Prop Design Challenge 'BRIDGE PORTAL'

General / 25 March 2021


Welcome to the Second Prop Design Challenge for members of my Discord channel! 
Join us to take part! 
_

https://discordapp.com/invite/KuzEpas

Challenge theme

Jackson: Why not?
Carter: Well because after Colonel O’Neill and his team came back, my team tried hundreds of symbol permutations using Earth as the point of origin and it never worked.
Jackson: Well I tried the same here and it didn’t work either. But I figured the destinations I tried were either destroyed or buried. But I mean some of them somewhere must still exist...

How many of you watched the TV series "STARGATE"?  😉


Requirements 

As a result, you should deliver a bridge portal device for rapid travel between two distant locations. It should be large enough to carry research teams and light utility vehicles.  

The design must be based on your own concept or idea, done and rendered in any 3D software. You shouldn’t care about topology and polycount but quality modeling will be appreciated.


Reward 


1st Place 
- 120$ on your account.
- Special Role “Challenge Winner” on the channel.
- Any two products from my Gumroad store. 

2nd Place 
- 60$ on your account.
- Special Role “Challenge Winner” on the channel.
- Any one product from my Gumroad store. 

3rd Place 
- 20$ on your account.
- Special Role “Challenge Winner” on the channel.
- Any one product from my Gumroad store.

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Challenge start
March 25th, 2021 


Deadline
April 25th, 2021

More details on the Discord channel

First NFT (Non-fungible token)

General / 22 March 2021

Hi everyone,  

As you may know, I'm hosting sci-fi art challenges on the Discord channel. Join, the new challenge will start this Thursday!
I came up with a crazy idea - start the NFT journey to satisfy my curiosity and increase the prize pool for the challenges.

My first NFT drop on Foundation!
https://foundation.app/tyapkin_art


Also, I had to register a Twitter account, which will be also used as an additional channel for everything that I'm doing.
So Follow and Retweet! 
https://twitter.com/tyapkin_art 

Thanks,
Sergey

Prop Design Challenge 'CRYO-CHAMBER'

General / 28 January 2021


Welcome to the Prop Design Challenge for members of my Discord channel! 
Join us to take part! 

Challenge theme

- Damn! I hate this...
Every time he woke up at the end of the flight, it felt like a bad roller coaster ride. The stomach was twisted in a spasm, the head was splitting from increased intracranial pressure. Not the best feeling but a cryo-chamber was the only way to reach such a distant planet without adding gray hair to the temples.

Requirements 

As a result, you should deliver a cryo-chamber design based on your own concept or idea. The design must be done and rendered in any 3D software. You shouldn’t care about topology and polycount but quality modeling will be appreciated.


Reward 


1st Place 
- 60$ on your account.
- Special Role “Challenge Winner” on the channel.
- Any two products from my Gumroad store. 

2nd Place 
- 30$ on your account.
- Special Role “Challenge Winner” on the channel.
- Any one product from my Gumroad store. 

3rd Place 
- 10$ on your account.
- Special Role “Challenge Winner” on the channel.
- Any one product from my Gumroad store.

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Challenge start
January 28th, 2021, 23:00 (GMT+3)


Deadline
February 28th, 2021, 23:00 (GMT+3)  

More details on the Discord channel

Game-Ready 'WELDER DRONE' Challenge

News / 24 August 2020


Welcome to the new Game-Ready Challenge for members of my Discord channel! Join us to take part. 

Challenge theme

- Again? This is the third dust storm this week ... 

Harris was nervous because the storm cut off communication with the planetary tower just as they were finishing work. Now the welder drone had to go into automatic mode and independently complete the welding of the melange combine.


You need to develop  welder drone  that can work in the harsh desert conditions.

Good luck, brave engineer!

Technical Requirements

As a result, you should deliver a game-ready model of the drone based on your own concept or idea.

Polycount: not more than 30 000 triangles. 

Textures: PBR, one texture set with a resolution not more than 4096x4096px.

Challenge start

August 24th, 2020, 23:00 (GMT+3)

Deadline

October 4th, 2020, 23:00 (GMT+3)

Reward 

1st Place  

  • 125$ on your account.
  • Personal mentorship session with me (~45 min)
  • Special Role “Challenge Winner” on the channel.
  • Any two products from my Gumroad store


2nd Place  

  • 75$ on your account. 
  • Personal mentorship session with me (~45 min)
  • Special Role “Challenge Winner” on the channel. 
  • Any one product from my Gumroad store


3rd Place  

  • 25$ on your account. 
  • Special Role “Challenge Winner” on the channel. 
  • Any one product from my Gumroad store.

__

More details on the Discord channel.  

Game-Ready Device Challenge

General / 06 April 2020

First of all, I hope that you are well and not too bored while staying at home. So welcome to Game-Ready Device Challenge for members of my Discord channel! Join us to take part.

Challenge theme

Just yesterday everything was fine, but something happened today, and the on-board computer indicates a malfunction in the power system. Fortunately, you have a Portable device for measuring electromagnetic fields. The indicator shows different values in different parts of the ship, you need to find out if there is any pattern.

Technical Requirements

As a result, you should deliver a game-ready model based on your own concept or idea.  

Polycount: not more than 15 000 triangles. 

Textures: PBR, one texture set with a resolution not more than 4096x4096px.

Challenge start

April 7th, 2020

Deadline

The deadline is Sunday, May 10th, 2020, 23:00 (GMT+3).

Reward 

The challenge is open to sponsorships, contact me if you want to discuss the details.

1st Place 

  •  100$ on your account. 
  •  Special Role “Challenge Winner” on the channel.
  •  Any two products from my Gumroad store.

2nd Place 

  • 50$ on your account. 
  • Special Role “Challenge Winner” on the channel. 
  • Any two products from my Gumroad store

3rd Place 

  • Special Role “Challenge Winner” on the channel. 
  • Anyone product from my Gumroad store.

______

More details on the Discord channel



Game-Ready Environment Challenge

General / 16 September 2019

Welcome to Game-Ready Environment Challenge for members of my Discord channel! It’s a good chance to improve your portfolio, achieve new heights and receive tasty job offers. 


Challenge theme

The Challenge theme will be the Secret Laboratory. Somewhere deep in space, underwater or underground, secret experiments take place. Let’s find out are they safe for our universe or not! As a result, you should deliver a game-ready environment created in UE4 or Unity engines based on your own concept or idea. 

Technical Requirements 

Real-time scene with not more than 500 000 triangles.

Deadline 

The deadline is Saturday, October 26th, 2019, 23:00 (GMT+3).

Reward 

1st Place 

  • 150$ on your account. 
  • Special Role “Challenge Winner” on the channel.
  • Gumroad - Decal Technique For Hard Surface Environment 

2nd Place 

  • 75$ on your account. 
  • Special Role “Challenge Winner” on the channel. 
  • Gumroad - Decal Technique For Hard Surface Environment 

3rd Place 

  • 25$ on your account. 
  • Special Role “Challenge Winner” on the channel. 
  • Gumroad - Decal Technique For Hard Surface Environment


_______________________


More details on the Discord channel

Feel free to ask questions in the comments.


Good luck!

Game-Ready Prop Challenge

General / 03 April 2019

Hi guys! I like to encourage artists for improving their portfolio, mastering new skills and achieving new heights. 

Today I'm glad to launch the first challenge for members of my Discord channel!


____________________________

Challenge theme

The Challenge theme is Sci-fi Generator. You need to imagine and create a futuristic energy source. As a result, you should deliver a game-ready model based on your own concept or any existing concept (in this case, you should mention the author name).

Technical Requirements

Polycount: not more than 15 000 triangles. 

Textures: PBR, one texture set with a resolution not more than 4096x4096px. 

Deadline

The deadline is Monday, April 29th, 2019, 23:00 (GMT+3). 

All new #final posts after this time will be rejected.

____________________________

Reward

1st Place

  • 100$ on your account.
  • Special Role “Challenge Winner” on the channel.
  • Free gumroad tutorials:

Gumroad - Decal Technique For Hard Surface Environment

Gumroad - How to create Procedural Building Generator in Modo

2nd Place

  • 50$ on your account.
  • Special Role “Challenge Winner” on the channel.
  • Free gumroad tutorials:

Gumroad - Decal Technique For Hard Surface Environment

Gumroad - How to create Procedural Building Generator in Modo

3rd Place

  • Special Role “Challenge Winner” on the channel.
  • Free gumroad tutorial:

Gumroad - Decal Technique For Hard Surface Environment         OR

Gumroad - How to create Procedural Building Generator in Modo

____________________________


More details on the Discord channel

Feel free to ask questions in the comments.


Thanks!


How to manage your working time if you’re a freelancer?

Article / 01 March 2019

      I often hear stories about how freelance artists work many hours per day. Is it real?

      For the last 5 years I have been working from home and all this time I have been engaged in dealing with time management for my projects. This topic is hard, like everyone I've tried many methods, and I would like to share my experience and thoughts.

     A bit of theory. Each person has their own biological rhythms. During the day, we experience a wave-like series of ups and downs. There are 2-3 peaks of activity per day and their duration is not more than 2 hours. At this time, you feel a surge of energy and your concentration is on a very high level. Your productivity reaches its maximum, which means that at this time you become most effective in carrying out your tasks.

      Similarly, on the peaks of a recession, you will be like a vegetable, aimlessly rotating a model in a viewport, again and again, doing nothing. Any minor task will take a lot of time and the result will be mediocre. Based on this information, we can conclude that the main advice is to do the right things at the right time according to our biological rhythm. Let's move to practice and look at how this works on my example.

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      I have two peaks of productivity during the working day. The first one is between 11.00-14.00 and the second one is between 16.00-19.00. At each peak, I have to work 2 hours on my tasks. (Try to monitor your condition every day for a week and you’ll discover your own ups and downs).

      At the beginning of work, I think over tasks I need to do, then set a timer and work for half an hour. Then a 2-minute break and another half an hour of work. After that, I take a long break of 20 minutes (during which I can go outside, have a bit of rest, answer messages etc.) and then I work for another two periods of half an hour. I borrowed this approach from Tomato technique and adjusted it a little for myself. The key point is that during these half-hour periods you should not absolutely be distracted by anything and have to be focused solely on the task. 

     The second peak is exactly the same as the first one and I work 4 hours a day in total, but these are not the usual 4 hours, these are smart 4 hours and they will give odds to any office 8-10.

      At the same time, I prefer to deal with minor tasks during periods of recession, for it practically does not require energy but takes some time (e.g. housework, a grocery hike, messaging and of course some rest). So, I’m trying to use energy downs as wisely as possible.

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      An additional tip, if you feel that your concentration is at a low level, then a 15-minute nap (not a minute more!) can be a great helper. Do not be afraid if you don’t fall asleep, you can just lie down with your eyes closed. I usually do this before starting the second peak of activity to make an extra energy boost.

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        So, is it possible to work 10-12 hours a day? No! You can stare bluntly at the computer doing ineffective work, you can even do it for 14 hours - it is not difficult. However the limit of productive work is still 4 hours per day, and other 10 hours out of 14 will be wasted. Also, you can use medications to expand this limit, but it has more cons than pros. 

        In total with such a 20-hour smart week, at the end of the day, you will have more time and energy for your projects and family. I promise that it will seem to you that you are not working enough, and conscience will torment you for this. But in fact, you will do as much as you did with a 40-60 hour working week or even more. 

         Yes, our life is not perfect and nobody cancels deadlines, but try to be conscious while working, value your time and use wisely your energy peaks. Thanks for reading, I will be glad to discuss this topic in the comments!