ImagineFX article

I got the opportunity to do another workshop article for the folks at ImagineFX a few weeks ago - it's in Issue #54, check it out! I think that means it'l be in stores here in the U.S. in a month or so. It also has a sweet Adam Hughes cover which makes me a little embarrassed to be in the same issue.

Here's the painting itself.

Use Google Reader!

Google reader is awesome. A lot of amazing artists these days have blogs (and most are way better than this one). Collecting those in one place is a great way to follow what others are doing and keep yourself inspired. I add at least a couple new blogs to my Reader list each week.

Seriously, as an artist you owe it to yourself. Here is just a small sampling of the folks I stalk follow with Reader. And if you have some good blogs to recommend, post in the comments!

http://travistysbeard.blogspot.com

http://erwinmadrid.blogspot.com/

http://paperwalker.blogspot.com

http://peterdeseve.blogspot.com

http://ashleybambaland.blogspot.com

http://gorillaartfare.com/

http://characterdesign.blogspot.com

http://calader.blogspot.com

http://chapter-56.blogspot.com

http://robin-chyo.com/blog2

http://conceptships.blogspot.com

http://www.markbehm.com/blogger

http://www.artofthetitle.com

http://sparthconstruct.blogspot.com

http://n8wragg.blogspot.com

(Most of the time you can just paste the link into Reader and it'll find the RSS feed. Many sites also have feeds available for news and updates even if they aren't a blog per se. As a general rule, any time I find an interesting source of ongoing content, I try to add it to Reader.)

Getting Better.... part I

For the last few months, I've been really focused on becoming a better artist. Not that I wasn't before... but it's something I've been very conscious about lately - trying to improve at specific tasks and teach myself new ways of doing and thinking about things. I feel like it's making a difference, so I want to start sharing what I've been learning here, both about art, and about learning smartly. I'm going to try really hard to post something weekly. This stuff may or may not be very helpful - I'll just try to talk about things that past-Mike would've liked to know. And remember, I'm not some brilliant established artist with decades of experience sitting down to impart their secrets. I'm just learning as I go and sharing some things along the way. Here's the first thing I've learned recently:

Keep ongoing notes about your work.

I started doing this a few weeks ago, and it's already invaluable. Each time you finish a sketch or a painting, you probably take a moment to analyze your work. You try to determine what's working well and what maybe isn't, and hopefully sometimes you ask your friends or coworkers what they think too. Now, write it all down, and then think about what you did that led to those results. Maybe you softened more edges than usual, giving your work more depth and contrast. Make a note of that. If your work turned out really lousy, figure out when that happened - was it doomed from the start because you didn't plan the composition enough? Or did you kill the piece later by over-rendering details? Identify exactly what you did that caused the piece, or aspects of the piece, to fail, and write it down. I just keep a .txt document on my desktop with all these notes in it, they're really rough and sound like they're written by a crazy person, but they work for me.

Next time you paint or sketch something, take a look at these notes before you start, and keep them open while you work. Remind yourself what you did and didn't do so well last time, and force yourself to work on those things right now, not next time. Keep on doing this a few times (in the same document) and you'll have a pretty good idea how things are going. I also keep unrelated notes for things I want to try in the same list. for example, I listened to Craig Mullins' great recent Gnomon Master class recently, and wrote down a few things I wanted to try from that. Another thing you might try, is revisiting the notes you made for a piece several weeks later. See if anything new pops out at you, now that you've had some time away from the work.

The purpose of keeping these running notes on your work is to constantly direct your efforts and your learning. Too often, it's easy to forget, put off changing, or never realize in the first place, what you're bad at. Notes help keep you honest, critical and focused.

Lunar Holiday

Happy holidays everyone : )

This is the cover I painted for our first Moonshot Games holiday card (and online greeting here). Hope you like it! I wanted to find time to do a personal holiday painting too, but I don't think it's gonna happen this year.

Here's to a great 2010!

Concept ships!

I got a cool feature on concept ships a few days ago! I love that site, exciting to see my stuff there. Even if I don't quite feel worthy.

Announcing Moonshot Games!

I recently started working for a new game studio here in Seattle, and we just officially announced the company.

Check out the website and press release here: www.moonshotgames.com

I've been working hard on the logo and identity, so it's cool to be able to finally show it!

The Bronson Maneuver - Trailer

An exclusive, never-before-seen theatrical trailer for Neil Sterling's classic adventure, The Bronson Maneuver. Full thing on Vimeo here: http://vimeo.com/6553172

The Bronson Maneuver - Final

Well, after a marathon 72 hour work session we are finally wrapped on our CGChallenge entry. Check it out!!! Also, support us and go check out our CGTalk thread where you can see all of our progress updates and whatnot.

(You should really click through to the vimeo page and watch it in HD....)

My work area

Some pictures of my desk, for a small ImagineFX article. I'm basically just showing off my Star Wars toys.

Some more backgrounds

..from our film so far.

First CGChallenge shots!

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=292&t=789957

I know it's only a little bit, but it's really exciting to have something.

CGChallenge: Secret Agent!

I'm entering the current CGChallenge with a few friends - you can follow our progress here:

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=292&t=789957

We're working on a short stop-motion film. My friend Ryan built the puppet and is filming all the character animation on a greenscreen, and then I'm comping him into a 2D environment. Below is some test integration footage I put together (just using a stand-in stopmo model for testing.)

This is my new blog. It'll mostly be a place for me to post sketches and projects. Let's hope I update it!