ChaoticMutation

Shellhead Hero: Hellboy

2008-09-27T00:30:00.000-07:00

This week's Shellhead Hero, Hellboy from Dark Horse Comics!

As you can see I'm presenting Hellboy in the new amazing reversed normals sphere with bands, for smoother rotation. Also, I did some work on the knees for the base model because they were starting to really bug me.

Up next another fellow from Marvel Comics...Deathlok the Demolisher!

Let there be Spore...

2008-09-13T01:29:00.000-07:00

As you can imagine I'm interested in all the crazy chaotic mutations to be had out of the game Spore. You can find my profile and "creations" as Chaosmutant over at the Sporepedia.

I've made some changes to the Shellhead Hero base model and presentation, and I'm ready for my next pick which is:

Hellboy from Dark Horse Comics!

Shellhead Hero: Kraven the Hunter

2008-08-29T00:34:00.000-07:00

This week's Shellhead Hero...is a villain, Kraven the Hunter from Marvel Comics!

Back in 1987 I was collecting Spiderman comics when a six issue story called Kraven's Last Hunt came out. It was a great story that took one of Spiderman's oldest and cheesiest adversaries and made him cool...just long enough for him to kill himself...

Shellhead Hero: Colossus

2008-08-20T02:02:00.000-07:00

As promised another Shellhead Hero, this time Colossus from Marvel Comics' X-Men!

If you have someone that would be cool to see "Shellhead Heroized" go ahead and leave a comment on any of the SHH blog entries. At least until I figure a way to have submissions on the main SHH page. If I like it and would be interested in making him, I'll add it to the list.

Don't worry they don't have to be heroes either, as proven by the upcoming entry...Kraven the Hunter from Marvel Comics.

Presenting Shellhead Heroes

2008-08-12T02:39:00.001-07:00

Well...currently only 'hero', but the collection will grow...I promise.

I added a new section, as you can see on the left menu, where I will store all the new figures as I make them. There will be posts to the blog as well when they roll in.

I'm aiming on doing one new Shellhead Hero every week. After I do around ten of them I will make an alternate body type for the less strong looking characters (like Spiderman, Abe, or Neo).

So here's the first: Captain America...here he comes to save the Mother F'in day yeah!!!

Sneak peak

2008-07-18T09:06:00.000-07:00

I'm working on a series of figures representing characters I like from comics, games, and movies. The base figure looks like a vinyl action figure that I will be able to quickly add textures and accessories to. Kind of like Lego or Minimates.

I will refine the model as I go, but here's the starter.

You can drag around in the window to change the viewing angle some.

VR Experiments

2008-03-20T02:18:00.000-07:00

I've got another personal project in mind and wanted to do some experimentation with panoramic and object spinner Flash files before getting started. So I did some renders of Mechacoyote for a test. Welcome to the amazing world of "Virtual" "Reality"!!! < doing quote marks with fingers >

The picture link below will open a new window so you can look at the Mechacoyote head. Click and drag to control the viewing angle.

This panorama of the scene will show the amazing work I put into the areas that are off camera. It's like a behind-the-scenes of a 3d render. Again, click and drag in the new window to take a look around.

Mechacoyote

2008-03-13T21:37:00.000-07:00

Well, here is the piece I did for the Saturday Morning Cartoon show.

It was great fun making it and putting my nutty modeling system to the test. In essence it's a modification of the Subdivide Proxy system in Maya that lets you work on a low-poly mesh while seeing the results in a hi-poly smoothed mesh.

Only for mine, it applies an extrude before doing the smoothing and creates a couple of attributes for controlling the thickness of the extrusion and how hard to make the edges. The result is that you are only working on the top surfaces and get automatic thickness without having to deal with all the extra verts and faces from the sides and bottom. I started work on the system when I was modeling a hi-res vehicle and was like "they build the thing out of formed panels, I should do that too."

To see an example of how much less information you have to deal with check out the low-poly mesh below.

You can see that the elbows are really just a bunch of square faces of different sizes. The panels are all a couple faces with the edges cut to allow for the extrusion of both pieces to show.

Sat-Mo-Toons

2008-02-21T22:08:00.000-08:00

Hey...long time...no post.

I've got a piece in the upcoming Saturday Morning Cartoon Show at the Ouch My Eye Gallery. The opening for the show is on March 1st at 8pm. I hope to see you there.

From Aliens to Zombies

2007-10-17T23:28:00.000-07:00

Here is the Halloween window for 2007. I even picked up a smoke machine to pump a bit of exhaust down onto the Trick or Treaters, hehehe.

Also, we're going to the Zombie Walk again this year. Only this time...we're out for braaiinssss. We have our zombie theme and I've done some practice makeup effects so I'm really looking forward to it.

October 21st at the Freemont Troll, at 2:45pm. We hope to eat you there...

Bioshocked

2007-09-04T21:13:00.000-07:00

Well, I finished up Bioshock recently and was very happy with the game. It's been awhile since I had been excited about a game before it came out and finished it within a week of getting it.

The audio is very good in the game, (I still love the crazy psionic monkeys from System Shock 2 though) and there were some good freaky bits in it. I only played at night with all the lights out to make sure I was getting the best vibe possible.

You can just go to Mel...

2007-08-14T21:47:00.000-07:00

Slight update and re-org to the site.

The Mutagenerator has been put into storage for now. Feel free to visit Subject #46N2 anytime though.

I posted the full pages to my Cell Culture Clash story. Button is on the left for it (and hopefully some future updates as well).

I also added a Melscripts section for Maya tools I have made that are interesting enough to make public.

Free Floating Spectre

2007-07-25T20:20:00.000-07:00

Well, my final day at Sucker Punch was last Friday (07/20/2007 ... which is an oddly appealing date to me, kinda like a mixed up palindrome)
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So it's both a sad and exciting time for me now.

I'm going to be spending time working on different kinds of art, Maya scripts, and some programing to see what really clicks with me these days.

I got a new desktop PC to make working and rendering at home more productive. My old laptop was brutally slow at times when I was working on my Atomic Lead panels.

Stay tuned here as I will be posting progress on stuff I'm working on.

Chaotic Photo Reference

2007-06-05T01:32:00.000-07:00

I have finally finished adding my personal photo reference to the Net-Collective over on Flickr. It's just pictures of "interesting" stuff I find on vacation, around town, or during road trips. There are no pictures of me, or family, or friends...just stuff 'n junk.

You can find the whole mess at ChaoticMutation Flickr. There are thousands of them and they are not sorted or tagged in any meaningful way...yet...soooo...good luck to those who venture forth!

Stereogram

2007-04-08T14:25:00.000-07:00

I made a stereogram for a gallery show at All City Coffee based on one of the characters in my Atomic Lead story. I think only about 5-10% of people have been able to get it to "pop" when looking at the print...sigh...

So here it is in digital format. I find it much easier to pop on-screen.

Chaoticmutation.com cannot be held responsible for headaches, eye strain, brain tumors, blurred vision, or cases of wandering spleens supposedly caused by excessive stereogram use.

Illustration Friday: Communication

2007-02-26T11:16:00.000-08:00

Another "3d sketch" for Illustration Friday.

...poor little fella...

Cell Culture Clash

2007-02-23T20:57:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm finally done with my 6 page story for Atomic Lead.

Here's another preview...this time of the evil viral RNA character.

I've worked on it off and on since the end of November...and I still barely finished in time. It was a lot of work, a lot of fun, and a good learning experience about using comics as a storytelling device.

New Years!

2007-01-02T01:15:00.000-08:00

Happy 2007 everyone!

We brought in the New Year with about 20,000 others at the base of the Space Needle here in Seattle.

I was on the lookout for those in the crowd exhibiting superhuman abilities or mutations, but none were observed. Well...no one with beneficial mutations at least.

Atomic Lead Preview

2006-12-02T23:29:00.000-08:00

Work In Progress of the main characters in my Atomic Lead story.

This should give you a general idea of what I'm going for.

Atomic Lead

2006-11-27T10:50:00.000-08:00

I'm going to be laying off Illustration Friday for awhile so I can concentrate on my six page story in the 2007 edition of the Atomic Lead comic book.

I am whole-heartedly embracing my inner cellular biologist and making the story about a slacker Stem Cell and his Phagocyte friend.

The look of it is going to be similar to the high contrast grayscale images from Scanning Electron Micrographs...I've always loved that look...

Illustration Friday: Smoke

2006-11-09T03:30:00.000-08:00

My first "3d sketch" for Illustration Friday.

I love to model in 3d, but it takes so long to model, texture, light, render and tweak, compared to the fairly loose digital paintings I've been doing for IF.

So I'm going to try doing quick models and scenes for the weeks' topics and the ones I like I will flesh out and finish later.

Halloween House 2006

2006-10-16T00:42:00.000-07:00

Well, here is this year's window display...

...giant, crazy-guy, behind bars...

He has two weeks to stare down at my neighbors, hehe.

Illustration Friday: Trouble

2006-10-13T01:03:00.000-07:00

For some people...a magically sharp weapon can be more trouble than it's worth.

Got this one in under the wire yet again...1 am Friday morning...so no comments for me this week. But, it did get me back on track after missing Illustration Friday for over a month.

Back from Spain

2006-09-29T21:04:00.000-07:00

Well we made it back from Spain with no problems. Most of the trip was spent in Barcelona with enough time in Madrid to get a feel for it.

I'm sure a few pictures will make it into the photography section here. Maybe three out of the......1,800 pictures we took. We filled about 5 GBs worth of memory sticks. Too much interesting stuff.

Looking forward...Halloween is coming up and that means another window decoration like these...

I'm not sure yet what I'll do this year...

Illustration Friday: Run

2006-08-26T03:49:00.000-07:00

...Running Zombies...

I was going to use this logo for a bottle of Running Zombie Root Beer, but I have too much to do this weekend, so it's just like...a button.

Maybe it's a logo button for a group dedicated to stamping out the recent proliferation of running zombies in horror movies...or maybe it's for a group supporting running zombies.

Personally, I prefer the slow moving variety. Which do you prefer?