Pacific Rim!

So my wife and I went to see Pacific Rim Sunday. Was the story amazing? Not particularly. Was it long? Yeah I mean it's 2.5hrs.....but fuck! I had a freaking blast watching this movie and it honestly didn't feel long. I love Mako, Gieszler and Gottlieb followed closely by Pentecost. But the movie really is about Mako so I had to do a "partial" fan art of her! I haven't done fan art in a long time and I am honestly quite busy so I just cheated and painted her eyes and hair for my computer wallpaper :D

Mako Mori (1600 x 1200) Feel free to use for your computer. I would be honored!

She is a really cool character and her back story is far more interesting than mister plain toast action hero lead Raleigh Becket. Her story is beautifully shot and I think it takes the pie in the film.

Another New Film

Working this quarter on my second film we are currently calling it "Red". It is a biographical film about Robert Goddard. The only requirements for the class are the following.

1. An "abstract" biography
2. It must be mixed media
3. Stay withing 1-2 minutes

So you can check out our production blog over at jimcowjaz.blogspot.com. I will try to post work here as well.

I will be lead character animator on the film! It is my first so wish me luck. Below you can see two of my concepts for the environment and the character design of Goddard at multiple ages.

At first we were going to have the character as a paper cut out but we are slowly moving away from it as we develop the look further.

My first concept was a paper sketch of  a cherry tree then a digital painting on top.

Second concept is using photo textures composited together then some Photoshop painting. Another team mate is exploring watercolor skies that are looking pretty sweet.

New "logo" for self branding

Hey long time no post! I've been busy of late but wanted to throw something up on the blog to show I am alive and kicking. Our first assignment for portfolio class was a logo design as part of our self branding. Below you can see my final direction along with the simple animation I will include during the title of my demo reel. I wanted to explore an illustrative story with my "logo" so I have these abstract thoughts sprouting from the box guy's head. Oh and what's the ladder for?  Click here for my resume! using this new style direction.

Done in Flash. Just some fun straight ahead animation :D I will layer what I have cycled to make the animation fuller like the static illustration.

Props Update

Been hard at work with the rest of the class on our collaborative film Vita Magus. I've moved over to the props and effects side of the film so below is some of the work I've produced the past few weeks. I have a group working along side myself to model and texture everything but I've also attached the Props I modeled. It's going to be rough, we are 5 weeks in and have 5 left to finish the film with 0% of it animated!<

Props_FoodTruck_Turntable_Ver001_MacDonald from Vita Magus on Vimeo.


Props FoodCart Turntable Ver001 MacDonald from Vita Magus on Vimeo.

Newest Sketchkablam

So this week I FINALLY got off my ass and completed something more than a shitty sketch! The inspiration was "Smoking Conference" and all I could think about was those sad, sad rooms people cram into at the airport. I decided to go with a retro look since it was the golden age of travel. That and I was just watching Iron Giant. Oh I also wanted it look like a screen captured from a film. Enjoy :D

Another Edgar update/my 100th post!

So I am calling the rendering 80ish% finished. I stepped away for a while to work on Jellie but I picked it back up today and got it to a place I am happy with. I want to rework some of the UV’s around the eye socket so the texture is less noticeably stretched and then I will maybe add some reflected light from the water surface on the sand. Not sure about that one since this is more of a stylistic rendering but I think it will also be a great way for me to experiment with this for Jellie since the tank/room will need lots of effect lighting. Oh! I also need to add some graphics to his loot and then maybe some sand dollars on the floor.

So here’s the process of creating the 80ish% piece

And the, nearly, completed composite

Aquarium Backgrounds and Styleframe

Alright. Finally got off my lazy ass and took the photographs for my aquarium short. Went to the MARTA last night and after getting yelled at by 2 security guards and 1 police officer I got the photos I needed. But NO FILMING! And I wasn't allowed to use my tripod. I'm not exactly sure what the restriction on tripods is for. I mean midday rush hour sure but there was maybe 5 other people on the train with me. It was a pain in the ass to shoot at night w/out a tripod though.

I've been editing, compositing, and color correcting all day but I now have the first few shots completed. The first background has the top of the stairs with an alpha, I will go to the aquarium and grad some photos of the underwater tunnel and the viewing wall the combine. The subway windows also have alpha so I can put images and lights passing by as he travels on the train.

I also grabbed the illustration I did and dropped it into one of the backgrounds to get an idea of how the final animation will be composited together. I've been tweaking the colors as well to get the mood of the film I want. Enjoy.

I am on a deadline for this one...April in the job fair and I need it for my demo reel!

Happy Holidays

Aquarium Character Design

Grabbed my sharpie and threw down some silhouettes for the character in my aquarium short.

He is influenced by many things.  He has some eel, also threw in some some jelly fish and octopus/squid. Basically I was him aquatic-ish but to also have the ability to walk upright at the beginning of the short. Also flexibility is important because I want him to really squash and stretch.

When he returns to the water and loses his little suit his arms/legs will become him tentacles and he'll move probably similar to a squid. But this is all up in the air and animation tests will polish this chaos in my head.

Sketchkablam quickie

Done this afternoon in my sketchbook then thrown into photoshop to add a flat color pass. I need to get on this Sketchkablam thing and up my quality haha. Key words were "Autopsy Society" and I drew this little girl who I guess won the science fair and is now the newest member of the Jr Society.

Sketchkamblam!

A friend of mine is starting a weekly sketch blog and I will be one of the contributors . Each week a new theme and this weeks theme was “Torpedo Prisoners”.  I wasn’t sure what it meant…so I Googled it. Turns out a “torpedo is someone new to the gang, or has screwed up in some way, who needs to “earn their bones”‘ and they are sent to perform a hit. Also something about a Nor Cal gang the Nortenos, So I drew a Chola and since it’s around Thanksgiving the bonus task was to include the holiday in some was so I had her performing a hit on a turkey…yes quite literal.

Check out Sketchkablam each Monday for new sketches.

Edgar update

Have a the tentacles in a rough pose :D Thinking this will be fun once it's finished.

Final Rotoscope Art Directions

Coming up on the final two weeks of the quarter and We have just two weeks to finish our rotoscope project. Luckily it will be done in groups of two and it only has to be about 5 seconds of animation.

The project is for the introduction to an animated documentary my professor is working on for The Green Book. My partner is working out the storyboard/animatic and I provided the two possible art directions. We, along with the class, chose the first concept with bold black line work. We were given postcards from different era's as backdrops. Ours were Niagara Falls 1930's.

 

 We shoot reference footage on Sunday...wish us luck!

The next step is the expand upon the Muybridge skeletal rotoscope with a full form continuation. Below are my three new art directions along with some effects animation I'm working through for the transition.

Currently the splash in on 2's and if I have time I will add more inbetweens. But for now, the project is graded on the cat run cycle NOT the effects so it can wait :D

Muybridge Cycles

In my rotoscoping class our first assignment is to roto a selected Muybridge cycle. I chose the cat and for class tomorrow we needed to explore 3 different art directions. Check them out.

1. Based on the fantastic short by Ryan Woodward Thought of You.

2. Influenced by the heavenly digital painting style of Chinese mànhuà artist Benjamin. (Zhang Bin)

3. This one isn’t based on any particular artist, maybe some Nicolas Marlet with his squiggly lines? But the concept is for it to pulse like an EKG machine.

So hopefully this is obvious but we start with the skeletal structure, then we do the same cycle with full body, but that too needs to be a separate style from these 3. So stay tuned for those concepts in a week or so.

New Coloring Style?

A couple of friends and I went on a small drawing session at Little 5 Points this past weekend. Didn't last long since it was ungodly hot, but here are a couple sketches.

I have also been working on developing a new digital coloring style. I've been seeing LOTS of this textural looking going around and thought I'd have a go. I'm very happy with the way it looks and think I will explore it more. Stay tuned!

Zoe "final"

Finished the Zoe character sheet that is due later today. Had to nearly pull an all nighter since I picked up yet ANOTHER last minute motion graphic video that consumed my weekend. This one is awesome though cause the wife designed it :D plus having GE in my portfolio was too good to pass up.

Anyways enjoy the sheet