BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHT.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuSwj5ok24k

A multiple studio anime direct to dvd rendition of Batman. Due out just before the release of the Dark Knight. Im not the biggest fan of anime, but it'll be interesting to see their take on the 'bats'. There are to be six different shorts depicted in seperate styles and will feature the villains: killer croc, scarecrow and deadshot.

Definetely looking forward to this. Thank god the japanese still do traditional hand drawn animation.

(sry the link thing didnt work out for me. you'll have to copy and paste )

StarWars clonewars 3D animated

I got some issues with this whole production. But before I get into WHY...Ill post some recent images I found in comparison to the Gennedy Tartakovsky 2D version. Ill let the visuals speak for themselves first





VS







Im a fan of Samurai Jack and the combination of that stylistic approach to the starwars universe was awesome, and extremely appealing when I first saw the clone wars animated cartoons. once i was hearing about a third animation installment i got my hopes up only to be let down with the first viewing of the character designs.

The main thing that bugged me right off the bat was that the design approach was completely akward and inconsistent. Whereas you have non realistic characters the environments and skies and effects are uber realistic, creating a sort of conflict of interest. And even between characters the design is inconsistent. Yoda is very angular and closest to his 2D design of all the characters ive seen so far, whereas Asajj Ventress is very fleshed out and minimalist in charicature. The acting is also barely even existant. In the 2d screengrabs you can pick up right away what the characters are thinking, or how they are reacting. Can you do the same for the 3D version?

My second big beef was with the story timeperiod itself....this is actually happening right inbetween the animated series. How much more can you possibly stuff in there or milk out of it?

Anyways. I just thought I'd share my artistic evaluation. Ultimately, I find it just sad that they couldn't have taken a different approach, either gone in a completely different direction from the 'sam jack' style of the 2D version, or at least taken a more simplistic and appealing design approach to everything. When it comes to 3D animation you either put out your best 'pixar/feature film' quality animation or you go with something that looks like...well.....a video game.

DARTH MALAK: video game



Ahsoka Tano: 3D animated character/ video game cinematic




The official air date for the new animated show is AUGUST 15. im going to watch it, and hopefully the stories and music will save the terrible visuals. Just going to have to wait and see.

Where Ive been...

well. I dont even want to know the last time I got to post. Its felt like ages. Much much work has been done in the meantime and much sleep has been lost as well...
We've had zero grace periods in terms of workload. As soon as assignments are handed in the same day we receive the following assignment. So, Ive been in a constant flux between balancing schoolwork with personal/demo reel work. Thus resulting in zero postings on my poor neglected blog.

Heres a molecule of some of the work I've done recently:

A random alien Character Design who is part of a line-up im working on.



And a bit o school stuff. Research preparation for a western themed pitch I have to do in storyboarding class. I've done loads of sketches. but Im to tired to post all of em now.

these are quick 2 min max compositional/lighting studies from actual classic western films. Primarily Sergio Leone stuff. Im sure you can recognize some scenes.



And these are some character/ clothing study sketches to get a feel for a 'damsel in distress'. feel free to point out a favorite, I have yet to nail down the final design.




and thats it for now. Im guaranteed not to post for another month at the least. but in a fashion that also means twice the postings as soon as I get a nice break. maybe for reading week.