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Heh.. a couple of events have converged upon me this past month like a pack of rabid animals (slightly paraphrased – I can’t quite remember how Neil Gaiman said it).

Started out April getting to know the good folks at One Animation. Many thanks to everyone there for inviting me in, putting up with my questions and generally supporting me! Having had a tantalising taste of what XSI (or should I say Softimage) is capable of, you can bet I’ll be back for more in the future.

Also, a fantastic opportunity has come my way, and it’s still pretty surreal as I think about it now. For one of my first few steps out into the world of CG it’s definitely a rare event to be treasured and explored to the fullest.  Probably the only downside to it all is I don’t really get to share the full experience with everyone.

The excitement is definitely building, though tempered with the fact that I still need to whip myself into shape in many areas. Thanks everyone for all the support and congratulations! Heh, it seems like practically everyone knows about it already somehow, might as well tell the other 2 or 3 people who don’t.

May started off with a bang, my second go at the 48 Hour Film Project. An international co-production between Singapore & Perth, Beyond the Band: Johnny Axel was definitely one of the more interesting things I’ve worked on. It wasn’t as hectic this year for me, but I’m glad I could help out with supporting graphics for our very awesome Scissor Expert (Seriously, who else has a scissor expert?).

Being on time this year was awesome, though not as awesome as making the top 8 and getting the Best Editing & Best Use of Dialogue! Looking forward to more collaborations with Xiphos Films. C’mon Sueanne & Eunice, get that director’s cut online already!

Kudos to Team Vanguard for their side splitting “Is there money in this?”, well deserved Best of Singapore & Best Directing for 2009.

The Team with No Name’s Quest for Crime was a really funny look at how safe Singapore is from the eyes of a visiting Superhero. Hmm.. something tells me I’ll be seeing more of them sometime soon..

And.. I think that’s enough for now.. I mean, there was my KL trip.. but I was too busy eating to take photos. So yeah. Sorry for the load of text, that’ll teach me to try and cram two months into one post..

What a packed but fruitful week it’s been. On top of revisiting my piano & violin studies, I’ve been setting up stuff for my two younger brothers, gymnastics class for one and piano for the other. Started this sketch of Hellboy on an A5 sized pad of watercolour paper during the older one’s gymnastics class, referenced from a copy of Empire Magazine that was lying around. Took about 40 minutes to get this far – yeap, real slow.. Going to forge ahead and finish it up in.. another hour. I’m being way too careful, time to loosen up and paint more!

Things are getting exciting for me, lots of activities lined up in the coming weeks. Fly By Night Video Challenge 2008 is on from tomorrow till Sunday. It’s gonna be insanity once again just like the 48HR Film Festival, but the best kind of insanity of course. I’ll also get the chance to put the 3dsmax 2009 trial through its paces. Gonna make the most out of those 30 days.

December will start off with the first OIC Portrait Day I’ll be free to attend in 2 months, Forest Adventure, hopefully A Job, more secret ninja training sessions, numerous gatherings with family & friends and to top it off, Christmas! Followed by New Year resolutions and subsequently gaining lots of weight from Chinese New Year foood… but.. I think I’m getting ahead of myself here.. I’ll be enjoying this December that’s for sure..

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It’s been a long time, and I’ve definitely been busy since I last posted. The first version of my showreel is done! The piazza is still not quite ready, so the reel on the whole has more of a zbrush feel to it for the time being.

The completion of my group film Underdweller was a huge relief. I really learnt a lot from the 3 month production and I’d like to thank my group mates Henry, Dian and Eugene for helping it turn out great! It’s not perfect but I’m proud of what we got done in the short time period and in spite of a rather rocky start. Waiting on the sound from our talented sound designer with great anticipation..

1 year has passed since I joined 3dsense, I knew it’d be fast but somehow the time has come even faster than I imagined.. Yeap.. It’s time to get a job..

Whew.. it’s been a crazy 2 months since I started school at 3dsense. I’ve been drawing like I’ve never drawn before, as well as going through familiar concepts from IMD days but with a newer understanding and more intense purpose. Having like minded and equally crazy classmates (crazygood that is) makes it even better.

I updated the gallery with all of the portraits (save 2 that were really quite bad, haha) till now. This portrait’s saving grace is the hair.. everything else… well I should have worked on the proportions longer and rendered the contrast better.

I also have my classical animation exercises there. Really quite a big difference between my current 2d animation and what I did in TP.. foundation drawing skills really help in so many areas..

We just started on marker rendering, which has been even more fun than pencil somehow. I like how quickly you can block in tone, maybe because I’m a bit of a perfectionist and with pencil rendering I could go at it forever.. Love the painterly look that comes from it too once white paint has been applied for the highlights.

I think what has been most valuable is the raising of my self expectations.. I used to be limited by what I perceived to be the inability to draw well.. which has now been disproven, replaced with the fact that with enough effort anything’s possible. Well, it’s a gift and a curse cause it’s a neverending cycle of “This isn’t good enough / Improve / This isn’t good enough”, but that’s life I guess.. a constant struggle.. and I’m glad my own constant struggle is something I enjoy doing..

Heh.. it’s been a crazy first month or so at school. I really haven’t had the time to do much about this site, save uploading most of my portrait drawing assignments in the gallery.

I’m currently working on two portraits at the moment for Wednesday’s class, an unknown girl and Hermione Granger from this latest Harry Potter poster. Her face is about 90% done, but her hair is a nightmare. It’s my first time trying to render light coloured and brightly lit hair..

Ah well.. actually the point of this post is just so I can claim my site on technorati.com.. haha.. so it’s back to work now..

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