Moving On>>>

One phase finishes another starts. Starting this blogging thing a couple of years back I thought it would be quite fun to share the world my work. But with a few distractions in the way it got caught up in moving to another part of the world (Austria) then changing jobs. But now everything is a bit more settled and I have set up a new blog just titled Speedy J. It will be launched in just under 2 weeks from now it should be another outlet for me to communicate one of my real passions in life going fast in any way possible! Plus with a few other extra things thrown in. So this is the link hope you find it fun. Catch you soon!

SPEEDY J>>>>>>>

Cheers!
Mark

Auto Pop

Well its been a while. Summer kicks in and thats it I'm outta here! But this is what I have been up to in that period. Some were for a collection of T-Shirts (Mini and GTi) I was working on and it really just kicked off from there. Its all done through Photoshop to get it all nice and correct with a sketch, parts of photos I have taken over the years all mashed in for some details and then some inspiration from comic books.

Punk it up.

After the previous post I thought I should add some of my own images done with a project developed through Polygon modelling. My Thesis project. These are updated renderings from some reasonably recent experiments. I like the results and strong tech punk attitude that came through the colors.

With music it has to be my fav group over the past few years or so> TV on the Radio. Their new album is some of the freshest music I have heard in a long time and very enjoyable.
Flying Lotus is another great listen too.

Nu Wave Nuevo and the importance of the Polygon

Looking at the recent Paris Motor Show I was quite impressed with the wealth of ideas that came from it this year. In particular the array of innovation that stemmed from the interior design proposals in many concept vehicles. One area in particular was the array of complex surfacing happening within these cars. It’s almost like we are reaching Art Nuevo levels of artistic detailing again, which has come full circle from the time of streamlining principals that followed Art Nuevo and current obsessions with clean minimalist design. I feel it’s a trend that’s happening firstly from designers forever developed understanding of form and how it can be manipulated and applied. Secondly through the growing importance of computer aided design. Computer modeling programs now allow such a greater freedom to experiment in form finding, which is now partly leading to this great execution of form. In particular is the emergence of Polygon Modelling. There is a large selection of software out there that specialises in this field of modelling (Maya, Cinema 4D, 3D Studio Max) that’s usually associated with Computer animation, movie special effects and gaming. Over time as these programs get easier to use I think they could become almost the tool of choice for designers as they choose to think and work more in 3D. With the new edition of Maya 2009 it’s almost like you have a virtual ball of sculpey that you pull and push to create a form very intuitively. Where the process now is that we sketch first, render then finally model. These processes will eventually become more integrated, where you have the scenario in that you make a quick model, possibly add some quick Photoshop then present. All this can be done in a very short time frame and the form is almost fully resolved. For me the next logical step after this, would be the scenario where rapid prototype technology would be developed to a point where it is quite accessible and affordable almost to the same degree as a standard printer is these days. So instead of making a large plot of work, you simply print your new proposal. I see this as the impending future and a situation we will be looking at over the next 20 or so years. After seeing the latest concept on display at Paris maybe we got a little glimpse into what is possible for the future…

Another Pocket Racer

Zoom! A sports shoe meets a hatch.

Inspired by pumping Plump DJ's.

Oz Face

The face of the Oz car. Maybe inspired by an angry wombat, who knows?...

Gold!

Go Australia.

Aus Car Pt.2

Here is my proposal for a next generation large saloon vehicle for Australia. I took a pragmatic outlook to the whole idea. With smaller more fuel efficient engines proposed to be in use the cabin area could be pushed forward. No more gaps between front wheel and cabin area for Rear Wheel Drive proportion. So you have the feeling of a more practical package, especially with the use of a coupe, short rear overhang approach. Graphically I wanted a muscular appearance with pronounced character lines but not too steroid like.
The project was done 75% through Alias with all the surfacing and the front, window and wheel graphics from Photoshop.

So with an Australian theme in mind listen to Eddy current suppression ring and Pnau.

Missing in Action

Unfortunately my own computer has caught the flu as of last week. So now it has a virus awww.... So while its in computer hospital under inspection and having surgery, I have been stuck with my backup which I think was made before a Commodore 64. Making it hard to to really complete any images. But I can still thankfully play Tetris!
So anyway some more stuff will be posted later this week. I am also working on a small range of T-Shirts, which have been a load of fun and I'll post a link in the coming weeks about that. But in the meantime here are some cool sites that have been rocking my world down here for the past couple of weeks. Hope you find them interesting as well.
-Hip Stuff
The Hundreds
- I wanna be Cool Stuff
Uncrate
- Music Stuff
Pitchforkmedia
- Think Stuff
Instructables
- Stuff I want to do 30 years from now. What an adventure!
Melbourne to London
- Gundam Stuff!
Fichtenfoo.com

Music this week would be by Junior Boys

Something for the Bedroom Wall.

In my little bedroom here I have a wall with paint peeling off it. Because I really can not be bothered about repainting it, I think a large print like this will cover over the offending area. Stratos Zero would have to be one of the most amazing and original concepts ever and look what was derived from it. One of the coolest Rally cars ever!

> Santagold is bopping around in my headphones this week. Try the new Fourtet EP for something a little different

Ferrari 512

This would have to be one of my all time fav Ferrari Race cars. Also being a Ferrari it needed a touch of bling in the color arrangement.

Other news> Get anything done by Diplo for music, enough said.

Vector Graphics

I thought this may be of some interest. I have been been toying around with this technique over the past 6 months. I think it has some real merit. Mainly for the reason that those "hard to render" design elements can be resolved by using vector graphics in programs such as Illustrator in a very small amount of time. All is explained and and expanded upon further in the images.

Check it! > This weeks musical theme is still with an electronic edge. Air France new their Ep and anything by Diplo. Also special mentions have to go to my Belgian buddies in Kris and Bram for their very nice recommendations in the Ting Tings, and Alexisonfire. Maybe this blog should also become the worlds first BJ (Blog Jockey just to clear that up) where there are just big shout outs on cool music and links. Yeah!

Aus.Car

A render of a project I am working on in Alias at the moment. Kinda like a proportion study for a future Australian sedan. Been a lot of talk here at home on where the local automotive industry is heading and ways it can keep itself relvent. Thought it would be interesting to have a design take on this. Stay Tuned...



BTW > For some musical intrigue try Crystal Castle > Hot!
> LeMans was a load of fun to watch this year too. Well as much fun as can be had out of watching a 24hr race (I didn't watch the whole thing)! I think the Audi still looks the coolest racecar in the event so well resolved. For cool quirkiness I think for the Dome car is the one, it reminds of a racecar designed by Manga artists. But for an awesome color scheme (Gulf colours) along with its very muscular and aggressive look, this year the Aston had the complete package. But I just love motorsport nostalgia.

PShop Pencil Brush

Been a long time since the last post, but have been couped up in the computer lab at home playing around with the tablet. This rendering is more an experiment than anything, its really not finished but its roughness made it cool I think. I was messing with brushes to get a more pencil look to the rendering. The actual car is one my Dads projects at home.

917/30 Absract Version

Another 917 and another in yellow. It was an accident (having it in yellow) but for the good. I love the 917/30, such a simple and almost cartoonish proportion with its wide body and massive rear wing. It just looks fast, and in qualifying trim it produced 1500hp(!) so its performance matched its menace.
For the rendering I wanted to have a play on this simple volume so I used a combination of many graphical paths, photos of paper, which are then chopped into the image to match the outline and surfaces of the car. Then just played with the colours and filters in PShop to get the best and most vibrant outcome. Most of the layers have color dodge on them, this is how I got to the yellow and other glowing details. For some reason the image comes up all blurry too, obviously the computer does not like me.

BTW- Thanks to everyone who has posted a comment, linked this blog, or just had a browse. Its really cool to get all the feedback. Glad your enjoying it, been fun doing it and it keeps me away from playing too much Pacman.

917 Experiment

Have been busy of late trying to refine some techniques. So this time I thought it would be fun to try it out on one of my fav Race cars a 917. Its a cross between this mapping theme, a a lot of paths and using filters all in Photoshop.

Mapping

I thought this may be of some interest and so I documented this technique in the way of a tutorial. Mapping is the best way to describe it and I used it all the way through my thesis to reach my final outcome. Its basically using a series of images and making a rendering out of them. In this example I used some paper models I had made and stuck the images of them onto the rendering to make the forms. I thought it would be best to start in a side view and build the story of the design from there. So once you have this first view the elements of the vehicle can be twisted and turned in Photoshop to match the view in which you are rendering.
I hoped it provides some form of inspiration, I think you can go in any real direction with this. So if you try it out let me know how you found using it. I like this method because it gives me a greater field of options in developing forms and communicating them. Along with this it can also bring a more human and emotional touch to the rendering.

Pocket Racer Revisited

A little sidetracked at the moment. I was cleaning up my hard drive and came across these images. So I had a little play around. An alternate take on Race car graphics and layouts. They can be a little generic at times. Look at Nascar for example, although it is tough when your car is meant to be a business card on wheels to also make it look cool. Check it!
BTW - If you are wondering why I did 3.0. I thought it would be cool to do a race number for the computer generation, that is used to seeing Microsoft Word 2.76. A different look at a racing number, thats it.

Mazda Madness Pt.2

Another Mazda Sports car this time I rippeed it up with the good old no.19 Round Brush. But slightly modified. Next week I will post some quick tutorials.
> R.I.P Super Aguri
> MGMT: Oracular Spectacular; my album of the week!

Saab 9 3

A continuation on from doing the 3 views thing, this time a Saab. I concentrated more on the rendering quality this time trying bring a high glossy, gooey icing topping feeling to the surface. Ill leave it at that...