Howdy Folks! My name is Louis Gonzalez. Im an AIW 2008 alumni. Majored in animation, focused on game development art. I've recently transitioned from being a strictly 2D artist to focusing on a new 3D light! It was suggested to me by Hyperdivine to join this site. This is my first time looking through the forums and I have to say I'm amazed and inspired. I've def found a new home. I promise to be as insightful and useful for those who ask as much as possible.
In return I'd like to state t hat critiques and comments are welcomed and appreciated.
Recently I've changed my website domain name from 13thskull(people said it sounded like a virus) to ArtofGon....and updated the home page. I thought maybe a blog style front page was a good idea... but now I'm second guessing myself. I've seen alot of portfolios with BAM, big stuff right up front. Please let me know what you think of my site's front page and galleries as a whole.
I Will be posting my most recent works here as well. I've recently been working on my first three full unwrapped/textured character within Maya and Modo. Modeling in Maya is awful... but I've made it a point to learn it in order to better my chances of landing a job in the industry.
Check out muh stuff and drop your 2 cents about it!
thanks mucho.
Higher res at my deviantart
-LouisGon aka BetelGeist ( pronounced beetle guy-st) not betalgeest ;D






And some polypainted Z Brush sculpts. ase mesh imported from Modo.

Welcome! I love your work. Your 2D Texturing skills definitely shine through. Your modeling is very good as well.. you definitely have a great style. I hope you enjoy Polycount... the people here are great.

Thanks Progg! I've just recently cleaned up my 2D before becoming a 3D artist. I had a lot of people seeing there wasnt enough clarity in my work. Thanks about the modeling comment. I studied alot of high poly and low poly meshes for proper animatable construction.
I'm sure I'll love polycount. People seem pretty spiffy and I cant wait to participate in some of the contests!

Hey Betel, you've got some nice stuff there I love those exaggerated proportions. Your texturing is dope as well. Good luck there!

pretty cool designs
on the textures i would suggest adding some more color to them to achieve a better effect.
like with the shadows on the last devil don't just use a darker red but try using some purple for example. Your paints look pretty good, great atmosphere in the one with the lava

Love your style, translates really well into 3D and the textures look lovely.

Be nice to see some of the wires for the other stuff, but other than that, your presentation is nice a clean. =)

Thank you cigs!
Thanks Raven.
I def hear ya on adding more colors... I have a tendency to use slightly monochromatic color schemes. I will definately add more dynamic schemes on future works. And will rework some of the colors on the red dude. He's kind of on the backburner. Been havin trouble importing uvs from Maya and modo to apply the polypaint to the new uv space.. might just have to use uv master... but i dont really like it...

awesome style !

Great stuff here.

great work man!

awesome work, detailed yet beautifully simple... I strive to be a character modeler like you

thank you renaud! i hope to be workin along side you at blizzard someday. i know its hella competitive.
dkk,sage- thank you both very much
cadyw- thanks! you have already some great animation! concentrate on design and ashion now and you got it!

any comments on how im presenting my work in my website? im not getting any feedback from job applications.. i must be doing something very wrong

Welcome aboard. Really interesting style, indeed (the old man bust and the Elf are my favorite ones). A game with your art would be interesting to see...Make it happen!

ps.: your site looks offline to me.

thanks Dado. I have every intention of makin that happen.
its offline?
Try this link ArtofGon
i really hope that site is workin.... i just applied to a few jobs

That first concept, I just love it. I'm looking forward to when you start getting your feet wet with higher poly normal mapped pieces.

nice dump man !

HAI Beet!

Good to see you posting here! Make sure you post your wire-frames too, as it is vital for the critiquing process

Hmmm...I was going to say that. Leech Speech isn't a good approach to be know. Try to avoid that much as you can...

Well dude, you have such great skill and just need to keep putting effort in the field you deserve to achieve (if you want Blizz, rush to make more 3D stuff, etc).

If you accept an advice from an unemployed mate, I have some important point about your site? It's cool, but none employer in the rush of the day will crawl it to search your nicer works (or read the news)...I know is hard to let some old drawings out, but you really have to make it faster..."Click! Bang! That's is my best". Use most of the screen space, put big thumbnails, and don't forget to sign your work with your name and site (important to be remembered inside people's reference folder).

Run a blog. Put the "not so cool" stuff in there, wips, studies, etc - If I want to contract an artist, for sure I would see his blog after his professional works.

Got it? Just let me know what you thing about it.

Nice style!
But ? Where is the rest of Iris body? !

aesier-Thanks! right now im working on a low poly scene to showcase these characters. Probably will do some individual beauty shots of each on a cut out of the environment, and a final comp of them about to battle.. wanted to get all that out of my system before i dive into normal mapping.
When I do though, I'll probably start by using uv master to unwrap those busts and create a color map from the poly paint and create normals maps from the sculpt. Just to get use to some of the procedure. Luckily I rececntly picked up Scott Spenser's Zbrush book.
Yo Hazard! a hefty dump is a healthy dump ;D
Yo moon! good point.
got some help on the flow from moon on this mesh



Harard and Moon have both been a huge help in my transition from 2D to 3D. they both endured my noobish questioning.
Dado
Great points man. I've been wondering what to do with my blog. Ill cut down on the quantity on my site, make bigger thumbs, and make sure my sig is on everything. All great advise thank yo very much.
Zoffty, I really do want to make the rest of her. She's my digital dream girl ;D im not rushin it though.. im thinkin steam punk for her.
Ill probably get to her after the environment, normal map experiments, and maybe after one more low poly model. thanks for the encouragment!

wonderful work great paints, great colors!

Thanks woogity!
Ok update. Made suggested changes to my portfolio.
All my work is now on the home page with larger thumbnails and only my best work showing. got rid of half the stuff i had before, but i feel it wasnt realy helping.
let me know whatchu be tinkin mahn.
http://artofgon.com

wow lol ur prty awesome
i love your characters

stylish as hell!
welcum to the boards)

Very interesting work. I was just about to ask for more wireframes until I saw one of your later posts. Keep it up!