Production Update 122: Slammed

I got utterly slammed at work this week with projects. Feels as if Majin Buu body slammed my work schedule.

majin_buu_body_slam

 

I stayed at the office late this week and also worked over the weekend. I did relax on Valentine’s day, it was much needed. I did sneak some Cosmic Rage work this week. I was able to finish up one shot and got a 3D render completed as well. My goal is to sneak in some more production time this week. I will know more in the next day or two. I should get more 3D renders done in the meantime so I will be able to composite soon. I owe you all some production art when I get back on track.

Production Update 121

It was a good week getting back to Cosmic Rage and not having to worry about final projects and being able to focus in on my artwork. I had a couple events at the end of the week to attend that did hinder production a touch, coupled with the nice weather we had, I needed to get outdoors. Thursday I hosted a monthly animation meet up and on Friday I checked out a local art gallery reception. It was a good time to reconnect with a few people and artists I haven’t seen for a while.

The cool thing about the art gallery, is that it has some art spaces for rent. I have really been on the fence about getting a space, maybe this summer sometime. Speaking of new spaces, I got approved to move into a new apartment, so the end of the month will mark the beginning of a new apartment. I will be sure to get some photos up of the new space and my desk when I get things organized.

This week I was able to get 3 more shots done. I am sitting at about 40% for this current scene getting it wrapped up. The goal is to have it done by next week for the production update. I will be back in 3D this week and will need to get some background renders done for some of the upcoming shots. The good news is my laptop will be able to render all day since I won’t need it for work. I would also like to get some new production art up for next week since it has been a while.

Other than that, I have been submitting a few things for panels, artist alleys and more for con season. Once I hear back on those I will get notifications and such posted up on the site and maybe we will meet up at a con!

Monty Oum, an inspiration I never met

I found out today that Monty Oum of Roosterteeth passed away. I didn’t know Monty personally and have never met him in real life or even online, but I didn’t need to in order to understand his impact on the anime and gaming community. His work on RWBY at RoosterTeeth in particular, has pushed the envelope a little further for me and many others in our fields. What once seemed impossible or a dream came true with the series he worked on.

Last year, RWBY became the first American anime series to be imported in Japan, something we could have only dreamed of a few years ago.  The show has potentially trail-blazed a path for the future, for more anime series to get not only created in the US but to also make their way to Japan and beyond.

On RosterTeeth’s website, they suggest we honor Monty by doing something creative. Which is why I will animate tonight with him in mind, knowing that if I ever am fortunate enough to have Cosmic Rage someday turn into something larger, that he probably helped pave the way with his work at RoosterTeeth. My dream has always been to have Cosmic Rage develop into a series, to see people cosplay as my characters and have their own action figures, all dreams I have had could potentially be easier to achieve after Monty and RoosterTeeth proving people wrong.

You will be missed Monty, and thank you for all of your contributions and hard work, I regret that I never had the chance to met you, but maybe someday.

If you want to donate to his family, you can check out his gofundme page here.

Production Update 120: Final Project Complete!

What a week, lots of exciting news and even a project to share with all of you. On a personal note, I actually spent some time apartment hunting this week. Found a new apartment and hopefully will get some paperwork done this week to get it wrapped up and official! I already got a sweet spot picked out for the desk and all the toys that need to go with it!

Now the moment you have all been waiting for… FINALS UPDATE. So around two months ago I decided to take a 6 week intensive course (didn’t know the final project would take 2 weeks). I took it for a variety of reasons. One being it really pushed a tool in After Effects called the curve editor. It was something I never really utilized since I spent a lot of time in the sports graphics world with tight turnarounds and tight deadlines. It was something that got looked over unfortunately.

The second reason was seeing how this class would be taught. I have always had an interest in education and art education so I wanted to see the style of the class just out of curiosity. I can say that I learned a lot in this course and I really enjoyed meeting new animators.

So without further delay, my final project!

I hope you enjoyed it, I certainly had a blast working on it.

With Cosmic Rage back on top of my priority list, I am looking forward to spearheading the current scene I am working on. I was able to get some final backgrounds rendered for the next few shots I want to work on. I am setting the goal of Valentines day weekend of having this scene wrapped up. I currently have 9 more shots to do.

Finally, I am working towards getting things gathered up to apply for an art grant for the project. I looked over all of the paperwork today and have some questions I need to get answered before going forward with that. It needs to be in by the end of the month.

More conventions, panels and artist allies may be in the works as well. I will keep you all up to speed on this front as news comes in!

Looking forward to getting back on Cosmic Rage! Let’s get shit done this month!