The Summer I Stopped Writing

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I can’t believe it’s been 3 months since I updated this. This website isn’t just a place to show off my doodles. It’s also a place to log my journey to becoming a concept artist (and hopefully after I make it). I’ve written dozens of posts over the last few months… in my head. But I never found the time to sit down and write. Here’s whats been going on:

This summer has been hard. Not bad, though. Just hard. I want to make that clear that it’s been a great summer. I work full time for my families auction company and we have been busy. Big auction after big auction every few weeks. I’ve been working overtime nearly every day for months. I was supposed to get 2 weeks off as a break and I ended up going back after 7 days off. 10 times I planned to take a day off for a rest and ended up working the full day plus more.

It sounds like I’m complaining but I’m really not. For the most part I love my job. I feel like I’m needed at my work and that I’m good at it. But it’s been demanding on my time. I went 4 days without seeing my son. That sucked.

Because I want to spend time with my son, Mason, I don’t draw while he’s awake. Plus I want to give my wife, Becky, a break. With me working so much she’s basically lived the life of a single mother for most of the summer. Meaning most days my homework begins at 11pm.  Assuming I didn’t go straight to bed. And I’d draw until 1am to 4am. Then sleep. Then work. It doesn’t leave much time for writing blogs (even though I missed doing it).

Also I’ve been late on EVERY. SINGLE. ASSIGNMENT this term. It’s awful. It’s EMBARRASSING. It’s not what I pictured when I signed up for this program. My teacher, Todd, has been VERY understanding and even supportive. But firm. He understands why I’m late and doesn’t blame me… while also reminding me that if I was a professional I wouldn’t have the luxury of late drawings. Sometimes weeks late.

I’m going to quickly catch up on my assignments right now (multiple post night) but I hate to leave a post without any pictures. This is a comic I drew in 15 minutes (notice it’s only 3 colours and mostly copied/pasted frames) about some of the usual anxiety most artists get.

artfluke

Victorian Steampunk Drone

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It’s done, Diary!

I actually finished this forever ago but I forgot to post it on here. The Victorian Steampunk FPV Racing Drone!

dronecolorI’d very much like to build this but I don’t have any money right now for parts. But drawing it was fun. If I did build it thought I’d have to use vacuum form and wood veneer because something made of ebony and amboyna wood probably wouldn’t fly at this size.

Here’s the animated process.

droneprocessAwesome, right? I have a new drone website launching right away too! But I haven’t done the logo yet. BUT SOON! I’ll post the link when it’s done.

Michael

Victorian Drone Line Art

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Hi Diary,

It’s been a crazy month for me. First of all I BOUGHT A HOUSE! Yup yup. My wife and I smashed our piggy banks and started climbing that property ladder. But with moving and a ton of overtime at work I got WAY behind in my art homework. I’ve been trying to catch up for 3 weeks and I’m still behind.

For the last month we’ve been working on vehicles and I could draw any vehicle in the world that I wanted. Naturally I chose a drone. Drones are my new obsession.

Here’s the line art for it.

dronelinesI designed it as if it was in the Victorian Era. Not really Steampunk but kinda. I’m currently adding value, color and texture to get this assignment done. It was officially due 4 days ago but as soon as it’s done I’ll be back to my regular schedule.

Speaking of which, I should get back to it.

Love Michael

Term 3 Begins

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Where the heck have I been, Diary?

How long has it been since my last post? Hang on, let me check.
…
23 days?! That’s more than 3 weeks! Also how dumb is it that I told you to wait while I checked? I could have skipped all of that.

Yup, term 2 has ended and Adrian isn’t my teacher anymore. And that sucks because he was aces. I’m going to make a LinkedIn account soon and get him on there so we can keep in touch.

The last two weeks of the term had no assignments and then they had a reading week so I’ve had nothing to post. I mean I have art stuff going on but nothing I can talk about just yet.

o_0

Actually I have LOTS of stuff to talk about and some I’ll talk about on here and some will be elsewhere.

o_0    again

Anyway, the new term started and I’m very excited. And my new teacher, Todd Marshall seems awesome. He likes dinosaurs and space ships and pretty much everything I care about. He’s also the most “rock and roll” artist I’ve ever met and that’s cool too. I’ll write a post about him later but for now check out these balloons I had to draw!

balloonproofsThat’s literally a copy of the artwork proof they sent me to approve from the files I sent them. It just makes me laugh that they have to get something so silly approved. I was given 30 minutes to draw “anything a kid would like” so fat dinosaurs and space ships is what they get.

Ok bye,

Michael

A Year Of Progress

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It’s been a year since I started the Concept Art Diploma class at the Vancouver Animation School, Diary.

I was recently messaged by a prospective student, Adriana, through my Facebook art page. She wanted to know what I thought of the school. It’s probably obvious that I think the world of the school. The assignments and the teachers are exactly what I need to grow as an artist.

I did, however, mention that some of the recorded lessons could do with a redo. The teachers that recorded them are clearly very good artists. The school did a good job finding talent. But it’s also clear that most had never recorded a process video before. There are a lot of long pauses and hesitations as they think about what they want to say next. Or they may go long times without saying anything at all. For a first try they aren’t bad, of course. But perhaps a second or third recording couldn’t hurt so that they really know what they want to say and can do it succinctly.

In the end, though, the real evidence about how well the school works is in my art progress. Last March (a year ago!) I applied for the schools scholarship and I had to create a bunch of specific artworks. Let’s compare last year to last week, shall we?

creature3Oh. Oh no. I think I’m going to be sick. *pukey noises*.

eelorangeAh, that’s a little better. I’m sure in a year from now I’ll make pukey noises from my Eel too but compared to the snail I am WAY more pleased with it.

Let’s look at the man-made environments:

landscape2smallWell I definitely like this more than the snail. But it’s just boxes. Flat boxes in a row. In 1 point perspective even. For shame.

computerlabv3Aww yeah. That’s better. It’s only been a week and I already see a bunch of little things I’d like to touch up or redo but I really think I’ll be adding this to my portfolio.

Only one more year to go. I already know I’ll be sad when it’s over. I’m sad now just thinking about it.

Love Mikey

Completed Eel & Nasa Lab

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It’s been a little while since I’ve written in here, Diary. But I have a lot to say. The biggest thing is that I got 90% again this week! WOO! The assignment was the colour and texture and basically finish the images I’ve been working on the last few weeks.

First the harder image: The 1960s Nasa Lab

computerlabv3

There isn’t a lot to tie this to the 1960’s with the exception of a very mid century style lamp and a rotary phone on the counter but the huge vintage satellite in the middle is pretty obvious.

I got good points for imagination. The original brief was “Interior Computer Lab” but naturally, as a concept artist, I can’t just draw a modern computer lab. I could just find a real one and take a picture. So I imagine this computer lab was where America created the first satellite.

Animated process:

labprocess

Now the weirder (and more fun) picture: The Eel.

eelorange

The assignment brief was: “Eel with white body, yellow head, black spots, lidless eyes and a fin running from the head to tail on his round body”.

The robot arms and legs were implied in that.

Officially I handed this in after the critique class so I didn’t get a chance to talk to my teacher about it yet. He’ll be discussing it tomorrow though so that’s good. If it’s normal notes then I won’t write about it but if there’s something major then I’ll make sure I let the blog know.

The process:

eelprocess

As you can see this stops before the final orange atmosphere lighting. I added that last minute before uploading it to the school and I had already created this process gif and I can’t be bothered to edit it.

I have another big post coming very soon before this term ends.

Michael

Highest Mark Yet

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I just got my highest assignment grade so far, Diary. 90%! Yesssss. Pretty good considering the creature portion wasn’t complete.

I’m spending way to much time trying to make the picture perfect so I haven’t drawn the details on the mechanics or the bubble over it’s head. But here it is so far.

eelvaluesv2Yup. That’s the guy. I have to add teeth and colour and all sorts of junk but it’s really coming together I think. And I think I’ll work on it now. Short post! WOO!

Love Michael

1960s Computer Lab Values

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Hi Diary,

As promised here is the completed 1960’s Nasa Lab. By completed though I only mean the black and white values.

computerlabfinished_halfsize I animated the process again.

computerlabprocessI spent way to much time on this. Clearly I’m a slow artist. I’ve barely done anything to the Eel image either. I have roughly 23 hours until that needs to be uploaded. Ugh. But I’m proud of what I did here.

It really shows you how effective the school is. I handed the image in as ‘complete’ WAY before it was complete. I thought it was so good but my teacher showed me in just a few minutes how to make it stand out.

Here are the individual steps unanimated for those that want a close look. Before my teacher gave me his advice my image looked like something between steps 3 and 4.

computerlab_steps

Now I have to finish the eel picture and it’s so far from complete. I have 23 hours to upload before it’s considered late. Wish me luck!

Michael

1960s Nasa Lab Line Art

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Hi Diary,

I decided to show off just the line art I created for the computer lab because I’m rather proud of it. I have made an effort to render the values for this drawing as well but I have some big changes I want to do before I post it on here.

lineartcomputerlabThere she be. In the rendered piece you’ll see some more adjustments like open drawers and more bits on the floor. It’s those little details that make a place look lived/worked in and I need more. And the lighting will be very dynamic. Well, you’ll see in a day or two.

Love Michael