Friday 13 May 2011

Harmony WIP

Via the MyPaint page I came across this limited but interesting web based graphics utility, Harmony.  I produced this in about 2 minutes.  The idea would be then to take this and work it up in GIMP, in some way..
  Just some concept design stuff I'm working on.  Not sure where it's going but it's fun finding out.
Yes, you're right. Those clouds do look like croissants but I'll soon sort that out.

Pretty Cool. Out.

Tuesday 10 May 2011

Big Blue Hippy Cats

One of the things I'm interested in is Computer Generated Art, particularly animation. I think this stems from first seeing stop frame surrealist animations by Jan Svankmeyer when I was at university, the kind of thing that somehow is still coming out of eastern Europe (particularly), but in a slightly more sophisticated guise.

Anyway, the following is more West Country than Eastern Europe and is a clever take on big budget CG movies, teenage callowness and whatnot. What is amazing is how lifelike it is and yet it's all 'just' CG.


Greg Mutt: Avatar Review from Audiomotion Studios on Vimeo.

Impresses me every time I see it. "Marrowbone." "Sweet!"

Out.

Monday 9 May 2011

1541 Banners

My partner has recently set up her own business and I've been working on her website in Drupal.  I'm not an expert in such things but I have had fun designing her site.

The simple website template we chose (Danland) has enabled us to emphasise the modern, intelligent and interesting approach that the company is taking.  One feature of Danland I liked was the slideshow type banner where we could select what images were shown; and one of the things I've been doing is tracking down, and/or trying to make, what I consider to be interesting images for the banner.
I was keen on orange as this gives a website impact (well, I think so - see the picture at the top of this blog) and of course orange complements blue.  The above banner was adapted from a royalty-free image I found on the web.  In contrast the following image is based on a photograph I took (copyright me!) whilst we were on the remote South Atlantic island of St Helena earlier this year (March/April 2011).
This shows two distinct species of lichen we found at the top of Flagstaff (a hill), at an elevation of about 650m.

If I can find out what species they are I'll let you know.  Or in fact if you know please feel free to comment on this post. That said, one of my colleagues recently discovered eleven species of lichen that were formerly unknown on St Helena, eight of which were previously undiscovered by science.  Now there's something to have on your website.

Thursday 5 May 2011

Falling with Style

I thought I'd start with something I thought was amazing the first time I saw it, and even now I still think that it is awesome. A number of things: the speed, the adrenaline, the vertigo, the scenery, the light and the music "Disappear Here" by Hybrid. Just great.


Wingsuit Basejumping - The Need 4 Speed: The Art of Flight from Phoenix Fly on Vimeo.

And you know, the best of it is, it's not dangerous at all (it says here).