Thursday 11 December 2014

Creative partnership archive

                
Gotta agree with Phil! But apart from this it's looking so adorable, great job!! Maybe you can make some little clouds shaped like the ones in your matte painting to blend it in more; all about those layers n' stuff :^3 on WIM Final Scene
Pin Buns
on 10/12/14

Hey Vlad - just popping by with a quick observation: for me, the matte painting is too much 'just a drawing' - you have an illustrative style in your world, but it's more than a drawing; I suggest you might seek to give your sky etc. a more 'papery' texture to bring it in line with everything else in the scene? To me, it feels too visually separate... time for a bit more development/refinement? on WIM Final Scene
tutorphil
on 10/12/14

Thank you girls! From 1 to 0.2, looks better now I promise :) on Bump Maps experiments
Garrison Impala
on 10/12/14

I also think the bump maps should be toned down a bit but other than that they look great! :) on Bump Maps experiments
Kayliegh Anderson
on 10/12/14

I really like the effect after adding bump maps! True that they need to be toned down a little bit but I am sure the final render is going to look amazing : D on Bump Maps experiments
Samantha
on 10/12/14

Thank you guysss!!! x on Light Experiments
Garrison Impala
on 10/12/14

Can't wait to see this finished. Looks amazing :) on Light Experiments
Emma Morley
on 08/12/14

Vlad I love this! The 2D combined with the 3D elements works so well and the lighting makes it feel really enchanting. Good job on Light Experiments
charlie-serafini
on 08/12/14

This looks awesome dude, good job! on Light Experiments
Raianbrand
on 08/12/14

This is looking precious!!!! Very stylized < :^D on Light Experiments
Pin Buns
on 08/12/14

These look adorable, I love them! Really like the tower with the clock on it. on WIM Coloured Textures
charlie-serafini
on 08/12/14

Love how positive you always are, Vlad :) It always cheers me up! on Render Layers Part 2 - Depth of Field
tutorphil
on 04/12/14

I had to struggle Charlie, since you didn't show me how to UV map :( on WIM Buildings UV Mapped
Garrison Impala
on 04/12/14

Nice one, Vlad! Don't forget that your bibliography needs to be organised alphabetically...and also check here that you are formatting the bibliography correctly - http://community.ucreative.ac.uk/Harvard-Referencing (Some bits need to be italicised, and you don't use lines to separate the different elements.) on "Suspiria" Movie Review
Jackie
on 04/12/14

These look so sweet, really whimsical! on WIM Buildings UV Mapped
charlie-serafini
on 04/12/14

Thanks Kayliegh :) Fingers crossed! on WIM Buildings UV Mapped
Garrison Impala
on 04/12/14

These are looking great Vlad! The maps look fine to me so hopefully no horrible surprises! :( on WIM Buildings UV Mapped
Kayliegh Anderson
on 04/12/14

Cuuuuuute house! on Modelling the buildings for the metropolis
Pin Buns
on 01/12/14

keep it up buddy, you're doing so well with maya! on UV Mapping attempts
Becky Patterson
on 01/12/14

Another very readable review Vlad :) on "The Shining" Movie Review
Jackie
on 28/11/14

:) on Post-OGR WIM concept
tutorphil
on 24/11/14

Thanks ladies :) on Zoetrope idea #2
Garrison Impala
on 21/11/14

So pretty!! on Zoetrope idea #2
Pin Buns
on 21/11/14

Really nice, the fact it's not a smooth cycle adds to the charm of it on Zoetrope idea #2
Becky Patterson
on 21/11/14

Thank you Cat, have you finished yours? :) on Zoetrope idea #2
Garrison Impala
on 21/11/14

That's a really nice idea. It's so pretty! :D on Zoetrope idea #2
Catriona Barber
on 21/11/14

Good, succinct review Vlad :) on "Repulsion" movie review
Jackie
on 20/11/14

20/11/2014 Hey Vlad, As expressed previously, I'm loving the way in which you're inhabiting the world of your artist - and I love many of those sweet, charming drawings that come under your 'key asset' category. If I said I was a bit disappointed by your concept art, it's because it lacks that same sweet illustrative charm, and I suspect this is about the medium in which it was produced - digital painting versus line art. For me, Heath Robinson *is* line art, so one of your biggest challenges is to translate that loose, illustrative style into 3D. It's the line art factor that gives much of Robinson's inventions their comedic, rickety qualities - and it's that 'rickety' quality that is missing somehow from your digital painting. For example - all your buildings in the digital painting suddenly feel very reassuringly solid and reliable. The clock tower doesn't look haphazard or 'wonky' or patched-up by well-meaning hands. All your other drawings of buildings in the key asset on WIM OGR 2
tutorphil
on 20/11/14

The cave paintings? Thank you Phil :) on life drawing :)
Garrison Impala
on 19/11/14

I like those quick gestural drawings very much, Vlad :) on life drawing :)
tutorphil
on 19/11/14

Two early OGR's in a row! WOOOOOO on WIM OGR 2
Pin Buns
on 17/11/14

Ok so a 100 it is :) Will try and include all the advice in the final concept Thanks guys :) on WIM thumbnails 92 - 100
Garrison Impala
on 14/11/14

I agree with Phil 100's comp works really well, I also like 97 on WIM thumbnails 92 - 100
charlie-serafini
on 14/11/14

I like 100 - though it feels like you need to open out the picture frame, so you're not clipping the top of the building - but I prefer the colours of 99 - less alien; personally, I think a more 'inkwash' or sepia quality might evoke Heath Robinson more so? There's something a bit haphazard and adhoc about lot of Robinson's structures/gadgets - don't forget about that aspect - all the visible mechanics and slight sense of things having been cobbled together - things are looking bit too safe and secure for a Robinson city, don't you think? on WIM thumbnails 92 - 100
tutorphil
on 14/11/14

... until you have to write a 9,000 dissertation in year 3... All knowledge is good! on Life drawing homework :)
tutorphil
on 14/11/14

That's really nice Vlad. All the little details really make it work. on WIM Maya Experiment
charlie-serafini
on 14/11/14

Hey Vlad - for me, 78 is the 'least' interesting, in so much as we're left looking at an essentially open space - our eyes slide off the building on the left and fall into the mid ground. I'd like to see a bit more complexity and gadgetry in the mix - I know we discussed a sort of 'helicopter view' or train view, but perhaps think of a more complex ariel architecture to create more interest, as in... http://twentyfourframes.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/metropolis-photo.jpg on WIM Metropolis thumbnails 76 - 91
tutorphil
on 13/11/14

Great review, Vlad :) on "Black Narcissus" movie review
tutorphil
on 13/11/14

top image - very punchy! :) on Life drawing of dreams
tutorphil
on 12/11/14

78 does looks very interesting, I'm also fond of 80, I love the trains and the other vehicles you've designed. As far as the giant kettle building goes, I get the feeling that 91 is more to Heath Robinsons style, 85 feels to modern and looks a bit out of place. Looking great though, can't wait to see you add a splash of colour. on WIM Metropolis thumbnails 76 - 91
charlie-serafini
on 11/11/14

good stuff. on Little life drawing exercise
tutorphil
on 08/11/14

well done, Vlad :) on Digital Set Part 3: Lighting
tutorphil
on 07/11/14

I know right? Maybe I felt that H. Robinson will be my artist :) on Life drawing homework
Garrison Impala
on 07/11/14

lovely - and a bit Heath Robinson! on Life drawing homework
tutorphil
on 07/11/14

Hi Vlad! Short and sweet... it's time now to really start unpicking the topics you are introducing in your reviews; if you look at this one for example, the bulk of what is presented here is quotation. While your choice of quote is good, you need to spend more time 'unpicking' the quote and making it work for your writing. You could, for example, have analysed the use of colour in the different representations of living space... on "Edward Scissorhands" movie review
Jackie
on 06/11/14

OGR 06/11/2014 Hey Vlad, I absolutely LOVED your travelogue; what a perfect capture of that world and its culture; and the image of people walking around with pillows for shoes is wonderful! I think you've nailed this world in all its wonderful complexity - like a coral reef of automata - a layer-cake of ingenuity. I like too the way you've combined lots of smaller drawings into a more elaborate scene - which again reflects your understanding of this 'big world' comprised from 'small inventions'. Your production design challenge is this: how to evoke that complexity in terms of your digital set and its components without committing to modelling every last detail? Certainly, that image you envision of the sky teeming with different kinds of transport is a rather delicious prospect - likewise that idea of the block of flats - with each apartment made slightly different by an alternate gadget; again, the image of all those chairs on winches is another lovely detail. It seems to me on WIM OGR Vlad Yankov
tutorphil
on 06/11/14

Thanks guys :) you're helping me a lot to narrow down the concepts on WIM thumbnails - 65 - 75
Garrison Impala
on 05/11/14

Love 66 and 69, they have a certain charm about them. on WIM thumbnails - 65 - 75
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charlie-serafini
on 05/11/14

Thank you for the positive feesback :) on WIM Thumbnail
Garrison Impala
on 04/11/14

Wednesday 10 December 2014

WIM Crit Presentation

WIM Final Scene


Adjusted some of the colours, added some more depth of field and bump mapped (and specular mapped where it looked good) the buildings. I did what I could really. :)

Just for comparison I left the older version on here too, it doesn't have texture in the sky and it really looks separated from the models in the foreground...

Depth of Field and alpha channels

Playing around with the depth of field, creating DoF and Beauty Passes.



Digital Set Pipeline

On all of these images I included the wireframe, untextured model, uv mapped model, texture and textured model. (took me ages to take all these screenshots!!!!)







Artist Research - Chan Hwee Chong

WIM Final Matte Painting

At first I was going to use the concept art piece as a background but then I just picked the details I needed for my scene. I suppose it all started with this line drawing (I don't think I uploaded that on my blog, if I have, sorry):
Which led to my concept painting: 
 The final version of the matte painting (and the basis for my cd cover) is this:
Or at least I thought it was :)
After some constructive feedback on the lack of texture in the sky I refined the matte painting and ended up with this:
I think it looks much better.



WIM CD cover


"Only God Forgives" Movie Review

(figure 1 – Poster)
“Only God Forgives” (director: Nicolas Winding Refn) is a striking combination between an incredible use of lighting (fig. 2) and a large portion of gruesome violence. The viewer ends up in a place between feeling that he or she watched something inspiring and in a need of a long hot shower, as if touched something filthy.

 (figure 2 – movie still)
Peter Bradshaw in his review states that: “I can only say that Refn's movie is entirely gripping, put together with lethal, formal brilliance, with bizarre setpieces of sentimentality and nauseous black comedy. It has its own miasma of anxiety and evil, taking place in a universe of fear, a place of deep-sea unreality in which you need to breathe through special gills – and through which the action swims at about 90% of normal speed through to its chilling conclusion. It is a kind of hallucinated tragi-exploitation shocker, an enriched uranium cake of pulp with a neon sheen.” (Bradshaw, 2013)
The film is provocative in many ways, but it certainly uses cheap tricks to evoke an emotion in the viewer, one of the many gruesome murders for instance, can really squeeze a pinch of discomfort, but we are left wondering “did we really need to see this?” and “was this necessary for the story?”

The EmpireOnline  talks about the impact of the film: “Quite a lot of people left their chairs when the film made its debut in Cannes in May, decrying Winding Refn’s baby as vapid, pretentious and, most damning of all, meaningless. But for those who swallowed the tab whole, the Danish director’s ninth feature was one of the best films of the festival: a hallucinatory study of guilt and a punishing vision of one man’s private purgatory.” (empireonline.com, 2014) And maybe that was the whole purpose of the film, to tell a gruesome story and to put the viewers in a place where violence and murder are the only reality they will ever know.

Robbie Collin says that: “Do I love the film? No. But I love it that Winding Refn has made it; that after Drive’s success gave him an honest crack at the big time he has responded with this abstruse, neon-dunked nightmare that spits in the face of coherence and flicks at the earlobes of good taste.” (Collin, 2013)

The story is unfolding slowly and it really isn’t that complex. There are many symbols throughout the film that really try and speak to the viewer, but their voices are indeed muffled by the never-ending killings and pursuit of vengeance. (fig.3)
(fig. 3 – movie still)

In conclusion, “Only God Forgives” is a film existing in the strange space between a masterpiece and a disappointment.

Images:
Figure 1 – A4.mzstatic.com, (2014). [online] Available at: http://a4.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Video6/v4/d8/aa/7d/d8aa7d83-1fa5-b764-7bf3-20caaf80062a/mza_713610779623051545.jpg [Accessed 10 Dec. 2014].

Figure 2 – Newnownext.mtvnimages.com, (2014). [online] Available at: http://newnownext.mtvnimages.com/2013/05/kristin-scott-thomas-only-god-forgives.jpg [Accessed 10 Dec. 2014].

Figure 3 – Hollywoodreporter.com, (2014). [online] Available at: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/sites/default/files/2013/05/ryan_gosling_only_god_forgives_h_2013.jpg [Accessed 10 Dec. 2014].


Bibliography:
Bradshaw, P. (2013). Only God Forgives – review. [online] the Guardian. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/aug/01/only-god-forgives-review [Accessed 10 Dec. 2014].


Collin, R. (2013). Only God Forgives, review - Telegraph. [online] Telegraph.co.uk. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/filmreviews/10073237/Only-God-Forgives-review.html [Accessed 10 Dec. 2014].

Bump Maps experiments

Following Jordan's advice I did some bump maps and applied them to the textures. It looks a bit rough, but I will readjust them for my final scene.


Monday 8 December 2014

Light Experiments

This took longer than expected, but I am happy with the current results. All that is left to be done are some adjustments both in photoshop (to add the lens blur effect) and maya.






I was modifying the scene as I went along, adding foreground planes (using the alpha channels thanks to Jordan) and playing with the matte painting.

WIM Coloured Textures

And this is how the textures look in colour and all cleaned up (I added a watercolour paper texture too, based on my initial idea and in honour of my discarded first concept piece)






WIM Texture Sheets and linework

Spent most of the weekend adding lines to the texture sheets I printed (thank you Simon for the brilliant idea) and then scanned them back in, readjust their size and applied them to my buildings.


These are just three (the others seem to be too big for blogger). Since I was working on a very small scale I had to spend a looong time cleaning up the linework in photoshop.






This is how they look on the buildings (I was so surprised that everything worked properly). Every side of the buildings have variations in their texture so that when it comes down to rescaling, and duplicating they will look different.
 

Friday 5 December 2014

A few more details for the WIM

A quick plane, not going to texture it specifically as it is going to be seen from far away and the little tent :) Might have to change the colours a bit, after I start playing with the lighting though...