Back in business!

After a long week of Animex talks, workshops and networking events, I'm finally back at my computer to update this blog! It slipped by the wayside as deadline for the first semester drew near, so I'll start off with some of the finished paintings and speed paints from then, and at the bottom I'll show some of my Animex sketches.

These are a mix of character and enviros from the Excelsior brief as they appear in the final submission, along with a compilation of sketchbook work from the visual development. 

Gryphon final painting- This was a somewhat arduous painting. I can't say I'm exactly a fan of painting fur and feathers and somehow mixing the two. 

Taken from T.S. Eliot's "Preludes" - the line "The Shower's Beat" inspired this painting

Now that that semester 1's briefs are all concluded, We have three more (with a fourth yet unknown) for the second semester. So far we have received assignments from:

1. Pete Amachree : The "what if" roman history brief, of "What if the Romans discovered and developed practical uses for electricity?" 
2. Ron Ashtiani : NeoRacer brief, Car concept with weapon variations, or Eden environment race track
3. Shelly Page : Dreamworks character brief, design a character from the list for a new setting
4. Jack Couvela : Mysterious Ubisoft brief ~~

 I'll be updating at least once a week now for the next semester with work any of these assignments (or anymore that we receive.)

Edit: I forgot about the Animex sketches, I'll add them in during the week since I don't own a scanner :)

Life drawing for concept artists; week 2

First off, I received some great feedback from Dave on the Gryphon skeletons and also to further the assignment for next week by creating a muscle map on top of the skeleton (front and side views); paying attention to where the bone pushes through the muscle and can be seen through the skin, eg pelvis.

•  Size of the skull with regards to how intelligent I want it to seem
• Wingspan to bulk of gryphon
• define wing bones/scapulae/clavicle -sternum from a front facing view
• begin to think of possible plumages and how the feathers join with the fur
• Tail variations, though a long tail presumably for balance.
• Movement; How would it walk/fly?

Next, Maggie took us for two hours of life drawing, similar to last week's class, with an hour of short fast poses and a final 50 minute costumed pose, with a focus on details and intricacies. 

 (click to enlarge)

Since we had much more time for the "long" pose, (50 mins), I decided to thumbnail it out and get the general angles and placement of the figure sorted before I dove in on the actual page.

Its scribbly and messy but it definitely helped me register the whole figure, not to mention solve a few problems early on, rather than having to fight it out at the larger scale. 

(50 minute costumed pose)

As a change of pace, we then visited the Maggi Cullen exhibition Constantine gallery in Middlesbrough Tower for an hour, with the instruction to pick some of the exhibits and draw from them.

"Morris Men" - Maggi Cullen

-Sam

Design Brief: Blue Beetle rework day 1

Today I got my first brief from Nigel- To take Ditko's (dorky) 1960's version of the Blue Beetle, and re-imagine it as a concept for a live action film for an adult audience. It also must have some kind of Egyptian twist to it. And we cannot draw ideas from the DC/more recent blue beetles. We've got 3 days to come up with as many variations and ideas- not finished illustrations- as we can. Designs for the character, his flying beetle vehicle and his gun (optional) are specified on the brief.

Starting off by brainstorming out some things in my sketchbook at Southfields during lunch. A nice twist on this brief is that it isn't too constricting- the setting isn't described at all, nor does it specify that Blue should be a hero, or even human for that matter. My prior knowledge of this guy is based entirely on the much more recent "Young Justice" cartoon. If you can't read my chickenscratch at the side, don't worry, its just my way of jumping between trains of thought (something you might already be aware of if you've talked to me irl).

I'm pretty interested in the thought of a 1930's explorer in egypt idea, finds the scarab and gets cursed...or something. Another idea is an almost Kick Ass-ish teenage vigilante, though for an adult audience that may not be the right path to follow. Looking into scarabs and different types of beetles, different time settings/locations, age and gender of the BB, Dystopian post-apocalyptic future BB, incorporating the 60's version's chainmail  and goggles into the look, - And also remembering that he has a vehicle and gun to feature in also.   

-Sam




 (Unrelated blog running postit note:  I'll be setting all of the older posts as hidden/private so its clear what is my postgrad work.)