More travellers in my backpocket.

Derren-a-like train guy

pretty boy egyptian actor

Hans mole man, live-action

Nervous

Intense screen stare

Sleepy student

wistful, pretty traveller

Too much time on my hands, who me?

I always loved the design of the original Stan Winston 'predator' mask and a number of years ago i decided to make one for halloween. It was the start of something, what began with a simple cardboard and papier-mache mask has become an arms race against my younger self- so every year i have to make something more elaborate than the last. I've even started making my own latex moulds...i'm thinking next it's gonna be fibreglass, i have my eye on ironman.

cardboard and papier mache: Predator.

Cardboard and Polystyrene: Hellboy.

Baseball cap and Fabric:Moxomule

Upholstery foam, Facepaint: The Thing

Latex,Fabric,Polystyrene:The Missing link

 

ZBrush Masterclass- PART I

So- i've been undertaking a Zbrush masterclass and my sculpting has improved vastly in only 3 weeks, only 7 more weeks to go! Below is a selection of the stuff i've been making under the expert tutelage of Ryan Kingslien on ZBrushWorkshops.com. I'll add more updates on the Masterclass as the weeks go by.

An, as yet, unfinished human skull.

Zbrush sketch of Toad commuter

African girl from '3d.sk' reference images

My friend Lydia- front on

Lydia- three quarters

Old Man- from 3d.sk reference images

3d graphics, shock!

Eventually getting some 3d up here i do it all day everyday, so it really should be represented.

During my day job i mainly work in Maxon's  'cinema 4d', an under-appreciated little 3d program that is very easy to pick up and learn.

I am a 3d Generalist/Technical director, which means i have to do a little bit of everything from modeling right through to rigging and animation. If you can think of an object i have probably made one of them at some point.

But this stuff, this stuff is actually from a fairly new love in my life ZBRUSH. And it IS the best 3D program i have ever used, ok so the interface is frankly bonkers and it can be crazy temperamental at times, but what comes out the other side is something better than 3d graphics, it's real art, pure and simple. Perhaps even more important than what comes out though is the physical act of producing work on it puts a big old smile on my face, it's a joy, a real zen experience.

All of the images in this post were created before i started a masterclass in Sculpting in Zbrush (which i am currently in the middle of so busy, busy, busy).

hope you like em.

ugly wee dug

old chinese fellow

cheeky chimp

Frank Quietly's Inaba.

Now in dazzling technicolor!

OK! Time for some colour- I warn you now what you are about to see might not be pretty, colour is where i fail every time. I need a LOT more practice, both seeing and picking colours, I'm going to hunt out some books on colour-theory and using colour in painting, because at this point I need all the help I can get.

Barbarosemo: Photoshop, 10 mins.

Angry Being: 5 mins, Photoshop

Toon car photo-shopped.

Susan, drab colours, needs much work.

SuperColourFrog-Gel-lipstick : 25, mins. Photoshop.

From the dusty corners of my mind.

The following pictures are all quick sketches from my little backpocket pad, they are usually ideas that suddenly come to me and as such demand to be drawn. The idea behind all of my drawing practice is to benefit these drawings- when you understand what real-life looks like you can conjure up far more convincing images from your mind. However this is where i fall down majorly my drawings from the mind are generally undisciplined and somewhat shoddy: I need to practice more.

A tiny soldier, part of a much larger animation idea.

An intrepid explorer, most likely a one line joke.

a cartoon fish.

a very skinny pug.

Starfish-octopus-wild-west-sheriff...deal with it.

a silly cartoon car, fun to draw though.

Quick sketches from reality- pencil on paper, approx 1 minute each.

Toad-like train passenger

Vampiric looking train passenger

Real-life Disneys Hercules- seen on TV

Egyptian minister from TV;
Superb moustache required documenting.

Bookworm train passenger

Toon style reimagining of Maybelline model.

Human thumb as seen on a TV programme

Bully: angry that he has to wear specs, drove past him in Glasgow

My wife is tiny (this may be little exaggeration)

Susan's hair cut free.