This would be the greatest soundtrack in a NES game EVER. The attention to detail in these bitmapped gems is pretty awesome. The first video is shorter, without any lyrics… the second video is the full song, complete with robotic lyrics. Hats off to ‘polygonskull’ for creating 8-bit renditions of the greatest metal song of all-time.

Turbonetics Indent Bumper from Andy Sapp on Vimeo.

Completion Time:		11 Hours			Software Used:		Photoshop, After Effects (CS3)

Anyone who has been laid off or fired will appreciate this short, yet sweet documentary about what to do when God gives you lemons.

Enjoy.

I always preach to clients that less is more. Nobody ever listens to me (why would I know what I’m talking about, right?), so I figured what better venue to exercise this philosophy than with my own work. For 2010, I am simplifying the overall identity for Slide Styleâ„¢. I don’t think it will open any client’s eyes to the ‘less is more’ idealogy, but at least it will give me a chance to push the direction for myself.

One of the greatest films I’ve had the privilege of viewing in years, Moon exceeded my expectations across the board. In many ways, this movie is a contemporary throwback to 2001, A Space Odessey, which to date, is the single-handed biggest influence on me as an artist. Any preconceived notion I had about this film’s ability to take style cues from such a masterpiece and stand on it’s own were quickly discarded. What I love about Moon is that once this film starts – it does not stop. It just keeps pulling you in, further and further. What starts out as a lonely sci-fi movie… evolves into an oddly empathic, yet sophisticated and schizophrenic thriller.

Equally as well-executed/stylized as the movie itself, the movie posters are iconic, simple, and VERY effective. Both posters convey the solitude that Sam Bell (Rockwell) endures. The first poster in particular (far superior to the second) flawlessly illustrates the schizophrenic undertone to the film. Absolutely brilliant. I also like the manually condensed ITC Blair Bold for the main title, over the use of Eurostile Extended in the second poster. Eurostile/Microgramma Extended is an obvious and ubiquitous (yet extremely effective) typeface for the sci-fi genre, but there is something oddly appealing to Blair Bold in this instance.

Without peeking before you see this movie… try to guess the computer voice of GERTY. Yet another perfect element in this classic film.

After many many years of collecting skateboard decks, I finally got around to getting them up on the wall. This was not an easy task… even with single-deck floating displays from Sk8tology. The problem hanging this many decks is that they all variate in size (width, specifically).

To make things easier, I took a wall measurement and created a document in Illustrator to scale. I laid out all the decks how I wanted them arranged, and measured them individually – creating a corresponding rectangle in Illustrator (also to scale). Once this was all done, I distributed spacing horizontally using the align palette. This gave me a precise figure to which I used a micrometer to translate spacing between decks as I hung them.

Why go through all that trouble? Feng shui is important – especially when I spend over 90% of the time in my office. Besides, a peril of being a designer is such that if they weren’t perfectly spaced, it would drive me nuts.

I still have about 12-15 more decks to hang on the opposing wall… so stay tuned for more!

I never thought I would see the day where I would be unable to distinguish CG imagery from that of reality. Alex Roman has totally shattered that apprehension with this piece called “The Third & The Seventh”. In all honesty, if I didn’t watch the compositing break-down and making-of… I would have sworn this was shot by a human with a real camera. Not only is the modeling and textural rendering beyond realistic… every piece of movement, from the (cg) camera to the trees & leaves, looks REAL.

Don’t take my word for it. See for yourself.
But PLEASE – watch these on the Vimeo page in FULLSCREEN-HD. These videos deserves NOTHING LESS.

The Third & The Seventh from Alex Roman on Vimeo.

If you had any doubts that this was computer-generated. Prepare to have them shattered.

Compositing Breakdown (T&S) from Alex Roman on Vimeo.

If you’re equally enthralled by Alex’s unparalleled craft as I am – take a look at the making of the Exeter shot. What surprisingly starts by pulling a 3D model off Google Sketchup, quickly gets torn apart and meticulously tweaked and textured. The frame then undergoes an equally thorough grading process in After Effects to create the final look.

Exeter Shot — Making Of from Alex Roman on Vimeo.

Granted, the year is fresh – but I am going to go ahead and nominate this is the most inspiring piece of work I have seen. For the ENTIRE year. I think something of this magnitude and minutely precise attention to detail will be hard to come by again in the near future. I read that Alex took a year-and-a-half sabbatical to complete this work. I, for one… say it was worth every waking second.

Thank you, Alex Roman.
Thank you.

In lieu of the new year, I decided to give the site a once-over with some new graphic elements and increased functionality. Since my pursuit of a career in professional drifting has long-since expired, I wanted adjust the main navigation to focus attention toward my artistic abilities.

Special thanks to Carlos Richard for the photo in the main header!

Lieze and I were watching Public Enemies late last night, and encountered what has to be the most surreal movie-watching experience EVER!

Just as the above scene began, Lieze asked me “what time is it”. I looked at my watch and said “4am”. NO JOKE, as soon as I finished saying “4am”, the girl in the movie says “what time is it”, and Dillinger (Depp) says “4am, Sunday morning”. We stopped the movie yelling “HOW DID THAT JUST HAPPEN?!?!?!”

Totally dumbfounded… we laughed hysterically about how impossible that was, and how something like that will never happen again.

Why I did not heed advice from so many good friends sooner, I have no clue. My trusty Apple Mighty Mouse has now taken a permanent position on the shelf, as this Wacom Intuos4 tablet has relieved it from further duty. I had heard from several people that there is a learning curve of two weeks in transitioning to a tablet. I didn’t experience that at all. I instantly felt at home… aside from occasionally going to grab where my mouse has been sitting for close to 20 years – but even that habit broke fast.

Using the pressure-sensitive brush in Photoshop physically gave me goosebumps. I don’t think that has ever happened to my from using a computer before. It is like I have access to a sketchbook with infinite layers, and the incredible ability to undo. I am indelibly hooked!