Rivendell update and 3D camera projection

A while back I posted a matte painting of Rivendell which I initially began for a contest over at CGChannel. I hadn't quite finished it when the contest ended and my schedule became hectic so it was pushed to the backburner. Over the last few days I've managed to go back to it and finish it off.

Here is the updated digital matte painting.

Apart from the initial plate supplied by Jonathan Berube, I was responsible for the whole shot, including 3d models for the buildings, 3d camera projection, compositing and the animated birds.



Be sure to check it out in HD here.
You can see the previous version of the piece in progress here.
Jonathan's original photograph that the matte is based on can be seen here.
Process video to come.

Sky Freight

Here is the latest addition to my matte painting reel, built exclusively from my own photography taken in and around Vancouver.

This matte painting explores the idea that mankind has developed a technology that can manipulate and overcome gravity. However, the technology isn't terribly nimble, making its applications somewhat less glamorous than your average science fiction craft. 

There's something extremely appealing to me about impossibly large objects floating serenely in the sky. From Avatar's hallelujah mountains to the District 9 saucer, I've always been captivated with this idea. I'm not sure if it's the serenity, the primal urge to fly, or the thrill of vertigo in the back of my mind. Maybe a bit of all three.

Cypress Matte - Animated shot

Hey guys, here is the animated version of the Cypress Matte.  I learned a few new techniques in its' creation that I had never used before.





You can watch it in HD here.

Cypress Matte Painting

Here is another matte painting I've been working on under the guidance of Blizzards wonderful David Luong. I'm currently taking his CGWorkshop course: Photo Real Matte Painting, which has been a real pleasure to participate in. David is a patient and generous tutor and I've really enjoyed exploring this new art form with him, and chatting about all things film and genre related. I've really learnt a lot about light and cinematograpy by taking a couple of pieces to a really polished level of realism. I'm sure it will help out the quality of finish in my quicker sketches enormously too.

 
Visit David Luongs personal website to see some real Matte Painting Kung-fu.

Rivendell Matte Painting Competition

So in the interest of adding another string to my bow, and to quench my thirst for learning new things, I'm in the process of putting together a Matte Painting Reel.

Here's one I've been working on, which I'm proud to say managed to take out top honors in a contest over at CGChannel. The competition was run by Jonathan Berube, who kindly provided a great plate to work from. The task was to remove any signs of the modern world, then add Rivendell and modify the environment until it looked like it sat in the world of the Hobbit / LOTR films.

You can see the original plate on Jonathan's Flickr page if you like, so you can see where my work began and ended.


I've still got some work to do on this one though as it's not quite finished. I'll be sure to post a link to the video once its all done!

Kopane School Billboard

Here's an illustration I completed at the end of last year. Kopane School in the Manawatu now proudly bears this image in a couple of spots around the school. It was printed at nearly billboard size so I had a bit of fun adding local wildlife for the kids to spot. So if you're ever passing through Rongotea, swing by and take a peek.

My thanks to Principal Neal Duff for the savvy art direction.

Sketchbooks

Happy 2013!

A couple of years ago I went through a phase of doing very finished drawings and studies in a nice moleskine sketchbook. I even glued a bargue in the back and spent hours meticulously copying it.

I drew portraits of my workmates during meetings, and strangers in coffee shops at the weekend, always trying to achieve a good drawing, a nicely composed page. It was a lot of fun and I always felt ok about handing it over to people when they asked to see. After a while though, I realised that this book, neat as it was, was taking up a lot of my creative energy. It's all mileage but very few, if any of these drawings led onto other work. Those kinds of imaginative working drawings I would do on loose sheets of paper so that I wouldn't blemish my pretty moleskine with the messy, iterative drawings that come about when I'm problem solving. It was the beginning of a process that spiraled for a long time - of putting more pointless pressure on myself and thereby squeezing some of the joy out of drawing.

I have another nice fancy moleskine now, though it is filling up far more slowly than that first one. Right now my most used sketchbook looks more like this:

Recently a young student attending the same workshop as me here in Vancouver, asked to look through the sketchbook I had been manically scrawling text notes in. I said no, it's just notes for myself, it's not really for show. He really didn't expect nor particularly like that answer.

I felt it was a mess that he didn't actually want me to subject him to. It's also full of personal writing, visual problem solving and compositional notes to myself. This all makes it more intimate, so I impulsively felt the need to guard it like a teenage girl. I'm not sure there's a 'nice' drawing anywhere in it. Yet it's more fun because there's less pressure. And somehow this book is far more useful to me. It's somewhere external to think and to record my thoughts. Like a ram upgrade for my last-years-model brain. And it's full of fun ideas I want to complete.

Here's one of those thoughts, picked back up and coloured. I've added the steps in a little animated gif so that you can get a better look at the manky little thumbnail it started with.

If anyone has made it this far, I congratulate you. Words? you say - didn't sign up for that aye? Well leave me a few words on your relationship to your sketchbooks and working drawings. Or maybe a tip on how you keep professional art making fun. And in return I'll promise to just post art next time, and not a self indulgent thesis. Fair deal? Sweet.

Merry Christmas to all!

 

... and Best Wishes for 2013 :)

Meeting

Just for fun

White Cloud Worlds is now available in the US!

If you havn't seen this chuckle inducing promo by Christian Pearce yet, then watch it now:

For anyone who didn't know already, I have a few pieces featured in White Cloud Worlds. It's a fantastic tome and I'm honored to share it's pages with heaps of my Weta colleagues and many other talents besides. It has finally been released internationally, so you foreigners can get your sticky mitts on it. It's available from all the usual suspects - Budplant, StuartNG, and of course Amazon.