Self-Portrait

This is more than a little bit outside my comfort zone: It's really very rare that I post photographs of myself anywhere online. I've been half-wanting and half-afraid to post this for a while now though, and the indecision is starting to seriously frustrate me. Ultimately, because I like to think of this space as a personal account of all the work I do, and because I want to try this project and more self-portrait-ish projects when I have more time, I've decided to go ahead and post it. So, tentatively... here's a (rotoscoped) portrait of myself. Click through to see the original photograph. Consider yourself warned. 

Emily | Portrait

Here's another assignment from last semester: a digitally painted portrait. Once again, the wonderfully willing Emily (actress) helped me out by becoming my model. There's a chance you'll remember her from past projects, including Race Against Time and The White Lady of Kinsale. I actually asked Emily to help me with this one in particular for a number of reasons, which influenced the overall look of this project.

Firstly, we met in secondary school, where we took art classes together. At that stage, Emily occasionally tried her hand at painting, and frequently leaned towards more abstract looks. For this reason, I built the portrait on a background of acrylic-style brushstrokes. I picked the sepia colour because Emily, like me, has a fondness for all things vintage (especially old film-memorabilia, I think), so I wanted to capture an old-film kind of look. I also added gold because Emily is always classy and elegant, so it seemed fitting. I also appreciated the connection to film awards such as the Golden Globes, which is another link to Emily's personality.

Emily's personality and our shared interests also influenced smaller details within the image. In school, we were always hopelessly ambitious (we still are, to be honest) and it was her ambition to become a part of the acting world, for instance, which inspired the film reel border. Because she is a self-professed coffee-connoisseur and tea-lover - and the fact that when we meet, either coffee or tea are generally involved at some stage - I added the coffee stains to the background. Finally, I added some French phrases in a scripted font for a few reasons. Emily and I shared language classes for many years, and we both share a love of travel. Emily, I believe, is particularly partial to capital cities, like London and Paris. We also both share a tendency to use elaborate handwriting wherever possible. And finally, Emily has a very distinctive way of speaking, which is usually pretty entertaining, so I wanted to include language in some way.

And so, the portrait above is a result inspired by the ever-lovely Emily (actress), to whom I am so, so grateful for! Below, you can see the original photograph I took of Emily for reference in all her Irish-sun-drenched glory.

Flame Animation

Just a short and sweet little post today. Here's a flickering candle flame, which I animated towards the end of last semester. I had fun with it!

Also, just a quick heads up! There's free shipping in my shop until the 8th of March! :)

Photography | Tones

Last semester, I also studied a photography module, which was something completely new for me. Yes, I have taken photos before, but I had never taken the time to really get to know how to use a DSLR to its full potential. So, photography class was a bit of a learning curve, and its a skill I would love to develop further. These shots were taken for a photography assignment in the past few months. Click to embiggen them!

Flash Game | The Getaway

BIG post today! I spent a solid chunk of last semester working on this interactive programming assignment. Weeks and weeks of drawing, animating, and coding, all working together to create a short and sweet little game called "The Getaway." Click HERE to play the game yourself!

"The Getaway" is a single-level flash platform game, which I made with my friend Kirsty. What I'm showing you today is the game bible, which basically shows you every element of design that became a part of the game; including character designs, environment layouts, user interfaces and start/finish screens. I also wrote a short(ish) backstory to give the game a bit of meaning, and added a few of the early sketches. Be sure to click on the images below to make 'em bigger, and click HERE to play the game yourself! :D

WIP | Kinetic Text | God's Away on Business

Every now and then, I'm also going to post a few works in progress. This one is a college assignment for my Video I module, which I'm going to be working on for the next ten weeks or so. It's a kinetic text project based on the song, "God's Away on Business" by Tom Waits. From the suggested list, I chose this one because a) I like the song, b) it has a good, solid beat, c) it stood out to me as intersting and quirky as soon as I heard it, and d) I liked the visual imagery in it.

So, here's my very, very basic/rough plan of the lyrics (remember to click to enlarge)

And with added notes on camera moves and transitions:

From there, I moved on to pulling style sheets together:

And I have just about started to work on a few very quick test shots, just to get a further idea of what I want some of these shots to look like. I want to make changes to the ones I've done already, but the ideas are there. Sort of. :)