A couple of biro sketches while on the plane to Sweden. I stumbled across the bearded guy in a magazine. Think he's a music composer. Totally forgotten his name :/
Showing posts with label Thoughts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thoughts. Show all posts
Saturday, 5 October 2013
Sketch on a Plane
A couple of biro sketches while on the plane to Sweden. I stumbled across the bearded guy in a magazine. Think he's a music composer. Totally forgotten his name :/
Monday, 9 July 2012
Ice breaking
I've been away from the blogging for a bit so let me cut to the chase and tell you about some things that have been happening in my life...
Dark Cow Rises
In my previous posts you may have remembered I was working on a CG animation for a TV production company in Sweden. Well, production on that was suspended due to some major technical issues.
The good news is that the Cow will return as all the technical shizzle is now sorted!
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| DIY PC maintenance |
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| She's back! Much more to come! |
I've been designing publications for a few businesses. It has been a worthwhile experience and challenge (especially when working on an office PC with 1gb of RAM!) and I've met some truly wonderful people. My most proud achievement was creating and designing a mascot for the children's cancer charity, Neuroblastoma Alliance UK.
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| Mascot for Neuroblastoma Alliance UK |
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| Character development |
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| 3D version of their logo for possible 'bouncing ball' animation |
Drawing, drawing, drawing
Recently, I've been asked to design a tattoo of an Egyptian sphinx (the part female, bird and cat one). Surprisingly, I haven't designed a tattoo before so it's a new challenge that I'm excited about completing.
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| Initial design for tattoo, flying lady with deadly sharp nipples |
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| 'Team Edward' cartoon. What's life without humour? |
I've always been keen on fitness and challenging my physical limits but never keen on going for runs outside as a supplement. I usually preferred running on the treadmill in the gym as it put less strain on my body. However, since the beginning of 2012, I've totally scraped the gym and decided to go for regular runs outdoors as well as use breakdancing techniques to stay in shape. It's much cheaper anyway!
I'll also be dancing at the Paralympic ceremony (missed the main Olympic auditions) and rehearsals have been a lot of fun and met some cool people. That's all I can say on the subject at the moment because it's proper top secret and I'll be kicked out if I reveal more!
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| taking a breather after a run in the local park |
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| strawberry picking my way! |
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| 3 is the magic number! |
Sunday, 12 February 2012
Sidetracking - Music
Music is so powerful that it has at times dictated my mood, saved me from woe, or been a catalyst for my emotions and expression.
There is also a beauty in silence. Sometimes I will turn off the music in my headphones and save it as a reward. Like with all good things, they're best to be taken in moderation.
I like to believe I have some sort of music juice in my blood. My dad is a renowned guitarist/musician back in Ghana and my mum used to be a backing singer in the 60's and 70's. I never really had the discipline to stick with the piano or guitar, but dancing and art has always come more naturally to me. They all go hand in hand in my opinion - artistic forms of expression.
These are a few music tracks I'm listening to at the moment for work & play :
After a hard day's work, I escape to South America...
There is also a beauty in silence. Sometimes I will turn off the music in my headphones and save it as a reward. Like with all good things, they're best to be taken in moderation.
I like to believe I have some sort of music juice in my blood. My dad is a renowned guitarist/musician back in Ghana and my mum used to be a backing singer in the 60's and 70's. I never really had the discipline to stick with the piano or guitar, but dancing and art has always come more naturally to me. They all go hand in hand in my opinion - artistic forms of expression.
These are a few music tracks I'm listening to at the moment for work & play :
After a hard day's work, I escape to South America...
Wednesday, 25 January 2012
Steaming turd
I've recently been doing a lot of research on cows. A hell of a lot.
The Coleman's advert has been a good source of reference for how to make a quadruped move like a biped. It was created by Aardman and shows off their animation prowess. Judging by the way it moves (no pun intended), it looks like they are using a biped rig and possibly some corrective blendshapes for the hind legs due to it's rotations at the leg root. Would love to see some behind the scenes footage...
BUT
As much as I'm impressed by the animation, the commercial as a whole leaves a little less to be desired.
I can't help but feel that the bull that leaps out of the hot gravy is too reminiscent of a steaming turd and this makes me feel uncomfortable as it bobs around. Also, the song 'I like the way you move' sounds cheesy and dated. The 'urban' dance moves are intended to be playful and humorous, but don't even match the rock/pop music.
The character animation is comical and believable; the commercial is obviously trying to get down with the kids, but this contrived piece has me reaching for the sick bucket rather than a jug of gravy.
The Coleman's advert has been a good source of reference for how to make a quadruped move like a biped. It was created by Aardman and shows off their animation prowess. Judging by the way it moves (no pun intended), it looks like they are using a biped rig and possibly some corrective blendshapes for the hind legs due to it's rotations at the leg root. Would love to see some behind the scenes footage...
BUT
As much as I'm impressed by the animation, the commercial as a whole leaves a little less to be desired.
I can't help but feel that the bull that leaps out of the hot gravy is too reminiscent of a steaming turd and this makes me feel uncomfortable as it bobs around. Also, the song 'I like the way you move' sounds cheesy and dated. The 'urban' dance moves are intended to be playful and humorous, but don't even match the rock/pop music.
The character animation is comical and believable; the commercial is obviously trying to get down with the kids, but this contrived piece has me reaching for the sick bucket rather than a jug of gravy.
Tuesday, 20 December 2011
Mad world
For the past month, I've been subjected to a continuous stream of bad news. This is the main reason why I haven't blogged for so long. Most of us go through it at some point, but the most important thing is to hold no grudges. Forgive, forget and move on.
Sunday, 30 October 2011
Animation Inspiration - International Animation Day
On the 28th October it was International Animation Day and it got me thinking about which animations inspired me to become an animator or just simply enjoyed the most.
Recently, I finally got to watch the movie, Kung Fu Panda 2. Being a Kung Fu fan, my review of the movie will be slightly biased but personally it's one of the best animated movies I have seen in a long time. The story was simple and moved along at a fast-pace but the entertainment factor, art direction, and quality of animation were off the scale. Oh, and the jokes were spot on too.
I watched many cartoons during my childhood, in fact you could say cartoons and video games were my addictions. There were not many CG animated cartoons on TV back then, but there was one that I will never forget. Reboot was a fully CG animated kids TV series. Admitedly, the actual animation was quite terrible but that was probably due to the limitations of the software and hardware back then. Still a highly entertaining show nonetheless!
One particular animation brings back fond memories. It was a Scotch video cassette ad from back in the 80's and created by Aardman animations. The music was so catchy and once the skeleton got into his groove, I was up on my baby feet and doing my own little jig. My mum would remind me how my face would light up and how I'd dance across the carpet every time the advert came on the TV.
Last by no means least, here are a couple of my favourite FMV's from the video games of my youth.
For more information about International Animation Day here's a link to an article I wrote for Skwigly magazine http://www.skwigly.co.uk/happy-international-animation-day/
Recently, I finally got to watch the movie, Kung Fu Panda 2. Being a Kung Fu fan, my review of the movie will be slightly biased but personally it's one of the best animated movies I have seen in a long time. The story was simple and moved along at a fast-pace but the entertainment factor, art direction, and quality of animation were off the scale. Oh, and the jokes were spot on too.
I watched many cartoons during my childhood, in fact you could say cartoons and video games were my addictions. There were not many CG animated cartoons on TV back then, but there was one that I will never forget. Reboot was a fully CG animated kids TV series. Admitedly, the actual animation was quite terrible but that was probably due to the limitations of the software and hardware back then. Still a highly entertaining show nonetheless!
One particular animation brings back fond memories. It was a Scotch video cassette ad from back in the 80's and created by Aardman animations. The music was so catchy and once the skeleton got into his groove, I was up on my baby feet and doing my own little jig. My mum would remind me how my face would light up and how I'd dance across the carpet every time the advert came on the TV.
Last by no means least, here are a couple of my favourite FMV's from the video games of my youth.
For more information about International Animation Day here's a link to an article I wrote for Skwigly magazine http://www.skwigly.co.uk/happy-international-animation-day/
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