beginning layout WIP or something like that

So...my teacher is probably going to think this sucks because it's not animation-y or whatever, but whatevs. I did this one based on this assignment on 'hiding from or looking at/peeping'. Essentially, it's a POV shot. I wanted to do something that wasn't as obvious as the "kids looking at something they shouldn't be looking at", as well as make it a bit self reflexive of the concept. My first thought was to have the viewer be a mirror so that a killer or person peeping would be perpendicular to the view instead of straight on (which is the most obvious/ what everyone tends to do) to the 'camera'. So this is set in a halfway house or a crappy-ish motel influenced by the 20s to the 50s era, with hints of modernism (like the neon lady signs and the lady-clock). A lady of the house kills men while they are involved with the escorts (who take their money) and a police waits outside (either breaking up the party or going to 'score' himself hahaha). I wanted to do something that would be fun for me, and had some sense of story, even though it's probably going to be so hated because there are no kids in the story or ribbons or chipmunks, or planes or whatever else is supposed to be cute and appeal to children. I guess I won't get chosen to work on R@inb0wBr!te the movie 10. Uh..oh well....

the bird

is not mine (hey, that sounds like a song from the 90s! Haha) but I think it's more awesome than my drawings :) Someone left it where we were drawing last night.

some drawings from earlier in the semester

...and a sculpture I started. Was talking a few days ago about how a lot of us who came from developing countries were taught to draw in a flat, more graphic way. So it's not exactly level ground to say that the people who didn't grow up with the training needed to enter a studio environment just don't have talent or just plain out suck. It's interesting because my brother experienced a bit of this when he earned a spot in his teens to an international programming and math competition. It was then that he became exposed to what an advantage does; kids who had been in special schools or grew up with proper training, while he had a lot of talent and ability, but our country lacked the proper training to help him reach his fullest potential. Needless to say, he left shortly after high school and has never looked back. Some of my friends at various studios have said that when people like him (or myself) succeed it is worth that much more, because they have had to put in three times as much work. Hearing that and knowing that there are people at that level who understand and respect my hard work is very inspiring and encourages me to continue to aspire to greatness.

base renders

Working on some base renders for a matte/environment piece. Also working on my layout and some other stuff. Actually took Sunday off as our class was postponed for that day. Will be happy to get my Saturday afternoons back after next week. Chipping my way through classes and assignments. Hopefully will have big work dump in a couple months.

some more renders WIP

So we have to do a final matte painting, so I was starting out with a base, after looking at some reference photos and all that.

the model who makes great carrot cake!

Seriously, she did on Saturday, and here she was modelling for us again on Tuesday. Awesome.

renders from this weekend

Starting yet another class this Thursday where I get to sculpt, and had my first class in another software programme that is pretty much being used with 3D scanners to build props for movies. I'm excited because the prof is top notch and just super smart. It is good foresight on my part because the class is filled with professional art directors. I've learned that also many times, even though they try to disallow it (union rules, etc), sketching is done by the production designer, which means even less concept jobs depending on the production and production designer and how good his/her draughtsmanship skills are. It happens a lot, especially on the lower budget stuff like tv. It makes sense, because the head of the guild was saying that the artwork is often very beautiful but unusable by people in concept who have NO idea how to build things; they're used to just making up any and everything and saying "here is my concept". A production designer often very much has a sense of how things are put together and constructed, so of course (besides the drawing skill level) their drawings would make sense to construction. A concept should mostly start with the script; that's your blue print, the way in opera a libretto sets the tone, along with the unified design vision for the specific intent of the opera. I wish someone would teach this stuff...then people want to know why they don't get hired. You can't just do a painting with dragons and crazy stuff if a movie is set in 1920s in London, unless it calls for that in the script somehow. I remember that our teacher, J0rdu, said when designing a creature you always always read the script. That's how we would design in theatre, too. We'd read the play three times before roughing out concepts, etc. Anyways....

these look

like arse from afar but better up close. Working on getting better, of course. Trying to do the Sara pose LOL (if you don't know who she is in LA you haven't been drawing enough..mwahaa)

just a start and a start

Unfortunately, my sketch pads are over in class, so maybe at end of term (or when I can bring one of them; which is almost fully used) I can do a big dump of the better stuff. Started a sculpt gesture in work that I should be working on during the day (my heater that warms my feet is my best friend and my clay's best friend, too!) Also, for our class, we have to do a girl's pirate ship. Yes, much of the class will be doing boats with Hell0 K!tty flags and bows and whatnot; I"m a little more macabre. So I was thinking that these Amazonian type chicks (yes, I can use that word) are stuck on this boat and create their habitat around it. In the story, which is a suspense live action (in my head anyways), they are being picked off one by one by these guys who are a bit older than they are, kind of punks and can camouflage themselves because they look like pelicans on the water (of course it's set in the future) and have stilts for legs and all that. They are the Alph@b0ts and they feed off of the only sign of human life; the girls. (that's the gist of it; there is a subplot but I guess for design purposes I won't get into that) So we have to start with the boat. In both cases, because of the roots and the weight, the centre of gravity is pretty low down. I did a couple studies of my two beloved trees (I have a few but these rank up there); the B@nyan and the Mangr0ve. In one, the tree literally cuts through the boat, and grows through the other side, so that the tree branches (where it continues growing/offshoots) are like a balcony to the side of the boat. I guess I have to figure out the balance, because the boat would tip over for that one. For the second one, I thought that somehow in the shipwreck, the boat was flipped upside down. The tree then started growing through the centre of the boat, while providing a thick layer of roots on the base of the ship (which was the top). The tree continues to grow upwards, and the girls live on the tiers of the trees (which would make it interesting for them when they are abducted by the Alph@b0ts, and they'd have to climb up and down the tree to get to where they live (which kind of reminded me of that En!d Blyt0n book, "The Faraway Tree" (I grew up and absolutely LOVE Blyt0n!!). Anyways, since we have to do the interior of the boat, also, the roots pushing through the boat would also provide a great opportunity to light the boat (which also still contained its original port hole). So anyways here are some initial sketches, my gesture sculpt and all that. And yes, people will die in my movies when I become a professional concept artist LOL.