Animation - Walk Cycle - Victorian Lady

More fun with animation! This is actually not my walk cycle exercise - but another walk I did over the winter break and never got the chance to put up on youtube.

So enjoy! My sexy lady walk cycle to come! :)

Layout - Textures - Snooty Witch

Finally a project I did for Layout that I kind of like. The idea was to create a background with a character that focuses on textures. We did three different iterations - but the one I like best is the last version. It was supposed to represent "Your Style".

This witch is a washed up actress, who's just over it...

Done in Flash and Photoshop of course.

And just for fun, my lineart:

Alice - Flash Short - work in progress

This project was due this week - and of course I didn't finish it in time! I did more however than was required and handed it in.... I'll just keep on cleaning up a frame here and there whenever I have the time and use this short for my compositing project further down the line.

Here is some more work in progress! :) You never get to appreciate the frames when the movie runs, so here are some of my favorite stills so far:

Painting - Master Copy - Black and White

So here is my Master Copy in black and white. I will be painting it all over again in color next week.

The background I chose is from the movie Tekkonkinkreet. I got both art books a while back and everything in there is stunning. The struggle was to chose only one to paint - there were just too many amazing options!

Naturally I could obsess over this for a lot longer. But I think I will leave my pickiness to the color version.

Here it is! Gouache on watercolor paper:

My rule with painting: don't get discouraged if your first layer looks like crap. So just for fun, I scanned my first layer! :)

Alice - Flash Short - concept work

So the quest continues on my small short for Digital Tools all done in Flash.This time I bit off a bit more than I can chew, and I'm pretty sure it won't be finished by next week.

I do want to finish some of it however! So my goal is to clean up several parts, and have the rest really nicely roughed out. I will try and keep working on it, even after the deadline, to have a finished short!

In the mean time here is some fun "pre-prod" work.

My already animated title page:

A still from my Alice entrance animation - a fun loop that I already cleaned up:

And finally, a very rough Alice model sheet that I kept meaning to clean up but seemingly will never have the time for:

Painting - Color Thumbnails

And back to painting! Still prep work for the Master Copy. Here are my color thumbnails!

Gouache on Watercolor paper yet again.

Firts we have 4 color comps from "UP", then "Wall-E" then some concepts for "Fantasia" and finally "Brother Bear".

Pinups - Chantal

This was a fun workout pinup I drew for a former colleague of mine, Paul. This commission depicts his lovely wife Chantal who adores staying fit!

Caricatures - Gen

Another of my Christmas commissions safely delivered!

This was a cute style caricature of a girl called Gen and her two cats!

Painting - Black and White Thumbnails

Our next assignment for Painting is going to be a Master Copy - of any film or TV background that we chose. Among the prep work are two thumbnail assignments. We have to copy the layout and tonal structure of as many film color comps and concept art as we can. First we do this in Black and White, next week in color!

Here is my page that I worked on last night. They are supposed to be quick, and they came out sort of messy, but I like the end result. Films I chose: Wall-E, Ratatouille and UP!

Everything done in guache on watercolor paper.

Ink Spot Koffe Shoppe - highlights of 2013

Here is another logo commission that I worked on in 2013. My client, Rowan, wants to one day open up a tattoo parlor/coffee shop and he requested a fun and quirky octopus logo. I hope his project one day comes to fruition!

Turns out, it's a hell of a challenge to make all the legs of an octopus look good!

Here is the version with the logo font:

And here is a version stand alone:

Layout - Flash Background - Burlesque Stage

Here is a layout assignment we have this term for digital tools. The mandate was to create a background ALL drawn in Flash! ^_^ The technical restraints weren't really a challenge for this Flash guru, but I had a lot of fun doing it.

We were asked to create a larger background than our actual shot. The plan is to use it for a short film further down the line. I'm thinking of animating a sexy burlesque dance number with a pinup version of Alice in Wonderland. Finally I'll get to animate one of my pinups! Excited!

Stayed tuned for the animted movie!

Here is the shot:
(note: she will be dancing on the teacup!)

And here is the full background zoomed out:

Book Covers - Malowanki na szkle (Paintings on Glass)

So, as I mentioned before, my mother, Beata Golembiowska, is on fire and she wrote yet another novel called "Paintings on Glass" which is soon to be published. I had the honor yet again to paint the cover for her new book.

The setting for the novel is the Polish Tatry mountains. This area of Poland has a very rich and recognizable folklore. The theme of the dancing highlander girl is consistent throughout the book, and this is what my mother requested as the cover.

I went super old school on this one and actually painted it in watercolor. I hope you all like it!

Here is the front:

This is what the full cover will look like. The text on the back, and some other elements are obviously still placeholder.

And finally, just for fun! My initial sketch:

Happy Holidays - Card I made for my Dad and his wife Wiesia!

Another Holiday project! This time it was a present for my Dad Przemek, (an environmentalist) and his wife Wiesia. They have a custom of feeding seagulls in the wintertime. My Dad calls it their "Screaming Gull Restaurant". He even sent me a video of him throwing the bread and the gulls catching it mid-flight.

It was my sister's idea to make their gull-feeding habit into a holiday video! Done in flash, it's a Holiday Card that my Dad and Wiesia can use to send to their friends. ^_^

Pinups - Annie and her doggy Emma

More Christmas fun! This was commissioned by CJ, for his girlfriend Annie. Supposedly she really liked it. CJ told me that when they have it framed, they would send me a picture. So this post might get an update at some point.

Really liked the colors on this one and of course Emma is such a cute dog!

Caricatures - Kris!

More holiday fun! This was my xmas present to my boyfriend - Kris. He is sporting the everlasting wolf t-shirt designed by my dad, and it displays his epic coffee making skills. ^_^

Inbetweening - Genie

Here is a quick post of an inbetweening test we had to draw before the holidays. It was actually really fun - the hardest part was keeping the line quality similar. I did all the "extra" inbetween assignments over the break. I'll post those for fun a bit later.

Here is my rough, scared paper and all -

And here is the final line - mine is the middle one, the other two are the keys.

Book Covers - Żółta sukienka (The Yellow Dress)

I am so proud of my mom - Beata Gołembiowska, who is finally following her dreams and has become a published author in the last couple of years.

I was so thrilled to be able to support her by designing the cover of her first novel, "Żółta sukienka", or "The Yellow Dress". She's looking to publish her second novel in 2014, "Malowanki na szkle" or "Paintings on Glass". I'm really happy to be working on her new cover! Which hopefully I'll be able to post in the near future. :)

Pinups - Tasha

Another flash back to 2013. A really fun pinup for a lady who LOVES her curves and bright happy colors! This is a pinup comission for Tasha.

Here is the sketch:

And the final color:

You can NEVER have too many books!

The holidays are over, and I got three new amazing books that I plan on getting through shortly!

First - The Disney Villain, by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston. It seems that this book is out of print, because I had to find it from a seller on amazon and the price varies greatly. This one is from my dad, for my birthday. I had a great time reading the Illusion of Life by Frank and Ollie, so I'm already enjoying reading this one. It has of course some amazing sketches, concept art and cells from a bunch of movies, so I think it will be a great reference!

Muybridge's Animals in Motion is really incredible. It's spectacular what was achieved in 1877! There is such a range of different animals, and I plan on studying a lot more animal runs and walks whenever (fingers crossed) I have a spare moment. In the mean time, just pouring over the photos is inspiring!

Finally part 2 of Elemental Magic. I'm having a blast just flipping through it, but I also plan on studying it some more sometime soon. Turns out there is also a great tutorial by Joseph Gilland as he takes the viewer through a simple splash, frame by frame. Really great stuff:

http://www.taylorandfrancis.com/cw/gilland-9780240814797/s1/resources/

Great additions to the home library! Yay the holidays!

La BKRY logo - highlights of 2013

Happy 2014!!! I really hope this new year will bring a lot of new and exciting challenges - both at Sheridan, and in my freetime/freelance work!

Looking back on 2013, I had some really great experiences, but maybe my most memorable comission is this logo that I designed for my stunning art director Natasha Bouchard, who I admire greatly. The girl has guts! She decided to follow her dreams and start her own buisness, making amazing cakes and other assorted delicious baked goods.

Here it is! And here is a link to her facebook page if you want to see her creations:
https://www.facebook.com/LaBKRY
And yes, everything tastes as good as it looks! :)