Beasting!

The work goes on. I'm planning on completing my self portrait by Monday. I know I've been bad and left it to the last week. On the bright side I find that I will get more into a project if I keep a tight schedule and working on it everyday rather than spacing it out over a few week.

I'm quite happy at the moment, my mesh is looking good and I look relaxed and normal, rather than having the rigidness and stiffness than my last one :D

I'm getting there.

Second time lucky

So everyone knows my last self portrait sucked worse than a $12 hooker (ok so there were bits I liked but the bad overshadowed the good), so I've started again and I feel it's looking better. Much less tri's, tidier, and better geometry.

This time I've been following a tutorial I found on the internet that involves drawing over your face in photoshop, making it flat and bringing the verts out. It's work in progress but I'm happy with it so far.

In bad Spirit

I know there was a fair bit of hype surrounding the new Frank Miller film, titled 'The Spirit'. Many people thought it wouldn't compare to the awesome Sin City, and you know what, they were right.

I can safely say it's one of the worst films I've seen in years. I pretty much had a problem with everything about it.

It maintained no consistency with style, constantly switching between heavily comic book styled shots using the classic, black, white, and red cutout style, then back to regular lighting, ok so it was lit well in that style but it just didn't have the impact that Sin City did. Also one thing that really annoyed me was how in some scenes the Spirits tie was a bright, overly-saturated red, and in others it was dulled down and even black and white.


Then there was the story. It didn't draw me in at all, and seemed a bit slapstick at times. Ok so maybe fans of the comic would have got it, but to the average person who wasn't familiar with it, it seemed like it took elements from every super hero film and did a bad job of keeping me interested. None of the Voice-overs had the drama or feeling in them. It felt a lot like they were cashing in on the franchise.


Then there's the acting.........*sigh* Samuel L Jackson played the very weird villain, who took a rather particular turn, when he dressed up as a Nazi and started parading around like he was in some sort of pantomime, which brings me to the woman playing the police sidekick, who actually acted like she WAS starring in a pantomime. The actor who played the spirit, who's name I forget, didn't do much for the character either, his performance was average not showing enough emotion for me. But I suppose all can be forgiven when you see Eva Mendes...

So the film sucked all over. I know people may say 'you shouldn't compare it to Sin City' but I do. So instead of spending a fiver on seeing this, please go and get yourself a copy of Sin City and you can wallow in the beautiful style and storytelling that The Spirit should have taken on.

My mid-year resolution

Wow another year has passed, I'm starting to wonder what the hell I actually do in a year, I mean that's a long time. It also feels weird when I think that I've gone through a fifth of my life (touch wood, or a sixth depending on how medical science gets on).

Well I'm not one for resolutions I'll tell you that but there are a few things I want to change this year, and not just because it's the new year, to me the 1st of January is just another day, one that I usually sleep through that is.

The main thing I want to improve is my summer work. Last summer I didn't do nearly as much work as I should have. I did have a job but it was part time so that's no excuse. I simply got into the routine of doing nothing. Luckily I haven't got into that routine this break, which is a good thing because we're being graded when we come back, but also because I need to do more If I want to get good.

When I'm off for about four or five months in the summer it seems like such a waste of time to do nothing, and this is my twentieth summer on earth! I owe it to myself to do more work and not to screw up this opportunity.

I've got to do a lot of work and it's not going to be easy, but my way of thinking is if I work hard in this life, I'll be rewarded and be reincarnated as a cat.........damn cats have it easy.

I want to feel alive!

Well today I've been working on my environment again, patching things up and making more assets. I've been wanting to breathe a bit more life into it rather than just to keep adding objects.

Of course I'm still adding objects, but I'm starting to think more about what I want in my scene rather than just replicating the real thing. So far it's come to a couple of magazines, but using one texture for the two, making it a two sided object because you're not going to see both sides at once, just either Edge or Heat.

Then there's the drum with rubbish in it. With this I really tried to make it look dirty and gritty, and with the normal bump, it's doing just that. I'm not quite sure where abouts to place it yet, may have to do some moving about.

A couple more cables have also emerged in my bid to add life to the scene. This time they're hanging across the alley so they're more in view and a bit more of a focal point rather than just being up againtst a wall. What better to complement the cables than a pigeon!


I had this thought of adding more life to my scene, when I was playing Rainbow Six Vegas 2. There I was slowley creeping through and abandoned half built houseing estate with my team, and whilst the buildings were mostly wooden frames with some bricks, it still felt alive.

It was the little things. The plastic sheeting dancing in the wind, making sudden crashes when the wind caught it properly, and scaring the life out of me. Then there was the loose electrical cables swing back and forth.

Even though there wasn't much going on in the level, it was the little things that made it feel alive as I nervously crept through the town.

Micro-who?

Have Microsoft ever had an original fucking idea? Please I want to know!

It seems that everything I see of Microsoft's has already been done, and usually better. They do it with EVERYTHING, and that's not really an exaggeration.

Why do we succumb to this bully, it's really starting to annoy me.

Ok rant over, but please if anyone can let me know of an original idea of Microsoft's that's somehow worth having, please, let me know.

Melted cheese anyone?

I first started my research and development project with the starting point of 'modern architecture', ok I know it's quite a broad area but I've often found that projects that give you quite a wide area of subjects to study will improve you research and give you a better variety of ideas.

Anyway, I wanted to move into looking at the most cutting edge and 'omg' factor buildings. To do this I looked at the one and only Dubai...oh yes.

Now Dubai has become one of the richest Arab countries through, yep you guessed it, oil. It has been said that the oil reserves will only last till 2050 and so they have decided to concentrate on building up their tourism industry, which is great for my project!

I've sifted thought the many amazing designs proposed by a whole range of top architecture firms, and the main contributors seem to be a firm called Atkins.

Just looking at the concepts makes me dribble with anticipation of what marvels they could create, given enough money. When you look at what hotels already stand there ( for example the Burj al Arab hotel pictured below) it's very clear that all of what they propose is entirely possible, and immanent.

Another architect that stands out in this field is Zaha Hadid. The stunning Dubai Opera house concepts look unlike anything I've seen before, and really look like someone has put a model in for 20 minutes on gas mark 6 and out emerges this stretched, melted scene with beautiful curves and flowing lines. I have to say that I adore this style, and it is my perfect idea of modern/futuristic architecture.

Right I'm off to stick some playmobile in the cooker...

So it's over for another year...

Well the days of eating myself silly have once again passed for another year and I'm kinda glad, because I always feel bad for being lazy...doesn't stop me from being lazy mind.

Today I want to talk about a recent addiction... no not crack, but something that kept me staring at a television screen for over six hours. Now I know that's a long time, but when you have two mates playing, planning, and executing stratagies with and aginst you, it is just quite simply impossible to put down.

So what am I talking about, well it's a game downloaded from the playstation network called 'Age of Booty'. If any of you can an imaging a cross between the playstation one game 'Overboard' and capture the flag, you're nearly there. I works on a system of hexagons where you direct your ship to capture ports and recources, and battle enemey ships.


I was amazed at how simple it looked and worked, but also at how complex the planning and strategy could get. You achieve upgrades to help you along the way. The other thing that really appealed to me the graphics. They are filled with bright, highly saturated colours, which is a welcome change when you look at all of the latest dingey next-gen games (not that I don't think that some of them look breathtaking).

I think it's really great that people are still making these new games, because they have a fresh feeling to them, and of course is a big change from the norm. If you own a PS3 you must give it a try, and it's only £6.99, much cheaper than drugs.

The Thumb has Been Removed!

Ok so I know, I've been a naughty boy with the blogs, so I'm going to try and make an effort now to do at least two a week!

Well my assesments over, and I can honestly say it sucks being at the end of the alphabet! But i also took a few other things away with me.

I knew my self portrait was pants, there are a lot of things wrong with it. First of all the proportions are wrong, which does me no favours when looking at the entire model. Then there's the face, the cheeks are too big and the head is the wrong shape, I think the entire body is a bit square. The texture is also a bit dodgey. I think I basically need better reference pictures for the shape, dimensions and textures. Though I can honestly say I was quite pleased with the mesh of the arms and legs, they had a nice shape to them.



On the other hand Heather seemed to really like my war of the worlds project, which just goes to show that your best work is always the stuff you enjoy the most.




I've also got to mention Ben Mathis, because it has been awesome having him in this week. Just watching him work is a great experience, I think its the way he manages to get so much out of a small allowance and the ways in which he's so efficant. And on top of that he's a top bloke, always teaching, giving advice and guiding people.

Game Art Year 2: The Student Strikes Back

Hey im back! yeah i know it's been along time, but i'm here to show you a bit of work (shock horror).

Ok so with this project we were asked to make something interesting out of a piece of paper/card, using nothing more than scissors, PVA glue, and our imagination.

So here it is, i know it isnt that exciting, but i thought it would be cool to recreate one, and i think it looks a great deal like a real one. I want to make it look real so i used all the correct dimensions and measurements, which took about 2 hours!