I’ve been looking for someone to feature on our platform, who’s work really shows how the different creative elements work together and how everything is linked. Because well, everything IS connected when it comes to putting creativity to work.
That is why this artist is so amazing for this feature.
Simone’s profile really shows how she can bring design to life and how staying creative really has an impact on your work and her website shows it. I highly recommend you visit her website, linked at the end of the article for a full showcase of her work.
Enjoy the read and if you need any work done for your brand – give this amazing artist a shout.
How would you describe your work to a stranger on the street?
I create moving pictures for businesses to promote themselves or explain concepts to their employees.
How did you find your way into your career?
When I was younger the world of film and visual effects really captivated me and I decided that I wanted to work in the film industry. The next step was finding a university that would give me the skills needed to be a visual effects artist or animator. I enrolled at AFDA in Johannesburg and majored in Visual Effects. In 2013. I decided to do my honours in Digital Art at the University of the Witwatersrand where I also did experimental film as an elective. After various digital creative jobs, I evolved to be more occupied with corporate work as there was a greater need for motion design and explainer videos. I now do freelance compositing and vfx when the opportunity arises but 2D animation is where I spend most of my working hours.
What would you do if given the chance to do anything else, other than what you are currently doing?
I love doing any form of art so anything involving images, moving or static, I enjoy. I want to keep on learning and hone my skills. I don’t think I would ever move away from this field of work. I am currently doing courses in 3D modelling and eventually want to work in the games or animation industry as an environment artist. As a Digital Artist you are constantly challenged to learn new programs and be on top of new technologies, so it’s an ever stimulating and rewarding field.
What’s your favourite food dish?
I love a good old toasted peanut butter and jam sandwich or a toasted almond butter, honey and banana sandwich.
Have you encountered a severe drop in your career that made you feel you are going to give up and how did you overcome that obstacle?
Yes, there was a time where I felt I was just doing other people’s projects and really needed to do more creative projects for myself. It came down to making time for what I wanted to work on and what I found interesting as well as doing my day job.
What is your best go-to breakaway from your workstation to unplug for a few minutes?
go outside and take a deep breath. Making a cup of tea and sitting in the grass for 5 minutes can make all the difference.
What is your favourite way of finding inspiration?
I really do get inspired by what others have created. It makes me realise that anything is possible. The #drawthisinyourstyle challenge was really inspiring to take an artist’s image and recreate it in your own style.
What do you enjoy most about your journey so far?
Working with many different companies both business to business and business to consumer clients. No job is the same and being a freelancer I can plan my schedule accordingly and have a fun day if I really need it.
Have you got any special shoutouts to anyone who you feel made a significant impact on your skills and that helped you reach this point?
My parents! They let me study what I wanted and never made me feel like pursuing a job in a creative field was a wrong choice. They always supported me and my dreams.
If you could be any superhero or superheroine, who would you be and why?
I would be Catwoman because I love her personality and feline charisma. She is on the fence between doing good and committing crime but she is still a good person deep down. Also I love Batman and the DC universe, I admire ordinary people that don’t have superpowers but are still heroes.
If I could have any superpower it would be to have infinite luck. I want to have close by parking spaces and always have a good hair day.
What do you think, is the most important discipline to develop, that will help carry you in any of the career paths available to you?
Time management and knowing when to take a break. I’m still working on this but when I get in the zone I can go for many hours without getting up. I wear a fitness tracker that tells me to get up every now and then.
What would you say is the most important thing an artist should do, when they approach you for portfolio feedback?
Only display your best work, even if it’s a few it’s better than showing mediocre work you did. Rather create specific portfolio pieces that you spent time on.
If we want to find you online and follow your work, where can we look you up?
RIOT released a rework of the terrifying scarecrow, Fiddlesticks, who was released as part of the original heroes list since 2009. Personally, I’m not one for horror movies but even this caught my attention. Without wanting to spoil the short cinematic intro to the new rework of Fiddlesticks all I can say is that the RIOT team has made impressive changes and the mood of the cinematic captures the horrifying personality of Fiddlesticks.
Now if you’ll excuse me I need to go watch some fluffy unicorn and rainbow videos to get back to my happy place…shudder
Fiddlesticks – Champion Cinematic
Walking Cycle for the Fiddlesticks Model
Even the work done on the spooky character is ominous with claws scraping on the ground and a slight gaunt in his step. Truly impressive work to convey how scary this champ can be.
Terry Ibele shares his process and steps of his adorable The Silly Duck Wizard Stop Motion Animation he created and also throws in some great tips at the end!
About Terry
I’m currently an animation student studying at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario. Last summer I decided to practice stop motion animation, so I talked with the program coordinator Chris Walsh who helped me get access to the school’s stop motion studio during the summer months. I decided to make a short film I could use towards my portfolio and also as an animation test for a kid’s show I had an idea for.
First, I reached out to my friend Davey Swatpaz, an Irish Animator I met through the podcast I run (The Animation Industry Podcast). He is known for his silly independent animations, the Turbo Fantasy series from Mondo, and his guest episode of Adventure Time. He is also a fantastic voice actor and agreed to do the wizard’s voice.
The Silly Wizard Video
I started production in June – crafting the Silly Wizard, the ducks, and the special effects. I finally started production mid-July and by the time school was starting in September, I had finished the animation. I completed post-production (removing rigs in Photoshop, sound, and music) after classes and posted the video to my YouTube channel and Instagram at the end of September.
Within a day, more than 150,000 people had viewed the video. The biggest source of traffic was Reddit, where my post reached the front page and received more than 1,000 comments.
Behind The Scenes
I also posted a behind-the-scenes video showing the 6,420 frames it took to make, most of which didn’t make the final cut. This was my first time animating something like this, so half my time was just learning how to animate. The first shot of the wizard bouncing in took about five full tries before I got it right.
Because of its popularity, I’ve also opened an online store where you can buy merch like a Silly Duck Wizard T-shirt, or a Silly Duck mug (https://www.teepublic.com/user/terryibele)
Since then a lot more has happened with the film.
In November 2019, I won the animated tv show pitch (PS Team: Congrats Terry!) competing at the Toronto Animated Arts Festival International (TAAFI) conference. That led me to talks with a few studios in Canada and the US about turning the Silly Duck Wizard into a preschool show (fingers crossed!). Plus, the video caught the attention of some directors which has opened new opportunities for me (can’t disclose anything yet).
Dragonframe let’s you draw and time out archs over your shot, which is very helpful in planning your shots.
I timed out the lip sync ahead of time in Adobe Premier using simple open & closed mouths so I didn’t have to figure it out while animating. Then I created a chart showing which mouth to use for which frame (Example: frame 46 = mouth “O” shape)
Set up your scene ergonomically and take breaks. I pulled a muscle in my shoulder from spending full 8 hour days with my arm extended.
Simplify everything as much as you can. I decided to remove the background completely because it didn’t enhance the story and would’ve taken a lot of extra effort to make/animate.
Sometimes the best solution is the simplest one. I wanted the wizard and the ducks walking away together at the end. I tried to animate the larger puppets all at once, but it was a nightmare. So, I decided to use tiny pompoms to represent them zoomed out and it turned out great!
Have replacements ready! Somehow I lost the wizard’s hat halfway through production. Luckily I’d made a replica of the entire puppet just in case.
Be ready for things to break. I’ve experienced armatures breaking half way through a shot, which ruins everything. I designed the wizard so that anything (head, arms, legs, wand) could be easily pulled off and replaced at any time.
If you’re just starting out and feeling overwhelmed, it’s okay! My first animation was with plasticine on my bedroom desk using my grandpa’s old camcorder. You don’t need sophisticated equipment, expensive armatures, or elaborate sets. In fact, the Silly Wizard is made from a box of chicken nuggets and dollar store felt and wire. I recommend starting small and building your way up.
*Thank you Terry, we loved your stop motion and only wish you the best in your promising career forward! *Swishes wizard wands
All is about to change as the league of legends is set to get its very own animated series. The show gets set to go beyond the rift and star with a bang. The animated show is known as Arcane and will get developed in-house. It thus brings forth an expansion of the LoL gaming franchise. Here is everything you ought to know about the league of legends arcane cinematic universe.
Arcane release
As a part of the cinematic world plans, the animated series is ready to test the waters. Arcane is the 1st game script to do live on screens. It’s a TV series which is an in-house development project.
The Fortiche production has animated various Lol trailers in the past, and Arcane will not be any different. It’s a team that boasts of many major TV shows, and much gets expected from them. Riot is financing the project independently, and it’s supposed to be out by the 2nd half of 2020.
Are you wondering how you can level up and get ahead of everyone else in the game upon its release? It’s time to seeklol Elo boosting services and familiarize with its role in lol gaming.
What you need to know about the animated series
The series will cater to a teen audience. However, it will have a significant influence on the adult subject matter. There will be severe themes explored as it’s not a show for the light of heart.
With the recent cinematic trailer, you can get a detailed insight into this project. You can get to see epic clashes between both the heroes as well as villains. Thus, you can anticipate an all-out war at one point in the series.
The trailer graphics depict the expression as well as gait on the character’s visage.
The characters & story
By checking out the trailer, one can point out the dominant star in the animated series. The core characters might become expected to be Jinx and her rival Vi. The storyline might revolve around these two characters.
The set is said to be Piltover, which is the fantastic Valoran central city. The animated series will run high on Hextech technology as well as a giant airship. It will allow you to combat any rise of villains from the Zaun location, which is close to Gotham city.
In celebration of Movember, Pixelsmithstudios found an awesome infographic about the trustworthiness of beards. Print it out and spread the word! Should I be worried that I’m in the Questionable category…
We love The Neverhood, it’s been one of the most underrated games and creative masterpieces of the ’90s. It was a full stop motion production and the team put in a lot of effort to fully build this world and characters from clay (No other digital additions, pure clay!). The Neverhood was quirky, had great characters and was full of humour which can be heard in its music, style, and sequences of the game. It appears to be picking up some great traction in the community again and we’ve been seeing a lot of fanfictions (and wanted to share it with you).
Below are a few videos we’ve found, I’ve been listening to most of these on repeat the last few days, ah nostalgia:
Behind the Scenes – Neverhood and Skullmonkeys [Making of]
The Neverhood – making of #1
Also,not to be missed
The full soundtrack (Catchy as Heck!)
Credits to The Neverhood Creators:
Writer(s): Dale Lawrence; Mark Lorenzen; Doug TenNapel Composer: Terry Scott Taylor Developers: The Neverhood, DICE Los Angeles, Riverhillsoft Designers: Doug TenNapel, Mark Lorenzen
Some extra info on how they started
“Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks Interactive, which had recently started, needed fresh and unusual projects and TenNapel approached Spielberg with the idea of a claymation game, with Spielberg accepting it for publication.[2] The Neverhood, Inc. made a deal with DreamWorks Interactive and Microsoft, and the game went for development. According to the developers, creating the game’s characters and scenery used up over three tons of clay.”-Wikipedia
