The Arrival - Shot 1

Here's the matte for the first shot from this project. Done in 4k, 16 bit. The clip is available in HD here (though it's quite dark, don't know why). Matte was projected onto 3D geometry within Nuke and comped, forming quite a nice tree:


Additional stuff includes 3D airship with simple effects, waterfall (particles in 3dsMax), various bits of moving fog, clouds, water blinks, etc.

More matte paintings and digital environments coming soon, more advanced and with more elaborate compositing tricks.

The Arrival - WIP1

Here's the first preview of the shots I mentioned. 'The Arrival' is a series of six shots, fully CG, accomplished with matte painting projections, live-action and digital sets. I'm putting them together for practice and presentation purposes. Sequence will also include things like particle simulations and 3D animation.

As you can see from this WIP, each shot has been initially layed out in 3D and then concept art was created for each, to figure out basic lighting and what elements are needed to accomplish the task. Some shots are less difficult, some are quite complex, like the last one, Shot 6, where live-action of multiple characters is mixed with 3D foreground environment, 3D matte painting of the mountains, HDRI render of the animated ship and a bunch of other stuff, eventually comped together. Lots of fun ;)

A piece of the action

Here's a sneak-peak into the series mentioned in the previous post. Highway hit by a courageous chick on a bike and space marines approaching the enemy base.

Currently, I'm working on 'The Arrival' - a sequence mentioned some post ago - several shots, based on matte painting projections, with an addition of 3D digital environment and greenscreen footage. Hopefully, it'll be ready in about a month. I'll post some mini-tutorials with it (e.g. using DEM maps in Vue or complex NUKE matte painting projections), as well as a behind-the-scenes article.

Right now, a few simple tutorials I did on NUKE in the past are available but only in Polish for the time being (sorry). New tutorials will be both, in Polish and English. The old ones are available below:

Projekcje matte w NUKE

Tutorial 1: Symulowana kamera 2.5D w NUKE: tutaj + pliki robocze tutaj
Tutorial 2: Projekcja 2.5D in NUKE (prosta): tutaj + pliki robocze j.w.
Tutorial 3: Projekcja 2.5D in NUKE (złożona): tutaj + pliki robocze tutaj

More content coming soon

Right now, I'm working on two series of concept illustrations that will push my portfolio to the next level. One will take place in a gritty sf urban setting, the other - in a lavish jungle full of futuristic guerrilla warfare. I hope to release them at the beginning of January, so beware and prepare a soft landing pads for your jaws :)

In the mean time, here's some recent stuff.

New stuff in portfolio

Hi folks,

Some new artworks appeared in my portfolio, so you may want to check things up. I cleaned up and arranged a couple of older concepts, especially characters and added a few new ones. I felt that the portfolio lacks a solid character section. I also added a vehicle, a robot/machine and a new grand sf vista, which are included below. Hope you like them.

Also, apart from freelance gigs (which are welcomed and to which I'm always open), currently I'm looking for a full-time position in the industry, either as a concept artist or a matte painter. If you represent a company within EU (preferably), China or the US and you're looking for a reliable and versatile artist, don't hesitate to contact me. Cheers.

Final fight

A blast from the past... An artwork done early in 2010. Final battle between an Indian shaman Whitefeather and his former lover, black magic user, Morgana. Created for Radical Publishing's 'Caliber', art directed by Jeremy Berger. You can find more info about the comic book series here:

http://radicalpublishing.com/titles/caliber

What's new?

No new artworks for now as currently I'm preparing a few simple tutorials on matte painting projections in Nuke. They will be only available in Polish for now (sorry about that) but if there is a need, I'll translate them into English. They will cover all basic types of projections - from cheating camera push-in by playing with scale to full 3D matte projection onto geometry imported from Maya.

I'm also preparing several new matte paintings that will actually form a short sequence. For these, I will practice some interesting things, like extensive use of Vue with DEM maps (esp. for the first establishing shot), using live greenscreen footage and finally compositing of the whole thing in Nuke, with some additional effects added. The whole animation should last about 15-20 seconds and it will most likely modify my matte demo reel, upgrading it to v2 :)

Stay tuned.

Thyn - final matte

So, there you go, final version. It could be tweaked and detailed forever, especially if I wanted to do the camera sweep, like planned. However, no time for this right now, so I just did a simple 2.5D camera push-in in After Effects, with some animated sky and birds flying by (of course, a necessary element :)).

You can have a look at it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLPUsKRh-r4

or on my website, with better quality. It's also included in my matte painting demo reel.

Portfolio Reloaded

Finally, I've refreshed the portfolio a bit. Galleries are re-arranged and grouped into themed thumbnails. More clips have been added as well. The biggest addition - two demo reels: matte painting reel and, additionally, concept art & illustration.

To have a look: www.ak-art.net

Webisode of 'The Unremembered' on YouTube

Webisode of a novel 'The Unremembered' by Peter Orullian illustrated by me a while ago, is available on YouTube. If you want to get a small taste of the story and see some concepts not available in my portfolio (they were rather quick), you can check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1F72X091aw

Tutorial 1: traditional media + Photoshop

Ok, so here it is, the first tutorial, in Polish, focusing on traditional media and Photoshop. The tutorial has step-by-step files included.

Tutorial 1 (in Polish): click here to download (~4.8 mb)

Digart of the day

Polish website about art DigArt (sort of like DeviantArt) made one of my older images, 'Battlefield 2073' (looks familar, huh? ;)), their DigArt of the Day. Nice :) BTW, if you want to know more about the process I used for this particular concept, have a look at ImagineFX Magazine, issue #69 (May 2011). There is a tutorial there + some custom brushes I used.

Thyn 3D matte - WIP 6

Continuing - I modified the composition a bit by adding a bridge on the right. The city will be partially under construction and more mine will be visible at the bottom.

The Ministry - WIP 1

Along with Thyn, I'm preparing another matte, slightly more futuristic, in a spirit of 'Equilibrium'. This time it's based on a real plate, a photo I took in Shanghai. Here's the first stage - blocking some buildings and establishing general mood.

Thyn 3D matte - WIP 5

City model is textured and ready for some serious matte painting. I decided to do one big matte with only subtle 3D projection, showing the city from the its mountain side, like below. The wide camera move from the previous posts will be rendered additionally, as a form of pre-viz. I want the matte to be hi-res and full of details and for the camera circulating like that that would require additional weeks of work, which I don't really have.

Green house laboratory - new concept

Here's one of the concepts that will be used in the first tutorial I mentioned. Made on a base of a pen and marker sketch.

Thyn 3D matte - WIP 4

Here's another WIP for my Thyn matte. As you can see, UV-ing is pretty much done, now it's time to paint those textures in and than finally move onto the matte projections.

Tutorials coming up

As I like to keep myself busy, while working slowly (but surely) on the matte shots for the demo reel, I'm preparing a couple of tutorials presenting some of my techniques.

Tutorial 1 will cover the use of traditional media with Photoshop coloring and will be illustrated with two examples, one interior and one exterior, from start to finish.

Tutorial 2 will show how you can mix a number of 2D and 3D applications together in order to create a realistic production painting.

The first tutorial should be available within a week, so don't forget to drop by. Each part will be available as a neat PDF document, maybe I'll throw in some project files as well.

Thyn 3D matte - WIP 3

Here's another WIP. Since the camera move is very wide and revealing, I decided to create a base texture for the architecture in a traditional way, by procedural textures (for small objects) and by UV and texture maps for buildings and walls. Once the base is on, matte painting will be used to add variety and details to the whole city. On the screenshot above, you can see all surfaces with assigned separate shaders, quite colorful and "modern art"-like but no worries, soon it will look photoreal. Part of the BG is already in place.

Thyn 3D matte - WIP 2

Here's the second WIP. I modified the camera move, focusing more on the city and slowing down the speed (it still needs some tweaking), so it wouldn't look like a miniature. I also added hand-held shakes tracked from real-life footage in Boujou, so it's a bit more realistic. Here's a finished 3D model of the scene, ready for projections. Palm trees and bushes are cards, smokes from chimneys and factory/mine are done with particles and sprites.

Thyn 3D matte - WIP 1

Ok, time for the first WIP.

The matte will be an establishing shot of Thyn, a fantasy-like city with a castle built partially into a cliff (actually, a place from one of my own pen-and-paper RPGs I wrote years ago). In general, desert/rock environment, in a mood of "Prince of Persia" or "Scorpion King". Final shot will be a 3D matte with multiple projections to cover long camera move - it will fly over the desert and circulate a bit around the city. The whole animation will be about 16 seconds, so quite long and quite a bit of work :) Additionally, some effects will be added like smoke from various chimneys and some movement (caravan approaching city gates, cranes on the city wall). The final comp will have, of course, things like moving clouds, sun rays and other stuff.

OK, enough for the intro. Here's a first rough scene blockout and camera movement.

Here some simple city buildings that will be multiplied and create base for city projection. They will have procedural shader applied that will serve as a starting point for the matte.

Demo reel time to prepare

Finally, I decided to put my stuff together and prepare a decent matte painting demo reel, since an empty link on my website is kinda annoying. I have most of the reel done, actually, but still need a couple of new, sophisticated shots. So, the next few weeks will be devoted to these two environments and their development. I'll make sure to post here the progress and some tips&tricks regarding matte painting and 3D projections.

For now, all I can say is that the first shot will be a long establishing shot of a fantasy fortress/city, with multiple projections, loads of details and the camera circulating around, showing the whole impressive (hopefully) vista. Second matte will be most likely live action shot (greenscreen), placed somewhere in the future. Will keep you posted.

Mecha rising

Here's a quick new piece. Since big robots/mechs/iron pants are somehow popular recently, I decided to throw in something of mine. This guy is tough and taking off one arm is not enough to stop him..

Today, the image has become "It's Art Mag"'s (http://www.itsartmag.com) front page Editor's Pick. Thanks guys :)

EXPOSÉ 9... finally.

After 2 months of waiting and 2 shipments from Australia (the first one disappeared in a thin air), finally got my copy of EXPOSÉ 9 that features five of my artworks. Yay! We'll see if I can get there next time as well. Gotta try hard...

New blog (yeah, we've had that before)

Hi, there. My previous blog was seldom updated, I guess I was too lazy. It's time to change it. Here, apart from some finished artworks (that can be found in my official portfolio), I'm going to post various WIPs, sketches and quick designs, relevant news, artbook/movie reviews and perhaps some short tutorials. I'm not sure how often the blog will be updated and I don't want to make some false promises but I'll do my best (yeah, I know, that sounds lame).

Anyway, right now I'm working on a new portfolio, so a bunch of stuff will definitely appear soon. So, if you're ready for some 'behind-the-scenes' stuff, get ready. Cheers.