UGH!

I was doing so well... Bi-weekly updates and tons of stuff going on. Then silence...

It seems I've become victim to the revenge of compressed nerves. Unfortunately, this time, affecting my drawing arm, of all things. I've barely been able to sit at the computer for more than ten minutes without cringing. Needless to say, everything I've been working on has been put on hold, or has been progressing at a snail's pace.

I'm still hopeful that my animation video tutorial series will be ready by Spring.
And, if all goes well, I'm still looking forward to attending and hopefully drawing tons of character sketches at the Palladium Books 2015 Open House in May!

Until then, more physiotherapy sessions, and lots of stretching.

Animation Tutorials - In Production

With all the Robotech art out of the way, it's been a little quiet the last couple of weeks.
I've temporarily put my other projects on the back burner, as I've been recently working on an animation video tutorial series.

The tutorials will walk the viewer from dialogue analysis, to storyboards, to finished 2D animated scene (no cut-out). I'll be using software from Toon Boom, including Storyboard Pro, and Harmony 11. While I will be talking about how to use some of the software features, the focus will be on character animation fundamentals, which will be applicable no matter what software (or paper) you're using.

The tutorials are being produced for participants of the Skills Canada - Ontario Technological Skills Competition; but will be made available for the public, afterwards, and once I actually get a store page set up.

Pricing has yet to be determined as it's still in production.

If this is something that you think sounds interesting, drop me a line, or leave a comment here, or on facebook. Unfortunately, until the project is fully completed, I can't post images or samples up; but if there's enough interest, I'll be sure to do so, once the project is done!

More Robotech Stuff

So all of my art for Robotech: Expeditionary Force Marines has been approved, but the book's been delayed until probably late Q4. Until then, I'll wet your appetite with my finished Cyclone-Invid illustration. Alas, the other piece with the Alpha will have to wait until later.

 

Also, for any Robotech fans out there that might have missed it, Harmony Gold Productions is looking to crowd-fund a brand new Robotech animated series based on the late Carl Macek's last project during his time at Harmony Gold, called Robotech Academy!

For more information, check out their Kickstarter! As of this post, they've got just about a week to go (campaign ends August 8th) and they look like they could use quite a bit more backers to get funded. So if you're a die-hard fan, I'd definitely head on over to be part of the production and get in on some cool rewards!



UPDATE (August 2nd): With less than 40% of their goal funded, and only six days left in their campaign, Harmony Gold has decided to cancel the Robotech Academy kickstarter, while they explore other options of bringing Robotech Academy to production.

Click here, for more information.

Robotech Expeditionary Force Marines Art Update

Woo, more work in progress art for Robotech Expeditionary Force Marines!
Alas, only WIP for now until art's all submitted and approved.

Cyclone vs Invid Scout - Work in Progress



Alpha - Work in Progress

Invid - Work in Progress



And get this... With this post, I've just doubled my number of posts from last year - Crazy!

My Venture into the Third Dimention

So earlier this month I mentioned I've been trying my hand at learning how to use Maya.
My first project, following online lessons from Digital Tutors, had me creating, rigging, and animating a robot from scratch.

Thought you all might get a kick out of seeing how it turned out.

Since doing this, I've discovered a few things: my laptop can't handle 3D particles, or 3D animation very well, and it's not crazy about tons of textures either.

It's still pretty quirky, but after 2 DAYS of rendering, waiting to see how it turned out (and hogging my computer), I don't think I'll be going back to make changes. But, for my first ever foray into 3D, I'm pretty happy with it.

So this will probably be first and last animated 3D piece I do until I get myself a new computer. Though, in the meantime, I'll probably focus more on learning to model instead.

Next update... More Robotech art.

Beep Boop Beep Beep

It's been waaay too long!

I had hoped to make it a new year's resolution to update the blog at least once a month; but, I'll spare all of you the gory details. I will say that after two-and-a-half years, I'm no longer working for Toon Boom Animation. I still love their software, but sometimes it's better not seeing what happens behind the curtain.

 

I do have another job lined up, down the road; but until then, I thought I'd take the opportunity to stretch my drawing muscles again after barely touching a pencil during the last few years, and actually do some art stuffs!

 

So what's with the "beeps" and "boops"?  Many of you might know that despite me not being a fan of drawing robots, I tend to draw a LOT of them, and this month has been no exception! Here's the breakdown:

 

• I'm creating my own table-top card game about -- fighting robots.
• I'm finally learning Maya, and the first tutorial is to -- build a robot.
• Finishing up an old piece of demo 2D animation -- of a Transformer.
• And Palladium/Robotech fans might be happy to hear I'll be doing a few pieces of art for the upcoming sourcebook, Robotech Expeditionary Force Marines!

 

Lots of stuff to keep you all updated on!

And for my half-year resolution, I promise to update at least once a month!

 

Until the next post, here's an early thumbnail sketch of one of the upcoming Robotech pictures:



Work in Progress