harkyman.com » Artwork

Snowmen Will Melt Your Heart

admin — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 22:57:54 +0000

I’m completely out of time, so I’ll call it done. Below you have HD embeds of Snowmen Will Melt Your Heart on both Vimeo and youtube. Pick your favorite.

I also made a 1920 x 1080 render of the coda shot for my desktop backgrounds. Gets me in the holiday spirit.

Cheers!

Vimeo:

youtube:

And finally, the 1920 x 1080 still:

Rough render of last shot

admin — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 22:32:43 +0000

Did a straight to video render last night of the last shot. Still some tweaking to do, and I have to add all of the effects like snow, lasers, smoke etc. I can see the end of the tunnel though!

Run Away! from Roland Hess on Vimeo.

Production still from Shot 1

admin — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 03:11:09 +0000

In an older post, I put up something from the opening shot. I’ve changed a good amount since then: replaced proxy characters in the background with unique models, tweaked the compositing pipeline, refined the main character, updated set models, etc. This is now pretty close to the final look (older one here):

That’s gonna leave a mark

admin — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 19:43:36 +0000

Click for full size:

Swirling snow in an overhead shot

admin — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 03:50:04 +0000

Here’s a very brief (3 second) clip from a rotating overhead shot. Should be viewable in HD:

Shot 3 Coming Along

admin — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 21:46:12 +0000

There are only 9 shots in the whole thing, so does this mean I’m 1/3 of the way done? Not quite, but…

Click to embiggenify.

Sets and materials…

admin — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 14:52:50 +0000

Getting close to materials and settings that I like for render. Still some work to do on sets. Click for full size.

Peek!

ArtRage Studio Pro + Wacom Intuos = fun

admin — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 16:29:25 +0000

I bought ArtRage Studio Pro last year as an upgrade from my version 2.0 that I had, but have been too busy to install it until last night. The other bit of incentive to actually install it was that I finally upgraded from a generic pen tablet to a Wacom Intuos 4 (medium, refurbished). What a dream to use. Just fantastic. Nothing to do with Blender exactly, but this is harkyman.com, not blender.com.

Anyway, I got it all set up and did this last night and this morning (click for high res):

Animators Survival Kit

admin — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 23:54:05 +0000

The Animator’s Survival Kit by Richard Williams is one of the Bibles of modern animation. Not only does it give a fascinating inside look at some of the real work horses behind the animation we grew up watching, it also provides immensely practical formulas and templates for your own work. I’d read it before, but decided to finally buy it and make it my vacation reading last week. I can’t tell you how useful this book is for animation work.
As a warm up for my next book, I’ve been building a rig and doing some animation. The other morning, I spent about forty-five minutes doing a walk using the techniques in Survival Kit. It blew me away how following the tidbits of advice in there instantly infused an otherwise dull cycle with weight and life. Check it below:

Also, we were hard up for dinner ideas, so I made do with what was in the house. This takes 1/2 hour, start to finish, and turned out great:

Two chicken breasts, defrosted and thrown on the grill
Half a red onion, several close of garlic, and a small jar of artichoke hears, diced together
Heat olive oil in iron skillet. Salt oil and throw in handful of Italian spices once oil is hot.
Cook garlic/onion/arti’s in oil until they begin to soften
Meanwhile, cook ravioli (or tortellini, rigontini or other cheese-bearing pasta)
Put 1/2-1 cup of white wine into skillet with veggies and oil. Add 1 Tsp butter. Let simmer.
Dice grilled chicken and add to skillet.
Serve chicken/veggie skillet over pasta. Add fresh parmesean if you have it.

Meet Shrimpo!

admin — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 23:34:31 +0000

Last night, a new force was brought into the world. Meet Shrimpo the Terrible (click for full size):

He may have been constructed from two shrimp tails and several plastic football-themed hor-dourves skewers, with a piece of green pepper for a head, but much like Frosty the Snowman, when Shrimpo came to life and started kicking butt at 80’s Trivial Pursuit during our New Years party, we knew that he had something special. You should have seen him wearing his beer-cap helmet!

Sure, he’ll rule the world someday, and we’ll probably all be very sorry, but remember this advice for the New Year:

1) Shrimpo the Terrible is always watching you.
2) If something good happens to you, it’s because you made Shrimpo happy.
3) If something bad happens to you, it’s because you have displeased Shrimpo in some way.
4) I’m the only one who he talks to at the moment, so if you need to get back on Shrimpo’s good side, you’ll have to go through me. I’m a very busy man. Food and cash will get you noticed sooner rather than later.

Anyway, have a great 2009, and long live Shrimpo!