everything will probably be ok

The little storm that could

Thu, 02 May 2013 22:32:16 +0100

This is a photo of the storm that rages across Saturn. It’s a composite of various photos taken at various wavelengths.

Here is a photo of it from further away.

Here is some scale for your brain.

And here is it moving.

I love space and stuff.

Digital Worlds by Tyler Young.

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 12:09:30 +0000

Digital Worlds by Tyler Young.

This week I love...

Sat, 09 Feb 2013 11:35:00 +0000

…a short film called “the Scared is scared”, by a student called Bianca Giaever from Seattle.

I don’t think I can write anything about this one because i’m still fighting to get the heartfelt grin off my face. Usually these child-comes-up-with-story things are kinda funny, a bit worrying, but mostly fun. For example, my previous favourite internet series, “Written by a Kid” (starring Joss Whedon, one of my favourite brains on the planet).

This one though, not so much. Goes from cute and endearing to sombre and, actually, going to use the word, powerful. Something about it really made me feel a lot calmer. I’m not even sure what it was I was anxious about. I think, for some reason, I felt better knowing Bianca herself was now calm about graduating, thanks to this kids advice, when 9 and a half seconds ago, she wasn’t. I must be emotional today. I blame to flu meds i’m eating like skittles.

Best viewed with open arms.

the Scared is scared from Bianca Giaever on Vimeo.

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Thu, 07 Feb 2013 18:05:51 +0000

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Mon, 28 Jan 2013 14:59:44 +0000

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Fri, 25 Jan 2013 14:11:55 +0000

encore:

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 14:32:29 +0000

Apparently it’s badass-cinematic-trailers-for-games-you-wish-were-movies week. Not to be out done by Blizzard, Bethesda have released their trailer for the upcoming Elder Scrolls MMO. Wasn’t a massive fan of Skyrim, the hype and fanboys sort of ruined it, but goddamn if this doesn’t make you want to quit work and no life a game I don’t know what does.

I didn’t chose the thug life.

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Tue, 22 Jan 2013 20:30:49 +0000

This week, I love...

Tue, 22 Jan 2013 17:10:00 +0000

…the Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm cinematic trailer.

So, for the uninitiated, Starcraft is a long running game franchise for a Californian based studio called Blizzard Entertainment. Famous for having some of the most fanatic fan boys (and girls) of the gaming world, their long running success can be attributed (as well as their criticisms) to the massive development cycles their stuff goes through. Starcraft 2, the sequel to Starcraft, spend a decade in development. Being responsible for the massive World of Warcraft MMO - which is subscription based - gives them the financial scope to meticulously craft their products, while hyping them for generations.

From A VFX/3D/Animation point of view, the same principle applies. They already have a more streamlined workflow that most 3D outfits, having their own render engines and artwork ready to be fully realised in 3D. This alone should mean their Cinematics are more impressive than anyone else in a normal timeframe, let alone in the biblical epocs that are the Blizzard deadline calendars.

While not as renowned for their writing, the final opening cinematic for their new expansion to the Starcraft universe, does nothing if not make us ask the question, “Why haven’t they made a film yet‽‽”.

Best watched from inside your make pretend spaceship that you crafted from several cardboard boxes when you was 6 years old.

p.s If you are a competitive person, do not try this game. It will consume your life.

This week, I love...

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 15:55:00 +0000

…a Sci-Fi short by a student. 22 year old Kaleb Lechowski from Germany has spent the last 7 months on a short film called “R’ha”. Working on short films, with no budget, and with limited equipment, is always a painstakingly laborious ordeal. Let alone when you are the only person working on the project. From conception to storyboarding, from 3D modeling to Compositing, and from scripting to sound design. All done by him alone. Regardless of outcome, that’s a feat worth commending on it’s own.

100% 3D films always have several caveats, from a production perspective. By signing up to the artform, you burden yourself with several very strict workflows, that have very little flexibility, and require you to sometimes work backwards. Flesh before bones. Whereas Dobby the House Elf can be worked on for the length of the shoot and edit of a Harry Potter film, the same luxury is not available to Kaleb. He could of quite easily spent the entirety of the 7 months on this alone. And more impressively, the temptation to do so is not easily fought. I couldn’t tell you them amount of potentially awesome project i’ve worked on that never saw it to the finish line, thanks to myself or a colleague get bogged down on making one thing perfect…to the detriment of the project as a whole (and my social life).

The final piece needs no real breakdown, you can see the results for yourself. The love and care that has gone into it is obvious. The somewhat rough parts are a given, he is one man after all. I really love that you can see straight away where he knew something wasn’t perfect (mostly lighting and compositing related), but left it to spend that time on something that would really add (or potentially detract) more from the end product.

Overall, favourite thing: The architecture and design of the two different races. Awesome art design, really damn impressive. Least favourite: probably the rigging/animation. This is hard at the best of times, let alone when the organic thing you are rigging, isn’t actually a real thing. You can’t study an alien’s walk cycle.

It’s a longer watch than something I would usually share at 6 and a half minutes, but try and give it a watch if you can. Kaleb’s hard work and impressive dillegence deserves to be seen (whether you like Sci-Fi or not).

This week, I love...

Fri, 21 Dec 2012 15:46:00 +0000

…understanding music.

I originally wrote a long spiel about this cute 3D light painting thing, but before finishing I stumbled across this beautifully polished piece of work from a design studio in Germany called “finally.”.

I’m not going to blab on about this one. It’s so goddamn pretty that I don’t feel qualified to pick it apart. The sound design is really well done. Just have a watch, have a smile, and remember why you love music so much.

Understand Music from finally. on Vimeo.

This week, I love...

Tue, 04 Dec 2012 16:21:00 +0000

…when dance meets graphics design.

Japanese artist Daito Manabe has made a music video for “Eclipse / Blue” by Nosaj Thing, that incorporates what I can only assume is an orchestral level of choreography, with equally impossibly timed motion design. The final piece is stupendously hypnotic. I’ve got nothing but love for this, especially when you considered companies like Nokia who tried similar things for their lumia campaign, who probably got the idea from this Vodaphone ad.

Both of those were impressive in their own right, but this video doesn’t suffer from any brand compromise, and fully submerges itself in the artistic experience it should always have been.

Make sure you give it a watch if you get a chance.

Oh, and it also fortifies my whole “thin lines are the new black” design trend. Intricate delicate animations like these are going to be everywhere in the marketing world soon.

encore:

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 10:43:00 +0000

Also an honorary mention to this sobering short by Sil van der Woerd which i’ve only just seen. Really pretty piece.

Requiem 2019 from Sil van der Woerd on Vimeo.

This week, I love...

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 10:22:00 +0000

…a music video for “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards” by Tame Impala. Made by an awesome little duo called BECKY AND JOE, this really grabs me this week, as it’s got a lot of the colour schemes i’m currently looking at for my own illustrated music video idea.

Unlike the plan for my video, the production of this includes over 1,000 unique plasticine collages, that were shot for real, and composited together afterwards. I couldn’t imagine organising such a thing, from a workflow perspective, or story boarding such a trippy, hypnotic idea, let alone actually having the artistic talent to make all the elements.

I’ve seen some people comparing it to a whole plethora of illustrated videos. The thing is, just because it uses actual physical pieces of art in it’s production, be it drawn, sculpted or otherwise, it doesn’t instantly land itself in the same category. Breakbot are forever lodged in a happy place in my musical heart, and is being thrown around as the spiritual predecessor to this video. I think that’s a load of shit.

Check it out for yourself. Best watched with headphones, a cup of coffee, and a dreamy smile.

TAME IMPALA- Feels Like We Only Go Backwards from Becky & Joe on Vimeo.

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Mon, 26 Nov 2012 22:00:52 +0000

I almost just bought these to make someone wear them.

Sun, 25 Nov 2012 22:55:55 +0000

I almost just bought these to make someone wear them.

London this morning

Mon, 12 Nov 2012 14:56:50 +0000

London this morning

Timothy Allen in Bulgaria

Tue, 06 Nov 2012 14:21:00 +0000

I love this guy. Just look at what he has done.

“Buzludha is Bulgaria’s largest ideological monument to Communism. Designed by architect Guéorguy Stoilov, more than 6000 workers were involved in its 7 year construction including 20 leading Bulgarian artists who worked for 18 months on the interior decoration. A small, universally expected donation from every citizen in the country formed a large portion of the funds required to build this impressive structure that was finally unveiled in 1981 on what was the 1300^th anniversary of the foundation of the Bulgarian state.”

Here is a link the the artists website, please check it out. Ill stick some of my favourite photos here, but go read the full thing on his site.

Real talk

Wed, 31 Oct 2012 19:09:37 +0000

People don’t understand the different between being depressed and being real.

The chance of us existing as we do today is so mind numbingly small, it beggars belief. That is one of the ideas that birthed religion. It so fucking impossible that all this billions of years happened, that maybe there’s some crazy ephemeral being orchestrating it all. That would almost be as likely.

And so when people ask me why I get so down sometimes, why I lay awake a night trying to comprehend it all, and the fact that my existence is a microscopic flit of light on the broad walk of the universe, and that it’s going to end relatively soon, for good, this is the sort of stuff I try to explain to them.

Being born is a death sentence, and the universe is one massive, uncaring, cunt. If you figure out a way to come to terms with it, you fucking hold on to that. That’s the only spiritual enlightenment i’m looking for. Hope I find it one day.

Also, totally going to call my non-existent bands first album “Broadwalk of the Universe”.

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Wed, 31 Oct 2012 10:23:22 +0000