Sunday 2 March 2014

Hospital Robot Malfunction!


A little homage to Chris Cunningham's genius Bjork video "All is full of love", but theres certainly no love in this version! I've really been seduced by the ease that Keyshot can help turn my SketchUp models into possessing near photo-real materials.... I found a good HDRI of an auditorium that had some sickish green lighting and a utilitarian feel to the door, I do wish more HDRIs were like this, inside labs or factories.... This time I decided to add the decals in PS as they were quite simple, though next time I'm applying them in KS as would probably have generated more scenes if I had. All the details, dressing, blood, smoke and sparks were painted in PS. Looking back at this I remember trying to find the best camera angles, something that would both show the drama and all my "hard" modelling work, I really didn't want to clip anything out, and yet my favourite images are the close ups, the narrative of the scene becomes far more impressive and powerful then seeing my own ability to model in 3D... Reminds me of what my old art teacher used to drum into us, "don't be afraid of your work", basically don't be afraid to loose/alter or change something on the page, its very easy to become "precious". I'm still learning, but I think the way I went after this managed to satisfy all the aspects I was after. I'm looking forward to doing more, hope you enjoy them too!




Grizzly close-up



An early test render


Original SketchUp model

MECH TIME!

I do love a good mech!
This was a personal project I set myself to practice Keyshot - and what a game changer! Podium has gone into the bin!! All modelled in SketchUp, rendered in and labels applied in Keyshot which was very easy to do. I inserted a photo of a film stage ceiling and painted up the lighting to create the industrial yellow version, I do like the clean laboratory white version more I think...






Hasbro turn my Guardians Of The Galaxy gun design into a Nerf toy!!!

I have to say, this is very cool!!! This is my design for Quill's Blaster, the original that you can see in the film (trailer for now) is black, but I guess it makes sense to go with "toy red". Safety first..... I'm buying at least 3! :)


A Good Day to Die Hard

This was such a great project to work and so much fun working with director John Moore on this, he loves his artwork and really wanted me to go to town on these. This is just a small sampling showing elements the main chase sequence playing out, these were used to help explain what was required for the shots. It was amazing to draw these and then see the stunt drivers work their magic on the streets of Budapest! I had just started to used SketchUp here with a clumsy Podium render, I painted over the top of the geometry in Photoshop. More visuals are up on my website.

All images copyright 2013 Twentieth Century Fox Film












We had to add bull-bars to the MRAP design to stop other vehicle from going under the front of it

Narnia Prince Caspian props

Back when I still used Corel Painter and had only one layer!

All images copyright 2008 Walt Disney Pictures, Walden Media










Medieval Props

Some prop designs for a project that got cancelled. A shame, but I got to design a crossbow wall with advice from the armorer, these would actually work, rotating and firing four bolts each. Based on a muti-firing crossbow he designed for "Gladiator"




BBC's Planet Dinosaur

I loved doing these, here are some cropped close-ups of 360 degree cycloramas I did for Jellyfish Pictures who were making "Planet Dinosaur" for the BBC. These were my first matt paintings, Jellyfish liked my initial concept illustrations that they asked me to work them up to a matte level, they were kind enough to allow me to learn on the job. Have to say Dylan Cole's tutorial were playing non stop whilst making these! All the cycloramas were for mid-ground to background only, everything closer to camera would be 3D and animated, I was always desperate to throw in some good foreground elements, a branch or rock....








Red Tails

Some plane studies I did along with many keyframes for George Lucas's "Red Tails"
All images copyright 2011 Lucas Films



Solomon Kane's creature sketches and designs

Was great fun working with director Michael J. Bassett designing the Mirror Demon and evil witch for his 2009 film "Solon Kane". I wanted the Mirror demon to have the feel of a dead specimen floating in a jar of formaldehyde, always remember seeing grim looking samples in biology class, dead animals with pale skin, bleached of colour lifting off and floating suspended in the solution...
All images copyright 2009 Davis-Films