Sunday, April 26, 2009

Reminiscing...

I was browsing through my online gallery awhile back and found some old stuff I did, some old stuff which still remained in my heart, and up to now, I was visually bothered as to how I was able to come up with those.

Anyhow, here's one of them > http://reynante.deviantart.com/art/Living-16410102

Hope you like it. ^_^

Ubuntu 9.04!

After a long wait, Ubuntu 9.04 aka "Jaunty Jackalope" is finally here! With lots of surprises. I can't wait to try it out until my download finishes. ^_^

Quoted from Canonical > "Faster boot speed, enhanced application suite and more visual appeal -- give users more reasons than ever to choose Ubuntu."

Check their site here > http://www.ubuntu.com

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Half Full

... or half empty? ^_^

I missed Akita (my camera) so much that I decided to take some few shots while playing around with one of my pups (which happens to be the cutest of all). =)

IOR rocks. Hehe! ^_^

Saturday, April 18, 2009

"Knowing" Movie Review

I just came from the movie house with my friend and my two younger siblings. Of all the sci-fi movies I have watched, this one is yet the best I've seen around. It's not the cliche type nor is it the "i-know-what-will-happen-next" type of film.

I hate to admit it but I think this is way better than those produced by Spielberg. It has just the moderate amount of visual effects (as far as story telling is concerned). It makes you think deep of the reality that surrounds us right now.

A suspense-sci-fi that made my day! Now my art batteries are recharged again for sure! ^_^

Blender Lighting Test

It's time for another weekend update from me. I was trying to play around with some basic light setup and yet another particle interaction test. This is a preparation for my planned short which will be produced once I get excited. ^_^

Here's the animation I did:

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Art Lesson

First off, before I start rambling about art and my personal growth in terms of this field and animation, I'd like to thank the people behind Animation Mentor even though I didn't get the chance to enroll myself in their courses. At least I've had a great time reading some of the newsletters that came along on my mailbox AND the uber informative Animation Tips and Tricks by Shawn Kelly, to whom my biggest thanks would go to, for being so generous of thoughts and kind enough to give us readers and students some pieces of advice. I really would hope I could meet him someday and ask him to be my mentor for just a couple of hours (which I might probably be using to squeeze what's left on my brain).

Entering animation hasn't been an easy road for me, since I came from no formal background in art and animation for that matter. But I'm very lucky to have landed on a cool and challenging job, with which I learn and hone my skills everyday (which are rudimentary skills to begin with). And just recently, I realized there are INDEED so many things I have yet to learn about art in general, not to mention the plethora of possibilities and opportunities I could have with using Blender alone as my tool. Some or should I say most of these lessons in animation all boil down into something like start simple and climb the ladder one step at a time (if you're the type of artist that I am, not the gifted, genius ones). Quoted from one of Shawn Kelly's articles, "If animation is our mountain range, and the dialogue shot is our Everest, my advice would be to take the time to tackle those rock-climbing walls and the hills outside of town before you try to ascend the highest peak in the art form." Yes, very true. I wouldn't even bother reaching for a goal IMMEDIATELY after just having learned something, I think it's even way enjoyable to feel the journey instead of jumping right in at your destination. Oops, this is sounding more like a preach rather than a blog post already, anyways, I hope I have enlightened some of you with these ramblings.

What was that again? JUST ENJOY LIFE AND BE HAPPY! ^_^

Animate animate...

It's been almost two months and a half since I started doing serious animation under a company and looking back to my days of "carefree" animation and tests, I can say I have learned a lot! And each time I wake up in the morning (most of the time inside the office where I sleep overnight), I'm getting too excited on what's gonna happen next or what new techniques and workarounds I could learn until the end of the day or until I go to bed. I have never loved work as far as this job is concerned, not only am I comfortable in what I do, but the learning curve is so fluid that I could not fall out of balance at all. There were times I've had some frustrations and paranoia but after a cup of hot chocolate or a pee or even a simple arm stretch outside the office, I'm rolling again.

One of the best tips I've seen and heard through my past experiences was "surround yourself with people greater than you", and that's exactly what's happening right now, though on a different genre and themes, but in a way the same. I now realize why that is so important. Not only can you directly learn and interact in some ways or another, but subconsciously, you start to imbibe some habits and styles that your other co-workers do to improve their work or to simply enhance their day-to-day skills.

So what more can I say? Animation sure rocks! And I'm loving every second of it. Though I really do hope I could show you some of the things I have done here, that is, if I'm permitted to in due time.

Until next time. Stay happy and fit! ^_^ (drink a lot of chocolate)

Friday, April 10, 2009

Not Much of an Update

Wheww.... Nothing much to show right now. It's been a very busy month and I've never had the chance to update anything serious or to produce something art-worthy. Anyhow, I've been studying animation and its siblings during my not-so-lengthy vacant times. I promise, if only I'd be able to seat here infront of my home computer for a week straight then I might probably have something worthwhile to show you guys. But right now, it's all ideas and thoughts.

Oh, and before I forget, I'd like to thank sir dagwayjack for featuring me on his Filipino Blender website (http://www.purokblender.com). It's such an honor seeing my name and artworks there. Thanks a bunch!

*Getting so excited on the next Blender release!*

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Looking Through

Yet another non-Blender post. ^_^

Here's a shot I did earlier while experimenting with the finepix setting of my camera (which I only had fun recently).