I was brave and decided to sign up for a Houdini class through Learn Squared. Houdini is the software most VFX companies use so its about as complicated as it gets and rightfully so I was scared. Turns out its pretty hard but with lots of help from the teach, I managed to get some cool effects out of it. Here's a first test image.
I got to work on a fun project this winter for an app called Anime Superpowers. Basically I get to tap my inner child and make lots of cool superpower attack effects, in this case a Tornado attack. Pretty job fun, here's how the first one turned out:
I'm taking a class on Motion Design (Animation) which has been lots of fun so far. This is a HW assignment just trying to take a simple object and make it feel alive. Got some notes from mentor Jr.Canest but going to post anyway so that you can see how much better the next one will be in comparison..
Just a collection of random images I've made while learning some new techniques recently:
I've been taking the Data Design course from Learn Squared, and been messing around with creating cool shapes in Illustrator. I'll coalesce these into a final project eventually but for now, learning some cool stuff and creating some complex patterns way easier than I thought I would.
Playing around with X-Particles:
Jimmy Carter is still alive as of this post so don't freak out. Just a test!
I did a quick parallaxing job for Red Bull this weekend, thought it turned out well. Sports in slow motion always look good though don't they?
So after about a month of hard work, I've wrapped up work on the latest installment of The Brief, explaining how the internet finds its way to your cellphone. I tried to go for a style in a similar vain to artists like David Pocull (https://www.behance.net/pocull) and Justyna Stasik (https://www.behance.net/birdiebrain) for this one, channeling something abstract and whimsical to bring to life what could be a very technical concept. I spent alot of time trying to work on making the motion smooth as well as mastering a new art style, I think in the end in paid off. On that note, most importantly, let me know what you think especially what you'd like to see more of for future projects!
Just a little taste of what I'm working on next:
Finally I'm proud to share a pitch-project over at Time that everyone forgot about months ago. Our lovely EP found these mastermind roundtables Time had done asking them to envision a future "What If" scenario. These hour-long videos had some great ideas from smart people but they required the video to sit through an hour of people talking. I was going to take these ideas and have the freedom to express them however I wanted as a pure animation. The resulting pitch is "What If We Lived to 150 Years Old?". These project was constantly at the bottom of my order of importance, getting pushed aside at the slightest request. But through some extras hours and some love I got through creating what I set out to at the beginning. Experimenting stylistically, incorporating many types of imagery and techniques used, I think the series would be a cool one. If only I had another 4 months to make the next one....
Getting a portfolio site up is always a bigger project than it seems at first thought. You say to yourself "I'll just take all this stuff I've made and put it all in one place. Squarespace. I'll build it beautiful." But I'm a motion graphics designer now. I gotta have a Reel man, people wanna see a Reel. Then you start watching every piece of content you've ever made to start editing your Reel. Doing this it is impossible not to think about how much better that might look now that I actually know what I'm doing. I didn't know how to make particles explode like a supernovae 5 months ago! Long story long, you end up doing a few new passes at pieces you thought was done before you started this project. Anyways, eventually I got close enough to content with the state of things, so I'm launching my baby into the Internet. Justin Weiss, Open for Business (Finally)