Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Run Cowboy - Assignment #1/2

Working on an assignment book to try and better myself.
I'll be honest, working was a lot EASIER when you had other people with you at school.
But, I'm trying to keep up with it. Thinking of just starting my online class NOW, just to start a habit for later xD

Anyways, here's Dillion the cowboy. He's got perspective and composition and hopefully an interesting character….. we'll see. I'm working on that part.
DANG. Now I see what's wrong with it! His back foot should be on the same plane line as the front……



Cheers! Hope you had a wonderful Christmas season! And: HAPPY NEW YEAR!
~JECooper

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Quick Sketch - Toothless

Not so quick sketch XP
I guess, time is relative.
Enjoy!



Cheers,
JECooper

Monday, December 16, 2013

Color and Camera Analysis: Tron: Uprising - Ep1 Intro

Here we are again!
Ill explain my thoughts, but I'll try and keep it brief. ^-^
Let's SNAP TO IT!

THE COLOR ANALYSIS OF TRON:UPRISING 

EPISODE 1 INTRO


Page 1:
1. The oncoming evil is prominent in the color change on the horizon. No words need said.
2. The color of evil is in the right third of the shot and the up shot really tells us that Beck's in trouble.
3. The placement of Beck's disc right on the camera frames Tron(though we don't know its him yet) in a very tangible way. We can feel the darkness coming, but in the way of the red light. Interesting parallel.
4. The yellow parallels show how much Beck is NOT supposed to be present. I quite enjoy the fact that they put the guard in the top third, only showing his feet. We know what's going on by sheer placement, acting and color.
5. This is probably one of my favorite shots. Watching Beck escape through the center of the screen on the bright blue and white light cycle. The red foreground breaks the blue background up nicely and also shows how Beck is fighting for the grid, and these people are the invaders.
6. The before, during and after shot. Beck and his shadow live in the middle of the shot, the desolated bikes of his previous per suers on the far right side (2) and the oncoming shadow at the far left (3) is what awaits his future.
7. This shot is SO COOL! Beck's face lights up ONLY when the disc passes his face, giving us an interesting look into his thoughts, meanwhile letting us grasp the danger at hand.
8. The dark and light in this shot are really cool. They walk FROM the light TO the dark side of the shot. It's done in slow motion in the episode, I encourage you to watch it. I also love how the red circles completely contrast the straight line work of the background. and the discs at the bottom of the screen keep our eyes attention well.

I just fell in love with these shots and I'll explain why.
1. The pans in Tron:Uprising are all very similar. They start wide, circle around the interacting characters and zoom at the same time. Giving us a real feel of the conversation at hand. They never break the 180 rule.
2. Even with the world around Tron and Beck comes to life and blinds us, we never loose site of what we are supposed to look at: them. Why is that? Because of their placement and the line work in the shot. They also keep the biggest black/white difference in the shot, which is inherently where our eye will go, to the biggest differences in values.

Cheers,
JECooper

PS, maybe now you know a little bit of why I love Tron so much!

Compositional Analysis: Tron: Uprising - Ep1 Intro

Alright, all of you have heard my recent love for Tron: Uprising. And with good reason, other than it just being awesome (which it is), it is also a very EXCELLENT example of strong compositional storytelling.
Don't believe me?
I'm glad you asked for more!

Because, without further ado:

Episode 1 Intro Comp Analysis of TRON: UPRISING


**I will explain the basics of the first page, after that, you get the jist of what the arrows and diagrams I am drawing represent. PLEASE, full screen, download if you want higher quality! These images blow up nicely.**


Page 1:
1. the simplicity of this shot, and yet the vanishing point is at the center of the frame, follow the grid at the bottom of the screen and it points at the center, back at the silloutte in the center of the frame. Notice the only lighting is the center of the screen, where the grid will be 'birthed' and his classic 'tron' light from his back.
2. the world expands as the camera backs slightly. and yet as the world build, as the arrows show, everything still points back at flynn. the building even point down, into the arrow, into flynn! the classic silloutte still black and crisp in the center. the blank in the right corner is equaled out well with the building white on the left side. the sky is bare to the floor being full. another balance. and the final piece is the 90 degree angles that STILL point to flynn. Insane.
3. the cracking and crumbling of the grid, point exactly to the perpetrator: Beck. his black silhouette is the ONLY black on the whole screen. Even the corners on the right side are faded out, to give a sweeping motion of pointing back into Beck. His pose is even sweeping back into the grid point. Excellent posing.
4. Even the random garbage points towards Beck in this shot! The glowing of the grid shards point towards Beck as he slides down the mountain in the back and walks towards the camera. Even so, look at the background of the mountainside. Notice the DARK area off to the right, sweeping into the shard that points back to him.
5. Again, the darks and lights of the background focus our eye and tell us exactly where to look. The dark of Beck and the bike are off center, but even so, BECK is in the center. The whole shot (and most shots as you will see) are built at a DIAGONAL. actually, any time that something exciting or action is happening, chances are, there will be a strong diagonal in the shot. Notice that even the mountain behind points in this diagonal exchange.
6. SPEAKING of diagonals! Lo! Again, the environment shards and scraps are used to point us in the direction of Beck's travel. The diagonal in this shot is the focal point.
7. Beck's capture. It's an intense moment, so the best way to show it is often the simplest. They don't even show beck, but his disc! Again, diagonal, and his disc spins and falls in the center of the screen. Pointed to by the diagonal horizon line.
8. Beck's captured. He's alone. How do we portray that? By putting him alone in a room that seemingly ALL points at him. The focal point is him and so is the vanishing point. Smart move. Not only that, we have those handy 90 degree angles again, telling us where to look. And since we are on edge with Beck's unsure state, just as he is, the camera is of course, angled and giving us that lovely slant. Beck's shadow lies perfectly black in comparison to the blinding white interrogation light.




Enjoy! I know I learned a bunch from these screen shots.
Cheers,
JECooper

Friday, December 13, 2013

*NEW* ImaJENation Studios - "Dreams" Topper

Inspired by the ability to dream.


I listened to this bad boy over and over and over again to complete my topper.
Made me feel inspired.

Hope you forever dream,
Cheers,
JECooper

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Fray & Krono: Character 3 Shot

Just as it says, I guess you could call it a 'mini-comic' concept art.
It's really rough, so pardon that please.





Enjoy and such.
Slight spoilers? I don't know. Most people could figure it out I would assume.
Cheers,
JECooper

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Krono

Quick concept study.

AGAIN!



Cheers,
JECooper

"Krono" Concept

So as many of you heard, "The Krono Keeper" got set to the side a tad.
Due to… jobs. XP

Yep, fun fun.
Anyways, still doing character work for Krono though. In spare time.
Enjoy!


**Depending on your monitor type & brightness settings, It may turn out too dark or light.**




And, as always,
CHEERS!
~JECooper

Monday, December 2, 2013

Quick Sketch - Elsa

Loosening up before I tackle more tutorials and such.
Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I went out and saw "Frozen"! It was adorable =)

*cough, Tangled is still best, cough*
BUT! It's ONE OF THE BEST ANIMATED OF 2013. So, GO SEE FROZEN!



Tehe, I wanna work at Disney so bad.
~Cheers,
JECooper

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Perspective: Spiderman

Yeah, been on an "ULTIMATE SPIDERMAN" kick =D
It's freaking hilarious! Check it out on Netflix!

Anyways, I did a perspective sketch. Didn't take too long at all, but I enjoyed it.



Yay, more tutorials!
~Cheers, and Happy Thanksgiving!
JECooper

Monday, November 25, 2013

Update Question & Boxes!

Lately I'm just doing exercises, tutorials, and other practice things.

Should I keep posting these? Comment below or Facebook message me.




Sorry it's a bit boring right now, I'm sure I'll eventually go crazy and draw something cool. =)
Anyways, have a wonderful Thanksgiving if I don't post before then!
Cheers,
JECooper

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Perspective 101

More boring, LOOK AWAY! =P Just kidding.
A four separate panel perspective worksheet:



Fantastic tutorials and such.
As always….

Cheers,
JECooper

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Perspective Practice

Thank you Maya for your reference!!







It's so boring, I'm not going to bother talking about it.

Lessons Learned:
1. Err on the side of too flat *lines*. It's easy to give them too steep of an angle.
2. Box front *head* needs to be higher. I guess I instinctively make every view more angular low than actuality.

Cheers,
JECooper

More Boring Still Life

At least this one is a 3D Render….
but that makes it harder to emulate. >.<''



Well, anyways, Cheers and all.
~JECooper

ALL YOU I MET AT CTN =) Welcome!

Friday, November 8, 2013

Workin on it

Thought I would color that sketch I did the other day, just roughing it in still.

Take a look?


                               Close Up:


Cheers,
JECooper

PS. Thank you to all of my mystery viewers =)

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Rough Fun

Did a rough sketch for another version of "On a Star" my current portfolio topper.

Just a fun sketch, you like?



Cheers,
JECooper

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

FINALLY: "Demons" Excerpt

Storyboard animatic for Scene 3 of "Demons."

This is where I've disappeared to, incase you were curious =3

https://vimeo.com/78694031


***Only youtube can be imbedded into blogger, so you'll have to click the link above. Sorry for the inconvenience.***


ENJOY!
Cheers,
JECooper

Throw up and Hurl… Here come's the STILL LIFE

Yeah. Practice…. At least it was….sort of an interesting subject.
I'm limiting myself to about an hour, hour n a half, and then done. So I learn to speed up.

It's not very fun, but Im learning, for example:
I learned on this one, that I shade quite well, however I need to invest in shape of the object. It feels so flat because my perspective is off.
LESSON:
INVEST EARLY, THE LATER INVESTMENT WILL THANK YOU.

I know, it's not great. It's actually pretty bad.

Cheers and all,
JECooper

Monday, November 4, 2013

Storyboard Work

Rough boards for "Demons" by Imagine Dragons.







Cheers,
JECooper

**Again, I apologize for the lack of updates n such. Been busy with applications for jobs.

Facial Lighting Study

Just some rough study work.



Cheers,
JECooper

PS Been busy applying to industry jobs. Prayers would be awesome!

Friday, October 11, 2013

Tonal Study

Been doing a whole bunch of learning lately, found an online resource....

You can learn after college?!?!?!? Why YES.

Anyways, I know, it's not great... the first response: not as good as the one on the left.
Again, why YES, it's a ROUGH TONE STUDY.



Cheers,
JECooper

Thursday, October 10, 2013

KronoKeeper: Kade Ideas

More ideas, however, Jon and I are thinking that although these are really cool ideas, it's not quite his personality. Thinking the last one will be used, but not for Kade.
Probably for Royce.

But, here they are anyways:






Cheers,
JECooper
kronokeeper.blogspot.com

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Quick Coloring Exercise

Did a sketch of 'myself' and colored it via storyboard 'etiquette.'

Thought it went well as practice for storyboarding.



Cheers,
JECooper

Saturday, September 28, 2013

Fray: Concept - Color

More design work. Color this time! Wewt!!
There were a LOT of color changes, but I didn't bother to upload them. Sorry. =P Maybe Ill put them on the official website. We'll see.



Cheers,
JECooper
kronokeeper.blogspot.com

More Concept Art

I warned you it was our next project! =P

Here's some more concept art for Fray, I think were getting closer!






Cheers n stuffs,
JECooper

Friday, September 27, 2013

The Newest Thing: "Krono Keeper"

Some of you may know, but most of you may not, what we are currently working on in our spare time:
"Krono Keeper" our newest adventure in storytelling. If you'd like more info, please visit our ever evolving blog: KronoKeeper.blogspot.com
A bit of concept work for Frayette, or for short, "Fray."

She's still too mobster tho, more modern I think will be an order next.



Cheers,
JECooper

Storyboard Practice - Max Steel

Just practicing camera and posing. I can't use them because I don't own Max Steel, nor do I work there... but here they can live and be FREEEEE....

Did I mention they are SUPER rough? Oh, no? Okay, I'll say it: They're SUPER ROUGH.

=P  Anyways, have a great day.











Cheers,
JECooper