Mike – Page 5 – Mike Ward Draws

Term 3 Begins

Posted on April 10, 2016by MikeLeave a comment

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!

That’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

Posted on March 18, 2016by Mike1 Comment

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?

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

Ah, 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:

Well 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.

Aww 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

Posted on March 9, 2016by MikeLeave a comment

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

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:

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

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:

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

Posted on February 20, 2016by MikeLeave a comment

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.

Yup. 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

Posted on February 14, 2016by MikeLeave a comment

Hi Diary,

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

I animated the process again.

I 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.

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

Posted on February 11, 2016by MikeLeave a comment

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.

There 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

Updated Thumbnails

Posted on February 3, 2016by MikeLeave a comment

Hi Diary,

REALLY short post today but that’s ok. I just posted the comics like… yesterday? I don’t even know. I worked a two day auction and haven’t been to bed before 3am for 4 days. It’s 2:44am right now so maybe today I will!

Anyway, this is just the updated thumbnails I created from the last assignment. I know they don’t look much different but it was hours of experimenting and erasing ideas that didn’t work. Just showing it before I start the next step tomorrow. Just lots more details and a more dynamic perspective.

Anyway, go read the comics I posted previously, why not?

Love Michael

Cyborg Eel and 1960’s Computer Lab Thumbnails

Posted on January 30, 2016by MikeLeave a comment

Sup, D? Werd.

After months of character and creature designs the class has finally shifted towards environments. I will still be doing characters and creatures each week but they won’t be the real focus of the assignments. The assignments are also starting to become more specific as if I was hired to draw something for a client. I was given 4 options for environments and 4 options for creatures/characters.

For the environment I chose to do a Interior Computer Science Building. That’s all the description I was given. But as always I have to make it unique. If I just draw a picture of a regular every day computer lab then why hire me, right? They could just take a photograph of a real one.

So I’m doing a 1960’s computer lab from Americas side of the Space Race. Essentially scientists building a satellite in a room full of computers.

The design board:

I love those big chunky computers. They will really give me an opportunity to play with Smart Objects in photoshop but I’ll get into that in another post.

I’ve also been trying to practice my thumbnails. The shots aren’t nearly dynamic enough but the perspective and scale are getting better. I had the critique on these thumbnails two days ago so I’m going to actually redraw them soon to make them better before moving onto the next step. The satellite needs to be the focal point.

For the creature I had to draw an eel. Just that. An eel. So naturally I decided to give it robot bird legs and arms.

Board:

Paints a picture, doesn’t it? The thumbnails:

You can see how much I struggled with getting a good shape/perspective for the eel. I didn’t want it to have a perfect snake slither. I wanted him all loosy-goosy in an asymmetrical shape. Snakes move in a very wave-like fashion but eels are influenced more by the water movements. I think the legs and arms really give him some personality. Once I have him redrawn bigger I will play with more details and mechanical components.

And that is all. I will write again this weekend to talk about some new comics I’ve been drawing lately.

Love Mikey

Post Apocalyptic San Francisco House – Critique

Posted on January 18, 2016by MikeLeave a comment

Is this the longest title I’ve had for a blog post? Gotta be top 3.

Hi Diary,

I’m all caught up with my homeworks! It’s a good feeling. I was caught up last Wednesday actually but I didn’t write about it because I was enjoying not having an upcoming (or passed) deadline.

Wait. Is it a “passed” deadline because I passed it? Or a “past” deadline because it’s in the past? I’ll say it’s a pasted deadline.

First of all though I updated my rabbit from the previous assignment. Fixed some obvious errors and textured the background a bit.

Feel free to send copies of him to Pixar and demand they hire me.

Right. The assignment. I drew a Post Apocalyptic San Francisco house.

It’s rough, I know. The scale on the steps is completely off. The colour is messed up. But I still got 80% on the assignment which is cool. We haven’t actually started the official environment design classes yet. (It starts Wednesday!) It took me around 10 hours to actually make this one little house and my teacher made it SO MUCH COOLER in 20 minutes.

Look at this:

He doesn’t know I have this. I take constant screen shots during my classes to keep as personal notes. I don’t show them on the blog because JOIN THE SCHOOL YOU CHEAPSKATES! But I figure since I drew 90% of this it’s ok if I show it.

The biggest thing (besides all the destruction and fire) is the atmosphere. My original is a very grey building with a red sky. The building is grey, of course. But the atmosphere would bring the colour closer to the sky colour. He says I’m going to learn all about that starting at my next class.

Here is the process for the image I made even though I hate it now.

One awesome thing though was that he thought the second step was a 3D model I found. Why is that awesome? Because I just drew it in photoshop with the magnetic lasso tool. Haha. It was only to tell me which sides faced the sun and which didn’t. Adrian told me to take it as a compliment so I will, by golly. He said the perspective had to be pretty good to make it look like an untextured model.

Ok that’s all.

Love Michael

Finished Creature Design – Tree Rabbit

Posted on January 6, 2016by MikeLeave a comment

Diary!

I’m back to the ol’ blog but this time I actually have a finished assignment. Ok, technically only half of the assignment is finished. I still have a cityscape to draw. Details, details. But the rabbit is done.

Woo! This is probably the most textured character I’ve ever done. I’m sure there are lots of technical bits that I screwed up on but I really really tried to think out what I was doing while I drew this. I hope it shows.

And of course, the obligatory animation:

I want to actually record a drawing from sketch to full render but I start and stop drawing so often I’m not sure how it’ll work. Especially with all the experimenting/screwing up I do I might not want people to see my process. One day though.

Here are all the steps un-animated if you really want a closer look.

I’ll be assigned a new assignment in about 2 hours so expect a lot of posts coming up. I still have to do the cityscape from last week. (Don’t judge me!) But after this week I’ll be all caught up again.

Michael