The Creativities of a Brook.

New Blog

2011-02-11T08:17:00.001-08:00

Just thought I'd mention to anyone who looks here, I've started blogging on another... umm... blog.
This will probably die.

Here: brook-jordan.blogspot.com

Been a while...

2010-07-16T10:42:00.000-07:00

But an update. I've added colour to the people and they are now created within the shape of the country they live in.

The shape...

Detail...

As always, click on images to see larger version.

A little colour

2010-06-07T08:08:00.000-07:00

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Just thought I'd post this first one to give a taste of things to come...

I'm, unfortunately, not expecting to finish all the colours in time for the print.
But I'll carry on this project after wednesday so hopefully it will happen!
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More people...

2010-06-06T21:41:00.000-07:00

(The homeless guy looks small cos otherwise he wouldn't fit in his column. You can click him to see him slightly bigger.)

Just to show I'm still working...

2010-06-06T15:18:00.000-07:00

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Not a lot of change, but these are almost the final look of the images.

I'm thinking the people will have shadows and the Philippines will have a little more diversity. Oh, and on a white backdrop to show off the shadows.

Here's a comparison of the 2 nations...

.Click images to see larger versions.
(Please excuse the image artifacts... That's Blogger's fault)

Let me put that into perspective...

2010-05-28T11:03:00.000-07:00

.Click here to see larger image.
---- 3 Megs ----

The people of the UK

2010-05-27T15:38:00.000-07:00

Ha, it's ridiculous how out of practise I was...

I'll post them in a random order, but you can work out what order I drew them in as the quality increases drastically from image to image.

I still can't draw shoes... At all.

Probably doesn't help that most images I used had the feet cut off.

3D more reliable than 2D??

2010-05-24T17:32:00.000-07:00

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I attempted to create the image using 2D software.

I'm not as comfortable using Apple Motion as I am with Electric Image, but I think I'm safe to say that it shouldn't be producing images like these...

Can't see anything here...

Little better here, but looks to have gotten bored at the bottom.
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UK male healthy population

2010-05-22T16:28:00.000-07:00

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Here is what the new method can achieve reasonably quickly.

.Click to see larger image.
---WARNING 12MB----

This is 1/50 of the full population of healthy males in the UK. There are about 463,700 people in this illustration, divided into 4 ethnicities (British, other White, Black and Asian).

The final illustration won't cut people into bits round the edges, this was just a quick and dirty test.

::EDIT::
I've just found out that there's actually less than 467,000 people... It rendered that many, but some are hidden behind. The software I'm using keeps creating people on top of each other, which is annoying.

I'm trying to find a way to stop it as we speak.
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Updated method of creating a crowd

2010-05-21T14:29:00.000-07:00

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This version actually uses Electric Image, 3D rendering software, because it's the only piece of software which has a particle system I'm accustomed to and understand thoroughly.
So yeah, this is ready now to have different types of people in the crowd, the toilet man is just a placeholder to test it.

.Click to view larger image.

I've decided to use this method as, for starters, I prefer the randomness it achieves. The previous version was created in Illustrator using symbols, and it creates them in a more regular, computer-created-looking pattern.

The particles, as well as looking more natural, are also much faster to setup now that I've done the original tweaking. And also allow for easier use of bitmaps for the images, so once I've drawn the people I can simply stick them onto ready-placed particles.
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Population visualisation

2010-05-19T09:27:00.000-07:00

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Each person on this visualisation was supposed to be 1,000 people...
But using illustrator I'm finding it difficult to get exactly 77,000 figures on the page.

As is stands, it's waaaaaaay off... And I'm thinking even 1,000 is too many people for a single igure to represent. So when I get access to Electric image I will try to create 770,000 figures. If it's too many, 77,000 or 150,000 will do.

Anyway, the figures represent people and the circles will... circle? The number of people in the group represented.

.Click here to view larger image.

Boring comparison cirlces

2010-05-15T16:43:00.000-07:00

Philippines Red <--------------------> UK Blue

- Click to view larger image -

Back to Crime

2010-05-13T11:56:00.000-07:00

Some images depicting police hats and badges from the UK and from the Philippines.

The fact that UK has 4 an the Philippines has 3 isn't arbitrary. It's due to the fact that the ratio of Police in the UK and the Philippines is around, well, 4:3. And the fact that the Philippines has a higher population and crime rate than the UK, that is a little worrying.

I also found that our worries over space in UK jails are rather moot when you compare our 144 jails to the 7 in the Philippines.

Philippines

Various drawings.

2010-05-13T11:24:00.000-07:00

While I was in the Philippines I visited the cemetery with two of the girls I was staying with. They first showed me a grave, similar to some of the larger tomb-like graves found in the UK, shared between three family members.

The second place was a large cuboid of cement, stepped down the sides, with many holes in each step. This was there for anyone who's loved one didn't have a grave to place a candle to pay their respects.

And finally I was taken to rows of what looked like shelves. Each shelf had a plaque, or sometimes just writing engraved into the back, denoting the deceased.

Pinitensya is a filipino tradition during holy week. Men, repentant for their sins, will put on a hood (many of the ones I saw were red, some had a turin shroud design on white) and walk the streets of the Philippines whipping their own back. On the last day of holy week they became more agressive in their whipping to the point where, when taking photos, I had blood flick off've a whip and across my (white) shirt.

Careers

2010-05-06T14:33:00.000-07:00

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I haven't dug deep into this, but I have been told that an overwhelming majority of students (boys included) are aiming to become a nurse, with HRM (Hotel, Restaurant Management) tagging along behind in second.

You may think, how nice and caring these Filipinos are to want to comfort the ill and... People eating and staying in restaurants. But the main reason is that they seem to believe that other countries are short of nurses and hotel, restaurant managers. Therefore they are hoping the course will bring them out of the country and into a better life.

Another thing worth pointing out, is that even many menial jobs appear to require you to have graduated from college in order to apply, no matter how irrelevant it is to the job. This may seem odd, but I guess it helps to filter out the applicants when there are so few jobs to be had.
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Ethics and Morals

2010-05-06T14:28:00.000-07:00

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Crime
Take this information with a pinch of salt. Some of it is out of date by around 10 years.

It may possible come as no surprise that the murder rate is much higher in the Philippines than it is in England. Partially due to war, but the criminal murder rate is still more than 5 times that in the UK.

And, again, the number of police is only two thirds of that in UK while the number of prisoners is on par with ours... Although, there isn't enough room to hold all of them in the Philippines with the share of prison capacity being around 156%.

One of the biggest crimes in the Philippines is software piracy, with an estimated 69% of purchased software being pirated, with more obviously being downloaded freely. The UK comes in at around 26%.

The total crimes recorded, though, is around eighty five thousand in the Philippines with the UK topping six and a half million. I assume this is due to many petty crimes not being so diligently prosecuted and recorded there as they would be in the UK.

I don't exactly understand these numbers, but it gives an idea of variance for me to work with.

The four pieces of crime information I want to illustrate are...
Criminal murders
Police
Jails - Prisoners
Software piracy
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Religion

2010-05-05T14:43:00.000-07:00

A Crucifix

vs.

A Crucifixion

Filipinos genuinely do nail themselves to a cross.
They fasten themselves using ropes and they have a pedestal to stay stood up, but, once they find a good position, they proceed to hammer nails through their hands and feet.

I was surprised to see how little blood comes out, though.
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Transport

2010-04-29T15:50:00.000-07:00

Buses

vs.

Jeepney

Getting around in a jeepney in the Philippines is the equivalent of getting on a bus in England.

Basically you get on through the lack of tail gate, take a seat (if you have to stand you'll be slouching a lot...) and pay the guy at the front.

There are no designated stops, it just keeps going rather slowly and you get on whether it stops or not.
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New Project

2010-04-26T16:29:00.000-07:00

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Recently been to the Philippines...

Was a great experience.
Would be silly not to do a project involving it, so I am.

I want to compare and contrast it to England and it's culture... Trying now to figure out/decide how exactly.

Maybe Info Graphics, as my dad suggested...
http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/
http://www.flickr.com/groups/infografias/
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Progress shots of the urban scene

2010-02-16T13:04:00.000-08:00

.Click to view animation.

First deadline

2010-02-14T09:25:00.000-08:00

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Just hit my first deadline on the 10th, so not been wanting to do anything.
Anyway, just a quick show of what bunny and fox look like together on a screen.

I have a few things ready to show on here, but I won't be doing anything new cos my head died, so I'll stagger putting them up through the next few days.

Fox and Bunny

.Click to view animation.

And then the bunny hops

2010-02-07T08:52:00.000-08:00

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I kinda animated him twice.
The first time with no ears, because they need to follow nicely after, and it's hard to do that if you draw it all at the same time. Lesson learned from the fox.

So I thought I'd post a line test with and without the ears so you can see the comparison.

.Click to view with no ears.

.Click to view with ears.

1 + 1 = Fox walking across a field

2010-02-06T09:36:00.000-08:00

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I'll hopefully be adding a shadow soon and I'll replace this movie with the 'shadowed' version, rather than adding a new post, because it won't be a massive update.

.Click here to view animation.

Forget the scene...

2010-02-02T15:01:00.000-08:00

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Earlier I talked about how I made the background for the Fox-and-Rabbit-animation-to-be.
I claimed I would post the animation.
But I forgot.
Having had this pointed out to me, I've added it now. So here ya'll go :D

.Click here to view animation.

Baby steps for foxes...

2010-02-02T13:07:00.000-08:00

The first animation test is fox...

.Click to view animation.

On a slower connection the animation may take some time to load and appear to be just an image. Please be patient, it will move when it's loaded fully.

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Essay writing gets in the way of everything...

2010-02-01T16:16:00.000-08:00

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But thanks to the patience of a few people, I think I've done not tooo badly.

And now it's back to my animation project until the 10th.

This project has supposedly changed radically, but unless I can find my USB dongle for Electric Image I will be having to change it back.
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At 13,000 years, tree is world’s oldest organism

2010-01-25T07:52:00.000-08:00

.Click for larger image.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/at-13000-years-tree-is-worldrsquos-oldest-organism-1848009.html

How scientists cracked puzzle of the Falklands wolf

2010-01-24T10:14:00.000-08:00

.Click for larger image.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/how-scientists-cracked-puzzle-of-the-falklands-wolf-1813521.html

Sales boost for the physics book found in Tiger's car

2010-01-23T10:11:00.000-08:00

.Click for larger image.

.http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/sales-boost-for-the-physics-book-found-in-tigers-car-1833836.html

Twist to the tale

2010-01-23T10:06:00.000-08:00

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Unfortunately my illustration project has been cancelled and my animation project radically twisted.

So, due to the cancellation of the illustration project, I'll upload the rest of what I DID finish from the project in sequence, everything after that will be my new animation project until further notice.
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A couple of unfinisheds

2010-01-17T13:18:00.000-08:00

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Because I haven't actually finished a new illustration, I'll show two unfinished ones.
They're both pretty much finalised pencil sketches, but the pen I was using ran out, and the new pen I bought ruined one of my sketches already... By bleeding through 2 skeets of paper.

So yeah, when I get a new pen, you'll see the finished illustrations.

Anyway, here they are...

At 13, 000 years, tree is world's oldest organism

Sales boost for the physics book found in Tiger's car

(I cut the bottom off to make the image as a whole more visible... You're not missing much by not seeing the bottom.)

I only have enough time to give you the sun..

2010-01-14T05:50:00.000-08:00

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Yeah, I'm sorting work for tomorrow's crit... So I don't really have time to get stuff together for my blog, so I'm just gonna stick a little animation for the sun I made.

It'll be less colourful and fit in with the scene better once it's finished, and there will be more variations...
but here you go.

Both of these will animate if you click them.

On a slower connection they may take some time to load and appear to be just an image. Please be patient, it will move when it's finished.

Scientists unearth evidence of centuries-old aftershocks.

2010-01-12T07:56:00.000-08:00

.Click for larger image.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/scientists-unearth-evidence-of-centuriesold-aftershocks-1814689.html

Roll the titles!

2010-01-09T20:06:00.000-08:00

Not really titles, but here is a quick overview of what the "Day" indicators will look like... For those interested, during the movie, in what day it's gotten to.

And click the image to see it animated... You may need the newest quicktime, or else here's a link to a youtube video... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKK_q9NDpHQ

Drunken trees... Rocking oldies

2010-01-09T07:00:00.000-08:00

Scientists unearth evidence of centuries-old aftershocks

At 13,000 years, tree is world's oldest organism

The sun and the Moon

2010-01-04T07:57:00.001-08:00

Just a quick glimpse of the sun and the moon how they are now...

I'm not sure if I want to keep the faces looking rough as they are now, or if I should tidy and ink them up.

A decision to be made at a later date after the storyboard has been finished.

Oh, and I need to find a way to make the moon more readable at smaller sizes... As it stands, it can be hard to recognise that he has a face when he's smaller.

Drugs and the Moon

2010-01-03T14:03:00.000-08:00

NASA bombs the moon - but where's the fallout?

Scientific adviser backs sacked drug 'tsar'

Setting the scene... again.

2009-12-24T09:21:00.000-08:00

To make the final animation easier to edit I wanted the background to be editable as well. So I made it all in CG 3D.

Here is a quick rundown of the stages of building it...

The Models...

I only need geometry for the trees and the grass, and the tree will be an image mapped onto a simple plane.

The Materials...

Again, very simple. A slight fractal bump on the ground, some bump on the tree and, obviously, a clipping/alpha map to make it tree shaped.

Oh, and a specular map on the floor will catch the highlights from the sun, but you don't notice that in an image without any specular highlights.

The Mood...

3 Lights:

Sun light behind

A second sunlight from the front, only for the trees which otherwise receive no light from the sun at the back.

Sky light... In this case a simple spot light from the front with an image of clouds that will be animated in the final animation along with the sky in the back.

The Textures...

To add colour and realism to the scene.

Animation test...

I'll post a link to the actual animation on a later date when it's more polished.

Steve Connor III and IV

2009-12-24T07:20:00.001-08:00

Teenage Tantrums of the T-Rex

How scientists cracked the puzzle of the Falklands wolf

Storyboard

2009-12-24T06:55:00.001-08:00

If you steal a few photos from google images:

A Sky, a field and a tree...

Arrange them like so...

And add the characters from my story...

You get the basic idea of how my storyboard started out.

No scanner...

2009-12-22T17:25:00.001-08:00

No updates, I need my scanner... Can't believe I left it at Uni-home.

Anyway, I'll use my camera to take some photos tomorrow... That'll suffice.

And over to you, Steve Connor

2009-12-19T17:04:00.001-08:00

As my newspaper project progressed I changed from Rosemary Bennett from the Times to Steve Connor from the Independent... And I plan to illustrate 8 articles over Christmas. Maybe a little far-fetched but here's hoping.

Anyway, two of the first drafts I've done...

Unlock the secret of your genes - for £31,000

Sales boost for the physics book found in Tiger's car

Making a scene

2009-12-18T08:17:00.000-08:00

Next to do was to create a storyboard for my animation.

And, for a story board, I knew I'd need a nice selection of character poses from each character... I didn't mind too much about using the same pose twice, so I needed just enough to make the story followable, so that you can tell what the character is doing in each cell

Anyway, once I'd drawn a few poses I scanned them in and cut them out so they had a nice transparent background, so I could arrange them on the storyboard.

With this nice little collection I thought I'd put a small scene together.

Here's what I made first...

Then once I finished drawing the bunnies and foxes,

I made this one...

Click the image for a bigger version... I think.

Maybe a little too cluttered, but as an after thought I quite like it.

The last Rosemary Bennett

2009-12-17T00:04:00.000-08:00

I never did a final design for this one as I'd already decided to change columnist by the time I'd got to this stage in this illustration...

Half of secondary school girls considering cosmetic surgery, Guides study finds.

Plot outline

2009-12-16T23:18:00.000-08:00

The whole story starts off kinda as a generic cat-and-mouse between the fox and the rabbit.

By day, the rabbit is outside frolicking in the field.

By evening, the fox comes out and chases the rabbit.

By night, the hungry fox finds other, less substantial food.

A few days in, faces appear on the sun and moon as they rise.

The sun starts to enjoy the company of the rabbit.

The moon takes the fox to be his companion.

The moon begins to feel sorry for the hungry fox, and gives him tips to catch the rabbit.

The sun finds out about this and warns the rabbit... Whom doesn't understand / believe / care, and so just carries on as usual.

A few days later a trap has been set.

The rabbit falls prey but escapes relatively easily.

A new trap is set again.

Same outcome.

Soon after, fox begins not to chase the rabbit, instead is seen collecting sticks and twine.

The moon has an evil grin.

The sun looks more and more nervous.

The rabbit seems unscathed / happy not to be chased.

The moon tells the sun of foxes new plan.

The sun, believing this could be the end of the rabbit, comes up with a plan.

He tells the rabbit to find the fox and that he will eat the moon on the upcoming days.

The rabbit, thinking it a game, does as requested.

The fox takes no notice.

The moon laughs.

The next night, the rabbit continues to say it.

The fox looks up to see the moon slightly smaller.

After conversing with the moon, the fox is assured it's nothing.

Days go by...

The moon gets smaller

The fox continues his collecting

The rabbit continues his story

The sun gets more and more nervous

Until...

CRASH!

The rabbit is found to be in a trap.

The fox comes out in the evening to take his prey.

The rabbit claims to have finished eating the moon.

If fox is to eat him, his family would surely eat the fox.

So the fox waits for the moon to arrive.

He never arrives.

The fox runs away.

In the morning, the rabbits family helps him out of the trap and all is good.

The sun moves back into place.

The moon is upset because fox is gone.

The sun assures moon he'll be back.

But the fox never did come back.

To this day the moon is circling the world to try find the fox...

Hence we get the moons phases.

... I'll add proper pictures at some point.

Illustration, part I

2009-12-15T08:40:00.000-08:00

A quick rundown of the project for those who didn't read the first post.

But this is the last time.

I'm doing newspaper illustrations for articles by the same writer once a week.

I started off doing them for the times' Rosemary Bennett (as the two illustrations on this page are from) but I've moved onto one Steve Connor who writes for the Independent, as I found his writing to be much more in-line with my interests.

Anyway, here are the two I did on Rosemary Bennett, along with the final roughs...

We're too busy pushing pens to save children, say social workers

Condoms catch up with pills as safe sex message gets through.

Alternation, I'm thinking?

2009-12-15T06:39:00.000-08:00

Starting with the animation project I'm thinking it'll make sense to try to alternate between talking about the projects, so from now on I won't talk about both in one post, unless I have an interesting comparison/contrast or something, to try to try keep the blog clear.

I type too much of what I think... I need to try dumb that down a little.

Anyway, my animation project is about...

The Sun and Rabbit...

By day these are the characters you'll be watching.

The sun keeping a watchful eye on the rabbit.

The rabbit, mindless and care free as he is, kinda needs the sun to look after him... Even if he's taken for granted and not appreciated.

The Moon and Fox...

And then as it reaches evening, the Moon and fox step into the scene.

The fox as mindless as the rabbit, just looking to get himself a meal, but generally ending the evening hungry and hunting lesser foods by night, when the fox has hidden in his hole.

More appreciative, the moon begins to help the fox with ideas to capture the rabbit...

Everything needs a beginning...

2009-12-14T08:20:00.001-08:00

And here's mine...

My first few posts will be (should be) much more full than than later posts because it'll be catchup to try get the gist of what's already been done, (albeit not very much.)

Anyway, this will mostly be me displaying work, sketches and goings on in my University work which is, and will be until sometime in February, two projects.

The first, and main project, is an animation project.

I'm not setting to do a finished animation, as it turns out, as it is far too ambitious.

Nope, instead I'm setting out to create a good quality storyboard, enough to get the story across, and a shot animation including a couple of shots from, what would be, the finished animation.

The second, lesser project, will be illustration and I'll be writing a report on it.

Basically I'm choosing a newspaper columnist and I want to illustrate their articles, pretending I'm the actual illustrator for the column.

I will then try to contact the writer of the articles and ask if they're interested... The project's direction will then be directed by the answer.

And there's what my blog will (should) be about.