Oliver Atton-Higgins

Fissure

2012-01-30T09:34:00.001-08:00

Hedge Tutorial

2012-01-24T09:12:00.000-08:00

One day Robert decided he needed to do some R&D for an upcoming project, and started making a hedge in Maya. Methods such as paint effects hadn't worked, and modelling the whole thing would be a long and cumbersome task, so he elected to use particle systems.

As he sat down at his desk, Robert turned slowly to his cat, and screamed 'Damn! If only I knew how to do the following!:

-Create a hedge within Maya, using particle systems and instanced geometry!

-How to create basic expressions to make instanced geometry rotate randomly!'

''I know!' he blasted as the cat ran away, 'I will find these details out, and post them online with simple instructions and screenshots so others may learn from my errors!'

Robert banged his fist on the table with determination. 'Let's make this hedge! Right after I get some coffee and check my facebook!'

An hour later, Robert began his daunting challenge.

The first thing Robert knew he must do was to create a cube in maya, a block out of the hedge's shape. He made a poly cube, and decided that 10 subdivisions would be sufficient to shape it thusly:

As he worked, his phone rang. It was his grandmother.

'Are you creating a poly cube in maya to make a hedge, dear?' she asked.

'Why yes granny, I am!'

'Oh good. Be sure to delete any unnecessary faces, such as the ones on the bottom and at the back, to decrease render times later!', his gran replied; she hang up. Robert thought this was an excellent idea, and complied.

After a full 2 minutes of work, Robert was fed up of using maya, and decided to go on google and find a suitable leaf image which he could adapt into a texture map.

Robert promptly loaded a suitable image into Photoshop, and created an alpha channel for the leaf. As he was completing this process, his cat returned to the room. As he stared into the cat's eyes, he could sense the cats thoughts...

'Save the image file as a .tga... With alpha channels... 32 bits... Compress', the cat said, telepathically.

Robert thought this counsel was nonsense, but his fear had made him pliable, and he proceeded as the cat had ordered:

He loaded his texture map into maya and applied it to a plane, the approximate size of a leaf in relation to his hedge. He was delighted with the result:

Now that Robert had both his leaf and his hedge model ready, he knew his destiny was about to begin. He was going to make the particle system that would drive the random geometry, which would later become leaves.

Robert selected his basic hedge model, then clicked the 'Particles>Emit from object' options box. He then made sure to select 'surface' as his Emitter type. After slowly contemplating the beauty of fallen leaves idling and dancing in the wind, he decided that he did not want his leaves moving for this at all, so set his speed to 0, and clicked 'create'.

Following this, Robert had his leaf plane selected, when he happened upon the 'Instancer (Replacement)' options tab. He chose the default options without hesitation.

'Oh Happy Day!' Robert cried. And he cried again, when he discovered that the default settings would not randomise his leaves at all:

As he sat in despair a magical unicorn, with the head of a T-Rex suddenly appeared next to him, in a vision of rainbows and purple smoke.

'You must create a custom expression to randomise the leaves rotations' ,the unicorn whispered, before conveying the necessary expressions to Rob via telepathy; then disappeared to whence he came.

'Why have Autodesk not thought to make this easier!' he lambasted, 'Surely this is a common occurence, befitting of a tool in a future maya update!'. The cat nodded, sanctifying his grievance. With a heavy heart, Robert opened up the attribute editor for his particle system, and clicked the 'General' button in the 'Add Dynamic Attributes tab, and naked his new attribute 'rotPP':

With the 'creation' option selected, he input the following:

particleShape1.rotPP = rand (0,360);

And with 'runtime before dynamics' chosen, he did also type:

particleShape1.rotPP += 0.001;

This gave the attribute a random value, from 0 to 360, and would vary it per particle, just as the T-Rex-headed unicorn had prophesied. He knew that once he deleted his current instance via the Outliner tab, he could create a new instance, as he had before, and choose his new 'rotPP' expression as it's rotation value.

Voila! His masterpiece was almost complete, Robert knew. All he had to do now was tweak his particle/emitter settings to get a suitable volume of leaves, and break the connection to the particles 'Current Time' attribute, until he discovered a better way to 'freeze' his leaves or convert them to polygons.

Jealous of his success, the cat climbed onto Robert's desk to have a look. As he espied Rob's amazing work the cat's eyes bulged and glowed, as if some ancient knowledge long hidden in his mind was creeping out from the darkness.

'Not bad' Robert chuckled to himself, drunk with his success. 'It's far from perfect, but for R&D/tutorial purposes, I'd say our work is done!'

To his astonishment, His cat started rising slowly from the desk, knocking his keyboard to the floor, and turned towards him, as if compelled by some supernatural force...

'I hope that if anyone appreciates this tutorial, or has any further tips, that they comment on this blog post', the cat screeched...

Scrapbook 23/01/12

2012-01-23T03:13:00.000-08:00

Totally been going back to basics lately. I've been watching a lot of videos on the 'Reilly' method of anatomy drawing. It's something I've used before but never really taken the time to learn. It's uber-relaxing to sit and practise for hours as well, and I'm getting some real sense of improvement :)

I'd totally recommend practising these shapes, regardless of your skill level or discipline. You can find a rough guide (taken from the imaginefx anatomy issue) here:

http://mos.futurenet.com/pdf/computerarts/CAP113_tut_bodies.pdf

Here's some mindless brain spew as well. Whenever I feel stressed from looking for CG work, doing CG work, worrying about CG work, nothing is more relaxing than picking up a pencil/wacom and spilling your mind onto the paper...

Mermaid Sculpt Update

2012-01-19T11:06:00.000-08:00

You may remember her from a while back... I started sculpting this, then found my computer couldn't handle the polys I wanted. So I got a new one! First detail pass almost complete... Just gotta finalise her detailing, colour (I have NO ideas what colours to use yet), add texture, then make a weapon and some boob-coverage. So... Not much then! As long as she's creepy and awesomely detailed by the end, it doesn't matter how I get there :)

Showreel January 2012

2012-01-18T12:02:00.000-08:00

Here we go! Managed to finally update my showreel :) Hopefully I can have an even newer one up soon with some more personal projects in:

If you have a youtube account, please hit the thumbs up button, comment or subscribe. Thanks for your time!

Speedsketch

2012-01-13T07:04:00.000-08:00

Gatehouse

2012-01-12T12:47:00.000-08:00

Did this was back in November 2011 for an app pitch... Couldn't render it at the time (rubbish computer), but it's here for you to view now in it's remastered glory! :D

Update 11/01/12

2012-01-11T09:43:00.000-08:00

I have a new computer! Yay! This means I can finally show off some of the work I've been doing the last few months, and create a lot more!

First up, here's a prop I made for children's show abadas while I was working for Dinamo Productions: (dinamo.co.uk)

And, in case you missed it, the latest iteration of my showreel:

Bloody Norah

2012-01-09T09:34:00.000-08:00

Please take a minute to watch this trailer.It's a one-off drama about self-harm, which myself and Rory WIlliams did the Visual Effects for:

This film is being entered into the Welsh BAFTAs and will (hopefully) come up trumps! There's a lot of familiar faces, and well-known actors on show too. Fingers crossed!

Peace out.

Victory City

2011-11-02T13:17:00.001-07:00

D-STROY

2011-10-30T10:07:00.001-07:00

WIP mermaid

2011-10-28T09:59:00.001-07:00

2nd pass. Can't wait to poly paint this!

WIP

2011-10-25T04:36:00.001-07:00

WIP - Birdman Tutorial

2011-10-19T04:54:00.000-07:00

So I've finally found motivation to do some more 3D work! This is part of the 'Birdman' tutorial that comes with zBrush essentials (great book. Pick it up!). I'm doing my own stuff too, which will come soon, but this is a nice way to get back to basics and remind myself why I love digital sculpting so much! Still needs much more detail and painting, but I'll get around to that...

I've also started part-time tutoring the Computer Animation/Games Art courses at my old uni. Should keep me entertained until my next break. And if I can show them a little something/help them achieve more from the course, then I've done my job :)

Hit me up. Let me know what you think!

Futuristic City

2011-09-21T11:17:00.001-07:00

wip

2011-09-21T09:07:00.000-07:00

Listening to James Clyne as I work... He is one sneaky mother :)

wip

2011-09-20T09:05:00.001-07:00

Sketches

2011-09-19T12:03:00.000-07:00

Looking For Work

2011-08-29T12:51:00.000-07:00

Yerp. I'm available! Taking all commissions/job offers/advice.

So hit me up!!!

I expect to be churning out A LOT more work from now on, due to more free time/needing practice/sheer desperation...

This thing isn't finished (as far as I know?)

Also, check out this awesome show I've been working on for the last year; Iconicles!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b0148t9l/

It's on cbeebies daily at 3:45 PM!

Gather Your Stones

2011-06-16T11:53:00.000-07:00

Look at me, feeling all prehistoric!

I haven't updated in a while :( Unfortunately, my life conspired against me to prevent me from finishing my Dominance War entry... It took a lot of illness, stress and death, but he got me! Whether or not I will re-visit it I'm not sure... I'm a big fan of moving onto new things at the moment!

If I can find the patience outside of work to do some 3D work, you'll be the first to know.

Enjoy ;)

Dominance War V - part 5

2011-04-06T12:04:00.000-07:00

Dominance War V - part 4

2011-03-25T17:00:00.000-07:00

Dominance War V - part 3

2011-03-22T14:53:00.000-07:00

Getting there!

Dominance War V - part 2

2011-03-21T14:13:00.000-07:00

Dominance War V

2011-03-20T10:03:00.000-07:00

A friend/colleague recently introduced me to Dominance War; a global CG art challenge, which I have decided to enter this year. The idea is to design, model and texture a 3D character. I thought it would be a nice refresher course for me :)

At first I had no idea what to do. The only condition is that your character must be a God/Goddess of some sort. Cue random shapes and alchemy sketches:

After the second pass, I settled on an idea: a Goddess of the Occult.

I got a very 'Maleficent' feel from some of these. For me, I think her character is a perfect representation of the occult.

I'm toying with the name 'Ludtvega'. Not sure if we have to name them, but I find it helps.

And there we go! Opinions and constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated, while I have time to act on it!

Thanks :P

Turn Yourself In

2011-02-06T08:23:00.001-08:00

Don't Leave me Hanging

2010-12-09T14:11:00.000-08:00

Thought I'd paint something different for a change ;)

It was going to be a woman... But I paint way too many women.

Listen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shnqnXKPlE0

Thanks for looking. More soon!

Unicron

2010-11-23T11:09:00.000-08:00

Wolfman

2010-11-19T14:19:00.000-08:00

More work on the way!

WIP

2010-11-10T13:26:00.000-08:00

Freya WIP 2

2010-10-20T13:23:00.000-07:00

Character Update:

Due to the inevitably gargantuan poly count this chick is gonna require... It looks like I might have to work one item of clothing at a time :S I don't really like that workflow... I prefer to do the whole thing in detail 'passes' but, I don't really want to crash zbrush either :P

I'm liking the look so far... I think the bristles of her fake hair are coming along pretty nicely... It's a shame you can't see some of the detailing on her helmet and collar (needs more blood staining?)... But I'll post that another time :)

Advice and constructive criticism is encouraged. Thanks!

Freya WIP

2010-10-17T13:55:00.000-07:00

Finally got her into zbrush!

Only spent 5 minutes in there so far, but something tells me I will be spending a lot more time on her now :D

Watch this space!

Jelly Man

2010-10-17T07:32:00.001-07:00

More CG coming soon!

Fly

2010-10-16T07:13:00.001-07:00

pacific

2010-08-31T13:12:00.000-07:00

Goache/acrylic/watercolour

Alexis

2010-08-13T16:30:00.000-07:00

Alexis W.I.P

2010-08-08T12:28:00.000-07:00

W.I.P of a collaboration I am completing outside of work.

Character design courtesy of Laura Jane Francis

http://laurajayart.blogspot.com/

All the zbrush sculpting and colouring was done in one day! Pretty impressed with myself I gotta say...

However, she's looking a bit like Jean Luc Picard at the moment...

She'll be finished by Friday :-)

Full Circle

2010-07-20T12:57:00.000-07:00

As I probably won't have time to update this blog for a while, I thought I'd give you a quick update on my current situation. Sorry about the lack of a decent images... And the words. Anyone who has seen/spoken to me in the last few days can feel free to scroll to the bottom, where there are pictures :)

So I graduated on Friday. I already knew I had somehow achieved the small miracle that is a first class honours, so that was no surprise. However, when I sat down to graduate, I was told I had also gotten the 'BA Computer Animation Prize'. I was very pleased and grateful, despite having no idea whatsoever what it meant. It was very special, and the Dean congratulated me on getting it! I have no idea who decided I should have got it, but if you're reading, I'd like to say huge thanks to you, and a massive congratulations to everyone else who graduated! There's nothing better than having all your hard work rewarded :D

If that wasn't good news enough, I also started my first job at an animation studio on Monday!
I am working at Dinamo productions (www.dinamo.co.uk - check it). At the moment, I'm working in texturing/lighting, but I'm looking forward to anything they throw at me :) Again, pretty damn grateful to get this!

And then this happened...
(don't worry, no spoilers here)

AMAZING film. If you haven't seen it yet, I have two words for you:
'THE CLAWWWWWWW!' XD

It's weird. When I first saw Toy Story, I immediately decided to take up a career in Computer Animation (yes, I remember the exact moment), and on the day the final film was released, I achieved that goal. As one of my friends observed, it was clearly 'destiny'.
With all this considered, plus the fact I turn 21 on Sunday, I'd say life is pretty good right now :)

Anyway, here's some crude W.I.Ps of my upcoming personal work. Who knows when I'll next have time to upload them here. Enjoy!

Freya

2010-07-05T09:41:00.000-07:00

Coming soon... In CG!

Click here for a better full-size and brushes:
http://olivera-h.deviantart.com/art/Freya-170150822?q=&qo=

Graduate Showreel

2010-06-11T19:11:00.000-07:00

Here is it my graduate showreel! Some of you may have seen it already, but for those who haven't, I should explain what a labour of love it has been. Months and months of work by myself., and a few others, went into this. I simultaneously experienced the best, and worst working experiences of my life creating this, but I wouldn't change it for the world!

It also got me nominated for a Glammie award at university! Despite not winning, I was more than proud of Aran, who took the award home, and all the other nominees, who worked just as hard as I did, I'm sure!

Strangely, I wasn't really proud of my work until yesterday... I thought it was ok, but the last few days have shown me that despite my determination and faith in myself, I will always be my own worst critic.

Once again, I would like to extend the biggest thank you possible to all my friends, family and tutors. Thanks to them, I now have the confidence to pursue my goals and fulfill my potential!

Though obviously, this is not the end. Not by a long shot! Already I am re-editing and adding to what you see here, and planning my next pieces of work. Watch this space!

Website up and running!

2010-06-08T08:14:00.000-07:00

Oliver Atton-Higgins - Digital/CG Art

Please take a look! I really would appreciate it. And if you have any thoughts, feel free to comment this.

Thank you! x

Almost there!

2010-05-18T15:18:00.000-07:00

Quick round-up of my projects due in Friday. For the first one, here's some steampunk cleavage:

(Don't give me that look... I know it's what you came here for)

Project number two, a warm period office come drawing room:

And lastly,my baby:

Enjoy!

2010-05-06T14:37:00.000-07:00

http://monstersinrealplaces.blogspot.com/2010/05/oliver-atton-higginssparky.html

Environment W.I.P

2010-05-06T01:55:00.001-07:00

Character W.I.P: Fabric Study

2010-05-02T16:38:00.000-07:00

This may be the saddest thing I write all week, but I actually really enjoy sculpting fabric...

It's a great lesson in weight and perseverance.

IMHO, I picked the best reference, Caravaggio:

Sticky Fingers

2010-04-22T11:04:00.000-07:00

.psd.

Worktime around... 6-8 hours?

Brushes used:

http://falln-stock.deviantart.com/art/Smoke-Brushes-Set-1-92730901

http://adonihs.deviantart.com/art/My-Brush-Pack-118954791

More W.I.P

2010-04-20T07:15:00.000-07:00

I agree with Nick!

2010-04-19T13:23:00.001-07:00

;)

2010-04-18T14:18:00.000-07:00

Period desk

2010-04-18T10:08:00.000-07:00

W.I.P of my environment... Coming along nicely I think... Takes ages to come out though!

Looks like I'll be on a MASSIVE renderbender!

Interference

2010-04-14T15:06:00.000-07:00

A ninja must move swift as the wind...

A ninja must strike without hesitation...

And without mercy.

But never without cause.

A ninja will seek to destroy Oliver's dissertation, whenever it can.

Ahead of schedule, but always behind :(

2010-04-10T07:24:00.000-07:00

SLIMY!!

SCARY!

INTELLIGENT!

SLIMY!

CARING!

SLIMY!

Isn't she gorgeous?

To do list:

-Teeth need fixing

-PIPES!! Very important (need help for those)

-Photoshoot!

-Compositing (including HDRI/light setup)

-General tweaking (I am NEVER happy.)

But first... A well earned break!

If you can think of anything else, PLEASE let me know.

Constructive criticism is always appreciated :)

My precious...

2010-04-03T15:51:00.000-07:00

Oliver loves his shiny tin foil :)

Advice and suggestions please?

2010-04-02T15:22:00.000-07:00

I went to see 'How to Train your Dragon ' tonight. I was hoping it would give me some inspiration/motivation, but as usual, it fell flat on it's Dreamworks face and failed, despite being a perfectly enjoyable movie.

I LOVED the main dragon... It's design and animation was totally spot on, and the sceness where it interacted with the main character, Hiccup, were beautiful... Shame that this wasn't capitalised on. Still... It's worth at least 2 Shreks.

I love seeing my babies come to life :D

This needs a LOT of work... But I've FINALLY started it, which is something... Plus, I will actually have time to work on it over the next week, after having bitten my nails all week in work experience (which was AMAZING by the way) worrying about it...

More Paintings! I think I'm done now...

2010-03-23T02:22:00.000-07:00

More old stuff from school... Where did it all go wrong eh?

Back to CG!

Remember...

2010-03-22T16:11:00.000-07:00

When you were a kid...

You used to love those colouring books

Colouring in your favourite characters...

Making sure every colour was EXACTLY right?

(because we all wanted to be famous artists)

Some things never change :)

Untitled. Unfinished

2010-03-18T14:11:00.000-07:00

Down the Rabbit Hole...

2010-02-21T10:22:00.000-08:00

I'm going to Japan tomorrow!!!! AHHHHHH!!! Excitement just isn't the word :P

Anyway, I'm posting something before I leave! Can't go a week without some horrible self-exhibition >.<

I finished my DIS application... yay!

(thanks Francois for convincing me to do it, and Kenneth for the drawing tips...)

'Toadstool Havens' - psd, about 2 hours

'Chess-hire Cat

Someone record Shameless for me, yeah?
Also, make sure you recycle this week! The thought of a 12 hour planes
carbon footprint makes me shudder!

P.S. Why can't I get this song out of my head??!!!!

W.I.P - Office/Drawing Room

2010-02-11T12:14:00.000-08:00

So... The story.

A Victorian doctor's office. He is probably far too intelligent for his own good, and spends all hours of the day working here, so naturally there is a lounger, drawing room area etc. I'm imagining some strange props and medical drawings on the walls also.

Obviously, these are totally unfinished. If somebody is reading this (yes, YOU),any constructive comments or observations are greatly appreciated. Concept can be found here:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SUkl0NYrxw0/SxL085ux80I/AAAAAAAAAIQ/OF0Mslcs2DM/s1600/final_002.jpg

The pillar on the right might look little low res... But I'm not lettng it anywhere near the camera so that's O.K!

I'm quite happy with the lighting so far. My concept looks a little brighter, not sure if that's good or bad. My work flow is also a bit off... Usually I believe everything is built, then textured, then lit etc, but I've blocked the scene out and am now working on it all, one bit at a time. Good or bad? Who knows.
I find it helps me give individual objects a higher quality, but I have no idea what it will do to my schedule!

If you've read this far, then I have a favour to ask you.
The Ugandan goverment it trying to push through an 'anti-gay law'. This law would make homosexuality punishable by a prison sentence, and in some cases, death. That's right. Thousands of innocent people could die. Sickening prospect, no?
As well as being in flagrant breach of basic human rights, if this law is pushed through, the country could lose millions in foreign aid. Everyone loses.
Please, sign this petition and condemn the move. Only international pressure will change their mind.
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/uganda_rights/
Every little helps ;)

Watch out kids, this one has lots of words! (Oh no!)

2010-02-03T13:30:00.000-08:00

So... My major project is coming along nicely...

If you think her hand is impressive, take a look at her rack!

As you can see, I'm onto texturing. I'm quite happy at the moment, though I feel very behind! I'm also at that horrible 'self-doubting' stage of any project, where you start to wonder if the whole thing was even a good idea (everyone else gets those...right?) I wanted her finished this weekend but there is so much left to do...

As always some constructive criticism (or friendly support) would be awesome!

I realise how boring my work is, and if you're still reading, then thanks! But today I actually did something interesting: I had a face to face interview with Merlin Crossingham, the new Creative Director of Wallace and Gromit! After only a few hours of rushedly learning interview techniques yesterday I threw myself into it! Of course, he was really easy to talk to and the whole thing went very well... I'm very very grateful to have had the opportunity!

I wish I could post some proper quotes and make an article of it, but I need to keep it under wraps for my dissertation. Needless to say though, it was totally enlightening, and I now feel very motivated! It's always great when you can talk to someone you aspire to, especially when everything they say solidifies your beliefs.

P.S, I had a 1st for my Lion-O project! I was truly astounded, and very grateful (and I didn't even have to use the Youtube video complete with soundtrack!) :D

PRINCESS AND THE FROG FRIDAY. BE THERE!

Time is the Thief

2010-01-30T08:52:00.000-08:00

Gaga study

Pencil, A4

Procrastination verb: the act of procrastinating; putting off or delaying or defering an action to a later time.

Choo Choo!

2010-01-21T13:33:00.000-08:00

I like making characters :D

Because I picked feature art, I was able to make proper hair! Awesome huh? Needs a bit of work but I must admit, maya had me impressed! THE most important thing to me about making characters is keeping their 'charm'. I don't know what it is exactly, but it's just a little something they all have in my drawings, but it's hard to keep it in the CG model... Anyway, it's all in the face and eyes, which is where I like to spend most of my time. She's in the 'dead' stage at the moment, her eyes are greyed and her skin isn't coloured yet so it's hard to tell what's gonna happen, but I have a feeling it will all come together!
I wanted her to have a stylised look (something like 'Bolt' or 'Cloudy'). In fact, I managed to get ahold of the source code for Disney's proprietary texturing software... But it's unuseable!!!! Hurry up programmers!

Some Z brush caps for the geeks to scrutinise. I've been sculpting for 1 day, so don't be too harsh, but advice would be welcome :)

(before you point out the breasts... She's wearing a corset duh!)

So yeah, it's 9:30PM, and I refuse to do more work today...

Scared of Spiders?

2010-01-17T12:57:00.001-08:00

'Arachnophobia'

.psd

Kaboom

2010-01-16T13:56:00.000-08:00

'Hans'

Digital with wacom

Not one of my usual subject matters but hey, it's nice to draw something different once in a while :)

On a different note; it you're reading this, you may be aware of the recent earthquakes in Haiti and the tragedy befalling the people there. They are amongst the poorest people in the world, and many of them have lost everything they have... Which wasn't a lot to begin with. If you can afford to help, please do.

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/

(I am a poor student... If I can afford to donate something I'm sure you all can too :)

Remember kids! There are no winners in war, only losers.

Major Relief!

2010-01-11T09:59:00.000-08:00

Good news; my major Pre-production is due in tomorrow... And I'm finished! Hurrah! Bad news... I made this for the ImagineFX cover competition... A day late :( I wonder if I can hand it in for the next one? I suppose the extra time would allow me to improve it, at least. You know what they say... 'When life hands you lemons, make lemonade!'

'Save me'

.psd

Now... Back to watching my peers stress out for tomorrow. Mwuhahahahahaha!!!

She is Sasha Fierce

2010-01-07T17:13:00.000-08:00

... Apparently.

Birthday Present for a friend

Pencils, A3

Chavatar

2010-01-05T14:30:00.000-08:00

This is so totally random, but whatever!

I'm sorry... I had to!

I'd like to point out I actually really enjoyed this movie! If you haven't seen it, do so now! Anyways, imagine how much more brutal and horrific it would be if, instead of aliens, our fearless mercenaries were forced to inhabit the bodies of chavs! Too dreadful to visualise, I'm sure...

On a personal note, my super week of stress hit it's peak today... My grandfather's funeral actually turned out to be a lot easier than I expected. The heavy snow in this area will make it difficult to organise the next few days, but hopefully my uni deadline will be pushed back... Hopefully! I guess I should just keep working and hope for the best :) Either way I can't laze around... As granddad was known to say, 'That won't do' :) Ahh, I will miss the old man.

Never Judge a Dog by it's Spots

2010-01-04T12:43:00.000-08:00

Lucy (Christmas present for mum)

Pencils, A3 paper

Me, me, me

2009-12-16T10:22:00.000-08:00

After some advice from a friend (thanks, Toke!), I have changed my alien design slightly:

Note how the top of the neck is now thicker, and the angle of the head has changed. This makes the neck look more attached, and causes the brain to be stuck to the back of the neck (why I left it hanging out in the first place is anyone's guess!). I also made some of the babies in the eggs a lot more obvious, hopefully you can tell.
I also received a critique on an older piece of art yesterday (thank you to my DA friends for this!), and I thought I should put up the revised version of my painting here:

The right arm was far to short before... Can't believe I didn't notice it! Just goes to show, there's always more to learn! I usually feel defeated or have a rebellious attitude when somebody recommends I go back and improve my work (I believe it's natural), but I'm thoroughly pleased I did :) Anyway, I did do more than that today, but unfortunately, it's super duper, top secret, need to know stuff that I can't expose until the 26th, which is a shame, because it's coming along well!

I also found out that I've managed to nab an interview with one of the producers of 'Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit' for my dissertation! How cool is that? I just wish I knew what to ask them!

On a more serious note, this week, important climate change talks are happening in Copenhagen. if these talks fail, this could result in serious ramifications for us and our planet. I urge whoever might be reading this to follow this link and sign the petition. I know it's not a lot, but every little helps :)
http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_copenhagen/97.php?cl_tta_sign=320030e984fb89cf9f3acdb66e39ea70
(Thanks to Kat Nicholson for the link)

Blogspot: My new arch nemesis

2009-12-15T16:55:00.000-08:00

Once again, blogspot has thwarted my blog's design plans... Everytime I try and change the design, posting comments is disabled. And this time, it was one of the default designs that I had chosen! Also, it seems that getting new followers is next to impossible (unlike say, twitter, or deviantart, where it is merely a matter of self-advertising and friendliness). Anyone have any tips?
If you tried to leave a comment before and couldn't, I apologise, and invite you to do so now. Go on, you know you want to...

Back to the Reality

2009-12-14T12:05:00.000-08:00

Looks like my alien has finalised itself. The next image is my final design thus far:

If anyone is reading this, please, give me your opinions and suggestions on her look. The more impractical and psychotic they are, the better received they will be.
Speaking of psychotic, Isn't it strange that we can delve into our work so much, that we start to live and breath it? Even when not working on my designs, I often find myself daydreaming about them, or stumbling across amazing ideas when I least expect to. It would be nice to break away sometimes, but after a while you can't help it... I'm sure many other people must feel the same.

Space worms!

2009-12-09T10:22:00.000-08:00

Electronic Demise

2009-12-08T09:43:00.000-08:00

My idea is that this alien, some kind of 'space worm', is carrying her eggs to the hatching grounds, when tragedy strikes, and she crashes to Earth. Her and her eggs are killed, and bring a disturbing, morbid atmosphere to the environment. The alien will be modelled in CG, and will be composited onto a high definition still to create a photo realistic image. My main inspirations were sea creatures, and the work of H.R. Giger.

And here is my submission for the Lady Gaga 'Monster Ball' tour. I couldn't include sound because of copyright, but if you look here you should be able to find the version with sound quite easily:
http://www.showstudio.com/project/ladygagasubmit/gallery
I highly recommend you find the version with sound, it's much better. If not, watch while listening to 'Bad Romance' to get some of the effect.

It turned out ok... Not as well as I'd have hoped, but it's not a professional contest or anything, so that's fine. If you're confused and it seems incoherent, then I achieved what I set out to do.

Lastly, animators, check this out!:
http://vimeo.com/user1609528

Game Character - Lion-O!

2009-12-07T10:13:00.000-08:00

Work Upload time!

(I HATE this shameless self-promotion, I'm sorry!)

Here's the project I've been working on for the last three weeks. It's been Hell. At the start of the project, I established that I was utterly disappointed and bitter about the mark I had for my environment, and I felt I had something to prove. In my usual rebellious and industrious fashion, I strove to stay one step ahead, and this is the result:

Although I'm quite happy with the outcome on a personal level, I wouldn't like to predict what marks I'd be given for it. And I don't really care. I learned a lot making this character, and it has prepared me for more to come, and that's what is important.

If you're reading this, thanks for looking!

P.S. I found this hilarious blog: http://yahoowackjobs.blogspot.com/ Please take a look if yu're feeling down, it really deserves more attention.

Patience is a Virtue

2009-12-03T12:45:00.000-08:00

I am totally itching to put some new work up... Though I'm not sure why, as this blog probably remains completely unnoticed by the outside world and exists only to humour my ramblings and self-obsession...

Nevertheless! I have a few pieces of work on the go, which will probably all end up being completed at the same time, and which I would love to place up here as part of my humble collection. Until then, here's a piece from the vault:

Ooh! And a very interesting tour of Pixar, if you're interested:

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/showbiz/2009/12/02/hyde.pixar.studio.tour.cnn

What inspires us?

2009-11-29T15:36:00.000-08:00

A week or so ago, I saw the story of a little girl called Elena Desserich on 'Russel Howards Good News'...

Elena was a 6 year old girl diagnosed with terminal cancer.

During her illness, she turned to drawing for comfort. In this time, she became a renowned artist, and even had her work put in galleries! However, her most poignant achievement were the hundreds of notes she left her family, to comfort them after her death. They were still being found months, years after her death.

It's hard to believe a 6 year old could be so strong, selfless and courageous. She is a true inspiration to us all, and a reminder of what our work can achieve, if we can stop being self-absorbed, and pour our heart and souls into it.

If you haven't heard her story, I invite you to watch this video:

A Hard Days Work

2009-11-15T13:07:00.000-08:00

I have no energy left right now, so I'm going to let my painting do the talking:

The Dreamer

2009-11-09T01:48:00.000-08:00

'Some men see things as they are and say, "Why?" I dream of things that never were and say, "Why not?'

- George Bernard Shaw

Say what?

2009-11-06T07:36:00.000-08:00

Just a random sketch I came up with in uni yesterday... She needs a name.

Major Project: E.J Expression Sheets

2009-11-04T14:08:00.000-08:00

Here's some expression sheets for my Character. I had a lot of fun trying to capture her personality. I imagined her as very fiesty, domineering and hard to be argued with. Getting this across though... was very hard! In fact, it was so hard I had to fill up almost an entire sketchbook with failed drawings before I came anywhere close, and it's still not perfect. I changed costume midway too and got rid of the criss crosses on her corset as they looked a bit too 'fru fru'. Apologies for the woeful cleanup, I try and embrace smudges wherever possible... I might have to fix some of them though.

'All your dreams can come true if you have the courage to pursue them. '

-Walt Disney

Major Project: Character

2009-11-01T06:43:00.000-08:00

So... This is how I want my major project to work. I'm going for an old-fashioned painterly kind of look. My character and environment are going to work together and hopefully I will end up with some very nice still images and visual themes. Since my motivation has always been to work in features, I felt that by mixing the two projects together I could develop and showcase my lighting and compositional skills.

Anyway, whilst I was in the process of designing my projects, I started to wonder... Is there such a thing as a 'perfect' idea or design? Is it better to pull off an amazing concept, or create an amazing piece from a rushed idea? In the grand scheme of things, my ideas at this time weren't that important. I noticed a lot of my peers spending days thinking over ideas and wasting valuable 'doing' time by perfecting their concepts and convincing themselves how terrible their ideas were. I just had a single image in my head, so I drew it out (albeit very crudely) and went from there.

Not the best works of art ever... But the colour information was quite useful... Now, less explaining, more doing!

'Mickey Mouse popped out of my mind onto a drawing pad 20 years ago on a train ride from Manhattan to Hollywood at a time when business fortunes of my brother Roy and myself were at lowest ebb and disaster seemed right around the corner'

-Walt Disney

Major Project: Parasite - Concept Art

2009-10-28T13:53:00.000-07:00

So here we go... My final University major! I'm very excited to be starting this! My project will consist of three parts: my female character, her period environment (but more on those later :P), and this, my crash site.

The story is this: an alien spaceship is attacked by a parasitic creature in space and is driven by the creature into the Earth's atmosphere, crashing into the Egyptian desert. Pyramids are ruined, and the creature begins breeding into, and infecting the environment. How this is going to be conveyed in my final show reel... Isn't something I'm at liberty to divulge at the moment. For now, enjoy these concept images from the project:

Not bad for my first ever attempts at 'proper' concept art, I hope! Anyway, this project is actually still at the very first stages of design, so nothing is decided yet. My character, however, is almost done, and I will hopefully be in a position to upload some lovely artwork of her next week, as long as I can stick to my schedule.

Please comment and let me know what you think about these images. Any constructive advice would be greatly appreciated!

NOTE: All brushes used can be found here: http://olivera-h.deviantart.com/favourites/#Brushes

Art Retrospective

2009-10-21T15:09:00.000-07:00

As I've just started my final year at uni, and am getting more and more into my art every day, I thought it might be nice to show you all my roots. The following is a small collection of work from my school days, which you might not get to see otherwise. Enjoy!

Sorry if some of you have seen these before... But they had to go on here eventually! I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I did making them :) Hopefully I'll have some of my new concept stuff on here soon for you all to look at but until then... Adios!

2009-10-19T12:11:00.000-07:00

University Project 001: Introduction to Maya: Environment Modelling

So here it is... My first finished 3rd year uni project. I'm pretty happy with the outcome... Would have been nice to have more time to perfect, but I guess that's the way the industry goes. Have a look:

I think the atmosphere and the church texturing are definitely my strong points here... There are weaknesses also, but I'm not at liberty to mention them until after i's marked :P

If you want, check out a full turnaround/flythrough video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dv3px2oFb80

(Don't forget to add me and subscribe on your way out ;))

I hope you enjoyed seeing this as much as I enjoyed making it. Until next time, here's a sneak peak at a concept sketch for part of my major.

Peace out.

Back To School

2009-10-04T12:44:00.001-07:00

Long time no update... I've been quite busy the last few weeks. A lot of pieces I had planned I couldn't do because I don't have the time :P Still... I've tried to stay arty and keep practising everything and anything I can think of to pass the time. Here we go!

Notice the distinct lack of CG work? I thought it would be better to practise some traditional art while I have the time to, as opposed to uni where I have to do CG non stop. I'm pretty happy with those pieces (the wonder woman is a bit 'meh' but whatever, it's all practice). The cube one isn't great either, but I modelled it in z brush and it mixes pretty well with the 2d elements of the picture. Speaking of z brush... That program is amazing! It makes modelling sooo much easier, unlike Maya, which I've been trying to learn for the last few months, and never ceases to confuse and anger me at every possible opportunity... I'm actually starting to miss 3DS Max... At least that did what it said on the box and yielded fairly satisfactory result after 2 years of learning! But anyway... I've been back at uni for a week now and am loving it! Here's a preview of my first project... Enjoy!

Coming Soon: Who knows? Hopefully something good XD

Digital Paintings

2009-07-05T12:46:00.000-07:00

I've been pretty bored over the last few days, so I felt inclined to come up with a few paintings to keep myself entertained. The first offering is this lovely mermaid, who is heavily modelled after Megan Fox.

I am very happy with this one, but I realised I was trying to be too realistic, so I started looking at some impressionistic paintings to inspire myself for the next piece.

I was happy with this one too, but I felt it was a bit too subtle and not realistic or colourful enough...I guess some people can never be pleased.

(I recommend you click the next picture to view it in full; the preview here only shows 1 of 3 panels)

The third one was just right. It also served a purpose; a kind of 'conceptual storyboard' for one of my ideas for a project next year. It is reminiscent of my 'old' style of traditional painting, back when I was working on animals and country scenes, which I like, because it brings into play some texture and atmospheric colour that a lot of super-shiny, technical digital pieces lack. I'm not ready to throw all my paintbrushes in the bin yet...but I'm starting to like my graphics tablet a bit more.

Coming soon: Art Retrospective and... some overdue animation!

Aardman Work Experience

2009-07-02T08:12:00.000-07:00

So...last week I did my work experience at Aardman Animation, Bristol! How did it go?

Brilliant.

The first thing I saw upon entering the building was...an Oscar, and models of Wallace and Gromit themselves...It was at that point I realised this week was going to be something very special. As I fumbled around the building that day I was constantly running into various sets and artefacts, most of which I seemed to recognise from their films and television programmes.

Monday and Tuesday I ended up working on promotional stills with their Production Stills Manager. She was really nice and friendly and did everything she could to make my time there enjoyable. As it turned out, I didn't end up getting much work done these first two days, as she had gone out of her way to make sure I had a few guided tours of the building and their current projects.

The sets I saw there for 'Shaun the Sheep' were absolutely fantastic...you could really see the time and effort that went into these things...and it paid off. The models themselves were quite fascinating too...I'd never realised how much thought and technical considerations were involved in making these pieces, but they were very interesting to look at and play with. I can't give anything away (due to the confidentiality agreement), but I will definitely be looking forward to their upcoming work when it is finally finished! A lot of the staff hadn't even seen what I had, so I was very grateful.

Although the stills work itself was fairly monotonous, I still enjoyed every second of it, and I was far too happy and grateful to be there to have noticed the monotony at the time :) The work atmosphere in the building seemed fairly relaxed. I was quite surprised actually, as they had so much to do! It was amazing how happy they all seemed. In fact, the whole production process was not at all as I expected. From what I gathered by talking to everyone there, I got the impression that the animation industry is a little different from what us university students seem to believe sometimes...

On Wednesday I was carted off to the 'Timmy Time' Production Office. After bing stuck in traffic for three hours, I was anxious to start working, but first I had a quick tour around the Timmy studio. Once again the sets were fantastic, even if the design was so colourful I thought I might be at risk of getting diabetes :) As with 'Shaun the Sheep', I really enjoyed watching the animators and directors at work, even if it wasn't for long. They even let me hold some of the characters, including Yabba the duck...who happens to be my favourite :P After that, I spent the rest of the day organising storyboards ready to be put into animatics...and I made sure I stayed as late as I could to make up for the traffic in the morning :) I also made sure to leave a box of chocolates at reception for everyone there as a small 'thanks'...they were well-recieved, and had been completely devoured by the time I left for home, which was a nice note to leave on :D

On Thursday, I had to go to their new studio at Gas Ferry. It was an interesting experience entering that place for the first time. Everywhere I looked there were giant rabbits and gromits smiling up at me, apparently ignoring the rest of the staff who were sat at their computers, hard at work. It was a very surreal building, and actually reminded me of my university. The atmosphere there was a little different to their older studio, but everyone seemed friendly and happy enough and they were obviously all extremely talented.

I was soon set to work drawing up storyboards for 'Shaun the Sheep'. This was amazing for me, as I particularly enjoy making storyboards, so to do it in a world-class environment like this was a great experience, even if it was only a practice storyboard. Whilst I was doing them, I had a lot of help from some of Aardman's short film animators, which was good. One of them, in particular, was a very friendly and helpful woman (ex-'Hercules' animator I believe), who took the opportunity to approach me and ask if I needed any help whenever she could. I would have liked to get some more drawing advice from her actually, but I became so engrossed in my boards

that I neglected the opportunity.

I didn't manage to finish these in one day, so I was allowed to take them home to finish...which explains why they get a little sloppy towards the end :P Overall, making them was a good experience, and I learned a little about shots and composition, and tried to apply the advice I had recieved earlier in the week from the Aardman D.O.P (Director of Photography). I'm stll not convinced my drawings of Shaun look remotely like him...but hey...we all have our own styles right? :P

For my final day at Aardman, I was left to my own devices on one of their computers. Although I tried to break up the day by investigating the goings on in their short films department, I spent most of the day using their professional maya tutorials. I am a total newcomer to maya, having only spent a few days using it at that point. The most I had managed to accomplish was a bit of (ok-ish) modelling and some crude UV unwrapping, so I was keen to make the most of these tutorials. This is what I came up with:

I am very happy with this piece, as it more than rivals anything I had produced in 3ds max...and that is after a whole two years of experience! The entire thing was modelled, textured and lit by myself, so I had a nice sense of accomplishment when I finished it, and I also recieved some nice feedback from it too, which is always a plus :) I'm very happy I managed to light it in particular, as lighting in maya was something I was anxious to get a grip on.

To be honest, Friday afternoon seemed like a bit of an anti-climax, though I'm not sure what I expected. Although I said goodbye to the people I had been talking to during the week, the woman who had been in charge of me at Gas Ferry was in a meeting at the time, so I had noone to thank unfortunately. However, I was extremely grateful to have been given the chance to join the Aardman team for a week, and it truly was a fantastic and humbling experience. Throughout the whole week, I never met anybody who was anything other than friendly and extremely happy to be there. It was a wonderful working environment and if I have the pleasure of working anywhere half as good in the future I will consider myself an extremely lucky individual.

Coming soon: Art retrospective, and... a mermaid?

-Watch this space-

Photoshop Painting 101

2009-06-20T06:41:00.000-07:00

So...during my summer holidays from university, I decided some well-needed preparation was in order for next year. As well as getting to grips with new programs, modelling and animation techniques, I wanted to go back to my roots and do some good ol' fashioned painting...with a twist. This was my first real attempt at a completed digital painting...not my best work ever but certainly not the worst:

It only took me a day to do, and I learnt a lot so I guess it was a success...or at least it will do until I decide what I actually want to paint when I put brush to paper! As always, any constructice criticism or praise is welcome.

Next up: Work experience at Aardman Animation next week! I'm very excited...and nervous. Hopefully I will have plenty of stuff to upload from there for you to look at...

-Watch this space-