Welcome Andy Ennis! Thanks for this post on Graphic Design and for sharing these amazing images.
3D Graphic Design by Andy Ennis
Just five minutes before I started writing this, I was asleep on my sofa at 4pm on a Monday afternoon. I’d like to say that’s one of the perks of being self-employed but, for me, it was the end of a very long work day that spanned an entire weekend.
This is because I’ve only just started out working for myself and, so far, the only real perk is being able to have the TV on 90210 in the background (just kidding, it’s usually on Loose Women). I’ve discovered I not only have to do the work I get from clients, but I also have to constantly promote myself and produce a decent portfolio of work in order to get more business.
I work as a graphic designer and it’s this portfolio of work that I’m going to talk about today. Despite having to work on it for long hours over evenings and weekends, it’s definitely an important and enjoyable part of what I do. Most of my work consists of 3D art, which was partially what I studied at university along with other aspects of game design. The great thing about 3D graphics is you can create pretty much anything and render it with a high degree of realism. Of course, traditional artwork allows you to do this too, but the advantage of creating a good 3D model is you can use it for more than just an art piece. It can become an interactive character in a game, a realistic effect in a film or an object that can blend seamlessly into a photograph. It can also become Jar Jar Binks.
3D Graphic Design by Andy Ennis
I’m currently working on four main pieces of 3D art to start building my new portfolio. It may seem like a bad idea to have this many projects on the go at once, but I find work can be done faster when you can leave it and work on something else for a while. If you encounter a problem, it’s not always productive to spend too long trying to fix it – sometimes the solution presents itself whilst working on another piece and you can go back to it with a fresh mind. Two of these projects are work based on popular science fiction movies that I enjoy and the other two are more original creations. The science fiction models were chosen mostly for fun – it’s a challenge to see how accurate you can get the models and see if you can make them look just like in the movies. I find the most limiting aspect of this is you don’t have as much freedom as you would with an original creation. With the model of the coffee shop that I’m working on, I can choose to add whatever I like to the scene but that’s harder to do when you’re trying to re-create something accurately. Of course I still plan to add my own elements to all the models when they’re complete, just to keep them interesting.
3D Graphic Design by Andy Ennis
My aim is now to get these done within the next few weeks but it’s becoming more difficult as more freelance work comes my way. This is a good thing, of course (especially as I get to eat), but it does cut into the time I’d normally spend on my own projects. However I find creating a portfolio to be an enjoyable thing and a labour of love – you have to choose projects that interest you and feel the need to complete it even if you don’t currently need them to help advance your career.
If you’re interested in 3D and digital art check out http://www.cgsociety.org/ – where you can see a ton of user submitted work and some amazing pieces of creativity.
You can follow Andy on his website www.collisionchaos.com or on twitter @SuperTweetBoy.
Let Andy know what you think of his (very cool) designs by leaving a comment, or share your own experience with Graphic Design.
