Fun 20min Chibis

Went to see Avengers today, awesome film loved it. So to celebrate it I churned out a couple of fun profile chibi illustrations of myself and a mate as our fave Avengers. Sometimes you just gotta draw fast and for fun, this is the first illustrations I've done in a while that hasn't been for Honours or for uni.

IronShell

Nat of Asgard

Book Cover Practice

Have had a tough week trying to work through issues concerning methodologies to use in testing and researching for my Hons, so tonight I decided to draw something unrelated to uni.

I've been watching Bravo's Work of Art and their test in the past week was to design a book cover for a classic novel that they were assigned. So I asked a mate to assign me a novel and this is what I ended up with:

Done in PShop CS3 with Wacom

So Then This Happened....AWESOME

I'm an avid user of social media, I had a Facebook account before it was cool, when everyone else was using MySpace I linked my two accounts lol, wonder whatever happened to MySpace lol. I also love Delicious and am keen to try Pininterest and of course I love to blog :D

So when I saw that Computer Arts Magazine (UK) had a Twitter feed (@ComputerArts) I had to follow along. The magazine has been a favourite of mine for years so when I tweeted a link to my current Hons work I had no idea that they would actually think it was good enough to include on a daily gallery of inspiration. But then this happened:

I know in the grand scheme of things its only little, but it means a lot to me because as an artist you tend to spend a lot of your time creating images uncertain as to whether they have any affect on the viewer or whether they are any good- but there is it, my Nan's Chinese dog statue, over a hundred years old, painted digitally by me and now on the interwebs lol. To see it in context click here 

Honors Study Update

Still life studies of objects of significance, getting a sense of the colours and shapes associated with a by-gone era.

Back at Uni

Another year of uni and another blog, find my Honours blog listed at the top of this page, on the Hons I will be discussing not only my animation project but also my research thesis and exegesis progress. Check it out here.

In other news, I've taken up a painting elective this semester to give me a 'release' from the stresses of computer and digital based art creation. Last weekend was our first painting weekend, did I mention the class was on Saturday? Yep it is, I suppose there could be worse ways to spend your Saturday morning. The disappointing aspect for me at the moment was learning that we will only be using acrylics, was hoping to learn watercolour or oils, oh well it will be good to have some formal training in that medium as well. Here was our lesson on tone:

Disney Coloured Pencil Illustrations

I first started these illustrations in 1995 after we travelled to Disneyland on a trip I won. Part of the prize was spending money at the Disney store and I bought 2 sketch books (amongst many other things).

The later sketches were done instead of doodling when at work in a call centre, I find that drawing helps me thing, odd huh? The sketch is done in lead pencil first and my coloured pencil brand of choice is Faber Castell.

Pocohontas

Simba from The Lion King

Radcliffe from Pocohontas

King John from Robin Hood

Narrator from Hunchback of Notre Dame

Esmarelda from Hunchback of Notre Dame

Centaur from Fantasia

Pocohontas

Pegasus from Hercules

Quasimodo from Hunchback of Notre Dame

Ariel from Little Mermaid

Buzz Lightyear from Toystory

Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland

Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland

Sully from Monsters Inc

Beast from Beauty and the Beast

Thumper from Bambi

Mulan

All characters remain copyright to Walt Disney Animation Pictures & Pixar

Vinylmation Completed

The vinylmation that I began to commemorate our 2009 trip to LA and Walt Disney Animation Studios at Burbank, has finally been completed.

Special Screening of Princess and the Frog at Walt Disney Animation Studio Lot 

TShirt Design

TShirt design competition for Deviant Art. Concept had to be based around the 1950s and 60s vision of the future and sci-fi. Here is my entry and work flow:

Learning a New Program

New Year, new program! Looking at doing something quite different for my Hons project, aesthetically different in terms of the animation styles that I have tried in the past. I think that the story I want to tell needs a more artistic authentic visual that looks as though it has been scratched into paper. Well that is where it is headed at the moment. I have started compiling a reference folder and have tried TVPaint for the very first time tonight. I quite like the idea of using it to obtain a painterly aesthetic whilst still using good ol Toon Boom Animate Pro for the bulk of the animation, this was a tip from film maker Simon Cottee who used it in his final year film.

I think that the style of render in TVPaint will suit my colouring style and at the moment I am toying with using it predominantly for the backgrounds with an almost pen and ink style for the animation and figures- just an idea, influenced by the Monk and the Fish aesthetic:

Character Commission- Dutazzi

To keep focus over the holidays and so that I can safely avoid working on my honours project which is at a standstill at the moment; I decided to complete a WoW commission I had been trying to get through during the madness of final assessments. Here is the progress on Dutazzi a lvl 85 Troll Hunter.

Finished product