Video Games and Pottery?

What have I been up to lately?  (because the internet always wants to know what I am doing doesn't it?  Doesn't it?  Uhhh,  Hello?  Is anyone there?  Oh well, on with the post...)

I've made some big lifestyle changes as of late.  I spent many years in Video Games and got out a little while back.  I have always found working with my hands rewarding.  Wood-working, drawing, building, making.  I spent over a decade on and off taking various art related courses and constantly working on keeping my life drawing going.  (On that note, aside from the occasional session at the local coffee shop it's been a couple years now, I really should get back to it. )

So what am I doing now to support my newly laid back, real stuff, deep meaning lifestyle?  As you know from my last post, I'm now a full time potter.  It's been in my life for about 15 years and when I was trying to decided what to do in post-video game life, it was a simple decision.  I've got a great studio set up and have been teaching classes at a local gallery.  I'm really loving it.  Finally something rewarding, that others can appreciate for a long time.

You see, I found that the biggest problem with working in the games industry is that after all the blood sweat and tears, after your latest title is released; a few months later, nothing.  It's gone, everyone has moved on.  It doesn't even really exist.  Without a device to run it on, without power, it's nothing.  It's only virtual.  I've gone real.  Really real.  Something you can look at, touch, experience and appreciate.  Don't get me wrong, there have been some amazingly beautiful and experience filled video games over the years but it's all so fleeting.  It's nice to create something that truly exists.

If you'd like to check out my pottery or see me working, head over to my other website:

www.timothypottery.com

Go ahead and follow along here if you prefer.  I can't guarantee the speed or volume of posts!  But I will ping you occasionally.

Thanks for reading.
Go be creative.

Jeff Timothy.

Welcome to my "home on the net"
Who am I and what do I do?

I've gone from big corporate company to small work-with-my-hands artist.  I've run the full gamut and have now landed in a space where I can continue to grow as an artist and pursue personally rewarding projects.

What the heck does that mean?!?    I have decided to pursue life as a potter.  Working with my hands on things that don't disappear when the power goes out.  Art that will outlast me.   Fewer hours spent in front of a glowing monitor and more time creating.

My home studio is underway, the construction dust is being swept up and the paint on the walls is now drying.  The kiln is warming up and the wheel is spinning.

Teaching.

Teaching and mentoring junior artists while working in the video game industry was always rewarding and I'm finally getting the opportunity to teach again.

I'm teaching two beginner wheel throwing classes, one for kids and one for adults in 2014.  These will be followed by a second kids class and a sculpting class for adults.  I will also be teaching private lessons once the studio is finished and I've acquired a couple more wheels.

So what exactly did I do in the Video Game industry?

I worked professionally as an artist for over a decade.
My various jobs within the industry included:

3D modelling of envornments
3D modelling of in game characters
Character design, Concept Art
Teaching and mentoring and leading junior artists.
Document writing for Asset creation.  (guides for new artists)
among other more mundane things...


I was also privileged enough to have been influential in developing and encouraging a thriving artist community while working at Electronic Arts (Canada).  I created and supported a group called The Art Crew which allowed both artist and non-artist to share ideas, personal work, critique and learn from each other.  By the time I left EAC, The Art Crew was a thriving community of creative minds.  It was extremely rewarding and I'm proud to have built this group from the ground up.

There really were many things I was involved in during my time making video games.  It was fun and challenging, hard work, rewarding and sometimes extremely frustrating but always an adventure.


I have many other pursuits all revolving around art. Drawing, sculpting and casting. Including artwork sculpting and design sculpting.

By all means, if you're able and willing, please post some comments on my work. I always welcome the feedback.

Jeff.

Hi everyone,  I was planning on an update here and discovered that most if not all of the links to my images are apparently broken.

I will be looking into the problem and trying to get it fixed...  Thanks for being patient.

Looks like when I switched over to Google+ in the past, all images got moved over, at some point I think I might have closed the Google+ account which then deleted all the images.  Then I proceeded to re-open the Google+ account but lo and behold, all the images were still deleted and gone...  I've begun re-uploading and re-linking images so things will begin to get back to normal soon.

Jeff.

Life Drawing

I started life drawing a year before I began studying Classical Animation at Sheridan College in Ontario Canada. That would be about 17 years of life drawing with a few breaks in-between.

Here is some of my work. Various pieces from various times but most within the last few years... This is a very small selection of work, I've got a stack of drawings which I haven't worked up the courage to devote the time to photograph yet! (too busy with other projects!)

I've used a wide variety of drawing materials. Conte in a rainbow of colours, charcoal, erasers, ink, watercolour, graphite sticks. I mainly use thick black charcoal pastel sticks now though. I like the amount of control and variety of line I get with it. You need to have a sensitive hand though and that takes a few years of practice to develop. It also doesn't tear the paper like conte can. I like economy and tend to prefer putting down lines that describe form in one shot. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't!




I always draw on large sheets of newsprint. Hint: go to a packing supply place and buy packing paper. Loose sheets of 24 x 30 newsprint. WAY less expensive than "life drawing newsprint" from your local extortion... umm I mean art store.

10 minutes

The drawings which are more fleshed out (more detailed, complete, less messy) are approximately 5-10 minute drawings give or take a few. The ones which seem really fleshed out are around 20 minutes. The really quick sketchy ones with far less detail and far more movement are usually 2 or 3 minutes at the most.

10 - 15 minutes

about 5 minutes.

10 minute

This drawing is actually only about 4" x 5" in size. A small doodle on the page.

about 1.5 - 2 minute sketches.

3-5 minutes.

probably 5 minutes. Small drawing on the side of a larger one.

1 minute

3-5 minutes

10-15 minutes

15 - 20 minutes. Much of this time is spent just placing down small marks or "anchor points" The main body of the drawing starts to appear around the 5 minute mark.

Other crazy pursuits

To learn a bit more about me and how my brain functions, here's a quick rundown of some other things I'm interested in! Not in any particular order.

Pottery and Wheel throwing
Painting
Drawing
Sculpting
Jewelery Design/Metal working. (never tried it but have always wanted to!)
Clay work, wheel throwing.
Resin Casting and Mold Making.
Glass Bead making.
Video Games
and of course digressing in blog posts.

Marvelous flood...

All these pics, concept art and models, are from my work on Marvel Nemesis:Rise of the imperfects, for PlaystationPortable.

I was a comic book collecting nerd growing up so to get to work on this title and on the characters I worked on was a dream come true!

Front and Centre, Captain America!

Wolverine concept idea. The thought was to go with one of his classic outfits and give him a more armored appearance. The final model was similar to this drawing but not exactly the same.

More Wolverine outfit concepts.

Each of the Wolvie concepts above were painted front side and back like the one below.

Character concepts for SSX 3.

One of my favorite games to work on (and play) was SSX3. Had a blast doing character work on this title. Below are a few concepts I did for it. Some watercolour/Gauche and a digital pic.

Clicking on any of the images will open up a larger view.

This first shot is Kaori.

An unknown (read, unused) instructor.

Elise has been around since the early versions of SSX. drawn in the style of the band "The Gorillas" Painted digital, hand drawn.

Zoe was a great female character, very strong, and a bit edgy. Voiced by Bif-Naked. It was fun to try a few different thing with her design.

This was a one of my favorite drawings below, I really liked the way it turned out. Painted on watercolour board btw. Pure analogue!

SSX3, Viggo. 3D characters.

Viggo was originally named Dieter. Personally I liked Dieter better but apparently it wasn't quite the common Scandinavian name so Viggo it became...

Like Griff, I got to own Viggo. I modelled everything for Viggo including all his accessories.

For some reason I don't have many pictures of Viggo, so I had to resort to shots from IGN! Really though, you could just play the game. ;)