Self Portrait: 'The Dark Side of the Artist'

10 inch by 12" canvas

As I was bored yesterday evening I did a quick self portrait on one of my smaller canvases I have sitting unused.  I thought it interesting to try to capture just one aspect of my personality.  I did have to change it a tiny bit this morning as I wasn't happy with its original all blood red coloring from last night. that you can see below.

prior to 'fixing' it....

So I changed some of the mid tone areas to a pinkish color and cleaned up a  few edges and it seems to work better.

You'll also notice that the paintings section has been added to the main site, the about page is now edited, changed and more up to date and all the commercial albums I have of music that are currently available are now added.  I've also changed the old ones that were already on the site so they can now be played for free via a Spotify widget. (Because lets face it... your not going to buy them lol.)

Commisions: Boba Fett and Joy Division

Boba Fett

Here are two commissions I did for Neil Hazzard (who works for Autodesk as many of you guys know) in a personal capacity. The first is of Boba Fett and the second is of Joy Division, both designed by me and then approved by Neil before a single brush stroke was laid down.

Joy Division

I'm also in the process of adding stuff tot the main site etc.  So far the abut page has been updated, and I'm in the process of adding paintings and updating the font page to add the other other albums of music I have released the last few months.  So be sure to check the main site regularly.

Help for Heroes Painting Auctioned - and Another Commision

Done for free and auctioned for the Help for heroes charity

This painting I did as a freebie for the Help for heroes charity raised £150 for them at a non art  / general auction last night. Its a worthy charity and I had no problem at all doing this painting for them as a freebie.

While I may be a pacifist (mostly) I see it as vital that people who have literally risked life and limb for the safety of others are looked after correctly when they can no longer do that job, and not just left to fend for themselves on the streets or worse.  So I had no problem doing this painting when I was asked.

Property of the British army

This one above came as a direct result of the help for heroes painting and was a commission.  Its now in the possession of a British Army regiment and I was given permission to finally show it recently (after doing it some weeks back. )  Thus showing that karma exists, and what goes around does indeed come around.

I've got 3 other commissions done and just waiting on permissions to be able to show at some point.

Leviathan Teaser

The Leviathan -- Teaser from Ruairi Robinson on Vimeo.

Short post this one, I did a bit of work for Ruairi Robinson who was director of the film I worked on as 3d Sup The Last Days on Mars what seems like an ice age back.  This teaser for Leviathan surfaced today and I have to admit its looking rather nice. (Wasn't sure if it had been mothballed or not).  I'm not sure if I can say what I did so I'm going to play it safe and not say a damn thing.
Enjoy.

How to Paint Darth Vader..The Hard Way

The Final (still. wet and unsigned) painting

The original 'Inverted painting'

I felt the sudden urge to paint Darth Vader last night when I got in at 11.30pm, I decided to start it as an inverted 'invisible painting (see my Keith Richards one for more details on inverted 'invisible paintings), and then develop this into the final 'proper' version.

So if there is a hard way to do it...this would be it.  I also was requested to do a time lapse of this one...although it was requested when the painting was already at the 'inverted' stage.  So for those banging on about wanting to see a timelapse of me paintings...here you go , last chance as I'm selling my cameras very soon.

...and also here's a few very rare pictures of me painting in my painting room...for once not covered in paint.

the inverted version

Sorting out the mask

Doing the arm folds

thumbs up...all done

New Paintings, Commission's and doodle

Commission I was asked to paint for a Help for Heroes Auction

Here's a few paintings I can show now , two of them Commissions and one a doodle.  First up is a painting I was asked to do to be auctioned for the Help for Heroes Charity, I took no payment for this one as I don't believe in doing something for charity and getting paid, plus it is a very worthy cause.  I did take a couple of 'in progress' shots during the painting of it that I have put below.

Progress of the help for Heroes Painting Commission

The 2nd commission was from my good friend Cris Robson (no relation), of his wife Amanda for valentines day.  Cris of course is the guy behind 3D palace.  As its already on their wall hanging I am safe to show this publicly now.

Progress on the painting of Amanda Robson

This is a weird one, it does have a story behind it.  ever since I was a tiny child I have always had dreams of this thing in the painting below, it seems to be a long red tunnel.  I have no idea of its meaning, or anything else (and no its not the light from my eyelids as I sleep always in total darkness lol)... Its never changed at all and always remains the same in my current dreams as it was when I was very young.  So I decided to paint it in the hope that maybe it'd help me to work out more about it.  As such its not really for sale... its more something I did for myself.

The 'Red Thingy' from my dreams since I was a kid

In other news I've recently started branching out writing on some serious subjects under a pen name, while some people who are on my main Facebook account know this pen name, its my idea to keep that writing 100% separate for anything else I do.  Its all non 3D / art stuff and as such, I ask anyone that knows this pen name to keep it to the group of people who already know it,

New Painting: Alice Cooper

Another painting to go in my 'Hero's' series.  This time of rock and heavy metal hero Alice Cooper.  Why is he in amongst my personal hero's?  Well lets put aside the fact I have been a fan since I was a child,  and know every song inside out and can play them on multiple instruments lol and look a bit more deeply.  

What the character of Alice Cooper ( Vincent Damon Furnier is the real man behind this rock and metal legend for those unaware) made me realise growing up and especially as a teenager was that showmanship matters, that it was ok to be seen by my peers as a 'bit odd' and gave me the confidence to finally run with the things I am good at.  (...and boy how I have ran the last 20 years!) I'm proud of the fact that I've went from homeless to where I am now.  (In fact back when I was homeless two things kept me sane...reading every Terry Pratchett book in the library, and an old walkman I had with a couple of tapes of Alice Cooper..little known fact that one).

I always found the exaggerated character of Alice Cooper to be very interesting, I always find it sad though that there are still some that cant tell the character from the actual human being behind it.  I picked this style for this one and colour scheme to reflect the old communist political posters... as the painting is named after a rather well known Alice song... 'Elected', it made sense.

This is what happens when I get bored...

This video is NOT SAFE FOR WORK! seriously its not... or if kids are in the rooms or easily offended types... this is a warning.

I was sitting fairly bored today... so I decided to make a computer game… nothing normal…perish the damn thought!!  So I present to you ‘Flappy Dildo’  A rip off game where the whole point is to last as long as possible.

You play as a condom flying through space trying to avoid the giant dildos.. .Some of these dildos will fall on you!  Music, code and what passes for 5 mins worth of art are by me (so all blame for any offense if 100% mine lol.)  In was in  two mind whether to make this public or not lol.  

See! THIS is what happens when I get bored and have nothing do!

NOTICE:

Please don't take this as a serious project it was an afternoon messing around for shits and giggles, but I am assuming you all know my sense of humor by now ;)

New Paintings: Batman and Jack Nicolson

The 1st one is a painting of Batman that my two kids asked me to do a few months back....took em a while to nail down a design for the painting that I and they were happy with.  I started with about 8-10 block outs that had promise before settling on this one.

This one was just a spur of the moment thing.... as I have a couple of hours free before making my dinner.

Anniversary

After 10 years of 3D I looked like this..no your not seeing one from earlier lol

I am reliably informed today that it is exactly 15 years since I started DashDotSlash as a company.  I'd already been doing bits and pieces of freelance stuff for about 5 years or so before that... Hence I am now officially an old fart of 3D.  I think the years have been rather kind...

Me after 20 and a bit years of 3D... could be worse :)

Todays 3D doodles

A few more dick around's from today. A game res / real time mountain and a ....well..I've no idea what that fucking thing below is actually... Just shaking of the last few months of cobwebs.

You wait nearly 2 yrs for some 3D personal art & you get two lots in one night...

Yes it has been  a very long while since some 3D stuff hasn't it?  Thought I'd better kick my arse back into gear and do some personal stuff... So this is a re-sculpt ad re-texture of a very very very old model of mine!  I started this afternoon with a doodle of a star wars Battle droid....for shits and giggles...(you can see that at the very bottom...and please don't take it seriously..I don't its only a doodle coz I wanted to see what it'd look like in green lol)

The creature is 10k polys uses a single 2k map set and a single shader and this is a game ready model...well it would be if it was fucking rigged etc!  Here's a few alternate angles.

..and for those terminally curious what my dicking around doodling in 3D looks like: no idea of poly count but again single 2k map set and single shader.

so there you go, some 3D art for a change.

Invisible Painting: Keith Richards

The original Painting and the inverted negative image.

I've been dying to try a painting like this since I 1st thought of the idea last year.  I call it 'invisible painting', let me  explain why... The idea is that you look at the painting for 30 seconds then stare at a blank wall (preferably white), only THEN can you see the painting...when your not looking at it.

Another image to illustrate how the painting looks after staring at it for 30 seconds and then at a blank wall.

What you see above is an inverted image of the photos taken of the painting.  To give you an idea of what it looks like when you see the 'invisible version'. I hope that makes as much sense as I'm hoping it does. It meant painting the whole thing meticulously in negative and keeping a VERY sharp eye on details and how the paint falls with the tooth of the canvas.

So there you go...my 1st 'Crazy painting Experiment' :)  Lets just say I am rather pleased with myself that it didn't turn out a total mess lol. I figured it was time to start really pushing some boundaries with my paintings from time to time this year... I still have a few other crazy idea to try at some point, as well as some more 'normal' ones. Oh!...and Happy New Year.

Addition

I thought I'd add this while its still fresh in my head. Having to flip all the whites and dark's after spending so long getting good at that was like a person putting a food mixer in your head and switching it on.  I spent most of last night and all of today on it as I knew for  a certain fact if I split it into too many sessions then it'd turn out crap. I had to maintain the flow of the piece in order for it to have any chance of turning out the way I wanted it.

So as a result I am mentally and physically wiped out.  I see in my future a long lie down and maybe a celebratory pint this evening.  ...plus I have no idea what I am now going t do with it lol.

Secondary Addition:

The reason I chose Keith Richards is a simple one.  As a musician myself the true genius of Keith Richards isn't his image, the way he looks, or the stories that abound about him.  To truly understand you need to not  'look' but listen.

Third Addition:

Oh and nearly forgot... one of my songs got played on the radio on Saturday ngiht on BBC Radio Newcastle....which is nice.

My Review of 2014

Wayne's Review of 2014

2014, a very interesting year for me.  From a work point of view a good year, but on a personal level a little less than awesome.(OK..it was absolutely fucking terrible!  I seriously cannot wait to see the back of 2014...) I'm not going to go into too much of that however as my personal life is just that...personal.
But I think I need to break this into sections for the sake of clarity lol. (I hadn't realized how much I had actually done!)

Work 2014

The Secret Stuff
The year started positively doing remote work for one of the biggest companies around (not games BTW) in secret on a project I cant mention or even probably mention the name of the firm.  What I can say it was very cool and should that NDA ever be lifted I of course will put it here... It was one of a few very big firms I did work for on the quiet behind massive bible sized NDA's this year.

The videos

Ripper Street Series Two Breakdowns 

The Fossy jaw shot is one I did when I was working back at screen scene along with tracking By Yanko Slavov, Comp by Joe Courtis, and all sorts of clever stuff by John O Connell.  I'll be proud of that shot till my dying day. My work on it sculpting the Fossy jaw digital double, texturing it etc, setting up shaders was all done remotely from my office at the time in Leadgate. I to this day have never had the reference that was created in the same room lol.

Moonfleet breakdowns

Another screen scene job, this one done on site for TV Movie 'Moonfleet' (which was nominated for  as VES award for "outstanding supporting visual effects on a broadcast program".)  I did all sorts of stuff on this from a shed load of digital doubles (including one of Ray Winstone) to even rigging said digital doubles. I also wrote a full set of python tools for the comp dept while there and also did work on the diamond mine crowd stuff for Ripper Street series 2 at the same time.

Last Days on Mars breakdowns surface!

Nuff said...took a while but it eventually was released and things were allowed to be shown from my time as 3D Supervisor at screen scene.  A time when I had a fantastic team of people to work alongside.  A time of many happy memories.

My 2014 Reels

Logos for TV series 'Easy Riders 

Done for my mate actor Danny John-Jules (ie the bloke who played the Cat from Red Dwarf...and lots more).  I also did the logo for anther project called 'Diva'




Joining Rockstar North as Senior Environment Artist

I joined the biggest games company in the world and had a chance to work on awesome stuff i cannot mention (ever!), meet some amazing new people and live in Edinburgh. Alas I had to leave Rockstar due to serious stuff in my personal life meaning I couldn't confidently have given 100%.  The whole thing was done in secret with no one knowing until I was 10 seconds away from walking through the door on my 1st day lol. (Which I am oddly enough rather proud of.)

Music

In 2014 I released 3 commercial albums (one a reissue of stuff for the 1990's), having released 3 the previous year in October.

Album: This is Bat Country!

LINK

Spotify Link


An album of crazy electronic based stuff with a title that was meant  as a joke to a couple of mates of mine.  The title comes from Hunter S Thompson and the film 'fear and loathing in las vegas'.  One of the tracks (The Great Magnet) was much to my surprise voted as 3rd in the top ten electronic tunes of December! (link)

Album 'Hobbs Lane'

A reissue of an album of mine from either  1995 or 1997 (I honestly cant remember). All acoustic and most of it recorded in a single night. No electronic stuff at all.

'SuperCopperNanotube' (released under the name GSMA)

Spotify Link

iTunes Link

I decided to move all electronic music to another name from this point.  This album was a album of Dark Techno. It was done for a few reasons... one as I like techno and also to see if I could force myslf to write in a single style for a whole album.  (I often jump around musical styles like an overactive hobbit, covering everything from classical compositions to jazz, to heavy metal, to EDM etc...)

R & D

Project Suerat (high density accurate pointclouds from your phone).  

A very promising side project that ended up mothballed once I joined Rockstar North as senior enviro artist in march.  There was interest from some companies about acquiring it  / licensing it, but once I joined Rockstar that had to be abandoned. I may pay this back up in 2015.

MudWalker X2

The one where it allowed you to send models not just between apps but between machines anywhere on planet earth.

Experiments with Google cardboard

....nuff said.

3Dsmax to Mudbox to a painting R and D.

well that worked very well indeed!

Other stuff:

The End of the Waynecast's

After 150 'Waynecast's on YouTube I finally brought the curtain down dropping the 'persona' I used for the videos and covering some serious things. There were many reasons, one of which is people started to get the persona mixed up with the real me.  Also it seemed the right time.

I Started Painting again after a 20 year absence

I hadn't painted for 20 years...it all started with the crazy idea of doing a painting of my dad for his 70th birthday.  It sort of steamrollered onwards like a juggernaut from there.  I avoided the style that comes naturally for 20 yers ass to me it was too easy to replicate..I fought against it for two decades until I realized.... its how I am meant to paint.So I'll just add the paintings I've done so far this year.


I'll leave out the Robin Williams charity auction painting as that'll just confuse things. It did however raise money for the Samaritans.

So here are the paintings so far including the one I have just finished of my mother for her xmas present.

Interview in 3D Creative magazine

Its amazing how many people thought those images digital doubles were 3D scans..HINT: they weren't lol, they were all hand done.  It was unfortunate that I had to fillthe interview with old images as the majority of the things I had done in the previous 2-3 years have been for clients.

The Crappiest non personal thing this year:

Moved back to my home town and all my computers and computer gear and Wacom tablet blew up the same due due to a mega surge...I was not insured.  The Wacom had actually started to melt.  This all occurred the day I moved in!  Thousands of quids worth of gear lost. In fact I am only just starting to get back on my feet now.

...and in Ending.....

 Here's some links to some of my VERY FRANK thoughts on 3D, Art and Digital Art to maybe provide some food for thought over the festive period.

Wayne's Thoughts on Art Part 1

Wayne's Thoughts on Art Part 2

So on that note, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a fantastic 2015.

Wayne...