REVAMP: REVISITED

Okay, so to launch this blogsite I started off by developing a personal project I called ‘REVAMP’, I had a hard drive filled with older projects and unfinished pieces, some were just general ideas, some old uni assignments and others were those beautiful concepts you had in mind and just wanted to see completed – but had no idea where to start! *BTW – ‘The Urban Ninja’ was also one of those dreams which I decided to just run with...!

After coming to an end of university I started thinking of the opportunity I now had to revisit these old pieces and see what could be done with them.

It hasn’t been till recently that I chosen to get into the visual effects/design part of the industry, trying to pick up real skills in 3D modelling and visual effects animation. Before then however, my skills were in character design and concept art. Here are some of the developments I’ve got so far from aiming to complete these pieces.

Trent Nova: intergalactic Space Marine

This character was a product of my imagination from my cartoonist phase. Trent Nova is a rough and tough space marine and part of an intergalactic space corp. Exploring the universe and building rations between alien civilizations  Armed with his gadgets and his wits Trent Nova faces the perils of the galaxy, and battle evil forces head on. I intended this character to originally be developed into a comedy cartoon sketch as he travels the universe and boldly went where no-one wanted to go!

*A quick concept sketch layout of the BG scene.

*I still might develop this further in the future.

The Art of the Samurai

This is a very outlandish character deign I had. Trying stylistic approaches to characters at the time this was a samurai type figure that I sketched a while back, I thought that this character was pretty funny and deserved to be returned to and sketched over. Eventually I’m hoping to play around with painting styles and colour theory on this design as well as paint a concept scene behind him.

Barb the Butcher

This was a hilarious figure I designed a while ago as well, based on all those stereotypical “fat lady” characters you see on TV (...think of the creepy mother from Goonies, etc.) When I drew her all I kept seeing was “Barb” as a butcher, wielding a massive meat cleaver which she would wave around as she chased you with it. The character is so exaggerated from everything down to rollers in her hair and the horrid wart on her face. Again this character/design was intended for exploring both character design and painting techniques. I’m aiming to go back to these characters soon and paint them with a style which is unique to me and my humour.

*Work in progress.

Set Share

This was a project I worked on during the summer of last year, developing a web brand for a friend and his music launch site. Set Share aimed at bringing and promoting new and upcoming musicians to the spotlight. Targeted at people all over the world and designed with the idea of being a new type of social networking site. When designing this logo my friend had a very ‘unique’ style of describing the notion and a very clear and set out idea of how he saw it, his main thought was on the iconic speaker in the middle as it circled the globe. This was an interesting project because it allowed me to get into using my designs and mixing them with visual effects, as I constructed the space/globe scene using Adobe After Effects, a program I love to use. It also helped me listen and build dialogue with people I worked with and understand their ideas better to explore my artistic style.

*Animated intro screen.

Blues Night

Blues night was probably one of my biggest projects I developed. Back in 2008 I was asked to develop a mural for a friend’s father, he had a pub and wanted something for his back room, which would draw people in and bring to their attention his rhythm and blues nights that he promoted. We designed the theme of a band of performers all playing and enveloping the room and it’s four walls, like a stage standing over the customers. Each character held a personified strength of the iconic ideas of Blues, i.e. the sexy singer with a beautiful voice, the veteran old man guitarist and the rhythmic pianist etc.

I eventually went back to this design and chose to ‘REVAMP’ it, to do all the characters and instruments in high detail. The piece is HUGE and took a high level of detail and attention over that summer, and ventured further as I tried to add character to my characters.

I’ll probably complete the mural and paint it over this summer, as my painting style aims to improve.

*Lined mural piece - A3 size page, I imagine this with loads of colours in it!.

***

This is just a little taster of how I wasted my time all year and where I hope to go next with my designs. Thanks guys!

Keep watching this space, to see how I progress and what I post next.

--Un313--

Three: It's a manic number...

S’up people,

So it’s finally here, the end of the development stage of character concepts.

Below are the last three characters I’ve been working on for the ‘Urban Ninja’s’ first saga, ‘The Axiom’. Introducing “Trio”, an elite group of highly trained and  assembled mercenaries, hired and developed by Victor Shaw, Trio set out to capture and apprehend the Ninja one way or another, and will have him face the serious forces of Red Ogre, Black Viper and The Gunslinger in an all out war across the city. 

Completing all the characters at this stage feels like such an achievement for me. Starting from a simple concept of what kind of characters and foes I wanted to see the Ninja interact with I developed these final three characters from a ‘Tabula rasa’, [a blank slate]. As I wondered who and what the Ninja would be fighting against I thought about what it was that the character himself was fighting for. It was for a shift, a point where the fundamentals of his world had to change. This would be where he forces an effort for change and as he does, logically I saw all the points of the old ways (this old world) personifying in these characters against him. ‘Trio’ set out to be the fighters of the old world elected for battle against our protagonist, the first real obstacle in his way. 

In the end the best way I could imagine this was with having it portrayed through the classic ‘old skool’ kung-fu mythos of guns vs. blades, as one deadly practice challenges the other.

I chose to develop these characters as assassins and experts in marksmanship. Each character would have a trait that worked well as an individual but could always relate to squad based fighting and gun fire/gun kata tactics.

    Everything about Trio says that “This is a unit! This is a squad!” This was why one character couldn't be revealed without the others. Each member has a similar design in their outfits and their style of technology, but all relate to one another all the while having a way to show their personalised uniqueness at the same time.     

    
Not much can be said for their back stories, as mercenaries you seldom have one, let alone one known by many...! Their duty is to Shaw and the job, with pleasure taken in the capture and the kill...

Red Ogre 

    Standing at a colossal 7'3" is Red Ogre, a strategic and tactical cybernetic sentry. With no name and no known ID Red Ogre, (A.K.A. The Berserker) is a product of the team and a virtual resilient force against any artillery fire. 
    Encased inside a sub-sonic sound generator Ogre can manipulate and produce powerfully high and low dense sub-sonic frequencies, with the ability to level buildings or shatter solid objects with precision from distance.    

Black Viper

Black Vipre is as cold as they come, with a conniving and warped style of combat.            Practically a complete automaton Vipre is more machine than woman having her commands and settings programmed into her. A keen, gracious and deadly fighter she battles with two electro-stun bull whip blades, able to strike at any point. Although she never speaks the shrill and haunting static of her voice modulator often resembles sounds of childish laughter as she dismembers her victims. 

The Gunslinger

Commander of the squad, The Gunslinger is a brutal and deadly marksmen, and a stone cold killer. Developed with cybernetic and human augmentations The Gunslinger (NAME: UNKNOWN/CLASSIFIED) commands the group and keeps them as a unit, always ready for the next job. 
    Still choosing to wear his sniper commander jacket The Gunslinger appears as a type of Neo-cowboy, and battles with dual wielding plasma pulse pistols and his high powered gunblade. 
    The Gunslinger realises a keen fighter in the Ninja and aims to crush that spirit before he brings him back to Shaw, The Gunslinger is a soldier and believes in fighting for the conglomerate.

***

I really hope to develop what these characters can do in a world of graphic novels, especially with the Urban Ninja's world. I'm working on colour theories next for the characters and will try and enter the world of concept painting and colour theory. As I do I'll include a new post & thread with the character cast for the first saga.

--Un313--

Looks like the circus is in town!

Hey there everyone,

It’s been a while since I last got something posted on here, which I’m sorry about, but I have been designing just as much as I could in the past year, and stuck to developing some of my older pieces of work to add to my REAMP collection. As well as honing my style and skills for potential projects and other personal pieces.

In the past year I’ve finished university :) moving to Leeds, England – meeting and hanging with new people and finding inspiration in a new city, (finding just a fair bit of it in Leeds!!!)

My aim since then has been to become a motion graphic designer, producer and VFX artist. I’m set to begin learning more about 3D/VFX packages like 3D Studio Max and Cinema 4D, and also familiarise  myself with understanding and breaking down developments of 3D and visual effects. Since then I have been working towards adding to my REVAMP collection (purely because I have a hard drive filled with potential pieces and unfinished work which I'm eager to redevelop and stylise).

Cover art design for the latest project piece, CIRCUS:Earth.

I dreamed a dream of a comic scene.

Hey there people,

what a year its turned out to be, at long last I've been on the way to producing the concept for my graphic novel, The Urban Ninja, and I'm starting to make some headway into getting it out of my head and onto a digital page. Over the last year I've been tweaking and drawing/painting all the aspects of the characters, the story and the environment to produce my first on-line issue.

Set in the future our hero Ethan Shaw, heir to the entire Shaw conglomerate empire is dawned with an impossible task as he realises that the basis of his life has been built on a lie lead by his father, Victor Shaw as he’s spent years ... (possibly even decades) setting the rules and manipulating the course of their beloved city Titan City.

You can find the information on the page, 'Prepare for the Ninja'.

--Un313--

Just a lil' something to whet the appetite

Heya reader(s),

It's been a bit of a while since I last put anything up. At the moment I've been trying to clear out my old HD and finish off old pieces as well as trying out some new types of software. At the moment with my course at university we're entering our first phases of the dissertation modules, I chose to enter my designs and sketches of my graphic novel as the subject for my project, and it seems like things might be beginning in good form.

Anyway, until I feel as though I'm making well enough efforts at the start I'm probably only going to put up new pieces for the REVAMP a little few and far apart. Over the next few months I've decided to place the REVAMP project on the backburner to concentrate on the development of the 'Urban Ninja' (my comic's title).

As always, watch this space to see progress and conceptual innovation of the G-novel's development and my work.

Before I sign off I wanted to put up the last full design I completed a week ago on the blog page, 'Witch animation'. This was a quick sketch & animation design I had in the first year of my multimedia course. I had only drawn up a rough sketch board of the frames before, so I decided to take each one into Illustrator (Ai) and drew them again under vectors, putting them into Flash (Fl) to animate the sequence afterwards.

I hope you like them and please feel free to leave a comment.

Happy Halloween y’all!!!

--Un313--

Deeper Intentions

Yo guys, I just wanted to tell you what kind of blogger I am to avoid any real confusion. To those of you who know me already I’m classed as a “weirdo” and a bit of a loon, plus I have a short attention span and get distracted by cool stuff and colourful objects (… a typical designer, actually). So I wanted to really place a lot of myself in my work, my blog included.

This place here was (is) a developing tool for my work, it’s here to show my development in skills, professionalism and character, but I wanted it to not only be for me but for people out there in the same manner as me. Many people have a set structure as to how they create their blog spots, but I don’t want to be like that, I decided to give myself no boundaries, so please expect none. Travelling both naturally and virtually I always come across cool and inspiring stuff, so I usually comment on it, whether relevant of not. Sometimes I’ll be putting up pieces I’m working on at the time or maybe an entire collection, other times I might just put up an image from around the world or tell you guys about a quick link here or there to something awesome, (or maybe I’ll lay down some talk in a massive rant like this one.) But I’ll be doing it because it captures my interests and imagination and because I think for anyone trying to do what I am it could always be helpful into inciting thier next big piece.

So, you stay classy, planet Earth and as always, keep watching this space…

--Urbanartist313—

Street Motifs & Urban flourishes

Back in early 2010 I started a project for a university task which I didn't get time to complete, at least not in the way that I had originally intended. It bothered me that because of the very short time constraint I couldn't properly get a chance to experiment with the medium which I was working with and explore the possibilities of my designs.

Anyway I recently went back to them and started playing around with them in Photoshop, looking for a new look and new routines & styles. These pieces were a collection of mixed media designs placed together to create a type of Urban street art or graphic flourish designs.

Each piece was designed with a specific mood or feeling related to it and was characterised by the colour ranges and the piece's title. Reference images were taken from local town buildings and street corners all centralized around one building in particular (our university's creative arts building) as I was in an attempt to forge a new scene (landscape) within the image and focus on the space within the space.

Click the title page under the "Home" pages to see the full collecion!

--Urbanartist313--