Simple Saaaaamples!!

Hello there!!  Hope that you are doing well!!  Its been quite some time since my last post, as usual hahahaha.  Over the past few months I have been trying to keep quite busy, what with moving back to the states and all, as well as keeping my feet firmly planted on my career path!!

Which leads me to this post!  During the month of March I, along with a friend of mine, have been busy churning away on this animation project.  Though I can't really say much about it just yet, I will let you know that it was my first commissioned gig requested by a studio!!  So exciting!  The project itself is great, and I will be more than happy to share the work we did on it once its all completed!!

For now I would like to share the sample illustration work that landed me the gig in the first place.  This was some of the funniest drawing work that I have done in a while.  The studio wanted some sample illustration work that was inspired by the works of Jeremy Fish, an illustrator (which I knew nothing about beforehand) who has a very great sense of design and whose work just radiates with fun, quirky, and awesome.

Here are some of the pieces that I did in his vision.  Enjoy!!

                                              "Bon VoyCarpie"

                                                  "Bass Mace"  

                                                       "Mount Fishmore"

                                                       "Wereacuda"

FOR ASGAAAAARD!!!!!

Hello everyone!!!!  Hope you are all doing well!!  So, if you haven't already guess, one of my favorite superheros is Thor.  Son of Odin, All-Father of Asgard, Thor is incredibly strong and noble, and while wielding Mjolnir will mess you up with some rather electrifying force.  Huehuehue.  All terrible puns aside, he is an all around badass.

This little project started off as a way for me to get back into Zbrush, following a tutorial that was incredibly helpful.  But as I went along, I decided to veer of and make this little experiment into my own thing.  As such, I learned a ton about what exactly Zbrush is capable of doing, and its incredible!!  Very, very flexible, though one can get lost in all the bells and whistles.

 The above image is the result of my little experiment.  Sculpted and colored in Zbrush, I decided that I wanted to present my work in a bit more of an exciting way than usual.  I quickly painted up a background, including the lightning bolt, not only to see what can be done from crossing mediums, but just to have fun really.

As far as the design, I referenced a bit of Norse symbolism, while learning a bit in the process.  The triangle like symbol on the piece that holds Thor's cape is apparently the Norse symbol for "Heavenly Power".  I thought it was interesting when I found that out and thought it was be a neat idea to incorporate it into the design.  However, to be honest, the inscription in the hammer has no particular meaning, just something I thought would be another neat addition, without me putting much thought behind it.

But let me not stray too far away from the point of this project, which was, initially, to refresh and practice my sculpting skills with Zbrush.  There are many, and I mean many things that I don't like about this sculpt.  Hell, before I even started painting it I noticed a fair bit of things that I would have changed and made better.  For example, the hair is a complete mess.  I could have definitely taken more time to flesh.  

Also, for a sculpt with a total of about 25 million polygons, the level of detail is lackluster.  From the form and definition of the muscles, to the almost Flintstone like robe, more time in these areas would have greatly benefited the overall result of the final piece.

All in all this was a great and exciting project!!  There wasn't a single step of the way that I wasn't excited for where else I could take this piece.  And the wealth of knowledge that I learned along the way is beyond invaluable.  Time to take all this juicy knowledge and excitement and apply it to something else!!  I already got some great ideas bubbling up!!  Thank you very much for the read, and hope you enjoyed it!!  Much love :3  

Great Odin's Beer!!

Hello hello!!  Figured it should be time for a little update.  Past few weeks I've been working on this ZBrush sculpt of Thor.  Recently, I reverted back to an old save file, after posing him out and repairing the sculpt, because things were not coming out so great and I knew I could do better.  Also, I hadn't refined the face and hands before posing, so working out of symmetry would have been really time consuming and the result would come out terrible.  

This is the current state of the piece.  Gonna flesh it out a bit more before posing this time around.  Be back with an update on it as I progress. :3 

Activate Transformation Matrix!!!

Hello there!!  Long time no see!!  I wanted to post this up before I forgot.  This is an old piece that I started a while ago, but never got around to finishing it.  Now that I have found some more time for myself, I decided to revisit this and finish it up.  The design is nothing special, all free hand based on a gesture sketch, with some references from Zone of the Enders and some other mechs for the detail motif.  All in all, a fun piece to work on.  Onto some others!  Enjoy!!  :3

Just Joking around

Hey there bloggiggity blog blog!!  Haven't posted anything on here for a while!!  Just finished this Joker piece that I started a while ago and wanted to share the process on here!!  Check it out!!  Enjoy :3

Shiney Posty Post Post Post!!

Ahoy there!!  Long time no see.  Its been quite some time since I last posted anything on here, but suffice it to say that I have been very preoccupied since the last post, so it wasn't all procrastination.  Hahaha xD

The MA course here at AUB is almost drawing to a close.  Its incredible how time seriously just flys by.  With each passing day it feels like if I blink I might just miss the next 10 years of my life.  On the other hand, I'm also starting to really get my head around the fact that, with time passing by at a seemingly astonishing rate, there really isn't much of it left, despite what I'd like to think (and hope of course @_@").  The point is, what better time is there to get better at my craft than now?  None.  There is no better time, and I have to embrace that fact in order for me to not only progress as an artist, but as a person as well.

Of course, all is easier said than done, ahahahah.  But starting is the easy part, consistency is where its either lost or won.  Anyways, enough of my ramblings!!  There has been so much to talk and going on since last time.  I've been on adventures to Amsterdam and France, mainly Annecy (for the AMAZING animation festival) and Paris.  Both trips were incredible, but not without their fair share of mishaps.  Either way, those are stories for another post (hopefully soon ;3)

In the mean time, check out these two studies that I managed to crank out today (been up since 3am X,,,,,X" ).  One of them is a frame study of the infamous Kill Bill scene where #@$*& cuts down the Crazy 88 gang.  The other is a portrait study of Dinka tribeswoman.  C&C is very much welcome!!  Thank you, and enjoy!!

:3

Moving Figures @_@"

Hello hello!!  Been quite busy on this MA course.  Ton of craziness and work, and I love it!!  Since I decided to focus on stop-motion animation, I did a few animation tests to get me back into the groove.  This are some of the first tests I have done in order for me to get better at stop-mo.  I plan on doing a lot more of these with some more character animation sometime in the near future, so stay tuned for some goodness.    Enjoy!! :3

EDIT:  Decided to remove the videos I put up earlier and piece together a small reel of my stop-motion so far.  I've included some early animation test shots for some of the BA films that I am currently working on at the moment.