Bloodshot

Many years ago, around thirteen to be precise, I created games as my main interest. During a period of four years I created over twenty titles some of which are still to be found lurking on the net ‘Ultimate Breakout’ to name one of them. I used the name Pyramid Games back then but that name is now used by another company and so I now use ‘The Chemical Garden’ instead.

I was a victim of my own success and the massive quantity of downloads brought the server to it’s knees and I decided to take a break from game creation and concentrate on my digital art.

I have always had a hankering to create games and finally I decided to have another go and following several weeks work I was able to complete my latest title ‘Bloodshot’. I use Multimedia Fusion Developer 2 as it allows me to work fast and see immediate results in real time.

Time is valuable as I have to create all of the graphics and most of the pseudo-code myself although my son is a great help when I have coding problems.

This latest game features a cartoon Alien character who has to traverse an assortment of levels to complete his quest. During his adventure he has to face a multitude of bad guy’s, traps and wildlife such as a Rhino wielding a bazooka, cute mummy’s,robots, floating demons and much more.

The levels are furnished with lush graphics and fun game-play with a dash of humour thrown in for good luck. The player gets to collect several weapons including a flame-thrower which is pretty devastating against baddies.

There are plenty of health packs and trust me you will need them and collecting gold coins will not only increase your score but every ten you get will reward you with an extra life.

Overall the project has been a really enjoyable process and I have already started another game which will eventually find it’s way onto the net.

You can download the game from my downloads section but I warn you now, Some people have experienced problems with ‘File Error’ due to their virus checker software being over zealous. I have checked the file and I have found no problems with it although of course I cannot accept responsibility for any harm to your computer or software.

I hope you enjoy playing the game and would appreciate your feedback, with your help and input I hope to make my next game even better.

Tony Hayes

The Chemical Garden Studio.

Following a short stay in hospital for another blood transfusion, I was feeling pretty washed out but managed to take some photographs locally. We often forget that there is so much of interest right on our doorstep and I spent a day at my local railway station. I was given permission to wander freely and photograph anything that took my fancy and you can see a few of the images in the gallery including some long exposures taken with the camera on a tripod and an ND filter to reduce the light by 4 stops.

As I began to feel better, I ventured further-a-field and took some early morning shots of the sunrise on the ‘Isle of Grain’ Kent. I also captured some sunsets on the ‘Isle of Sheppy’ Kent.

Last week I visited the south coast and took some photographs of the cliffs and castle at ‘Kingsgate Bay’ Kent and I plan to revisit the area soon and take some shots at ‘Botany Bay’, ‘Joss Bay’ and ‘Viking Bay’ which are all fairly close to each other.

I was delighted that my image ‘Portrait of an Eagle’ was featured on Renderosity’s ‘Gallery of the Week’.

I haven’t created any art for quite a while and the photography seems to have taken over but I hope to get back into it this winter when it’s too cold to venture out.

Well that’s it for now, have a great week.

Tony

Following my interview by ’3D Art Direct’, the magazine is now available for download or in paper form from:  3dartdirect.com.

I feature on 22 pages and on the rear cover of the publication and this is the most exposure that I’ve had since I took up digital art.

There are many articles and interviews by other artists and I predict that this relatively new publication will go from strength to strength so why not check it out.

I also got up at the crack of dawn and got some nice sunrise shots of the river Medway and I will be uploading those photos too in the near future – time permitting.

Yesterday I took a couple of pictures of an old wartime sea fort and the surrounding beach and you can see them in the Photography section now.

I have just been interviewed for an article in the magazine ’3D Art Direct’ which should be available to subscribers very soon.

I am now on Facebook if anyone is interested.

Well that’s about it for now.

Tony

Many years ago, long before the home computer, I created art with oil paints on canvas and spent every spare moment honing my technique and style. Little did I know back then (1975) that the future would allow me to make art with no mess and with the ability to work in layers. Digital art has many advantages over traditional painting,  I can try out various techniques, colours and composition without worrying about messing up my work, a luxury that traditional artists do not have.

Digital painting can be categorised under the following headings: painting, speed painting, concept and photo-realistic. I have added a new gallery to the website called ‘Concept’ and this gallery will contain all of the previously mentioned art types no matter the genre, It will also contain art produced from scanned in sketches. Older gallery images using these methods of creation have already been moved to this category.

There are many books available for those artists wishing to have a go at digital painting and I have found that the following publications are an excellent place to start: ‘Digital Painting Techniques Vol1 and Vol2′. Both of these books are published by 3Dtotal and are available from Amazon.

I will of course continue to create images using 3D models but having a short break helps to keep me fresh and as they say ‘A change is as good as a rest’ So far the response to my paintings on the Renderosity gallery has been a positive one and I thank everyone who has taken the time to leave a comment.

Tony Hayes

The whole image was painted within Photoshop and took around two days.  I roughed out some line drawings of  robot parts keeping each limb on a separate layer. Then I spent an hour or two playing around with various combinations to see which worked best. It’s a good idea to build up a library of robot parts (sketches or finished components) so that you have a pick and mix selection to chose from whenever the need arises.

Since the New Year I’ve managed to turn out a few new pieces of art, most of which has featured dinosaurs. However, I don’t suppose it’ll be too long before I’m back creating Sci-Fi Art.

Every week I spend time scanning the Internet for new artists or established ones that I’ve somehow missed over the years. Yesterday I stumbled upon the work of Andree Wallin and I was blown away! How did I miss this artists work up to now ? You can find his work with a Net search or visit Deviant Art  ( DeviantArt.com ). He specialises in SciFi art and some of his landscapes are amazing and easily among the best I have ever seen.

As I type this I’m waiting to go into hospital for another transfusion. As many of you know I have to go in for blood every three or four months and I’m feeling pretty weak and drained at the moment. On the plus side, I’m still alive and living on borrowed time so I try and make the most of life.

I hope you all have a wonderful New Year and above all I hope you stay well but don’t take it for granted, make the most of every minute.

Tony

This year has been a mixed bag for me. On one hand I’ve not been very well and I’ve spent a lot of time sleeping. On the other hand, the little time that I have been able to muster the energy I made the most of it and some of my best work has been achieved this year. I have concentrated mainly on Sci-Fi images, in particular, space craft and environments.

I usually build the models in 3D Studio Max, render them in Vue 8 with post-work and textures being created in Photoshop. Organic models (monsters and other creatures) are usually made using Mudbox which is not only brilliant and easy to use but it’s also really good fun to play with. I also use Poser for some character work as it offers flexibility coupled with ease of use.

I generally use photographic material in my artwork either as textures or as backgrounds but as my health has not been good and I haven’t had the opportunity to get out with my camera. For this reason I have used some images from the Nassa website which is permitted for non-commercial use. If you haven’t visited it before I recommend you take a look as their is a plethora of material.

The weather here has been really bad with several feet of snow and freezing temperatures which has brought the country to it’s knees. No trains, buses, aircraft or taxis have been running making getting around almost impossible. Other countries seem to be far more organised than the UK  and every year we are told by the government that “Lessons have been learned” and “Next year we will be better prepared” –  but we never are! The Highways department had several days notice of impending snow and yet no roads were gritted, not even motorways or major routes.

The whole of the country seems to have one thing on it’s mind right now, the failure to secure the bid to host the World Cup. Personally I couldn’t care less, after all, it’s just a game played by over paid children who never grew up! Not only that but some of them set a very poor example to their younger fans. The world has gone crazy, how can these sportsmen (I use the term “sportsmen” loosely) earn so much money for kicking a ball around when our troops are risking their lives every day for peanuts and sometimes paying the ultimate price.

Enough of my rantings.

Have a wonderful Christmas and a happy new year.

Tony

I’ve finally moved into my new house and finished unpacking, actually, my wife and son unpacked while I watched

My daughter ‘Gemma’ has given birth to our second granddaughter ‘Faith’ and she’s absolutely perfect, just like her sister ‘Sadie’.

I’m feeling pretty weak at the moment and I’ll be going into hospital within the next couple of weeks for another blood transfusion. If only I was a vampire I could get it myself whenever I needed it

In-spite of my poor health I’m still able to create some art and I hope to continue to do so for as long as possible.

The site continues to attract more visitors and it’s getting around 350 hits per day.

I recently went to see the new ‘Predators’ movie and was rather disappointed. The problem for me was that none of the characters were very likeable and so I didn’t really care whether they lived or died. It could have been so much better and I feel that this was a waste of a chance to make something really worth while and special.

Well that’s it for now.

Tony

The ship is composed from various primitives for which various compound operations like subtraction and union have been utilized. Boolean and ProBoolean were used for this particular model. Essentially this means that the shape of one primitive object can be subtracted from another resulting in a unique shape.

I also used the FFD transform and Edit Mesh modifiers to refine and tweak various parts of the mesh into the desired shape by pushing and pulling control handles. Each of the four arms of the ship were constructed in this manner.

I applied some basic textures to the model for rendering, however the majority of textures and weathering were added during post work in Photoshop along with the planets, moons, stars and atmospherics. I found that working this way gives me far more control over the finished artwork and it’s fun to do too .

The mesh was created using 3D Studio Max and then rendered in Vue 7 at 7400 x 4000, although the demonstration animation was rendered using 3D Studio Max.

I spent around eight hours on the post work in Photoshop and much of that time was spent on getting the diffused effect and adjusting the lighting. Unlike the majority of my pictures I wanted this piece to be soft with pastel shades – similar to the film: Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.

I hope you have found this post of interest.