The Artwork of J.D. Cragg

Hakosuka Pt.2

2011-07-16T18:05:00.002-04:00

Temp update until tonight.

Hakosuka Pt.1

2011-07-10T22:21:00.005-04:00

I'm using the blog as a way to keep track of personal artwork that I do at home. Here's about 3 hours of modeling a 1971 Nissan Skyline GT-R, or Hakosuka. Trying for mid-res (think Forza 4) with a scene and modded parts to go with it.

More details later.

Quick reference so you don't assume it's actually a Dodge Challenger :)

2008-07-05T16:28:00.003-04:00

Wow, I haven't touched this in forever...

Since school, I've managed to score the dream job: I was brought on as a Vehicle/ Weapons Artist for Red Storm Entertainment here in Raleigh this May.

Current project is unannounced, but it will be eventually. I have high hopes for it. [:

I have my doubts as to whether or not I'll finish the Abrams. Working exclusively in 3DMax has made me weary of Maya now, and when I do start on a new personal project, it'll be using that.

Pretty busy at the moment, but I'll be sure to update when something big happens!

News, news, news

2008-03-21T15:12:00.004-04:00

I've been neglecting this thing for a while now...

Anyways, school's long done. Got my Bachelors of Science in Computer Animation. Awesome, I know.

Applied to a few places, only one looking promising. I'm going to apply for an internship here in a few days down in Dallas, TX.

Also, started a new model after taking a month off to recuperate.

M1A2 Abrams + TUSK Urban Combat System

I'm going to hit the model pretty hard this evening and tomorrow, and at least finish the turret in full detail. The bottom half shouldn't take as long.

And I plan on texturing the hell out of this one.

ALSO:
Check out my portfolio!

http://jdcragg.cgsociety.org/

Demo reel is up, along with massive renders of the Yamato and the SuperHind.

Just a small update

2007-12-31T10:07:00.000-05:00

I'm currently back in Georgia for a bit, but once I get back to Orlando, I'll have my work drive from school and I can pull all the nice, super-hi resolution renders on here. But for now, here's a small look at the finished Superhind, dirtied and lit.

I'm still fighting with the ship's lighting at this point. When I get it more... presentable, I'll post those as well.

Enjoy!

Big update

2007-11-28T14:27:00.001-05:00

Three and a half weeks to go! I've got everything modeled, and now the texturing begins.

Panel review went extremely well. I scored a 25. Out of 25. [:

Thanksgiving break was much needed, and now that I'm full recovered, it's time to hit everything again.

Here's some updates of the Superhind:

And here are some shots of the Yamato, including a wireframe. Poly count is only 275,000. No too shabby.

Panel Review: Imminent

2007-11-12T21:12:00.000-05:00

Panel review happens Thursday.

This is the process of dressing up nice and meeting with 5 course directors from classes related to your chosen field. This is also where they tear your work apart and pretty much decide your fate.

In preparation for this, I've pretty much decided to live in open lab until Thursday, which, after panel, I will unwind with a nice midnight showing of Beowulf. :)

Here's the Japanese Superbattleship YAMATO, about 85-90% modeled. The Superhind is modeled at the same progress, just don't have any renders to show off at the moment.

I'll post them after Panel.

Mi-24 Superhind W.I.P.

2007-11-02T12:42:00.000-04:00

Just throwing up some in-progress shots of the Superhind. About 75% done. The rest of today should have me finishing the rear landing gear, cockpit layouts and the ball camera in front of the 20mm Cannon.

I'll update again as soon as they're finished.

CAP is in Full Swing

2007-10-20T02:15:00.000-04:00

I'm almost finished with my first month of CAP, and I'm starting to feel pretty overwhelmed.

So far, I'm close to 60% Complete with the Yamato model, and about the same on the Superhind. I did some quick Mental Ray test renders of what I have for the Yamato as of 2am this morning. I've thrown them at the end of the post. Please ignore the basic blockout geometry, it's still very much a Work In Progress. It *should* be fully modeled out by the end of next week though. Here's hoping.

I'm two days behind on the schedule I set for myself, thanks to DRC Students taking over scheduled CAP labs for renders they were supposed to have done a month ago, but things are back to normal now.

Class from 9am-1pm, then lab from 5pm-2am is starting to wear on me. My dad said I looked "absolutely terrible" when he saw me last night.

Heh.

I've still got 3 months to go.
Can't wait to go home again for Thanksgiving, though.
I miss the mountains. [:

Wow.

2007-09-06T17:10:00.000-04:00

I can't believe it's September already.

I start Animation Pre-Production this month. It's a one-month studio class (8 hours a day, 6 days a week) where we draw and plan for our Final Project assets.

I'm doing 3 vehicles + small environments for each one. All assets will be officially approved or shot down tomorrow, but it should go really smoothly. I checked with the course directors, and they're excited to see this stuff come together.

UPDATE: Intent Day went smooth as anything. I was approved for all assets within 10 minutes, and the Modeling Lead loved 'em. Here goes CAP.

For my assets, I'm doing:

STE Mi-24 MkIV Superhind

I already have the rotor assembly modeled:

Next up is the IJN YAMATO, a Japanese World War 2 Superdestroyer:

That's going to be a heavy scene file. Instancing and NURBS FTW.

And finally, the "if I have time" asset:
The Subaru WRC Rally Japan 2004 Car

I'll post updates every couple of weeks when I get a chance. The prepro art will be posted around the beginning of October.

Wish me luck!

It's going to be a long 5 months...

2007-06-30T22:06:00.000-04:00

Ah, a nice, free alternative to actually buying a web page.

I don't know HTML either. So yeah.

It's going to look nice and barren for a while until I figure out how I actually want this thing to look. But it's a nice place to post and archive some of my work, and maybe get some decent feedback.

Now, instead of explaining to people what I do, I can just send them here. [:

I'll have an update of the first model I'll be posting on here later. I'm doing the armored version of the Darkness from the Top Cow comics. The game was fantastic, but the armor was missing!

How blasphemous.

Check back later.