happy santaClaus and a merry new year

I felt like doing a little holiday illustration, so here he is happy Santa riding Rudolf. Pretty pleased with how it turned out - the only thing might be the colors...working with two monitors, one very bright and vibrant the other a bit more on the dull side....either way HO-HO-HO and a merry new year.

toonyMoose

As I have been working on a moose in zbrush, without any real direction in terms of look, except I knew it should be cartoony in some way. So I drew a little sketch of this guy - most for the fun of it, not exactly sure I want to push the shapes this much....but we'll see.

froggy

As I needed a little break from some of my different 3D projects I have been working on for the last couple of weeks, I dived into my ever trusting pile of random sketches and found this little dude - a fun little procrastination-project, that turned out quite nicely - I really like the pure silhouette, there are some nice shapes in there. The colors are....well I've looked at two different screens I now I've gone blind - on the one the green is insanely green and on the other it looks just about right. So if you find the colors to be off - you are looking at the wrong screen ;)  

dino

So I have finally decided that this little fella is about done.  I wanted to get to know Photoshops pen tool a little better, wanted to see if it offered me other or better options than my usual weapon of choice - Illustrator. The idea was to try for a more painted look, using brushes, paint in some textures and some light. But I did find it very hard to stray from my more flat shapes and well defined areas for light and shadow,  I am certainly no painter, and how this dino ended up all of the work might as well have been in Illustrator - but then again - this was the first attempt so maybe I'll just have to keep trying.
In actual work hours this was not a big undertaking, but deciding that it's actually done - it has taken me quite some time - and if I am ever to move on to other projects I have to stop eventually.
The original sketch is about two years old, made during my bachelor project, and in all that time this little piece of paper has just been lying there in the midst of other amazing ideas ;)

The Notebook

- Adam and Eve getting kicked out of the Garden -

- I have no idea.....-

So the other day I was helping my mother clear out some things for a garage sale, when I stumbled upon some of my old notebooks from school. One of them was from my religions class way way back, (I'm guessing I must have been somewhere around the age 8-11) and it featured these rare gems of sketches I did during class. Obviously we must have learned something about Adam&Eve and Pharaohs and the ancient Egyptians, but where the very funky camels and that half robot-man killer machine comes from - I don't know. Should I however venture a guess I most likely haven't been paying that much attention - and so my mind probably wandered(fancy way of not saying I was bored out of my mind)  

 - The very well known story of the ancient Egyptians killing each other....(?) -

 - Oooo so funky Camels -

 - From the old Norse mythology the tale of the cyborg-killer-robot -

Monsieur Pussycat

I have been doodling on some sketches of cats and squirrels as inspiration for a personal project a friend of mine is currently working on. As most of them is done using the good old pencil and paper - getting them into the computer without access to a scanner is going to be bit of a puzzler, one workaround could be to use my mobile cam and then emailing the images to myself, pretty sure the quality isn't going to be the best....hmmmmm anyways this guy was one of the simplest one - shape wise so I just redid the hole thing in Illustrator, using the sketch as a reference.

no LEGO for me

 - how small I felt facing the smiling heads of the large than large evil corporation -

So a couple of weeks ago I went to a job interview at LEGO for a position as 3D graphics artist. Finally my first interview since graduating in February. I was the first they had called in, so obviously the job was as good as mine - except....it really wasn't. They had plenty of candidates to pick from and not only from here in Denmark but from all around the great wide world - I blame the ongoing economic crisis. On top of that it seemed like they wanted someone who also could animate. Both a CG artist and an Animator all wrapped up nicely with a little bow on top. Trying to bypass this minor problem I assured them that I was capable of setting key frames - and willing to learn more - back on track this is where(in my opinion) it all went south. I was asked the relative simple (and I assume normal for a job interview) question; "describe yourself" - using a few buzz or keywords they wanted me to describe....me. It shouldn't be that difficult right? - but what followed can best be described as a series of sounds rather than words (uhh, uhmm, etc.) it wasn't pretty :)

Naturally I waited, and hoped for a second interview, but alas it was not to be. So now I shall continue my search for my second ever job interview ( and next time I will come prepared, carrying a cheat-sheet filled with buzz words to describe myself. )

 - a lego panda bear I got at the interview - I made it all by myself! -

hippo

I'm on fire! Two images in two days.....what has gotten into me? But then again if I ever am going to get through my pile of various sketches and ideas maybe I should try to keep it up.
Usually when working on stuff like this I get it up to a nearly finished stage, and then I tend to get started on another project - eventually leaving me with several almost but not quite finished projects. This new and radical approach I have to say is way more satisfying:)

Above you'll see the finished pic and the sketch - can you guess which is which?

little lion man

Yet another little sketch from one of the paper piles on my desk. I kind of like the design, but I think he lacks some character. The 4 small images was just a little play with blend modes.

Skagens Museum

Porcelain - the bachelor project I was working on is at the moment featured at the Skagens Museum alongside some of the pictures that we used as inspiration for the film - pretty awesome :)

Dracula

Porcelain going to Seoul

 Great news - just heard from our director that the short film I worked on for my bachelor project has been selected for a festival - this one; http://www.sicaf.org/2012/index.jsp honestly I have to say I don't now anything about this festival but still I am quite excited - Porcelains first festival screening yeah!
And if you have not watched Porcelain yet, or maybe just feel like a little revisit then you are in luck, here is a link:
https://vimeo.com/58179093

The LockOutIsOverBoy

When I started on this piece I was trying to make a new profile picture, but I couldn't really make it work, and so it was just lying all unfinished and sad somewhere on my hard drive.
Today a four week long lockout of all the teachers here in Denmark ended and so I finally found a purpose for this little fellow. 

BiPlane 2.0

I didn't plan on spending more time on this one - but especially the wings bothered me, they turned out too boxy...so I slimmed them down and since I was at it I added some weapons just to make it even more realistic....

BiPlane

Since I graduated in late January the focus has been primarily on looking for a job, something that still hasn't payed off. On top of that I have been nurturing my desire to go into hibernation, god how I hate the danish winter. And even though daylight has found its way back here, and spring is just around the corner, the cold weather lingers.
But since I couldn't stay in bed forever, even though it seemed like the sane thing to do I decided for a little and easy start up project, something to get me started. Watching the intro music for the disney show Tale Spin (and sinning along - danish version is better) I opted for a plane of some sort.
So this bi-plane is based on one of the first hits after a quick google search, a not too detailed photo combined with a bit of imagination. So sort of realistic but not. Looking at the renders I think maybe the wings ought to be thinner, the tail also could use some more work and I also considered a couple of gun just for the fun of it.
But as there is a lot of other ideas in my head, trying to get out.... I'm not really sure if I want to spend more time working on this one.

Graduation

So last Friday the 25th of January 2013 I graduated with a bachelor in CG arts from The Animation Workshop. We had a screening of all the films in the cinema 'Fotorama' in Viborg for friends and mainly family. The films will Hopefully now go on to be featured at film festivals around the world. But if they doesn't reach a movie theater near you they can all be found online, here is a link  to the final result of my bachelor year, the animated short 'Porcelain' and please be sure to check out all the other amazing films. 

Porcelain (subbed) from The Animation Workshop on Vimeo.