SJB Green Squere

CG images created for SJB Architects. 301-303 Botany Road Zetland competition entry.

A of key aims have driven development of the project ideas as presented ( fragment of the text from submitted presentation document )

·· Delivery of more light to Green Square,
·· An active and flexible ground level enabling a diversity of retail offerings,
·· The insertion of significant landscape into the urban realm,
·· Returning of indigenous flora to the site,
·· An understanding of the building as a collection of smaller villages complete
with elevated streets,
·· Development of clean, clear and engaged common areas to ensure residents
have the ability to engage with the external environment and each other,
·· Investment in significant communal open spaces to enable residents to
casually interact,
·· Clarity of the architectural form to deliver a clear base, middle and top to the
building.

SJB Architects

Images created in 3d Max/VRay. Modeling - 3d Max and Rhino.

The view from the balcony is 95% CG apart from people and tall grass immediately behind the ballustrade. Slope was filled with use of IGrass elements distributed on the surface through use of multiscatter ( www.multiscatter.com/‎ ) Trees on the roof are also cg.

Balcony alternative view, more dramatic option

Light Harvester matte paintings and Reel 2013 WIP

Presenting some of the work I did for short film called 'The Light Harvester'.

The film was written by Jason Lei Howden in 2010 and green lit by the NZ Film Commission in 2011.

The Light Harvester

The images depict post apocalyptic city and a slum village where some of the events take place. The sun is gone from our world and the only way to survive is to get access to UV light.
Look out for the film online very soon!

The matte paintings break downs can be viewed on my WIP showreel 2013 which I will hopefully finish by the end of December - would love to hear your thoughts on that. Reel also includes work from The Great Gatsby. I will add few more shots and cut it tighter.

Showreel 2013 WIP

Digital Tutors training released

My course has just been released on Digital Tutors site. Feel free to check out and learn some of my techniques.

In the tutorial we are going to create a concept art based on simple 3D model render which we will enhance in Photoshop to a believable, apocalyptic environment.

We will use various techniques that will help to achieve coherent results that could also be applied to the creation of matte paintings. We will look at recreating lighting, introduction of damage to the elements of architecture, texturing in Photoshop, suggesting strong atmosphere with emphasis on depth cueing, and finally painting over using graphic tablet.
Link to the preview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euY9_BciHKs&list=UU2mz52hSOLsRPEpL13KfE1Q#t=9

Tutorial link on DT site:
http://www.digitaltutors.com/tutorial/1381-Creating-an-Ancient-Temple-Matte-Painting-in-Photoshop

Kreola - Matte painting challenge - Finalists

Kreola - Matte Painting Challenge

My entry to CG Talk matte painting competition. Results coming up in few days. Check out the comp site here: All entires

I' Frankenstein

My involvement in 'I, Frankenstein' included production of matte paintings, textures and camera projections. Attached is the link to the trailer . I will share the individual work and break downs once the movie is released. The very first shot when Gideon shoots through the cathedral ceiling uses matte paint I worked on.

Sydney Opera and Harbour Bridge

Couple of shots taken during our trip to Sydney in August. I know, I know : cheesy...still, gotta love this spot! We were lucky to get on the ferry back from Manly at the golden hour right when harbour bridge was casing its shadow on the Opera, magical!

Nikon D600, 24-70 1:2.8G, Lightroom

Digital Tutors Training

I have just finished a tutorial that will take you through process of creation a concept art of apocalyptic ancient city. The training will be hosted on Digital Tutors website so please check it out if you would like to learn some of the techniques I use while creating digital art. You will be taken through the process from setting up Photoshop file, through digital painting, adding atmosphere, incorporation of stock photography and using custom Photoshop brushes. The attached image is the final result of the course. I will post an update once training appears online.

META - UI Concepts

I had the opportunity to help in development of applications concept art and user interface components of a very promising product - META Augmented Reality 3D Glasses. They are receiving lot of attention at the moment and I believe the product will revolutionize the virtual reality standards. Please check out their presentation here - https://www.spaceglasses.com/

Creation of the artwork attached is based on description of apps only. Specific situations photography is used as background combined it with 3d elements prepared in 3d Max. Photoshop treatment followed that step which included design of UI , superimposing content elements displayed within the glasses as well as special lighting effects of the interface. List of 'Killer Apps' can be found here together with the public applications popularity poll: https://www.spaceglasses.com/killer_apps

In total there were 15 pieces produced.

Wild West Matte Painting

A young talented film maker from Czech Republic recently asked me to help him out with a matte painting for his short film he is currently working on.
His name is Bohdan Zajčenko and this is the trailer of the film : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGMOhQmOgCk
Here is what I came up with for him - the brief was to have a damaged church behind the shooters and in the background western american landscape. It took 3 days to complete and around 10 photographs were used. Break up coming up in my 2013 reel.

Life drawing at No Vacancy Gallery

Recently we were introduced to a cool group of enthusiastic artists who every week organize life drawing sessions at No Vacancy Gallery http://no-vacancy.com.au/lifedrawing.html
We loved it and will try to join as much as we can. Here are the results of the first session.
Some poses would take only 30 seconds some 2-3 minutes and the last few 15 min each - the attached examples are from 15 min exercises where there was just enough time to include some lighting information.

The Creepy Neighbors House

Concept painting from online challenge - http://cghub.com/forum/showthread.php?p=210519&posted=1#post210519.

Photoshop. 3h in total. Some trees PS brushes used as well as textures.

Alternative version with different color grade and rain and foreground texture

Initial sketch:

Machine City Botanical Distribution Center

Environment concept for weekly activity on conceptart.org - Winner

Brief:
'Think about a futuristic society of machines that values the presence of organic vegetation in their "life" stasis -- or lives, if you will. Consider the preservation measures of an advanced A.I. civilization, one that specializes in controlling the transport and accountability of plant species varying from the near-extinct, the rare, and the flourishing. The hanging gardens of Babylon meets warehouse in the Zion mainframe. Something to that effect. Mechanics, vegetation, organization.'

For this concept I only used 3d only without much painting, atmospheric effects were added in PS. Some of the models in the scene were re-used from my older model done for AI matte painting.

Apocalyptic Babylon

Concept environment painted on top of 3d render - 3d Max and PS. 20h in total. Image is a part of  competition on CGHUB - New Words - http://cghub.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20089
In this thread there are few steps indicated that led to the final image:

Here is a base render :

City Built Around A Giant Hole

Concept environment - I just can't get enough of those! Practice makes perfect as they say, theme comes from conceptart.org and another of their environment contests. Values study is a must stage when producing any artwork in my opinion. I might turn this one day into more developed matte shot.

My entry was winning work on that activity.

After Earth - Concept Art

During the production of After Earth at one point producers ( in that case that was Will Smith ) decided for the home planet of the main characters to appear more alien-like. At Iloura we were working on couple of shots related to that environment. That briefing came quite late in the production therefore the concepts were created considerably fast - within few hours. I ended up preparing around 10 options of the alteration from which one was selected for final matte painting conversion. My colleague Alan Lam was the matte painter of the final shot which is shown on the last frame of the gif sequence.

Dune World - Environment concept art

My entry to the online environment concept design competition on CG HUB. This is a great site with some stunning artwork - highly recommend visiting. I will try to participate more often now.
Attached image represents desert setting or 'Dune World' as the subject of the challenge states. Painted in Photoshop in around 6 hours. Some textures used. No tracing.

The Great Gatsby - 2nd matte painting of The Valley Of The Ashes

The daytime view proved to be much more challenging as the request at the end of the production was to indicate farm fields in front of the valley.

Final matte painting was produced in collaboration with Alan Lam and Andrew Clarke - both matte painters in Iloura. We couldn't get it done without supervision of Julian Dimsey and Glenn Melenhorst who personally stepped in at the end and finished off the painting being the most experienced matte painter in our team.

The Great Gatsby - Valley Of The Ashes /night/

Time has come to present the work I have done during last 6 months. Valley of the ashes in 'The Great Gatsby' was very important location for Baz Luhrmann. A depressing rubbish dump that characters pass when travelling  from Long Island to Manhattan. The majority of this location was created digitally.

Indicated is a wide shot of the valley straight after Myrtle's death.

Matte painting was created in Photoshop from various photographic elements as well as rendered 3d assets prepared by our team. I have started with the sky that changed few times before final approval. Extension of the horizon line had to be produced after that as well as continuation of the rail track and road. On the attached GIF image you can see the main stages. Final shot break up will be presented in my showreel 2013 which is coming up soon.

Credits from Iloura apart from matte painting:
Supervision - Julian Dimsey
Rendering and layout  - Tony Alamo
Compositing - Elena Topouzoglou

Animated GIF

Final comp still

Indonesia and Singapore photography

With my wife Jia Jia ( on the photos ) we had opportunity to explore bit of Indenesia in the last 4 weeks. We visited North Sulawesi and as well as Gili Islands and Bali. Check out the photos on Flickr, some amazing views in Bali that turns any photograph into digital painting! We stopped in Singapore so few photos also depict that very clean part of Asia.

Link to Flickr set:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/43091652@N03/sets/72157634096769671/

Work in Iloura and updates

It's been a while since my last post. The full time work does impact production of personal pieces. I will resume sketching soon but in the meantime let me share a little, what I have been up to recently. My experience working in Iloura has been great. Fantastic group of friendly and creative people in South Melbourne proved to be a smooth transition into working in Australia again. I had pleasure working on Great Gatsby, After Earth and I, Frankestein ( Links below ). I hope I will be back in the future for some more exciting projects!

I will post matte and concept work once the permissions arrive as well as break ups of shots.
Stay tuned. Also I have been asked to produce a Digital Tutors tutorial - coming soon!

Links:
Great Gatsby : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1343092/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
After Earth : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1815862/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
I, Frankenstain : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1418377/?ref_=fn_al_tt_3