Basically an art blog

Nadeshiko Japan - Women's World Champions 2011

2011-12-26T00:01:00.000-08:00

This is Homare Sawa and Nahomi Kawasumi of the Nadeshiko Japan soccer team who are the current FIFA Women's World Champions. I also thought that they had my pick of goal of 2011. This gigantic, split-second lob:

Art wise, this was done fully in Painter, again trying to use new brushes. In this case an edited Oily Bristle. I tried to mix it up by not only caricaturing their faces, but shadow patterns and designs to try to make it appealing. It was a fun study and process.

The Innsmouth Look

2011-12-02T17:57:00.000-08:00

Inspired by HP Lovecraft's description of 'The Deep Ones', this is my own take on the ever popular Innsmouth Look. These are hybrid human's who, as they age, get consumed by fish or frog-like features and seep back into those murky waters of Innsmouth. Little creepy for my tastes so he has a bit of my weird spin on it.

This was sculpted in Zbrush 4 R2, rendered in Zbrush 4 R2 and composited in Photoshop. Although it's been awhile since I used purely Zbrush to composite out a render, the process has improved a tonne using BPR. No more accidently shifting things, forgetting focal settings, painting in cast shadows etc. Just render separate passes and plug into Photoshop. It feels as if it's not a hack anymore but a focused streamlined process that more and more people are taking advantage of. Fun indeed.

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-30T04:10:00.001-07:00

A Wicked Witch done just in time for Halloween. Done in Zbrush, decimated and bought into Maya for rendering. Zbrush 4 R2 mind you, and I really like the new features. I even accidently created fabric rips using the new feature Dynamesh. You can mess up topology and Dynamesh will 'sew' it back up making it look like a tear. That's my top tip. yeah.

More renders and blab after the jump. I will also post a video turnaround in future I'm sure.

Zbrush Renders featuring the new Wax Preview. It's genius!

The Karate Kid Painting Montage

2011-10-10T13:55:00.000-07:00

Going through my hard drives made me stumble on some old WIP files of my Karate Kid painting I did awhile back. What a joy it was too.

Although I still watch the movie on a religious basis, artistically it was the European Masters exhibition held at the NGV last year that really made me want to stick with this painting - it was a study.

It was a real privilege to see such works at that exhibition - but what amazed me was the artists' richness, variety and control in their darks - things you'd never notice on crumby scanned or photographed images on the internet. Works like this one by Edgar Degas were one of many inspirations for the Karate Kid painting that I should credit in the video above.

Hope you enjoy it anyway!

'The Big Squeeze' for Fountain Sauces

2011-09-26T02:59:00.000-07:00

Fountain's latest campaign is now live and on the airwaves! If you haven't seen it already, check out the video above.

I was lucky enough to work with director Stephen Watkins of XYZ Studios on the CG animation advertisement. Cute!

Fittingly, I worked on the old, cranky Salt and Sugar shakers who, like me, have a problem with young punk tomatoes running amok. You've been warned tomatoes, you've been warned.

iPad Painting from Live Model and video

2011-09-09T14:47:00.000-07:00

Keeping things fresh by changing the process for this one. Colour is one of my favourite subjects and I saw a technique by Jeff Watts where he'd first lay down 'abstract notes of colour" - ie anything he feels like. I guess it harks back to Harley Brown's book where he talks about making sure you aren't timid about your painting from the get-go.

Mucking up the painting up from the start did relax me, I must admit, but since it was on the iPad there was always a thought in the back of my mind that I could undo this. So...not as brave as I could have been.

The video of the process is below. I firstly did a sketch before a 2 hour live model session and scanned it in, Placed it on a layer, and went ahead.

Done with the Brushes App.

Modern Game Art: Weapons with Jon Rush - CGWorkshop

2011-08-27T04:53:00.001-07:00

Jon Rush gave a workshop on "Modern Game art weapons". There were buttons clicked I didn't even know existed. As you can tell, it was a fun course. Highly recommend it!

This cool concept was by Diego Almazan and I added a little spin on it giving it more of a worn, used feel.

I used Maya to create the original hard surface, then into Zbrush for detailing and used XNormal to bake. Rendering was done in Marmoset 1.04. Not to mention good old Photoshop. Although there were tonnes of programs to jump from, somehow, it all felt streamlined with minimal 3D buggery.

The concept, high poly, extra shots and turnaround are available in a typical blog screen dump for you to err... enjoy.

Seascape Plein Air with iPad inc video

2011-07-10T02:26:00.000-07:00

Yet another iPad finger painting using the Brushes App which STILL remains the most responsive and simplest painting app out there.

People often ask me about the glare off the screen. Although, yes, it does exist, if you crank up the brightness to max and paint under some shade there really isn't any problem. Which got me in thinking, how great this thing will be for night plein airs with a back lit screen? Next time perhaps.

Hope you enjoy the video process too.

Baby Lionel Messi

2011-06-17T23:17:00.000-07:00

For such a beast in the game of football, Messi has one of the most softest faces, kind, cuddly. Hardly someone to be feared on the pitch. His likeness has endless possibilities though, and this one somehow ended up like a 3D baby version of him...with stubble.

So I originally had his model from an old computer but I reworked him to give him a more gentle appearance. Sculpting was done all in Zbrush. I then placed it into Maya and began playing with shader trees - most notably Mental Ray's fast skin shader, which is amazingly complex when you get into it. Then to layer that over other shaders is rather fun.

I'll post up more turnaround shots soon, or maybe a video if my computer doesn't explode with the amount of passes.

Dr Sketchy's Melbourne and Life Drawing

2011-06-04T15:56:00.000-07:00

Pencil, rough paper, scanned into Painter - Square chalk and Gessoed canvas paper

Chalk pens seem to react best to the surface. So it seemed a nice complement to a 'real' drawing on toothy paper. All settings on default as far as I know

Watercolour brush and burnt umber Tombo Pen

Found a Tombo pen at an art store and thought I'd take it for a spin. Not sure what sort of people use it, perhaps fashion designers? I do like them because they work with water so well, but when the paper dries, you are still able to chisel in the hard edges.

Hugo - Street Fighter IV remake

2011-05-13T15:51:00.000-07:00

Hugo. The one and only Street Fighter character post 2 era that deserves to make a comeback. He's made cameos for sure, but after the long list of names to appear in Street Fighter 4, Capcom decided this lovable, dopey, burly bloke from Germany wouldn't make the cut. For shame!

Anyway. Fanboy-ism aside, hasn't Zbrush 4 improved vastly improved over previous iterations? Remember the times when you'd import a mesh back and the thing would literally explode? Scales would mess up. Things would crash? With GoZ it just doesn't happen anymore and if Zbrush can't compute something, it does what it can and masks off the places it can't. Brilliant!

So workflow wise, it's so, so much easier to go high poly first, thrash out forms and THEN you can have the confidence to go back and retopologise later. Anyway that's what I think about it. Everyone seems to have a preference?

These renders were done in Marmoset . Textured in Zbrush polypaint and good old Photoshop.

The Queen Elizabeth II - One's iPad painting

2011-04-27T03:45:00.000-07:00

As promised in an earlier post, here is a snippet process video of my Queen Elizabeth II painting on the iPad! Hope you have fun watching it.

In it I hope you see abit of the process I have to go through - it's not easy to come up with something with good design but also a good likeness. Once the strokes are estalished though, the rest is rendering.

I remembered to do this JUST as this thing called the Royal Wedding is heating up. Kate Middleton? Prince William? Something like that.

I feel British this week. We are ALL British! **Cough...**

31st Worldwide SketchCrawl for Japan

2011-04-18T05:05:00.000-07:00

The 31st Sketchcrawl was dedicated by Pixar's Enrico Casarosa to the victims of the recent Japanese earthquake and tsunami.

He also set up a Sketchcrawl fund with Give2Asia. So please give generously if you can.

The death toll from the earthquake and tsunami stands at 13,700 and even more are missing. It's sad to even think what the surviving are going through.

Not to put a downer on this blog, this is the Melbourne Sketchcrawl once again, and relatively speaking, the weather has been rather kind! In Melbourne terms, it's a miracle. Yes I'll even go as far as saying that.

For this special Sketchcrawl, I wanted to do something cool, so I figured I'd take the iPad out behind Federation square along the Yarra and began painting using the Brushes App. I lost my stylus so this is 100% left finger - It cramped after awhile.

These other sketches are from earlier in the day in a cafe and the outdoor area of Federation square where a month long comedy festival is happening. Lots of atmosphere and a great day to be drawing.

The Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary

2011-04-04T03:33:00.000-07:00

Don't know what's making me so incredibly nostalgic these days. Or somehow all these marketing 'anniversarys' coincide with my demographic. Curse them.

Anyway, this piece was done for CGHub's 2D Jam of Zelda's anniversary. The Dark World in 'Link to the Past' was the thing that jumped into my brain. Probably because I spent so long there running around not realising it actually had some relationship to the Light World. I'm reminiscing here and probably not making sense to anybody out there.

I tried to change up my workflow for this one. Colour palette was derived from a Richard Schmid painting that had a similar mood to what I wanted. I 'mosaiced' the image in Photoshop and mixed from there. It's NOT a Nori original idea - I read it somewhere in a magazine and thought I'd give it a shot. It's nice if you need to paint a feeling out there and remain gestural. The rest is drawing, really. However, now that I look at it, you can lose something using that technique and I probably wouldn't use it if I were going for a finished painting?

The other thing I tried to do was stay with a singular hard edge brush in Painter and work from large to small. That way I concentrated on the graphic shapes and how they worked in the overall composition. Bit of a puzzle, and still a challenge.

And here is the theme that sent shivers down my spine when I began working on this.

The Foundry Mari 1.2 - Impressions

2011-03-10T18:31:00.000-08:00

I subscribed to the Mari 3D texture painting newsletter last year on the hype that it was coming to Windows and it was used on HUGE Hollywood blockbusters like Avatar. New software in the industry is rare, or if they are, tend not to be adopted in the mainstream, (or they get bought out :/). Give this software a few iterations and hardware advances, I reckon this powerful package has amazing potential.

Before I gush praise on the way it was able to get those fine patterns on the flying banshee's of Avatar, the main problem with Mari is that you probably need a system on the level of a company like Weta to actually do anything on it. Apparently, version 1.2 of Mari simply refuses to work with systems not up to it's requirements. My computer, which has an intermediate NVidia Quadro FX1800, began to splutter handling scenes that merely had been worked on for a few 'layers'.

But using Mari you begin to realise why it needs such raw grunt. High resolution texture painting on 3D models was insanely quick, and the tools are Photoshop-like and easy to understand. Although painting by hand is nowhere near the dexterity or pure Photoshop work, for me the way you can photo-source direct to your model is where it really shines. There are options to mask, colour grade, tile your textures right in the software and simply 'roll' it onto your UV maps. Once on, you can get out some advanced warp, clone and smudge tools to knock it into line - all within your viewport.

Although abit clunky at the moment, the workflow from colour map, to bump, to spec is easily facilitated with all the adjustments you find in Photoshop. There are (very) basic shaders to be able to combine these, light them and preview them in the viewport. You can drop the opacities, or change the layer modes etc. It's all there, and despite this being a new software, everything seems to be incredibly familiar. Even navigation is Maya based.

Arguably, Mari's rival products would be Maxon's Bodypaint and to a lesser extent, Zbrush/Mudbox. Admittedly I have limited experience in Bodypaint. I tried it a few years back and gave up at navigation. Zbrush on the other hand has some powerful tools to texture. Ideas such as ZApplink were a god send and now integration with other packages is seamless. Mari seems to be alone right now. It just takes in textures and spits out textures. And unlike Zbrush, Mari is purely a 2D projection painter- you can't paint in 3D. This is so textures can remain ultra crisp, presumably when it hits the big screen. But in saying that I struggled to come to grips where or what I was painting without actually seeing what was happening with my model. At the moment displacement maps can't be viewed, although this is changing.

And that in the end is what really impressed me. The Foundry really want to improve Mari and get people to use it and receive feedback. I sent an innocuous tweet about it and suddenly there's an email from a representative asking for feedback and whether they could help. And the fact that larger studios are adopting it too bodes well about where it's heading.

So in regards to the actual art piece, the base mesh was NOT done by me. This was provided by the great Oliver Marc Plouffe specifically for a texturing comp run by the Foundry. These renders were done in Maya Mental ray. Maps including colour, bump, spec etc all done in Mari. Displacements in Zbrush. The fine details you can see on the goggles were photo-sourced largely and surprisingly quick to do. Hope I can finish the whole figure eventually.

NuPastel on Hemp Paper

2011-02-20T16:51:00.000-08:00

So I have some boxes of NuPastels which I mail ordered from America and until the end of last year, never really gotten to around using them. Nor have I never really liked them.

Although I hate pastels and charcoals, NuPastels are alot more gritty and more transportable. I carry alot of materials in my bag and I just hate it when there's vine charcoal dust everywhere.

And maybe it's the paper, but I really love the final effect. And you can use your kneeded eraser, stump and even water to throw it around. It's very forgiving (I find).

So yeah, this is a life drawing session predominately NuPastel and a bit of conte.

And here's a nice lady explaining the virtues of NuPastel

Megaman Tribute, Preview

2011-02-06T16:49:00.000-08:00

A small snippet of my Megaman painting for Udon's Megaman Tribute book. Whether or not I actually get into the book is up to Udon, but we find out come end of February.

Fingers crossed.

Worldwide Sketchcrawl 30 (and other drawings from life in 2010)

2011-01-22T19:44:00.000-08:00

First 3 are from Sketchcrawl 30 which was done yesterday. And the rest are a few select ones from other Sketchcrawls and Dr Sketchys in 2010.

There is nothing like drawing from life. And as many artists have said, there really is no better teacher than nature.

Not only are there obvious aspects like, design and drawing skills and all that, but you learn intangible things. Like understanding your sensitivities towards your subject. Improvisation. The experience of actually being there. They all contribute to how you understand yourself, the world and your work - and therefore you improve.

I remember a Craig Mullins presentation where he talked about the value of doing sketches. Although he makes it look easy, he said he would do tonnes of sketches over and over and over to understand how he works. He would take his experience from one sketch and apply it to the next one and sooner or later, different experiences begin to bolt together and eventually he found a way that works for him. There's no one way of doing it.

So in conclusion, sketching is good.

Happy Holidays from Down Under

2010-12-22T18:47:00.000-08:00

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 to a great year ahead! Cheers.

Nori

Pre Dominance War V

2010-12-17T15:20:00.000-08:00

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.

That's the gist of the story, ahem.

The Karate Kid

2010-10-23T19:30:00.001-07:00

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!

Good old Collingwood for-eeeeeever

2010-10-02T05:49:00.000-07:00

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.

Congratualtions Collingwood for season 2010!

Her Majesty, the Queen

2010-09-16T15:26:00.001-07:00

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 :)

iPad painting from Live Model

2010-09-08T17:16:00.001-07:00

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.

This was done with the Brushes App and tidied up with Autodesk Sketchbook Pro for iPad.

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!

Come along to the 'Digital Dreams' Exhibition. (My works are in there)

2010-08-26T15:15:00.000-07:00

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!

Render, renders

2010-08-13T05:17:00.000-07:00

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.

Lucio - Imagine FX Best 11

2010-07-02T00:51:00.001-07:00

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!

Good luck Brazil for tonight!

Tim Cahill - 'Never Say Never'

2010-06-21T03:16:00.000-07:00

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)

Diego Maradona and some divine intervention

2010-06-10T23:45:00.000-07:00

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!

Formula 1 vs Super Mario Kart

2010-05-27T16:26:00.000-07:00

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!

1920x1200
1280x1024
1024x768

A Bernini Angel

2010-05-16T17:28:00.002-07:00

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.

Parka Blogs Art books, Anime Reviews

2010-05-11T04:44:00.000-07:00

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.

Wacom 6D Art Pen Impressions

2010-04-30T04:23:00.001-07:00

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!

Pim Verbeek at the Bald Archies 2010

2010-04-20T18:49:00.000-07:00

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.

50 days to the World Cup!!!

Winsor Newton Artisans

2010-04-08T03:36:00.000-07:00

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!

Anyway have a great weekend.

Zero to Illo to somewhere-o

2010-03-31T23:17:00.001-07:00

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.

C'mon Hammer Jaw!!

2010-03-27T04:45:00.000-07:00

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

Big Banner, still champions

2010-03-22T18:00:00.000-07:00

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!

And now, for news closer to Home

2010-03-13T13:42:00.001-08:00

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.

"And...so do ai ! "

2010-03-04T20:47:00.000-08:00

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

So craaaaaaazy right now

2010-02-25T19:40:00.000-08:00

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!

...No actually I prefer to watch the Ellen clip

Lionel Messi ... in 3D

2010-02-17T00:09:00.000-08:00

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.

Testing Messi WIP

2010-02-11T03:52:00.001-08:00

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!

Oil Painting stuff

2010-02-09T03:47:00.001-08:00

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!

Roger Federer

2010-01-30T04:03:00.000-08:00

On the eve of the Australian Open final, here's Roger Federer. A guy who is sickingly graceful wielding that awesome tennis racket of his.

What's a bet he'll shed a sulking tear or two tonight? Win or lose, we shall see.

Enjoy the final!

Cesc Fabregas

2010-01-21T05:35:00.000-08:00

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.

Once again, all the best for 2010 everyone!

Michael Collins Caricature Award award

2009-12-10T00:36:00.000-08:00

No, no speeches here, but thankyou to the MCAA for commending me for a couple of my pieces for 2009. There were some absolutely draw dropping artists including Luke Watson, Simon Schneider, David Rowe - the list goes on and on. Just fantastic!

Dr. Sketchy's Melbourne - 2009 Finale

2009-11-29T05:05:00.000-08:00

The final of the year? It's pretty much December again! Yikes! Ah before I get teary eyed and sentimental, Dr Sketchy's was on again, and please, everyone get down and support this great thing in 2010. They have a facebook group so it'll keep you up to date with all the happenings.

Anyhoo, dashed in today and then got out the watercolours. Today's theme was a Christmas card to Dr Sketchy's. The girl came out all anime like above. Why? I have no idea. Catch you again next year!

25th Worldwide Sketchcrawl

2009-11-21T14:52:00.000-08:00

Post obligatory blurb soon..

UPDATE: OMG I forgot to post my blurb!! Doh, too late

Melbourne! The 25th Worldwide Sketchcrawl is on this Saturday the 21st!

2009-11-15T05:34:00.000-08:00

Get your pens (pencils whatever) ready because November 21st 2009 marks 5 years of global Sketchcrawling.

What is it you may ask? It's (as the blurb once said for a banner over a year ago) "taking a day to draw your city, its people, and get a little closer to the world around you".

Like minded people, doing what we love doing, and you get that warm fuzzy feeling inside that people in every corner of the world are doing the same thing.

It's a chilled out day, and no, you don't just sit and draw ALL day. Come and go as you wish. We draw, chat about life, food and a drink afterwards if your so inclined.

Weather is looking fantastic and preliminary meetup spot is the Melbourne Museum at approximately 10 - 11 am! Keep y'all posted! Tell ya friends! More info here

Sketchcrawl forum

Wedding Commisions

2009-11-07T15:16:00.001-08:00

Reading back on of my posts, I realised I say the word 'fun' alot...so I'll refrain from saying that. Much like the word 'basically' and 'ummm' and '...' etc etc. These guys were great to work with and have a awesome sense of humour! Hope you guys enjoy them too :)

Nintendo DSi Plein Air Painting

2009-10-31T16:23:00.000-07:00

It only seems like yesterday the DSi got released in Australia...in fact it was only April as I scan through my emails. Here I am as part of Nintendo propaganda at the launch 'party'.

Then...this week they announce the DSi XL ! And no this isn't exciting for gaming reasons. I was thinking, hell, this is getting closer and closer to the portable cintiq I've been waiting for (as opposed to the normal DSi which used to be the portable cintiq I've been waiting for).

So to celebrate, on a glorious sunny day in Melbourne, I whipped the old friend out and began painting a plein air with Colors! The best thing about Colors! is that it records your paint strokes, so I uploaded it to Youtube. Mind the aristocratic music.

Dr. Sketchy's Anti Art School Melbourne - 19th Oct '09 Part 1

2009-10-19T05:48:00.000-07:00

Dr Sketchy's Melbourne was, as always, alot of fun. I think they realised I was a regular there and bought me on stage to pose the models. Not that that's something I want to show off about. It was rather embarrassing - "errrr sit there, aaaanddd ummmm yeah yeah, that's good". Met some interesting people from different industries too, so I think the ball's beginning to roll. Particularly as we lead up to summer!

I have two more pics I'd like to share, but for today, I thought I'd share these two, touched up in PS. I remember seeing a video of some master artist dude using traditional, scanning them in, and then going over the top of it digitally. I'm beginning to understand why. It's sooooooo much easier to make those 'happy accidents' with traditionals I reckon. And it makes it enjoyable wondering what would happen. Here is a charcoal based image and another one using coloured pencils! I don't think I've used as something as primitive since, like, primary school.

I wonder what you guys think about using traditional media?

And, in Progress...

2009-10-15T04:05:00.000-07:00

Many of you may or may not remember me posting up WIPs ages ago on this painting. Well, this is a post to say that yes, I'm still going! A waaaay to go, but hey I'm chipping away at it. Although the project sometimes goes on the backburner, the subject is always at the top of my heart. **cough, cough , cough**

On the subject of watery paintings DrSketchy's Melbourne is back this weekend with the theme 'Under the Sea'. Exciting stuff! I hope I'll be able to make it down, but it's a heads up at the moment

Life Drawing - 07 Oct '09

2009-10-07T05:19:00.000-07:00

Done with NuPastels (as apposed to Old pastels) imported from the good old USA. After trying to look all over for them in Melbourne I had to get them online on DickBlick. My verdict...meh, not so much different from the ordinary stuff but mmmmmmmaybe, just maybe, pastel relies on the surface more.

Pastel and Charcoal have been my mortal enemies but a few bloggers have inspired me to pick them up again (at least on the occasion). Ben Lo's life drawings for example are just...gorgeous. My dream is to get to the dexterity and richness of Bill Cone's stuff ....a dream, a dream...

Hey Hey, it's ... Masterchef!

2009-10-01T05:08:00.001-07:00

Awhile back, Sarah rang me up and said, "y'know who'd be good to caricature? The Masterchefs. They're all different sizes and shapes..." My mind drifted off after that as I tried to figure out what that show was all about.

Fast track to today where a second Australian Masterchef series has just started against the fan fair of Hey Hey it's Sat..."Hey Hey"'s return. Will it claw its way back? Ehhh you never know.

Anyway, what I do know is that after Masterchef aired its first season, eeeeeeeverybody suddenly became an expert, plating up, presenting, how moist something tasted. blah blah. So my thinking is, if your gonna cook something good, you may as well have their ugly mugs hanging in your kitchen, watching over your shoulder - pushing you, judging you!

Or you can just look at it and have a laugh.

YOU can purchase your piece of Masterchef by buying this print from my Deviantart page! . I'm trying this all out right now, so let me know how it works for you!

Hopefully it fits with your kitchen decor. If not I'll be posting up my Gordon Ramsay soon so you can hang around for that!

Life Drawing - 30 Sept '09

2009-09-30T05:59:00.000-07:00

Little bit of fun today - whipped out some ink pens, exaggerated form etc. Good to change it up a little once in awhile! woot!

Dr. Sketchy's Anti Art School Melbourne - 20 Sept '09 Part 1

2009-09-23T06:25:00.001-07:00

Dr Sketchy's in Melbourne has moved to 'the Order of Melbourne' if you saw my photo on Twitter the other day! It's a really good move I reckon, more accessible for people like me who can only take the tram to places.

And to celebrate, there were not one but TWO models to draw and draw inspiration on. So much so I decided to paint one of the quick sketches I did on that day. It was probably the most quirkiest poses I've seen for awhile so I tried to do it justice! I may colour it in one day, so stay tuned, or not. And for reference, here is the quick 5 minute sketch. Couldn't get as much info down because there were two models, but I just got enough!

24th Worldwide Sketchcrawl - Melbourne

2009-09-19T05:27:00.000-07:00

I believe we are slowly shaking off the wintery blues as a small handful of folks came out for the 24th Worldwide Sketchcrawl!! Woot! We are slowly, slowly posting our stuff up. The next one will be in a couple of months or so. Soooo get in touch if you're interested - when there's a whole batch of us, it's a lot of fun!

Sketchcrawl Melbourne Thread

Life Drawing - 16 Sept '09

2009-09-16T05:57:00.000-07:00

A very inspired artist

Behind some people and drawing on the floor. Good times.

Life Drawing - 10 Sept '09

2009-09-10T02:01:00.001-07:00

I kept hearing 'Oh they have life drawing at QV' and never knew there was space for a studio. Let alone life drawing in such a posh building. But I'm happy to report, life drawing at No-Vacancy is awesome. A trendy vibe, big glass windows, with young people wandering past thinking what the hell is going on. They started again last week in Melbourne and held every Wednesday, so come along if you can!

Also, Dr Sketchy's AND Sketchcrawl is coming soon. Pondering if there's enough interest out there. But again, give me a buzz and we can join hands like kindred spirits!

(top drawing is 20mins, bottom I think was 2 mins)

Yum Seng!

2009-08-30T04:32:00.000-07:00

Friends of mine recently had a wedding ceremony - and what a jolly night it was too. Lots of catching up and yelling and all that brewhaha. Inspired by this post on Tomo Tabata's blog, this is a painting I did for the happy couple as a wedding gift in it's pixellated camera phone goodness. Yes, for the busy weekend it was, I completely forgot to take a photo of it myself, and quickly took this after they recieved it. I did a mini recording of it too, so hopefully I can share it with you all soon.

Yum Seng as they said it on the night...oooor something like that

I'm on YouTube, sorta

2009-08-20T04:11:00.000-07:00

If anything, all those years bumbling around of YouTube have amounted to something. Uploading my work to YouTube! As boring as it is, my username will be my own name http://www.youtube.com/user/NoriTominaga , so, I suppose I better start recording more stuff, get more harddrive space, and all the other stuff I have to do.

But yeah, after speeding it up, I realised how hypo it all seemed. I hope a little boy in a France or somewhere doesn't fall over in a seizure...In that case I'd probably run to the other side of the world. Somewhere like France.

Train Sketch

2009-08-09T04:15:00.000-07:00

I'm beginning to like the lighter, more handwriting style of ballpoint pen, although it's taking longer to create form, it does give you patience to build it up. Here's a trendy sorta lady sitting, reading the paper on a gorgeious sunny day. I did a photoshop touchup to bring up the whites, but I'm gonna have to bring a white pencil with me soon.

DSi Painting - 'Going Down'

2009-08-04T05:30:00.000-07:00

A little painting I did with my DSi and the nifty Colors!. Then Nintendo decides it means nothing by blocking it on their latest firmware update!! Boo Nintendo Boo!

In regards to the pic, well, I had nothing in mind really and shapes led to shapes and colours and, yeah, you get that. May take it into Photoshop one day and fix it all up.

Tram Sketches

2009-07-29T06:03:00.000-07:00

A bloke who's always tapping away at his laptop on the morning tram. Never seen him without it. He somehow sat right in front of me this time, so I got him with my Signo pen. I'm trying a lighter ballpoint at the mo, so hopefully I'll update you all how it goes.

Mini Break in the Mountains

2009-07-20T04:25:00.001-07:00

I think I was having withdrawal symptoms for awhile there - no internet! Yikes. But alas, it didn't matter as the real beauty of the mount dandenongs made it a non-issue. We stayed in a great little barn called Arnica Views - I've stayed in a few accommodations in my time, but nothing like the experience you get here. Anyway the first little sketch was done in the guest book as a little thankyou to the hosts and the other was a still life I recorded, TRYING to get glass looking somewhat like glass!

23rd Worldwide Sketchcrawl

2009-07-11T05:47:00.000-07:00

In Melbourne winter, you know it's gonna be bad...but today, to have a sketchcrawl, was absolutely horrendous - wind, rain you name it, it chucked it down. I know I've done southbank before, but I needed some shelter and somewhere slightly quiet and most importantly clean toilets. This particular one was done inside the Southgate Shops, overlooking the Yarra and towards flinders. I thought just black and white will do today, it's about as eerie as it got!

Sketch of the weeeeeeek..

2009-07-10T05:51:00.000-07:00

So, to my horror, my trusty ball point pen ran out of ink this week and I dug around to the deepest darkest (and dirtiest) parts of my bag to get some drawing apparatus out. And here it is, pencil! Went to the Riot and bought a few pens to stuff into my bag, ah, normal transmission resumes.

Pushing on

2009-07-08T06:13:00.000-07:00

Think I lost something in this version, but the scheme feels more like a 'me' painting. I think I'm gonna refine my drawing tomorrow before I knuckle down on Sunday arvo...hope it works out!

Hair...hair hair

2009-07-06T06:29:00.000-07:00

Sooooooo just blocking in still until I'm somewhat happy with the way the colours bind. It's taking awhile as always. I was thinking something Tina Turner-esque for the hair...nnnnnno. Anyway the base is there, we'll see how it goes

Blocking it

2009-07-02T07:46:00.000-07:00

Still a little unsure of some lighting situations and how to bend it to suit the story I want to tell. But yeah...update today. Woop.

Seh's birthday painting '09 WIP

2009-06-30T06:18:00.000-07:00

Usually I keep this under lock and key but this year, I thought I'd reckon I'll spill it and get feedback along the way. Sarah knows so it won't be such a surprise, but anyway, you can't win them all. So here is the initial sketch of detail and the feel of the piece. I hope I can get it finished by the end of July, so I'll keep y'all posted!

In a gallery!

2009-06-27T03:54:00.000-07:00

Welp, in all it's blurred camera phone pixellated goodness, here's my painting wedged between others at the Brunswick art gallery! The whole experience was alot of fun and can't wait to give it a shot again. Till next time!

Dr Sketchy's Melbourne 25.06.09

2009-06-25T04:19:00.000-07:00

After missing out last month, I was really wanting to get back into it all. Today's model was the beautiful Frankie Valentine, and again she threw alot of drawing challenges. She was tall and leggy and her lips were pouty but smooth. As always a lot of fun and this was Dr Sketchy's Melbourne's 3rd anniversary !(mouthful)So if you wanna head down, especially during these winter months get more info at thier [URL=http://drsketchymelbourne.com/]blog[/URL].