Character Modeling 2

I can't recommend this book highly enough. Kevin Lanning's (Epic Games) tutorials on workflows for creating high-polygon and low-polygon Gears of War characters is fantastic. If you're a student interested in a behind the scenes peek of a next-gen character pipeline then don't miss out on this informative resource. CGSociety also recently ran an Artist Profile on Kevin.
In other industry deafening news - Starcraft 2 was announced! I was reduced to a drooling fanboy after checking out their teaser vids. My hopes are high that they've held tight to what worked so well in the original while introducing solid, evolutionary steps in the design and visuals. Starcraft is #2 on my all-time RTS list, just behind the original Command & Conquer (what can I say, I just have soft spot for the C&C 320x240 resolution with 10 pixel tall units. I'm still amazed at how they were able to cram all that animation detail into such a small space. 10 pixel grunts performing push ups and smoking cigarettes while proclaiming "Real tough guy!" was gaming in one its finest hours).
Here's some vids from Blizzard's recent announce...

Next-Gen Hair

Freelance artist Paul Tosca has written up a detailed tutorial that goes over the hair creation techniques used on his Dominance War 2 entry. It's always nice to see talented folks willing to share their valuable tricks of the trade.

Dominance War 2 Results

Taehoon Oh, Senior Game Artist over at Infinity Ward, took this year's top prize. Head on over and check out his interview along with some winning entry shots. Congrats Taehoon!
My top pic of the competition was muppet man's q-pid...
During the judging process I continually came back to this creation, discovering new details where the artist went that extra mile. Sure, other entries had flashier, over-the-top normal work or a more intimidating heroic presence, but this piece is masterfully balanced and well executed on all levels. The face is exceptionally well modeled and I appreciate the blend of reference material the artist used to create the heroine (Dallas Bryce Howard and Allysa Millano). On the texture end the UV's are nicely laid out with minimal wasted space. The modeling is clean and efficient with even polygon coverage, letting the normal map take care of the details. Of special note are the time and attention the artist paid to the graphical design elements. The "q-pid" logo along with "love glove" graffiti are just brilliant. The extra attention given to the armour markings and emblems was time well spent. Hats off to Muppet Man!

It's nice to see concept art being added to DW3, details here.

Catan for Xbox360 LIVE Arcade

The Big Huge Games art team is pleased to celebrate today's release of Catan for Xbox360 Live Arcade by sharing some behind-the-scenes imagery. Head over to our post on ConceptArt.org (large thread, scroll to down for Catan material) for a sampling of avatar, card, logo, etc... artwork from our debut foray into LIVE Arcade territory.