Kia Hampsters - Rollin Old Skool

Nice fun little piece with great animation and compositing...makes me want to get one. Hey Luis, thanks for the heads up. Some of us feel like we're driving a washing machine now.

Nathan Fowkes: Concept Artist

Once in a while, you come across an artist who you've never heard of before, but who simply ignites some inspiration. Nathan Fowkes is a concept artist for Dreamworks Animation, who has done work for "How To Train Your Dragon", "The Prince of Egypt" and "Shrek 4". I marvel at his sense of color (color studies) and his sense of composition.

What impressed me the most, was his portrait work.   As an artist, I believe that creating realistic portraits is one of the most difficult things to do. Not only does the face have to be anatomically correct, but it also must feel and look like the person, which in essence strikes an emotional chord. His examples, seen on this link, reminded me to keep doing it during my spare time, to stay sharp and inspired. 

Thanks Kevin for sharing and passing along some much needed inspiration.

Hey Nathan, if you happen to stumble across this blogpost, know that you got some fans here. 

Keep up the great work! 

Interview at ILM. What was it like?

Some inside info on what it was like to interview for an animator position at ILM by Animation Mentor grad Travis Tohill. You can read the interview here >> Travis realized his dream and began animating for Transformers 2.

Thanks for sharing Travis.

Azureas Rising Proof of Concept

This is a really nice action packed animated short Azureas Rising from Black Sun Entertainment The animation is a concept for a feature film trilogy. The work is stunning. Great timing, editing, lighting and texturing work. Good luck guys.

You can learn more about the animation by visiting the Azureas Rising site.

Cool Stormy Ocean Shader in Maya

Learn how to create a stormy ocean affect in Maya. This tutorial is simple straightforward, and introduces you to Maya's Ocean Shader.

It took me only a few minutes to create this image. Be sure you click the example video on the tutorial because the tutorial shows you how to attach a camera to the surface of the water to simulate that you are on a boat. Pretty cool - can anyone say "Perfect Storm"?

Click here to check out the tutorial >>

Fire it Up!

2009 Autodesk Visualization Reel

Watch this and get ideas for presenting your CG models. Pay attention to the lighting, rendering quality, composition, and camera work (specifically - camera timing), and animation. In animating your objects, you can: animate them assembling, animate a morph transition to another object and even animate how an object can be used. Be creative with your objects and have fun with them. If its interesting to you, it will be interesting for the people looking at your work as well.

Enjoy!

Iron Man 2 : Suit Design Featurette

Attention to detail plays a big part in the look and feel of a film - everything MUST have a purpose, even when we don't "see" it. In designing Iron Man's armor, pay close attention to the inner workings of the armor and how that lends itself to the aesthetic appeal of the overall design. The thought process displayed in this featurette is what good character design is made of.

http://www.makingof.com/posts/watch/1743/legacy-studios-iron-man-2-suit-tour

The site hosting this featurette is called "Makingof.com", they seem to have lots of featurettes for the movies we love. I'll be checking it often and will post anything that makes me salivate.

Fire it up! Keep drawing, painting and animating!

Randolf

Maya, 3DS Max & Mudbox Free for Students

Hi All - This came in this week. If you are a student and in need of the lastest versions of Maya, 3DS Max and Mudbox, be sure you check out the Autodesk site.

They are offering full versions of their software for students to use for free for 13 months. We've already had lots of students download the applications, and they're loving it. Jut thought I'd pass along some good news.

Click here to go to the Autodesk site >>

Last Airbender: New Trailer 3

Here is the third Last Airbender trailer. Lots of shots we've seen already, but lots of cool fighting and environment shots too.

Enjoy!

Real People Painted to Look Like Paintings

Pretty cool stuff here...Take a quick look at these figurative paintings. Well, they're not actual paintings, they're photographs of real people, painted to look like paintings. The result is quite unique and remarkable. Some examples work better than others, but the idea is genius. Thanks Thomas for sharing.

Would you still consider this "painting"?

Fire it Up!

Look at more examples by click here >>

Lightning Inside the Volcano

Here is some incredible footage of lightning being generated inside Eyjafljallajokull volcano's ash cloud. The pictures are quite stunning.

Oh yeah, if you are like the rest of the media and are having trouble pronouncing this volcano's name, try this. I know, its tough to spell, even tougher to say.

Guru Studio: Animation Reel

Guru Studio is an animation firm based out of Toronto Canada. They show a great variety of styles and techniques, some which I have never seen. I'm particularly attracted to their simple designs, where they use color and composition to achieve a wimsical look and feel. Nice work guys. Hopefully their work inspires you and triggers new ideas.

To learn more about them, visit their site below:
http://www.gurustudio.com

Fire it up!

Clone Wars Season 2 Finale: Boba Fett

Be sure to check out "The Clone Wars - Season 2: Finale", on April 23, 2010, featuring Boba Fett. Looks pretty cool, especially if you are a big fan of the renegade "Empire" bounty hunter and his costume. Looks like this episode will center around his life after SWEP2.

To learn more about the episode, be sure to check here >>:

How To Train Your Dragon: Olympic Spots

Thanks to Dr. Duncan's History of Animation class for sharing these with the class. For those of you who have seen the movie, which many of you are big fans of now, you'll love these spots.

Fire it up and Enjoy!

Medal Awards


Speed Skating


Snowboarding


Ski Jump


Bobsledding



How to Train Your Dragon: Olympic Spots

Rube Goldberg: Japanese Style

While researching video clips for my animation classes this week, we ran into this clip that features marbles travelling through Rube Goldberg type contraptions. You'll like these a lot, some of the mechanics are simply genius. After you've watched the clip, be sure to check out this Honda commercial created in a similar fashion.

Enjoy & Fire it up!

Randolf