Bupaje Gallery

[bupaje]

Hi. New animation student here -in fact new to any formal training on any given number of art subjects. I want to post some of my WIP and current stuff as I produce it for feedback so that I may improve. I'll start out by admitting I am pretty bad in many areas, this way I don't have to apologize with every post. :)

I'll be home from work in a few hours and when I get the roughts for my current school project scanned I'll load them up for your useful and appreciated crits. I value your advice because as a 46 year old guy just getting started I don't want to be retiring before I am any good. ;)

Until then here are a few things I have played with -it's a page I put together when I applied to some schools as I was afraid they might not realize that behind this aging hulk sitting at their desk, stumbling over his words while nervously bending paper clips, there might be a tiny bit of raw untrained talent worthy of admitting to the school. In the end I think they just wanted someone whose credit was approved. ;)

http://www.stormvisions.com/bc/burtart1.html

Regards,

Burt

[bupaje]

Ok, here is my first post. I did these images as part of an in class assignment exploring different camera angles. I created a basic html page and posted the link as the images are large and don't want to bog anyone down who has a slow connection.

http://www.stormvisions.com/bc/camshot1.html

Here is one page as an quick example in case you don't want to see the rest...

http://www.stormvisions.com/bc/cam1/Image3.jpg

Any crits on drawing style or anything else will help me improve -thanks.

Burt

[bupaje]

This is my first very rough frames for the new animation assignment. Going to post them now as your crits will help me improve while I go as I will be working on this for the next 3 weeks.

http://www.stormvisions.com/bc/rock1.mov

I know I need lots of tweens to adjust timing and am going to start that now. I also want to add one of those spinning feet things where he pushes against the head and makes no errr .... head way. Then I want him to slip and flip and crash. After that I'll work on him trying to lift the stone and put it on his neck -then the rest. :)

Feel free to crit anything that will help -drawing, the process -it will all help me.

Thanks,

Burt

[cartuneman]

Howdy,

I was reading your first post and found that you said you were starting something new with animation. Well sir, Don't feel alone. So am I. I have fooled around with cartooning all my life. Never really amounted to much but still dabbled in it and really never thought my work was ever truley any good. I myself am all self taught. I feel I fall short because I have no real experiance. But hey you are getting your schooling now. Don't feel bad about your age either haha
Because when I was your age I wondered why I waited so long in life to go after what I really loved. I really like your Game BG's they are cool. I would really like to see more of your work. Thanks for checking out my gallery.

Cartuneman

[bupaje]

Thanks for the kind words and encouragement. I don't feel too bad about my age, just sorry it took so long to get started as I am really enjoying it. :)

All the best.

[cartuneman]

Howdy,

I have a question for ya? where are you going to school. Locally here, there are no such facilities, which sucks big time. I need to go to school myself. I've never had any training since my 8th grade art class (god thats been so long ago.) Oh well, I digress, haha,.
So, I'd love to follow your progression and see how you develope and maybe you can even let me know what your class projects are and I could kinda sorta follow along. That is if you wouldn't mind?
let me know? please

Cartuneman

" If all children do is learn how to pick up the apples from the ground, they never learn to climb the tree."

[powerglove]

ya what he said :)...ive never had real schooling and im also confused on what i should take in college, i know its gonna be something with art, designing i duno, anyways ill get in on some of this schooling also if thats cool, thanks :)

[bupaje]

I'm attending Brooks College in California http://www.brookscollege.edu

This first semester we have an intro to animtion and background layout design (also some required courses like critical thinking).

A lot of our animation projects mirror those Larry has at Toon Institute so for animation start with those. Basically we did

-Slow bouncing ball
-Fast bouncing ball (as if thrown)

Then we did several traditional 'half filled flour sacks' These sort of focused on weight and timing though the sacks are very expressive and you can show some emotion, walking, dancing - a good precursor to drawing the body I think without worrying about complex arms and legs.

-Falling Flour Sack - flour sack falling from a height, stretched it as sack accelerated, then squash on impact. Secondary animation of the tassles (or whatever they are called) flapping as it fell and and then the top half of the sack and tassles flopping over after the impact.

-Fat Flour Sack - A slow large ponderous sack

-Petite Flour Sack - A small energetic 'young' sack

We had the option of doing both together which is what I did. Not sure if anyone tutorials or examples of these around. (The school VCR ate my video tape -fortunately I got a grade first- or I'd post my humble efforts).

Then we did two 'leaf' animations; both of a single leaf falling off a tree, one with no wind and one with gusting wind.

Then we did our first two walk cycles -skinny energetic man and big fat guy.

Then we did two 'wave/whip' type animations one flag and one optional (I did the eel).

Now we are working on 'man picking up a heavy rock' and then I'm not sure if the last one is carrying a flour sack on his back?

That's the intro class.

-----------

The drawing class was a crash course in drawing exercises,

Contour drawing
Drawing without looking
Drawing first from memory, then looking at the object and drawing to show the need to really observe
Breaking down an object into shapes -trying to see the underlying structure of objects
Perspective Drawing 1, 2 and 3 point
Describing objects by value - trying not to look at lines but 'drawing' by using light and dark value range. We used paint and charcoal for this.
Still lifes
Then we used one of our previous perspective layouts and made copies and practiced doing value studies ie. using the same image create a scarey feeling, a light happy feel, day time, nightime etc

Then we did color theory (lots of lectures and painting color wheels and charts) then we took our perspective drawing copies again and now did color studies to create various different moods using color.

These studies are very helpful. It is amazing to see how the one piece of art you did can have so many different moods based on value and color.

We are now working on our final project which will show we understand it all. We are drawing a layout for an imaginary animation, will do value studies wednesday and color studies next then paint our final layout in watercolor.

I'll scan in a reduced sized copy of the draft of my final layout and later I'll see if my scanner can correctly scan the value and color studies so you can see how I go from start to finish -as long as you don't laugh too much. :)

There were lots of other 'mini topics' in between that were just to get our feet wet for future more advanced classes like the camera shots, prop sheet, thumbnails (sort of a precursor to storyboard stuff) etc.

[cartuneman]

Howdy,

Thanks for all the tips. Damn I better get me a scketch pad and get busy!!! I just pray I'm still young enough to remember to do all this. :D

Cartuneman

[bupaje]

@cartune - from what I've seen you'll do great.

Here is the draft of the final layout in pencil at about 1/4 the final size. Next I will do 3-4 value studies, then I will do the same amount of color studies and sometime next week I'll start painting the final background using these. If the colors and values scan well I'll post them.

http://www.stormvisions.com/bc/layout_draft_1.jpg

The garbage can gave me about 3 hours of headaches -trying to do it in 2 point perspective but getting that top ellipse right was beyond me. If anyone is a perspective expert and knows how I should have handled that I'll be glad to hear -or do you pros just eyeball it?

Anyway, I finally went with one point perspective and got a few lines in as guides but finally still had to eyeball it. The teacher's suggestions were great and helped point out weaknesses in the first few compositions and I ended up redoing bits and pieces several times. About 7 hours from start to get this far so not ready for prime time. ;)

[bupaje]

I'm working on the traditional 'man picking up a heavy rock' animation. In one part I want him to push against the rock and 'spin his wheels' ala bugs bunny -where they speed up until thier legs are a blur of motion. As he leans in he'll spin and slide back eventually taking a spill. I put together a quick test in the hopes I can get some tips.

I realized in looking at this that I probably have to have the feet describe an ellipse. It also seems a bit too mechanical. Figured I'd ask for tips from the pros as the time we get is limited enough that I don't want to do what I did with the eel and keep focused on one detail until its too late. Any advice (except get a new career) appreciated. ;)

http://www.stormvisions.com/bc/rt_1.mov

[bupaje]

First value study for final project ....

http://www.stormvisions.com/bc/fv_1.jpg

Here's the second. I tried watercolor (still not comfortable with wet media) ...

http://www.stormvisions.com/bc/fv_2.jpg

Here's the third

http://www.stormvisions.com/bc/fv_3.jpg

The first is supposed to create a mood with value, the second is supposed to indicate a light source and the third is supposed to be balanced and use value to make the viewer's eye travel around the study.

[powerglove]

nice!, i like your shading in the first one, gives it a very dark "freaky" type theme...for some odd reason i like that kinda stuff, and your painting is great too, ive never tried painting seriously but i know i wouldnt get that far haha..im looking forward to school this semester to really see what i can do as far as all types of art...keep it up, your doing awesome :), and thanks for sharing your schooling.

[brien]

pretty neat value study pics.. i like the second one the best..

as for that animation with the fast moving legs.. i have a few suggestions.. first, the drawings seem out of order, the leg in the front starts to go down, then it contacts with the ground, but then it goes back up. the leg after the contact need to go behind the body, so hes pushing off, although weight really is irrelevent here since the run is so fast. here is a link to some cycles from preston blairs book,

cycles (http://www.hash.com/animationcontest/blairpages/biped.htm)

look at the positions of the legs in both of the run cycles. because of the speed you want to acheive, you should probably go for the 4 frame run (the second one). im not saying you need to directly use these drawing for drawing, but these can just give you an idea of what works, and you can create your own unique run.

but you need to definatly make sure that the feet followthrough with the legs. in your run, the feet are in the tip toe position as they go down to the contact. this makes the run look very odd. so i would definaylt change that. and the random huge smear drawing doesnt work. in order for a smear like that to work, it needs to follow the legs. so the darkest part would be where the leg should be, then the smear diminishes from there.

anyways, i hope this was helpful for you. sorry it was so long, but i just wanted to give you lots of info to work from. there are also other examples of different and faster runs in richard williams book "the animators survival kit". another helpful tool it straight form the source itself i.e. pausing a looney tunes dvd or tape and studying it from there.

anyways..its a good start! so keep workin at it! and if anything was unclear, ill try and help as much as i can.

[bupaje]

Thanks for the feedback and the link. I'll scrap the blur. I have the Williams book but didn't find any of the blurred run I originally thought of. I'm scrapping that anyway and will go with something like you suggested and just kick up some dirt behind. Thanks again.

[cartuneman]

Howdy,

I just wanted to let you know that I'm actually fallowing your lead and am doing some value studies myself and doing some of the other things you have already done such as differant expressions using a flour sack. It's been fun. But hey great value studies. But I have a question did the art teacher give you a layout to first scketch or did you come up with the wall and window Idea yourself?

cartuneman

[bupaje]

I did. We just first created a bunch of thumbnails and then just loose/quick draw in concepts and then from those I picked that one.

OT but I spotted this interesting page you might like with "Hanna Barbera Layout notes" with lots of useful info

http://www.jez.hall.zen.co.uk/layoutnotes.htm

[EDITED: Sorry, ADD alert, I sometimes read stuff but miss the point and my original post 'answered' something you didn't even ask so edited this post to remove most of my babble.]

[bupaje]

Did one more value study - just using a General Layout pencil- and my first color study. Color is going to be a challenge, I imagined something totally different than what I ended up with. I also went to the school bookstore and brought paint and just realized when I sat down that I got acrylic instead of water color. Got soooo much to learn about everything. :)

http://www.stormvisions.com/bc/fv_4.jpg

http://www.stormvisions.com/bc/fc_1.jpg

Suggestions/comments welcome as always.

[bupaje]

Second color study - going to try to do 2 more ...

http://www.stormvisions.com/bc/fc_2.jpg

Third color study - purchased a box of Nupastel as I have wanted to try pastels. No great because -in addition to my lack of experience- I found out that the color doesn't stick good on copier paper and tough to blend as each layer pushes off the other layer as I lay it on. I did a search around the net and looks like I want a coarser or speciality paper.

http://www.stormvisions.com/bc/fc_3.jpg

As you can see, color is not my friend yet ...

Want to knock of one more tonight (if the TheraFlu Nightime medicine I took doesn't knock me out first) so I can dig into the animations after church tomorrow.... down to teh last two weeks of this semester and have three sizable assignments to complete. I'll be here a lot for feedback in the next few days .....

[cartuneman]

Hi,

Yes you guessed it, I clean everything up on a light table and then scan it in to the computer. Sorry to say it's all i have at this time to do what I do.:D
Have a grreat day.

Cartuneman

[gillianseed84]

Cool stuff man. I like the value studies!

[bupaje]

Thanks for the kind words. :)

On another front here is a required jump animation. It has some funky hand motion around frame 17 and I think there is a bit in the foot around 15 as well but I've been at it for hours -and swinging my arms in front of the mirror. Figured it was time to post it to get some feedback only have a bit over a week to finish the background layout and two animations so any feedback is appreciated.

http://www.stormvisions.com/bc/jump1.mov (about 970k)

Finding it a little hard to coordinate all the movement -get the arc for the feet, hands, head (or in this case neck) etc all working in some sort of harmony.

[Danimation]

Love that first color study, the most successful of the bunch imo. Great work man! Cheers

[bupaje]

Thanks Danimation. I got lot's of different opinions on those color studies.

I finished it today. Acrylic on watercolor paper. You can still see some paint strokes - tried multiple layers but I'm still too new to paint I guess because they show. I tried using my movie camera to get an image but looked very bad -think it is the indoor lighting. I finally put corner after corner into the scanner and reassembled it in Paint Shop Pro - the color didn't reproduce exactly on the scan and I think there are some seams where I did the joins in the scan but best I can do for now. I'll see if Kinkos or someone can copy the large original.

Here it is for better or worse. Thanks for all the useful feedback. Have to finish my final animation now for the animation intro class.

http://www.stormvisions.com/bc/final_1.jpg

[bupaje]

http://www.stormvisions.com/bc/white1.jpg

This is charcoal and Nupastel then smudged the dragons body a little in PSP. 30 minutes for the charcoal/pastel part and another 30 fidgeting with it in PSP. Was for the topic "White" at the CgTalk Daily Sketch forum -need to try to draw something every day to improve the skills.

[bupaje]

Hi everyone. I have figure drawing and digital imaging this semester (plus some general requirements but they don;t count ;) ). Going good so far. Here is an image I am working on in my Photoshop class -this is my 3rd class but I have used paint Shop Pro in the past so at least understand layers and some other shared features.

http://www.stormvisions.com/bc/gt_1th.jpg (http://www.stormvisions.com/bc/gt_1.jpg)

Will be tweaking it a bit more the next day or so before handing it in.

[cartuneman]

Wow!

Long time no see dude! The tree is looking great hope you post more soon you've been missed.

cartuneman:D

[bupaje]

Thanks - on my way to see what you've been up to. School is busy and the figure drawing stuff is very large so I haven't been posting -which is lucky as it is still very bad. ;) In fact if I had been the guy designing humans we would all be in trouble with over sized heads and arms, square toed feet, club-like hands and a circle where your private parts belong (still trying to overcome my prudish tendencies ;) )

[bupaje]

Ok, my final effort for this project. Will hand it in tomorrow. I have a few more days but getting it out today will allow me to do an extra credit project.

http://stormvisions.com/bc/Gnarled_Tree_7.jpg

[bupaje]

Hi. Trying to get my feet wet with a little animation so I started a personal project in between homework assigments. I sort of just stumbling around for now. Using Moho and started working on the jungle scene first, used the simple vector tools to make some plants and then fiddled with Moho's particle system until I got them spread ok.

http://stormvisions.com/moho/nm7.jpg

Still have to add some huts and stuff over the next few days. Also there isn't enough 'depth' for the action yet so I'll need to work on that a bit more.

[Hunter D]

Great work! Although I would have mirrored some of the trees to give an more appealing effect. :rolleyes:

[cartuneman]

Wow,

Loving the work man. I have to agree with hunter but if it's what your looking for stick with it. was that scene created in MoHo?

cartuneman:D

[bupaje]

Thanks for the kind words and suggestions guys. I've continued to poke at it but not sure there is enough time with school work to get it done -only three weeks left to finish which are also the final three weeks of the school semester -and need I mention my boss lucked out and drew an IRS audit which means that as the only guy in a one man office I get to deal with all the paperwork.

Yes, everything was drawn in Moho. The vector tools are basic but this makes them easier for me to use -the guys who are use to Illustrator gripe from time to time though. ;)

Finished two additional Photoshop coloring assignments at school. I didn't post them here as I am unsure of copyright issues since they are colored versions of commercial work (if anyone knows rules regarding this please let me know).

Anyway they are here on my blog

http://stormvisions.com/pages/blog-storm.php

Basically we were given the line art, scanned it, used Illustrator's Live Trace and adjusted to get clean lines and colored it. I am really enjoying Photoshop and finally picked up a copy thanks to the education version discounts and some left over book money from a grant.

Next we are going to color a professional background adding light sources and so on - starting this weekend.

[bupaje]

Hi. I started character design and have to work out a character which I will be using all semester to do all steps from turnarounds to a pencil test and then will use this in my flash class as well.

This was on of the sheets I did where I decided to do a mudskipper character.

http://www.stormvisions.com/bc/chardev1.jpg

I have continued to play with the idea and I am leaning towards this next one - too many other test drawings to scan. :)

http://www.stormvisions.com/bc/char042606.jpg

Love to get feedback as I need to finalize my choices and prepare several different colored items including turnarounds, action sheets and expression sheets by friday.

Sorry I haven't been around - I have recommended these forums a lot to my school mates; lots of great stuff here. :)

[bupaje]

Still trying to work the kinks out of the character

http://www.stormvisions.com/bc/flash/char1z.jpg
http://www.stormvisions.com/bc/flash/char3z.jpg
http://www.stormvisions.com/bc/flash/char6z.jpg
http://www.stormvisions.com/bc/flash/char9z.jpg

[bupaje]

First Flash lipsync -still rough but the school focuses on deadlines so need to just get it out. Needs a lot more work but ....

http://www.stormvisions.com/bc/flash/lipsync5.swf

[bupaje]

Ok, that's it for the maquette. Now have to do a quick pencil test showing his personality and 'moving in 3D space' for thursday. If I can scan all of it in I'll torture you with it this weekend. ;)

Thanks for your feedback and support.

http://www.stormvisions.com/bc/mmm8.jpg
http://www.stormvisions.com/bc/mmm9.jpg

[Jabberwocky]

That's really neat, and in colour, too. Should be a world of help animating the character three-dimensionally.

[bupaje]

Hi everyone. Been a little while since I've been here it seems. I just started working on my first Flash short for school so I wanted to show you. Working on the art this week and will cut it up and rig it this weekend and we begin animating on Monday -woohoo!

This is a fun semester. Working on our first thumbnails, storyboards and scripts, Flash animation and 3DS Max -if it wasn't for the public speaking class it would be all gravy.

http://www.stormvisions.com/bc/marcus_081406_1.jpg
http://www.stormvisions.com/bc/marcus_081406_2.jpg
http://www.stormvisions.com/bc/marcus_081406_3.jpg
http://www.stormvisions.com/bc/marcus_081406_4.jpg


Feedback appreciated.


PS. Marcus - the fish- shown in front and side view. Doesn't match yet. This art is just all placed on the shot as we had to send the teacher an image to show the progress of the artwork so I just dragged and dropped it all.

[cartuneman]

hahahah sir looks like fun. "Mud puppies for ever huh?" Stuff is looking great!
Hope everything is well with you? I'm still doodling as always have a great day!

cart:D

[bupaje]

Nice to 'see you' again. I am having loads of fun. I only wish I had done this years ago. I am working out a concept I hope to pitch and it has really energized me.

Also have the opportunity to meet a few industry people here and there via the animation club and special events. This week Christy Maltese who as worked as Art Director and background artist on a lot of films like Beauty & The Beast, Pocahantas, Dinosaur, The Little Mermaid and lots more. It was great to hear her struggles, see her art, get some tips -very cool.

[cartuneman]

Wow thats Great!

Nothing better than to talk to the people that have been in the trenches. I have to admitt I miss it. I used to live and work and breath Hollywood for over 12 years. But I left it all because of family. Wish I could make it back. Good luck to you !

cart:D

[bupaje]

Hi. Well, time is up so I had to finish up my first Flash short. It isn't quite done yet, still need to rework shots, I cut out a lot of stuff I didn't have time for and my noobiness shows but it was all I could get done with the workload in the time alloted.

http://www.stormvisions.com/2dcgi/PrimalSoup091706.swf

I know it needs a lot of the essentials like squash and stretch, some timing changes and so on. Please comment and offer suggestions as I will be reworking it during the semester break to see if I can polish it enough to use it in a portfolio we start to put together next semester.

Thanks.

[cartuneman]

Gosh I wish I could do flash!

Looks cool man keep up the great work!

loving it.

cart:D

[bupaje]

Thanks. :) I've seen your work. I'm sure if you tackle Flash you'll be amazing.

[bupaje]

Was trying to figure the best settings to scan art with my scanner and ended up with a few of the frames from my storyboard. Figured I'd torture you with them.

http://stormvisions.com/bc/frame12.jpg
http://stormvisions.com/bc/frame19.jpg
http://stormvisions.com/bc/frame20.jpg
http://stormvisions.com/bc/frame21.jpg
http://stormvisions.com/bc/frame24.jpg
http://stormvisions.com/bc/frame25.jpg

Not sure if for the portfolio I need to clean the storyboard up more or would stuff like these be ok?

[nonsense]

settings seem fine to me..your lines look great... and I would asume they wouldnt mind seeing a great rough as much as a finished drawing that's colored, i hear they like to see if one knows the correct way of building characters, as why the rough is important...in other words i know nothing about story boarding ha..

[bupaje]

Thanks for the feedback. As for storyboarding "I know nuting, nuting!" (not sure if anyone watched Hogan's Heroes growing up ;)) Hope to get it together in the next few months. I actually have to do a 90 hour internship somewhere this semester - so before January I think. Then in March I graduate -and I still have a long way to go ....

Anyway I patched together a few items I've been picking at recently from my sketch book. Trying to find more denizens for a story idea related to the first short I recently posted.

http://stormvisions.com/bc/sketch1.jpg

[nonsense]

ya i still have a EXTRemely long way to go haha... your works looks clean, good lines and such, do you use references when you draw your characters? i notice it helps me get those details my drawings always need. Actually it's the only way i draw now.

[bupaje]

I use reference sometimes. My stuff has been mostly 'toony' and I usually just grab a woodless graphite pencil (really starting to like these things) and use a lite searching line as I figure out where I'm going, then darken up the main lines. Graphite smudges nice so I take to it with my thumbs. :) In fact when I sharpen the woodless graphite sometimes use a cotton ball and dip it in the graphite dust to throw some quick shading on it.

I love the puppy and bird on your site, really great.

[bupaje]

Had to do this for Psyc class. Has some flaws as I had to hammer it out last night in between my assignments for 2D and 3D. Represents me, my goals, ideals and aspirations -or so it seemed last night. Arm is a paint over of my arm.

http://www.stormvisions.com/bc/mandala1.jpg

[nonsense]

sweet as hell man!..i do love surreal artworkz.

[cartuneman]

same cintiments as nosense.......SWEET! I like it a lot.

[bupaje]

Thanks. :)

I figured I'd post a link to my short here as well to keep some of this stuff together.

http://www.stormvisions.com/bc/PrimalSoupMini2006.divx

[melonsmasher]

that could be a hell of a tattoo. great

[cartuneman]

I like your roughs. Great stuff.

I was reading some of the latest posts. You know nothing about story boarding you say? hummmmmmmmm ? Story boarding is the way you see the film progressing. in a sence you are the director. You pick the shots andthe action and basicly you are creating a pictorial of all the screen shots.

In short a graphic novel of the story. ....hummmmmm it's late? did I make any since? hahahaha ugh.....:confused:

it's off to bed for me

cart:D

[bupaje]

Yes, you made sense. :) It was suggested to me that I put my stories into comic book form so that I could help copyright the story and idea; wa also told I might fight the comics useful when I eventually pitch the idea. Going to get started on that soon - have to read up and see about comic book layouts -read enough of them as a kid but never paid attention to that on a concious level.

On a side note I finally got an internship -woohooo!. Will be starting this Saturday with a small shop. A fellow student and I will be doing some Flash work on a series of shorts. Scarey but also exciting as I figured I'd just be making coffee and poking the holes in donuts. ;)

[bupaje]

Had to do a 3D model, rig and animate. Talk about brain strain. Those envelopes, bones and organic modeling had smoke coming out of my ears. No texturing or anything but should at least pass the assignment. I didn't think it was going to be so much harder than the 3D environments which I did pretty well with but this class almost killed me. I ended up paying a guy for a couple hours of extra training as couldn't get it into my dense skull for some reason. I'm not a dumb guy but something about that stuff shorted my circuits. :eek:

Anyway, got through it - its a safe bet I won't be doing 3D character modeling for a living anytime soon.


http://www.stormvisions.com/bc/clugFinal2.jpg
http://www.stormvisions.com/bc/clugFinal3.jpg

[cartuneman]

nice stuff my freind,

congrats on the internship! you'll get there hahaha I also know how it is to fry ones brain I did that in the 60's hahahahaha

or was that the 70's


cart:D

[bupaje]

When I first started school and needed to do the traditional man lifting heavy object and the jump animation I came up with a simple character called Neckman. I decided to revist him and am using him for one of my required shorts this semester.

Here is a concept for the Lilyputians. I want them to be deceptively cute and small native characters who are really bloodthirsty little buggers.

http://www.stormvisions.com/myspace/lilyputian.jpg

Here is a concept drawing for neckman. Andres Alvarez of Animation Design Center took my rather stiff initial ideas and in about 30 seconds breathed more character into him - he's another talented former Disney artist. I admire his character design skills and feel fortunate to be doing an internship with his company.

http://www.stormvisions.com/myspace/neckman1.jpg

I welcome feedback. I have very little time to do all the work I have this semester - I'm working on a second group short for a production class and have to also incorporate my 3D special effects class in there some how so I'm thinking of adding the required 3D bits by cartoon rendering some fire and smoke effects and bringing them into my 2D project - kill two birds with one stone.

I'll see if I am allowed to post bits of any of the storybaords I am working on.

[bupaje]

Went off to the museum this weekend to try to get some drawing time in. Unfortunately the dinosaur hall was closed for some work. I did a few quick studies and some gestures while I was there. I really need the practice.

Anyway here is one not-so-very-accurate study of the skull of a nasty looking fish from the Cretaceous. Hard to believe that at 5+ meters long there were actually creatures that ate this guy for lunch.

http://www.stormvisions.com/myspace/xiphactinus1_th.jpg (http://www.stormvisions.com/myspace/xiphactinus1.jpg)

Here is an artists rendition from another site.

http://www.oceansofkansas.com/FossilFish/x-fish2.jpg

[bupaje]

Here is some initial concept art for a story I'd like to tell, entitled The Alacrity of the Crayfish

Not sure when I'll get these ideas done but I'd love to get feedback. Even though this is a newer idea I fell in love with it. The heads are variations of one of the characters. Still in progress but I think I sort of favor this one for him.

http://www.stormvisions.com/myspace/aoc5.jpg
http://www.stormvisions.com/myspace/aoc2.jpg
http://www.stormvisions.com/myspace/aoc3.jpg
http://www.stormvisions.com/myspace/aoc4.jpg

I have so many ideas for books and animated films floating in my brain. I hope someday that I can set them all free and see people enjoying them. Still seems like just a distant dream even though I'll be graduating in 9 weeks.

[Cobster]

Hi Bupaje,

I like your gallery, it's very varied and you have strong digital colouring and rendering skills, I like how you get get a lot of texture onto the surfaces.

All the best,
Claire.

[bupaje]

Hi Claire. Thanks for the kind words. I really liked the look of your A Small Room short as shown on your blog. Very nice.

Here's another concept for the battered old crawdad character for the story. Instructors Gomez and Nunez who run the Friday lab at Brooks College pushed me in some different directions and so I generated many more variations. I wanted to test one with a bit of color so I did a quick ink job, scan and color in Photoshop.

He was attacked by a fish when he was younger and the claw on the undamaged half of his body grew monstrously large. The other claw is supposed to be missing a chunk but just noticed I inked it in whole by accident.

http://www.stormvisions.com/myspace/aoc_monster2.jpg

[cartuneman]

Dude !

You just keep pumping them out don't you! I'm liking them alot!
thanks for liking the wizard. sorry I haven't been around much. Had to take care of my health for a few days. i hope to be back at the drawing table again soon. Darn it I still have to finish the wizard!

cart:D

[bupaje]

Stay healthy cartuneman, you inspire me with your work. Feeling better? Good then get back to work! :D

I just picked up ArtRage - can't afford to spend anything but at $20 it is too much good stuff to resist.

I wanted to try a painterly background for my short and painted some rocks and 'assembled' them in Photoshop -don't have enough painting and product experience yet to do the whole thing in ArtRage.

Here are two tests.

http://www.stormvisions.com/myspace/artrage_back_1th.jpg (http://www.stormvisions.com/myspace/artrage_back_1.jpg)


http://www.stormvisions.com/myspace/artrage_back_2th.jpg (http://www.stormvisions.com/myspace/artrage_back_2.jpg)

[LeechKin]

That lobster freaks me out. I'm digging those tests. Can't wait for more :)

[Scoob nGA]

THat lobster is angry!!...did you start out with a marker, or did u pencil it first?

[bupaje]

The stuff was done in pencil and then marker, then a quick color layer - isn't really a finished piece; just wanted to see him in color.

My short may be on hold for a little while - probably until after graduation. :( Here's the thing. Producing a short in what amounts to 8 weeks -from conception to final editing- usually ends up with an 'ok' -but not fantastic- result. I spent all 8 weeks of last semester to produce my Primal Soup short which probably won't get me any awards. I have begun doing the same this semester when one of my instructors suggested I might consider storyboards and concept art for my portfolio. Duh! I hadn't considered that. I can probably produce several very good pieces of still art for my portfolio in the next 6 weeks, or one rushed short. Since I likely wouldn't start out animating it might be better to focus on my slightly stronger skills in Photoshop and with a pencil.

Anyway here are 3 rough pieces of concept art just to limber up. Not sure if any will make it into the portfolio but I need practice. On the underwater one I used a 3D app to create basic shapes so that I could figure out the perspective better.
http://www.stormvisions.com/myspace/thing1th.jpg (http://www.stormvisions.com/myspace/thing1.jpg)

http://www.stormvisions.com/myspace/thing2th.jpg (http://www.stormvisions.com/myspace/thing2.jpg)

http://www.stormvisions.com/myspace/thing9th.jpg (http://www.stormvisions.com/myspace/thing9.jpg)

[LeechKin]

Wow, I really like the last one. :)

[bupaje]

Thanks. I was looking through my stuff and came up with a few I haven't posted. This was just a coloring assignment - the lineart wasn't mine. We just cleaned it up and colored it. I really enjoyed doing this one.

http://www.stormvisions.com/bc/mummy1th.jpg (http://www.stormvisions.com/bc/mummy1.jpg)

[cartuneman]

DUDE!!! now that last piece ROCKS

cart.....I'm in awe!:D

[Heather Kilber]

I love the lobster, very nice!

[cartuneman]

Dude!!!

I just got back from a bizz trip. if you wanna color it go for it I'd love to see what you can do:D

cart

[Palette]

wow that colouring piece is really neat.I am struggling woth trying to improve my colouring skills...I envy you!:D

[bupaje]

Thanks cartuneman. I sent you a PM.

As for Palette - thanks. Made me feel good. First time anyone envied my anything -except for those strange types "Hey man I envy your gut" or "I envy you your overwhelming debt and cheap cologne!" ;)

[bupaje]

Posted these and some other stuff on animationblogspot.com but post here as well because of the useful feedback you guys and gals give. :)

Critiques and advice welcome - I'll be graduating in a few weeks and need all the help I can get. Click for full images.

http://www.stormvisions.com/awn/aoc_daily_030507_1th.jpg (http://www.stormvisions.com/awn/aoc_daily_030507_1.jpg)

http://www.stormvisions.com/awn/aoc_daily_030507_2th.jpg (http://www.stormvisions.com/awn/aoc_daily_030507_2.jpg)

http://www.stormvisions.com/awn/aoc_030507_3th.jpg (http://www.stormvisions.com/awn/aoc_030507_3.jpg)

[bupaje]

A couple quick doodles yesterday and today. Won't call them sketches as I just started drawing -an eye, a line or whatever and then figured out what it was as I went. Construction is wonkier than usual as a result.

http://www.stormvisions.com/awn/daily_032107_1th.jpg (http://www.stormvisions.com/awn/daily_032107_1.jpg)

http://www.stormvisions.com/awn/daily_032207_1th.jpg (http://www.stormvisions.com/awn/daily_032207_1.jpg)

[bupaje]

... recent bits ...

playing with ArtRage (cool for $20)
http://stormvisions.com/awn/jaguar042207.jpg

Click for full image ...
http://stormvisions.com/awn/jungle0422072th.jpg (http://stormvisions.com/awn/jungle0422072.jpg)

... and Photoshop colored one of my doodles ...

Click for full image ...
http://www.stormvisions.com/awn/cg_light_031107_1th.jpg (http://www.stormvisions.com/awn/cg_light_031107_2.jpg)

[bupaje]

Got laid off this week and so decided to do some drawing between applying, updating resumes and all that. Still a wip as I am adding some final details. (Can you tell I've been working on Beanie Babies the last few months? :eek: )

http://www.stormvisions.com/awn/beehive3sm.jpg (http://www.stormvisions.com/awn/beehive3.jpg)

[Doubt]

I missed the "off" at the begining on a quick read through. Pretty funny, and then I read the post properly and the news is not so good. Too bad about getting laid off but at least your new stuff is coming along well.

[Danimation]

Really dig that bee pin up! Kudos