Playing with Sketchbook Pro and new shooting station.

I've been down with either a really bad cold or a case of the flu, so no updates on my maquette so far.  I've been playing around in the trial version of Sketchbook Pro.  I'm still getting used to the different interface, but I'm liking it so far.  When my trial is up I'll probably buy it.  I really like the Copic marker tools that are on it.  I'm using it to kinda practice different marker techniques before I buy more markers.  Here is one of my practice drawings.

I've also have a new shooting station that I'm setting up.  It turns out that my dad had a copy stand somewhere around the house and he gave it to me to shoot from.  One of the lights isn't working so we have to check the wiring on it, but it should give me consistent lighting in my animation.

Psyche Maquette: Part 2

This weekend I continued work on my Psyche maquette. With my dad's help I got the holes for the armature drilled into the base and it set up.  Since the pose I chose for the sculpture is pretty much self contained I only need the one wire to hold the sculpture up.

I filled in the bulk of the skirt with aluminum foil and then used a bit more for the head.  I then started blocking out the large shapes with super sculpey.  I'm now working on refining the bigger parts of the maquette before I start working on the more delicate parts like the face and the hands.

Psyche Maquette: Part 1

I've decided to try working on a maquette, as I haven't tried my hand at doing one since I took character design in school.  I'm going to be working on my design for Psyche from the Greek myth.  I'm going to break down my progress as I work on it.

I first had to break down the design: her head to body ratio, overall proportion, a basic breakdown of her costume.  Psyche is about 5 heads tall.  Her legs are slightly longer than her torso.  She has narrow shoulders and slightly wider hips.

After I broke down her proportions I had to find a pose for her.   Psyche is slightly shy, but cheerful.  She is feminine.  The pose I've chosen to work from is the upper left sketch.

I took the pose and created a turn around of Psyche to sculpt from.  The drawing is the same height and proportions that the maquette will be (about 9 inches tall).

I have all of my supplies ready to go for the sculpting part.   I'm hoping to get the armature put together and some of the basic shapes down this weekend. 

Doctor Who Vans

Wow it's been a month... Um December was pretty busy with getting ready for Christmas.  I was then in Vegas between Christmas and New Year.  I'm now trying to get back in the swing of things and trying to fight off illness now that the stress of the holidays is over.

I've recently been doing some custom vans for myself, sister, and some others to wear to our Doctor Who convention, Gallifrey One, next month.

Here's a progression look at my shoes.

My sister is a big fan of the 9th Doctor so her shoes feature his series.  Unfortunately the faces on hers didn't come out as well as I would have liked.  The Dalek came out really well though.

The back and sides are a Union Jack with BAD WOLF written over it.  I went back over it in silver later.

I did another pair for the daughter of one of my mom's coworkers.  Hers references all three of the Doctors from the new series.  Unfortunately the marker didn't set as long as on the other shoes, so when I sealed the shoes to protect them the marker started bleeding again.

Hopefully I'll be better about updating here this year.  I'm gonna try and finish my short film this year as well as get further in on my Cupid and Psyche feature.  I may try some animation tests with the characters.