Manxome Foe

Oooh My Giddy Aunt...

2011-12-03T00:47:00.001-08:00

...it's been almost a YEAR since my last post?! Disgraceful.
Uhh, have some old sketches while I pull myself together to post more regular-like.

Sheesh.

Painting Babies.

2010-12-27T19:06:00.000-08:00

Apparently this is a thing I do. Well, for family members anyway. There are a couple more, but I guess I never scanned them.

*EDIT: got given a couple snapshots of the missing ones. Will hopefully be able to get higher res later. Also, apologies for the lack of updates, been busy with work/illness/relocating - I'd promise to post soon but...

Will Travel.

2010-12-10T22:37:00.000-08:00

Remind me never to give an ETA on personal projects. This will eventually go on the luggage rack of the car. Also, if anyone out there has good rendering or normal mapping tips for Maya please send them my way.

Small update

2010-11-25T22:52:00.000-08:00

This looks likes such a minimal update it's almost a case of 'spot the difference', but I told Kate I'd post what I've done so far, so there you have it. Also, that suitcase is going through an identity crisis, and as soon as that's resolved I'll post it in all its textured glory.

Decoy

2010-11-15T00:02:00.000-08:00

Still fiddling with the Goggomobil, but in the meantime here's a suitcase model:

I'll finish off the texturing in the next couple of days, and hopefully get another WIP shot of the car in.

Car WIP

2010-09-26T14:04:00.000-07:00

I'm still slowly plugging away at the Goggomobil. Very, very slowly. This is what I have so far, still need to tweak the body some and add more detail. Then there's the bumper, the interior and seats, separate out the doors, the steering wheel...wheel axles...door hinges.....texturing.....oh dear.

A peculiarity with this vehicle is that the tires tilt inwards, I thought that was interesting, and must be hell on tread wear.

If anyone has any car modeling tips please send them my way :)

Excuses and such

2010-08-30T23:06:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I posted and I still don't have anything finished to put up here - cos I have a job! Yay!
As a consolation prize here's something pretty cool from Arcade Fire that Gabe (from work, hehe) discovered today:

http://thewildernessdowntown.com/

works best in Chrome, apparently.

PS: I promise I'm still working on stuff
- as proof here's a small very rough WIP, the rest of it is currently in too tragic a state to post.

Wheel Breakdown

2010-07-05T22:37:00.000-07:00

Yup, there it is - one tire from RIDICULOUSLY high poly to somewhat low poly. Can I go lower? Probably, but then it just starts to offend my sense of aesthetics.

Goggo Wheel

2010-07-01T22:16:00.000-07:00

One vintage 480-10 tire as promised. This is the hi-poly version (omg you have no idea...) I'll be attempting a low poly version in the near future, then I'll post some wireframe comparisons.

Props 'n such

2010-06-20T22:35:00.000-07:00

I've done a few prop renders and put them on my Portfolio site. This one's definitely my favourite, had a lot of fun building & texturing it. :)
Haven't forgotten about my tower environment, it's still in development, but in the mean time I'm also practicing my modeling, I've started on the tire of the Goggomobil I've been wanting to model since the beginning of 2nd semester (finding blueprints for the damn thing took forever). Oh and I'm roughing out a painting for my little nephew who is now 2 months old.
Unemployment has its advantages I suppose.

'Tis a Tower

2010-05-26T18:34:00.001-07:00

This drawing was done a while ago, and I'd like to make another 3d environment based on it, waddya think?

And, cos I can't just leave well enough alone:

Changed the light direction (again) and added a ridiculously bright moon...as you can plainly see.

More fiddling

2010-05-20T20:30:00.000-07:00

So, aside from being sick and looking for jobs, this is taking me longer than I'd like. Is it better without the huge light focus from the streetlight in front?
Changed the direction of the moonlight too. Added stars, but I'll have to make that more obvious too I think.
Also, now the grocer has come to his senses and taken the vegetable inside, so now it just looks really empty there. So yeah, comments please!

Town at Night WIP

2010-05-12T20:42:00.000-07:00

This is what I'm working on at the moment since I'm apparently bizarre and think that lighting is kind of fun. Maybe I'll do a daytime still of my bus too? Hmmm.
Anyway, obviously it's still in progress, so suggestions are welcome!

Also, who wouldn't like to live in a town where the grocer leaves his vegetables out at night? So trusting.

Done and DONE!

2010-05-09T13:59:00.000-07:00

My demo reel is up and running on my portfolio site! Click HERE to go straight to it.

This is the lanyard ID tag I wore at the Grad Show on Friday and Saturday. Much less confusing for people than last year when we wore no tags at all.

Wow, that was an intense 8 months, but I have to admit I enjoyed it a lot, and made some fantastic new friends. Now to take a small break (and by small break I mean light a night shot of my Town for fun and putter around) and then onto the job hunt!

Amusement

2010-04-28T20:47:00.000-07:00

Rendering posters to go up on Sunday at Harbour Centre - it takes.. awhile. So to amuse myself I did THIS.

It's my Oil Drum stove's texture progression. I've probably done hundreds of things wrong, but I'll post it now and cringe about it later.

Some Lighting

2010-04-06T16:24:00.001-07:00

This is a section of what's happening in the top level of the Routemaster. There are some normal maps, but no textures yet. We only have about a month left, so this may be my last post before Grad Show.

AOeeooo

2010-03-29T23:46:00.001-07:00

The lower level of the doubledecker Routemaster bus I'm building for my 2nd environment. Top level has more goods, but more on that later.

Enviro Two progress

2010-03-26T22:49:00.000-07:00

Slooooowly getting there.

It's a chair!

2010-03-10T17:09:00.000-08:00

...and a couple of windows. Enviro Two underway.

AO, I love you

2010-03-04T16:46:00.000-08:00

I'm really not sure why I love Ambient Occlusion passes so much, but I do. This street corner was built for an assignment Adam G gave us.

As far as my first Demo Reel Environment goes, I have made progress and will be moving on to my 2nd environment next week...it has been edited for time and content. Curse you time!
Here's a sneak look at what I have so far, as I wont be posting anymore on it until Gradshow.

Don't forget to eat your vegetables

2010-02-10T17:20:00.000-08:00

Not feeling great has impeded my progress a bit, but I have managed to add the foreground building, garbage can, road and sidewalks. Also, instantiated and arranged the Grocer's fruit and veggie display. I think I finally have a colour study worked out as well - YAY!

Progress Failure

2010-01-31T22:37:00.000-08:00

Ugh, so UV'ing has kicked my butt and now I'm waaaay behind. Also, it looks like I'll have to build a bit more to fill it out composition wise. So UV'ing and some awful colour studies are all I got done this week :( Lesson learned: don't schedule more than is actually humanly possible to do at this stage in my 3D learnings.

PS: I love RoadKill. I unwrapped these in Maya to use it, and exported it back into XSI. Cheating? Maybe.

2010-01-24T18:57:00.000-08:00

The End is Nigh

2010-01-23T23:41:00.000-08:00

Our final semester is devoted mostly to working on our demo reels (with some regular assignments thrown in for good measure). I've decided to focus on environments and lighting, and have therefore planned to do 2 different environments for my demo reel: one more cartoony (in XSI), the other realistic (in Maya). Variety, I am told, is a plus. To keep myself motivated ,and somewhat on-track, I'll try to post weekly updates on my progress.

Here are some thumbnails for the first project:

Another Group Project

2009-12-17T00:44:00.000-08:00

A sneak peak! We're almost done!

fish.

2009-11-25T00:07:00.000-08:00

We just finished our Salmon project in XSI. The project entailed modeling and texturing a salmon (or any kind of fish really), rigging it, then animating it using sin waves and constraining it to a path. We also got to play around with particle systems for the bubbles, and volume effects if we wanted to. :)

Group Environment

2009-11-16T21:38:00.001-08:00

Our group environment project was a Ski Lodge. Everyone modeled and textured pieces of the Lodge and then pulled it all together. I modeled the fireplace, pokers, windows along the side and the mugs. Then each of us took a copy of the scene and found a camera angle we liked, rearranged the props and lit it to our individual taste. This is still in progress (and hopefully it's not tooooo dark on your monitors).

Excuses, excuses

2009-10-12T19:05:00.001-07:00

So updating hasn't been happening because Digital Animation is quite literally sucking up ALL my time. I'm enjoying it so far tho, so I'm hoping to update at least a few times before I graduate next year. Hopefully? Maybe?
Anyway, this is the very first eyeball I've ever modeled/textured/rendered for your visual consumption.

Don't do this at work

2009-08-27T18:56:00.000-07:00

It's not professional.

oh right

2009-07-31T00:11:00.000-07:00

Rath: " A sort of green pig "

Reference is mixed up with the rest in this one.

More Jabberwock stuff

2009-07-31T00:02:00.000-07:00

Tove: "A combination of a badger, a lizard, and a corkscew."
Apparantly they live under sundials and only eat cheese.

Reference:
Attempts at a Tove:

knit 1, purl 1, knit 1...

2009-06-23T22:02:00.000-07:00

....I should be drawing more....really. Instead I find myself picking up a decade-old piece of knitting (my ultimate procrastination project btw), reading graphic (and regular) novels, fiddling with jewelry projects and researching my current obsession (Tofino). Ok, yes, and drawing. Just not nearly enough. I should probably get on that. Ohh...and testing out Maya...should get on that too.....

For Colleen

2009-05-31T01:31:00.000-07:00

Borogove: "A thin shabby-looking bird with its feathers sticking out all round, 'something like a live mop'."

So far, these are what I've come up with. I read somewhere that they were also supposed to be parrot-like. Who knows.

Jabberwocky

2009-05-28T12:35:00.000-07:00

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

'Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!'

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought --
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

'And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

-Lewis Carroll

I've been wanting to illustrate this poem for a long time (as apparently I have a mild obsession with it) so I've been scribbling some things in my sketchbook and will post what I deem worthy - eventually. Why do I like it so much? Probably has something to do with the all the portmanteau and nonce words ;).

DeMo ReEl & DONE!

2009-04-29T00:06:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's all over. Two years learning animation with some of the best people I've ever met, it's been amazing. Now hopefully, we'll all still keep in touch even if we scatter across the globe (at the very least I'll see some of the same fantastic people in Digital next year! Yay!)

And now, my demo reel:

PORTFOLIO!!

2009-04-21T00:28:00.000-07:00

My website is up! It has my entire portfolio on it, and is currently only missing my demo reel which will be ready soon.

These are the covers, to see what's inside you gotta go here:
samerasmus.com
Yay!

9 days left ....

2009-04-15T02:08:00.001-07:00

...and I'm trying not to freak out about how much I still have to do. This is a shot from the flash animation I'm currently working on.

run lola run

2009-03-24T16:45:00.000-07:00

meh.

Burlesque Life Drawing!

2009-03-20T01:25:00.001-07:00

Something different! She was a lot of fun, and her playlist of music was...entertaining.

Coloured Characters

2009-02-12T23:28:00.000-08:00

Some products of our Digital Painting class. The nurse is from first year (Kaylea and I were unknowingly sharing the same brain that day in class), The 3 middle characters are new and may possibly feature in an animation I'm planning, and the last is a self portrait.

Things learned while working at a Museum

2009-01-11T23:34:00.000-08:00

You find interesting things in cookbooks published in 1907...

I had heard about sperm listed as an ingrediant for cosmetic creams in the 1900's, but had to check for myself - at this point my brain shut down.

When it started functioning again, I continued reading, then checked on the internet because (I don't know about you) I couldn't picture Mrs. Sally Goodwife asking her dear old hubby to contribute that particular bodily fluid to her home-brewed concoctions.

Turns out what they PROBABLY meant was spermaceti, a wax found in the head of the sperm whale. More info here and here. Now, is that more or less perturbing than the original image?

Weekly Illustration: Snow Monster

2009-01-09T14:17:00.000-08:00

We started Digital Painting this semester. I think I'm gonna like it.

3rd Semester Life Drawing

2008-12-28T23:01:00.000-08:00

Not a value sketch

2008-12-28T16:24:00.000-08:00

Oh well.

3rd Semester Layout

2008-12-16T19:36:00.001-08:00

Layout is difficult. We did 4 during the entire semester (the first one is definitely not worth posting). I need to fix a few things, especially on the Times Square-looking one. Hopefully I can do that during the break.

It's Christmas time again....

2008-12-03T00:03:00.001-08:00

All I Want For Christmas Is ... from Paul Rayment on Vimeo.

Weekly Ilustration: ______ on a unicorn

2008-11-20T18:00:00.000-08:00

...yeah.

Weekly Illustration: Childhood Memory

2008-11-08T01:36:00.000-08:00

This is why I no longer play video games....I'd probably have a heart attack.

[edit: although I have started again. Risk of angina just adds to the fun, right? ]

Weekly Illustration: Lyric

2008-10-27T00:16:00.000-07:00

"I see a red door and I want it painted black
No colours anymore I want them to turn black
I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes
I have to turn my head until my darkness goes"

Paint It Black - the rolling stones

Weekly Illustration: Servitude

2008-10-10T23:51:00.000-07:00

Botched.

2008-10-04T11:43:00.000-07:00

Graham Annable is a twisted genius.

Weekly Illustration: Pride

2008-09-29T16:28:00.001-07:00

Weekly Illustration #1

2008-09-21T18:08:00.000-07:00

Summer Work

2008-09-13T19:52:00.000-07:00

During the Summer break I was fortunate enough to work for a local museum (thanks Sarah!) drawing their self-guided tour booklet. These are some of the drawings.

Sketchbook Scribbles

2008-07-31T22:46:00.001-07:00

People sketching at the airport, bank, a restaurant, a pub and various coffee shops.

La Linea

2008-07-27T00:05:00.000-07:00

Man, I have been looking for these little animations for ages! I used to watch them on tv back in SA - we probably got to see more European and English cartoons than North American ones, so I've been trying to remember them all. They're done by Italian animator Osvaldo Cavandoli in the 70's & 80's. More info on the series can be found here.

Altho, I must admit, I don't think they aired this particular episode...

[ edit: this is more like what I saw ]

I like creepy

2008-07-13T17:01:00.000-07:00

This looks cool. Found it on this website.

Edit: unfortunately the video was pulled, BUT it can also be found HERE.

Summer Practice

2008-05-30T12:17:00.000-07:00

Some scribblings for the Design Group that Colin started...yeah, I need the practice, that's for sure.

Oh yeah...

2008-05-28T11:50:00.000-07:00

...forgot to post one of my layouts from 2nd semester. I'd like to colour it one day...

Some Character Design

2008-04-29T22:56:00.000-07:00

...I like the way the expressions turned out - better than previous posts I think.

2nd Semester Animations

2008-04-25T21:41:00.000-07:00

I learned my lesson from last semester - press harder...or use darker pencils :-P

The final assignment was to animate a character performing an action, set to music.

For this one, we had to use limited animation using UPA - style characters for a 2-person dialogue.

Our first quadroped walk...this took a loooooong time to do. It's also the only animation that I've done for the entire semester that I don't completely cringe at.

Exploding volcano special effect...yeah.

Playin' Around

2008-04-21T11:40:00.001-07:00

Some random stuff I've found. I did these awhile ago: the monsters are pen and pencil crayon, the cows were pen, with digital colour and the girl is just your regular collage-type thing. Aaaaanyway.

Some Life Drawing

2008-04-09T18:47:00.001-07:00

These poses were anywhere from 30 seconds to 7 minutes long...if I'm remembering correctly.

More of the same

2008-03-19T23:47:00.000-07:00

Here we have a clean up of the drawing from the previous post. Also, some expressions. We were supposed to draw the faces of our previous characters from memory ...clearly mine is faulty. Ah well.

Just talkin'

2008-02-21T23:33:00.000-08:00

A character design assignment from the beginning of the semester.

Poor Bunny...

2008-02-11T00:24:00.000-08:00

This is still one of my favourite flash animations. He he.

First Semester Part 2

2008-01-03T03:27:00.000-08:00

Since I can't sleep, I'll post some of last semester's character designs. Isn't it amazing how many more flaws you detect once it's been digitized?

A cleaned up Roman Soldier:

Note the stylish and professional paper crease.

A WWII nurse and medic:

I think she turned out alright...

... the medic on the other hand, he looks a bit odd.

The Final Project:

I present to you a geriatric Dorothy.
Critique away.

First Semester Part 1

2007-12-27T22:45:00.000-08:00

These are the last 3 animation assignments for the first semester. They're OK, I guess.

Ride that bandwagon

2007-12-21T00:20:00.000-08:00

I will post something moderately worthwhile ... eventually.