So I have been working pretty hard in the past (x) months since I bothered to update this thing. I joined up at Blackshoe Studios, run by the ruggedly charming Anguix brothers. It’s probably the best job i’ve had so far in my career as a freelancer. I’m working with Franky Stanton, which is another boon. Seriously, if you can ever work with that guy, work with that guy.

Put this song on, while you read!
(Alternatively, listen to the first twenty seconds while you skim read all of the heart-felt content I bothered to write. You monster.) 

Man, there is a lot of work around at the moment. It seems to be flash and motion graphics based work primarily, which is like… my absolute favourite.
I know i’m tempting fate, but things actually seem to be looking up. And not like looking up into a headwind, neither.

What I really need though, is a Producer. Someone who can kick my ass into line, and make sure I don’t spend all my time playing Mass Effect 2. (Which you could buy for peanuts during the Steam Sale)

Turns out, it is super fun to hand out business cards. Sure, I look like a tool, but when don’t I? Buddy-Most-Excellent Luke Mathers gave me a hand with not being terrible at designing for print.

The wayyyy belated conclusion to the Pinball mural.. thing. Forgive me if I have spammed it already. The thing is now bolted to it’s home, safe in the heart of Paddington. The whole Resin/Lights thing turned out pretty interestingly, and I am definitely going to pursue the tech farther. It’s important to note, though, that the quality and strength of the lights involved is crucial. The damn resin dulls the natural luminosity, so the average string of fairy/garden lights isn’t going to cut the mustard. When working with Resin, it’s crucial to be patient. I nearly screwed the pooch a number of times, during the pouring and the curing.

I have.. three more paintings slated to work on, but they are all so equally radical; I can’t make up my mind where to start. Hmm.. perhaps the one that pays. Yeahhhhh

This is just a sandwich I made. Smoked Salmon w/ Chilli, Fresh Avocado on freshly baked Dark Rye bread. There’s nothing to really take away from this; I just want to look at it again.

Mmmm.

It’s about 1.5m tall, and 50cm wide, on MDF board. I’m going to use a drill press to cut holes through it, and fill those gaps with lights. I think i’ll have to reappropriate Christmas lights for the job, but that should be fine.

I’m pretty fucking excited.

I finally managed to get some good photos before handing them over, so you can peruse the shit out of them below.

"Uniting The Tribe"

"Bloody Red King"

Experiments all over the shop. Trying to find some way to do line based effects economically in After Effects. All I ended up with is hypnotic ball-thing.

But we ain’t.

I thought about it for a while, and came to the brilliant conclusion that it’s super hard. I know, totally out of left field. But the difficulty, for me at least, doesn’t lay in Production, but rather the initial conception and planning of the idea. Hanging all the lanterns  in all the right places, and justifying the shit out of every element. By the time I sculpt something sensible, I have chipped away all the interesting content and sculpted a turd. So if I can somehow disable this overprocessing, I might get some awesome Roquefort instead of Kraft Singles.

Tl;dr “Cheese Metaphor”

The solution I think is simple. Not give a single fuck.
To continue with the needless metaphors, I’m going to be throwing Lanterns fucking everywhere.

The Film i’m concepting and styling at the moment involves an old man falling in love with his own skeleton. Yeah, that’s right. To prove i’m not entirely full of shit, here’s some concept/mood pieces.

I think i’m learning more about Economy. What sort of quality you can tolerate drawing ten million times over. Hell, what sort of quality you can get away with. There is a Gobelins School film in particular that is helping to usher this along. It’s pretty fantastic, so I insist you watch it, regardless of what you think of it’s line quality.

UNTIL NEXT TIME, YOU FIENDS

I used a bit of a different process with this one. Tried to apply a few things I learned from Acrylic painting with some Potatoshop magic. Process underneath, if you’re interested.

Practicing how to paint, mannn. Practicing? Practising?
It feels like, every time I become competent with one skill, I am forced into repressing many others. That blows like crazy, brosef.

Happy day though, because i’m pretty happy with the painting style here, I just need to go faster.
This is the concept/colour sketch for my next digital painting. I think he’s some sort of South American Underworld God.. guy. You know, just on his way to work. Feels like he should have a cup of coffee, briefcase and a fedora. Except the briefcase is full of souls.

In closing, some dear friends from University have released their final year short film. After doing the festival circuits, and whatnot. The most wonderful thing is, it did quite well! This is of special note, because our head of school at the time was a total dick about it, pretty much saying that it wasn’t funny and just wouldn’t work. Ner.

Haven’t drawn..anything lately.

Would really like to get started on my own work again. Doesn’t every creative person say that? They never seem to get around to it, though.

Contract finished at the studio, so i’ve officially finished there for the year. Hopefully I will be able to pick up something else there in the new year.

Getting used to an office job took a long time, but it’s oddly comforting now. Home life feels vacant and boring, by comparison. It’s fucking strange, man..