Little green (Scottish) men...

What you see here is an animation test for a new programme I'd purchased (stop motion pro). I really wanted to try my hand at lip syncing, but I also wanted to imbue the character with a bit of nuance through hand gestures, eyebrow movements etc. So I recorded the voice, then recorded a video of myself doing the hand motions and what not and used them as a reference. The end result is a bit on the choppy side (the webcam I used isn't ideally suited), and the mouth syncing isn't as tight towards the end, but then it did take me an entire Sunday to do and was a bit burnt out towards then end! (*cue tiny violins)

Thanks to my good friend Rob, I was able to recover this video which I thought was lost forever with the death of my PC. Remember kids, always back up your files, ESPECIALLY your stop motion files! Enjoy!

Down, Right, Left, Down, Right, Left...

If you've never played the fantastic 'The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time', then this post will likely mean little to you! However, those who have will know that this image (that I hope to get onto a T-shirt at some point) was inspired by one of my favourite moments of the game. How does one enlist the help of a stout, tribal leader? By playing him a jaunty tune on your Ocarina, of course! (see video embedded beneath image)

Edit: Updated with new version. With shading! Prints, tees and Iphone/Ipad cases featuring the design can be purchased here: http://www.redbubble.com/people/mrlunarbeam/works/10094393-hot-goron-beats?ref=work_carousel_work_portfolio_1

Version 1...

Hot beats herein!

Full of (Dar)win!

During my stint at university, I proposed a project to construct an interactive installation based on the works of the legendary Charles Darwin. The idea was that it would be an educational tool for children, and would see them pick up objects (such as a model of the HMS Beagle, the ship that ferried Mr Darwin to places such as the Galapagos Islands), move it across a specially designed interactive desktop, and an animated Darwin would pipe up and tell the child all about it. Ultimately, the project never saw fruition, but I did manage to get this short test animatic done, which I had a blast making! Click play, evolutionists!

(Oh, and internet-points to to whoever spots the embarrassing error! That'll teach me to barrel in without doing my research!). 

A Sneaky Peek...

So, I've been trying to get back into drawing lately. I've also been getting into my comic books thanks to some great recommendations from a friend. I have combined these two elements in the hope of creating a series of short graphic tales, penned by my friends, drawn by me. It's a slow process, and finding the time isn't easy. I've also found that drawing the same kind of thing over and over to create a sequence of frames is quite testing on the old patience module.

The upshot of this is I'm getting quicker at drawing and really rediscovering my style. I've not got a huge amount to show you, but please have a look at the first page (which is a work in progress) that has been penned by my friend Jon. It's called Push, and is a tale of of an ever-oppressed young man with a strong imagination and a penchant for wrestling, violence and revenge.

Jurassic Mecha...

Another design of Baraldia, I envision this to be some kind of sentry or guard. I started this design with a samurai dragon in mind, but it soon became some kind of cyborg Hadrosaur. I have a tendency to draw things with big beefy shoulders, so this time I wanted to try something a little more pear shaped!

The sketch languished on my wall for over a year before I finally pulled my finger out and scanned it to be painted in Photoshop. I think I've inadvertently channelled a very Dead Space-esque colour scheme, but hey Dead Space is awesome. Robot artist par excellence Don Figueroa was a huge influence in the making of this. 


After and before images below...

A Familiar Face...

In my first post (Halcyon Days), I discussed a mascot for a band. Here, he returns, this time as a character from a tale I hope to one day tell. Since the time I drew this, his look has gone through several revisions (in my mind, of course), but I still quite like this one!

OMG, RAGEQUIT!

Here we have a self portrait of yours truly in the throes of a thoroughly enjoyable online shooter. I don't have much time for gaming these days, but had you caught me on a Wednesday night circa 2008, you probably would have seen me pull this face as a pre-pubescent American teabags my corpse whilst lambasting my noobishness in a game of Halo 3.

Damn, I miss those days. Really, I do.

All Hail Starscream...

Yeah, I know, the whole 'Keep Calm' thing has been done to death, but I wanted to put a bit of a Transformers spin on it (the crown is based on Starscream's that he wears during his very brief coronation in the 1986 animation, Transformers the Movie).

The Gang's All Here...

In the early days of creating my literary opus (*sarcasm), I designed a group of characters that would inhabit the world of Baraldia (see 'Baraldia Begins...' post for more info). Never got around to colouring this one. One day, one day...

Teenage, Mutant... Zombie... Pirate... Turtles???

So here's another blast from the past, I think this is one from about 2004. I'm not sure quite what I was thinking, but I like it! Drawn by hand and coloured in photoshop!

Muppet Matrimony...

LunarBeam doesn't just do graphics, no sir. Last year, I was set with the task of creating a wedding cake topper for two close friends, but the awesome part was is that I was pretty much given free reign to do what I wanted. How very trusting of them! *Cue lightning bolts and evil, maniacal laughter*

Originally, I thought about doing the groom on top of the cake holding the bride, King Kong style. Sadly, the would be groom somehow cottoned onto this plan. I don't think he was too enamoured, but I also wanted to keep it a surprise, so it was on to plan 'B'...

Plan B, as awesome as it was (bride and groom riding a T-Rex with tin cans dragging from it's ankles), was rejected as I worried I'd be putting too much of my own preferences into the project (I have a thing for dinosaurs as well as robots. 1993, Jurassic Park, baby!).

Around this time the promotions for a new muppet movie started doing the rounds and it hit me - they both love the Muppets, so why not design the bride and groom as Muppets? It was a risky gamble, but after a few test shots using Fimo, I started the project in earnest.

Two months later, a whole lot of Fimo and wire (and surprisingly few balls-ups), it was finished (with a week to spare!).

And, you'll be glad to know they liked it!

GIRLZ WIV GUNZ!!

This image started out as a quick simple proof of concept for an upcoming project, but as it turns out I was pretty pleased with the outcome and not at all embarrassed to show it to you! Drawing human anatomy is something I feel I need to work on, so I used a G.I. Joe figure as a reference. (Why use one of those boring wooden Ergonome figures when you can use a cool action that you can push around you desk making 'pew pew' noises? Discuss.)

So, this was a combination of a hand drawn sketch and coloured in photoshop.

Baraldia Begins...

Since 2006, I've had aspirations to write a sweeping tale of science-fiction and fantasy. While the writing has stuttered, stopped, restarted (and generally not gotten done...), it has provided me with inspiration for some illustrative pieces (of which there will be many more to come on this blog). The below pieces are from a project to bring to life the opening chapter of my tale. I'd not really drawn scenery/scenes much before, so I was pretty pleased with how it came out. Took me a long time mind, and a whole lotta' Photoshop layer (many of which I never got around to naming, which probably made the job more difficult than need be!).

Stiff Competition...

Back when I was studying Digital Design, my group were given the opportunity to each come up with a cover image for a leaflet for Bath based homeless organisation, Julian House. The winning entry was to be chosen by the head of the organisation and...

I didn't win.

However, I was still pretty pleased with my entry, which is an image achieved by me dressing up in a fashion that one could associate with a homeless person (Too stereotypical, maybe?). With the help of a friend in their living room, a lamp was positioned over my head for a lighting reference. The picture was taken and given a more illustrative look by tracing over it in Photoshop with block colours. I then took a photo at a suitable angle of a Bath city street, applied the same block colouring as above, and added it to the image. Finally, I took the roof section of a logo I'd designed, added a glowing effect, and boof! See below!

"You gotta be F**kin' kiddin me..."

"Adobe Illustrator. Looks like Photoshop. Smells like Photoshop. Tastes like Photoshop. But it sure as hell 'aint Photoshop."

Thats probably what I would have said if someone asked me for a cool, quotable quote regarding Adobe Illustrator back when I was only familiar with the big PS. Now, having becoming somewhat more adept with the program, I can look back at my noobish self and say 'gutted mate', because its a tough transition to make (for me, at least).

Below, you'll see one of my first finished Illustrator projects.

The intention was to use this strange, new program to create a Penguin style book cover for one of my favourite films - John Carpenter's The Thing (if you've never seen it, go and watch it now). I wanted the image to convey an iconic scene as simply (yet ambiguously) as possible, so I chose to use elements from the infamous 'blood letting' scene in which Kurt Russels character seeks to ascertain which of his colleagues is the body-snatching 'Thing'. The overall look is based on the Penguin classics cover for 'A Clockwork Orange' (see below), and was given a final weathered look using a plugin in Photoshop. 

Halcyon Days...

So, to kickstart the fun at LunarBeam, I thought I'd post a couple of illustrations that arguably started me on the path to Graphicdom (they certainly provided me with a reason to get to know Photoshop). Many moons past (in about 2001 'til about 2005, I think), I was fortunate enough to be close friends with a punk band who went by the name of Up the Rebels.

Check out one of their flagship tunes here. Cover the ears of the little 'uns! :

And this one, while weak in recording quality, shines in.... spirit? (Lyrics by yours truly!)

Having no musical abilities myself to offer the young, angry bards, I made myself useful by creating  posters, album covers and mascots. Many images have since passed into the hazes of time (or maybe a bin), but a few have remained firmly with me (or in a flash drive somewhere)...

Simply called 'Oi!', I can't remember what this was drawn for. It may have gone on a T-Shirt...

The album cover for Up the Rebels - Raisin' the Dead. See what we did there?

This one definitely went on a T-Shirt...

And finally, the Mighty BATTLEFUK!!! (Young, angry, remember?). Mascot of the Rebels, this won't be the last you see of this guy...