Tuesday 21 February 2012

Show Reel Updated!

Reel 2.0!

A few weeks ago I uploaded a new Show reel for the world to see, which was accepted with some really positive feedback and new opportunities. Since then after reviewing the reel a number of times I've decided to do a little editing. I've added new work, included more breakdowns and reordered the shots. Over all the reel has doubled in length, but I really think it was worth it! Take a look and let me know what you think;

http://vimeo.com/36414090

I've also brushed out some of the old work on my website and added more recent work, with break downs;

http://davidedwards.me/gallery_matte_01.html

While compiling new work to add to my reel I found an old painting I did a few years ago for an event in Sydney. The brief was to turn the city into a landscape overgrown with vegetation ...


New Find!

Great little puzzle game - http://continuitygame.com/playcontinuity.html Figuring out how to play it was a puzzle in itself, but fun when you do! (for some odd reason the link wont work, so just copy and paste it!)

And finally, my blog should look a little more pretty now :)

Wednesday 15 February 2012

Daily sketches

I spent a few hours painting this evening and came up with a few random characters and landscapes ...




On a side note, i'm currently in process of rebuilding this blog, adding separate pages and making it look less; Blogger!

Thursday 9 February 2012

Spider Mouse

This was a concept idea I had for an online comic, never quite went beyond these few concepts, but I liked the style and mood. The basic story was about this drunk, wasted; half mouse, half spider .. cop that once washed up on the shoreline without any memory of where he came from. And he has a liking for Blues! Anyway;





Updated 2011 reel

I finally managed to get an updated reel onto Vimeo, yay!



I need to go through and compile a more visual break down, but for now it's better than what I had yesterday :)

I've also uploaded a separate break down of one of the shots;



More working coming online soon!

Sunday 5 February 2012

A ghostly Wonderland

What is this strange ghostly structure looming through the mist in the background? Surely a nuclear power station? a sci-fi matte paintings? A missile launching platform? Well no, this is in fact the famous Disney castle that unfortunately didn't live happily ever after. All jokes aside, this was intended to be the Chinese Wonderland, the home of Disney Characters such as Cinderella, Snow White and a cute little mouse with red pants! Unfortunately when the Chinese economy went bad it seems construction was halted. That said, I would still pay to go and see this! the derelict version looks far more interesting than the one in Paris or Florida!




Friday 3 February 2012

Who am I kidding!

So in previous posts I said I was committing myself to compiling my work and doing NO more artwork until I was done! Well who was I kidding. Three sketches I did in the last two days;




In other news! I'm really pushing myself to get my 3d environment work online. It's really frustrating that I have some really cool work that I want to share with the world, but for lack of time I haven't been able to compile everything into a presentable way. Stay tuned!

Thursday 2 February 2012

Thoughts of the day ...

So today, my thoughts once again turn to; I NEED TO MAKE SOMETHING THAT I CAN SELL!!!

I have so many ideas, I guess the biggest wall to overcome is deciding which idea to pursue first. My brain suffers from a bottle neck problem, there's way too much trying to get out at any one time, and before you know it all those ideas get squished into a murky pile of goo! So here's a few of my wild ideas;

Idea 1 - Create tutorials to sell on Turbosquid. There's a severe lack of tutorials relating to environments for film and TV, so does this mean there's a niche for this? or simply everyone already know's everything there is to know about the subject.

Idea 2 - Create animated environments and submit them to istockphoto. I've see a few examples of CG animated environments on istockphoto, and the quality usually suffers. So maybe if I submit some work to a professional level, they might see a use for that :)

Idea 3 - Interactive content / Indie game. Well this is definitely something I want to accomplish very soon, so Dave!!! Get started!! .... now .... stop writing ..... blah! who am i kidding.

Idea 4 - Make 3d Module assets for film and games. Connecting assets, ie; corridor sections, city blocks etc. Make more assets! I do wonder what HASN'T been created on turbosquid! I imagine everything by now.

I always feel one of the most valuable assets we have and can always sell is our knowledge and experiences. And i've spent the last 12 years amassing a lot of useless knowledge! So maybe i can have a knowledge garage sale! sell pieces of my brain!

More thoughts ...

Ipads and iphones make really crap controllers for 3d programs! Well, at least for now. I can see the potential, however for now, it aint working, there's way too much lag. Maybe when Apple decide to release the bluetooth functionality.

Another day in the rain, rain, rain ..

Wednesday 1 February 2012

Inspiring films and artwork

I'd really like to share a few video's that I recently came across, so without further ado!

Path of Hate - Damian Nenow



http://www.cgtantra.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=622&Itemid=35

I really love the style of this short animation, everything about it from the style to the editing and story. I so need to learn how to create this comic book style of rendering, it's so cool!

A Good Wife - W.Scott Forbes



http://vimeo.com/35108500

A really nice piece of work that makes you think a little. I had to watch this one a couple of times to really catch what was going on. What I personally love about this piece, is the visual style. Most of the film is made up of very simple paintings, with subtle animation applied, when stringed together creates a strong narrative. Just goes to show that you don't need crazy camera moves and dazzling effects to pull off a strong story. It's also inspiring to other artists, that you can create a successful film with very little animation skills.

On a later note, is it just me or do these two videos look strangely similar?! .. spooky!

Concept Art Reel 2011 - Selection 01

So here's my first short reel of concept art! YAY to me for actually getting my work online in four years! :)



More to follow!!! (Note to self; add something on the first frame next time, otherwise it looks broken!)

Share it! tell everyone! tell your mother! .. the mail man! the weather man!

Baked Beans

This post was intended to be about a new art reel I've recently uploaded to Vimeo, well .. I was going to begin this post with something like; "As a freelance ... " and at that point i became stuck! a freelance what? what exactly IS it that I do? I really have no idea. Is there a job description for someone who from one project to the next is asked to do something completely different, using different techniques, different skills, different tools. Well let's see; I create digital artwork, mainly for film and TV, sometimes games, and now and then for print, this artwork can be anything from 3d animation, to concept art, matte paintings, textures, game assets etc. In the dumbest sense it seems like I create artwork for people with the intention of having an attractive embrace, developing a connection between the media and the viewer, pulling the viewer into the experience, creating a feeling of Ooooh, aaah, that's pretty! ... creating a feeling; an emotion. I'm the .. emotionATOR? a freelance giver of feelings! Ooh this is sounding creepy! *shivers* ...

Anyway;

As a freelance can of baked beans, it's important for me to continuously develop my skills, learn new techniques and push myself to create new work as often as possible. Sadly, often is less frequent than I would like, but when i do get the opportunity I try to embrace that time and be as productive as possible. Now this work that I create, which builds up on my hard drive for months and years, well, it really should be seen by others right? I mean, artwork can equally be appreciated by more than just myself, hopefully, adding to that if I don't share my work, how will anyone ever know I can actually do anything! It's not enough to just tell people I can animate characters, build sci-fi cities, fantasy landscapes, paint creatures that have never existed, in the end words can only take me so far, there comes a time when I have to actually show people what I can do. Which brings me to the whole point of this post, I've been working non stop for the last 4 years, and in that time I've amassed a LOT of work, both personal and professional, I've worked on some very cool projects! However until now, very few people have actually seen this work! .. well, that's not exactly true, some of my work has been seen by millions of people in cinema screens around the world, but still for the most part, I've yet to shout out and say; Hey! I created that piece of work! All too often, it get's delivered to the client, put in storage and onto the next project. So at this point, while I have a little free time, I'm not going to create any new artwork, instead I'm going to use this time to compile the artwork I have and share it with the world! To begin with I'm compiling a collection of concept art and creating a few demo reels. I think I'll split it up into two or three different videos and upload them to Vimeo. Once I have a some concept art online, I'll move onto 3d environments and various matte paintings i've done for film and TV. Eventually I'll have a number of new shiny reels to replace the one I've had on my website for the last 4 years, which let's face it, is very old in the digital world!

And a few examples from one of my new concept art reel: