Model and Textures - Old Safe

An old, beat-up safe, modeled and textured with diffuse, spec, and bump maps. Sweet.

Creature Sculpt - Suicune

Our first sculpting assignment in Mudbox is to create a realistic-looking Pokémon of our choice (best assignment ever? probably!). My favorite is Suicune, so I had to give him a try...

Photoshop 101 - Old Train Car

We had to take a rendered image of a plain train car and add textures and paint other details... Apparently this one has been in the jungle for a while. Why? Don't ask me :)

Jumping Flour Sack

Back to the basics! An oldie but goodie. Hand-drawn is tedious but it comes out way livelier than flash...

Environment Modeling: Trine 2 Tavern

Definitely not 100% accurate in terms of perspective/spacing, but pretty darn close. Never done an environment before... The stuffed moose head was an essential element for sure.

Have some life drawing

Because you can never have too much life drawing...

First week of TTTC... and a hippo!

I've just started a year of postgraduate school at Think Tank Training Centre in Vancouver BC, to help polish up my 3D skills (as well as all the other ones too!) to professional standards. College really wasn't enough to get me where I wanted. Hopefully this place will do the trick :)

Our first modeling assignment was to make some kind of bulky animal — hippo, elephant, rhino, etc. I did a hippo. Switching into SoftImage was so incredibly easy after learning the basics in Maya. They're remarkably similar — just some different functions here and there. So far, I definitely like it more than Maya, at least for modeling.

I am the Great Fairy of Boredom

Another product of boredom in-between work projects. A Great Fairy from the game "The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker." The perfect balance of creepy and pretty...

Character Designs: Ho-oh and Lugia

A work-break doodle that got out of hand. Ho-oh and Lugia (from Pokémon, for you uninitiated folks) as classy ladies.

Going through old files...

I rediscovered these guys as I was backing up my laptop. This was the first sketch for the men from 'Remedy.' I thought they looked awesome in this style, but with just five days to animate the entire thing, I had to make some cutbacks. Maybe I'll revisit this motif someday...

 

Rough Stuff

Just getting back into the swing of things. And I managed to crank out a neat little rough animation too. :)

SPE and Movies from the Hill

Two surprise updates for Coyote. Back in March it played at the SPE Film Festival in San Francisco, specifically in the Women's Caucus Film Festival (I had no idea it even played out there... huh). And more recently it played at the outdoor Movies from the Hill festival in Norristown, PA. Thumbs up all round!

Sound Places Virtual Festival

Each person in our sound design class was required to submit his or her final project to this festival (or else we wouldn't pass the class at all). And mine actually got in.

But... but I'm not a sound designer! ... Unless... um...

...

Ah well.
That's still pretty darn cool.

Facial Animation Final - Salieri's Plan

Final project for our facial animation and lipsynching class. We had to choose a short voice clip to animate to. I picked one of my favorite performances of all time...

Sound Design Final - Colorblocks

I took a sound design course as one of my final classes at Penn. Our final project was completely open-ended, so I used the opportunity to do another animation, but something more abstract this time around. Several people suggested I should look into doing video graphics for electronica concerts. Which I think would be completely awesome. And super easy – this took me about two days, max. It was fun. :)

2012 Animation Demo Reel

College was fun. But it was only the beginning. :)

ReBoot Compilation Poster

One more ReBoot thing. This is the last one for a while, I promise.

This poster was presented to Gavin Blair, the co-creator of ReBoot, at the inaugural Vancouver Fan Expo, April 21-22 2012. One of my best friends dared me back in February to do a one-drawing-a-day challenge, so I drew 29 ReBoot characters, one for each day in February. Then I found out this convention was happening, and I did a few more to round out the poster. The final tally is 48, I believe.

I also believe this has been the best weekend ever.

DeanMark Inc

Last December I was hired as an animator and graphic artist for a Philadelphia design firm called DeanMark Inc. It's my first professional design/animation job, and I've had several projects so far, all of which have been really fun... and none of which I'm technically allowed to post about on this blog! But maybe linking to their site will make it a more legit mention? Click on the pic below to look at their portfolio!

Final Thesis Animation - Glacé

I'm done.
I'M DONE.
SO VERY VERY DONE.
THIS THING WAS A MONSTER...

Next thing to learn in Maya: particle effects. I tried to put some water splashes in there, but I could never figure out how. Oh well. Use your imagination, I guess?

Thesis Assignment 5 - Allegretto

Five days to relearn Maya AND make an animation with it. The challenge was accepted.

Glacé - ice bear walk cycle

Took Mr Bear for a walk yesterday. He still has a mild case of butt-wiggle, but we're training it out of him. Now I have to build him some friends to play with...

Vimeo has disabled embedding (why???) so just click on the picture:

Final Thesis Project - Polar Bear Model

My first fully modeled, textured, and rigged character. Good lord. It's happened. It's finally happened. Break out the cider! Two years from now I will realize how bad it is, but I don't care right now. I have a model!

My teachers are so impressed by a tiny number of polygons and a simple rig. Haha. Makes my life a little bit easier. ;)

Final Thesis Project – Fire and Ice

My first project this semester was a Maya animation that I need to clean up a little more, so I'll be posting that a bit later than normal. But it went very well and was very well received. I'll actually be working in Maya all this semester.

But the first one was small beans compared to the next project – the final project. THE LAST ONE BEFORE I AM FREE.

I wanted to find a theme that would translate well to greenhorn-level Maya, but would also allow for some neat imagery and interesting symbolism. So... how about some animals made out of ice? The next week will be spent modeling and rigging and texturing, and then the real fun begins. I have the basics of a story, but I'll come up with the details as I move along.

Maya Model - Gundam Deathscythe

I just rescued these from my old folder on the school's server space. This was my second Maya model ever, done for a class assignment in 2010. We had to build something robotic, so I chose to do one of the mobile suits from the anime Gundam Wing. Specifically the Gundam Deathscythe. I look back on it now, and it's still quite decent for an early attempt!

Adv. Facial Animation – Portraits and Blockheads

My last animation class in college (!!!) is a focus on realistic facial rigging and animation, taught by Chris Landreth (google him, he's a master). I have almost zero experience with humans in Maya, so... it's time. Assignment one was self-portraits. Drawing I, we meet again. And thank god I've improved since then.

We also had to draw still images of a 'blockhead' model from Maya, which breaks down the facial planes into simpler forms. It's bound to get harder from here, but I honestly want to learn a bunch from this class. Expect to see a lot of awkward lip movements and freaky wireframe tests on this blog in the near future. Let's go!

Port Aubergine

I always like drawing boardwalks. They've got so many things I like. Water, boats, lights, and quirky little shops...

Taking the train back to school today. One more semester to go. Where has the time gone?!

PS: Everything I've drawn recently has been purple. Huh...

click here for hi-res

Sacred Stepwell

Photoshop, 7 hours

click here for hi-res

Drawings

Ink/pencil/charcoal drawings, 2007-2010

Paintings

Oil on canvas, Spring 2009

Collages

Some collages from my Drawing II and Color Theory classes. Paper on foam board — 2009/2010

Happy New Year!

Let's start off 2012 with some sketches!