bastila

I love Bioware's Knights of the Old Republic. If I were possible to forget a game and replay it just to experience it for the first time again, this game would probably be it. I think it's the one of the first games I've played where I was so engrossed with the story that I found myself with the controller glued to my hands as day turned to night then turned to day again. I'll never forget the exhilaration I felt during the major turning point of the game. Plus Darth Revan is quite possibly the best Sith Lord out there (I'm kinda excluding what they did to him in The Old Republic...)

lisbeth

Feeling drained from a whole bunch of stuff, I sketched out Lisbeth Salander from Girl with the Dragon Tattoo just for fun, and to get my creative juices flowing again. I meant to post it in my previous entry but I was not satisfied with how it turned out, so I went back and redrew her.

stuffs

I had a pretty rocky start when the new year rolled in, but I'm re-collecting myself, and pushing up the hill to get back to where I was at. For my Romeo and Juliet project, I'm still going through the process of switching story beats to fit the time/setting I wanted. A few days ago, I thought it was all smooth until I came into roadblock, but hopefully it's just me over-thinking into reality. Fortunately, I have character designs that are heading into where I want them to be. Meanwhile, I have been doing random things to get back into the flow.

Here are some studies of films I've been watching to get myself into the setting of my project:

                     

Both of them are from The Butler, but I've also watched The Help and A Bronx Tale.

Other than the studies, I've gone out sketching with my friend, Catharina (her blog.), in Santana Row/Valley Faire.

I also went to the Anders Zorn exhibit for a second time as well. I just really wanted to take in as much as I can of his works while I still have the ability to look at them up close. His watercolors are just outstanding. Additionally, I went with a couple of friends to the Eyvind Earle Gallery in Carmel. I regret not being able to paint/sketch more while I was there but at least I saw some amazing paintings!

I also had jury duty for the second time within two months (because I accidentally asked for a postponement). I used a better part of my time working on my project and drawing the back of people's heads.

gambino is a mastermind

As a way to get ready for my Romeo and Juliet personal project, I started studying how to paint darker skin colors. I first went with copying Childish Gambino's cover from his new album, because the internet, because I've been listening to it recently. Check it out if you have the chance as it really expands beyond the music: he wrote a screenplay (becausetheinter.net), made a short film before the album release, and a bunch of other stuff to make it a more immersive experience.

 Here's the video for one of his singles, 3005.

Childish Gambino "3005" from Hiro Murai on Vimeo.

Pretty simple video but goes beyond just a simple ride on the ferris wheel with his beloved teddy bear.


 Here's what I painted, 1 hour and a half study:

And here's the original album cover.

That's it for now. Have a merry Christmas!

Fall 2013 Semester Review

The semester's finally over! I couldn't be any more proud of myself in finishing my classes and be satisfied of the work I've done throughout.

Along with an amazingly talented crew and a great director, Dave Yee, we finished Dave's short film, Jimmy Loves Juice! Apparently it is the first time that a crew has managed to finish a film within a semester despite doubts that it could not be finished. As one of the background leads, it was definitely an honor and a great learning experience working on this film!!

Here's the trailer: Jimmy Loves Juice Trailer

I've updated this blog a couple of times on my progress within my visual development class. Our last project was Robin Hood set in the California Gold Rush.

For this round, I was set on trying to paint realistically rather than stylized. It's something I never really touched upon digitally, and if I wanted to work for the video games industry (heck, even the film industry), I needed to get my realistic painting skills up. I also set myself the goal on finishing my environments because the last three times, the environments I've done did not get to the level where I could have taken them. Fortunately, we had 2 extra passes for this project and working on my environments taught me various things that I did not pick up on previously.

Over the break, I plan on working on my own personal take of Romeo and Juliet and use my acquired knowledge from this semester to bring out something great!

Portfolio Website

If you haven't noticed, I updated my portfolio! Instead of it being a page from this blog, I now have a website.

My Portfolio Website

It's definitely (and always) a work in progress! I also uploaded my Robin Hood project in there, which I'll talk about soon!

Teemo vs. Pikachu

A piece I did for a friend of mine. A nice little break from working on my projects.