Wee Hands

Just finishing up my Wee Hands project here are a few examples of illustrations i have done in flash.

Still Painting

Work in Progress

Loving the fact that if I am inspired to paint it no longer means that my clothing and furniture will get covered in acrylic.

Wee Hands

Feels good to be upon completion of my internship!

Saturday April 2 (6:00pm-7:00pm): Illustrating Objects
TOTAL: 1 HOUR

Sunday April 3 (9:00pm-12:00pm): Illustrating Objects
TOTAL: 4 HOURS

Monday April 4 (6:00pm-9:00pm): Illustrating Objects
TOTAL: 3 HOURS

GameLoft

Its Friday Night and I am working diligently on this Gameloft project. They have given me a week but I love getting things done way before the deadline. Some people like to relax and get it done on time. I like to get it done and then relax, cause you never can really relax when there is work to be done.
Sadly, I cannot say the same for my essay, due on monday. Sometimes we just have to prioritise.
I have included my work so far. The sprite, which seemed an easy task was challenging still. With only 128 pixels to work with, I had to cut much of my original design. As for the Sexy Pirate, I think I may have some serious touching up to do but felt I should leave it for a bit and go back to it.
Thirdly, the running cycle. I was not schooled in animation so this was new for me. However, when you have the basic talent, drive and capacity to learn, anything is possible:

http://www.boomchickaboom.com/largeImages/mainsprite.htm

http://www.boomchickaboom.com/largeImages/sexypirate_v08.html

http://www.boomchickaboom.com/largeImages/RunningSpartan_v01.html

The Job Search

For the past week I have been applying to various jobs in my field targeting companies I admire. Today I got a reply from Gameloft for a 2d Illustrator position. Not hired yet. But they do want an art test submission. I got so excited I dropped everything! And so I should. This is the reason i went to school right??? They require four submissions, ONE: a sexy realistic pirate, TWO: a spartan game sprite, THREE: the spartan in a flash running sequence and FOUR: a mock mobile game image. Ive attached the rough sketches I have so far:

Interactive Book

I am proud to say that I am in the finishing stages of my interactive book! I have a few glitches to fix as well as replacing a few sounds and the voiceover...BUT it's getting there!!!!!!!!! Wow. I have been writing and dreaming of making these little children's books for so long. First it began with the stories and illustrations but I had no idea how to actually put together a book.
I tried to teach myself photoshop and came up with some great toons but I didnt understand rasterized images and hated the jagged edges.
I had no idea how learning these tools would bring these books to life. I was in dreamland when i learned illustrator. Learning VECTOR was like someone had stuffed my head full of cotton candy...and now FLASH? So much fun!
I really hope that I can find a career that fully utilizes my talents and I wont stop CREATING my fun lil books.

I am now the proud owner of www.magicstorybook.ca, that combined with boomchickaboom.com (based on my "registered company" boomchickaboom creative), interactivestorybook.ca as well as gailmackenzie.ca, I am well on my way to taking over the internet!!! LOL

Interactive Book

Interactive Book

School is almost finished and I just wont feel complete until I breathe life into at least one of my storybooks.
If you have seen earlier posts in my blog you may have seen that I have been working on a book called "I'm Scared", its been a work in progress for a number of years. Initially I wanted to learn more about difital art to help me produce and publish my books. I love writing poetry and especially for children. After taking DMA I not only gained skills in Illustrator but I realized that I don't have to make a regular static books either, mine could be so much more.

With school combined with my Internship I have alot on my plate, but i'm determined to get this thing off the ground.

I have included some of the images I have so far. I have mapped out my story and what must happen throughout. Some of the backgrounds as well as rollovers and interactive buttons. Once this list was compiled I had an idea of the assets I would need. I have included what I have put together so far:

Wee Hands

Wednesday February 16 (4:30PM-5:00PM): Keying Green Screen Clips
(8:00pm-10:00pm): Illustration
TOTAL: 2 1/2 HOURS

Thursday February 17 (1:00pm-5:00pm): Keying Green Screen Clips
TOTAL:4 HOURS

Wednesday February 23 (2:20pm-3:20pm): Keying Green Screen Clips. Discovered quicker way to key!!! Was keying each clip individually as directed by an After Effects professor. Not completely happy with that answer, I asked another professor who happily showed me the way. (Grrrr...but on the positive side, keying will be much quicker now!!)
(4:00pm-5:00pm): Keying Green Screen Clips.
TOTAL: 2 HOURS


Thursday February 24 (3:00pm-5:00pm): My clips are Keyed!!!! Yay. Now just exporting the files as Targas where I will then combine the Targas and Audio from the original clips in Final Cut to continue with the project.
(8:00pm-10:30pm): Illustrating...Only 7 left!
TOTAL: 4 1/2 HOURS

Friday February 25 (12:00pm-4:30pm): Spent the entire day rendering one clip after another. Sound exciting? Luckily I was able to work on some other school work while I did it so not an entire day completely lost. I have run into a PROBLEM and that is that these Targas are taking up too much space. I ma sending an email to my professor and hopefully we can find a better way than this.
TOTAL: 4 1/2 HOURS

Monday February 28 (1:30pm-2:00pm): Got a lesson on how to export the After Effects files to movs while keeping the quality as well as the sound, and as an extra added bonus...I can actually store these on my hard drive :)
(6:00pm-10:30pm): Getting ready to do a SUPER render tomorrow. Luckily it is reading week so the mac labs are empty...which means I have 40 computers at my disposal. We will call it a GAIL lab for the day because I am going to log into 30 computers and render like a madwoman. Tonight I have been organizing my files into quick folders to upload onto each mac computer. I also compiled my swf files for approval to move forward with the flash illustrations..I may need to commandere another lab to export them all to movs.
TOTAL: 4 1/2 HOURS

Tuesday March 1 (10:30am-5:30pm): A long day of rendering what should have taken me MUCH longer. I ended up rendering all the footage on 40 computers, I had never done it so I could not even gage how long it would take. Ended up in a mad dash at the end and Aparently I was quite the spectacle. a few people came into the class to comment on my hostil takeover! In the end I have 212 beautifully keyed movs :)
(6:30pm-11:30pm): After I got home I began organizing all of my files. Also got word back from laura and about 75% of the illustrations were approved. Which means its back to the drawing board...literally.
TOTAL: 12 HOURS

Monday March 21 (9:30pm-11:00pm): Collecting more reference images and illustrating.
TOTAL: 1 1/2 HOURS



I have included a sample of a clip I have Keyed.