Adventure Time Christmas Card

I have always loved handmade cards, partially because I don't like the idea of spending money on uninteresting designs which are often never quite 'right' for the person or occasion. But mainly, I really appreciate the time spent crafting something for someone else to enjoy. I wish I had the time and energy to make personalised cards for everyone I cared for. I make the most effort for my Goddaughter, especially as I get to spend a lot less time with her and her family than I would like to. 

Merry Christmas Time

She has great taste, and is currently is currently into Adventure Time. I hope she enjoys colouring it in.

Bereavement Backgrounds

I have almost completed the "Bereavement" episode of the SMILE animation project and so while I am waiting for the sign off, here are some of the backgrounds.

Outside

Hospital Bed

Graveyard 1

Graveyard 2

School Computer Room

SMILE Storyboards 3

The storyboards needed some slight modifications in terms of content, but rather more dramatic change in terms of presentation. While the black background looked nice online, it was not practical for printing (printer repair technicians were called). And so a more minimal and predominantly white layout was designed.

3rd draft of the SMILE animation storyboards

The complete series of storyboards can be found here.

SMILE Storyboards 2

A second version of the SMILE storyboards was in order as the comic strip it is based on has been edited. A brief SMILE intro has also been included to highlight the SMILE mission statement. I thought it was important for the presentation of the storyboards to be as clear as possible, hence the typed instead of handwritten narration, and comments. 

SMILE Intro Storyboard

The complete series of storyboards can be found here.

Peaceful Fisherman

This is Mr Hopoe, I'm not yet exactly sure who, where or what he is other thanbeing a fisherman. I thought a character with human anatomy would be a good exercise and I am hoping to see Mr Hopoe from this 2D incarnation through to 3D animation.

 Mr Hopoe enjoying a peaceful day fishing

SketchBook OnThe Train

I've had SketchBook (a sketching app android & iOS) for a while now, but I've been really enjoying it lately, especially how quickly and relatively innoculosly you can draw people.

some sketches from my journey to London

If you have ever played DrawSomething you will know how tricky it is to draw with your finger, especially on public transport, but the ease of playing with colour and restraint on fidelity produces some really interesting sketches.

SMILE Storyboards

Here are the storyboards I created for the SMILE animation project. There are 6 of them, and this is what they look like:

Bereavement

Wedding Illustration

I am getting married this summer, and for the invitations, my fiance thought it would be nice to have a cartoony illustration of ourselves to put on the invitations in some form or other.

Our costumes are a nod to our respective nationalities with Serena wearing a Hanbok and has her hair up in a vaguely traditional style and whith myself wearing a bowler hat and bowtie.

Tracking Test

This was an exercise to help me understand tracking. I used MatchMover for the tracking, then put it into Maya to make the geometry, set up some lights and render it for very basic compositing in After Effects.

I was hoping I would be able to use this for my showreel, but sadly there are lots of mistakes. Even so, I did gain an understanding of the tracking pipeline.

Bear House Diner Logo Design

I have just submitted a logo and branding for an eatery called "Bear House Diner". I found out about this through a website called concept cupboard. Basically clients submit their brief to the site with a budget and deadline, and anyone who wants to get the project submits their idea. This has been my first brief using concept cupboard so I'm not entirely sure how well the whole thing works, but I guess I'll find out in due course.

Basically, the brief was to design a logo and colour scheme for the "Bear House Diner", ideally incorporating a bear paw motif to be used on interior decorations.

 some of the initial sketches

logo development

logo design simple

logo design coloured

I submitted a couple of variations on the same bear silhouette and font as I imagine the diner would want to use slight variations depending on the media they are branding (menus, signage, flyers etc.).

Understanding Bereavement (Test)

This is a test for a series of animations concerning mental health and emotional well being aimed at children. The animation is based on a comic strip produced by Liquid Designs for SMILE (Supporting Minds In a Learning Environment).                                                                                                 

Bereavement Intro

I took me about 12 hours to do in total (including storyboarding, getting refrence material and recording sound).

Cute Monster 2.0 Textured

After a week of mainly being ill, I have finnished texturing Alek. I've still not quite got to grips with normal map transfers (see below) but I'm liking how the diffuse and specular have turned out.

 high and low poly versions of Alek the 'Cute Monster'

I think he is ready to be left for a bit untill I come back and animate him. I was really struggling with having "Cute Monster" hanging over me. Trying to finnish a character that I was never particularly happy with was difficult, but I think I actually like Alek now.


And below is the result of high poly normals transferred onto the low poly mesh, I am not entirely sure why is looks so awful, but I think I need to build up my confidence in areas of animation that I am actually good at before I come back to figuring out high to low poly normal maps. Or hopefully someone will just show me how to do it.

normal maps transfer failure

Return to Cute Monster 2.0

Well, I got pretty sick of this character after having lots of problems with its normals. But after a break, and realising how much I need to learn to texture properly, I gave it another go. And this time, instead of using Photoshop, I got myself some Mudbox! I'm really enjoying being able to paint directly onto the model, although my poor old computer finds it hard to deal with the program, so I often have to paint blind and wait for my computer to catch up. So after modifying the topology slightly, re-mapping the UV's  and a couple of quick colour scheme sketches, here is what I have.

  UV map

                  

the centre colour scheme is my favourie, so thats the one I'm going to work on tomorrow

Side-Scrolling Racer Mockup

So these are 2 of my ideas for the art style for a sidescrolling racing game.They were part of a pitch to be the artist for a game someone had already created the mechanics for. I didn't get the job but I kinda like these ideas.

mountainous desert setting, character is a desert rabbit

circus with an elephant riding a bike

 

penny farthing racer