Tuesday 14 June 2011

Something I forgot...

When mentioning the Kakapos earlier I forgot to show you something I'm quite proud of...The Characters Model Sheets! *gasp* wow, incroyable! C'est vrai!




The idea was to tell the story of how Kakapos became extinct and these were the three main characters named after present day Kakapos. The end story turned into something completely different, but that's for another time. Honestly, look up Kakapos, look at how cool they are, learn how they're the world's only flightless parrot and how there's so few of them left that they all have names. It's crazy and these birds need all the help they can get, even though there's a really strong effort in New Zealand at the moment.

And so it goes...

I'm always applying for jobs that require me to use Flash, because it's a nice package and the only one available to me to animate in. But, that aside, these jobs I apply for...I hear nothing back. But when I do it's usually to demonstrate how I use Flash; recently I was asked to basically copy someone else's designs for a game, which I thought was a pretty poor way of conducting yourself if you're in a game making business...why would you copy something that's already out there to try and compete with it? What? A lot of people do this? Oh, I guess that's how the business works then...I'll just keep trying and applying.



Looking back at them I could've probably done better...but then I only did these in an hour or something...

Monday 6 June 2011

eh, why not?

here's my showreel, not updated with awesome animations I am doing at the moment...they will be put in soon though.

wow, mate...

This one's kept me busy for aaaages...but animation is a slow process.



I've also been working on something else which will make an appearance once it's polished and done...you'll see...you'll all see!

Tuesday 3 May 2011

And this is supposed to make me feel better?

I recently went to Glasgow. When I was there I picked up some awesome pens. Then, to try the pens out, I drew this.




Yep, it's a sad cat who's had his nuggs removed and his/her owners have given him/her a ball of wool as compensation...the cat is not impressed at losing two balls and gaining one...

Thursday 21 April 2011

I am riding on a bus!

So yeah. Somedays, when I'm coming home from one of my jobs I sometimes have to get the bus...it's okay, no big deal, since my phone can go on the internet. Sometimes, when I'm on the internet, I like to see what's going on in people's lives on facebook and twitter. But sometimes, when I do this other people want to know what I'm looking at. You can't be nosey in peace anymore...what a world...




So this would be a pencil, pen, then photoshop job. After realising I am a complete moron, this didn't take anywhere near as long as the previous attempts at photoshop I have put on this blog (see free running...down there somewhere...) and a quick tutorial has halved my time on this colouring malarkey.




Here's the pencil then pen version of the pic...I like to think it goes something like this:

thought bubbles and that

ME (bottom right): damn...can't a guy be nosey in peace anymore? What a world...

Old Lady: oooooooo, so that's what [name deleted]'s been up to, why won't they accept my friend request?

Old Man: that there's witchcraft I tell ye!

Chav Lass: That [expletive deleted] phone's well [expletive deleted] and that [expletive deleted] [name deleted]'s a [expletive deleted] bitch...wonder where she got that [expletive deleted] top from?

Fat Guy: has he got a sausage roll from Gregg's?



and then this happened to the old man:


"oooopthffffth"

Wednesday 20 April 2011

Ok, so...

...yeah, I just joined Vimeo and decided to show the video I'm proudest of on my blog...and the video advertises the blog...what a strange thing to do...

My Blog from Martin Hopwood on Vimeo.



so yeah, check out that sweet animation while I make some more... byeee

Friday 25 March 2011

Sketchbookery

The title says it all really...things from my sketchbook I like:



Well...this guy really looks like Samurai Jack...I'll give you that. Wasn't it Gennedy Tartakovsky who was behind that? what an amazing cartoon...I'm gonna have to get the dvd...if there is one?




 Yeah, it's a tree monster...or a monster tree...maybe it's a monster that used to be a tree? These are serious questions people...




Okay, so an egyptian God maybe? I just remembered "Monster in My Pocket" and one of them looked like this, I thought it was awesome even though the number on the bottom was 16 or something...not a very powerful guy but cool none-the-less...why do I remember useless stuff like this?


Remember Tail-Spin?





Alright, a bit of Eastman and Laird's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! but...they've got initials on their belts...they didn't have that in the comic! Oooohhhhhh...these are the cartoon ones then...which was called Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles when it was broadcast in England...why? Who knows, man? just gimme some pizza and haul shell...



nostalgia *gasp*

You've got Ed on you...

Edgar Wright is being hailed these days as a really good director...good for him. I agree with this sentiment and have been a fan of Edgar's work since I saw Spaced...which is amazeballs...I'm serious you should be watching it right now...

Anyway, I was thinking about my favourite film he's done (Shaun of the Dead) and decided to have a crack (pun) at what my imagination conjures up when I do think of the film.




Of course, the above drawing is derived heavily from the influence Scott Pilgrim has had on me recently. Were it not for Edgar's film (Scott Pilgrim vs. The World) I might'nt've picked up Bryan Lee O'Malley's graphic novel series...which is amazeballs, why aren't you reading it?

And so, to that effect I crapped up the cross-over someone was asking for "Shaun 'N' Pilgrim vs. The Dead"...this could have been made better with zombies and evil ex's surrounding the boys but I really, really couldn't be bothered after this...maybe one day.




Seriously...a lot of copyright going on here so I'll say it was all Edgar and Bryan's work first...thanks lads...

Friday 25 February 2011

Also...

if you go here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sugar-Glider-Comics/151370661553515 and look at the fan art section you'll see another drawing I did recently...it's of Newcastle's own super hero: Sugar Glider!





(yay, free publicity for indie comics hooraaaaayyyy-ah)

It's Great up North

This man actually exists... Every time I go out to the shopping centre there's this man...honestly, he really does exist, he's about 105 and held together by his own desire to sit in the middle of the shopping centre drinking coffee. His headphones look like they should be on a 15 year old emo kid and his bracelet has actual jewels on it. If I can ever slyly get a picture of him I will and it's a real sight...



He's a wizard...I know it.

Thursday 24 February 2011

Free Running Tie-In

This is just a small accompaniment to the Free Running post below. Something to establish the character...I had a mash up of Spider man and Bat man in mind so it works...


yeah, comes off pretty well I reckon...I'll ink it some day. I'm really starting to like inking...

Wednesday 16 February 2011

Free Running Ba-DOOM!

So...Free Running...that's pretty cool innit...


...but then...photoshop Free Running...that's pretty cool too...I need to think of something to do with this...a project, maybe? We'll see...


Friday 11 February 2011

In the Shadow of Ico, where the castle is Colossal...

If you've played "Ico" or "Shadow Of The Colossus" you might recognize these characters...if not then these are two characters from games made by team Ico for Sony Entertainment. This is one of my first photoshop jobs and I'm pretty pleased with it:


The character on the left is Ico I think, or Horn Boy from the game Ico and the character on the right is Wander from Shadow Of The Colossus, if you haven't played either of these games I strongly recommend them.  This picture started off as a pen drawing...let's take a look:


I'm really proud of these but the characters are (c) of Sony Entertainment and Team Ico, man, these guys sure can make some awesome characters...

Thursday 10 February 2011

If you go down to boro today...

...and go to Forbidden Planet you might see the guy this was based on, he's only into Manga...not very much help if you ask him about anything else.



Monday 7 February 2011

"Is He strong?"...Listen bud...

Pretty pleased with this Spider-man picture I must've done whilst at work...I think it was just a "I'm gonna pick up this pen and put the pointy end on the paper and see what comes out after an hour or so" type of job...I THINK it was that kind of job since Spidey's calf, shin and foot is pretty badly out of proportion...ah well, the rest is quite nicely done anatomy I guess:


...oh by the way, the colouring was just highlighters I found on someone's desk at work. I kind of like the effect that the red highlighter gives because it was almost dried up when I found it...up, up and away, web!

Spider-man is (c) of MARVEL and all it's subsidiaries...or something...I dunno, I didn't create the character Stan Lee, Steve Ditko and Jack "King of Comics" Kirby did I think...

Been a while...

It's been a while since I posted since christmas was busy and there's a fair bit of stuff going on and something else vague that acts as an excuse for lack of updates...
...so, while cleaning up the flat, I decided to procrastinate and look through some mountains of paper I refer to as "Uni Work" and found a bit of life drawing I'm quite pleased with since I was able to actually make the figure look like a cartoon...



...mental, innit?

EDIT: just found this and thought it was an ace bit of life drawing...