Another spare time illustration. Not quite sure what to do with this one though! I cannot think of a way to incorporate it into a video but I do know how I want to animate it. I am hoping inspiration will strike soon. Often, my images sit on the hard drive gathering digital dust for them to resurface months or years later as the perfect asset for a project I am working on.
I am thinking I might change the title of these posts to Bi-Weekly as I am currently not delivering on my promise of a weekly post. This week I have put together a collection of music videos that have grabbed my attention for one reason or another, hope you enjoy!
RERAW / JUDEGEMENT DAY – As the title suggests there are Terminator influences and you can imagine the T-1000 listening to this tune as he prowls the streets looking for Arnie!
PLANET L.U.C & TRZECI WYMIAR / KOSMOSTUMOSTÓW – HipHop from Russia (I think) with mind melting comic book visuals that are transformed into an ever moving 3D world.
MIKHAEL PASKALEV / JIVE BABE – A story driven music video of an outlaw out for revenge on her boyfriend/lover. Great cinematography, locations and people that fits the music well.
DYE / FANTASY – An anime music that starts off mellow with a little fan service that warps into a mind altering vision of hell. NSFW but completely and utterly amazing, my must watch video.
IS TROPICAL / THE GREEKS – Everybody remembers playing Cowboys and Indians when they young, this video takes it to a whole new level with cartoon blood, explosions and gunfire.
MTV NIGHTS 2012 – Not a music video but where would we be without MTV! These idents feature awesome character design, detailed backgrounds and super smooth animation.
I am an experienced web designer based near Gibraltar. I can offer your business a great looking, easy to update, SEO optimised website. Based on the WordPress platform my website designs are search engine friendly and ready for all social media platforms. I also provide marketing campaigns that will improve your search engine (Google, Bing and Yahoo) rankings.
I offer free consultations to establish your needs as a business and to agree on the best course of action for creating the perfect website for you.
Visit my portfolio OR send me an email.
With more and more people using the internet everyday as a business owner it is in your best interests to have a website. It is not enough to have just a website however, you need a professional looking website. Your website will likely be the first impression a customer has of your business, best make it a good one. Even if you feel your business is small and that your product cannot be sold online, if you have a business you really should have a website.
For this Weekly Vimeo Videos post I have put together a collection of extreme sport short films. A mix of classic old school edits and artist shorts that take an alternative approach to filming.
Peter Brings the Shadow to Life – This short takes a closer look at the shadow of the skater and ask the question, do we ever grow up? A unique approach to skateboarding.
Dream from ‘The Glide’ – Beautiful slow motion footage of surfing from within the wave. Part of concert performance where the video is projected behind the orchestra.
Spring and Summer with Jeff Curry – Classic edit of some great skiing action. I am a snowboarder myself but good footage is good footage and I do not discriminate.
GoPro – Alana Blanchard – GoPro walk hand in hand with extreme sports so I had to include one of their films. I love my GoPro camera even though I have scratched the lens.
Greg Illingworth UK/SA – Another classic edit but this time BMX. Greg goes big and aggressive, top quality stuff. Makes it look so easy and I wish I could do it.
STATIONPARK – Old school riding in an abandoned train station that has been shot with a keen eye for detail. Great use of space and lighting with a great skater.
Study Skills website design I did for my Mum based on the Twenty Ten WordPress template. She wanted a clean and simple site design that is easy to maintain so I tweaked the template to fit my needs. I created the right hand navigation from scratch to ensure visitors of the site were only ever 1 click away from booking a workshop, the main purpose of the website.
Visit the Study Skills site.
Back again for the second installment of my Weekly Vimeo Videos. No post last week as my computer was getting an upgrade, 16GB ram, yes please. Mainly different forms of animation this week ranging from stop motion to traditional cel to 3D.
Rhapsodie pour un Pot-au-feu – a great 2D piece from students at Gobelins that takes a peek into the daily lives of a busy family and their love of food with an awesome musical score.
Nitro Warriors – a super charged stop motion car chase of epic proportions. Shot entirely with the iPhone with bespoke rigging systems it took 6 months to complete the 3 minute short.
Live Action Light Painting – filmed entirely with real lights on location with no 3D strokes or stop motion this is a great example of a well executed idea with some clever post production.
Samare – another student film, this time stop motion. A simple love story full of creative ideas, superbly executed and combined with some expressive sound effects.
Ninja Turtles Tribute – anyone a fan of the Ninja Turtles will love this quirky take on the 4 ninjas. Made by a true fan this cel animated short is full of life, energy and great art.
Element 3D Demo Reel – Andrew Kramer is the man. A great reel for his latest plugin for After Effects that allows users to take control of 3D elements within After Effects.
In my spare time I like to create character illustrations. My first step is to get doodling, once happy with the character design I scan it into the computer. I then load up Illustrator and start tracing the lines to recreate the character. Finally, it is time to start adding colours and detail such as shading and highlights. The character illustration is complete but not finished. I take the design into After Effects and animate the character illustrations. I am currently working on a film project where I hope to include the above characters so stay tuned for more.
Find out more about my film project by visiting Crank Club.
Freelance design on the Costa del Sol has advantages and disadvantages. With Spain struggling economically as a result of the Euro crisis there is less work around. For example, my nearest city La Linea has been hit particularly hard with unemployment rates around 40%.
Its direct neighbour however is a very different story.
Gibraltar, the prosperous overseas British territory is booming with thousands of workers crossing the border every day. The gaming industry continues to grow and the established finance market is sitting strong. This means more freelance design in Gibraltar for me as small businesses prosper and larger companies continue to grow.
Other advantages are more obvious, the weather is great, I am 5 minutes from the beach and there is climbing everywhere. When not being a freelance designer you can find me at one of the local climbing spots. Find out more by visiting my climbing blog, Crank Club.
Would I still live in Spain working as a freelance designer if it were not for Gibraltar, that is a difficult question to answer?
There are a number of different ways to learn After Effects, go on a course, read a book, ask a friend or use the internet. By using the internet to learn After Effects you have some of the best teachers available at your finger tips. Here is a short list of some great resource sites that I use regularly when working on an AE project, hope they help and good luck.
Video Copilot – Andrew Kramer’s site is one of the best out there, his tutorials are consistently brilliant, his products and knowledge are mind blowing and he is always giving away free resources and project files for his readers.
Creative Cow – Another great site that is driven by its community. It has over 200 online forums spanning a wide range of professional video tools and software and over 1,000 text and video tutorials. Just watch out for the ads.
AE Tuts – The quality of the tutorials on this site do not quite reach the heights of the other two. It is however part of a family of sites that cover the whole range of digital design and development which is why it is included on this list.