Enter the ATLOS

So this is the film I'm working on. I'm taking classes concurrently with the production of this film to further enhance my design skill set and broaden my shape library. Most of the concepts that I pick up along the way will be reflected through the 2d Animation for this piece. Trailer shows no 2d Animation as of yet for it is something that intend on keeping until the release of the current trailer.

This is my most personal project, in which I am taking up the direction and asserting full control over the production process. I seek to finish it all by this year's end. This has been one of the most joyful and thrilling experiences, just seeing how concepts become materialized into moving pictures. I hope it will captivate my audiences.

Here are some samples from the film. Of course they are all roughs. However, I'm in the process of clean up and color. These are only 4 of the 53 shots I had managed to create over the course of these past few months. My goal is to get these shots looking as clean as possible for going into color correction. Time to slave away!

In Rock in A Hard Place Other than a Pickle Jar

Up until recently had this resurgence in getting back to blogging. I know at one point these thoughts had made sense. Even recollecting my notes isn't helping the situation. All I know is I am enslaved to my will to get this project done. I'll go through with this, unnaming that which cannot be named temporarily. My expected time for completion would be at the beginning of June. As always, I stress to have this done with the highest of standards and accordingly to the deadline. Afterwards, my plans are to design the credit roll and sound elements, and as a bonus, the concept dev artbook.

When the dust clears I'd like to look at this and say, wow I did this only in my early 20s. I do this for no one, but for me. I do this as a way to find my most inner truth.

Thought Process Imba???

So getting back to what I had aforementioned in the previous blog, what is it? Should the direction I take be all for the how? Or should it be for the why? On the many sketch sessions I partake on I focus too much on delivering the wow factor. I mainly find ways to add extra spice to my drawings to pop them right of the page, giving little thought as to why they are there in the first place. However, given my past experience in the realm of academia, I was mainly taught about technique. The process is super mechanical and methodical, however lacks in the spirit of life. What was the idea behind drawing that I ask myself only to answer, "GET BETTER."

Looking in retrospect, what is it to get better at drawing? To attain a form of draftsmanship. Should my approach favor now the human/spiritual touch? This time I'd have to say, just express the feeling that you get out of drawing. What is it that we feel? What is the truth in regards to that certain moment we'd like to reflect in our drawing? Thinking about it now the reason I got into drawing was just because of how terrible my writing was. If I wanted to communicate something it had to be in the form of some really god awful sketch. But, hey, it got my message across. Now this was when I was just a tot in elementary. Taking it to middle school, I found motivation to change my directive into refining more towards technique. Finding established aesthetics and cycling through them for hours was one of my usual activities.

In the end though, I must ask did that help build what is called a visual library? Did it help me become inventive within design solutions? What did it do for me? For now I still find myself caught within a flux of becoming adept to technique, but what can I say. It's an all time fetish, for now ;)

What if? *Another Random Thought

"What if?" The question I ask almost every time in regards to the existence and the creation of our ingenious kind. One such idea I grativitate towards from time to time is our lineage tied to light. Practically anything and everything that yields a heartbeat must have some essence given from the sun in our sky. However, we are divided amongst all living forms by our levels of cognitive thinking and emotional depth. We have the power to harness the most advanced technology and turn the tides of nature to wherever we please.

However, it is important to note that although we are blessed by such capability we are still connected to this world and everything else around us. There are forces in existence that we cannot comprehend nor seek to level with. It's arguable that we are nothing more than the result of biological reactions between molecular compounds, which in turn constantly synthesize energy. If we are nothing more than just that why is it that we feel? Why is it that we are engaged emotionally with others around us? It is certain that we are speckles within a sandbox, and our messages send a ripple across several tides. How far our message travels is merely determined by friction among other speckles of sand.

With that jumbled mess said, I'd only like to look back on these thoughts for later reference in so that I could form a narrative out of them. Along with ideas and philosophies I will likely come across the perfect analogy would be for me to throw fruits in a blender and see what substances pour out. Who are the characters and what is the (geographical, sociopolitical, cultural, ethnically, ideological) environment. More than ever, I'd like to stress how much thought I'd give into a design. After it is the why, not the how that matters.

Prototyping the World

On Tuesday March 14th  the 5d Flux conference had commenced delivering a such an insightful vision of future technologies and ideation processes. The first night had covered much of the advances and possibilities within our rapidly developing technologies. Questions had remained within my thoughts, what is there to do with this technology and why do we even need it? As way of moving forward and answering that question, the focus was centered on taking ideas and prototyping them to see where they would fit within a narrative space. Within recent years, the process of prototyping had broken the linearity of the production pipeline allowing for more fluidity between different departments.

The key terms that were repeatedly iterated were narrative, real-time, and play, all of which makes for the core of prototyping. Within the prototyping phase there are prominent realms that ideas are passed through. They are the analysis of core elements, the production, the motif, the stylization, and the research. Before committing to such an extensive process it is important understand the functions of the proposed idea. Form follows function, as they say. Next is to consider the limitations that encircle the pipeline, whether it be money, time or resources. The motif is what gives context to the idea. It could be either fictional or historical but ties the audience back to the story. The stylization is the fun part in which certain aspects or proportions are pushed to fit within the narrative space. The research is what drives the development and the evolution of the places and characters involved within the story. Process is the teaching and learning that revolves around prototyping. The design is what infects and empowers its holders. Though this scaling of this process has the potential to vary phenomenally, it is always the story that we must always be tied to.

No matter how massive the scale of the sandbox, ideas fluidly transfer from one end to another. It was amazing to see how rapid visualization enacted itself as a catalyst in evolving the production pipeline. These technologies enable us to bring our story driven imaginations to the forefront of our physical reality.

A Night of Inception and Worldbuilding

I must admit it has been a while since my last post. So much has taken place over the course of these last few but short weeks. To start things of, I would like to recap on this night's event, the 5d Flux Conference. It was truly an amazing night showcasing the melting pot of ideas and the future of interactive design. Nearly decades ago it was mere magic to have objects materialize out of thin air. However, within recent years we have witnessed a large influx of technology within a personable sector. Hardware capable of out-computing the NASA JPL supercomputers of the 60s or the 80s are now available at our fingertips with smartphones and tablet machines. Software used to conceive and composite the high end special effects of 90s blockbusters are now within the reach of the public. We are granted the access to a digitized reality, high fidelity simulation and rapid fabrication. Here's a crazy fact, there were millions more transitors produced than individual grains of rice globally within just this past year.

With the shortening of our attention spans as one of the trade offs, we have witnessed this change within less than 10 years. In short what it means is that things on the technology sector are exponentially skyrocketing and will never cease. The industry and our creativity run concurrently with technology at different wavelengths, but always forward. Much like a double edged sword, it can be argued that while technology serves to compensate some of the short comings of our human abilities at the same time it limits our creativity, and vice versa. Same thing can be argued with the "industry" being called VUCA. However, one of the most extraordinary examples showcased was 3D printing.

I recall during the Spring of 2009, I had purchased a copy of Exodessey from the Steambot Studios. I came across a page that featured a 1/3 scale model of the Main character Harry Vicard. I had the opportunity to meet with one of the concept artists behind the book, and I asked him how they created this model. Basically the character was visuallized within Zbrush and then printed through a 3D printer. The process sounded simple, yet I never imagined how far many deviously talented individuals would take the technology. It covered everything, complex sustainable architecture, extremely fuel efficient vehicle chassis,  Nike shoes, bone replacements, even human tissue. It is such a wierd thought to ponder around a liver being printed out of a machine. The printer isn't intimidated by such daunting complexity, it only reads complexity as a binary command.

What was learnt from today was that these issues aren't such a hindrance in our ability for world-building and Inception. The process in which the ideas come to be realized within the space of our reality has met the age of rapid fabrication. Although we may be telling the same story repeatedly throughout the course of our history, we learn to build better metaphors and meanings for ourselves. The connect we bear is constructed by the same metaphors we share and tell amongst ourselves.

Back in the Game

Getting to animate again was definitely a refresher for me this weekend. Having dug through the neuro memory network, it took several hours for me to remember some of the neat things anyone could do with Animate Pro.
Below is the model sheet I had constructed for my main character. The project unveiling should be due sometime in February with final touches being made in March. The goal I have set for myself is to meet ambitious conceptions within a timely manner. I have embarked on this project which I had initially started last January with a couple of rough sketches and written material. All seemed to form several different stories, but luckily I had some great advice from talented mentors. With everything set into place I started all the builds within last September, and this is as far as I have gone. It's only a matter of time now before I meet full circle.

The process itself may seem complicated and too technical. This aside, let's just say, "I know what I want and I know what to do."