Winter Break

Wilson Huang December 17, 2020

All I can think of to do post-term as I finish up these final projects is being a vegetable.

Vehicles and Props Autonomous Covert Drone

I’m so worn out! last night as I was toiling away into 4am my hand began to cramp something major, and I just couldn’t rest my Wacom stylus on my middle finger to draw anymore.

Last spring I literally broke my back from overworking - so as soon as my hand started acting up I started questioning how long I could keep working like I am. I haven’t been taking care of myself - neglecting to work out, let alone limber up and stretch. And I’m supposed to keep drawing for the rest of my life

Stylization 2 Austrian Village Illustration

Snowballing happens regardless of whether you have snow or not. It’s like with each passing day of 2020 I’m left with just enough energy to do little more than my bare minimum. I’m really going to take use of this winter break to freshen up and to start 2021 nice and refreshed!

Painting 3 Sewing-Machine Spaceship Illustration

2020 had more than its fair share of upsets - but my biggest takeaway from the year is how much digital painting I’ve been practicing. It’s always something I struggled with (and still do) but I faced it as one of my largest challenges for the year and I’m content with how much progress I made on that front. I can only push that and my other skills farther and better.

Be sure to check out the newly populated pages in Coursework - it’s still going through some structuring resolutions but you’ll find plenty of new work in there. I hope everyone has taken something from 2020 that they can be grateful for.

Cheers, and warmest holiday wishes to you!

One More Month Left to 2020

Wilson Huang December 7, 2020

Good morning. Or good evening!

To whoever may be catching up with me here, near 3 in the morning. It’s WEEK 13 of my 10th term at ArtCenter. I have to admit, it’s been exacerbatingly difficult. I’ll likely take another light semester, then take a break from school and maybe find some studio work the following summer. I’m already having a huge problem with the engagement/motivation drops that come from the learning environment shifting (and hiding) online. But sometimes, there are things that just take the cake and push over the tip. I’ll elaborate back on that later, but for now, I have some good news to share.

Sample work from Originality in Design and Adv. 3D

This site of mine has been online for about three years now, and I always struggled with posting and announcing in a way that felt appropriate. I’ve finally come to terms with just populating as many pages as I can, as often as I can, and leave some clues (perhaps a VIEW MORE button) to guide you to more content. This site is growing as I do, and so everything will almost always be a work in progress. You’ll find some of my taken courses have been updated, and in the future I’ll definitely be including text to deliver the process and experience better. All you need is that same password, and if you don’t have it, you can always get in touch with me. Wink. Oh, I’ve also uploaded things from the beginning of my industrial design career in high school. See me there as a sweet and unassuming boy. :]

My sweet, long-gone teenage years during ArtCenter Saturday High

I finished my first final - it was a group project for a class I REALLY liked. Unfortunately, everyone stayed unaccountable until the very end when I had to pull a presentation together. I did it up as best I could, but Saturday morning at the beginning of class I shared it with the group and wished them luck, sent the instructor an email, and DIPPED. For the next hour and a half anyway. No presenting from me: I was too tired from the last 48 hours, too flustered by the audacity that someone else showed the eve of. Thankfully the instructor and I were extremely transparent with each other, and she diffused the whole situation gracefully. You might stumble on it here - I’m a little ashamed to show it, but I do recognize that I made an ass-pull out of nothing. Like anything, time will pass and maybe I’d reconsider revisiting the exercise. This was a big passage for me to write tonight despite the impending finals. But my last class taught me that all I can do in the end is count on myself, and to just make the best of everything.

And so, I hope you do too. 2020 has been rough, but there’s just one month left, and we are hopefully due for some drastic, positive changes. Make the best of what’s around you, and take care of the people around you. Make sure to come back around to look for the new work - I’ll post and see you again soon. If you’re seeing this in the first week of this post, leave me your best in the comments.

Cheers, and happy holidays!

Per Audacia Ad Astra

Wilson Huang November 10, 2020

I think this is my first time making a blog post here with work-in-progress material! Finessed (and even raw) linework is by far my favorite part of the process in any piece.

A WIP sketch from a few months ago of my Titan as I had him armored in Destiny 2’s Season of Arrivals. I love where this is going, but it’s an understatement to say that the leg armor has some complex geometry.

Ah, it’s so crazy to think that I’ve invested myself into the Destiny franchise for 6 years. Tomorrow morning Beyond Light, the newest expansion comes out tomorrow. I’ve had so many gripes through the years with Destiny that every time an installment comes around I’ve almost always been on the fence about forking over my dollars, The Taken King and Forsaken being the only exceptions to this - and even then, I paid for them expecting for fixes just as much as new content. In terms of gameplay (and systems), I’m still neutral - as the supers and abilities introduced in Forsaken still leave me with a stronger impression than the new Stasis powers, and the design choices with progression, economy, and customization still leave a bit of wanting. This 11th season of Destiny 2 however marks the first time I am actually genuinely interested in seeing what the narrative threads will be doing: the return of the Exo Stranger, the resurrection of the Forsaken Prince, adopting the antithesis of the Light as a power and its implications… I’m getting rambly. Ultimately, I’m intimately familiar with Destiny (don’t ask me how many h̶o̶u̶r̶s̶ total days I’ve spent playing) and I can’t wait to see what story beats are being pounded this time. Earlier tonight I sat with just one of my longtime Guardian friends, watching the Traveler heal and paving the way for a new chapter, a brief moment of elation before the Dark horrors release with Beyond Light.

Unfortunately for me, it’s also the 9th week at ArtCenter as well, meaning I have less than five weeks before I’m expecting to complete a number of final projects. Some of you more eagle-eyed visitors notice I have already added new sections for the courses I had last semester and currently. There’s no content within just yet, but all of the preliminary projects are done with - those of you with password access can expect to see some more stuff added here and there in the coming week. :]

Hope you are all still staying well and safe. Until next time -

”Per Audacia ad Astra. I’ll see you starside.”

Impending Doom of Midterms

Wilson Huang October 17, 2020

Jeez, I can’t believe the last time I posted was nearly half a year ago - for any of you who try and keep up with me or my work, please know that I am so TERRIBLY sorry. So here, allow me to appease you with some eye w̶o̶r̶k̶o̶u̶t̶s̶ ah, I mean candy, immediately.

I revisited the property for my midterm project in Justin Pichetrungsi’s Painting 3 class just this summer. That was the only studio I had then, so all of the work I did in the class will probably be put together with the section I’d be making for my current fall classes. I’ll try and upload more presentable things through the blog here occasionally, but that bulk upload? You can look forward to it around the winter holidays. :]

Here’s a peek at something I’m cooking up for Vehicles and Props this term with Brendan Krause!

I haven’t taken a semester off since summer last year, so I’ve been especially worn down as 2020 continually throws out its curveballs. Regarding my working tools alone, my previous laptop took a huge dump in the middle of the spring. I requisitioned a brand spankin’ new Lenovo Yoga C940 with some nice specifications, but alas, my relationship with technology has been STRENUOUS. I just got it back a few weeks ago from a service repair, but the wifi connection shuts off all the time, and my Photoshop has been super temperamental. Guaranteed crashes when the laptop wakes, sometimes it becomes unresponsive, other times it crashes in mere minutes - so it’s been rare for me to get long and consistent sessions. But I’ll take it as a blessing in disguise - after all, it’s been forcing me to up my working speed.

And, a film study that doesn’t involve any actual drawing! From Originality in Design with Shannon Jeffries.

I dropped off my mail ballot earlier today - thankfully Jean did much of the homework, and I was glad to see my dad doing the same for his votes. I have to say though, the websites belonging to many of these candidates and sometimes lack of info left plenty to be desired. I’ll cross my fingers - I’m hoping everyone simply does their part in making the world better, because boy do we need that now.

Please send me your fortunes! I wish the same upon you - stay safe and be well!

Custom Build: MG Sazabi Ver. Ka

Wilson Huang May 14, 2020

When I was 7, my dad introduced me to Mobile Suit Gundam through VHS tapes. Besides watching and drawing these giant machines for two decades, I’ve also dabbled in Gunpla, a portmanteau for Gundam plastic model, Bandai’s culmination of art and engineering compressed into a build-able model kit. Despite having handled a large variety of kits since the 90’s, I’ve seldom done more than a simple snap build. 2018 marks the year of my first custom build, wherein applied kitbashing, panel lining, detailing, and coating. What you'll see here are the results of my laborious craftsmanship and passion over the course of that summer season. At the bottom of the post you can also watch a short timelapse/montage of some of my working sessions with this absolute unit!

The optional metal parts set was a first for me; I honestly expected a simple parts substitution, but as it turns out I needed to cut and drill a lot of parts of the original build - a scary prospect when working on a $90+ kit. I’ve also had really bad luck applying decals; my prior Master Grades have little to no markings present. I did build two Real Grades before this though and went through the builds diligently, giving me the practice I needed to complete the markings for the Sazabi. Along the way however, I had an accidental spill that ruined the decal sheet, and also lost the mouth visor to boot. I need to give a special shout-out to GUNDAM REPLACEMENT PARTS for getting me the replacements I needed. They secure these by requesting a warranty stub found inside every manual - I didn’t even know that was an actual thing you could do in Japan! If you ever need something in your Gundam model kit replaced, be sure to check these guys out!

All in all, this was a fantastic project to take on. With the exception of a few design/engineering choices on certain parts, the Master Grade Sazabi created by Katoki and the teams at Bandai is one of the best representations of peak mecha and toy design. I look at and get inspired by a lot of custom builds like those submitted to GWBC and am always looking to get closer to that level of craftsmanship. You can see some of my old builds to the right to catch a glimpse of the progress I made. I’m itching for a chance to finish another custom build like this by next year!

Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this deeper look - I put in a lot of extra effort for this one cause I have been over-baking its presentation for the last two years. Until next time everyone -

Cheers!

Cinematic Game Trailer Studies

Wilson Huang May 12, 2020

Here are some cinematic trailer painting studies with minor breakdowns I did for homework in Painting 2 - the top is from Bungie’s Destiny 2 and below are from Ubisoft’s For Honor’s cinematic and gameplay trailers.

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Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend! My family has been relatively good about quarantine, so we had a small gathering for Mother’s Day with a lot of food and flowers. Summer term at ACCD also starts next week (ALREADY?!); I was on the fence about taking classes this time but thought I’m gonna have to do it sooner or later anyway. Looks like it’s going to be busy - I’ve picked up some other projects on the side, and I still have a lot of my personal projects for this site to complete.

Look forward to my future endeavors! Cheers and take care!

A SHOT BEYOND THE TIME

Wilson Huang May 9, 2020

Hey all!

Here’s a personal piece I worked on over the past few days - an illustration depicting one of the most iconic scenes in giant robot anime. It’s no secret to those who know me personally that I’m a huge Gundam fanatic. The finale of Yoshiyuki Tomino’s 1979 Mobile Suit Gundam TV series sees the original v-fin hero machine make its final stand, firing a bright beam of energy into the air to strike at its nemesis above as the asteroid base falls apart around them.

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As you may infer from the progress spread above, this is actually a piece I’ve attempted 2 years ago. I never finished that (you’ll find the furthest I took it to the right), but after the amount of digital painting I’ve been practicing this spring I decided to give it another go from scratch. This time, I had a wider and more adaptable brush workflow, and I was a lot more flexible with the initial drawing as well. Initially I was trying to recreate the Katoki design - leading me to focus too much on itty-bitty details and over thinking/working the painting, and in both bases it caused me to get stuck. I overcame it by being a little more liberal with what design cues I wanted to take from different variations of the grandpa Gundam.

I’m slow with posting stuff on this blog section - I have a lot of content to share for those who won’t initially have access to the pickings on Coursework but at the same time I don’t want to just dump things without care or thought - though an art dump for quick daily doodles sounds good too. But this personal piece will make for a good segway into some of the stuff I did for Painting 2, as it was where I did a lot of brute force painting and learned a lot of lessons that helped me with the drastic makeover. That will be for the next post.

Till next time! Hope you all have a great night!