August 2, 2024 — Comments are off for this post.

Lego Adventure Project Published

Logtown

Lego Adventure Project Published

This week I've added a new project describing the process used to create the two above LEGO inspired illustrations. Collaborating with a friend, these concepts were made to invision the kind of LEGO RPG we'd like to play. Heavily inspired by Howl's Moving Castle, Final Fantasy, and D&D we envisioned an optimistic and wonderful world with the promise of adventure wherever the party might wander.

To read a little more about the process visit the project page:

Lego Adventure Project Page

Resources

The main resources used to make these paintings can be found in a combination of these two courses:

Blender Guru's Doughnut Tutorials:
A great way to get introduced to how Blender works, and some of the most common tools used in creating a 3D model up to a rendered video. For instance I used the technique for duplicating and placing sprinkles on a dougnnut to place houses inside Log Town. I also used the same light setup as the doughnuts to add basic lighting to the 3D Renders. This tutorial also sets you up for success for Romain's class.

Romain Joundeau's Visual Storytelling class:
Using techniques for using 3D in the painting process, masking and photobashing. This is a great course, and I highly reccommend it if you're interested in visual storytelling in your work and would like resources on incoporating 3D into your workflow, or would like a more realistic look.

I hope these resources are helpful to your creative persuits.
Much success,
Mike

Have questions or would like to say hi? Send me an email at MikeAckermanArt at gmail.com or sign up for the newsletter and simply reply to any of them. I respond to all newsletter replies.

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Published by Mike Ackerman in Announcements, Blog, Resources
Tags: Announcement, Resources

June 28, 2024 — Comments are off for this post.

Blog is up.

Now is the Time

I've wanted to build a little corner of the web for myself for a while now, but have been hesitant about how to start. Perhaps how is not the right question, but when - and there is no better time to start than now. So I've written this first post to begin.

Why a Blog?

It does seem sort of dated, but I think there are a few advantages:

Tech Independence

After reading Derek Sivers' Tech Independence article, I became motivated to create a small corner of the web that was as minimally reliant on exclusive services as possible. Everything on my site, including this blog can be easily backed up and moved if any of the services supporting it stop working. This can't be said of IG, Twitter, FB, etc. I'm not opposed to using those services, but I'd prefer a more permanent place that I control to build up over time and that can be reliably found, no algorithm required.

If you are an artist, I highly suggest having a dedicated website for your work. Squarespace is quick and easy, I've used it in the past. If you're looking to save some money in the long run and are willing to do a bit of the work yourself, I've enjoyed using WordPress + the Semplice theme.

Fatigued of Social Media

While it can be a wonderful place to find inspiration and keep up with what others are doing, I find social media can be a massive distraction, riddled with ads, and detrimental to my productivity and quality of life. I've found newsletters and Patreon to be a nice alternative and would like to make something similar. James Gourney's substack has been my favorite example of late. Plus no ads!

A Place to Contribute

Much of my art education has been built on resources others have shared. When I have something helpful to share, I'll pay it forward here.

A Place to Document

Sharing our process can be a good way to reflect on the workflow, and to share that work with others. It can also be a wonderful time capsule of progress. One of my favorite examples of this is my great friend Craig Winslow's blog who's been keeping a blog of his progress for a decade. Craig also writes a yearly retrospective summarizing the events and accomplishments of that year - a great way to reflect on everything one has done, it can be easy to forget!

Goals

My goal with this is to share something useful to the art and creative community. Professionally my work revolves around 2D and UI art, while personally my interests also span into philosophy and business - mainly in search of a way to achieve a fulfilled day-to-day life. I expect to share posts of art process and project updates, as well as resources and thoughts that have helped me through difficulty and live the fulfilled life I enjoy.

If you've made it this far, thanks for reading! I look forward to sharing more with you in the future and hope to aid you in your creative endeavors.

Much Success,

- Mike

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Published by Mike Ackerman in Uncategorized