Gromit Unleashed Submission

My design for the Gromit Unleashed project. I've always wanted to get back into creating aboriginal art, and felt that this was the perfect project to do it. Aardman Animations are looking for someone to put their design on 60 Gromit sculptures, and the best ones will be presented around Bristol.

As usual I experimented to see which design was best, and it was a toss up between the hot air balloon and aboriginal designs. I then realised that the hot air balloons would be a common choice by contestants, so I chose the aboriginal design instead.

Here's a link to the website, the deadline is closed but there's lots of interesting news about the project:

www.gromit-unleashed.org.uk

3D Marco

Here's a 3D model of Marco I'm currently working on. I'm proud of it so far, but I just need to iron out some of the bumps in the mesh which I shall do soon.

I'm also int the process of rigging it, which is taking a bit of time. Hopefully I'll have it ready to animate for the project deadline.

Life Drawing No.1

Some Life Drawing work I created over the last month.  The first one was created on brown paper with oil pastels. My aim was to utilise perspective to create a foreshortening between the model and his environment.

9/10/12
42 mins

This next one was initially drawn on brown paper, unfortunately, the dots were not showing within the final image when photographed. As a consequence, I decided to redraw the image in Photoshop. The focus of this image was to represent details of the model rather than the environment. I added a some creases below the model just to express the substance he was sitting on.

2/11/12- 3/11/12

Original Drawing - 25 mins

My Plasticine Gromit

Here's a little Plasticine model I made of Gromit at one of FLIP animation festival's workshops with Jim Parkyn from Aardman. Considering there's no wire framing in the model, I'm pretty impressed with how it turned out. If I had time I'd smooth out the surface a bit more, but due to other projects at uni I think I'll leave it as it is.

Here's a link to FLIP's website:

www.flipfestival.co.uk

Polar Opposite Characters No. 5

Here's my final polar opposite characters, for this project anyway. The aim for these two characters was to sample two different positions of authority. Lionheart is supposed to represent an order of control and order, passed down to him by his commanding officer.

Here we have Typhoon, a character meant to represent pure power. I created him mainly as a plot twist to represent Storm's alter-ego when he gets angry or stressed, which he rarely ever does. He is also different to Lionheart in that he is not bound by limits or restrictions. I particularly liked the cape as it represents authority.

Here's the final design. I'm not quite sure what to make o him to be honest, as he was created due to time limitations. I also think it may limit Storm's emotions and could be out of character for him. I might replace Typhoon with a different character, but for now he's being shelved for possible future use. 

Wolf and Gang Logo Design

Now for something that relates to my Graphic Design background. Having contacted the animation studio Carse and Waterman, they asked me to create a logo for electronic group Wolf and Gang. I have to admit this felt a bit alien to me at first since I haven't done anything with typography in years. I decided to approach it like I would with character design, and experimented with typefaces and wolf designs.

Here's my proposed final logo that I finished yesterday. I've sent it to Carse and Waterman, and now I'm waiting for feedback from the band to see if they'll use it. I'm excited by the prospect of it being on an album cover, let's just hope they like it...

Btw, here's a link to Carse and Waterman's website, enjoy:

http://www.carseandwaterman.com/

Polar Opposite Characters No. 4

Next up, the birds. This time I want to focus on the differences within a family. I decided to focus on a son and mother relationship, as I currently don't have any characters that focus on the differences between a boy and a girl.

Here we have Birdbrain, the mad scientist of the crew. After investigating with his design numerous times, I realised his first design was fine as it was. Apart from a thin neck, his design didn't change at all when completed.

Here's Birdbrain's overbearing mother, Featherbrain. Unlike the other girls who looked somewhat tough, Featherbrain had to look sweet and innocent. Her design also had to look like a housewife and fairly traditional, unlike the other characters who looked futuristic. I think I succeeded, and overall I'm happy with her design.

Zombie Sculpture

Another sculpture, this time with a definite creepy twist. Zombies are a common to create in sculpture, so I wanted to make her silhouette unique.  To do this, I made the eyes very grotesque and making the intestines sprawl out at the back like a tail. This may not be to everyones taste, but I'm proud of it.

Polar Opposite Characters No. 3

Time for the girls to shine this time. This time I'm starting with the enemy, Princess. My aim with this character was to put an emphasis on her ugliness, despite her name suggesting otherwise. I gave her some slight cleavage in areas to suggest her vanity. I was originally a bit unsure about the breasts, but I decided that they added to the humour of the character.

Not much changed during her final design. She was given a bit more flab in areas and slightly bigger high heels, that's really about it.

Next we have Storm's love interest, Roxie. Unlike Storm which looked more funny and dumb, Roxie had to look more mature and cooler. After much investigation, I decided that the circled design looked best as I liked the spiky hair. However, I felt that her current design wasn't feminine enough, so I knew I wanted to change her final design.

I experimented with her design, and fell in love with it (not in a weird bestial way). Unlike Storm and Marco who's eye shapes were more cartoony, I made Roxie's look more cat-like to suggest her maturity. I made her hands and feet more smaller to make her look less manly.

Snoop Dogg Caricature Sculpture

Hey all, time for something completely different to what I usually show. Here's a sculpture I created caricaturing the famous rapper, Snoop Dogg. I chose him as I feel he has a unique facial structure and is easily recognisable. I gave him an oversized head to exemplify this. I also gave him his trademark hand sign as well. Hopefully I can make more sculptures in the future.

Polar Opposites no.2 Turnaround Sheets

More of my polar opposite characters. I used the same techniques as mentioned in the previous post.  Marco and Hooves were created to be sidekicks to Storm and Blade respectively. However, they also had to have differing personalities from their friends, which in turn made them different from each other.

Marco's appearance changed dramatically, and is probably the character I had most trouble with designing. I think I did well with his design, and he's got the initiated 'awww' response going too. The nappies are funny as well. :D

I really like Hooves' design, and he challenges Storm for my favourite character. I changed Hooves' fur to a traditional brown colour. I also resized his head to a bigger size to make his long neck look funnier. I think he'd be really fun to animate, hopefully my lecturers will like him enough to let me do so.

Take care all :) x

Polar Opposites no.1 Turnaround Sheets

Well, here's my first two polar opposites in preparation for uni. I took the original images and traced over the lines using the pen tool. Once done, I exported the images to Photoshop to colour underneath the lines. I've measured out the characters proportions using invisible lines, and they're pretty much spot on. I might try and do more turnarounds if I have the time, but for now these will do just fine.

I'm really happy with the way Storm has turned out, and is perhaps my favourite character of them all. I added a gun to his belt just to give him a bit more of a cool factor (even though he wouldn't know how to use it lol). I'm still not sure whether to make him speak or not. I added the S logo to his belt and gun as heroes like to shamelessly promote themselves.

Here we have Blade, the badass fox. I like all the visual suggestions I've added to his uniform and body. My intention was to leave people guessing about his persona and background, which I think comes off pretty well. My only concern is if he's perhaps too detailed to be animated, but I'll solve that dilemma soon.

I should have more character turnarounds up soon, stay tuned! :)