I watch the news and I'm not sure if the 'white Christmas' thing is all its cracked up to be. It looks... cold, damn cold. I even feel it through my television.
On the other side of the equator in Australia it's, well, unseasonably cold as well...but hey, you could put on a singlet and survive, for now at least.
Anyhow, while Santa is gearing up and getting ready for his trek around, I would like to wish you, your family, your loved ones, your cats, your dogs or whatever you have, a very merry Christmas and a safe, happy and healthy 2011.
I tried to fit as much as I could in one sentence because I meant it.
Here's something I haven't done for awhile, game modeling and texturing. Usually Dominance War isn't my thing. I'm not the big, scary dude with sword type. So I tried to put my own weird spin on things, make it funny, but still try to make it look futuristic, sci fi and gritty.
Although the actual future of the competition looks a little shaky at the moment, thought I'd do a little something different for a change. Taking a page from Joe Bluhm's design philosophy, my character is roughly James Earl Jones mixed with a bullfrog.
The character himself, is one of my typical monsters with under bite (I gotta do something about that one day). An old, wizard whose butt shows through under his torn coat. He despises the young generation yet he shows he stills has ticker by helping his fellow CGHub warriors in battle with his low, trusty tech.
There was the Karate Kid of 2010, but nothing, repeat, nothing compares to the trilogy of the 1980s. The movie still sits proudly in my DVD collection as one of my all-time most inspirational movies that defined my childhood. This, ofcourse, is the hilarious Fly catching scene (that was somewhat replicated in this year's film) with Miyagi's tagline "Man who catch fly with chopstick accomplish anything".
So I thought, hey, if that movie had such an impact on my life, why not use it as the theme to the upcoming Drawtism exhibition to raise awareness of those affected by Autism Spectrum Disorder. Watching it now, almost 30 years after its original release, it dealt with the mixing of middle class America with different cultures, classes and values. Yet despite all the social constraints there was some commonality that allowed all characters (not just Miyagi and Daniel) to succeed. Loosely, this is what I felt the challenge of having autism was - the overcoming of the barriers of communication and expressing thoughts, ideas and actions freely.
Then again, if over analysing something wasn't so annoying, the Karate Kid just remains to be a legendary film.
This piece as well as many others will be auctioned off for the charity in November and will be on display at the Melbourne Treasury Building from this Friday!
Sports stars are fun to caricature, particularly ones that have been bashed around in the AFL. This is Collingwood Magpies coach Mick Malthouse with his assistant Nathan Buckley who incidentally won the 2010 Aussie Rules final.
Again I used Painter for this one and just thrashed it out quite honestly with a palette knife. AFL is like that, a bit rough and tumble.
Nothing says "you vile commoner" than a snotty nosed portrait of the Queen of England. I did this for the Facebook group Caricaturama 3000 where there's a pile of talented caricaturists submitting.
I started this sketch off with the iPad out of anything then finished it off with Painter. I used the Charcoal Variants as well as a slightly modified 'Loaded Palette knife' which is awesome. It sorta creates the unexpected randomness you get when you paint in real life?
I also recorded it on both my computer and my iPad, so hope to share it soon :)
Recently I spoiled myself and got an iPad. Painting digitally on a Nintendo DS was alright but the allure of a bigger, shinier screen was all too much.
I was reading in some forums that the colours are off and require you to edit them in Photoshop but for me, the difference wasn't all that much on my calibrated monitors. Maybe it was because I did this indoors, but we shall see when I go out an about with this thing!
Trendy Melburnites! Come down to the Brunswick Street Art Gallery and check out some of Australia's talented digital artists display their works. This group exhibition has been kindly supported by Adobe! I'll be displaying my paintings and 3D stuff there too.
The show runs for 2 weeks, starts tonight all the way to the 9th of September. So if your into looking at some cool art by some even cooler people, make your way here!
While this blog goes on temporary hiatus, doesn't mean my trusty laptop computer is sitting idle twiddling its thumbs. Oh no. I make it work like the good servant it is.
May I direct your attention to some YouTube turnaround that I posted the other day. I realised after all these years, all I've done were stills. So while I had the opportunity, I decided to post movies on those models. Here they are. My Subaru inspired by my all conquering feats in Sega Rally 2 (I'm good at that game did you know). As well as a female pinup sculpt done all from scratch. Fingernails, toes, she had everything. I was hardcore back in the day.
Done with Maya, Mental Ray and composited in After effects.
Some good news. I was lucky enough to be selected in Imagine FX's 'Best 11' Fantasy football team! The competition asked to depict a star in World cup history in a fantasy setting, focusing on creativity and character design.
I chose Brazilian captain Lucio as a gentle giant. For all of Brazil's flair in attack, Lucio stands alone as the unsung hero in defense. He doesn't get caught up in the lights, he does his job humbly. One of the few gentleman of the sport.
The only problem is, he's not the prettiest face out there. His dark eyes and colossal frame strikes fear into those who see him. He'd love to sit and have a nice old yarn about the beauty of the world, the great Gods in the heavens, but no, he is left alone. Isolated. All he wants is to be understood.
I believe the results of the competition are published in the current edition of ImagineFX so do yourself a favour and drop by your newsagent and have a look!
Commission done for the great people at The Sporting Capital. Their vision was to see the Socceroo's great hope, Tim Cahill, in a moment of solitude before his beloved fans at the MCG and Goodison Park.
Done all in Painter using Charcoal variants. And if you didn't notice, used Maya for the background models and sketched over them. Fairly effective way to get reference without flying over to England me thinks. That's really all there is to say technique-wise about the image? Let me know if you have questions :)
What's more, Sporting Capital were kind enough to allow me to sell limited edition prints of this image which will be individually signed and numbered. And as always, professionally printed at specialists Lab X.(Print 20x26 inches and no website watermark)
Well, tonights the night where month long mayhem begins. And sometimes you'd think it's 4 years worth of blood, sweat, tears trying to make the most of this World Cup in South Africa. But, poetically, sometimes it's just plain old luck that gets you through. Like Maradona's infamous 'Hand of God' Moment.
Some people hate this aspect of football. I love it. I mean, it makes the wait all the more sweeter when you know you were robbed 4 years ago where a freakish gust of wind swirled a Cahill goal millimetrically to the right, smacked against the post and some yobbo in the crowd with a gravitational pull akin to Magneto sucks the ball goal bound. Spiraling you to a state of shock and resentment keeping you up all night wondering what you did to deserve it... for four years. Yep, I love it!
Soooo, enjoy this World Cup. There'll be lots of moments to talk about in the years, even decades to come. Unless you're a supporter of Cameroon, the Netherlands, or Denmark, I wish you, your family, your loved ones, everybody, the very best of luck.
And okay I'll say it for the hell of it. Go Socceroos!
Who remembers the good old days of Mario Kart? I'd go round and round and round Mario ciruit 1 to chase those lap record times. I got close. Those days are long gone now, gone...
where was I?
Oh yeah, then Formula 1 bought in this KERS system and you'd SWEAR it was like Mario Kart. If you were an F1 driver, KERS would feel like a Mushroom giving you a temporary burst of speed. So what if we went one step further? Life imitating art? You never know.
Now you too can give this free image a home on your very own desktop. Here they are at whatever resolution suits your computer decor!
I somehow won a sculpt from Michael Defeo on Sketchoholic. But it was a great theme with a short time frame - trying to come up with our own spin on a classic sculpture. I chose Bernini based around one of his inspiring angel sculptures. I came across this image on Google. The pose, what she was doing, the instrument all, I thought, lended itself to the Bernini aura so I smashed those ideas together. And here's a turntable of the result. The model was done in Zbrush with an unorganised mesh and the inorganic objects were made in Maya. I had fun with Zbrush's "Slash 2" brush on the curl on her hair and the wings. I had fun with Maya because ...because it's Maya.
We love our art books. Or do we? Parka Blogs is fantastic and reviews all the latest and greatest art books from aaaaaaalll corners of the globe. He also gives so much back to the art community so make sure you go to his blog
And while your there, vote for your favorite image in his "Animals in Competitive Sports" contest where I entered the above image.
I'm not sure how popular the Wacom 6D Art Pen is. A hefty investment in an Intuos or Cintiq is pricy enough. Anything more seems plain indulgent. And considering how many times I've misplaced my normal pen around the room, you wonder if it's worth getting another pen... to lose somewhere under your desk again. On face value, the only difference between the 6D and the standard grip pen is rotation. The 6D also does NOT have mouse triggers nor an eraser. Is it REALLY worth the AU$140 I paid for this? I've had this pen for about a year now but after some perseverance it has become a joy to use.
You'd probably only be remotely interested in this device if you have a certain style of art or the software you use. Zbrush for example; Utterly useless when you don't have a right mouse button. Or if your style is more vector, again I see no real point of the 6D over the grip pen. If you are abit more painterly though and require alot of 'feel' in each stroke you may want to give it a go.
Say for example you are sketching away digitally and want to get a soft taper from a broad stroke. You'd either have to have a really cultured hand or (if you're like me) you draw a line and 'chip' away back into it. Not only is this time-consuming and contrived, it begins too hurt your hand. You are literally forced to rub on the screen all day until that beautiful stroke is achieved. If at all.
Now I'm not saying you can't get a beautiful line without a 6D. In fact there seems to be alot of great digital artists out there that cope without it just fine. But I don't think it's as enjoyable. Why? Because the combination of the extra gestures the 6D is picking up together with the felt tip nib feels alot more organic. You feel free-er. Much like a filbert brush getting extra finesse instead of a 'stamped' looking brush here and there.
Just a note though, the 6D Art pen seems at home in Painter than in Photoshop. I found Photoshop (CS3) doesn't sense rotation very well and the cursor doesn't rotate nor tilt with your hand so your always second guessing yourself as to what is going to happen.
Here's a YouTube video of me inking away with a 6D Art Pen on a Cintiq 12WX just to give you guys an idea of how it can be used. Let me know if you have any questions!
So it's all good to post up now, I was a finalist at this years spoof to Australia's Archibald Prize, the Bald Archy's.
Congratulations to Judy Nadin whose hilarious painting of Bert made headlines pretty much everywhere. Happy to be part of all the brew-ha-ha really.
So, okay, he's not the most glamourous, most famous Socceroos coach ever in Australia. But in this sport loving culture we have here, I thought it would be a travesty to not have an Australian football piece in this gllllllllorious World Cup year. Way back when, I just found his head to be really funny. It's commanding but if you were down 2-0 at half time, would you really take anything that came out his mouth seriously? What about the "Something About Mary" tuft of hair waving around.
And it doesn't look like it, but this piece is big. HUUUUUUUUGE in fact. So do yourself a favour and get down to the Bald Archy exhibition touring around Australia at the moment. It's in Sydney right now till the 25th of April at the ABC Ultimo Centre. Further dates can be found here.
Lately I'm falling in love with Winsor Newton Artisans Water soluble oils. It's a mouthful to say, and I'm not here to endorse a product, I'm just not sure if any other maker supplies such a unique paint? Let me know if you know.
And the reason I wanna talk about it is because I really can't find much information about it on the Internet. I'm not even sure what media to use it on! I'm finding on linen canvas, where ordinary oils are king, Artisans tend to slip off. Instead I'm finding paper that can hold water more exciting to use. Here is my very basic palette.
I'll be posting my thoughts on how they work for me in future. But if your looking for something with the convenience of gouache but the guts of oils, get out there and give these a try! Then come back and tell me how to use them properly!
So you've probably noticed some changes recently. I've broken out of the 9-5 arty jobs to go freelance. There has been a tonne to take in, but at the same time, it's been a dream trying to execute ideas conjured up in my head for all these years. I think I'm very lucky that there is so much support and resources out there to make the jump relatively light.
One of those resources is the 'Zero to Illo' 12 week challenge. It means what it says really. You're nothing. You try to be something in 12 weeks. Now I've done 12 week challenges before, and I know you're out there reading this scoffing, wondering what the point is. That was me too, but that really misses the reason they're there for.
Anyway. I hope to share the experience with you, oh, valuable reader.
Have a good loooooooong weekend! Here's a PS sketch of a 'goth dragon' done for Sketchaholics.
Aussie Grit. Yes that is what Australian F1 driver Mark Webber is called on Twitter. But underneath that harsh Australian exterior lies eyes that a orphaned puppy would be jealous of.
Yes, there's no denying his talent but it counts for nothing if Red Bull don't provide him with a reliable car.
So please, give Mark the best chance possible for winning in Melbourne tomorrow. We're all behind you!
This is only part of the full illo, so stay tuned in the coming weeks
Incredible night it was on the weekend where about 45,000 people just went nuts for an A-league football match in 120 minutes. Then afterall of that you didn't know what to do. What, go home? That's it. End of story. Surreal.
Even though the night didn't reeeeeeeally end the way some would have hoped for , I did manage to create a banner to spur on the team, to inspire the fans and add to the atmosphere. Expertly printed by the guys at Sumo Visual, considering all the things that could've gone wrong, well, nothing did.
But a win on the night for the Melbourne Victory over Sydney FC would've been icing!
Many of you probably wouldn't have a clue who made the headlines in Australia last week. An Australian Rules player who had an affair with a young model, who sued after photos were release of her naked in the shower, who disrupted the tour of her then current fiancee cricketer, who then came back from the tour and announced their engagement was over. All in the space of a week.
Makes sense? Me neither.
It's like...like a story conjured up from those afternoon soaps - of lies, of cheating and fake pregnancies to get the inheritance of some dieing man.
Such is the hard hitting, important news we have, here in Australia.
Great men in history. You think Shakespeare, you think Einstein, Mandela, Gandhi. Immortal. As I'm sure, in his own mind, Cristiano Ronaldo is. So in the coming centuries, all children will know to worship the God that is Ronaldo on a Futurama-esque head bust.
But he should stick to playing football. NOT endorsing some unrelated product with lifeless voiceover. You gotta love him
Is it me or does Obama look about 10 years older every time he makes the front page. More grey hairs, more wrinkles, droopier eyes. Where's that dancing, bright Obama I once knew. Dancing on Ellen. Charismatic smile. It's gone...under a cloud of ACTUAL PROBLEMS he has to fix. And fast!
Well here he is, little Messi sculpt, plonked into an illustration. What a great tool Zbrush is for illustration work. Not to mention having a model there to pose for something else. In the end though it's about the same effort into a painting as much as it is in a sculpt? Pros and cons to everything as they say.
I think I'm getting over-excited by Buzz at the moment...What can it do... I wonder. It links with Twitter, but Buzz can't post to it. Buzz has nothing to do with Facebook. Although Hotmail apparently does. Blogger is practically Buzz, just smaller and I may add, slower. Youtube...well Youtube is everything, but then there's TwitVid which sorta does exactly the same.
It's aaaaaaaalll too overwhelming!!!
ZBrush 3.5 talks with Maya, not with Max. Good job I say. That's what you get for being shit. Ooooooh technology, so many possibilities, but how are we gonna use em? This iiiiiiis facinating...okay buzz update! Update my son!
Before I roll this one away, thought I may as well post, (what turned out to be) , a colour sketch done in a day of a beautiful figure in oil. I did this at a workshop with Maxwell Wilks - great Australian artist.
I keep walking up to it thinking I have to finish this, but alas, this will remain just as it is, until the next time I can whip out those oils and smell that lovely turps whiff. Or maybe I can scan it and finish it digitally. Who knows! More posts are on the way!
Hello!!! It's been a nutty start to the year, but I presume normal service will continue, oh beloved blog. Happy new year to you all!
Yknow what's great about this year? That's right, the World Cup. I can't wait for it. I'm nervous even thinking about it. Speaking about all things football, here's a caricature of Cesc Fabregas, who, as of late, is scoring for fun at the moment. Odd head, scary as a young midfield enforcer, beautiful as the mature playmaker. A true Spanish matador.
I watch the news and I'm not sure if the 'white Christmas' thing is all its cracked up to be. It looks... cold, damn cold. I even feel it through my television. 
