Props Artist

[jonnyru]

            My name is Jonathon Ruland.  I graduated from the University of Wisconsin at Madison with a major in 3-D Art in May of 2008, and I'm interested in the work that Project Stealth does.  I feel I'm ready to start putting out assets for a traditional 3-D game, instead of the current cell phone platform I'm working on.

I have extensive experience in Maya, Mudbox, and Photoshop, as well as other programs.  My digital resume is online at http://webpages.charter.net/rarejon42/jonnew.html and you can see some of my work there.  Over the summer I worked through the tutorials of the Unreal 3 Editor Collector's Edition, and I started to design my own level, a three story temple.  You can view two rooms of the current (in-progress) version of the temple on my website.  I have also finished working through Luke Ahearn's 3D Game Textures book to improve my texture techniques.  I'll be making an overhaul to the current artwork on my site, however I would love for some of the things I could post could be also used in PS:SVM.

            Eager to dive into the game creation world, in January of 2008 I joined a three-person team to design game mechanics and create artwork for the cell-phone game Parallel Kingdom (www.parallelkingdom.com).  PK is an MMORPG that uses GPS coordinates to place the virtual world over the real world.  Currently the game is in its infancy (it was released on October 31st), but it's already being played by over seven thousand users.  I'm currently working twenty or more hours a week to put together the 3D models and animations that will be released in December's expansion.  Currently it uses 2D images for characters and monsters ââ,¬â€œ these will be replaced by 3D slide animations, which will also depict what weapons and armor the character is currently wielding.

In addition to working on Parallel Kingdom and improving my technique with the book and tutorials, I am working full time at Perkins Restaurant.  It's been a challenge to balance my time, and I've been spending what free time I have building my portfolio.  I am highly motivated and willing to work hard to achieve my goals.  With that said, if there is anything I don't currently have in my portfolio that you are looking for, I am a fast learner and willing to work hard.   

Thank you for your time!

            Jonathon Ruland


            http://webpages.charter.net/rarejon42/jonnew.html

[frvge]

Hi Jonathan,

Geopositioning games in the real world will hopefully be big some day. They have lots of potential.

I am not in the position to judge your 3D assets (I dont know anything about that), so I'll leave that to someone else.

About your time:
Going by your post it seems to me like you do not have much free time. Dedication is important but time is too. Do you have an estimate of the time you can spend on PS?

I will have a talk with our Lead Environment Artist to check out the possibilities for you.

Also, could you answer the few remaining questions as listed in the Instructions thread of the Join Us forum?

Thank you,

frvge

[jonnyru]

Nickname
Jon would be fine

Age (or age-range like 18-22, 23-27, with increments of 5)
21

Personal status on work/college and if you expect it to change within 2 months.
Graduated college (UW:madison)
Work will change to either another occupation or going back for another Bachelors; in computer animation.

For which position you apply to
Props Artist

Your qualifications and skills
Bachelors of Science: Art
Home taught/Independent study taught: Maya/Mudbox/Photoshop/Unreal3

Your experience
Parallel Kingdom/Personal Work

A link to previously made work / portfolio / demo reel
http://webpages.charter.net/rarejon42/jonnew.html

In response to your question, this would be taking the "time slot" of parallel kingdom.

There you go :)

Jonathon Ruland

[frvge]

Hi Jon,

I've had a few chats with our various modellers and they all agree that you should work on texturing first.

Some hopefully constructive criticism:
- textures are too empty/bland/not enough detail
  (example: MP3 player and computer are mostly one color in the diffuse)
- too high resolution for small objects. Might be fine for rendering, but not for games. 1024 is just big for an MP3 player ;)
- There's a lot of UV space wasted on the salmon. You can extend parts of the stick outside of UV-space because it's tilable (for example, see http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/3770/frvgeuc5.jpg . Some wall-segment made by one of the artists) . Also, you can scale it.
There are also some good parts, and the most important one was that the highpoly of the salmon is nice. Also, the street barrel is good.

I hope you find these comments helpful in your learning-process.

When you've mastered most/all the things in your texture-book, feel free to re-apply with some new examples showing off your skills then.

Good luck,

frvge

[jonnyru]

will do, like i said; there will be an overhaul shortly - just finishing up the stuff for PKingdom then will dive into my work; i've been working on concept sketches which I'll be posting on my website in the next couple days - if you aren't too busy, perhaps I could get some critique on the sketches?

thanks again!

Jonathon

[frvge]

Hi,

We have a really talented Concept Artist, but he's very busy at the moment.
I can not guarantee that I'll be able to get you his opinion, but you can always try.
When you're ready, please send me a Private Message and I'll see what I can do.

frvge