As we cross yet another end to another year, I have been working non-stop and found little time to explore the creativity I once found so much time for. To me, that makes 2016 yet another failed year.
The good thing about this year, however, is one particular project that has encompassed all of the free time that I do happen to have.
The project is called "Death of a Snowman" authored by the amazing Daniel Guyton. I've had the pleasure working with Daniel as one of his first performers in his stageplay "Where's Julie?". Cast by Daniel as the part of 'Julie' in the sideshows at the Irene Ryan Competition in Altoona, Pennsylvania, mine and Daniel's history goes back many, many years ago when I was nominated for my stage performance in "The Glass Menagerie" while earning my first degree in Performing Arts to compete with other actors for theatrical awards. Sort of like a small time Golden Globes for college students. Not too many people know that I have that first degree or that I (was told) was also pretty skilled in it... It had a similar transparency as my artwork had back then. People that were affiliated with that stage of my life discovered I was pretty good with drawing and creating characters some time afterwards...
Before the start of social media explosion, while I had went on to enhance my visual arts skills by pursuing a degree in digital media and computer art, Daniel Guyton went on to develop an incredulous volume of work. He has a range that reaches all ages and identities while still upholding his ever quirky balance and peculiar sometimes unconventional outlook. His work "Where's Julie" is still preformed quite regularly around the country-- most probably around the globe, too. While we stayed in touch through facebook, Daniel had preceded to become a very active member in the playwright community, including a dramatic arts instructor, participating in the Writers Guild of America, and also as a member of the Board of Directors for Working Title Playwrights...
Daniel is currently involved in a fundraiser to help support local playwrights in his area. To learn more about the cause, you can link up HERE.
I am very honored to be a major part of "Death of a Snowman"'s first digital reproduction, spoken as both an artist, a patron of the arts, AND as another captivated audience member who has filled a seat to indulge in a number of his stage plays over these years since first meeting him...
Although still very premature, I share pieces of it now, because after the holiday it will taper off into the changing of seasons and be somewhat lost in fevers of spring. I am hopeful that 2017 will give me enough spare time to complete it for a properly timed line up the next holiday season.
So, first, before I explain my progress on this piece, let me wish you all a nice holiday season filled with everything you want, with peace and love, as well, and give my blessings for the New 2017 Year. A Good New Year to you all.
SNOWMAN PRACTICE RIG
Since last summer, in and between multiple days jobs at a time, I have been burning the midnight oil to create some professional developments on this project. While this process has taken tremendous efforts during general inabilities to live day to day (aka the sob story of every struggling artist) it has indeed come a long way that I am excited to show. I approached this proposal as if I were part of a preproduction team. That is one of my goals, anyways, so I found these creations to be most enjoyable.
The first part of my process was to open up the sketchbook and draw as many different designs of the two main characters as I could within as little amount of time and send them off for selection. I did some quick builds of the two main characters, however, to try to get myself aligned from a traditional to a 3D mentality. I was most content with the results of the snowman, and while he was not yet accurate to the initial 2D concept selected, I decided to make a practice rig on an unweighted / unskinned version of him in order to breakdown the types of controls I would eventually need for some of his animation:
While the rig still needs a lot adjustments, it was a fun quick little tasks to play around with. It is very breakable at the moment. I can't wait to put the real rig on the real character!
TEMPLATE SETS (First Versions)
I chose not to spend much additional time working with color or digital concepting yet, and instead decided to move on to researching and pulling reference to help start building some of the major sets.
INT. KITCHEN
INT. LIVING ROOM
INT. CHARLOTTE'S ROOM
EXT. NEIGHBORHOOD
CALL OUT SHEETS SAMPLES
After taking a mari class on CGSociety with Justin Holt a couple years back, I was inspired to develop a few templates that he would describe as a "Call Out Sheet":
These templates would include anything and everything relating to the character, object, or set to help demonstrate the direction of visuals in one united place... color palette, texture, reference imagery, anything to solidify the development.
ANIMATED PREVIEWS OF WIP SETS
Additionally, I figured getting a head start on building some of the sets would help me find a firm grasp of the of the schematic and spatial information I wanted for the storyboards. While it was tedious adding in some of the smaller details-- I figured the more inanimate objects floating around the more natural the set would look in the end...
STORYBOARDS
And in the same sense, I chose to do the storyboards to become more acquainted with the characters-- their expressions, their body language, their physique from different angles.
By the end of the design of the boards, which was drawn quite sloppily by hand, I had broken down a 15 Page Script to nearly 200 drawings and my flow to get accurate and confident line work down on paper had increased and cleaned up tremendously. It was quite an amazing experience for me. And it gave me a lot of courage to put it all together in an animatic once I had received the voiceover work.
My only regret is that I wish I could've had the chance to digitally render all of these drawings for the animatic... perhaps one day after it is all finished I will. For now, I placed the drawings in simple storyboard panels with its complimenting camera specifications:
PAGES 2 - 3
PAGES 27 - 28
Any more research of how to build a shot list would be great (how to organize a sheet with the numbers of cameras needed in each set etc)! I looked, but wasn't really sure what was industry standard or not? So, I winged it in the panels...
But organizing the boards and camera direction into a pamphlet will greatly assist me as a quick 'go-to' item for the 3D versioning.
2D ANIMATIC
As far as the completed 2D animatic, we have decided to reserve showing the full animatic publicly at this point to uphold some of the story for the final release. Instead, I constructed a trailer with the very basics-- the 2D images from the storyboard with snippets of dialogue combined with very preliminary stages in 3D layout of the opening title sequence:
The trailer isn't much at the moment, but we are attempting to uphold some mystery for the piece to show the animatic in its entirety, for the viewers that haven't read the short or gone to see the show in it stage rendition.
My current stage of progress is at the start of building the 3D layout that will begin to replace the 2D footage. I hope that in this wintery season, I can share some more of this progress with you all. I can tell you I have a very long and difficult road ahead of me... but I will get to the finish line eventually and I hope to still have kept your interest it seeing the final product.
The support always helps carry me onward. I know I am taking on a lot and my hope is that the feedback on it is positive enough to move my journey as a professional artist further up the mountain so it's begins to become a downhill fully reinforced battle.
I know that the story "Death of a Snowman" is a beautiful one and an opportunity that I could not refuse. To be able to do more of this type of work in the future with such cleverly talented masterminds like Dan Guyton, would be a blessing.
So here's to an ambitious and prosperous 2017 year.
This one will be better. Exhausting, most likely, but better. I can feel it. :-)
It's been a while. I've been meaning to collect my thoughts and write...
For some reason, I feel that for a creative versus the more logical brain, these days tend to be more abysmal than your average bad day. Every artist, professional or hobbyist, has gone through dark days.
If you are an artist and you hit these days, months, even years of feeling defeated, your goals feeling long awaited and pointless, and you are on the cusp of feeling like you will never regain the inspiration and drive you once had-- make sure you have a list of go-to's to help get your thoughts back in the right place.
Thankfully, my parents came to visit a few months back. My father, again, two months ago. And my Mother is about to my another journey to keep me company for my upcoming birthday tomorrow! I'm so excited to see her and thankful to have them in my life.
So, this post, will be about my gratitude to them and the importance of having support in such a difficult field to break into...
Sometimes it takes so much energy to convince myself of the journey I am fighting over and over again, and then my family comes to reminds me of how realistic I need to be under specific circumstances. Specific, meaning being an adult independent--- and trying to find any type of work in order to survive.
My tax documentations also seems to remind me that I am a so-called adult "independent".... My thoughts on the actualities of attempting to survive in this country as a proclaimed independent I will reserve for another topic some day.
But capping off the 4th of July this past weekend, I remember my country's birth, signing a Declaration of Independence, however, all of these hundreds of years later not yet proving that we can live independently as individuals versus as a community of independent states free from the rest of the world... I doubt I will live long enough to see the day come where we can all survive independent of one another, but it is one of my dreams living in this country. And it is truly the fairest dream of all.
Circling back to my point-- sometimes, no matter what, you have to find support outside of within.
For all that comes from within can only get you so far in life.... Not to sound defeatist-- but it's simply the facts when living in a systematic society. And every society need a system, whether we claim anarchy or not. Without order we cannot exist....
So, to steer away from all of the chaos, I always am lead back to my roots, my family....
Or some type of crutch that keeps me sane.
Thankfully, I am lucky to have my family's unfaltering support and faith in my success for a promising future ahead, whatever that may end of being. It's very scary.
It is said that one shouldn't dwell in the past or worry about the future--- but live in the moment. But what happens when you think about those moments affecting your future? What if every moment, every decision, and every consequence-- when you are trying to shape the future that you imagine for yourself-- reshapes the future that you want for yourself? Your life is not putty and only you alone can hope to have sense enough to control what you would "imagine" your destiny to be...
The best you can do is try your hardest, right, even if no one seems to be paying attention?
Outside of family ties, there is only finding enjoyment picking you up enough to continue a forward moving journey --- forward moving ONLY-- with friends and company that not only give you reassurance in yourself, but also lend those crutches you need incase you're in need of a pick-me-up. Some families just simply aren't there for the quest.
CRUTCHES are important in this business. In life, in general.
With or without the aid, I always try be in control of my destiny,
Sometimes, though, you will turn around thinking someone is looking over your shoulder to criticize you or sitting on your shoulder as an angel looking over you-- but you're alone. And there's no one there. So, as much as you can say we need each other (or don't need each other)-- we are alone to try to shape our destinies. For our destinies our consequently by our own doing, our own fate, and our own decisions.
I have been alone while doing this for the most part-- so the observance is for sure-- if my advice is questionable. Not sure that being alone has gotten me far-- but it has kept me loyal to myself and "doing" despite roadblocks and adversity. Ultimately, stepping away from others for a while will help you see where hands stretch out to meet you and where they don't, although you can never tell why or why not help would be there to begin with or not...
Work as hard as you can, and no one can deny you didn't work hard as critical as the world is, whether it's by the way you choose to live your life or the quality of work you produce.
The decision is always yours. Even if that decision is to throw in the towel or truck onward and struggle until you hit a spot that your comfortable with both creating while surviving. But it's a real difficult trick to find both.
I've been looking for a long, long time.
And luckily I have had some great opportunities all the way.
But new choices must be made. I must find a way to survive, now, and standing just outside of the industry years after I have graduated, I have to look into a way to keep on my feet. I'm sure the choice has been made by many artists before me... and I wonder what became of them and their artwork.
I wonder what will become of me, because without creating art-- I feel incomplete.
Without recognition for my talent I feel wasted.
The images are a few photographs my family took for me when they went to see my work in the exhibit showing at Fashion Institute of Technology. When you DO hit some random accomplishments, they go support your successes. That's the best feeling... And working on bringing these student's concepts to a reality was one of the greatest jobs I'd ever had the pleasure of having!
Here is the link to professional pictures from the exhibit:
Things have been busy these past few months, in some good ways and some bad ways. I'm so busy I haven't been able to produce much work of my own unfortunately. But I am glad to put 2015 behind me in the vault of another year where I am working really hard in pursuit of becoming a steady professional artist and trying to keep my faith that all of these long hours of crafting and learning and then crafting again, will eventually bring me some type of content in the course of my career.
In the cusp of spring 2016, I recently hit a small stint as an in-house Zbrush artist preparing and cleaning up models and scan data for prototyping with very prestigious toys / collectibles company out here in California. It was short lived, but I was very fortunate to land the job in the first place and even more fortunate to be lead under the direction of such headlining talent and to be giventhe chance to work around top notch traditionalists / finishers. The experience was invaluable with all of the new techniques and skillsets I've developed...
On the homefront, I recently moved out of my one living arrangement and upgraded to a better living environment. I am working on organzing the prefect studio space for myself, so that my remote work is sweet and concentrated.... so far so good.
But that remote work I've been stumbling through since last summer, one of the greatest opportunities I've had, has come to multiple stalls due to my finances, bills, and the time it takes working to make a little bit money to keep me above water... The project is large scale, but small budget. However, we are hoping to start showcasing all of the preproduction work soon to possibly get some leverage for the next step in production. More on it to follow in future blogs for I hate to discuss it in detail, as I am not as far along as I would have liked to be at this point... it's trucking slowly but surely through the storm. For now I have just been battening down the hatches.
Lately, I've been sprinkling it in here and there, but it truly is a struggle, and my time is often comparable to a watch that has fallen into water. I'm exhausted and disoriented with what should come first-- when some things that aren't quite responsibilities weigh so heavily as priorities.
And I keep being reminded that:
Support is crucial. Find some things. Anything that that brings comfort. Even if it is just to ease the troubles and nerves in times of stress-- I can't imagine not walking away for a while to find my physical and emotional comfort zones. I am thankful that my family has stood by me through this struggle, but sometimes I even feel like they want me to give up or that they are tired of hearing my agonizing frustrations. I have to admit-- an animal is good, because it can just be there and even if it doesn't know what you are saying-- it's there to listen. I am so thankful to have my dog, Waffle, out here with me.
And, in closing, I hope to write again with more news soon. Up and UP only... :-)
Thanks for reading...
Hi everyone, I hope everyone is well and summer is going great! Things have been very busy lately, so I have to make this a quick extended version from other social media sites... Sorry!
I will try to elaborate later on next week-- as sigGRAPH is coming! I am sure I will have some recap from some type of presentation. So, keep a look out ;-)
So, quickly, here's what's been up with my artwork these past few months. I just received additional resources on the exhibit that I help create at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. Mainly, I was given the links to view some of the photographs from the exhibit!
The sculptures will be on display until August 31st, 2015, so if you are in the local New York City area, please drop by, as I am sure all of these tiny sculptures are much more authentic to see live and in person! The exhibit looks absolutely amazing!
Below is a series of snapshots of some renderings of the 3D sculptures for the pieces that I given the opportunity to work on, and the complimenting credits to the creators of the initial concepts!
"MATA ALIEN" - Zoila Mata
"WENDY" - Christine Bell
"NATURE'S BEAUTY" - Hyoung Kim
MOLERAT - Carlos Luciano
Each of these 6-Inch printed sculptures were recreated by digital sculpting artists, including myself, using reference that was created by Illustration majors from FIT's class of 2015.
The address to see these sculptures in there physical state is West 27th Street and 7th Avenue-Pomerantz Building. Please stop by and support both your next generation artists, myself, and all the other digital sculptors that were involved!
Currently, I am swamped with another creative opportunity that has been consuming much of my free time... I am working hard to get stuff done and get it done good! As I find out more information, I will elaborate some more about this job.
At the wake of sigGRAPH 2015, things are ridiculous trying to get prepared for it. If you have never gone, I highly recommend attending some time... Especially to check out some of the production session or the dallies. Over the next weeks, I promise to put together some sort of review.
Thanks for reading, as always. :-)
I hope you all enjoying the summer! It is going by way to fast for me!
My first attempt at stepping outside of my usual character modeling work and branch into something that would appear easier than it actual is... Environment modeling is a huge testament of patience and detail work. I have high hopes for this piece, as I know I need to open up my skillsets more and I'd really like to have a nice fully rendered concept.
I am planning on making this into a fully polished 2D concept piece, with potential for animation at a later (later) time... So far it's been a lot of fun and extremely challenging. So many small details to get through! A lot of research and reference hunting, too.
I've been working on this in free moments over the past couple weeks. I'm eager to get past the modeling for once in my life, however, and dive into the lighting, maps, and texture work. I'd like to play around with Xgen as well, as I've heard a lot of great things about it...
To learn about the process, I've been busying myself with my digital tutors subscription, which has been a lifesaver. Specifically I found Justin Marshall's "Setting Dressing and Design in Maya" very helpful. His videos were easy to understand technically which is always nice for a change, but very useful for demonstrating different ideas for how to approach of organizing, and building the foundations for working with out of the assets as an entity.
I particularly liked his referencing technique; painting registrations marks on his terrain as a guide to where his objects, vegetation, etc, will be placed... There was definitely some great tips throughout his tutorial. I recommend it for a core foundation if you have never attempted modeling an environment before!
But, hey, I've got a long way to go myself... So, luck be on my side that I get to the finish line as I intend...
There really is a lot to learn about an environment modeling workflow. I'd really love to find some more resources, maybe take a class at some point. Even matte painting would be great to explore down this avenue of the industry!
Have to make this one short, but wanted to get my latest work out there... Things are a bit hectic at the moment with the hustle of it all. I'm volunteering some of my time at a company learning and working with character animation and have a small commissioned gig (which I'll go into both at another time-- but both very exciting!). Both are keeping me very busy, too, but hopefully I will have more progress to show soon!
I hope you all had a great holiday! Welcome to Summer 2015. Let's bring it on strong!
Please drop by again to find out what's new!
And thank you as always for your support!
Getting set, and gone. I left my hometown mid March to make my return back to California in pursuit of a career path. I waited out on leaving right after the holidays in fear of the winter weather -- as I had to drive back across the country with my dog -- and I wanted to give myself a little extra time to get my work together for 2015. In both aspects, I can't really say I was overly successful, but the efforts took dedication and were exhausting.
Firstly, I drove through the worst winter advisory of the season. Plain. Bad. Timing. Snow, sleet, ice, and fog all the way from New York through Tennessee! It took three hours of driving blinded by and crippled by a thick white mess to get from Staunton to Ronoake. Very scary. Not to mention my dog wanting to go for a run every time we stopped to clean the wipers or gas up... Who I can never escape guilt for being so well behaved on the ride, otherwise.
I look back now, though. And it was a truly great adventure. Great bonding time with my Mom, whom I miss her company deeply now. And an equally heartfelt time spent with my dog, who enjoys to stimulus of different atmospheres.
The latter-- the workload-- I rebuilt my website from scratch as a couple people had suggested. Make it less stylized and more generic. I was always hesitant about because my updated work, in retrospect, would have to compensate. I've updated an animation reel with the facial animation work I've had over 2014... And I began to redo my modeling reel. But then, as fast as the time went by, it was time to leave, again. Fast forward a couple weeks, when I look back I'm not sure if it was worth it to redo my 'package' -- when I can spend that time actually building more artwork and doing what I actually enjoying. But in the end I tend to steer toward doing whatever I think will actually help me get paid work. Perhaps its self-defeating. But I did it. And it's done. Here is two comparisons of the new website the old website: I'd love to hear feedback on which is more professional and pleasing to look at, but I know this blog doesn't produce too many comments.
I don't want to go too far into the updates in this post, but the main objectives that I was trying to achieve was putting the best content in the opening page and narrowing down my focus(es) to what I am aiming for as a career that I'd be happy in. Also, I nixed the branding, simplified the navigation, and attempted to go as neutral a color scheme as possible. Although, I didn't completely curb the designer side of me. I stuck to natural with one non-invasive accent color.
CONTACT PAGE
For my new site, I simplified by combined my Qualifications and Bio into one page, and kept me contact form within reach on every page by including it in a side tab. Also, I offered more of a closeness / familiarity by including a face to the name.
So... California. Things have swung into a busy schedule very fast. I am keeping tight lipped about my current work situation, as I am not wanting to jinx myself. I am more deeply invested in animation than ever before, which has been pleasure to enter a weekday with, but still currently on a wild craze to secure an independent living for myself out here.
Outside of my elusiveness, I have been busy with interviews in all types of industries and busy with different industry tests, one for photoreal work and one for gaming -- both have which have resulted in higher learning, texturing work, and overall more enhanced pieces for my portfolio. I cannot complain either outcome, although circumstances are still leaving me a bit high and dry.
So I find myself looking around for work... anywhere. Because I have to survive, right?
My tips from this mess?
Not in this industry alone, but ANY industry for ANY job, even if you feel over or under qualified, do NOT lie on a resume. I hate the thought that I would ever have to resort to lying because I'm worried about what a potential employer might think... I never have and never will.
Give yourself due merit, and give the potential employer an opportunity to hear your side of the story or let them take it upon their selves to compromise your integrity (or not). Instead, try your best to sell yourself in your cover letter. Clarify what they write in their advertisement while including yourself in the equation, almost in a 'repeat after me' fashion. They want you to get personal and tell you a bit about yourself, give it to them... But don't lie on your resume.
If I have to go back to 1999, for crying out loud, I will. (And have). What should make work experience become obsolete? It should never become obsolete. There's a reason why you worked some jobs, and there's a reason why you'd work those jobs again. No one has the right to judge or discriminate why you're standing there looking for work. And , yes, on another note, discrimination is usually silent. I can understand being underqualified for a position, but if anyone had ever given me advice... Should it have been suggested that I need to under-qualify myself after all these years?
A 34 year old single jobless woman or a 62 year old jobless man...
There is a reason why that person is standing there at that place applying-- and that reason is for no one but that person to understand. Most people would never waste their time without an intended purpose.
This doesn't need to be written, but there needs to be awareness and it should no ever be forgotten to all those out their struggling. The hardest obstacles to prove unlawful, when all one wants to do is work for a fairly earned buck, are issues that deal with mixing sociology and psychology in the standard status quo. It just never quite mixes right. Like oil and water-- although both are used together sometimes.
Even applying blindly online to a variety of jobs in a variety of industries, which is defeating enough as devoid of social interaction it already is, it truly makes one question if it would really be this difficult if friends put in a good word... I mean, how much quality and authenticity does an online voice really have? How does an employer gage that outside of what's on paper? In employment reality, its essential to have a references, but not have many associated friends? But what is a reference in contrast to friend anyways? Aren't they doing you the same justice by endorsing you as a person without underselling your skills? They are the ones would acknowledge how they'd feel you prevail because they know you and your ethics personally. What does networking do, if not building budding professional relations? To me, networking has always seemed like a cold way of communicating your desire to mold with other opportunists. Who really cares? We do it, but do we really like each other I find myself wondering sometimes... and if we did or didn't... where does that interaction take you?
I'm not saying, it's bad. I do it all the time... It just makes me wonder.
I try to equate networking to some type of animal behavior and all I come up with is a bunch of birds hanging out in the trees waiting to figure out which flock their going to fly south with.. I don't know? Just the first thing that came to my head. :-)
Anyways, it's just a stream of consciousness written without a set emotion outside of sheer hope.
All just curiosities and observations.
As far as my tests -- that's just what they were-- and each of them two had very powerful personal results, but sucked a ton of personal time out of me, which is why I haven't been able to finish up this post until now.
Here is one of them so far:
I will make a post of all the difficulties I had along the way and some suggestions for how to approach them maybe. There were a lot-- as this was intended to be a model for gaming purposes with an ultimate 'passing' goal to skin and rig him. I have no formal training on modeling for gaming, so the process is self taught and/or scattered with protips and potholes.
Overall, however, the concept and model itself was well received... This model is my first model I finallyI feel comfortable with working with textures and UV layout, although pipeline and workflow integration is still very iffy.
Much of my stumbling came from going back and have to adjust topology, seams, etc and then having trouble working with fixing up projection and polypaint data again. Along with skinning and rigging in 3ds Max, a program I've never had to skin and rig in before.
In finishing, I will probably default to my native 3D program for that area, Maya-- since I am already familiar with the process. Or maybe even Motionbuilder, now that I have learned that program in the past month! It seems to work well with Maya, too, but we'll see. I'm not going to give myself a headache about rigging or rush into the specific trade, since I know longer have to... but I am interested to see if he will actually work as an animatable character. Unless there is anyone out there who wants to give the skinning / rigging a shot? ;-) Otherwise, 'll get back around to him at some point in the future postmarked with a promise...
BUT-- Before I had left New York, I started building a personal piece in Maya, as well, which I've had to put on the shelf since then. I am planning on finishing up the sculpting details this week, since I'm finally test-less!
I've got the itch to get back to my personal work. I can't wait to incorporate all I've learned.
But, first I need to prioritize.
So this week it's hustling to try to find a way to make ends meet, continuing with the project I'm keep tightlipped about for fear of alternative hexing, and I'm back to my A-game focusing on my personal work.
Until the next time... I will have some more to show soon.
Please come back and visit! Hopefully good things are on the near horizon!
Happy 2015, everyone, and thanks for following along with my lifelong pursuit to keep at work with my art on a professional and personal level.
The last couple of months I have had the great privilege of working with one of my favorite software doing one of my favorite things! My task was to make a bunch of 3D sculptures in Zbrush out of children's drawings and make them suitable to print as physical models with Shapeways and a company called 3DP4E. A few of them are now on an extended display at the Children's Museum of Art in New York City thanks to 3DP4E, which I had the honor meeting and of being escorted by, to go and see the exhibit for myself the other weekend!
It was a small but incredulously awesome display to say I was a part of, that hangs near the front entrance and is semi-viewable to the outside passersby who doesn't have time to step in.
I wasn't in town to attend the reception, because I was still in California at the time, but luckily was able to make it back home to find it may become a permanent exhibit! Quite the honor and it is picture worthy, as I haven't yet had the opportunity to be awarded too many of these types of jobs like this at this point in my career...
Currently, I am scrambling around to find work again, trying to stay
focused and keep inspired while I try not to panic about money and worry about being
broke.... This was a definitely a nice booster to my professional
confidence, as times have been tough since I've left the airlines and
made the leap to try to launch my career with art in entertainment full
time.
I recently completed animation a 45 second promotional piece for the movie, "A Horse Story", that I have been working on with XVIII Entertainment since my move out to California, along with another small animation gig the other day. Details to follow on that because I'm not sure I'm allowed to discuss at this point yet. The movie, however, is in the QC ends of post production and while the projected release is somewhere in early n 2015, it has not yet been released for public viewing. I know the movie was picked up by Archstone Distributors the other month, which is always good, as Archstone has had a few head-turner type movies in the past on the list.
Again, "A Horse Story" is yet another project I am grateful to be a part of, to have gained that type of experience, and I am hoping for the best for it!
For 2015, I decided to spend some time back in New York and reconnect with some of my closest friends that I feel I may have neglected time with in the past, to bond with my family and to rack some art hours my old office I built a few years back. I'm making another attempt reorganize my priorities at trying to shove my way into the industry, loved or loathed, by updating up my website and attending to dusty works in progress since I last had a free moment.
Well, I've only been successful with meeting up with two friends unfortunately, my family and I have feuded here and there with feelings of a worn but unconditional and always familiar indifferent welcoming, and my work has sat on the back burner most thankfully to real work that trickled in. So, my office hours have exceeded my expectations so far this year! Yippee! Never new news with that. But in this small span of time, its has glimmer of aiding me financially. Double Yippers.
Which brings me to my big hopes for this year: To be able to survive independently on my own! Small but not so simple wishes for myself. I'd really love to find that perfect job, with the perfect co-workers, and the perfect price tag attached. I mean, if fairy tales stress to find that fitting shoe or we hear that cliche over and over 'the glove that fits', why is it so unreasonable to aim to achieve it all versus settle for less?
Is there a point in our lives where we should sit back and say I'm getting too old to be wanting anymore? Well, no, but if there was a HINT of 'yes', it would feel even worse to accept that I may just be too tired of trying at the same time that I am getting to old. I'm saying it isn't so, just because just that's it's extremely difficult to preserver.
I always say in my head. I deserve a good job. I especially deserve to be around good people. I worked hard all these years since I graduated, even if it wasn't even close to graduating top of my class... And while I was in school, I still worked hard-- two jobs during the time, one flying to the Caribbean at ungodly hours of the weekends and the other as a waitress at Olive Garden-- trying to make enough money to pay for my hour and a half commute back and forth into the city every other day for classes. Plus homework and lab time. I know no one can appreciate the excuse except me, because I actually lived it.
I still graduated. Barely. And barely finished my thesis-- as I few crucial elements had to be trimmed, etc, and it wasn't as big or cool as I originally intended. On my own just about.... somehow. I got a cool character out of it. That was about it.
And I knew that my lack of committed time was where I went wrong. To this day I regret, working those jobs while I was at school-- but I needed to. I think my thesis would have been so much better. (I know it would have been better). I think it would have helped me make closer friends with my colleagues, which I feel is really important as well...
I still kept the sail on its course, even while staying at the airlines seven years after I graduated. Doing some amateur looking but large scale projects for reputable clients that found me somehow-- that got the job done, executed the intention of the contract, but maybe didn't "look"so polished and pretty like a commercial built by ten. I had satisfied clients that I still keep in cordial contact with up to this present day.
I know my weak spots, though; The stuff I haven't yet proved to the professional world. But I also know my strong spots, my variance of skill-sets, and my worth-- including my hospitality-- which lacks in day to day existence and is an overlooked quality to have as an employee. And I keep feeling if I could just find the right place and the right group, they'd know I was an asset, they'd like me because they trusted me, and they'd enjoy my company and working with me.
I read something the other day that hit home in so many ways. It said "If a woman can't get hired, she can't get the experience, but she can't get the experience if no one hires her." Its meant for anyone and everyone, but I wanted to quote it in its exactness. I feel like I'm at a constant struggle with this since always. I'm sure many guys can relate, too.
outside of my twelve years the airlines, my only real longer term 3D job, was hardly even closely related to the entertainment industry-- and, therefore remained obsolete when trying to explain exactly what I was even hired for at any opportunity at an interview afterward...
But where I am now-- one of those great freelance gigs-- like this print job and this new and occasional plummeting I've been having with animation -- which would be a blessing if it became more consistent. I remember I always considered I should focus more on animation instead of the modeling when I switched from traditional animation to computer animation.
I just remember that I wanted to bring my characters to life.... All these drawings on my blog and my website and scattered all over place... And in order to bring them to life, I had to model them first. I wasn't thinking what I may be better at or what would make me a more employable prospect after I graduated. I didn't even think about my fate after I graduated... I just knew I loved it at that moment.
If I can keep gaining experience, I'm hoping that this year, I'm going to find a job or more jobs that I like and more companies that hopefully likes me and my work, and I'm going to get back on my feet again. That's all I want this year. Whatever type of job that is-- It's just got to fit like that glove, because I want my career to be a half my life in a good way, since working is supposed to be half of an everyday life. There key substance matter in that last statement, in a world wide scream, for any gender at any age.
I'm grateful that this job (and a few others) have entrusted me enough to give me a chance to shine!!!
It keeps my world at peace.
Well wishes to you all for the New Year, as well. And thanks for reading my rants, and looking over my work. Stay tuned for more updates soon! Happy New Year, everyone. :-)
I know its appears that I am all over the place-- yet over and over again -- it always comes back to that same 'like it' or 'hate it' crucial piece of advice I get, and feel remorseless about giving back in return. Do the type of art you love, I hear...
So I recreated my dog, Waffle, as he is, like a child is to their mother, a large source of inspiration at this point in my life since I've stopped traveling for a living. Plus he's got a ton of character and I have a whirlwind of great ideas for some story developments!
But even if the sculpt is for nothing further than a sculpt, his first birthday is coming up on November 21st-- so I wanted to make a small tribute to him. So far his model has gotten some great feedback, which always helps!
I'm also hoping to get the piece prepared to become a strong portfolio entry. If I can complete a polished Photoshop concept of him sitting, with all the tutorials I've been watching on the subject over the past month, I'd eventually like to circle back around to make a standing version of him too, which can be animated.
But for now, just it's concept to character piece. I'm in polypainting stages. I will also attempt to digitally paint the sketches I did of him in Photoshop, and put everything together in a package, like I want to do with my other characters!
I'm hoping to get this done over the next week. I'm giving myself a ton of leeway, of course, but the look development of the fur and texturing makes it a bit of a longer trek, as its make or break decision choices. Right now, I'm searching for reference to put together a call out sheet as to what I'd like to aim both stylistically and mood-wise.
Look Development Call Out Sheet I've come up with that's helping me feel a bit more comfortable stepping into the texturing process:
Also, to theme around his birthday or not?
(Well, updating to today-- today is his birthday and I'm still moving things along with this character)
So for his birthday? Retopo! To get comfortable with Maya's modeling toolkit and to eventually set him up for animation at some point.... But mostly to get the detailing and alpha work to flow right. Toolkit was great to work with by the way! Highly recommend.
Now onto UV's, texturing, and all that 3D stuff.
After this, I'm back to working on finishing up my Clementine model. I've taken a leap away from retopology in order to gather up the learning resources to attempt the process myself. I definitely know what tools I want to use and think I know how to attempt the procedure. Like surgery right? Hopefully I will get the topology right! In any event, I am very excited to take on the challenge and can't wait to get back to working on that model as well-- Especially now with a firm grasp on retopo'ing.
As always, thanks for reading and check back soon to see the completed piece!
Here's a mash up on my pup in clay, too! I miss working in clay a lot sometimes, and try to put in a little time here and there. Thank god for non-drying clay!
The other week, I decided to take advantage of the fact that I'm within reasonable driving distances to some of the most prestigious catalysts of learning and inspiration that a person in the industry person could desire. Then again, it's Hollywood, I figure. I'd be crazy not to tap into the meccas of leading worldwide mastery of the arts.
So outside of the floweriness that began this blog this small solo adventure of mine, the "Making of Malificient" truly capped my top five list of 'things I've done since being out in the Los Angeles area' and, as usual, Gnomon, The School of Visual Effects, matched the high caliber levels of hosting venues with amazing line ups of film professionals, mentors, and respectable artists.
While my anxiety of meeting such high profile people was slightly higher than usual due to my admiration of their brilliant successes of unique 'art direction' that has been executed consistently through out their careers, I failed to take pictures and couldn't sum up the courage to shout out a question to the company of director Robert Stromberg and Production Designer Dylan Cole.
Despite my oddity, the panel was quite incredible-- both humbling and sustenance for starved creativity. I had the chance to discover yet another handful of flawless artists that had somehow piledriven through their creation of expansive portfolios with a stack of powerhouse credentials.
Outside of the two artists up on the panel, Stromberg and Cole, who were not shy on debuting their own impressive centerfolds in respect to their work on Maleficent, my favorite new discovery shouted out and regularly appearing in the slideshow was the artwork of a man named Howard Swindell. He's credited as a character designer for Malificent, and rightly so. There were onslaughts of masterful renderings of creatures. With a notable prepreproduction and concepting time allotted, a span of roughly three months, I was shocked at the number of beautifully constructed pieces.
The pitches it took to sell the concept to Disney? I believe they had said about fifteen pieces. They boiled their concepts down to a series of what I speculate as their best "Mood Frames", a self-proclaimed term that states images that had the highest emotional pitches in the visual storytelling. How many artists in their art department for preproduction? I believe they said about twenty-five, a relatively large number but still a small pool of talent considering how much talent is trying stay afloat out there. Malificent, as a whole, gives me overwhelming aspirations, as it seems that there's still potential on planet earth for CG driven sets that stay attached to great storyelling, whether it be a twist on traditional fables and plots -- contemporary themes or not. It passed my bar for a movie that is both beautiful to look at, and gentle, as well as gripping enough to keep the attention of audiences of various ages. That's a complete package for a hard earned dollar and an hour an half of capturing graphics, and believable performances.
On the acting? I feel the characters-- even in the over the top giddiness of the fairies-- were lovable. It is said this type of clownish humor, is crucial is keeping our younger audiences giggling, and reminded me other trios in CG history, my first thought compares to the minions in "Despicable Me", love them or leave them!
Also, the coined termed 'slapstick' (accordingly, I'd considered it more of a slapstick effect-- since majority of the jokes were within mishaps preceding their careless actions and behaviors between one another versus their interchange of dialogue) to further effect the delivery of the straight man or a break away from the seriousness of the drama residing within the plot. Same for the wrath that ensued before our anti-hero, Maleficent, had touchingly reformed to a respected heroine. Not so much slapstick, but elements of slapstick humor fed into her not-so-subtle transformation.
They were all loving characters, in controversy to the king, who fell very sharply into a great villian-- remaining disenchanted with repercussions of his daughter, but, ceased to accept the fate of her shortened life and out of fear for the continuance of own selfish legacy, who unknowingly banned her from her bloodline as a princess. All characters remained peculiar in their exaggerated depiction as characters heavily contrasted the deterioration of what becomes the true "Malifiecent" villain-- The King-- a consistent theme through all Disney tales and many, most all fables. The bad guy's really that bad compared to all the fluff around them...
What I loved? The true twist? Maleficent wasn't actually the bad one in the end...
But, enough about my interpretation of character development and plot, although I love the analysis of both..
During the presentation, I should've taken better notes, but I was submersed in the beautiful artwork filtering out onto the wall. Also, I had no help with pictures this time sans my friend Joel Meyerowitz, and I do regret not taking on the task myself. Also, I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post pictures of artists work on here without direct permission. So this will probably be a boring link-only blog.
But a blog called: "Gnomon's: 'Making of Malificient': Under the Hood In the Hangar."
The names of artists just kept no flying and I could only guess the spellings if the names were not evident on their artwork being displayed and through my research.
So, leading the team was senior visual effects supervisor, Carey Villegas, with a handful of twenty art department team members, some of which were or were not rolling credits in the past. Stromberg gives a nodding lead as he climbed confidently into his role from Production Designer in "Oz The Great and Powerful" to director of "Maleficent"! I remember first seeing his name in 3D World magazine as the Production Designer on Oz and when I had first seen his name during the screening, I imagined a similar beauty of a fantastical and colorful world that he would lead in creating...
The art department, in order to keep this post short and sweet, I chose a small handful out of all those mentioned. Here's all I could sift through out of my notes and the most summarize in my research, and all definitely deserving of an honorable mention!
Was a name the kept coming up repeatedly. In tracking down his site, there's an obvious reason why. Not only are all his commissioned and personal works exceptionally flattering-- he is no stranger to Stromberg, or working with some of the core of the Malificent team, as he was part of both "Oz, the Great and Powerful" and "Alice in Wonderland", in which Stromberg was a production designer.
It's also interesting, how when I first saw Michael's artwork it was reminiscent of another one of my ever-favorite artists, Bobby Chui! And it just so happens they are friends, both having worked on Alice in Wonderland together as character designers! I thought the link below would be a great reference to learning more about both Bobby and Michael (also keep my blog a little less wordy and more dynamic!)
And now I find myself wondering if they had ever collaborated or learned any techniques from one another. They must have. The creature blending is very fluidly Bobbish ;-) This is why it's so crucial to gain inspiration and knowledge in order to grow, instead of contempt and jealously. It is a cruel, cruel world in a world of talent, and in this world all around, where everyone struggles to be someone or at very least to survive. As artists, we need to absorb each other's talents to fuel each other and hopefully get good enough to survive off of our own skillsets or in a moonlit only world-- get credited for them.
Also, when I was looking through Michael Kutsche's personal work I suddenly recollected where I had first seen his work-- because I clearly remember laying eyes upon it, way back when I first starting subscribing to ImagineFX. His 2009 collection, has got a very crisp and concise style and an exaggerated caricature-like approach... I see the launching pad within it. His work has loosened up in line and palette over the years, but still firmly grasps the same cartoonish exaggerations in alignment with his more serious anatomical and fantastical masteries in more recent years. I would imagine he keeps his deigns loose because he's so busy, that he has too keep it quick! But for being quick, they are polished and clean as if they took weeks! I am now open-eyed for more of his work. He was credited in "Maleficent" as a character designer and concept artist.
Another powerhouse artist whose name kept surfacing?
Now his work seemed to be a nice opposition with MK's concept, because Swindell's seems to border more on anatomical realness in the realms of dark horror of futurism and fantasy. And, dually, he has been commissioned for a ton of work in that type of genre-- with credits for 'Silent Hill' and its sequel, as well as 'Priest', and slough of others. My favorite pieces among his work, strangely, I have never seen or heard of before, called "Red Light". Also, environment work has always been something I wanted to dabble in.. I guess when one merges from character work to environment work or vice versa suddenly one transforms into a concept artist!
I couldn't find any videos at all on him, unfortunately, and kick myself for not taking pictures of the work I had seen, but I admire that he also was a sculptor early in his career, as well! He's got quite the resume! To comment further, except it looks like he will be credited as an concept artist on "Pan", which is currently in filming.
Hopefully I'm allowed to do this (for I also believe he is responsible for the beautiful renderings on the three fairy god mothers, as well), and it's beautiful enough to make the attempt. I credit the artist 100% -- although now I wish we could see the other fairies. All of the works I've seen by Howard in Maleficent were crisp, hyper detailed and equal delicacy, with earthy palettes and daring accents. I find his work on this film, very different and much, much lighter than his usual delegated genre--- and I applaud his beautiful effort in the collaboration!
The first thing I noticed when entering Alex's site was his environment work, clearly the stronger element in his gallery. With popular concepting credits, such as "Game Of Thrones" and "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", he is no stranger in the industry. I really admire his rough ambiguousness of details (as its difficult technique for some) and the smartness of using of saturation and situational climate to convey distance and depth. In respect to the detail? I could envision the slashing, swiping, and dabbling in the medium versus a set pressure and squeezing of strokes. As far as his palette? It's minimal, but he seems to take risks in the center of his canvas, either with stronger color use or negative space. I noticed it most in his traditional paintings and it seemed to carry throughout his portfolio! Intentional or not, it kept me very focused, despite its carefree looseness.
Again, I'm not sure about whether or not it is okay to post the work of the artist-- but I am giving full credit to him, Alex Fort. So, an external link, my favorite gallery of examples of this is here in his concept work for the ever popular "Game Of Thrones"!
Alex Fort is an artist for any budding concept artist to take note of, as it is clear that his style includes the fundamentals elements of art and his workflow is gestural but accurate.
Here's a mention I thought was interesting. Doing the research is sometimes the craziest part. His IMDB is exploding with exposure in the industry, mostly in the area of storyboarding. Even his website shows the quantity of work he's done. So, why go uncredited? I wouldn't have known him or his artwork existed, if I didn't hear his name surface in the presentation...
There's always been this uneasiness in the industry with artists and their work that ceases to get its deserved acknowledgment. Even if it is just a film credit, for its feels crummy enough when we hardly get compensated. It's odd too consider, things may be the other way around. Perhaps to some artists, it doesn't matter, though-- because it has an under the radar attachment to the film but internally all one needs to know is that they 'did' it deep down inside. I know I wouldn't mind a non-mention even if I put in the workload, because it's almost like you a part of a secret society and there's great pleasure in that.... Call me mysterious.
This part of his portfolio was my favorite. And it's a great reference for any artists out there that are looking to put together a breakdown sheet for storyboarding jobs. It reminds me heavily of some of the compositions and techniques I saw in "Shot by Shot" by Steven D. Katz. He's got a good eye, and directors he's worked with see it-- as his boards are very close to the angel and layout of the final composition. I like the variety, too. Some that seem to be minutes worth of simplicity. The simpler the easier to see issues. And some more refined, allowing a more constructive analysis of color, focal points, etc. All in all, his variance of style surely markets him!
As far as going uncredited, I've heard multiple reasons for why this happens. In history, it was because the length of the film reel cost additional money to reproduce. But in the present time? The length of the film itself costs money. The time costs money (Always, always, always, folks). Those extra few minutes could trim time out of another movie. The longer the credits are in today's time, means the less turn around.
Additionally, I have heard that freelancers do not get first priority and certain companies over others get precedence on the hierarchy of the credit list. So, in actuality, entire companies can be left out. I equate it to the casting of the non-speaking extras in a way. I wonder how other's feel about it though, including the actors. Sometimes full time artists will be gracious and step aside for a freelancer to get a credit spot, as they know they would be listed in the next feature. It's a nice thought or an urban legend.
Mark Bristol, although he was not credited by the book for "Malificent", has a mighty list of filmography and I can see why his name was dropped at the presentation!
During the presentation Robert Stromberg mentioned some small but notable afterthoughts worth mentoring. In an overwhelming amount of trimming out that fat in areas of time management, in that 'chair' in which the director rarely gets to actually sit in, he said to pick categories and refine them, according to priority, placement, or workability within the film. I may have read that in a book somewhere myself-- but either way-- it makes sense-- anything with too extensive of a time frame will become cost effective which will deplete the budget faster than potentially desired. Easier said than done, but reordering or shortening the checklist should be tackled in preproduction, and hopefully before the project hits its core production time. A good book, possibly the same book he may have mentioned but I can't recall for sure, worth a read over that he may have mentioned, "The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People".
In a presskit that I read over, but cannot seem to access now, there was a quote: "The process begins with deliberating over sketches to decide on the style or design of the character and what the filmmakers want that character to convey. The next step is to see the character in motion and fully realized and dimensional by putting the artistic rendering into a computer program especially designed to turn it into a 3D model." Deciding which characters stay, need to be modified, or which should be cut from the project all together can be a process that will save a lot of time in the end depending on how central the characters may be or the acting they have to preform. Always ask-- does it pull the story forward. If not, it should go.
The one noticeable cut I noticed seemed to be between Aurora leaving the throws of thorns barricading her in the forest and her sudden appearance before the court inside the castle. The jump seemed a bit steep, and was an edit that altered the consistency for me; As I wondered the world on the outside, once the thorns gave way and how she got into the castle unnoticed.... But as far as how essential that may have been to catalyst the storyline? Not much significance at all. Just a gapping moment that detached me from what may have been happening on the journey in mind of one of the leads-- but then again-- it was not Aurora's story. Other than that? I thought it was cleverly edited in suspenseful sequence, as the journey through the iron maze for Maleficent, the true lead, was ever present.
Robert also mentioned his influences growing up were Don Juan and Seahawk, both centered on a specific anti-hero or hero-- subjective to how the reader or viewer perceives the story. One of which has numerous adaptions or spinoffs throughout history, and the other which has great potential for adaption. Fully translatable inspirations to Stromberg's first directorial piece in the making of "Maleficent".
Dylan Cole, of course, had a number of pieces up, all of which were amazing and I am excited to see where he takes off with his career from comic book art to matte painting and concepting. I was just reading that he had his first exhibition at Gnomon, as well...
So far, I must say, that the events and panels that I have gotten the pleasure to experience at Gnomon are top notch. Each time I leave feeling more inspired to dig deeper into my career as an artist that I already am.
A couple of weeks ago in August was another great venue hosted by Pixologic, called the "Zbrush Summit", which was a weekend chockfull of demos and exhibitions by leading Zbrushers and their accompanying studios from around the world, as well as a dose of what the next upgrade of Zbrush will have bundled in its offer.. I could write a whole other article on that, as well!
I won't, though, because I'm exhausted from putting together this blog. But I will quote my reaction via Facebook-- "Amen! Release the beta! Such a great presentation package all around by Pixologic today over at Gnomon. From the panelists to the icing on the cake of the perks in next software release-- Zbrush is still at it yet again with another great update on the way! Can't wait to test out some native modeling procedures in the interface."
With absolution, the features will be entirely more native to veteran 3Ders that had never experienced sculpting sans modeling before Zbrush came to fruition. Also, they are pumping a GoZ-like portal into Luxion's Keyshot to rocketlaunch the rendering and realtime options for users.
I'm not quite sure if there is an ETA of the beta release yet, but Pixologic always seems to keep the anticipation up on us eager, technology-hungry artists with continuing speculation of full details and features. Very exciting, though! ;-)
Gnomon always has one thing or another going on under the hood in that Hangar, and in particular, the presentation of "Making of Maleficent" was a great frontrunner for the Zbrush Summit. Not only with the company of Stromberg or Cole up there and their ease with speaking and keeping the fun and interesting, but also from the line-up of incredible artwork, the bouts of preproduction work that needed to be involved, and the inside knowledge of exactly what it took from that team to make such a flawlessly crafted film!
