breakfast-squad-studio-blog

[breakfast-squad-studio-blog]

Good morning breakfast buddies! It’s Motivation Monday so here’s a little something to jump start your week! My main source of motivation as a traditional artist is the work of horror manga artist, Junji Ito. Since his very first release of the award winning “Tomie” in 1987, followed by other hit series like “Uzumaki” (1998) and “Gyo” (2001) as well a multitude of short stories, Ito has continuously inspired me to push the boundaries of what is considered to be acceptable for my own art by delving into the more abstract and conceptual side of horror in his works. Ito has a masterful grasp of instilling a sense of uneasiness in his readers by the way he focuses on distorting reality and designing his characters in a way that is not aesthetically appealing. Furthermore, Ito does not adhere to the pre-established horror tropes that have come before him, by not emphasizing characters nor plot in his works. In his own unique Lovecraftia influenced horror narrative, Ito explains as little as possible in order to force the reader to perceive the incomprehensible threat he has created. Common themes he touches upon are the breakdown of society as well as the inevitability of death. Ito has successfully used the comic book medium to showcase strange, perspective changing ideas to instill emotions we thought we could never feel. When reading Ito’s works, and seeing how he has popularized the more emotional and psychological aspects of the horror genre, I will always be motivated to never be afraid of thinking outside of the box. On top of this, he has also shown me that there can be beauty as well as horror in anything if we allow ourselves the freedom to think in a creative, abstract manner. I would definitely recommend checking out Junji Ito’s work if you are looking for an impactful, unsettling, horror experience! “Tomie”, “Gyo”, and “Uzumaki” can be found at Barnes & Noble as well as on Amazon. Furthermore, the few short stories that have been translated and licensed can be found here and are able to be purchased on Amazon: http://junji-ito-index.tumblr.com/purchase If you do enjoy Ito’s stories I would highly suggest purchasing physical copies in order to support this wonderful artist! With this being said, let’s all follow Junji Ito’s words and “take something normal and look at it backwards.” - Creamer 🥄

[breakfast-squad-studio-blog]

Hope this Monday goes as fast as @sonicthehedgehog 💙

Here’s a quick animation by our very own Bakon 🥓

[breakfast-squad-studio-blog]

Part 8 of our Black History Month illustrations ✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿

I’ve never been interested in being invisible and erased. - Laverne Cox

Born: May 29, 1984 (age 32 years) Mobile, AL

Laverne Cox is an American actress‚ reality television star‚ television producer‚ and LGBT advocate. 

She is best known for her portrayal of Sophia Burset on the Netflix television series Orange Is the New Black‚ for which she became the first openly transgender person to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in the acting category‚ and the first to be nominated for an Emmy Award since composer/musician Angela Morley in 1990. 

In April 2014, Cox was honored by GLAAD with its Stephen F. Kolzak Award for her work as an advocate for the transgender community. On June 9‚ 2014‚ Cox became the first openly transgender person to appear on the cover of Time magazine.

Follow Laverne Cox’s work on her official site.

Make sure to check out our team’s FB page & Instagram! Breakfast Squad Studio & @Breakfast__Squad

[breakfast-squad-studio-blog]

Part 7 of our Black History Month illustrations ✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿

This moment is so much bigger than me. This is for every nameless‚ faceless woman of color who now has a chance tonight because this door has been opened. - Halle ‘Maria’ Berry

Born: August 14, 1966 (age 50 years), Cleveland, OH

Halle ‘Maria’ Berry is an American actress‚ film producer‚ and former fashion model. She won an Academy Award for Best Actress in 2002 for her performance in the romantic drama Monster’s Ball (2001)‚ which made her the only woman of color to win a Best Actress Academy Award to date‚ as of 2016. 

In accepting her award‚ she gave an acceptance speech honoring previous black actresses who had never had the opportunity.

Berry was one of the highest paid actresses in Hollywood during the 2000′s and has been involved in the production of several of the films.

Keep up with Halle Berry on her official FB page.

Make sure to check out our team’s FB page & Instagram! Breakfast Squad Studio & @Breakfast__Squad

[breakfast-squad-studio-blog]

Part 6 of our Black History Month illustrations ✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿

I’m a black American, I am proud of my race. I am proud of who I am. I have a lot of pride and dignity. - Michael ‘Joseph’ Jackson

Born August 29, 1958 Gary, Indiana, U.S.


Died June 25, 2009 (aged 50) Los Angeles, California, U.S.

Michael ‘Joseph’ Jackson was an American singer‚ songwriter‚ record producer‚ dancer‚ and actor. Referred to as the King of Pop‚ his contributions to music and dance‚ along with his publicized personal life‚ made him a global figure in popular culture for over four decades. 

In the early 1980s‚ Jackson became a dominant figure in popular music. The music videos for his songs‚ including those of “Beat It”‚ “Billie Jean”‚ and “Thriller” from his 1982 album Thriller‚ were credited with breaking down racial barriers and with transforming the medium into an art form and promotional tool. 

The popularity of these videos helped to bring the then-relatively-new television channel MTV to fame. His 1987 album Bad spawned the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You”‚ “Bad”‚ “The Way You Make Me Feel”‚ “Man in the Mirror”‚ and “Dirty Diana”‚ becoming the first album to have five number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100. 

Learn more about Michael Jackson on the official Michael Jackson site.

Make sure to check out our team’s FB page & Instagram! Breakfast Squad Studio & @Breakfast__Squad

[breakfast-squad-studio-blog]

Part 5 of our Black History Month illustrations ✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿

Jails and prisons are designed to break human beings, to convert the population into specimens in a zoo - obedient to our keepers, but dangerous to each other. 

- Angela ‘Yvonne’ Davis

Born: January 26, 1944 (age 73 years) Birmingham, AL

Angela ‘Yvonne’ Davis is an American political activist‚ academic scholar‚ and author. She emerged as a prominent counterculture activist and radical in the 1960s as a leader of the Communist Party USA ‚ and had close relations with the Black Panther Party through her involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. 

Her interests include prisoner rights; she founded Critical Resistance‚ an organization working to abolish the prison-industrial complex. 

Davis was an acting assistant professor in the philosophy department at the University of California‚ Los Angeles (UCLA) when the Board of Regents of the University of California‚ urged by then-California Governor Ronald Reagan‚ fired her from her $10‚000 a year post in 1969 because of her membership in the Communist Party.

Learn more about Angela Davis on the UC Santa Cruz Feminist Studies page.

Make sure to check out our team’s FB page & Instagram! Breakfast Squad Studio & @Breakfast__Squad

[breakfast-squad-studio-blog]

Part 4 of our Black History Month illustrations ✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. 

- Martin Luther King Jr. 

Born: January 15, 1929, Atlanta, GA Assassinated: April 4, 1968, Memphis, TN

Martin Luther King‚ Jr. was an American Baptist minister‚ activist‚ humanitarian, and leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. 

He led the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957‚ serving as its first president. King also helped to organize the 1963 March on Washington‚ where he delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. There‚ he established his reputation as one of the greatest orators in American history. 

He is best known for his role in the advancement of civil rights using nonviolent civil disobedience based on his Christian beliefs.

Learn more about Martin Luther King Jr. on the official MLK Jr. site.

Make sure to check out our team’s FB page & Instagram! Breakfast Squad Studio & @Breakfast__Squad

[breakfast-squad-studio-blog]

Part 3 of our Black History Month illustrations ✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿

I’m not concerned with your liking or disliking me. All I ask is that you respect me as a human being. - Jack Roosevelt “ Jackie” Robinson

Born: January 31, 1919, Cairo, GA Died: October 24, 1972, North Stamford, CT

Jack Roosevelt “ Jackie” Robinson was an American Major League Baseball second baseman who became the first African American to play in the major leagues in the modern era. 

Robinson broke the baseball color line when the Brooklyn Dodgers started him at first base on April 15‚ 1947. The Dodgers‚ by playing Robinson‚ ended racial segregation that had relegated black players to the Negro leagues since the 1880′s. Robinson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962. 

Robinson’s character‚ his use of nonviolence‚ and his unquestionable talent challenged the traditional basis of segregation which then marked many other aspects of American life. 

He had an impact on the culture of and contributed significantly to the Civil Rights Movement. In recognition of his achievements on and off the field‚ Robinson was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal and Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Learn more about Jackie Robinson on the official Jackie Robinson site.

Make sure to check out our team’s FB page & Instagram! Breakfast Squad Studio & @Breakfast__Squad

[breakfast-squad-studio-blog]

Part 2 of our Black History Month illustrations ✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿

We all have dreams. In order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline and effort. - James Cleveland “Jesse” Owens

Born: September 12, 1913, Oakville, Alabama, AL Died: March 31, 1980, Tucson, AZ

James Cleveland “Jesse” Owens was an American track and field athlete and four-time Olympic gold medalist. Owens specialized in the sprints and the long jump and was recognized in his lifetime as “perhaps the greatest and most famous athlete in track and field history.” 

His achievement of setting three world records and tying another in less than an hour at the 1935 Big Ten track meet in Ann Arbor‚ Michigan has been called “the greatest 45 minutes ever in sport” and has never been equaled. 

At the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin‚ Germany‚ Owens won international fame with four gold medals: 100 meters‚ 200 meters‚ long jump‚ and 4 100 meter relay. He was the most successful athlete at the games and as such has been credited with “single-handedly crushing Hitler’s myth of Aryan supremacy.”

Learn more about Jesse Owens on the official Jesse Owens site.

Make sure to check out our team’s FB page & Instagram! Breakfast Squad Studio & @Breakfast__Squad

[breakfast-squad-studio-blog]

Happy Black History Month ✊🏿✊🏾✊🏽

Eggs cooked up some illustrations in honor of Black History Month. 🍳

Surely the day will come when color means nothing more than the skin tone, when religion is seen uniquely as a way to speak one’s soul; when birth places have the weight of a throw of the dice and all men are born free, when understanding breeds love and brotherhood. - Josephine Baker

Born: June 3, 1906, St. Louis, MO Died: April 12, 1975, Paris, France

Josephine Baker was an American-born French dancer‚ singer‚ and actress who came to be known in various circles as the Black Pearl‚ Bronze Venus and even the Creole Goddess. 

Baker was the first black woman to star in a major motion picture‚ Zouzo‚ and become a world-famous entertainer. Baker refused to perform for segregated audiences in the United States and is noted for her contributions to the Civil Rights Movement. 

She was also known for assisting the French Resistance during World War II‚ and received the French military honor‚ the Croix de guerre and was made a Chevalier of the Légion d’honneur by General Charles de Gaulle.

Learn more about Josephine Baker on the official Josephine Baker site.

Make sure to check out our team’s FB page & Instagram! Breakfast Squad Studio & @Breakfast__Squad

[breakfast-squad-studio-blog]

3D Baking

02/16/2017 Good morning & hello everyone, Coffee here! 

I have been doing a lot of 3D modeling lately and wanted to share some information I’ve gained through the process, specifically baking. A lot of people enjoy baking as much as they enjoy UVing; (I’ll cover that in a future post) even I wasn’t entirely the biggest fan of it, but I can guarantee you that the satisfaction of having your models bake just right, is worth it. 

This won’t be a guide, but I’ll go through a basic introduction of my current baking methods. Now from what I have practiced there are two ways I approach baking; name matching and bake groups. 

Bake groups is more aligned to the traditional approach, as in you bake in batches. Remember blowing up your model in different segments? Well this process is sort of similar except groups contain all the parts of a piece not intersecting each other. 

 Example, you want to bake a bandaged arm with a glove? Label your low poly groups like: “arm_low” and the matching high poly groups as “arm_high_sculpt”, “arm_high_bandage”. The other groups can be “glove_low” with its matching high poly groups being “glove_high_base”,”glove_high_seams”,”glove_high_padding”. The naming convention is crucial here. The first suffix is how your baker will categorize the groups to bake. 

The second suffix will tell it which one is the low and high poly. You want to have just one low per group, but you can have multiple highs per low. Having a third suffix allows for that. Your baker doesn’t care for the third suffix, it only sees: “name of model”_”high/low”. Anything after that is just for us to categorize and add more detail with. The program I bake with using this method is Marmoset Toolbag 3. 

I won’t get into the process here, but I will be covering it in the future. In the meantime, if you wish to learn more about this method I highly encourage you to seek out Steffen’s tutorial. He has worked on several triple A titles such as Halo and Overwatch and recently released a free guide through gumroad! You can see this and more of his work at Polycount under the username Neox. 

The second method is matching by name. This is my go-to method and I use Substance Painter for this. I prefer this method because there is no need to go in batches. It will bake multiple meshes into one texture in one swoop! You follow the same naming convention as before. What the program does is build cages per group. That way you don’t have to bake per batch or explode your mesh to avoid bleeding artifacts. I’ll cover this method further in a guide of its own, but here is what we can take from both these methods. 

Your naming convention matters! These programs are very precise and take into account upper and lower cases so make sure everything matches accordingly. Other things to take into account: Make sure your transformations are frozen. You can have them positioned right above each other, but take the extra step to freeze. It may not always get in the way depending on how you export, but be safe and thorough!

As mentioned, also have models positioned right over each other. Make sure your high can still match the dimensions of your low. Make the best high poly you can, but keep in mind how your cage envelopes your model and how much it can capture before becoming distorted. 

That is all I will be covering for today on baking! I will venture into the meat of baking in the future, but they will receive their own lengthy and thorough posts just as they deserve. I hope you enjoyed this introduction and decide to practice them yourself.

Make sure to check out our team’s FB page & Instagram for additional content!

Breakfast Squad Studio & @Breakfast__Squad

Until next time! 

 - coffee ☕️

[breakfast-squad-studio-blog]

12/01/2016

Good morning!

Here’s a throwback to when our team finalized the Studio logo! The four classic & timeless breakfast foods representing the founders, it’s a fitting design in our opinion! What do you guys think?

stay positive & go create

- eggs 🍳