Ed Coyle's Art Blog

So I've been doing a lot more website work lately than I would have liked to do, but it's all good. I'm happy with the results of my recent overhaul of The Games Page's Back Room. Before the overhaul, it was very plain and a little hard to look at in my opinion. Many of the visuals didn't match the design, and were unrefined. I decided that since the Back Room is the place that Gary and I have set up for people to just come "chill and play some games", to make it feel like you've just walked into someone's newly-finished, game-room-styled basement. It's nice and dimly lit in the background, with the main focus on the table where the games are laid out. The interface is clean and easy to understand, and there are some nice Javascript rollovers to finish off the buttons.

I personally think this is the nicest looking site I've built so far, and I think I've just raised the bar for myself. From this point on I'll be striving to make my designs look even better than this. Click the image below to see a screenshot of the site, and please make sure that you visit the Back Room and enjoy the games that Gary and I have been working on recently.

Also, I've been freelancing recently at D4 Creative Group, the ad agency in Philadelphia that I interned at during school. During my 2-week freelance venture, I worked on 3 different commercials for Comcast Cable. I'm not new to working for Comcast (as my demo reel actually has some footage of a commerical I helped complete last year), but nonetheless it's more experience in the bag. When I can get copies of the work I did, I'll make a Comcast reel or something...

I also had the opportunity to work for Navteq again, this time ON-SITE. Unfortunately I turned them down because I was working at D4 at the time. Now that D4 doesn't exactly need me, I'm kicking myself for it because it was 5 weeks of guaranteed work. Oh well, next time I will absolutely take up that offer.

That's all I have for now. I may update within the next few days with some colored photoshop's I've been doing. I also have a new character model in the works that's slowly but surely been getting done. But we'll see...

About a week or so ago, I made some major graphical and layout changes to my resume. However, since I'm just a tad forgetful, it never made it onto the blog afterward...

Anyways, you can now access the updated PDF from the resume page.

As for the artwork I should be uploading daily, my current job is taking up a lot of time so I haven't had as much downtime as I used to. However, I do have a new character model in the works that I may just have some untextured shots of to put here soon

Also, starting next week, I'll be putting a lot of design time into finishing up a major TGP game. Gary and myself are hoping to have the game done sometime in December, so keep your fingers crossed. I may post some screenshots of that game here too, once I get it looking spiffy. Speaking of games, make sure you check out the Backroom and play Rabbit Stew, because it's just amazing.

I've recently been doing models for Traffic.com's traffic simulators. They're low-poly models that mark minor landmarks in major metro areas. Pretty cool stuff.

Below are some test renders of some of the models I've been working on. I got the OK from the company today to use them as portfolio pieces. Supposedly they take these models and place them into a program similar to a gaming engine. I figure that it's getting me closer and closer to game animation, so what the hell.

All logos are copyright their respective companies. The artwork is all copyright Navteq/Traffic.com

A quick photoshop of me. I just felt like sketching on my tablet, and then I added some simple color. It's not done, but at least I did some sketching.

It's been a while since I updated my blog. My original goal was to do a sketch or a model once a day to keep my skills sharp. Unfortunately, I've been spending tons of time doing other things, and I've managed to land myself a few small jobs in the process. I've got myself a part-time job starting soon, and I am in the middle of a few freelance gigs. I've also been doing some pixel art for one of Gary's games, and I've also been trying to learn the basics of Bodypaint 3D. So unfortunately, I've been slacking off a bit, haha.

So hopefully, I can once again begin to keep this blog up. I also want to redo the design a bit to make it look a little prettier.

So now I've decided to take my pool room a step further and create my ideal GAME room. My ideal game room would have more than just a pool table. Obviously it would be a place to entertain, and a place where I would have many of my close friends come and relax with me. For this reason, I'm going to be adding a bar into the mix. While it's not complete by any means, I've built the frame and begun to add the finer details, like some cabinet doors and a wet sink.

Also, I will be adding a section of the room that has a large television with lots of video games attached. I plan on modeling it all myself . But any gamer knows that you need something comfortable to place yourself into while you game. Because of this, I spent about an hour or two this afternoon crafting a nice, comfy recliner that I will have multiple of in my television area.

My goal for this piece is to eventually give a beautiful walkthrough of this desirable game room. I think it will be a great addition to my reel.

One of my favorite 3D pieces that I've done would definitely have to be my pool room. Even though I'm not so good at it, Pool is a game that intrigues me. Being the 3D animation nerd that I am, whenever I'm playing or watching a game of pool, I can't help but notice the various textures, colors, and reflections in everything that makes up the environment that is the billiards room. It's such a unique environment, and while I'm proud of my portfolio piece, I can't help but think that my presentation of it just isn't doing it justice.

So, I've decided to upgrade it!

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Link: http://www.cathyscatering.com

I've been working, on and off, on a website over the past month and a half for Cathy's Catering in Cinnaminson, NJ. It's pretty neato. Just a simple site all about her business and a listing of her menus so that you can order from her, all displayed in a nice, easy to read design with some pictures (which is a big improvement over the lousy flash site that this other guy made her that barely functioned and couldn't be printed):

http://www.cathyscatering.com is the site location.

So I realize that it's been a little more than a week, breaking my vow of updating at least once a day... My explanation for this is that I was vacationing in Florida and I refused to do any kind of work (that and we visited with my girlfriend's family, and I decided to be social instead )

Today, I spent some time unwrapping and beginning to paint the monster. I did this in about 2 hours. Here are some images of the unwrap test:

Here is the flattened image:

I decided to model something today since it's been a few weeks without touching Max for me. I looked around my bedroom, and my eyes locked in on a little monster statue that my girlfriend had painted for me at one of those ceramic-painting places. Below are some photos of that monster. He's my subject for this project...

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I had a request from one of the TGP regulars to include information on each of my posts about how long I've spent on the whole 3D pipeline. I've gone back to each of my portfolio work samples and added a blurb about this. Just thought y'all should know.

By the way, if you know someone that would be interested in my services (be it building a website, creating graphics or entire commercial pieces), please contact me or have those that are interested contact me! I am in the market for work right now and would be glad to assist in whatever I can.

Thanks!