Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Life 1, Model Fight 0

Our long, national nightmare is over. At least, the model fight is for me. One of the reasons for the competition was to spur myself and other 3D artists to work through the doldrums that keep us from doing 90 percent of what we'd like to do (write a book, run a 10K, watch an entire episode of Boston Legal). But life comes at you fast (sounds familiar) and I have to admit I've been derailed onto other things. However, I can always bask in the glow of having created one 1/100th of the Shinto shrine I set out to.

Its not as good an excuse as getting hired by ILM, but it'll do.


One reason for my distraction was the publication of Scott McCloud's sequel to "Understanding Comics" . For those of you who haven't read his landmark deconstruction of the modern comic book, eh, graphic novel, then you've missed out on a fascinating journey through one of the most underrated art forms around. His new book, "Making Comics", does more than deconstruct-- it gives you practical insight into the creation of a comic, with a wealth of information. But don't fret, its not a how t0 book packed with obvious tips (Thirsty? Try water! In a Glass!). It continues his in depth analysis of the art, and explains why some things work and others work even better.

So, while I haven't finished my model, I think I've done something a lot more interesting--taken a stylistic step in CGI that comes close to what I've wanted for my long suffered short film.
But that's a topic for another post.

Soon.

Really. I mean it.

Kelvin

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

As for the ILM gig...I never would have gotten the job if it wasn't for the model fight! The Ambient Occlusion talk I gave was based on what I learned during our modeling war.

Now that that I got the gig, I *really* want to learn more about modeling/animation...it will make me a better employee. So once I get settled here in the Bay Area, I'll be back. Until then, I'll read what you are doing and get inspired by ya!