Australian animation on the move

Now here's something interesting that I stumbled across.

Animal Logic the Australian animation studio behind Happy Feet are in production of a new animated film set to be released sometime this year.

The title? Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole
It's based on the first 3 books from the Guardians of Ga'Hoole book series by Kathryn Lasky.

Have a peek at the trailer. The animation looks supurb.



According to IMDB it's due to hit Australia December 9

3D fun

Class work :D

Max poses

my 3D buggalug model

Thanks Max

The other day I found a really great use for Max.

I was working on a commission of a character with a bow, so I figured a relaxed pose holding the bow and an arrow would be nice. For something like this, I usually use a photo reference (want to get it right ya`know).

After google and a number of stock photo sites failed to produce the desired image I turned to my camera and began snapping my own. Then took the image I produced into Maya and gave it to Max :) With his help I was able to fill in what my camera cut off and re-tweak the pose to what I wanted. Even gave him a substitute bow and arrow.

Bada-bing! Bada boom!

Thanks Max!

The commission-ee really liked the pose, however it had to be changed in the end. Oh well. Thanks for your time Max.

We should take a bunch of crazy snaps one day, and pose Max to them. I'm sure we could come up with some insane things.

CRAZY INSANE THINGS LIKE SAIYAMAN!

I am the Great SaiyamanMAX!
Defender of truth!
Protector of the innocent!
Upholder of justice!
Doer of ... ah....good!
Where's my cape darn it!

Ye Olde Tutorials

So I often get asked a number of questions regarding my art and how I colour and such, so I thought I might take some time to point attention to some tutorials I've written over the years.

While these tutorials might be a bit dated, the information (I think) is still relivant. I'm still debating if I want to write a new/updated one- any thoughts?

First off the bat. Photoshop.

Part 1: Basics ! Part 2: Inking
Part 3: Base Colour ! Part 4: Shading and Finishing touches

How to colour under a sketch

Soft shading and highlights

While I no longer promote shading with the burn tool *cringe* the rest of the processes however I will promote, including the highlights with the dodge tool. I still use that one to this day :)

And lastly Paint Shop Pro

Part 1: Basics ! Part 2: Inking
Part 3: Base Colours ! Part 4: Shading and finishing touches

These and more can be found over at my deviantArt Gallery under Tutorials.


Here's a few more by other artists that I have found very useful

Tutorial - Layers by ~IntroducingEmy
Emotions and Facial Expression by ^Cedarseed
My clouds tutorial by ~Danime-chan
Facial expression condensed by *careko
IFX - Strike A Pose by *WarrenLouw
Artistic Motivation by ~whisperpntr
perspective of head by ~oddsbidikin
A FLASH TUTORIAL Animation by ~NCH85
Guide to Human Types Addendum by ^Cedarseed

Honestly there are thousands of good tutorials out there. You've just got to start looking