Squirrels are awesome.

Fact.

My cycle to work is better than many others. It's three miles, usually takes me about 15-20 mins, but recently has been taking me closer to half an hour - my back wheel is bowed and so is quite stiff against the breaks at times. The greatest thing about the ride is the fact that I don't touch a road. In fact as soon as I get round the corner from my house, I ride through one park, get onto a footpath by the canal, through a second, much larger, much more beautiful park, onto a second, much smaller footpath by a river, and I'm there. Where as my housemate (check his artwork - http://cavemandesign.blogspot.com/ ) has to cycle for about 20 mins down one of the busiest roads in Leicester.

Abbey Park is a big, beautiful park, with nice areas, lakes, gardens and such, but one of the things I enjoy more than all those, even more than the random faces someone seems to have cut into the trees and bushes ...

(Photo from katieejohnsonphotography.blogspot.com)

... is the squirrels which seem to have no clue as to whats going on. At all. Ever. Almost ran two over the other day. One of them just ran out in front of my bike then, in a flash, spun and retreated. The other ran out in front, and instead of retreating, just ran forwards just in front of my bike for ages!
So I chased it.
Calling out 'I'm gonna get ya!'.

Damn those things are fast.

Still, they are awesome.

Fact.

I want this blog to be more than just animation based - I want it to be more like a personal diary. I don't want to seem self important as though you must give heed to my words (though I am, and you should), it's just a way of getting thoughts onto paper. Or... well you know... written.

But to the subject of animation - Here!

Jekyll and Hyde from my HYDE project

... and ...

Mudbox Jekyll, sculpted and painted!
Please view full size!

Now if only I knew an easy and effective way of getting normal maps to look non-crap in Maya... But I have done blendshapes for Jekyll and Hyde, so facially they are ready to animate with. I am planning on attaching each body member to a pre-built rig individually. Its partially for style, but also for ease of not having to build and weight a new rig.

Either way, the project is coming along nicely, and I have been given the thumbs up from my boss to get Maya on my computer at work (we use 3DS Max) so I can continue with it after hours. Hopefully this will give me more of a motivation to get on with it, rather than thinking I will work when I get home, then instead spend the entire night watching How I Met Your Mother which is what I will be doing for the last couple of hours of this day (by the way, International Suit Up Day - 13th Oct - http://www.facebook.com/internationalsuitupday - LEGEN - Wait for it - DARY).

Right. That's the end from me. Take care!

It's been a long time...

Hey all, this is my new blog. The last blogs I have done have been project specific (Self Help, RETARDO) where as this is one that I could just continue with, share some thoughts and maybe even some work in progress.

True to say I didn't really do much on previous blogs, and didn't really have many people following, however this time I hope to utilise this medium as much as I can.

So what have I been up to in the past ages since RETARDO?



Well, where I am at the moment, I am a Junior CG Artist working as part of the NSC Creative team based at the National Space Centre, Leicester - http://www.nsccreative.com/

I have worked there almost a year now, and have worked on a number of exciting projects with the team, including a sterioscopic 4D adventure for Edinbourgh's Our Dynamic Earth museum, and a television advert for the National Space Centre, as well as other projects mainly in pre-vis stages.



Other than work I have passed my motorbike licence, though I am still waiting for the licence to arive... I have been playing around with a cello and just the other night started a writers course. I have been getting into writing in my spare time, and have been reading much more, working my way through Stephen King's Dark Tower series.

As for personal works, I have been finding it hard to find the motivation. However, I have decided to kick myself into gear and start a short based on Robert Louis Stevenson's Jekyll and Hyde. I am pleased to say that I can show you a quick glimpse of the WIP...


Im not sure how fast this project will pass, so don't expect updates all the time... I have a number of other things on at the same time, so time to sit and play with this may be sparse.

Other than all that, at the moment I am mostly reading Edwin A. Abbot's Flatland, mainly listening to Joanna Newsom (who I recently watched at the Palace Theatre in Manchester), and verily enjoyed Scott Pilgrim in the movie world. In the comic world, I would advise people to check out Gerald Way's Umbrella Academy - very interesting story, and beautifully illustrated.

Anyway, I think that will be all for now!

Good Night