Mad times

sorry it has been so long since my last post, lots on at the moment, I'm teaching almost full time at the moment, so I don't have too much time. any free time I have is spent fight ing with the IOM dept of education about uni funding, I think I'm getting there, but its hard to tell. anyway better news would be that I will be taking part in an exhibition of drawing in June, more details coming soon. I'm also really looking forward to Bournemouth in September, I don't hate teaching anywhere near as much as I thought I would but still I must focus on the reason I'm doing it for. will post some actual art soon.... i promise.

Getting to grips with 3D

I know I don't start my course until September but there have been a few niggling doubts going through my poor addled brain of late, the biggest being uncertain of how well I'd be able to learn computer programs in a short space of time (I've always relied more on paint and pencils) the other being actually thinking in three dimensions, rather than trying to make something 2D look like it could exist in a 3D world. so on my day off this week I thought, right I'm going to get to grips with this, so I downloaded a free trial of one of the programs that I would be learning, mostly to see how complicated it is...yes it's very complicated but after a few false starts and a couple of very helpful youtube videos I finally got my head around the basics of meshes and the like and even managed to construct my own mesh ready to sculpt onto:

I decided to work on my zombie character as it seemed like a simple albeit stylised design that I'm very familiar with, now I know that the mesh I built has a few errors, I know the arms are too long, I simply wanted to take a figure through the process, to see how it works, so once I was reasonably satisfied with the mesh I began to sculpt:

I tried to keep it in the style of the original drawing and I think it worked to an extent, I enjoyed the sculpting immensely, I must admit feeling advantaged when sculpting the clothes, having spent practically all of last year painting creases into shirts on 2d paintings, I lean't quickly that regarding the sculpt and particularly the face, that less is definitely more. Once I was done with the sculpt I decided to have a go at adding some colour:

I purposely kept this very basic as not to confuse myself, given how complicated every other process was on this program, i was surprised out how straightforward this was. The exercise did exactly what I hoped it would do, it has alleviated some of my worries about the programs and I'm very much looking forward to September. for a first go I don't think it's too bad :)

Chico & Rita nominated for an Oscar

Quite out of the blue today I got an email from our producer on Chico and Rita informing me that it has been nominated for an Oscar. This is great news, if you recall I worked on that animation for a good long while (November 2008 until the end of February 2010, almost 16 months) It was a big and intense project filled with a great many ups and downs, but on the whole I'm pleased with my contribution to it. Its awhile since I've thought about that job and in hindsight I really miss our studio set up there. still onwards and upwards now at least I can go off to do my masters with a little confidence knowing that I worked on an Oscar nominated animation :)

Happy New Year!! The year gone, the year ahead.

I'm a bit late with this post I know but hey. 2011 was an extremely busy and largely positive year for me (which I needed as 2009 and 2010, where less than great) the WTTN project took up most of my time and energy and the success of the project surpassed my expectations, I look back on that project with nothing but pride. I had felt for the previous couple of years, a bit stranded, not sure where my work was or where it was going, the illustration industry is still finding its feet after the credit crunch which has forced me (in a good way) to look for other outlets for my work and though 2011 was definitely a year of fine art for me, I've been looking long and hard about the strengths and weaknesses of my work since I began professionally.

This analysis has led me to see where I want to be, what else I want to do and I have realised that more training is necessary in order to do this, which lead me to applying to study my masters degree (which I start in September). The blog is going to change direction a little, in that I''m going to be experimenting with my style and work within an animated context. I will as always try to be more up to date with posts, for know though here's to 2011, it was a good year for me.

A slight change in direction

I mentioned in the last post, that I felt a change was needed with the ever shrinking commissioning of print media illustration. So I have taken the giant step of applying to study an MA in 3D computer animation, I have applied to Bournemouth university (after some thorough research, they seemed to be the best), I have been through the application process and was offered an interview. So last week I went down to Bournemouth and had an extremely gruelling interview and had a good look at the course and the facilities there, wow it was amazing! and I'm very pleased to announce that I have been offered a place on the course to start in September 2012, and I can't wait!

No down time for me!

Since I finished the  year long and extremely demanding Welcome to the Neighbourhood project back in august, I've been hoping for some down time, it hasn't happened, I've had painting commissions coming out of my ears since then (which I'm not complaining about) and I was asked in September to teach an afternoon a week on the HND and Degree course up at college, I have avoided teaching since I started out simply because I know how easy it is to just do that and not work creatively. to my surprise though i actually rather enjoy it, and I'm now teaching 3 days a week, though I have no intentions of making this my career I will continue with it for this academic year. 

I was also asked by he good folks at Tynwald Mills if I would organise an exhibition of artist's work to show over the Christmas period, we were given the old courtyard gallery (where I did my residency all those years ago) that is now an impressive 2 storey exhibition space, it was all very short notice but with a bit of hard work, and with only a week and a half's notice we got a an amazing professional looking show together showcasing the work of around 30 artists and students, well done to all involved.

On another note, I've noticed over the last couple of years a decline not only in the illustration commissions I get but in commissioned illustration in general and though both illustration and fine art have both been good to me in the past, I think a slight change in direction may be on the cards (and I do not mean teaching) I'll post more soon.

Happy Halloween

The other day I was going through a few old files and I found some of the original drawings I did for a limited edition book I made, it brought back a lot of feelings, I remember how I came up with the idea for the book, I wasn't long out of university I think this was around the start of october 2006 and I was an artist in residence at a gallery, part of my job was to be present during tuesday evening's life drawing class, really just to make sure nothing got damaged, I wasn't allowed to participate either, but I had to stay there until 9ish at night ( I started at 9 in the morning) so tuesdays were long day for me. anyway I remember being very tired (I'd been painting all day) and I was bored of the internet, so I started doodling, doodled this little zombie in a Kurt Cobain like jumper and I was pleased with it, so i carried on drawing until I had a narrative. the next day I scanned all the drawings in, added a few, refined some, added some text and made it into a book. I would go on to do 3 other books in the same vain about a werewolf, a vampire and a ghost. in total I made 200 of each book and had sold them all by christmas of 2006. throughout 2007 I would go on to plan out 8 more of these narratives but I never released them as life seemed to get in the way. This year I have done virtually no drawing but I had done a massive amount of painting so I decided to redraw the zombie book, I hope you like.