The XSI Challenge

Here's my final image after 24 hours locked in a basement and the topic 'The Achievement Reached'. My criticism? The food was bad and they promised motivational prizes and they didn't give us any.

Regardless, I didn't win, but I am pretty chuffed with myself. She's cute! And I learnt loads that I wouldn't have without this opportunity!

Yay!

Be Yourself, No Matter What They Say.

Well, the Sting concert was fantastic. He's truly someone to admire. Okay, yeah, just a musician and that, but you didn't see how happy he looked. We were right in the second row up against the rails and singing our hearts out.

This is a terrible photo I took of the screen we were standing next to. Sting's looking old... but not acting it. I should follow his example.

Saturday started with promise of fun and adventure as the event 'Milano Live' was underway because of the Notte Bianco (which is the night, twice a year that things are supposed to be open all night). Fabri and I went into the centre to catch the train that takes you around to all the different fun things that are going on. They were liars. There was no train... okay, so we were on foot. On foot, in the searing sunshine we made ur way through to Parco Sempione and went up in their tower. It's 45 stories of iron and steel and from the viewing deck at the top you can see most of Milan. We were then meant to go see bellydancers in the stock market square, but when we got there there were none (more lies!). So we head home.

Not a moment too soon. A storm broke out and with the heat, ( 36?) we had had all the wondows open. We went to go look out from out balcony and saw that LOTS opf water came into the house. I started mopping and int he end, after about 30 minutes of serious moping and moving of carpets and furniture and the like, the bucket was full of 8 pints of water. 8 PINTS!! At least it cooled things down for a bit... like 4 hours.

It's hot again now. I'm still working on my exam for XSI, but I've lost my concentration and I have to go over things again to figure out where to restart. I have little over a week left.

And then I realized...

I got old. Someday, I guess when I wasn't paying much attention, I just turned into an adult! Like a scene out of the Sims or something, last night I was in bed reading (hint #1) and I realized that the book I'm reading now has no story. But really... None at all. It's a book about Canada.

Whaaaaaattt?? A book about Canada? There's history and facts and talk of native peoples. There's polar bears. Okay, so it's not a bad book... But, there's no way you could get me to even have a look at it 10 years ago. And then I realized... I got old. Incidentally the book is called Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw by Will Ferguson and I reccomend it. Makes you kind of want to visit Churchill Winnapeg.

Tonight I'm going to a concert/festival in Piazza Duomo. Sting is the headliner and it's free... Yay! Sting!! Yaaaaaayyyy!! ... but it's 35 degrees out and I'm frightened. Last night I set up a fan in 30 seconds flat in the pitch blackness of the night. It's hot hot hot. Did I mention it was hot?

Went to a party last night. It was hot there too and we had to leave because of the bugs, but they served large salad and parmigiana and had a new xbox or playstation or something with fighting games in one room, oh, and a characture artist. I look nothing like me.

I might go sit in the bathtub for a while now. I got some more textures for my scene done.

Why I'm not a computer geek.

I know it seems all I do is work, cause that's practically all I do... But sometimes, I finish working before sundown and I even get to take photos like this from my bedroom window.

Or like tonight... I'm going to a party. I'm even ready to leave the house already!


And then, as if you needed another example to see how full and exciting my life is, just this weekend Fabri and I escaped and drove up to Valle d'Aosta. It's more than just winter, like the advert says. We saw a fort and rode in 4 glass elevators. And Fabri had Zuppa (soup) which wasn't soup at all! It was cake!

In other news, it's hot here. Really, really, really hot. Like, I can't breathe hot. I'm sleeping with an ice-pack (much to the dismay of Italians everywhere). However, this year my battle with the mosquitoes (zanzare) is going better but I'm not so attractive covered in bug spray all the time and closing myself in the house surrounded by nets.

Ooops, I should get going. See, I'm interesting, I'm not a geek... I swear!

Oh, but get this: I may be accepted to the XSI challenge afterall 24 hours of solid modelling and materials 'woo hoo'!!!

Working on Materials

There are some things I'm obviously aware of, like the lime green panel on the record player, and her crazy pink shoes. And the doily, which is obviously now reacting to the lighting setup as it should. I'm keen on her hair colour, but then, this isn't a self-portrait, so I might Ashley Judd it up a bit (ie, remove some of the auburn).

I'm a little nervous about the newspaper, cause I think you'll actually be able to read the thing over her shoulder, which means I have to get into her personality and figure out what exactly would she be reading (I wish my Aunt Ethel was still alive, she'd know about these things).

It will be in english (the language, not the culture... oh and I'm not actually American or English by the way).

Pearls! Any ideas on the best way to approach it's shader? Are the tulips too frightening? Is this post annoying you yet?

Lights, Camera... Well, Just Lights and Camera Really.

I've been playing with textures, lights and the camera angle all morning. I think I'm starting to get close to the mood I'm after with this shot. The record player, flowers, compact case and woman all have to be lit seperately, but this is a nice start.

I'm going to work a bit more on scene textures and then do some research for 1950's makeup and work on her facial features and skin tone.

Woke Up Late

I got up at 10:30 today. Bit of a sore throat and general sleepiness, but other than that, no excuse really for the lie-in.

At least I've got my first decisions for the inquadratura (composition) done already for the XSI project. Now I can go about perfecting everything you see in this shot for this exact layout and I don't have to spend hours on things like ears or deciding exactly what shade of blue or green or brown her eyes have to be. Now I know you won't see it anyways.

I'm about to make a list of all the changes I have to make based upon self-critique of this image and then systematically go through and correct every error I find. The first thing that's bugging me is that it doesn't really FEEL like she's reading that newspaper... maybe it's cause there's nothing written... or maybe it's her blank gaze into space.

LATER THAT DAY...

I got alot done on the model of the woman and modeled a new, more 1950's chair for the scene. Now I'm waiting to see if pelting works on the mesh. It takes forever. Here's a shot of what I0m watching on my screen. I'm waiting for all the circles to be flat.

Porceline Skin

9:00am
I've decided to start this post this morning and finish it later this afternoon. This is where I am so far with the redo of my 'model' in my setting for the 1940's/50's XSI exam. I think the skin tone is coming out well though there's still a million things I want to do with it and I have to find a way to get her undergarments to look less like plastic and more like satin. I think a change of colour will be appropriate here.

Yesterday I spent alot of time on her facial features and trying to smooth her out, She's looking a little less scary and I think the best way to move forward now is to work on the hair (cause baldness is sooooo scary afterall). I also have to think about pelting her entire body and face to make adding the fine details to her skin easier, not to mention that the exam is counting on it.

I'm still trying to decide between blonde and brunette, but I guess that'll be a decision based upon the final composition and what I end up deciding for that.

BTW: Check out my new link to Erwin Olaf's photography. I really like the quality he's deriving from his subjects and will be using that as inspiration on this project




11:20am
The basis for the hair is finished. It looks as if she might be a brunette afterall. I think I'll have fun playing with the contrast between the hair and skin tone anyhow. I can go alot redder with the skin on a brunette. But the 1940's and 50's were so, well, blonde, weren't they?

1:20pm
I have just spent the past 2 hours perfecting facial hair and an ear that won't actually be seen in the final renderingd AND... I don't even think that they're all that perfect yet. Hmmmm... I'm a die-hard time waster. Anyhow, she's alot more feminine with eyelashes and I'm happy about how things are going. I'll work one more hour before heading off back into the real world and doing something relatively normal like go to the gym.

Sitting in a Motion Graphic Exam

I'm not sure what this exam is for or what I'm doing here... but I'm almost certain that it's not helping me become a better animator, nor is it useful on my path to 3D film direction.

People are playing football behind me and the teacher has asked us to 'explain' our work. Good news is that it'll all be over in an hour or so... just have to make sure I don't go crazy before then.

Ooops, too late.

Re-doing XSI

I still haven't managed to recover anything from Lacie (curse her, curse her!) and so I've had to restart alot of the work I did for XSI. I'm int he process of modelling the woman again and it's going well cause now I know how to do it faster. I started her out from bodywoman and in the default pose.

Her face is based on a sculpture that France did of Laetitia Casta as the new Marianne. I'm glad I had an opportunity to redo that part cause the old (lost) verson had a dog face. I think her lack of beauty took away from the overall composition.

Anyhow, then I posed her with the high heels in the shoes on the mirror pose and now I'm shifting around fat and edge loops and trying to make sure she doesn't look completely plastic for the submission on the 19th.

Oh, and I have the animation exam today.