkey god of strength who is a great devotee of Lord Ram and proved to be a huge advantage in Ram's war against Ravan.
This was also an attempt to work on an illustration that wasnt aggressive as are all my previous stuff. I wanted to capture a very calm and peaceful mood with this one, without losing out on the character's personality.
Base model in maya, detailed in zbrush, rendered in max/mental ray. Post in photoshop.
More images on my website!

An update from last year...

2009-03-31T02:03:00.004+05:30

This was a sculpt I did for syncere arts for an unannounced project in april last year. Although the project hasnt surfaced yet, they decided to use this sculpt as promotional material for their new game "Mahabharata". You can see more about the game on their website www.syncerearts.com.
More images of this sculpt over at my website.

In other news, (which is really late) 'The Legend of Ram' made it to the galleries in the ARTT magazine's decemeber issue and also to the cover of pixel art magazine's cover. Pixelart also had a showcase of my other illustrations.

Markeviv.com is now open for business!

2008-12-28T03:31:00.002+05:30

Whew.....never really thought setting up a website would be so much work. But after long procrastination(emphasis on the adjective) and much hard work over the last week, my site is finally up and running.:) Not the prettiest I will admit and not the most utility friendly, but my first ever 3 rounds with html....so gimme some credit!:)
without any further delay....here it is

www.markeviv.com

Hanuman....WIP04

2008-11-02T21:44:00.002+05:30

more updates....still have to start on the hands and feet..and the props!.....the body is about 90% done...will probably revisit once i finish all the other parts.

Hanuman WIP03....New Pose

2008-10-19T21:35:00.003+05:30

So decided to steer this in a new direction. I dont seem to have the drive for a full illustration on Hanuman so I came to the conclusion that this will stop at being a sculpt with a pedestal and everything. The old pose wouldnt work at this point(him being mid-air and all) so heres the new pose:)

Hanuman WIP02

2008-10-19T21:33:00.003+05:30

And the WIP continues....more face refining...torso work...etc.

Hanuman....WIP

2008-09-22T23:50:00.005+05:30

and i've finally found some time between all my colds, flus, body aches, travelling and whining, to get started on the one piece i've been wanting to work on for a long time.you can see a rough sketch of this on my sketch blog.
Everything is still realllly early on this....have a lot of work left.....hope u like:)
On looking at it again, i realise that the pose isnt clear without background elements. Hes supposed to be in mid-air enjoying the "take-off"....(damn I should've painted in a background!!)
p.s. sketch blog to be updated soon!...just been lazy....and tired.:(

The Legend of Ram

2008-08-17T00:18:00.008+05:30

And after months and months.....its done!:)
My monitor calibration was off so I'm not sure how this image looks on your screens, but I'm quite satisified with this one!:)
It took that extra bit of effort for me to create the background...which I usually ignore....but I'm glad I didnt give up on this one.
We all know the story....and we all love him for what he stands for. Hope you guys like how I picture him!:)
High res image here.
model screenshots

Models to be.....

2008-08-02T23:36:00.002+05:30

New blog!.....parallel one that is...the workshop will continue for sure!:)
And so after losing my old sketchbook to Southwest airlines and my carelessness, I realised it best to have a digital backup and an online backup of all my work, scribbles and everything.
So now if we have an online copy of stuff....why not just share it eh!:).
so here it is......enjai!

http://modelstobe.blogspot.com

AAAAAnd we're back!

2008-07-15T01:18:00.006+05:30

just got back from my 6 week US trip last week and its been fun. The campus is awesome, the people were fun, all in all , I had a great time. The flight was a bitch but then again, thank the lord I'm not an insomniac!
Pictures to sum it up.....well not really sum it up but more like points of the trip for me at least:)

Horse riding with the team. This was a great start to the 6 weeks!

got my name in the credits for the new "Incredible Hulk" movie and having this picture taken outside the theater soooo made the trip worth it!

San fransisco with my bud Sudesh and the golden gate bridge in the background......the weather was the bomb!

Lunch with the RnH gang.

ok...so i didnt really capture everything!:D
There should be one more pic here for my Sandiego trip but i guess i'll have to wait to get that one.

Back home. Getting the mood right to get started with a new piece and finish off some old ones. This is what my workspace at home looks like now.

And 3 of my prized possessions picked up during my trip!

So I'm not the most photographic person(if thats a word) around(and yes Aayush, i did steal some pics from your album!:)) I'll put up links to flickr and picassa pages of all my friends to sum up my trip.I'll be updating this same post for those. So watch this space!
Some work coming up real soon:)

a small update for a HUGE CHANGE!

2008-04-08T14:32:00.004+05:30

So wife and I are finally moving to Bangalore at the end of this month. Its been an amazing 2 years at RnH and with good memories I move on to a change in scene.

End of this month, I'll be joining the core team for Dreamworks in India as a Modeling Lead....(still sinking in:))....looking forward to more fun times!!

In other news.....finished the sculpt on Ram....onto texturing and lighting this now to finish the illustration. Here are some zbrush snapshots.

The legend of Ram

2008-03-27T19:50:00.008+05:30

Jai Sri Ram!
So finally after a really long spell of silence, I have some work on this blog.
This is a WIP(work in Progress) of an illustration of Sri Ram that i'm currently working on.
the first image is just a test render i was playin around with.
For those new to Indian mythology, Sri Ram is the warrior hero of the Indian epic , "Ramayana".
He is also deeply revered as a God by Hindus all over the world.
I'm hoping to finish this illustration sometime this month. Still a lot to do, and the process only gets slower when the subject is so close to heart!
the shader for the zbrush screenshots are from Arran Lewis and the test render shader is from Marc Mordelet. A big thanks to both of them!
P.s. In other news...a change of job and city is on the cards!:)

and then some....

2008-03-10T13:43:00.003+05:30

for all who came back expecting more artwork....my sincere apologies....u can blame my dysfunctional back for now(thankyou lord for reasons to procrastinate!)......for those of u who just like to see me bathe in boastfulness and raise my ever dipping spirits......a little more footage for now:)
3dcreative magazine has Zerst in their 10 best galleries section for March. U can download the 'Lite' version from their site. Pay for the full copy for 200 pages of awesome info(if ur curious that is!)....check it out here.
3dcreative

Another step another stone....

2008-02-25T15:44:00.005+05:30

The Golden Compass Won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects!
It surely is a proud day for me and for all my colleagues at Rhythm and Hues here in India and LA!

Testing 1...2...3...

2008-01-17T22:52:00.000+05:30

Just a quick render test of my last sculpt. The model isnt in its higest level of subd so theres a bit of jaggedness.no textures, no shaders and not really much of a blog post but i'm bored.....what the hell.

Evolution

2008-01-14T03:07:00.000+05:30

The things evolution can do !!:)
This is again a model for the same friend of mine from two posts ago.
He is supposed to be a more evolved version of the earlier goblin, so that he can.....ummm..no spoilers here...we'll have to wait for his announcement sometime:)
No textures, no shaders...just a boring zbrush snapshot is what u see. Hope you guys like it!

5 More seconds of fame..:)

2008-01-06T13:45:00.000+05:30

Video on ndtv.

No, this is not an excuse for not having real blog updates, but its just a great start for a brand new year!:)
This initially aired on thursday night at 11:30ISt as part of a programme called "night out".

You can see a higher res(better quality) version on that ndtv link on top.

Real artwork updates coming soon!:)
HAPPY NEW YEAR everybody!!!!!!

Season's Greetings!

2007-12-25T01:21:00.000+05:30

A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone!
Keeping with the spirit of the season, just finished this piece for a friend of mine. He plans to use this goblin in some game that he plans to build. Time for givin and sharing people!:)

Its been a kind week...:)

2007-12-05T20:05:00.000+05:30

Well yeah, for starters , Exotique 3 reached my doorstep early this week. It was nice to see the War God in print alongside a lot of other awesome artwork!:)
and then, a very normal sunday spent with a little extra work in givin a presentation earned me some free publicity!:)
I havent had a chance to wrap up any artwork lately what with the testing I've been doing , but this is good reminder that I've been a hardworking boy!;)
I guess this is a good time to start simultaneously blogging on my new blog thats attached to my portfolio.
A self-pat on the back is in order..:)...ah...life and its silver linings!!

Happy Diwali!!!!

2007-11-12T22:08:00.000+05:30

Happy Diwali peeps!!
My first Diwali at my Inlaw's place and had a really great time. This is the rangoli that I made outside their door. They were quite thrilled with it(I hope!;)).

for the clueless, a rangoli is artwork(usually patterns and designs) made outside ones home using coloured powder. Its quite standard practise during the festival of Diwali(festival of lights)

of Fish and Men.....

2007-10-25T21:15:00.001+05:30

I finally get the chance to put this up. Yes, this is the same merman from 2 posts ago.....just the final illustration. You can also see him in this months Animation Today magazine on the cover.

I finished this about a month ago but had to wait till the magazines release so that i could put this up.Hope it was worth the wait(for those waiting!!)

This was made as part of the merman modeling challenge on cgtantra. I couldnt quite finish it for the challenge so decided to make an illustration of it.

This guy is designed to be the lead of an elite task force of similar mermen of an otherwise all mermaid race. They are entrusted with the protection of the queen mermaid and are called in to fight only as a last line of defense. They were results of long experimentation with various sea life and humans to build a perfect weapon. they're bodies are grafted with that of a shark with electrocuting tentacles that emerge out of the rib cage area. The jewels on the chest signify rank. They are a killing force efficient enuf to fight without armour or weapons.

This is also my first full character in zbrush.

Hope u guys like the design and final piece.

Base model in maya, sculpted posed and textured in Z Brush. Comped with screen shots in photoshop.

Flexing those brushes...

2007-10-03T00:35:00.000+05:30

figured I've not been practisin off late and have been gettin rusty and slow so thought to myself....Wake the f*** up!
I've decided to sketch and doodle on zbrush fr an hour each day......even if i churn out garbage......so heres to a decent start....I should probably start a separate blog just for the doodles else my good pieces disappear:).....
just a quick head doodle(no ears)....took me about 2 hours....zbrush more than anything is definitely stress relief:)

P.S. for those wondering about the merman......kindly 2 weeks waiting please:)

Race against time!!

2007-08-23T00:48:00.000+05:30

Signed up for the merman challenge on tantra with a bottle full of enthusiasm not considering the fact that i have "the great Indian wedding" comin up right around the corner.......whats more interesting is that the deadline for the challenge is the same as the day i leave for the wedding.......one challenge to the next!:)
Heres what i have so far on the challenge...just an unfinished body and head and a proxy model, and 2 working days to go!.....yay me!

Commercials

2007-08-08T14:16:00.000+05:30

Rhythm and Hues India(the studio i work for) just finished a commercial for alpen liebe recently. I figured now would be a good time to put up some of my professional work on the blog.
For the alpen commercial, I contributed by modeling the crocodile model.
The amaron battery commercial is a slightly older one though worth a mention!:)......My contributions to that one was the Dj and the fashion model, models.
We have a kickass team at the studio that brings this all together in one awesome looking frame!
U can see more images and the entire commercials at the Rhythm and Hues website.

Bored....

2007-08-08T12:51:00.000+05:30

One word that pretty much sums up my life for the last six months or so.....
So when i get my hands on a little sculpey and some modeling tools....my expression of emotion couldnt have gotten any louder!:)
took about 2 evenings to finish this and its about 3-4 inches tall.
Photographs once again by my dear friend Ravi:)

Note to self: more sculpey must get!

Sharp Curve Ahead

2007-07-31T21:25:00.000+05:30

I usually only post my artwork on my blog and try as much as possible not to just rant about my state of mind.....but then comes those little turns in life that just have to be mentioned!:)

First off......Zerst the WarGod got selected for Exotique 3. Yaayyyyyyy!!:)

And the real curve......Sai and I are gettin married!!....yayyy!!!:)
No I'm not typing down details. If u know me well...u'll ask me!....if not...it doesnt matter to u!:).....

So there we are riding along a bumpy road for the last couple of months and suddenly....
Sharp Curve Ahead........
:)

Z....

2007-05-29T02:35:00.001+05:30

My first doodle on zbrush ...an exercise in learnin the tools(my first time!).....
now that i've got a taste of this....how i wish I had picked up the earlier versions too!:).....
hoping to do many more..:)

Misfit

2007-05-24T23:16:00.000+05:30

This is a character I've been working on for a short film. The story of the film hasnt been decided but I'm sure I want him to be in it!:)
The concept behind the design is to have a
centaur who was born with a donkey's body instead of the stereotype horse!
This leads to him being a misfit in his society and hence leading to him having a lot of psychological issues( beer gut!)
More info as and when I can plan something. Would love to hear from all out there on suggestions for the story!

a long standing I O U.

2007-05-23T23:30:00.000+05:30

This was promised as a favor to my colleague, Vinayak, a long time ago so that he could get it rigged and do a couple of short animation gags with it. All credits for the design go to him. You can see more of his designs here..

http://vinayakpawar.blogspot.com

This was a lot of fun and a welcome break from realistic modeling. It was also nice to bring in form and anatomy into such a simple design.
The colored version is just simple colors slapped on to a standard shader...no fancy properties...no textures.
The rig was also something really simple to pose the model(just to show it off better) with no post corrections. The actual animatable rig is gonna be done by another friend.
Thanks for all the patience Vinayak!:)

Zerst, Maladan WarGod

2007-03-30T12:29:00.001+05:30

Been a Year and a Half in the making during free time at work.
This started off purely as an exercise to learn anatomy but decided to push this further over time. I also wanted to push my modeling skills with this and hence decided not to use zbrush or mudbox.Its been a great learnin experience(and a naming experience!).Hope you like it!

And some Clay Renders:

The Fall.....

2007-03-26T11:25:00.000+05:30

Been focusing on modeling and aesthetics so long that I failed to see how far I've degraded on my painting skills(not that I had much to boast of anyways....but I was better than this!!).....well, no point crying over spilt milk. I like the fact that my creativity has had a jump start and my laziness is being forced into submission so i'm hoping this phase(of bad artwork) shall pass!!:)
This was a piece done for an activity on conceptart.org....chow64.....The Black Queen.

another quickie!

2007-03-13T18:47:00.000+05:30

Should have posted this a long time ago but better late than never huh!
These are images of a sculpture I did while at a 2 day sculpting workshop that I went for with my team from work. This was done in around 5-6 hours and isnt really the best thing u've seen but was a lot of fun!:)

playing with some mud...

2007-03-05T13:51:00.000+05:30

Had this rough geometry of head lying around(the second image) so thought i'd use it since i've been meanin to use mudbox for a while. This was after a couple of hours into the software. Not something i can brag about, but hey!...the experience was a lot of fun!:)

goin back to tradition

2006-11-28T09:51:00.000+05:30

With all my years of digital sculpting, i fugured it was about time i tried some traditional clay modeling. I've heard of ppl say that it as a real fun experience , so why not give it a shot!
So here it is .....my first clay sculpture.
Like everything else , this too starts with Hanuman. Its based on the latest design I've been working with. Its not accurate to that design but close!
This was a really fun experience and I hope to do many more.
Images courtesy my friend Ravi Menon, processed in photoshop:)
Do leave comments!
-V

A Project thats always in Progress......

2006-10-25T14:25:00.000+05:30

Well heres a project of mine that I cant seem to move ahead on but am too damn thick headed to give up either!.....I started this off sometime in 2005 and am still storyboarding this somewhere.....These are the three main characters of my film(short film).....u can read more about this project of mine here.....
http://www.cgtantra.com//forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=357&PN=3&TPN=1
Wish me Luck!

Then and Now....

2006-09-28T12:20:00.000+05:30

Its almost been a yr since that last painting..its hard to beleive that I found no time in between to complete any personal artworks. I did manage to model this one piece quite a bit though but spent months just perfecting the piece and learnin so much about anatomy , structure and form in the process.
This piece is still work in progress with a couple of tweaks on the body still to be done and I wil be adding accessories and stuff. As you can see the proportions are exaggerated in a couple of areas and thats very much on purpose. The larger than life feel is getting to be a style since it seems to show up in all my doodles.
Modelled in maya . The light setup is just to see how he looks and nuthing close to final.
I'm calling him just "Warrior" for now!:)

RnH....month1

2006-09-28T12:11:00.000+05:30

After a lot of freelancing all through 2005 I finally joined RnH as a 3d artist.I got inroduced to the Wacom tablet and in my first month here....what started as a doodling exercise ended up like this..!

History

2006-09-28T11:35:00.000+05:30

Its about time!!...
I've seen a lot of colleagues set up their own blogs and I've been putting off my website for a long time now so I figured...why not!!
so here it is.....i make no promise of any constant work but I'm hoping i get time off to keep practising and do some personal work.

To start with, I'm putting up some of my old work.Stuff done around January-March. lost most of my work after that and a lot of recent ones when my hard disk crashed so this is what i could salvage from forums that i keep posting on.
The last image is a painting done in photoshop in the days when the wacom hadnt replaced the mouse! All the others were made in 3dsmax.
Thanks for stopping by!
-V