A job found me few months ago. Yeah, it works that way. And although
I'm kind of a bear, I decided to leave my cocoon for a while and accept
the adventure.

The location was tempting I shall confess, so here I am crossing the ocean and moving to Venice, California, in a few days now.

To celebrate this I've decided to create a picture. Basically, this is
me, 10 years older and 140 years ago, as a european dude moving for the
goldrush. Hey it's not about the money (especially as far as the Euro
goes...) !!

Thanks to my fella Fox who inspired me in creating a new CG
illustration (understand more 3D, less 2D). This is kind of an exercise
for me, pushing my limits a bit further, experimenting, etc... in order
to feel more comfortable at work, and also to be faster for my regular
illustration works.

Still, there is a lot of post process in Photoshop to put more groove
in the final image, mostly for the colours, levels and stuff.
Background is a matte painting.

Character started from my CG double from the Tattoo project. Zbrush for
detailling and aging. Same process for the clothes. 600meg of textures.
Mental ray, 3 points lighting with a slight HDRI addon. That's it.
kinda classic you may say.

Hope you'll enjoy.

This is kind of a breakdown compared to the regular hero stereotype
thingy, but eh! At least it's real. Well, as real as one can be, pushed
into CG.

Kudos