30.12.2013

Midnight sketchdump. I'm trying to understand how human anatomy works, got Bridgman books out, time to study! I'm not sorry for demon lord guys ;) (who might, or might not be, an AU Levi, if you came across a certain doujinshi).

28.12.2013

Space Alien.

::Merry Christmas::

 Merry Christmas and Happy New Year ! Lets make 2014 really awesome :)!

 Silly sketches and christmas cards for family :). I really want a 'filthy animal' sweater.

20.12.2013

Alien pencil sketch, might color it later.

16.12.2013

15.12.2013

Finally, a long break from college, which gives me extra time to work on a massive alien planet landscape-asset-thingy. Above it's just a rough layout, so I've all my elements in right places and can start adding detail. I've finished rough cut of my video on friday and it seems like I've got more time to showcase this, hopefully epic, landscape (really excited! and my footage wasn't as shaky and horrible as I expected it to be).
Meanwhile, I'm also (slowly) working on little, one minute animation project. Just a few, quick character designs.

Let me know what you think of them :)

11.12.2013

Material practice.

9.12.2013

Old and forgotten character concept (drawn for game module), I did a rough sketch months ago and finished it today.

6.12.2013

1hr still life study, not happy with it, but it was a good exercise (and need to do them more often!).

5.12.2013

It's December, a perfect time to draw a slightly creepier (is that even a word?) version of Rudolph Reindeer. Telthona inspired, brushes from Viccolatte. It was a great exercises, enjoyed painting him way too much. On a downside, there is something wrong with my Graphire stylus, eraser stopped working (and pressing E on keyboard feels so weird) :(

::Christmas Wishlist - Weird Shoes::

From time to time I like to do an unsual post and since I'm in college already, procastinating, putting together a shoe wishlist seems like a perfect idea. Modcloth is one of my fav online stores when it comes to searching for quirky things.

When in Gnome Heel - probably the most ridiculous heels I've ever came across. Smiley little garden gnome is just creepy, it look so disturbing and weird.

Look Who's Hare in Gold - second on my list of insane and cheesy heels.  Little bunny looks like it's being squashed by shoe. Most likely they were a normal shoes before a heel got replaced with charity shop item.

Shark! Who Goes There? Heel - weird, tacky and in the same time quite cool.  But I wouldn't dare to wear them for night out (which I possibly could pull off with two top ones).

Star Light, Star Right Heel - heels that makes even standing an impossible task. It's hilarious and gorgeous in the same time. I actually like a star detail, however the shape and size of a heel makes walking so difficult (I've tried similar shaped shoes in Office and oh god, so hard to find a right a balance in them).

27.11.2013

25.11.2013

Alien planet thumbnails for my green screen sequence. Deadline for VFX is getting closer and closer so I'll post more and more college related work. Those briefs are keeping me super busy lately ;). But are fun to do.

24.11.2013

I've finished my alien asset for VFX. Tails will be rigged and animated in AE. Now, let me start on the enviro.

::BAF Game recap::

Time for a bit unusual post, because.. why not :) !

Over a week ago I've attended a game part of Bradford Animation Festival. Suprisingly, it was way more fun than I've expected it to be (last year BAF was dragging and I felt asleep couple times during talks.. ups!) and I'm definately going next year (I  might again skip the animation bit of festival. Unless they'll have LAIKA and Boxtrolls. Or someone from Dreamworks talking about HTTYD 2. Yup, wishful thinking;)). Since I've posted a very detailed review on my college blog (day 1 and day 2), I'm not going to repeat myself and just paste few really good bits that happened.

 Day 1:

Steve Lycett - SUMO Digital - worked on many titles, including Split Second and various SEGA games. His latest project was Katsuma Unleashed - a handheld game that he and his team were able to produce in just over 7 months. Steve talked a lot about pre-production of this title and showed us WIP gameplay, animation tests for different characters, intro video.Another game presented was Sonic All Stars Racing Transformed. This one took 3 years to make and was quite challenging - everything had to be animated and each environment unique and interesting.

 Karl Abson - lecturer at Bradford University, talked about techniques of animal motion capture. He also talked about the uses of mo-cap and difficulties of working with animals - in his case, with horses. Although it's a very hard and time consuming process, the effects produced during session are far better and more realistic/believable than when animated by key framing (mo-cap is a data driven animation). iKinema was another thing metioned during this talk - it's a plugin for Maya that allows a real time skeleton mapping with mo-cap session.

Day 2:

FuturLab talk about production process for Velocity 2X was reaaally good. I literally can't wait for this indie game to finally come out on PS4 :)!

 Viktor Antonow - design director at ZeniMax Media. Viktor talked a lot about the cities and the role of concept art in game production (Dishonored). He showed us a lot of great pieces of art, his own as well as Utopian architectural designs, which are great inspiration for sci-fi art.  He also talked about Dishonored art and inspiration from cities like London and Edinburgh.

Brian Horton - senior art director - Crystal Dynamics - worked on major franchises (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Batman, Star Wars). Brian talked about his challenge when working on Lara Croft from Tomb Raider series, a very popular game character. His task was to bring back the Tomb Raider brand and make it interesting again. He talked us through his though process and what he wanted to achive in a newest game with young Lara Croft. 


+awesome stuff from Kevin Carthew (Team17)

Oh and that thing below...

Possibly my fav photo, taked during Phil Gray (from TT games) presentation of new LEGO game: LEGO Marvel Superheroes. How many sleeping beauties can you spot ;)?

::Hello! alien::

Christmas-y, cheerful alien :)

16.11.2013

15.11.2013

Just a silly sketch of gherkin.

::Dark Priest::

I've enjoyed drawing this guy way too much :) Maybe he is full of mistakes but still I like him a lot!

Alien Planet simple test

Simple tests I did for my VFX project. For the green screen shot I want the camera to be zooming into the alien world. 3D layers in After Effects are fun to play with and now I just need to detail this composition properly and make it pretty :) Flying orbs actually indicate flying aliens;).

::my work at Flannels cafe::

   Few weeks ago I was fortunate enough to put my work up on the lovely wall of Gallery at Flannels.

    For people who doesn't know Leeds that well - Flannels is a 3 storey store (something like Harvey Nicholson or Debenhams but with just clothes) near Kirkgate Market. The art gallery cafe is on the third floor and have a different types of work exhibited, curated by Leeds City College/Leeds Art Gallery. Sometimes, the work that lands on those walls isn't perfect for cafe settings, so they've decided to look for people that creates more appropriate art.

     I found out about the show opportunity on twitter. I've got 14 different pieces on display and they will stay there for couple more weeks.
     It's my second time putting exhibition up and, as much as I enjoy it, I don't consider myself to be an 'exhibition artist'. Seeing my work hanged on wall is rewarding and makes me feel so proud and happy, but, at the end of a day, I just want to create and don't worry about the venues, frames and nails ;).

::Alien Concepts 01::

Few more alien concepts for VFX module I'm working on right now in college. Numbers 1,3,8 and 11 are my personal fav :)

26.10.2013

::VFX brief - initial concepts::

I'm fighting with my VFX module, few initial concepts. You can read more about the project here. Oh, I actually like guy #4 and that might be my final alien :) Open to any crits/suggestions.

::Little Robot::

Another quick test done in After Effects.

::Floating Warrior::

I've just started playing in After Effects, quick test to get idea how this software works. Expect more moving illustrations from me :)

17.10.2013

Quick sketches of funky trees.

15.10.2013

Alien/creature concept for VFX module I'm doing right now at college.

11.10.13

Orc warrior reading menu.

::Sandwich Dog::

I just felt like drawing something really cute.

7.10.2013

I don't often draw girls, but when I do.. I make sure they look badass enough. Gonna mess with it a bit more in Photoshop and fix her chunky massive legs. Oh, and she already have a little sad back story going on :)

5.10.2013

Back to school/college :)

::60s aliens::

 

Hippie 60s aliens I've drawn for another amazing issue of Nest (LCA magazine). Had so much fun :)

::Mister Octopus::

Posh octopuses wearing bow ties and drinking tea are fun to draw :) !

28.09.2013

I'm prepping for another art show and improving (slowly) my digital skills.

24.09.2013

Playing with markers again, old sketch with some colors.

23.09.2013

21.09.2013

Celebrating rather magical anniversary with my hubby :)

::Mosaic Cafe Exhibition::

Last Monday I was lucky enough to put my work up on the canteen walls in Leeds Art College.

I've got 10 different marker pieces on display for a good few weeks (possibly until Christmas).

 

I've to admit: I had a bit of trouble in choosing which pieces I want to show ;). 

Putting show together is hard, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to present, a certain theme or type of media that will make all pieces work together. As it's my first ever solo 'show' I'm still very nervous how people will react to it, would they like it or hate it? Will see ;) I'm back to college next week, time for another busy year!