Invidia + Ira








































Two characters from a rather old story of mine featuring personified versions of the 7 deadly-sins + their respective virtues acting as level bosses for two rather large cities.
Floaty Rayman hands.

The Sugar Plum Fairy's Evil Twin SP2


I wonder which one is the evil one

Characters








Bottom three were gifts of other people's characters.
That very last one is a creeper.

Turning a Character from 2D to 3D











































Making a new 3D model of one of my characters.. they always start off as a glorified fetus.... Anyway, using this to eventually test my new found normal-map skills.


Sketchies of the past weeks


Stuff from the past weeks.. I have more though unfortunately I can't fit them on a reasonably sized document. 

Have a nice Christmas buddies. :^)

WHAT IF METROPOLIS - CRIT PRESENTATION



i did it

What If Metropolis - Orthograph 7 W/ All Maps


UV Map, Normal Map, Texture Map, AO Map, Cavity Map

What If Metropolis - Orthograph 4 W/ All Maps


UV Map, Texture Map, Normal Map, Specular Map, AO Map

What If Metropolis - Orthograph 6 W/ All Maps


UV Map, Normal Map, Texture Map, AO Map, Cavity Map

What If Metropolis - Orthograph 5 W/ All Maps



Normal Map, Texture Map, Specular Map, AO Map, UV Map

What If Metropolis - Orthograph 3 W/ All Maps



Texture Map, AO Map, Normal Map, UV Map. (No Specular for small building)

What If Metropolis - Orthograph 2 W/ All Maps


UV Map, Texture Map, Normal Map, AO Map (No Specular for smaller buildings)

What If Metropolis - Orthograph 1 W/ All Maps


Normal map, UV map, Texture Map, AO Map. (No Specular for smaller buildings)

What If Metropolis - Creative Partnership Archive


What If Metropolis - Final 3D Scene


final image


final image / wireframe / UV grids

UV Grids

Un-Textured Objects

Wireframe


One bluescreen later, I have tearfully finished this.

What If Metropolis - Final Scene WIP


100% textures at the moment ON TO LIGHTING LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

What If Metropolis - Blockouts / Imports


Put the towers in the scene, keeping it free at the moment! All of the buildings are now textured but I want to texture the rock-slab thingies as well and also the floor so it's matching the whole style of the image. Gotta sort out materials too! Less shiny..

What If Metropolis? - More Orthograph Drawings


Some head-on shots of the main towers, I forgot to upload them! Might add some more blue rather than all of them being yellow and red now that I think about it, though. Texturing to come.

What If Metropolis? - Orthograph (7) Normal Maps + High Poly




Last one :^D



What If Metropolis? - Orthograph (6) Normal Maps + High Poly




GAHAGHAHHDHD THE CLEANEST NORMAL MAP EVER AAHAJKLALJSSHLKSSL 
 absolutely 0 artifacts bow down to me xnormal 

Film Review - Only God Forgives (2013)

figure. 1 Film Poster



Only God Forgives (2013)

Starring Ryan Gosling as Julian Thompson the film Only God Forgives blends aesthetics of red and blue to create a heavily stylized and in turn, unrealistic world. Shot in Bangkok the often overused idea of an Asian country having seedy back-streets with ruthless gangs start to emerge, but director Nicolas Winding Refn does valiantly in his portrayal of the police as otherworldly beings with the American Ex-pat being the troublemakers. All except for Julian.


figure.2 Karaoke Room

Whilst we never completely find out about the what-seems-to-be leader of a small police unit in the area, his motives are extremely transparent. Wielding a “sword of judgement” of sorts, he will take revenge on those who he feels deserve the punishment. It is only till the very last scene, where Julian (suggested) gets his arms cut off. The scene is bleached white and whilst the previous swipes of judgement from God-like Lt. Chang had been ruthless and vengeful, Julian’s was much more peaceful. An ending of solitude but also acceptance of any wrong-doing. - Even if Julian was not the one to commit any. He had been manipulated by his mother, and the people he knew around him killed. He was the only one to get away in an act of retribution.

 
figure.3 Julian's hands in preparation for retribution.

The character of Julian can be a complex one, but with most of Only God Forgives remaining dormant it is left up the viewer to read into and even potentially create a substantial enough story to follow along with. With story taken away, Only God Forgives stays as a well chosen work of not exactly precise, but throughout light work. Symmetrical hallways similar to that of The Shining (1980) and Suspiria (1977) are often found within the spectacles of reflective blues and reds; coupled with extreme darks often only revealing the face of an actor in-thought. Especially Julian. Throughout he is dazed and in deep reflection, this shown as if he is too preoccupied with his own qualms to properly listen to other people; and as such their voices become blurs in the background.
Only God Forgives doesn’t have a set title track, and doesn’t use music as such. The only exception to this being the karaoke from Lt. Chang creating the most off-putting atmosphere as he sings “Until the end of time, I won't forget.” The Karaoke acting as an explanation for all the silent pauses where dialogue isn’t in Refn’s Only God Forgives ties it together nicely from beginning to end. “Only God Forgives is about the way time stands still in the darkness, and nothing articulates this better than the scenes in which the Angel relaxes after a hard day’s vengeance, crooning melancholy Thai pop songs to an audience of unblinking cops.” (Wise, n.d.) The “Angel” being Lt. Chang. - the Angel of Vengeance is arguably more important than Julian in terms of his moral importance with smiting the unjust and his infinite knowledge of any wrong-doing. In this way, he is otherworldly.


figure. 4 Lt.Chang Karaoke

Sound effect-heavy the violence whilst brutal and sluggish can be forgiven in creating some form of action and an anthropomorphic realisation of what repentance and guilt eventually builds up to feel like. “Refn's film is bloated, corpulent and borderline repulsive – yet there's something magnificent about it just the same.” (Brooks, 2013) Only Julian feeling guilt regardless of actually doing anything punishable is one of the great mechanisms that Only God Forgives demonstrates. He is constantly removed from all the action as he reminisces and fantasizes almost cautiously his role as the main-character centres him within the midst of it all. If Julian Thompson was a less important character and a dark-horse type of sidekick it arguably would work but the sensitivity of Julian’s “emptiness” and large character-flaws are what makes the film surrounded in shadow tinted with red and blue so effective. "an immaculately constructed production where every shot is a masterpiece." (Aldrich, 2013) Every shot may be a masterpiece but whilst Only God Forgives is very much an Art-house film, the story and under-layers included in it feel hidden back in the dark only for the viewers to decide how they want to interpret it.

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Illustration List

Refn, N. (2013). Film Poster. [image] Available at: http://impawards.com/2013/posters/only_god_forgives_xlg.jpg [Accessed 9 Dec. 2014].


Refn, N. (2013). Film Still 1. [image] Available at: http://filmgrab.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/1949.jpg?w=2000&h= [Accessed 9 Dec. 2014].


Refn, N. (2013). Film Still 2. [image] Available at: http://filmgrab.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/6540.jpg?w=2000&h= [Accessed 9 Dec. 2014].


Refn, N. (2013). Film Still 3. [image] Available at: http://filmgrab.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/1849.jpg?w=2000&h= [Accessed 9 Dec. 2014].

Wise, D. (n.d.). Empireonline Reviews | Reviews | Empire. [online] empireonline.com. Available at: http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/reviewcomplete.asp?FID=137633 [Accessed 9 Dec. 2014].



Bibliography

Aldrich, R. (2013). Cannes 2013 First Impression: ONLY GOD FORGIVES Is A Hyper-Violent Feast For The Senses. [online] Twitch. Available at: http://twitchfilm.com/2013/05/cannes-2013-first-impression-only-god-forgives.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TwitchEverything+%28Twitch%29 [Accessed 9 Dec. 2014].

Brooks, X. (2013). Cannes film festival diary: day eight. [online] the Guardian. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/may/22/cannes-diary-only-god-forgives [Accessed 9 Dec. 2014].

Wise, D. (n.d.). Empireonline Reviews | Reviews | Empire. [online] empireonline.com. Available at: http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/reviewcomplete.asp?FID=137633 [Accessed 9 Dec. 2014].

What If Metropolis - DVD Cover Finished


pinks and reds are nice

Film Review - Suspiria (1977)

figure 1. Suspiria film poster

Suspiria (1977)
Combining suspicion and hysteria together with a chilling title track you arrive at the 1977 film, Suspiria directed by Dario Argento. Harsh reds, blues and greens flood relentlessly throughout and as Suzy Bannion arrives at the coveted dance academy in Germany it becomes all too clear that Suspiria has layers underneath it that are more than a simple murderer. “Witch, witch….” Whispers from the title track once again as you are slowly panned throughout a highly contrasted hall. This continues, and as such the magnificent set design shows more and more. Suspiria challenges an expectation of high realism with the “obvious artificiality, announcing that what they were seeing made no pretence to verisimilitude. “ (Biodrowski, 2008) It doesn’t try to be realistic and holds no rules or laws underneath over its shoulders to insinuate that it is. In this way, Dario Argento had been extremely free to weld Suspiria’s path of the Occult without any questions asked.

figure. 2 Peg being stabbed.

Suspiria is extremely honest in it’s approach. We know there will be murder, blood and guts but contained to only a short scene. The screaming and torture comes from the unknown and it is not till the last half of the film that we begin to understand that what the ballet dancers of Freiburg’s famous dance academy are dealing with is not a natural occurrence. Maggots start to fall from the ceilings but only in the girl’s dorms, people go missing but the teachers only bat an eyelid..

The age-old question of “Do teachers actually go home after school?” arises but with a rather sinister ulterior approach to it. Even though we are only ever introduced completely to a few of the ballet dancers Suspiria starts to turn into more of a film of mystery rather than a horror. The suspense of not knowing who’s next.

An odd sense of alientation comes from Suspiria due to the violent colour choices yet another element also arises in creating the outerwordly feeling that we get from this familiar- yet completely off- German setting. “The plot, as transparent as the pane of glass that slices up the movie's first victim, is intentionally ridiculous” (Maslin, 1977) … and ridiculous it is. There is not much to think about whilst watching Suspiria. It gives you the answers and makes you follow the stark red light down the well-lit and winding halls of the dance academy. Dario Argento throws in psychology and science known to favour atheist-views; alongside witchcraft, the occult and black-magic. Fairy tales of another world. The melodramatic acting sets the 1977 film into a creep-induced pantomime and creates alienation further into dismay. Though, it is only natural coming from Argento who later goes onto create a recreate Phantom of the Opera.

figure.3 Lavish architecture symmetrical-ness!

Perhaps Suspiria could work in CG. – But its’ questionable as to if it would lose the off-putting sense of knowing a realistic setting mixed with the occult and not always one-hundred percent seeing what is around the corner, or behind a door as the light turns on…

Goblin’s musical arrangement, Argento’s use of colour, combined with spontaneously dramatic (and a little flamboyant) acting takes Suspiria’s Germany into a world of it’s own. We are so used to seeing the stark white pillars and floors of today’s Germany that the dyes of red, blue and green are humbly welcomed. Strong art choices make for Suspiria being unforgettable for it’s grand architecture that had remained one building tall, the prestigious dance academy of Freiburg. “his film's most powerful moments have a way of making one think about open-heart surgery.” (Maslin, 1977) Just like an educational medical video; Argento brings great honestly and transparency to his films. Especially in the more gore-intensive scenes. The title track comparable to that of The Shining (1980) is extremely memorable and the repetitive nature of it throughout guides you and constantly reminds you that this film is a thrilling mix of suspicion and hysteria as the occult-ridden witches of the notorious dance academy hunt everyone down, including Suzy.

figure. 4 Suzy eavesdropping on the coven of the dance academy.


---



My review ended up being exactly 666 words of which I did not intent to happen.
brb hiding underground




Illustration List:

Argento, D. (1977). Film Poster. [image] Available at: http://www.impawards.com/1977/posters/suspiria.jpg [Accessed 9 Dec. 2014].

Argento, D. (1977). Film Still 1. [image] Available at: http://puu.sh/dmRAM/20336d9a25.png [Accessed 9 Dec. 2014].

Argento, D. (1977). Film Still 2. [image] Available at: http://whiggles.landofwhimsy.com/hdcaptures/suspiria04.jpg [Accessed 9 Dec. 2014].

Argento, D. (1977). Film Still 3. [image] Available at: http://puu.sh/dmRGL/449b71fb19.png [Accessed 9 Dec. 2014].

Bibliography:

Biodrowski, S. (2008). Suspiria (1977) – A Nostalgia Review | Cinefantastique Online. [online] Cinefantastiqueonline.com. Available at: http://cinefantastiqueonline.com/2008/06/nostalgia-suspiria-1977/ [Accessed 9 Dec. 2014].

Maslin, J. (1977). Movie Review - Suspiria - 'Suspiria,' a Specialty Movie, Drips With Gore - NYTimes.com. [online] Nytimes.com. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=990CEFDB1F3BE334BC4B52DFBE66838C669EDE [Accessed 9 Dec. 2014].

MASLIN, J. (1977). Movie Review - Suspiria - 'Suspiria,' a Specialty Movie, Drips With Gore - NYTimes.com. [online] Nytimes.com. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=990CEFDB1F3BE334BC4B52DFBE66838C669EDE [Accessed 9 Dec. 2014].

What If Metropolis? - Orthograph (5) Normal Maps + High Poly



7 hours... for one......................... ONEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE NORMAL MPSSPDFJDSPFJDSFPADSJPADSJGA[DPGKDS[PGS - Normal map.