Ive decided to suspend PixelFigs indefinitely and return to freelance illustration. Though I feel strongly that Im absolutely making the most fantastic virtual miniatures for the virtual tabletop market, that market isnt particularly interested in PixelFigs. Ive been working solely on PixelFigs for two years--first as high-quality painted virtual minis, then relaunching as 3D sculpted minis more recently, they never garnered enough interest on the part of the consumers to make the business a successful one. During that time my freelance jobs have diminished as Ive put out notice that I was only doing work for PixelFigs. Its time to resuscitate my freelance career and push forward there as hard as I have with PixelFigs. The good news is that PixelFigs began as a vehicle to force me to learn 3D sculpting, and its done that very well. Now Ill have that skill set under my belt when hunting for work. Now its time to build a polished, A+ dual-purpose portfolio concentrating on 3D concept sculpture on one side and fully-realized digital paintings that include my sculpts on the other, effectively showing my sculpture side and my painting side while blending them both into mixed media illustrations. My aim is to send the portfolio out to the many, many, MANY game companies in the San Francisco Bay Area in hopes of landing full-time work. Heck, there are something like 30 of them within 40 minutes driving distance from my house. Somebody has to at least say maybe out of all that! Im also constantly on the lookout for new illustration and concept jobs where I find them. Ill be cranking fred-lang back up again soon, chock full of WordPress goodness, and I expect to have a brand-new, fully-stocked portfolio site up within six months. In the meantime, Ive been contacted by Hasbro (on the exact day I decided to switch, no less--thanks, Universe!) to test my rapid 3D prototyping design skills in hopes of getting into a long-term team theyre building for a big project that sounds freaking awesome. Im really hoping that I get that mystery gig! (Fingers and toes crossed for that!) I dont consider this an outright defeat. Ive come up with a product, designed the logo, created the products, found a few people who were really excited about what I was doing, learned 3D sculpting, and own my first (but not nearly last) registered trademark because of it all. That does not go in the loss column in my book--maybe a tie, but not a loss. If youve been a fan of PixelFigs from the beginning, THANK YOU for your enthusiasm throughout the whole thing. I dont think PixelFigs is over. I hope to return eventually. All current PixelFigs sets will remain on sale forever, and I will release Aberrations eventually because its 95% done as I write this. Future sets may show up as the mood strikes me--and again, I really, really hope to return one day and make this thing work the way I wanted it to from the start. If youre a fan of my concept art for Project: JoRuneQuest, you can follow that here: https://facebook/groups/skyrealmsofjoruneconversion/ You guys and gals are the best. Now to dive into the freelance art world again--! *cracks knuckles*... --Fred
Posted on: Tue, 21 Oct 2014 18:13:11 +0000