Shoobox Garden
Shoobox Garden began as a personal blog about all things that interest and inspire me. This involved everything from junk art to game design, animation to visual effects. As this blog evolved I decided to add more of my artwork; both personal and professional, in an effort to facilitate a quicker means of getting work online. I currently have a website at; http://www.davidedwards.me which you can view. Sadly for lack of time, its far easier to update this blog than my website!
Me
I'm a professional artist working in Film, TV and interactive entertainment. I do a little of everything in the VFX workflow, from 3d animation to motion graphics. My main focus is on matte painting and concept art.
I have over 10 years experience working in the film/TV industry and I've had the fortunate opportunity to work with some great people on some fantastic projects, that include; Avatar, Clash of the Titans and Where the Wild Things Are.
Q&A
What programs do you use?
I typically use Photoshop for all 2d work and 3ds Max for most of my 3d work. Additionally I also use Bodypaint/Mari for painting textures, After Effects and Nuke for compositing, Vue for large terrains, and a number of others such as; Fumefx, Zbrush, Boujou. Whatever does the job :)
Where do I find stock photography and references?
Over time I've built a large library of stock photography from both the internet and photos I've taken myself. I'd highly recommend taking a camera everywhere you go and shooting as much as possible, you never know when you might get some strange job that requires odd references! As for stock websites, I use the following for personal and professional use;
http://www.istockphoto.com/
http://freetextures.3dtotal.com/
http://www.cgtextures.com/
http://www.sxc.hu/
http://www.flickr.com/
A short disclaimer; I like to give advice and assist people who have questions about the kind of work I do, and I always welcome questions. That said I am by no means an expert in any specific field, however I do have over 10 years experience working in the creative industry across a wide range of disciplines from illustration to motion graphics, VFX to game development .. and at this point in my career i do feel my experience so far is worth enough to translate into advice that could be of use to someone and lead them in a positive direction. So with that in mind, i try to give good advice throughout my posts and emails, but do take it with the knowledge that I'm just one person with an opinion.
And a second disclaimer; (really covering myself now!) I am completely useless at grammar and any attempt at trying to translate my thoughts into writing usually come out like verbal vomit, so my apologies if this reads like a 5 year old has written it.
Feel free to get in touch is you have any questions or comments. I usually get back pretty quickly, and i'm always open to conversation :)
davidedwards.me(at)gmail.com
