Winter Won't Wait - First bits of story

I just launched the first part of the Winter Won't Wait interactive comic, which can be played directly on its own blog. I think it's a fun experiment to make it come to life directly on blogspot's pages instead of using a separate engine.
For anyone wondering how that works, all I do is create blog pages for each story situation, then in the html code I wrap each image representing a choice in a link to the correct next page.
Still, the best way to explain how the comic works is by checking it out, here.

Introducing the Winter Won't Wait blog

Hi! I just started a new personal project, and it has its own blog! Winter Won't Wait is a choice-based interactive comic about the adventures of a bright-minded girl in a city affected by a permanent power failure (or will it be permanent??).

The best part here is that the first chapter will be playable directly on blogspot, through the use of simple html code.

The project is already in production, but for the moment I'll be posting concept art and other thoughts on the aforementioned blog. Whiiich, can be found HERE!

Until things are being prepared, here's a not-actually-coloured-yet-mid-production-screenshot, which for enthusiasm-related reasons is also a working link to the blog and you can click it! Now!

Cinema 4D Sandwich Time

For my first 3D animation project, let's say things will get a bit...tasty. The textures for each ingredient will also be kept as simple colours for extra effect, and the final piece will be followed by some surprise music. Now that I have done most of the assets, it's time to get animating...

New Beginnings, New Sketches

I just started working on my new story-based game, Winter Won't Wait... And in order to keep up with the plenty of visuals it is going to have, the choice-paths-plan for the first chapter was quickly followed by a first page of Concept Art...

3D motion capture test - dancing with the void

For my first ever video in Cinema 4D, the production was reduced to recording my 'unique' dance moves with Brekker, then exporting the motion-capture groovy skeleton into C4D and decorating it.
The finished video will soon follow on youtube...

Tales From The Express - Time for a new journey...

There was a time when I believed in Endings...I believed that things would just stop from happening and that's it. But Endings hide greater notions. All things that stop will inspire new ones to start, so I wouldn't even call it an "Ending"... More like "Change".

So now, with these ten members and their stories gathered up in the Express, I will take off to new lands of creativity, having all that happened as a fuel for all this Change.

The Tales From The Express series will certainly continue, but in whole new forms that my exquisite passengers still keep a secret...

These 10 members and their stories can still be found in the Express Tales page, as well as lurking in my Facebook, Twitter, Patreon, and Instagram...

Until the Express finds a new station, I want you to travel... and then make sure your mind travels more.

We Are Creative - No, really, we are.

A while ago, while I was walking around in the Art & Design college building where I study, I saw this nice sign:

It says "We Are Creative"... The message has a good impact, but to be honest, I considered the sign quite contradictory. Should I ask why there's such an awesome message on a blank surface?

However crazy it may sound, I wondered how all this would look with a splash of colour all over it... But since I am not a big fan of vandalism in fully monitored areas and later scrubbing off the property damage, I called upon the more innocent Brush Tool and did this:

That looks better, doesn't it? If you have other cool designs for this fellow, or your own kind of blank signs, don't hesitate to use the digital medium and go Creative... Because you are.

Temporal Eskimos

I finally put together my Contextual Studies project, where the task was to draw 7 characters in popular cartoon styles throughout the ages. For my piece, I focused on the main style conventions from each age, as well as taking entire face and body features from all possible characters, ranging from He-man to Bubbles Powerpuff... But without no further ado, here's the Snowstorm of Time and all of its Eskimos...

My Pokemon Mash-up challenge entry

I just submitted my entry to Draw With Jazza's Pokemon Mash-up challenge! (You can find more about that here). Without further ado, here's my finished and slightly sinister combination of Gastly and Parasect:

Tales From The Express - Encounter 10: Tentacles of Evil

It was so easy to gain the title of "Monster"... After a while I even identified with it, even though no-one around could precisely define it. But I am a Monster: I am curious about problems that the society hides. I hurt feelings when I tell people their ugly future, and that it's no-one but them who have the power to change it. I am Evil because I also break boxes after thinking outside of them. In short, I am called Evil because my tentacles run too deep... But I wouldn't be called anything if I kept them curled up.

Support Tales From The Express on Patreon!

Project Progress - Time Eskimos

For my Contextual Studies project, I worked on 7 illustrations of a same character drawn in popular art-styles of the 1920's, 50's, 70's, 80's, 90's, present day and ten years in the future... Since the final piece is still pretty top-secret, I thought I would share with you the initial sketches for each part:

Be sure to stay tuned for the final drawings!

Pokemon Mashup Challenge - work in progress!

I decided to take part in Draw With Jazza's challenge of this month, particularly a Poke-Mashup. (You can find out about that here). For my entry, I randomly picked 3 or 4 pokemon pairs and then chose the wackiest and most fitting one... And the winners were Gastly and Parasect!

And here is how my illustration looks in rough shapes:

Tales From The Express - Encounter 9: Brave Little Warrior

Some of the villagers say he is completely insane. Some say he's just a funny little bloke with way too much self-esteem... I would say he's our Hero. Even though no-one in this region would doubt that, it's still a bit tricky to get around his...physical appearance. But of all, his craziest trait is probably his way of thinking: I heard him call the Giant, Villager-Eating Hounds something like "fluffy-pups"... and then still successfully get rid of them all. Maybe those silly names help him, you know? In the end, one rumour is certain: he has been too foolish to listen that it's impossible for a little warrior to face such big tasks... So he completed all of them anyway.

College 3D Lesson: I can build BMO!

This was the first time I ever touched a serious 3D software (apparently Lego Digital Designer doesn't count) and it was amazing! As an introductory lesson to Cinema 4D I was expecting to learn how to make a cuboid shape, but I didn't consider THIS particular (and cute) cuboid shape.

Even though it doesn't yet have legs, arms and the face guaranteeing his charm, I still think it's a nice and ingeniously coloured design. And the smooth, rendered version of it proves that fact even more:

I'm starting to think that "BMO from Adventure Time" might actually be a good answer to many of the problems in today's education. Apart from role-model matters, of  course. This tiny console surely knows how to party...

Everything's better with pictures - blog update

Hi! I thought that my Express Tales page was in need of a little refreshment, so now I matched the link to each story with a little portrait of that story's protagonist. Be sure to check them out right at the top, or here. Oh and I did the picture-intervention for my Games Page too, and that's here. See you around!

Tales From The Express - Encounter 8: Broken Advisor

I know I am there for others. Whenever they need that specific information, important phone number or directions to the centre's nearest bathroom, I am incredibly happy to help. But even in that fulfilment, I still remember how long it's been since I stopped helping Myself. I know I am not in the best shape and my health keeps getting worse by the day, but I have that same fear... I am afraid that if I start taking personal matters seriously, I might become too selfish to help those around me. Can that be true? Or as long as I found my lost stash of self-esteem in my job I should just keep at it? Should I focus on giving or having? Contribution or Survival? I don't master those questions yet, but I know I can get you a quick appointment with the marketing executive on the 4th floor, ok sweetie?

 

College Sketching Session: 6 kinds of "Tadaaa"

Since we were looking at the structures of character poses, I tried making my 6 interpretations of Felix The Cat's pose be as wacky as possible. Still, one thing I wanted to have in my sketches was more volume, I wanted to feel how that pose actually curves in space instead of just replicating its shapes. But with no further ado, here they are:

Aand the original:

Tales From The Express - Encounter 7: The Old Model

I was sure that my time had passed. I felt like nothing but a staircase that newcomers trampled on their way to progress. A tool. And maybe that's what I am after all... These circuits, however glitchy they are, still understand that we all have a time to be glorious and a time to get used to the mark we left behind... And my mark is huge, so huge that it echoes in the making of all these new fellows with their thin black monitors and wireless connections...

I am indeed a staircase, but the materials this silly old staircase is made of are making the entire structure taller everyday.

Youth is inside of the Hard-drive. (I always wanted to display that)

Support Andreas' stories on Patreon

College Sketching session: Mobster Dog and Pig

The session's theme was to draw characters in a 1920's cartooney style... And what does me do to make sure those characters radiate with the 20' vibe? Well, Me decides to involve a little North-American cliche that might have not even happened in that period (but it felt 'vintage'). In conclusion, next time you wash your dog's little vest, make sure no guns will get in the washing machine...

My Patreon page is officialy live! Yay!

Last night I finalized and published my Patreon page! You can check that out here:

https://www.patreon.com/AndreasExpress

A big step for me: Patreon page progress

For quite a while, I really considered making a Patreon profile. I think it's a fantastic idea to expose creations on a place of the web where people can actually support your work in a trustful, tangible way...And since I liked it so much, the last couple of days went into putting together my Patreon page, which I am going to launch tonight...As soon as that is done, I'll make sure to put a link on the next post, so you would be able to check it out. *Subtle Excitement Screams*

Tales From The Express - encounter 6: Why a Soldier

I wanted to be a soldier. Why? They wanted me to be one. Being a soldier meant being the best, as if all things good in life would blend inside this status. It had an importance, a value. So I enrolled. I went there and trained hard, got infused with the atmosphere of the dusty camp and canned fruits and noisy mates, and became that appropriate kind of soldier. But then I never saw things the same.

That importance and value I heard of was covered in the hard work and realness of it. It was a role of strength and glory..But beyond that, it was a role of heaviness and bearing the next day. A role of leg-aches and regret, of mud over wounds and loud bangs followed by endless smoke...It was a real role.

They wanted me to become a soldier. Why? Because in a world where every single role you take can be the best one, this was the very first they saw.

final vfx animation

In order to make a visual effects project that will match the main theme of the unit better than the interactive piece, the last couple sessions were spent on working on an After-Effects animation featuring a more slick version of the previously used crystal monsters.

Blog Upgrade: Express Tales collection

After I released the newest episode of Tales From The Express, I knew I wanted all of the previous ones to be more accessible somewhere, instead of leaving them buried in blog logs and timelines...

For that reason, I created the Express Tales page on the blog, with links to each of the stories and the characters telling them...

I also made the social media page, putting there all the other places on the web where you can stay in touch with the stories as soon as they appear... :)

Compositing test: Big city and Bigger trees

In the 3d silhouette test we did in after-effects, although I carefully followed the steps to doing things right, I knew I wanted one thing with the cityscape and the trees.... Colour them!

In my mission, the project's appearance went from bland:

To not so bland:

To this!

I also switched to the idea of making one of the trees huge and further back in the landscape, because it adds that extra-variety.

Tales From The Express - encounter 5: The Junkineer

'Everything is useful. When I stopped seeing the objects of this world as wrappers and protection cases for the more important ones, I realised that every junk and left-over has its role. One example? You know what's the most ordered object in today's market? The box! And when I finally embraced the whole value of this so called "junk"... It became part of me..'

Andreas Express + Inktober = Luv

I recently got involved in the Inktober movement, which means that I will post an ink doodle each day for the rest of October, each based on the official inktober themes...Below are the Inktober entries from the 3rd (the day I was sure what Inktober actually is), up to today.
If you'd like to see the entries for the rest of the month (as well as the Expressy stories behind them), they will be on my Twitter, as well as my Instagram.
But until the end of the month, I can still show you these folks:

visual effects project: Dice monsters

For my personal interactive vfx piece, I needed to fill the scroll-able panoramic photos I made with a bunch of strange crystal entities... I gave them the code name "dice" because I used photos of tabletop rpg 20d's as inspiration... They were technically prepared since the beginning of the project, but since the landscape still felt too empty, I created 3 more...And for all of these reasons, this almost individual piece was formed:

Tales From The Express - encounter 4: Iceberg tip

Try and smile. Even if your insides might be melting down, (from climate change or whatever cause), you have to believe you can keep it cool. A happy look on life is indeed just the tip of the Iceberg, but it's that little tip that will change everything...

First game made inside an animation task

For the current college assignment about vfx and image manipulation, my separate project will be an interactive piece where you can use the mouse to look around a landscape. Since it's still made in 2d, the look-around part will be done through the use of panoramic photos... Particularly these:

After a bit of effort focused in the technical side of things, all that is left to do is fill some gaps in the programming and then.. simply.. take it...further... :)

Green-screen test: Liam vs the Cookie Monster

Since this year of college started off with a Visual Effects project, we had to do some green-screen in it as well.. For that, the whole class went outside and recorded some footage with a portable green screen, which would be then manipulated into After-effects and turned into great stuff... :)

Now this is Liam, in a not so dangerous situation...

A normal day, and an only two-meter drop to a relatively soft green screen.

Now this is Liam after a bit of After-Effects, pretty-much Dead...

It's hard to go looking for a cookie in the cookie cave when the real cookie is you...