Howdy y'all, I've added some character sketches to the artwork section. I hope to add more when I get round to hitting the sketchbook again, whenever that may be!

Hi all! I have two new updates to mention. First is a new 10 second animation I have made for the e4 Stings 2011 competition. It is up in the videos section for your viewing pleasure! 

Second is a compilation video I have made using various clips from Blade Runner. This was made in some spare time after being particularly inspired by a Royksopp remix of In This Shirt by the Irrepressibles. I Initially intended to make a Films of Ridley Scott tribute video, but after pouring over the entire length of Blade Runner I realised I had enough wonderful shots to make a standalone tribute. Hope you like both the videos!

Phil

Ok I did not see THIS coming! I had a nerve wracking yet exhilerating experience the other day to find that Edgar Wright (one of my all time favourite directors) had posted my Shaun of the Dead in 60 Seconds entry for the Empire/Jameson Awards, on his blog! The fact that he alone appreciated it was enough to make my entire year/life, but I've been overwhelmed by the amount of positive comments that have been left about the film by others! It's not been a great year for me and I was initially very bummed out that I hadn't made the shortlist. Simply put my morale was at a low, but these comments (especially Edgar's) have been so supportive it's given me a real boost! So for anyone who reads this blog, thank you for giving an animator a reason to keep making more animation! Now, if only I could get a full time job off the back of this!

Good news everyone! I have finally put up my updated showreel, and whilst it still includes a lot of second year content it now contains a sequence from my major project and an updated version of my creative character work from my 3rd year at university. Take a look in the showreel section to see! For those wondering the music I've used is The Staunton Lick by Lemon Jelly.

The Shadow Lamp has taken a step back in the meantime as I have recently acquired some freelance work which will subsequently occupy most of my time for the next couple of weeks. But I intend to render any passes I can when I have the time!

So I've been busy over the past few months getting scenes set up for my short film, making posters, and making Shaun of the Dead in 60 seconds for this little competition
http://www.empireonline.com/awards2011/donein60seconds/
I've updated the artwork section with the les miserables poster image (the poster will follow shortly) I did for another one of Danny Greenhalghe's productions, which you can find out more about at his production sitehttp://www.crashbangwallop.org.uk


Lastly, I thought I'd upload another rendered frame from my short film, this time with the main character. (the backdrop still needs texturing) The last few weeks has seen a LOT of tweaking and finalising to the textures and shaders, but now has come for actual rendering time! I'm starting with the best character shot so that I can put it on my showreel whilst I render the others out. So I'll have an updated showreel on here before long...

... Ho ho ho, only joking. The film (titled The Shadow Lamp, though that still may be subject to change) is still in production and I still can't give an estimate as to its time of completion. However I aim to be rendering through December and after that point the only element that remains will be the 2D sequence that fills the middle section of the film. Which will seem like a piece of cake compared to this technical nightmare that I am currently undertaking! For now, here's a frame from the film (below). It's not much, but it's proof that there actually is a film in the making, honest.
























I have uploaded my old animations to the site, though the problem with the www. prefix still exists, I will post here when it is sorted...

So just a few things to point out regarding this new site. All the artwork that was on the old site is now safe on this one. That includes the digital art, photography and life drawings. There's even two new posters and a new photo gallery. WOW! HOWEVER - most of the animations are currently not available at the moment, including my showreel. The films on the old site existed on the server, but this time round I will be using vimeo to upload all the videos. Once they are uploaded I will embed them here for all to see! The bandwidth is reaching its limit at the moment, however, so I will update them when the new internet month (that's what I call it anyway) has arrived!


One last tadbit of info. For some reason using askins.co.uk (without using the www. prefix) brings up the old site, but I'm trying to get that sorted asap...

So it seems as though some people still check out my site from time to time. Surprising as it is, I know this fact because I have been complimented by a select few individuals, reminding me of the wonderful job I am doing of completely ignoring it for the past year! (it's been longer than that even) There are a few reasons for this lack of uploading work. 


Firstly, I'm a rightist.


I work on things until they are right, and then I move on. Some people would say it's just perfectionism, but really I set out to make what is in my head. Once I complete a project I tend to upload it to the site and move onto the next thing. The problem with this past (final) year (at University) is that time has not always been on my side, and as such I have not been able to make everything as I imagined them! So once I actually have content that is done and finished and exactly how I want it they will be ready to be uploaded. But that brings me to my next problem.


I'm not a web designer.


And as such the website I made 3+ years ago was easily navigable and somewhat nice to look at, but when it came to actually updating stuff I found myself cursing my remedial html abilities. Updating took a good chunk of time out of my day, and because I knew that this would happen, I spent the time doing other more important things, like my final major project, or winding down playing video games (which is of course very necessary sometimes).


And last but not least, I tend to put things off if they aren't urgently important. This is bad, and I am a bad person for it. However if people's lives were dependent on the freshness of my site then I would update it every single day. But I don't think people are like that (I hope).


So there you have it, a barrage of excuses for you to digest and spit back out when you realise how illegitimate they sound. BUT there is a ray of hope, in the form of this NEW site that you may have noticed set up now. The idea is that I have given up my oh so amateur web developing abilities to this Weebly DIY website creator which won't be the flashiest (or personal) of websites, but it will hopefully mean the return of (semi) frequent updates! So rather than an update every year, I might update it every half year! How good is that?!


ttfn
Phil



ps This attached blog will also hopefully act as a news feed for those times when I come up with more excuses for not uploading any work.