Argos Animation Demo Reel 2014

As many of you know, I've been pushing the animation side of my business, and it's been growing rapidly. Here is a demo reel showing some of my projects:

IPad Artwork

I recently finished some artwork for a friend of mine who is publishing some RPG books with Scaldcrow Press. This is a cover that I did for his 1930’s era pulp campaign setting.

For me, one of the cooler aspects about this was that I did this almost entirely on my iPad, using Art Studio and a Pogo Connect pressure sensitive stylus. The only thing I did on my desktop was some refinement on the coloring and adding some of the background.

The initial sketch was done on paper, then I took a photo of it and used it as the basis of some 'inking'.

I really like doing it this way. Up until now the available resolution was just too low to really do this the way I wanted, and if it was going to be printed 8.5x11 as opposed to 6x9 I might still have just gone ahead and done it on my iMac.

It's not quite the "poor man's Cintiq" that I wanted, but it was very close. I'm going to do more work like this, certainly in the initial phases. It's very liberating.

 

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Happy Halloween

During my copious spare time I made a Halloween card using Tumult Hype that uses HTML5, CSS, and Javascript to create an animation. I did all of the drawing on my iPad 3 using Procreate, then transferred them as .PSD files to my Dropbox account and exported the layers as separate PNG files. The load time is a little long, perhaps I over-reached.
The software allows for a lot more interactivity than I put into it. The only real 'easter eggs' are a mailto: link on the credits, the Play Again button and clicking on the mask reveals the intruders face. The next time I do one of these I'll concentrate more on the interactivity than the animation, and try to use more JPEGs than PNG files. I have this idea for a Thanksgiving themed arcade...
Since the load time was getting too long, I ditched the sound and went with captions and 'sound effect text' like in a comic. I'm not sure it was the best choice. Again, lesson learned.
I don't know how to host the HTML5 version of it here, so the link above will have to do. I was able to do a video screen capture of it and post that to Youtube, so I'll link to that here:

Anyway, have a Happy Halloween!

Congregate Logo

I'm not sure why I didn't post this to the blog, as I did the original several months ago. This is a 3D model based on a drawing that I did for a mascot/logo for a local convention. The character's name is Greg 8. The eventual aim was to actually animate the character, though the mesh still needs some work.

Naturally, all the 3D work was done in Blender. The 2D work was done on my iPad using Adobe Ideas, and that was before I had a pressure sensitive pen to work with!

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Earbuds and Memories

I am an Apple person, and generally I've had good experiences with the brand. The hardware, while costing more, has generally been worth the expense, and customer service, especially with an Apple Store in town, is excellent.

The one problematic exception is the earbuds. Bear in mind that I'm not a real audiophile. Mostly I listen to podcasts on my phone, or some YouTube or Netflix on my iPad, and I use the buds to keep from bothering my wife. But the earbuds are always a problem. I replaced my old ones three times because they always stopped working. Usually I'd have to fiddle with them to make sure both sides got sound, or I'd have to make sure the plug was seated perfectly to hear anything.

When I bought my iPhone 5 a few months ago, I got the new generation of earbuds, and darned if they didn't start acting up. Meanwhile, my old ones, which had stopped working on the left side altogether, still at least gave me sound. Monoaural sounc, but for podcasts it was fine. Heck, they even survived being put through the laundry.

But the button started acting up, so I went ahead and took my new pair in to be replaced, which they did without a hitch. It was free, which was great. Now I have a new set of earbuds, and from experience I expect them to work perfectly for about three to four months before crapping out. Anyway, now that I had these wifty new buds, I decided to try them out. But as luck would have it, my list of podcasts had been all listened to. So I went with the music that I do have on my iPhone, most of which dates from around college.

It was kind of amaing, really. I hadn't listened to my music in so long, it was like being surrounded by a fog of nostalgia. I experienced the 'shuffle whiplash' of having Paul Simon followed by Red Hot Chilli Peppers, followed by Mozart. But all of my musical purchases were from over fifteen years ago. So there I am, walking through the Taj-ma Teeter in Friendly Center, awash in 90s music and memories. I'm remembering friends from college, projects from my first years at JBDA, driving three hours every weekend to visit my girlfriend in Greenville. It's amazing what two little earbuds can do for me.

At least for the next three to four months.

 

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New Whiteboard Video

I recently finished a Whiteboard Video for the Greensboro Partnership, for their State of the Community luncheon. It explains their efforts to transform the local economy through promoting entrepreneurship with various programs. This also marks the first big collaboration between Joel Bennett and myself since I bought Argos.

I'll let the video speak for itself:



That really is my big hairy mitt doing the drawing. I used Blender to do all the video editing and special effects. Sort of overkill, but it does speak to the versatility of the program.

I took HD (1080) video of myself drawing, with a bizarre contraption made out of leftover Octanorm in an office at the Nussbaum center, then sped it up. I have over 50GB of real-time video, which I will most likely be deleting. Sort of a shame, since that means the .blend file will be largely useless without them.

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Cadillac renderings

Here is a recent 3D model. They will eventually be greatly transformed to use in a story that I want to make about post-apolcalyptic rodents, but that's for another post.

These were made entirely in Blender, and the model was done entirely by me. The outdoor shot is from the warehouse parking lot where I store exhibit materials for clients. I modeled it in 3D and 'projected' the photo onto it to create the textures.

Secede? I have a better idea...

So Obama won, and now the more radical right is saying they want to secede. Everyone else is replying with sentiments from 'yeah, sure, whatever' to 'Good riddance!' Both sides have been acting like spoiled children for the past twelve months, and it was fore-ordained that roughly half of the population would lose, and given the fever pitch the marketing machines of both parties were working at, it's no wonder the reactions of the more embedded voters are going over the line.

I have a different suggestion: let's secede from their parties.

The two political parties have been defining themselves not by their core beliefs, but by opposition to whatever the other party is saying. They aren't even thinking about compromising and getting things done. How can our government actually govern when it is paralyzed by partisan rhetoric? I think we need a separate centrist party to act as a mediator and tie-breaker for the two geezer parties who aren't talking to each other anymore. The vast majority of the population isn't far left or far right, and they currently have no representation in the two party system.

 

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New iPad

A few months ago I bought a new iPad, 3rd generation, and I must say I'm liking it for a variety of tasks, and a little disappointed in a few areas that I thought it might be better.

First, it is a lovely gadget, and for any sort of consumption of media, looking at Facebook or reading my RSS feeds, it's a joy. Netflix, ebooks, so many things, it's very enjoyable to use. But I bought it for professional use. So I'm looking at it with a few aims in mind:

Notes: B

There are a slew of note-taking apps, but as a visual person, I really want something I can draw ideas out with, and as a practical matter I want to be able to record meetings as well. I've used Notebook, Soundnote, and Evernote. Each one has advantages over the others, but none has emerged as a clear winner.

Notebook has a 'real notebook' visual metaphor, which is slightly annoying. I wasn't fond of Apple's decision to go with faux realism in its Calendar and Address Book apps, either. It feels a little cheesy to me, like I'm supposed to forget I'm working with software on a glass screen. However, it is a nice app to use, and includes a sketching tool which doesn't suck. For involved drawing I'll stick with one of the dedicated apps and bring it in. It also has voice annotation and Dropbox syncing, which is very nice.

Evernote primarily has the advantage of being aggressively synced across devices (or even through the website if I'm away from my tech). But my primary use for it is to gather web clips that I want to use as references for later.

 

Presentation: B

I need to be able to show images and 3D data. Keynote works well for normal images and text, with some built in charts. It lacks a 'runtime' navigation system: you can't make a link to one slide from an onscreen button, so there is no way to have a branching presentation. There is an app called Picture Link that says it can do this, but I haven't had many opportunities yet to use it. Also, neither has a 'markup' tool. I might start saving things out as a PDF and opening in PDF Pen for just that reason.

3D is a bit of a problem. Ideally, I want to be able to provide a 'walkthrough' of an exhibit or store layout, and it would be great if I could make simple changes to both the structure and textures of the model right on the iPad. So far no dice. There are 'augmented reality' apps that should be able to provide the walk through, but as far as I can tell, there's no way to do any sort of markup on the model. I'm thinking about how 3D implements in Adobe PDF, but that is very difficult to implement without expensive software, and still doesn't do what I really want–not to mention it doesn't work on the iPad.

Communication: A

So far it's worked pretty well. Most of my main problems were alleviated by switching my main email over to imap from smtp. I also have Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+ apps for social networking. And I'm writing this post on my iPad using Blogsy. I've even used Skype and Teamviewer on my iPad.

Data entry: B

I've had a lot of experience with FileMaker Go and Bento, and I must say they continue to impress. The addition of design on the iPad in Bento is wonderful, and even without the capabilities of Filemaker it can be very usable. And of course, having the power of FileMaker in a (free) mobile app is a great boon.

The main problem I have with FMG is a lack of desktop sync built in. It's something you have to code for yourself. Not insurmountable, but a big omission. It would have been fine if you could use ODBC connections like you can in FileMaker on the desktop. That way you could have FMG serve as a back end to a readily available and cheap MySQL database hosted anywhere. Getting a FM database served over the internet is a bit of an investment, and truly integrating it into an existing website is still far from trivial.

Still, this makes for an excellent use-case, as long as you don't have to do too much typing, like I am right now. The dictation feature will hopefully alleviate that to some extent, but that has it's own limitations.

 

 

Drawing: A

I recently acquired a pressure sensitive stylus from Adonit, the Jot Touch. I does change the whole idea of making sketches on the iPad from "meh" to "not bad". I have yet to actually finish a drawing on the iPad, but it does make for some good sketching.

There are a bazillion drawing apps, but primarily use Sketchbook Pro, ArtStudio, Procreate, TouchDraw and iDraw. They are all pretty good in their own way, and I imagine I'm going to be moving back and forth between them the same way I move back and forth between brush pens, crowquills, and technical pens. I'm not sure if they are really ready for prime time, but it is fun watching the curve.

I don't know if a serious artist would be satisfied with the capabilities of an iPad; certainly it is less mature and capable than a cheap computer with a Cintiq, but for someone who just wants to sketch on a portable device, and maybe develop and finish on the computer, it is compelling.

But if we're talking about sketching, my current favorite is Paper, which is very bare bones but intuitive. It follows a visual metaphor of the Moleskine notebooks, but the metaphor doesn't extend where it isn't useful. It lacks any 'pinch to zoom' features, or layers, and it only has five tools plus an eraser, and only nine colors, but what it does do very well is get out of your way. There are some nice sharing.

For sketches, it is literally a joy to use.

 

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Funerals

This year I've had to attend two funerals, one for my grandmother and one for my mother-in-law. Neither was a surprise, and both were painful. They say these things come in threes; if so I can wait.

Both of the funerals were bittersweet. They were celebrations of lives lived with courage and grace, attended by family and friends. Strangers whose stories you have heard but never had a face to match to. An underlying sadness that the vital connector for our disparate lives is no more.

My wife and her sisters are now having to sift through the boxes of paperwork that even a normal, too short life accumulates. Their mother was a very organized person, and a lover of writing, journals, correspondence, short stories and two published novels, so there is more than might be usual. It is a form of closure, I suppose.

I feel useless now, same as I did for my grandmother. All I can do is stand ready in case heavy lifting is required, or a pickle jar needs opening. I can be a source of calm for my wife, a shoulder, a maker of coffee and burner of meals that she doesn't feel like making.

She says she's grateful, so I try to be more calm and shoulder-y. I can't help but think that this is dreadful practice for later in life, when these things become more common, but I don't want to think about it. They say the stages in your life can be marked by what formal occasions you attend, the gateways of our lives. Children go to Confirmation or Bar Mitzvah, young men and women graduate, then start going to all the weddings of their friends, then the showers for their kids, then the funerals. All of my friends who are likely to get married and have kids have done so. After that it's mainly funerals. It feels like I've reached the funeral stage, and I can't wait for the next generation to start up the graduations and weddings so I can vicariously feel more hopeful.

Even a celebration of a life well spent is a reminder that life is meant to be spent, and to be careful how you spend this one life.

 

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Hokusai Exhibit

Last weekend we went to Washington DC to see the exhibit at the Smithsonian Museum. The exhibit was beautiful, and of course the Smithsonian is always worth the trip. And it gave us an excuse to go up and finally see where Alessa and Dean are living. It's a very spacious house in a farming area near a small town, reminds me some of Uncle Paul's place in Michigan. Hopefully we'll be able to get the Tomasi's up to DC later inthe summer, but there are a lot of logistical hurdles for that. We've volunteered our timeshare points for the location in Alexandria, but that's just the start of it.

And of course, you can't take photos in the exhibit, so you'll just have to take my word for it: it was great!

Ecolab Project

This is the big project I'd been working on from around January through the middle of May (though about two thirds of that was planning, design, and client buy-in). It's a reworking of their existing Octanorm structure. We used swoosh shapes and increasing height toward the middle to help draw the eye to the main corporate ID signage, and lights with colored frosted plexiglass and angles to distract from the grid like structure of the extrusions.

It was a lot of work, but It's finally done, barring some repairs on the returned freight.

Lesson learned - for a project this size, I have to go on site with it. No questions. Also, set up a 'feature drop' time frame, so if a client stalls the production for too long, they get less booth options.

Still, I'm glad it went so well, and I think it turned out spectacularly.

 

Amendment One

I normally steer clear of politics, both in my general life and in this blog. But I feel I have to speak out.

This week, North Carolina (where I live) passed its first amendment to it's state Constitution, to restrict the legal definition of marriage to being between a man and a woman. Which sounds like simple bigotry and homophobia masquerading as morality, but frankly also eliminates a lot of public services from single parents, including heterosexuals, and people fleeing an abusive spouse. I can't understand the justification for this. The reasons I have heard most about are just not defensible:

The Bible says so - The bible says lots. Most people simply pick and choose which passages are worth living by, and make excuses for the rest. Whenever someone invokes the bible as a reason for their actions, I shudder at the hideous history of that justification. The separation of church and state should nullify the validity of this in any public policy discourse, but lately it has been creeping back in. The religious (left and right) are trying to overthrow our government, and I can't stand for that.

Defending the sanctity of marriage - Seriously? What are we even talking about here? That marriage is sacred, more sacred than civil equality? Something is sacred only if people imbue it with that quality, and frankly there aren't a lot of people out there doing that for marriage. If you want to protect the sanctity of marriage, lead by example, not by rhetoric. Protect the sanctity of your marriage. You have no right to mess with, or deny, anyone elses. And still, we are blurring the line between church and state. If the government holds anything to be sacred, it is only those self-evident truths we built our government on.

Marriage is a privilege, not a right, and therefore not protected by the constitution - Finally, someone is trying to couch some arguments in a non-religious context. Unfortunately, marriage falls under the broad definition of 'pursuit of happiness'. So, yeah, it is a right.

Heterosexual union is the best for children and society - Best for children? Care to show any documentation on that claim? Most pedophiles are straight men, molesting girls who are most often their own, or closely related to them. Best for society? How is that being measured?

The purpose of marriage is to provide a stable unit for raising children - My wife and I are childless. Is our marriage not valid? Stand within spitting distance and say that.

As I'm writing this, I realize that I'm using straw-man arguments here. But I haven't heard any valid reasons for what transpired here on May 8th, 2012. To me, the law was not only bigoted and homophobic, but poorly worded and ambiguous. It's defeat seemed like such a no-brainer, there was no way my fellow citizens would allow it to stand. I forgot that I live in a state where even thirty years ago, the Klan was a legitimate power. It seems that the weakness of moral fiber that infects my state has not truly been eradicated.

My wife and I cast our vote, and lost. But I haven't given up hope on this state. Not everyone here is so deluded, and we will drag North Carolina back into the light of freedom and justice for all, I do believe.

Staying Busy

I'm done with the big project that had dominated my days last month (and the fist part of this month). And now I'm wading through all the projects that I had put off because of the big project. And I'm still getting people calling for work, so this year looks to be a whooole bunch better than last year.

Of course, mostly that means I can pay off debts incurred, and pay back into the savings account that was essentially emptied, etc. But still, I should have enough to have a little fun, possibly in the form of a vacation, or some new toys.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to get a handle on how I deal with time. It seems that I'm always just slightly stressed about it, even now. I can't seem to relax for very long. I've mentioned this before, so I won't go over it all again, I'm just a little concerned that the feelings are still here, even when I've had a good month, financially speaking. Maybe it's because the money isn't yet in my hand. Not sure.

When I was younger, I used to walk for miles, mainly to get some time to think to myself. Now I can't even consider something like that.

My wife is very good at undoing that tendency in me, so I'm lucky there. I try to sit on myself when I think, at the end of the day, maybe I should go back and do a little more work on x... Because I recognize that I need time to relax and if I don't take it, I'll get strung out pretty quick.

Keeping busy...

Well I'm hip-deep in a big project now, I'm at the stage where I just have to make sure all the plates keep spinning. And of course everyone keeps coming to me with more work. Sure, most of it is small projects, but man how I wish I could have had this much attention in October, or November, or December, back when I was essentially idle.

So it seems the key to success is staying busy. Not much of a revelation, really.

15 Steps for a Successful Kickstarter Project

I just ran across this as I was thinking about Steve Long's upcoming Mythic Hero Kickstarter. Some interesting ideas, and from a game designer as well.

15 Steps for a Successful Kickstarter Project

Update - there is a large community developed around Kickstarter, it is sort of fascinating to watch. It's like a tiny 'internet bubble', but it seems backed by real money; over $100 million backed so far, and KS gets a share of that - I think 8%. I wonder where it will all be in decade? Will all art projects seek this ultimately democratic patronage?

What about infrastructure? This would be an interesting alternative to taxation - you only fund the projects you are interested in: highways, bridge repair, faster internet, space program? Imagine getting to have your name on a plaque on Mars for choosing the $100 tier?

There's a short story in there somewhere.

Getting Busy

After a three month lull, it now seems that everyone and their brother wants me to do some work for them. It's not just my existing clients, either. I have people literally calling me up out of the blue. After the famine, I'm faced with the feast side of the problem - how can I keep all my clients (old and new) happy?

Someone recently asked me, point blank, what would it take for me to close down Argos (and work for someone full time). I'd never really looked at it that way, never phrased that question in my head. But it's an important question. Am I content to continue on with my own business, or do I want to be part of a larger team. There are several considerations here:

Security - I know, I know. Security is an illusion. Even assuming everyone is playing fair, things might not work out with an employer, or the employer could go under. If I were to turn my back on my existing clients, they would find someone to replace me - and if I went back later, it would be nearly impossible to reopen those doors. For all its risks, Argos is mine. It would take an awful lot of money or some guarantee of severance pay, or some ownership in the new company to make that part of it worthwhile. I've had clients call back after two years of complete silence, ready to start up a stalled project. But if I closed the doors, all that would be gone. Things might be different if I could bring the clients with me, say to a new design agency in exchange for some share of the business, but in this case that wouldn't work.

Stability - The main drawback to having a one man company is that when things go up and down, I go up and down with it. These last three months have been absolutely terrible for the company, and I've had to dip into savings more than I wanted to. A steady paycheck is damn attractive at times. Knowing that I get two weeks of vacation (which would be two weeks more than I took in the first eight years of running Argos), that my insurance is covered, and my tax withholding is taken care of. Just knowing that I'm going to have x amount of money at the end of every month. It's really appealing.

Fewer Hats - I know that working at a small company, you have to do multiple jobs. If I'm hired for graphics, and there's a juicy new client opportunity, everyone throws together to get new sales materials together, or helps pack widgets for a deadline, or fixes the printer, or just picks up slack when someone else is sick. But that's nothing compared to doing it all yourself. Not just the work, but the administrative stuff. Entering all the expenses and reconciling the bank statements. Filing the monthly and quarterly forms for every little thing. Doing any and all sales, coming up with marketing campaigns without someone to bounce ideas off of. I have always felt that I'm being held back by my weakest points (sales) rather than being supported by my strongest (design). With a team of people, you all get lifted by your strengths, not held down by your weaknesses.

Being Social - This might not seem that important, but working by yourself is very isolating. I tend to have good rapport with my clients (one actually used to work for me, another I have dinner with on a regular basis). But there's still this me/them wall, and it's not just in my head. When I'm working at a client's office, there inevitably comes a time when they are talking about stuff that I'm not really invited into. I'm not one of them. It's subtle, but it lingers. Even in other parts of my life, I find I don't ask for help because I know I'm alone. I even write a blog for an audience of one.

Potential Earnings - Someone once told me that no employer will ever pay you enough to retire young, because it's in their best interest to keep you hungry. I have no real interest in retiring young, but you get the point. Given the last three months of no work, and the preceding two years of less and less work, it's hard to keep in mind that being on my own has higher potential earnings than working for someone else. But the emphasis here is on 'potential'. This one I think is a wash, really. Frankly I've never really been in it for the money.

So what are you in it for? - One of the key things I like about working for myself is that each project brings new problems to solve. I'm almost never asked to do the same thing twice (or it's something small, like an illustration). Sure, there are repeatable elements, but I can guarantee that if I was working for a big company, I would have almost no web design experience, no database experience, I wouldn't know anything about JavaScript or possibly even 3D rendering. I certainly wouldn't have learned how to drive a forklift, or weld tube steel. I like being a jack of all trades. I enjoy being able to solve problems in new areas. It's hard to imagine working for someone else and getting that level of creative freedom.

As tempting as it is to throw my hands in the air and say 'give me a paycheck, take away the red tape, and constantly variable income," I find that I just can't do it. Not at this point. Certainly not just when things seem to be looking up. If they had asked in the middle of December, my answer might have been 'a steady paycheck'. But I know I would have regretted such a decision.

So my answer to the original question is simply, 'I can't think of anything.' But that just leaves me where I started. Now my task is to craft some sort of agreement with clients who can give me just a little stability, in exchange for some earning potential. It's going to be a tricky balancing act, and might need to be revisited as things come and go. But I think it's best for my long term stress levels and sanity.

Happy New Year

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

This is a rendering I started for Christmas, but things got out of hand, time wise. Anyway, here it is, enjoy!

There are a few things I would want to change - this is the first time I've used subsurface scattering to any extent, or the tree generating script - but it looks pretty good, and it's already two weeks late. Maybe I'll use it in a card next year.

 

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City Street

I'm sloooowly moving forward with the rendering of the trike in an urban environment, but that means making an urban environment for it to be in. Ive had to learn a lot about texture mapping and baking to get the effects I want.

I've put far more detail into some of the objects in the scene than I'll ever need, especially the textures for things like the fire hydrant and mailbox. And far more actual modeling in the street lamp. And some of the object scales are off. And of course it needs more light, badly. It looks like twilight at the moment. I'll probably fix that using the compositor nodes when it's all said and done.

Still, it's been fun. Next step is to link this whole scene into the trike file to and add the motion and then render. And hopefully I'll find ways to re-use the elements so it won't feel like they were wasted effort.

The Zoo

Rub his belly for luck!

Went to the North Carolina Zoo this weekend, to celebrate Kerri's birthday. The weather was perfect, and the animals were cooperatively active. Followed by dinner at Elizabeth's.