As you've probably noticed, I've been putting a lot of artist's resources onto this blog. It makes sense since I myself am an artist, and I'm sharing the fruits of my laborious searches.
Today's site to share: Pose Maniacs
Now, it doesn't initially seem like that big a deal, but trust me, it is. This site is an English translation to a well established Japanese site of a similar name. The premise? A site full of anatomically accurate 3-D rendered models in different positions, at different angles, for free. The site has 12 pages worth of common poses that can be viewed at just about every angle with an adjustable camera angle. What else could you want? The site even has faces and hands now.
Do you feel the worth of this site yet? No? What if I told you it even has drawing exercises like the 30-second Pose Challenge?
Still no? How about having it on your iPhone?
Seriously, check it out.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Scrap House
Recently, I attended a movie at my college called Scrap House. It was a documentary by Anna Fich created in 2005, detailing the creation of a house made completely from, well scrap. The house was made in honor of World Environment Day hosted in San Francisco around the same time.
The rules of Scrap House were simple:
1) Must be completed in 4 weeks.
2) No new material can be bought to build the house. Everything must be salvaged, with the exception of nails and screws.
3) The finished house must not only look great, but also comply to San Francisco's building codes which are some of the strictest in the States.
The head of the project was Building Inspector Laurence Kornfield, the main architect was John Peterson, the Scrap Guru was Flash, the Structural Engineer Han Bruskuvich, and last but not least John Pollard was the Contractor.
Scrap House itself was an insane idea to begin with. The plans were to build a modern two story house with 21 foot ceilings, a project that the team would of been lucky to finish in a year. They had a month. Not to mention they had to rely on the junk yards of San Francisco to fully build and furnish a house.
In the end, the result was a beautiful house. It was modern, gorgeous, and inspiring. Every part of the house was thrown away by someone else, yet all the pieces were beautiful and far from broken. It really makes one reconsider how we think of our trash. The amount of material that the US alone wastes in a year is astronomical. Did you know every building project buys 5% more windows than it needs? This alone results in thousands of dollars worth of unused, perfectly good double-paned glass that ends up in a landfill somewhere. Not to mention the amount of building material that is tossed when we tear down houses to build new ones. This team built an absolutely huge house, for next to nothing just by calling around and actually reusing what so many throw away.
Movies like this really make you think. Are we truly trying to recycle? Are we really taking every opportunity to actually use the raw material that we spend so much money trying to attain? Building projects of this caliber are far from impossible for the average person to imitate. Scrap House isn't the only project of its kind either. You'd be amazed at the amount of alternative housing options that are out there, that not only cost thousands less but are better for the environment.
We as a race cannot keep wasting the amount of resources that we do, and expect to be able to continue to live on this planet. Already our resources are running low, and our planet is dying. Its not irreversible, but it will be soon. If we want to continue to be able to breathe, we want to start rethinking how we live.
One man's trash can be another man's house.
The rules of Scrap House were simple:
1) Must be completed in 4 weeks.
2) No new material can be bought to build the house. Everything must be salvaged, with the exception of nails and screws.
3) The finished house must not only look great, but also comply to San Francisco's building codes which are some of the strictest in the States.
The head of the project was Building Inspector Laurence Kornfield, the main architect was John Peterson, the Scrap Guru was Flash, the Structural Engineer Han Bruskuvich, and last but not least John Pollard was the Contractor.
Scrap House itself was an insane idea to begin with. The plans were to build a modern two story house with 21 foot ceilings, a project that the team would of been lucky to finish in a year. They had a month. Not to mention they had to rely on the junk yards of San Francisco to fully build and furnish a house.
In the end, the result was a beautiful house. It was modern, gorgeous, and inspiring. Every part of the house was thrown away by someone else, yet all the pieces were beautiful and far from broken. It really makes one reconsider how we think of our trash. The amount of material that the US alone wastes in a year is astronomical. Did you know every building project buys 5% more windows than it needs? This alone results in thousands of dollars worth of unused, perfectly good double-paned glass that ends up in a landfill somewhere. Not to mention the amount of building material that is tossed when we tear down houses to build new ones. This team built an absolutely huge house, for next to nothing just by calling around and actually reusing what so many throw away.
Movies like this really make you think. Are we truly trying to recycle? Are we really taking every opportunity to actually use the raw material that we spend so much money trying to attain? Building projects of this caliber are far from impossible for the average person to imitate. Scrap House isn't the only project of its kind either. You'd be amazed at the amount of alternative housing options that are out there, that not only cost thousands less but are better for the environment.
We as a race cannot keep wasting the amount of resources that we do, and expect to be able to continue to live on this planet. Already our resources are running low, and our planet is dying. Its not irreversible, but it will be soon. If we want to continue to be able to breathe, we want to start rethinking how we live.
One man's trash can be another man's house.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Artanatomy
As an artist, I'm always looking for new references and new ways to improve my art. After a while though, Google-ing different expressions and emotions become tiresome. Thankfully, a company in the UK created an interactive program that can be manually adjusted.
The program is called Artnatomy. Though the program itself, is a pay to use program, a free version is available online that works just fine. Each part of the face can be individually manipulated to create new expressions. There are also preset expressions that can be adjusted, so if you're looking for a specific emotion its there for you.
Its not a replacement for an actual model, or for that miraculously fount Google image, but its reliable and a great reference.
Check it out~
(free version, just in case you get lost)
The program is called Artnatomy. Though the program itself, is a pay to use program, a free version is available online that works just fine. Each part of the face can be individually manipulated to create new expressions. There are also preset expressions that can be adjusted, so if you're looking for a specific emotion its there for you.
Its not a replacement for an actual model, or for that miraculously fount Google image, but its reliable and a great reference.
Check it out~
(free version, just in case you get lost)
Hotel 626
Do you want horror? Do you want interaction?
In this world of new video games and constantly upgrading technology, it only seems fair that the world of online gaming would follow suit, and up the bar.
And up the bar they did.
Hotel 626 is one of the few corporate sponsored online games that holds its own against the independent internet game creators not only in graphics but also in game play. Usually, when a major company makes an internet game to advertise, they look gorgeous but are almost child-like in gameplay. The reverse is usually true as well, the independent game creators have horrible graphics but amazing gameplay. In Hotel 626 these two aspects are not only happily wed, but new ideas are thrown into the mix.
Its recommended to play this game with a webcam and microphone, but you don't need them. Also, a phone to be contacted on is a good thing to have. You never know when someone important is calling...Oh, and check in begins at 6pm, so you might have to wait a bit.
Turn down the lights, turn up the sound, and be prepared for one awesome ride.
In this world of new video games and constantly upgrading technology, it only seems fair that the world of online gaming would follow suit, and up the bar.
And up the bar they did.
Hotel 626 is one of the few corporate sponsored online games that holds its own against the independent internet game creators not only in graphics but also in game play. Usually, when a major company makes an internet game to advertise, they look gorgeous but are almost child-like in gameplay. The reverse is usually true as well, the independent game creators have horrible graphics but amazing gameplay. In Hotel 626 these two aspects are not only happily wed, but new ideas are thrown into the mix.
Its recommended to play this game with a webcam and microphone, but you don't need them. Also, a phone to be contacted on is a good thing to have. You never know when someone important is calling...Oh, and check in begins at 6pm, so you might have to wait a bit.
Turn down the lights, turn up the sound, and be prepared for one awesome ride.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Albany Museum of History and Art
I went to the AMoHA today. I wasn't terribly thrilled with the $8 entry fee, especially since the museum itself wasn't terribly large.
The place had a nice atmosphere, though I was a bit disappointed at the lack of diversity of the art work. Most were historical, and more specifically directly connected to Albany history. The pieces themselves were quite beautiful, well painted, and delicately sculpted. The time period ranged from Ancient Egyptian work, to the present day.
I found myself most intrigued by the 17th-19th century section. The museum had quite a selection from the Hudson Valley Collection, and focused on American artists. A nice change considering most lauded pieces from that time period are French, or at the very least Eastern European. The piece I spent the most time with was "Le Chavalier Bayard" by Baron Carlo Marochetti done ca1840. A beautiful bronze cast sculpture of a knight astride his mount upon even ground, standing roughly 3.5' x 2'. The piece had such a wonderful presence that I found myself encircling it quite a few times. Even without reading the synopsis, I knew that the knight was a man of noble character, simply from standing in the sculpture's presence. Baron Marochetti certainly portrayed the man, Pierre Terrail as 'Bayard the Good'.
I would definatly recommend spending some time in this museum, though I do admit I was hoping for a little more bang for my buck.
The place had a nice atmosphere, though I was a bit disappointed at the lack of diversity of the art work. Most were historical, and more specifically directly connected to Albany history. The pieces themselves were quite beautiful, well painted, and delicately sculpted. The time period ranged from Ancient Egyptian work, to the present day.
I found myself most intrigued by the 17th-19th century section. The museum had quite a selection from the Hudson Valley Collection, and focused on American artists. A nice change considering most lauded pieces from that time period are French, or at the very least Eastern European. The piece I spent the most time with was "Le Chavalier Bayard" by Baron Carlo Marochetti done ca1840. A beautiful bronze cast sculpture of a knight astride his mount upon even ground, standing roughly 3.5' x 2'. The piece had such a wonderful presence that I found myself encircling it quite a few times. Even without reading the synopsis, I knew that the knight was a man of noble character, simply from standing in the sculpture's presence. Baron Marochetti certainly portrayed the man, Pierre Terrail as 'Bayard the Good'.
I would definatly recommend spending some time in this museum, though I do admit I was hoping for a little more bang for my buck.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Tegaki E
Alright, so here's another site that I constantly frequent.
Its kinda connected to that whole oekaki thing I talked about last time. Its called Tegaki E. Its just like a blog, except instead of typing, you draw. All kinds of people can use it, and all it requires is Flash.
Lots of fun, and a great way of expressing yourself just a bit differently than normal.
Its kinda connected to that whole oekaki thing I talked about last time. Its called Tegaki E. Its just like a blog, except instead of typing, you draw. All kinds of people can use it, and all it requires is Flash.
Lots of fun, and a great way of expressing yourself just a bit differently than normal.
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