Shotgun & Shell's

Shotgun & Shell's Florist and Armoury

"For Romance and Revenge"

A setting for a short story i want to write.

(Should that be For Armour and Amore? :D )

Bill the Fish Smith

That poor, poor fish.

Here is another character in the Oaki Loki universe.

Granny Smith's Cottage

Concept art from my up and coming student animated film.

The Parrot Sketch

Its Poirot the Parrot - drawn during Sketchgroup Sunday - thanks to mike and violet for helping to name him :D

Sketchgroup Sunday

Although it starts at one, i think its down in the facebook group as 1.20 or something, come round whenever! Its borders upstairs in the coffee bit again :)

Beezletrump

Also known as 'Jolly the Jingley depressed Elephant'

The produce of Sketchbook Sunday, his hat is a mixture between that of a jester's and tusks, as suggested by Mike and Grace.

Sketchgroup Sunday

"You're putting me off my frapaccino latte!"
Ah -the ability to make coffee drinkers feel self conscious by drawin' them. An almost lost art.

Kenneth Anderson who organises it normally, has gone and headed to Australia for a while - so thought i might try it mysel' , so for any of you wanting to come, heading to Dundee Borders round one 0'clock tomorrow. The consumption of cookies is compulsary! :D

Granny Smith

Happy Hallowe'eeeen!

I doubt Granny Smith actually carried an apple with an axe.
There are better ways.

Like with your hands...

Actually, she's a character from my up and coming animation :)

Landscapey

So ive been checking out the artwork of Paul Felix lately and its got me all psyched.

Adventure Time!

To Ang, Enjoy Peru!

Oaki Loki Woodland Work in Progress

Somewhere in the Auld Oaken Wood...

I need to improve on my environments. That is to say, i need to start creating environment artwork. As Oaki Loki will take place in 'the old oak wood' - i figure there would be a good place to start. Its not finished but its the limit of my knowledge right now - so maybe ill get back to it someday.

Oaki Loki Begins!

Howdy all!
Thought i'd start early on my student project this year- an animation on my character, the 'Oaki Loki'. I've been drawing him for a while now and was beginning to wonder how he would actually look in three-dee. So i made a maquette (my first one embarrassingly) Couldn't buy chicken wire for the proper inner support so had to make do with some pencils.

Oh, and Shrunk did well- was nominated for a Bafta! Heres to February :)

Shrunk Update

Poster for my teams upcoming game, Shrunk.

SHRUNK!

Hey folks-

So this year i made it into Dare to Be Digital, and annual competition held in Dundee where groups of five work for ten weeks to produce a fully functioning prototype of a game. At the end of the ten weeks the games are showcased in Edinbrugh where members of the public get to try 'em out and vote for which one they think rocks the most socks. Three will be picked to be judged for a bafta award. So my team, 'The Butterflyers' have been concentrating on our game 'Shrunk', and here for a sneak peek is a look at our protagonaist- Winston

a kid who has shrunk to the sizr of a salt shaker, but with power to shrink and grow all the stuff around him as he tries to free his uncle from the clutches of the regular size villain, Dr.Shockalot.

So come to edinburgh and have fun playing the games that the teams have produced :D

Just Deserts

War is all fun and games until someone gets sand in their eyes...

Horns And Antlers

Studies for Oaki Loki character design.

Oaki Loki and the Redwood

Deep Deep Within the Dark Red Wood

Oaki Loki Treads Foraging For Food


Oaki Loki is the tale i shall be animating for my fourth year if all goes well :)

Mon Bro!

My Brother, Jonathan stayed over the weekend- Hes gone all amish and grown a mighty beard. I should start calling him Appleseed.

Speaking of beards i finished my flash animation on The 21stCentury Gentleman's Guide to Hygiene and Appearances Film - its uploaded here on Deviant art- but it takes a moment or two to load so bear with the white screen at the beginning for a moment or two if you want to have a peek!
http://tidan.deviantart.com/art/TheGentlemansGuide-117304450

Berlin Baby!

Let the records show, Berlin is brilliant. The trains run on time, the food is good and the people are friendly. Here's one of the people i went with, Mike, and heres a Buffalo at berlin zoo, chewing Bufflegum.

So i've been working like a beaver recentley towards final submissions this year.

I make this comparison because beavers are often observed working on computers in whitespace until chuck out time, listening to Detektiv Byran over and over.

I'll post up the evidence of this one day. In the mean time check out this old strip i drew years ago... damn it looks so dated.

The Walrus

The lights are dimmed, the audience hushed,

wine is poured

and John the Walrus plays the pia-ano...

This week i produced my animation animatic. I realise now the importance of my other character- so i have to get him modelled pronto-pete.

Finally got started on Z brush. Lets see if i can make some blendshapes, the characters themselves and a whole bunch of antiques by next week.

Baxter Park

Flash- there goes the week!

Tuesday morning was pretty incredible. Aside from the fact the sun had decided to shine, id been asked to head to Edinbrugh for a photoshoot. Abertay has been awarded 3million in funding, so i was getting to meet the Secretary of Education for Scotland. Nice.

We were asked to bring some of our work, i dutifully agreed, proceeding to pack up my laptop and run down the hill. Its about a forty mintute walk, and i had to pick up my pre ordered train tickets from a third party. I felt pretty James Bondish.

Well, i would have, had i missed out the part where my bags strap snapped as i ran down the hill, allowing gravity to kick in on my laptop.

Still works thankfully.

Finished of my head model for alex in wonderzone- now the body to focus on...

He looks a bit ET like. Time to open z brush me thinks...

Ill be using this tutorial asap:http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.erraticimagery.com/extras/handfront.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.erraticimagery.com/extras/tuts.html&usg=__NQand8to7YRF_WD4yNNjFzA7UNw=&h=1040&w=708&sz=93&hl=en&start=4&um=1&tbnid=dkaBp9MPWk9_oM:&tbnh=150&tbnw=102&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dhand%2Breference%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26sa%3DN

Also had my presentation on the industry this week- went okay i think- What i realised from doing it is how much im depending on getting better at my 2d work- and how little time i seem to have to do it. I honestly have no idea where my time is going...

Well, i have a little idea- ive been watching TED films, and also yesterday .. this:

We were spotted by one of the parks commitee members who asked us to send us a photo of our Snowmen. Hey ho, back to work...

University Objectives

"Only the mediocre are always at their best." - Jean Giraudoux
This semester is flying by...

• Digital Media Practice: I have my presentation next week on what the current climate is like for the industry i want to get into. Ive been doing a little bit of research so far but i must really focus to bring it through into something interesting. most of all its to inform me of where im going. I am to turn up to other peoples presentations Thursday 19/2/09 and Thursday 12/03/09. Im to produce an applications package by Monday 27/04/09

• Personal Project: I have to send my outline essay structure to gregor white, identifying major sections of the essay (3-4) and a short description of the arguments I will present citing sources and references in support of each section by next Friday. 13/2/09. I will also need to start looking into producing an enviornment and character to convey lighting theories by 29th March 2009

• Advanced Animation: I am to produce an essay regarding animation along with a short animation. This should be the fun part of the project. Its due the third of april. 3/4/09 Im going to go meet Murray after University on Wednedsay and ask him some question about maya 9, namely regarding a hair plug in for my character Alex.

• Persuasive Narrative: i am to produce a short ten minute film. I have produced a script on this so its a matter of drawing up a story board and doing some black and white filming with a vignette effect. friday 3/04/09 for this one.

• I will be doing a lecture on animation looking into the 12 principles of animation on monday the second of march, which is still a while away. I will use this as my essay subject for my Advanced Animation.

• On monday as per usual i will be at the second years class as an assistant until seven. I will be putting in my pay request soon.

• On the 10th i'll be heading to Edinbrugh for the Media Academy Launch at 12:15 to 1:15pm- ive been asked to bring my laptop to show some work.

• On the 16th i'll be going to go to the Saltire Foundations information day at Stirling University to get more information.

• Im heading to Germany on the 18th of march, ive asked jonathans friends on good places to go and theyve given me a list: Potsdamer Platz, The New Berlin Tour, Jewish Museum, Reichstag, Kurfurstendamm (Kaiser-Wilhelm Gedachthiskirche)and the Neue Synagoge. Rufus Wainwright also recommends the tiergarten.

• Ive signed up for a facial animation activity with Robin Sloan, hopefully hear back from him.

• Ive written to my hero Sam Nielsen hoping he will reply one day to my email. one day...

• Im been told of this http://www.interactivetayside.com/news.cfm?news_ID=1185 thing by my friend Mike Doig http://michaeldoigart.blogspot.com/2009/02/so-today-i.html

• i will need to apply with the team to dare soon

• Ive got to produce art for Paul Collins for his project, Tim Stables for his project and my cousin for her wedding

• This is entering birthday season with my family- and i should get imaginative...

On a lighter note, eve showed me this http://www.coraline.com/#/?page=button%20eyes&subPage=0

Windmills and Wine

Yesterday i took a break from procrastinating and met with my brother for a day of exploration.

We took the bus from St Andrews to Crail, searching for a windmill which i visited half a year ago.

This is a wonderful windmill, facing out to sea, accesible to the public by special key.

Located at a newsagents on the other side of town, you must ask for it in person. Its a bit like an RPG.

Except it wasn't in crail. Nor was it in Anstruther.

We had some fantastic soup there though, and a cosy conversation with a gallery owner whose 'bread and butter' of income is selling frames, before heading back to St Andrews for some wine, jazz and an art opening at the byre theatre. 'Which was nice'. I might add that i half froze my toes off waiting for an hour for the bus but why end on a downer. We ate cadburys mini eggs which i will forever associate with that damn parrot.

Some More Recent Stuff

And yet more...

More Old Art

Heres a few more from the murky past...

Old Art Work

Heres a burst of some stuff i did several years ago...

Be Water

Heres a possible promotional poster to the performance that a group im in are working on, to be seen come september at the Arches in Glasgow.

My animations will get projected for all to see, fused with some slick dancing. Watch this space for more info...

(theres no need to panic, i will not be dancing)

Unwork Gallery Exhibition

Well, yesterday was the great disney unwork exhibition, and heres what i submitted:

A painting inspired by mark ryden and ray caesar.

I woke up in the morning, dreaming i was looking at pictures, and realised that i could steal the idea, because it was already mine.

The girl had began to fantasize,

And this had led to her demise,

For now she was prisoner to the sea,

Having unlocked the creature with her key.