Sapling

So I'm now officially graduated from university! And as such I'd like to present my graduation film, Sapling! A fantasy fable about a young little griffin who aspires to grow his own tree in order to prove himself.



I think I've done the "happy director" speech to death already, but I'm gonna go again anyway. I worked with a great group of people to achieve this film, who all did an amazing job! So thanks to you all, as well as everyone who voted it through during pitch week, and offered support along the way. It was tough but so worth it. Now, onto the next adventure!

Sapling Stills

Sapling's production comes to a close this week! I'm feeling all of the emotions right now, but before I get all sentimental, here's a sneaky still.

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I've been rubbish with the blog this year, and once I'm free of all film-related responsibilities, I'm jumping right back in... after a little bit of a break, perhaps ;) I miss my sketchbook!

Animation and Mentorships

This is the first shot I finished for the film; I stupidly started with the longest shot, good job Kat. Despite a few motivational pitfalls, completing this and seeing what my stupidly awesome team did with it in the render test (mad props to Gareth and Catherine!) gave me the kick in the butt I needed to roll on with the rest of animation, and everything is running pretty smoothly. Now it's just the mad dash to the finish line!

I'm also pretty stoked to announce that, this coming weekend, I'll be beginning my mentorship with the wonderful Samy Fecih thanks to the wonderful guys behind motivarti.org! I'm so excited to learn as much as I can, and just in time for the final stages of animation on the film too. Got me some busy weeks ahead, it's gonna be gooood.

Strut yo Stuff

Happy New Year! I've spent the winter break getting to grips with animation again in preparation for next term. I have so many plans for this year, and I'm so excited to see what happens and where I end up.


I've also finally made the move to Tumblr - it was gonna happen eventually! Follow me for more frequent updates with doodles, life drawings etc. And my final update is a brand new showreel and portfolio. My aim is to replace everything in my showreel and portfolio by the end of the year, so I guess I better get to work :S

Hungry hungry koalas...

Took a break from film work this weekend to draw some koalas. Some hungry koalas... hope you all had a lovely weekend too!

Film Progress

Pitch week was a buzz of excitement and nerves, but I managed to trick enough people into voting so that I am now directing a team of 10 to make our graduation film, Sapling. The first few weeks have involved too much planning and not enough drawing for my liking, but nonetheless, here's some stuff I found time to complete!

 Working alongside my technical director we've been perfecting the model and ensuring the rig is going to be as awesome as it possibly can. I've discovered a fondness for the therapeutic qualities of modelling, but now I'm totally itching to get back into animation!

Render Testing

With less than two weeks until I pitch my grad film, I've taken some time to work on a small render test which demonstrates the render style I'm aiming for. I'm gunning for something a little bit different from the typical "3D" style - I want to create a 3D film that simulates the flat cel-shaded look of 2D animation. So many beautiful films have achieved this, and I can't resist having a stab at it myself. 2D has wonderful appeal and allows for stylisation, whilst 3D maintains solid form and structure and permits the use of technical enhancements that 2D can't take full advantage of. Combining the two provides the advantages of both and offers solutions to their disadvantages. So, after lots of rigorous tutorial-watching and hours spent playing with settings and waiting for renders, here's what I've achieved so far. (wingless, for now :))

I rendered this in two passes - one of the Surface Shader, one of the shadows - and composited them in Photoshop. It's far from a final result, but I've learnt a lot from doing it. Hopefully, with a little more learning and experimenting, I can get something I'm really happy with. :D

Finally, here's the character sheets I did before modelling!