I scream for...

This was an entry for cg-sphere website (www.cgsphere.com), but unfortunately, according to the powers that be, I must've moved the regulation grid, so they didn't accept it. Nonetheless, it was an amusing first attempt at advanced rendering (in vray), zbrush, realflow (and using particles to create heart-shaped golden glitter in neon pink plastic spoons. A necessary skill)

Jingle

Untitled from amy brutton on Vimeo.

For our end of year exam, we were given four days to complete a ten-second animation ending in the construction of the word "Sup" (short form for Supinfocom). Here is mine.

Je De Glace

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And here is the finished product. Well, not quite finished, I'm looking to get a soundtrack composed for it, as although I am very fond of Chopin's Prelude to raindrops, having spent so long on this thing, I would really like it to be free of any restricting catches. And there are a few elements of composition and post-production that might deserve some more attention when I have recovered from the initial production in itself, but all in all, it is finished. Thank Heavens. Any comments are most welcome. Please scroll down to see the initial sketches and get a synopsis of the film and stuff.

Work in progress

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An untextured, bald version of my wretched dancer. But the essence is there.

Character design

This year's main task is a one-minute animated 3d short on the set theme of dance. I've chosen to translate a young dancer's obsession with her reflection, an obsession which will eventually draw said reflection from within the mirror, and entice it to take on a more concrete form, thus gifting it with ubiquity. As this is a rather psychological theme, I've chosen to leave the dancer unaware of this new presence in the dance hall; her reflection haunts her movements, which become increasingly circular and broken, as it were. Sweeping around her, folding over her, never quite seen, the reflection eventually closes in on it's prey and draws it into the mirror, as the dancer's obsession climaxes and consumes her.

As always when I undertake the design of a new character, I try to base myself on the animal that best suits the specific character's basic traits. In this case, my dancer is a prey, she is vulnerable, and yet I wanted to give her a beautiful delicacy; naturally I chose a doe, which explains the long nose, large eyes, sensitive nostrils and low-set mouth; the ears are the only thing I changed to the original design, because they were too low to my taste, and lacked the alertness which is characteristic for a prey.

Portrait turn of the main character from my 1-minute short

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Still a work in progress, the seams aren't perfect (despite a lot of work with the 3d tool in Photoshop CS4, si I'm going to look into disguising them with Bodypaint) but this will give a much clearer feel of the look I want to achieve.

2009-2010 Showreel

Here it is, at long last, my showreel. The front end is all the 3d-stuff I've been working on since September, and the rest is extracts from the two short films I worked on last year, in pencil and watercolour for the one with the lunar shepherd and his herd of luminous sheep, and in watercolour on cut-paper for the one of the little ballerina. I apologise for the image-quality, my computer's been having trouble lately.

Showreel 2009/2010 from amy brutton on Vimeo.

Character Design

Based on an idea for an animated children's programme, we were required to suggest four designs for the main characters, a prim mother and her precocious daughter, shipwrecked on a tropical island, and the man and his son who have already been living there for a while. I drew inspiration from various sources; there is quite a bit of Mucha, in the sharply defined outlines and faded tones. I was also inspired by the early illustrations of Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland, which were wonderfully intricate in their depiction of flora and fauna. Mainly, I was keen that shadow and substance should be translated through lines and etchings on flat colour, as in Japanese prints. I intended that the island should be in stark contrast with the two female characters, and chose vivid tones reminiscent of Rousseau to really give the feeling that these two are out of place. The costumes set the story in the 1930's, and I decided to give the father the appearance of a faded gentleman, rather than the bearded wildman that might first spring to mind.

The prim mother

Blandine, a typical 1930's beauty, with something of the Southern belle about her, and a wan elegance in her willowy figure.

The precocious daughter

April, very much her mother's daughter.

The faded gentleman

I imagined the father as a learned recluse, enjoying the quiet of life on the island, yet retaining the elegance of a 1920's gentleman, as his clothes would be in keeping with the period of his arrival. Initially he was quite rugged in his demeanour, his frame was broader, his eyes set closer together, his whole face reminiscent of a bird of prey, but I thought this would hinder the already rocky relationship between him and the prim mother, so I narrowed him down, and gave him a gentler face, rather like a mild professor.

The wild child

Crusoe, the little boy living on the island with his father, was more of a challenge than the other characters, to the extent that he was not elegant, prim and contained, but rather unruly and left entirely to his own devices, and yet he had to be in keeping with the design of the other characters, and retain their fine features and long limbs. He became a spidery, limber character, and the defined outlines of the basic design chart came in useful in giving him matted, wavy hair.

Portrait work

This is my first 3d-portrait, based on a series of photos of a classmate.

Peugeot 207 SW

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Not too keen on cars. But this one's candy pink. That's got to be an advantage.

Walt's wild whale watching

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Exercise in 3d modelling, texturing, lighting, of a carrousel of my own design. I chose a nautical theme, and tried to convey the worn feeling of seaside funfairs, weathered by the sun, the wind and the salt.

Comic Book Character

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Ghoulies and Ghosties from amy brutton on Vimeo.

My hand

Untitled from amy brutton on Vimeo.

This, clearly, is a hand. My hand. It is also my first attempt at organic modeling and texture-unfolding.