Heath IT lABS

Category: Saturday Sneak Peek

  • Saturday Sneak Peek: Animated Suzi

    I have been studying animation off and on since I first picked up Preston Blair’s Animation book waaay back in the early 70’s. I was fascinated with cartoons. Still am. Somewhere along the way, I guess I grew up and forgot about making cartoons. Then computers came along and boom, here we are. I have been working with 3D animation since the 90’s but never really did much character work with it. That’s changing with Suzi.

    Animated Suzi
    Animated Suzi
    I am going to get her animated as soon as I can. The problem I am running into is resources. I simply don’t have the computing power I need to produce the vision I have. The image you see here took 7.5 hours for the computer to create. Now when you figure I need 30 frames to make one second of video, that gives you an idea of what I am talking about. Sure, I am simplifying the matter a bit, but you get the overall idea.

    The good part is that I have a plan in place to be able to upgrade my current PC by the end of the year to a beast that will be able to get me animating like a boss.
    In the meantime, I am will start posting some of my shorter works to get you pumped up!

  • Saturday Sneak Peek: Space madness!

    Ok, so this isn’t really a sneak peek as it is just a peek. I love creating, and back in the day I was a fool for painting.
    So recently I had gotten interested in spray art. I love the free form nature and the challenge of using everyday materials to make something super cool.

    I wanted to give my PC a Suzi inspired facelift, and so a quick trip to grab some spray paint later, here we are.  It’s a ton of fun, and I am thinking about posting some original Suzi spray art for sale.  I would encourage anyone that thinks this is cool to look up spray art on youtube.  With just a little practice,  you can make some awesome looking art.

    I would love to see what you guys can make!

    Spray art space painting
    Spray art space painting

  • Saturday Sneak Peek: The Nova

    The Nova
    The Nova

    Why did an experimental ship jump 13 billion light years from home, right into the heart of an alien battlefield?
    We’ll find out…

  • Saturday Sneak Peek: Dude, where’s my pants?

    No Pants
    Do you feel a draft?

    Will Suzi ever find a way home? Will she find out what caused the overload that carried her 13 billion lightyears from home?
    Will she find some trousers?
    It’s a cold galaxy out there for our cheeky heroine.

  • Saturday Sneak Peek: Trouble!

    I am working on a couple of other projects besides Suzi.
    I had an earlier post about how Lewaine was able to help me refine my workflow to increase my creative output.

    trouble
    This could be trouble…

    I thought I would share an image from one of those projects.    I always wondered what would happen if you took some classic monsters, added equal parts Lovecraft and attitude, and let it bake for a while.

    Well, we will find out this summer!

     

     

  • Saturday Sneak Peek: Mecha Madness!

    Quad mech trouble!
    Quad mech trouble!

    A quick look at an unfinished panel from an upcoming issue!

    It’s been a super hectic couple of weeks.  But in a good way.  I have finally hit my stride on Suzi, and have bandwidth for some exciting new projects that are on the horizon.  I will give more details as they firm up, but it’s looking like 2013 is going to be a great year!

  • Saturday Sneak Peek:The sad time

    Sad Suzi
    Lost in another galaxy.

    It’s a big lonely galaxy out there…

  • Saturday Sneak Peek: Saucers, baby!

    saucer
    A retro spacegirl needs a retro saucer!

    Just what every spacegirl needs!  Flying saucers rock, and flying saucers with twin rayguns rock even harder!

    I use a variety of tools in making Suzi.
    One of my goals is to get her animated later this year, so I have been designing the strip using tools like Cinema 4D, then working the image in Photoshop.

    I keep my options open and thanks to my publisher, I plan ahead and design for reuse.
    This will save me a lot of time during the animation process.
    Suzi is definitely a long term relationship…

     

  • Saturday Sneak Peek: The Outpost!

    outpost1
    The Outpost

    Saturday!
    It comes and goes way too fast for my taste.
    Here’s another WIP that shows Suzi on her quest to find a way home.

    There are a lot of classic sci-fi elements that go into Suzi.
    I’ve been posting weekly about the inspirations that went into Suzi, many of them coming from the books I read as a kid.
    Mix in classic shows like Lost in Space, Voyage to the bottom of the sea and Land of the Giants (Irwin Allen ftw!).

    What are some of the shows and comics that you remember from growing up?

     

  • Saturday Sneak Peek

    Deco Print
    Deco Print

    This is from one of the series of deco style prints I am working on for Suzi.
    This is sort of my action take on Dave Stevens Betty print.

    The store is in the works, and while the website is still pretty young, there is a lot of art that is already done.
    My natural inclination is to post it all at once, but I am pacing myself.
    This way I give myself a sizable buffer for finishing up Issue 2.

    Lots of fun ahead.  I hope to see you there.