My Stuff: Sketch and Paint!

Ciao ragazzi!

Here's a little freebie thing I've been working on. By "freebie", I mean I won't get credit in a class for it--did it just for fun! And by "working on", I mean it took hardly any time at all.

So a WHILE ago, I did a doodle for my sister because she said she wanted to be a princess. Mind you, this is WELL before Princess and the Frog had even been announced--so any similarities are HIGHLY coincidental....(...and by "coincidental", I mean "Disney probably snuck into my room, stole my sketchbook, made copies and then quickly returned it all while I was sleeping in the middle of the night"....) I'll let it slide, THIS time.

Here's the sketch and the painted final:




Honestly, I LOVE the way it turned out. It was one of the first times I'd ever painted with Photoshop, let alone the first time I've even ever scanned any of my work. I think I should start working on some others. I have quite a few. :)

Assignment #3 - Planar Shapes, Revolve, Extrude and Loft

Ciao Ragazzi!

Come state?

This assignment had multiple parts. So bear with me. :)

1) First, we had to create a 2D planar shape from a logo of our choice. I chose the logo from my dad's non-profit organization, the Titan's Academic and Athletic Program. Here's a link to the site. I used curves to make the shape plane and here's what I have:




The first is the actual logo. The second is my planar copy from Maya.

2) Next, we revolved a curve. I chose to create a lamp from this reference. I wanted an object with a lot of divots and details so the model looked slightly impressive even though it was extremely easy to create. Here's what I got:




3) We then had to extrude a 2D shape along a path. My extrusion created a slide. I cheated a little and didn't closed my shape, but the process was the same and I like the way it turned out. I added the little stepladder on the side and made a playground slide. I might start adding more to this, texture/light it and make a whole playground playscape. What do you think?





4) Lastly, we had to create some sort of loft shape. I was having a little bit of a hard time thinking up an object I wanted to create with a loft, so I decided to go abstract. The base shape is a flower I drew with the pencil tool in Maya, and here's what I got:

Assignment #2 - Perspective Drawing and Painting

Hey guys!

Here's my perspective drawing and painting....FINALLY!! I'm so sorry for the delay. I wanted this to be REALLY good and I think I just wasn't satisfied at the beginning and got stuck. Then, of course, I started running away from it until it became this big, dark, disgusting thing that I never wanted to go near.

BUT! I sucked it up and finished it. ....kinda. Here ya go:




I love the drawing part. I got to get really analytical with the perspective, which I enjoy. But I'm not really satisfied with the paint. I just don't know enough about color theory yet to really pull this together. I was kinda just winging it. Still...it's the best I could do. :)

Assignment #1 - Skysphere

Hey guys,

For this assignment, we were supposed to create a skysphere in Maya. A skysphere is a 3D sphere with a sky or environment texture mapped over it. As I was google-ing panoramic images I stumbled across an interesting one of the Cloud Gate sculpture from the AT&T Plaza in Chicago. Here's the LINK to the wikipedia page and the panorama I found:



I like the overall color tone of the panorama and I thought the reflection on the sculpture was pretty cool. I mapped the texture on a simple 3D sphere in Maya. This allowed me to pan around the inside of the object and simulate a 3D environment. Pretty COOL! Here are some rendered stills from the project:








Unfortunately, with all the people in the photo, you can't do too much animation with it. But I thought it was cool nonetheless. Definitely helped me get more familiar with the user interface of Maya!

Till next time!

Introduction....Again....

Ciao, ragazzi!

Come stai? Bene? Good. :)

I just wanted to re-introduce myself to any new readers. I created this blog for Ben Bay's Visual Effects class but I've also added some of my other work and animation in here. Please, feel free to check it out (I encourage it, really!) and look out for some more entries. We have a lot of 3D examples coming as well as some 2D drawings and sketches I've been meaning to scan in. Exciting! I can't wait to show you all! :)

Alex

Here's some past posts of interest:

My first introduction with some insights into my artistic inspirations!

My very first animation I ever created!

An example of some work in Photoshop!

Some title effects I did in AfterEffects!

Final Project!: Sunday Sunday Opening

Ciao, ragazzi!

Finally done! Here's my final project, the opening for Adam Rucker's YouTube Show "Sundae Sunday"! There's no audio yet, I'll probably have it up tomorrow.

Enjoy!

Sundae Sunday Opening (No Audio) from Alex McCrea on Vimeo.

Pre-Final Project #1: Sunday Sundae Title Scene

Ciao, Ragazzi!

Can I just say that these final weeks of school are KILLING me! I'm sorry, did that sound too overdramatic...?

Seriously, though it's gonna be tough to get all these projects done. BUT I WILL!

For my final project in this class, I decided to do a little favor for a friend of mine (actually, I begged and pleaded with him to let me). His name is Adam Rucker. Heard of him? Well, you should because he's a bonafide YouTube sensation! I'm being serious. People actually recognize him on the street. (I wish I could say it didn't go to his head buuuuut...........that would be a lie.) :)

Anyway, I want to create a title sequence for his weekly youtube show/vlog, Sunday Sundae. To help you understand what the show actually is, here's an example episode below.
(This one features me, so it was the obvious choice to post...)



Awesome, right? No, I actually meant me, but the show was pretty good too.

My inspiration for the title sequence is actually the Arrested Developement Opening. Here it is.



Basically, it'll only be around 10 or 15 seconds and include pictures of him (probably eating a Sundae....see what I did there?) and a couple of short sound bites from his past episodes.

I think it's gonna be fantastic!