Waiton's Sketch Blog

Redesigning Jarrod's Website

2011-08-05T23:08:00.001-07:00

So I'm in the midst of redoing Jarrod's website. The old one was based off someone else's design/template and made in Flash (which was annoying because he couldn't just whip out his iPhone/iPad to show potential clients).

The new one will be made using just HTML, CSS and some jQuery. It should be lighter and work across more devices!

Here's a quick screen grab of a sample page:

Expect it to be up and running at the end of the month!

Edit: It is up! This will be an evolving site over the next couple months - more things to be added like social media buttons, possibly a blog and prices pages.

Website is up

2011-07-18T00:11:00.000-07:00

Hi!

So I've had my new website up for a few weeks now, but neglected to tell you all.

Go here:

Waiton's Website

Hehe. Enjoy, and please don't abuse my number or email address you spambots!

Love
Me.

Art for a friend...

2011-06-28T20:59:00.000-07:00

This is for my deviantart friend. I'll be finishing this off in due course, but dang if it isn't great to be drawing again!

Have a good one :)

No Evil

2011-01-28T16:56:00.000-08:00

Finally finished my personal painting.

No Evil:

New artwork - In progress...

2010-11-10T23:36:00.000-08:00

Progress on the "No Evil" concept for Jarrod, a fabulous make-up artist here in Wellington. Should be done tomorrow night, if I really put myself into it :)

... and this is one of the reasons why I haven't finished "No Evil"... I've been doodling for another project and one of the sketches reminded me of the majestic Jean Grey - I hope to finish this one off on the weekend/early next week too!

I've started painting exclusively in greyscale first, then adding colour afterwards (kind of a cheat's method but hey, lots of good concept artists are doing it. So if it's good enough for them...!)

As always, comments are welcome.

in progress...

2010-10-03T01:38:00.000-07:00

Wow. It's been a while.

This is probably the first full-on personal work I've done all year since putting together my portfolio!

Of course, it's still work in progress... still trying to clear the cobwebs and get back into painting.

My first showreel & digital portfolio

2010-02-11T02:07:00.000-08:00

Here we go - my digital portfolio - for mainly concept/character design work. Please don't abuse my email with spam :)

And... here's my first proper showreel! A bit of old work and a bit of new... anyone looking to hire an animator/illustrator?

Yes! A second menu bar for Mac OS X in dual-screen work environments!

2009-12-31T16:44:00.000-08:00

Finally! Something that's been annoying me about working with two monitors on the Mac was the lack of a menubar in the secondary monitor. Until recently, DejaMenu was the only real bit of help with this annoyance but I've recently stumbled upon SecondBar. I'm in the midst of installing it and will update this post over time as I evaluate it.

The same developer also has an application called BetterTouchTool for extending the use of Apple's multi-touch wireless Magic Mouse. You can enable more than 2 finger gestures and increase the tracking speed to make moving the cursor across multiple or large monitors easier.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Update 15-Jan-2010

Wow, I received some comments from "Anonymous" people (not the nice ones, the strange ones) - please leave a name if you wish, but I won't plug spam sites.

ANYWAY, Secondbar is working great still! Highly recommended.

_peace_

Internet Movie Database

2009-12-15T02:15:00.000-08:00

Well, after 5 years of finishing work on Season 1 of Bro' Town, I've magically appeared on IMDb. Does that qualify me as a celebrity? Haha. Thanks IMDb and whoever snuck my name in there:)

The irony is that I am currently unemployed and looking for work on my poorest Christmas yet :(

Donations welcomed...

MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone!

Gabriel - Take 4

2009-11-20T16:12:00.000-08:00

A re-take on the posters - this time, more true to the 3D modelling.

New Work

2009-10-21T14:40:00.000-07:00

Presented as a series of mock movie posters for a story idea I'm working on for my studies. Generally well received by most everyone except for the ones that counted. So will be doing more work in the coming days to placate the uni gods.

Gabriel - work in progress

2009-08-20T02:03:00.001-07:00

Here're some of my sketches and renders for the last ever uni project!

It started off like this:

Rendered out to this:

Was a little too "sexpot" so is going to turn into this:

Commission sketch...

2009-04-29T02:07:00.000-07:00

For my friend Claire. It's Sokka from Avatar: The Last Airbender - the best cartoon series in recent years. Sokka's often clumsy but more importantly, he's the wise-cracking clown of the series - and yet he is adorable and not irritating at all!

Weta Workshop - with Paul Tobin and Warren Mahy

2009-04-20T02:07:00.000-07:00

Awesome weekend of workshopping - concept design with Paul Tobin and Warren Mahy (from Weta / Lord of the Rings fame). Excellent, talented, and down-to-earth guys that are brimming with experience and good advice.

We were to recontextualise/update the old "Jason & the Argonauts" movie to whatever we wanted to do. I chose to redo Poseidon as a sea-creature merman instead of a white-merman with blond hair.

Armageddon Wellington - 5 & 6 April 2009

2009-04-08T02:00:00.000-07:00

Well, I went to the Wellington Armageddon convention this year! It was great sitting at the Gotham Comics stall and sketching most of the two days there. I met quite a few talented artists and writers and the international guest stars (comics) were great! Darick Robertson and Queenie Chan are such cool people!!!

Here's a pic of me sketching Venom from Marvel Comics' Spiderman.

Work in progress - lady and green spirit

2009-03-22T16:54:00.001-07:00

Hi all

Just wanted to say I'm still alive and doing stuff. Right now final year major project is getting a little busy (as well as working on FAANZ.com print work).

It seems like the busier I get the more I want to do personal stuff, so here's a drawing I'm in the middle of painting up. It's not finished of course... her hair needs to be dealt with, he needs lots of "glowy" stuff and there's the danged background to deal with later. hehe.

Comments are welcome:)

More design work

2009-02-05T21:52:00.000-08:00

About time I looked into getting a card of my own too!

And I've been working on some logo designs for a theatre company that's leaning towards creating a festival company in the future : www.fabulousarts.co.nz

New Art and stuff

2009-02-04T16:22:00.000-08:00

Well, summer's on the way out (it feels like it anyway) and I've finally got some work in progress.

Here's Jarrod's new business card:

And some drawings I've done recently

the rough version is here... I kinda like it more than the cleaned up version:

And something I drew for Christmas. It's to be painted up eventually (just like the one above).

2008-11-10T22:39:00.000-08:00

Just read a nice article about the pitfalls of pro-bono work and when not to work for free.

It's pretty good reading for designers and illustrators that are just starting out as well... gotta keep that bread and butter coming.

2008-10-29T20:28:00.000-07:00

ANIMATION!

Well, here's the final hand-in for Animation 2 class. It's the first real proper animation sequence that me and my project-mate, Miriam, have done for 3D!

enjoy!

And here's the animatic for it too.

Setting Goals!

2008-09-26T15:44:00.000-07:00

Well, here I am again. Only 3 weeks left till the end of another academic year and I'm feeling a little tired, a little apathetic and a little lost. So it was nice to stumble upon this article from one of the sites I regularly visit:

http://lifehacker.com/5055020/why-goal-setting-makes-you-cringe

So I must go away now and set some realistic goals. It ties in very well with the business & design paper I'm currently taking. Hopefully it means that I'll have my career path sorted soon.

Hope everyone is well.
W

Some more oldies - from 2006

2008-08-31T17:11:00.000-07:00

I was commissioned to draw the cover image and level-change images. The images depict the mage from neophyte to master. These were coloured by Pixelthis staff.

Character concept art for RuneMage, a mobile game from Pixelthis (http://www.pixelthis.co.nz).

Kiss my motion mojo

2008-06-26T16:24:00.001-07:00

Here we are, another motion graphics experiment... in the tune of Prince...ah... the good old 80s.

mOtion grAphics

2008-06-19T20:00:00.001-07:00

Well, handed in the first part of an assignment for motion graphics. It's pretty early stages in learning how to use Affter Effects. Hopefully will do something really decent at the end of 2 weeks.

Comments or jeers welcome.

WE NEED A FLATMATE!

2008-06-12T02:31:00.001-07:00

Well, things are coming to to crushing point. One of our flatmates is moving out to join her friends but we need to find a replacement flatmate real soon!!

So if anyone in Wellington wants a place to stay, be sure to hit me up with a comment. We are creative types and located in a prime area ... 3 minutes walk to Courtenay Place!

Sequential Art

2008-06-05T01:23:00.000-07:00

Well, after a couple late nights and an all-nighter, I finished! Presentation went well, pretty much all positive remarks, but I'm pretty dis-satisfied with the completed work. There's a lot more I could have/should have drawn (like backgrounds and more characters, and some more different camera angles). But since I was doing 4 papers this semester, I think it went ok.

Another one down

2008-06-01T04:44:00.000-07:00

Well, here's my first real 3D animation reel. It's not as great as it could be but I'm learning heaps!

Done in Maya, composited in Final Cut. The character came pre-rigged and textured.

Woopie, only sequential art left to finish. May all the deities that be give me strength *grumble*...

W

Hand-ins and such.

2008-05-29T19:51:00.000-07:00

Well, handed in my Interactivity assignment yesterday. Fairly satisfied with it. There are a few things I would have liked to complete, like actually making sliders work! And buttons and aesthetics aren't as polished as I'd like.

Go here to see the finals:

http://www.interactive.ac.nz/2008/waiton/Greenhouse.html

Oh, you can also access the first assignment here: http://www.interactive.ac.nz/2008/waiton
Now working on animation... grr...

Hope you're all having a good day.

W.

New Sketches for sequential art project

2008-04-30T04:19:00.000-07:00

I've started working on a sequential art project for university. It's an extension of the Fables series as well as influenced by Brian Froud and Alan Lee's book "Faeries". I'll put up sequences as I complete them but here're some sketchbook material for now.
Sketches:

Layouts (all 12 pages)

Some more old stuff

2008-04-12T04:49:00.000-07:00

Here's a portrait of my flatmate (before he shaved his head). This was painted over a period of three weeks.

Some old stuff

2008-04-12T00:41:00.000-07:00

Long time no post... was just looking up random blogs and came across an artist/designer who's started regularly posting a daily sketch and that's motivated me to think about doing the same... "think" being the operative word.

I've got assignments gushing out my ears but I remembered some old sketches I'd done that I haven't posted up so here goes:

From 2007 - a collected edition cover for a short comic I made between 2004-2006

A commissioned sketch for a convention-goer.

2006 - Alien designs that didn't eventuate

2005 - Sketch of an old car

A book spread

2007-10-25T11:28:00.000-07:00

This was another assignment of mine... interpreting a poem. I think the artwork was fine but the text was rushed. It's supposed to be three double-page spreads.

My self-portrait-progress and final

2007-09-20T15:47:00.001-07:00

Started off with a quick sketchover of a photograph of me. Then added a mid-tone layer before starting with the painting.

blocking in the shadows

laying on the facial features

adding fine details to my face

filling in the body and props

added in the background, had to apply a mask to my body as I didn't leave it as a separate layer from the original background.

The completed image

Digital Portraits

2007-09-20T15:26:00.000-07:00

Media: photoshop 20 minutes

Media: photoshop 30 minutes

A couple rough tests for a self-portrait assignment (that's being marked at the moment).

More Illustration

2007-09-20T15:22:00.000-07:00

Here're 2 doublepage spreads done in watercolours.

Some artwork

2007-09-20T14:56:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a while again. I haven't felt the need to blog nor had the time lately but as promised, here's some artwork.

Media: digital photomontage

First off, something from last year when I did my first computer design paper. It's not quite finished but had to hand it in anyways.

Media: acrylics on illustration board.

This one was the second assignment for Illustration 1. I can't believe that I hadn't actually painted all that much up till then. Again it doesn't look completed but I was pretty happy with it. It's a photograph of it as the original is larger than A3 and I don't have a scanner that big.

Semester 2, odd jobs and Supernatural

2007-07-20T02:45:00.000-07:00

Well it's definitely been a while since I last posted.

I'd finished Semester 1 fine, and got ok grades, and even an 'A':)

The holidays (all 5.5 weeks of them) was filled with parttime work at a film studio doing concept design work so that was awesome! Now I'm back at uni for Semester 2, and it's turning out to be one heck of a busy first week. I can't believe how much work we have to put in for 2nd year. Definitely more work than Accounting. But it's oh so rewarding.

Watched the first season of Ugly Betty and Supernatural over the last week, and moving on to the second season. Interesting programmes they are. Good quality (and expensive production costs I can tell) tv:)

I am going to put up some of my old assignments up on youtube soon. Will post up the links on here. And also post up current assignments as and when I get them done.

Cool!

Up to date

2007-04-10T19:59:00.000-07:00

It's almost a month since my last post.

Magnummac did come through in the end - they got a copy off their Christchurch branch (which took a day to arrive) and let me have that one. Wonder why they didn't do that in the first place.

All my assignments have been handed in after a couple late nights and an all-nighter.

I would post up my video if I knew how to - maybe I'll sign up on YouTube.

Things are ok but money is an issue. Anyone got any spare cash just floating around? Hmmm... what can I sell online? Makes me wonder if I could do a "secondlife.com" and sell some intangible but expensive virtual space/body.

Have a few accounting jobs to do and then will have to work on my portfolio and developing Digital Easel.

Easter wasn't very eventful, especially since there wasn't much money to spend. But we had visitors from Auckland (which ended up making us miss the bloody place even more). Auckland's definitely what we would refer to as "home" now.

Still waiting

2007-03-18T17:37:00.000-07:00

Well, since Magnummac was on the way home, I decided to see if my Final Cut Express had arrived. So I go in, and by this time the sales guy recognises who I am and what I'm after (and he's new too). Off he goes to check and still not arrived.

I tell him that if it's not here by tomorrow I have no use for it any longer. He says he'll give me a call. I ask if there's even any notes to say if it's been dispatched and he says there's not even a dispatch number. So he can't even tell me if it's shipped yet.

Grr.

Well, interim is on Wednesday. I better get started and keep popping into uni till the software arrives.

Late night blog

2007-03-17T04:56:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been one hectic week at uni. I'm not in trouble yet, but I do need to pull up my socks if I want some good grades this semester.

Hence why I'm still up at 1am on a Saturday night, at home, in front of my computer. Trying to put together a little animation of a viking ship bobbing in the ocean.

J's playing "God of War" on Playstation 2. Looks like a lot of fun, and lots of violence. Seems pretty hard to play too.

Right, am trying to work on my Digital Media assignment. Thanks to Renee heaps for lending me her tripod!!! I owe you dinner or a movie:)

Ooh - can't wait to see 300.

What do I say about Magnummac Wellington? I went in last Monday to see if they had Final Cut Express (so I could do my assignment at home). Well, they had one copy (academic version) left - I didn't think I could afford it, but I could. So I went back on Tuesday and it was gone. But the guy said on Monday that it would only take a day for a copy to be shipped in. So I ordered a copy on Tuesday, and paid for it in advance. The lady then said it won't be in till Friday. So I thought, ok, I could do my other subjects during the week and work on the video on the weekend.

Well, it's Sunday now - the software hasn't arrived, and I'm not impressed. So what do I do? I'll just have to wait:( I should have just bought it off the Apple website. I'll learn for next time.

Daylight savings ends tonight - yay, get to sleep in for one hour.

The weekend

2007-03-11T17:16:00.000-07:00

Headed off to the Gay Fair in Newton on Saturday morning. Must say I wasn't as impressed with it this year (compared to last year). The drag talent was rather... bad, but since I'm no drag artiste myself, I'll just leave it at that. Polyfilla was back to host the fair though, so she was good.

Nikita took part of the dog show. Every year they have a competition for "pinkest dog", "butchest dog", "best-lookalike dog (with the owner)", "biggest dog" etc. Well, Nikita won the "smallest dog" category and we ended up with a big bag of dog biscuits! That should last us at least a couple months. Yay!

Bought a few photographic prints for the lounge and then headed home.

Sunday - went to the markets to get vegies and fruit, and did some of my homework. Not very eventful but now I'm starting to stress over my assignments.

ARGH!

Need to be using Final Cut Pro for a digital video assignment. Had a look at the price tag if I wanted a copy for myself. $1299. And this is for the academic version! Final Cut Express is only $299 but have to wait on a reply from my tutors to see if I can use the Express version for this assignment.

Procrastination is bad

2007-03-08T12:23:00.000-08:00

Well, I should be doing my illustration homework but instead I've been on the Mac forums gushing over technology :(

Yesterday, our Design History tutor asked us all what kind of era we perceive ourselves to be in at the moment - for example, the "enlightenment" period of the late 18th and early 19th Century Britain, or the "industrial" period. People in class said we're in a "wary/uncertain/optimistic/information" period while another said we're all of the above.

I happen to think we're in a rather depressing period. Just look at all the ads on TV about mental health problems and the high rate of suicide (teen mostly) in New Zealand. We (New Zealand) rank in the top 10 in teen suicide rates if memory serves me well. Just had a search online and can't find the stats. However, headspace.org.nz has some resources about suicide & depression. Apparently 1 in 5 of us kiwis suffer from some form of depression and 8% of teens suffer (I'd say that the percentage is actually higher in real life).

Anyways, have to do my homework now.

take care
xxx

Good landlord

2007-03-07T22:25:00.000-08:00

Our landlord was over this evening to fix up a few things. I like landlords that do come over to fix things. Our old landlord in Khandallah (the first of the two landlords in Khandallah) would not tend to any of our requests! In the end we just decided to move out after our tenancy ended (the new landlord for Khandallah's good though).

Painted up some textures for illustration studio tomorrow - we're doing Chiaroscuro-style paintings! Yeah! Chiaroscuro at Wikipedia - here.

And the neighbours pulled out of a joint dinner. We ordered 5 pizzas. 5 PIZZAS. When J went to pick them up, one of the neighbours turned up and said that the other 2 were out of town/working overtime so have to have dinner at their's next time. So now we have 3 pizzas for lunch for the next few days.

J is watching Star Trek again (the next few seasons). Damn you Amalgamated Video!

The price of education

2007-03-07T18:41:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I spent $125 on a text book ("History of Graphic Design" by P. Meggs). See it at Amazon here.

It's been 2 weeks since the start of uni but I was dreading to spend the cash. After having to furnish the flat (yay for the Warehouse!) and pay for petrol and bits and pieces, there's really not much money to go around.

Tally so far for the first 2 weeks in terms of study costs? About $300 - in just 2 weeks.

I need a few freelance jobs.

xxx
Waiton.

My Scanner Works!!

2007-03-07T12:05:00.000-08:00

How's this for being ultra-geeky? My old Acer Vuego Scan Brisa 620U is not officially supported on Mac OS X according to Apple and the manufacturer. So I've been quite irritated that the scanner isn't connected to the computer I do most of my work on. It was, up till last week, hooked up to the Windows PC and I had to keep hopping over to it to scan anything, then transfer the file onto a stick or send it over the network to the Mac.

But thanks to the guy(s) at the SANE project, it's working beautifully now! Well, it's a crappy scanner but it works on the Mac now!!
And thanks to Macosx for the tip.

Ok, off to class now.

Take care all
W

7th March, 2007

2007-03-06T22:30:00.000-08:00

Well, another day gone by (why don't the "home" and "end" buttons work on a Mac?).

Seems like I'm still on track with my papers at Massey. Surprised but that's good.

Working on an assignment where we have to make a music video with still pictures.

Jarred's watching Star Trek Voyager.

James Morrison's "Wonderful World" is playing - he's whiny, just like James Blunt.

More exciting news later.

Oh yeah, we'll be going to check out the Newtown Gay & Lesbian Fair on Saturday.
http://www.nzlive.com/en/nzlivecom/22nd-annual-gay-and-lesbian-fair