Nature Shock - The Whale that ate the Great White.

Here is another television documentary I watched the other week. Its part of the Nature Shock series on Five (channel 5) and covers a dramatic event when the one of the top predators in the sea, the Great White Shark, became the prey for the first time to another predator, the Killer Whale.

Here is the HTML address which links you directly to the Episode if you wish to see it:

The Whale that ate the Great White

BBC Television Series - Life.

Many people may ave posted this already in their blogs, but it's not going to stop me posting it.
The BBC is currently showing a series entitled Life.
It is narrated by Sir David Attenborough, and each episode is dedicated to one of the types of the Animal Kingdom, such as Mammals, Reptiles, Insects etc.
I have been watching the whole series, and it has really opened to my eyes up to the Animal Kingdom, and just how vast it is.
I have always been interested in animals, and the different sorts you can find here, and around the world. But this series shows that there is so much more to the Animal Kingdom than what initially meets the eye.
If you have not yet watched it you really should as the show is great, and I guarantee you wont stop watching it once you have started.

Here is a link to the BBC's Website for Life:

BBC - Life

And here is the link to the BBC iPlayer for the Life Episodes:

BBC iPlayer - Life

Making a Fish Tutorial.

When I started looking at how to create my Koi design in 3D S Max, I stumbled across a tutorial for making a basic fish on YouTube.
This should help me get started on my idea, I hope!
Here are all the 4 parts of the tutorial, so that everyone can have a look and maybe have a go too.

Idea for Stamp No.1

I watch a lot of documentary programs, and one of my favourites is Miami Ink.
I love tattoos. I have one myself, and I plan to have alot more.
One of my favourite types of tattoos is the Japanese Koi Fish tattoo.
I love the bold lines you get with these types of tattoos, that really makes them stand out and catch your eye. For my first stamp, I think I am going to encorporate this type of design into a 3d rendering. the tattoo style links to my earlier research on Pop-Art and Japanese Art, with the bold lines and simple colours of the Pop-Art theme, and the soft and sutble shading from the Japanese side.

Christmas Stamps.

Every year, my mum always seems to get brand new Christmas stamps to use when she sends out Christmas cards. And very year I notice that there is always new designs, and alot of designs for a single year. Here is a little selction I found of previous Christmas stamps.

Insect Stamps.

When I was searching for existing stamp designs, I came across these Royal Mail stamps that contain images on insects. Pretty unusual!

Royal Mail Stamps.

Here are the current Royal Mail 1st and 2nd Class stamps.
This gives an idea for the size we will be working with, although obviously these images are not to scale!

Pumpkin.

Richard gave us a tutorial today on how to create lighting and change it so that it sets the mood for the scene.
He is my effort, using Richards pumpkin object, which we all used as a base.

Searching for Ideas - Pop Art

Pop Art is a form of art I have admired for many years. Throughout my schooling years, I would always pick Pop Art subjects to work with in Art class, from my first year at GCSE through to the last of A-Level, and it is still something I like to look at these days.
One of the biggest Pop Artists that established the whole subject was my favourite Pop Artist, Roy Lichtenstein.
His works are some of the most recognised in the Pop Art culture, although not many people would know who he was and that he created these masterpieces.
The bright bold colours in the pieces he created influence me greatly, although the themes he picked is not something I will be following for this project.
I hope to encorporate some of his design into my pieces.

Searching for Ideas - Japenese Art

Time to start genertibng some ideas for my stamp designs.
Going along the biodiversity theme, I have decided to go for a more abstract approach to my designs, rather than lifelike themes. I want to make my stamps bold and bright, that stand out from the flat blank evevelop they will be placed upon.
I have started researching ideas by looking at traditional japanese artwork. for hundreds of years, japanese artists have created pieces along the theme of nature, and have been inspired by the natural surroundings they encounter. However, a lot of older japanese art pieces use pastel type colours, which arent as bright as the more modern pieces you might find.

Rendering.

Tried out some rendering methods today. created a quick apple and chopping board on 3DSMAX, then rendered them with some Bitmap images. I rendered the apple in an apple texture, and the chopping board in a rusty metal texture. Both came out rather well for a first attempt.