the olly brown blog

Uhted of Bebanburg

2012-01-16T22:01:00.002Z

Inspired by the novels of Bernard Cornwell, Uhtred of Bebanburg is the Wolf helmeted hero of the making of England novels.

Time for a knee's up!

2011-12-30T22:28:00.001Z

Boulangerie Parisien

2011-12-04T23:08:00.004Z

I've modelled a building for the 2CV animation. Will have some fun adding more buildings to the scene.

Digital Round-up

2011-12-01T20:28:00.007Z

This week saw the launch of two digital projects I was involved in so I thought it was time for a Digital round-up.
First up is Plug-in Media's Driving Academy for CBBC.
'Put your skills to the test in this challenging driving game. Watch out for speed cameras and other obstacles whilst trying to meet your target time!' Theres a case study of the project here.
Next up is a series of three new Christmas themed apps for Disney Junior made by Kanoti
I joined the Brighton based creative team to provide Illustration and animation assets.
Lastly, The Octonauts has been nominated for Best Companion Website at the Kidscreen awards. winners will be announced at the second-annual Kidscreen Awards ceremony, taking place in February 2012 at the New York Kidscreen Summit.

Children's Baftas 2011

2011-11-28T09:55:00.003Z

Congratulations to all the winners at this years Children's Baftas, especially Harley Bird and all the crew at the Elf factory for the double win Best Performer and Best Pre-school animation for Peppa Pig! Full list of winners here.

2CV on the move!

2011-11-21T13:04:00.002Z

Norman weight lift

2011-11-15T21:27:00.000Z

2CV render

2011-11-11T22:09:00.003Z

Citroen 2CV challenge

2011-11-10T09:01:00.004Z

As I haven't had much time to model recently, I set myself the challenge of creating a model from scratch in one day and here are the results! I was particularly inspired by the vehicles in the new Tintin movie, so I chose a Citroen 'deux cheveaux'. I'm planning to do some animation tests with it, so have left it light on detail. Colour render coming soon!

Norman Rig

2011-10-05T21:16:00.000+01:00

The Knight

2011-09-06T21:57:00.002+01:00

Inspired by our recent vist to Puy de Fou in France here is the Knight Guillaume de Puy de Fou.

Playing with trains

2011-07-04T09:29:00.001+01:00

Train test

2011-06-23T08:09:00.003+01:00

I built this train to learn more about rigging in Maya. The pistons and connecting rods are guided by the wheel rotations using constraints. I also experimented with driven keys. The track was made using a motion path, animation snapshot and animated sweep. The train also follows the motion path. To add carriages i'm planning to build an IK chain.

Mmm, Sausages

2011-06-16T22:09:00.002+01:00

Pheasant

2011-06-06T07:08:00.001+01:00

VW Bus Turntable

2011-05-24T20:33:00.001+01:00

Alfa Romeo Monza turntable

2011-05-24T07:16:00.002+01:00

Alfa render test

2011-05-08T23:24:00.003+01:00

First couple of renders to check model. Some texturing to follow!

More Alfa Progress

2011-05-03T23:46:00.005+01:00

Overall modelling complete, now starting to add in the detailing.

Alfa Progress

2011-04-27T22:22:00.001+01:00

Alfa Monza

2011-04-14T22:56:00.004+01:00

Here are a couple of screen grabs of my latest polymodelling project. Its based on a 1930's Alfa Romeo racer.
Main body and wheels complete.

On the river

2011-04-10T21:22:00.003+01:00

Peppas Camper

2011-03-26T16:44:00.002Z

Suppertime Serenade

2011-03-17T07:32:00.001Z

Welcome to Suppertime serenade a new Tom and Jerry flash game I helped to design and animate for Plug-in media.

Blakes Walk

2011-03-16T09:22:00.001Z

Blake walk from oliver brown on Vimeo.

Mental ray

2011-02-09T22:23:00.004Z

First go at rendering with Mental ray, pretty excited about the results!

Render!

2011-02-02T22:23:00.005Z

First proper render using Maya software renderer.

Bus now in colour

2011-01-27T23:30:00.004Z

With just a few more tweaks to go, I couldn't resist adding a bit of colour to the bus. Its a based on the classic VW colour scheme of Palm Green / Sand Green.
Final modelling touches included exposed cargo door hinges, rear light clusters and number plates and mirrors. So onwards to texture, light and render!

More bus progress

2011-01-24T07:05:00.006Z

More progress, windows further defined, reworked front wheelarches. Airvents, nose badge, door handles and Towel rails on bumpers added. Wheels detailed.

VW Bus, a work in progress

2011-01-20T07:07:00.004Z

Blakes lift

2011-01-09T21:26:00.003Z

Blake Lift from oliver brown on Vimeo.

Heres a weight lifting test made using Maya.

Mustang

2010-12-31T07:32:00.006Z

Haven't posted in a little while, but i've not rested on my laurels! This one was quite an involved little project. Full model then unwrapped and textured in photoshop.
Really pleased with the results.

Duck!

2010-10-28T21:13:00.001+01:00

Stand up!

2010-10-27T07:35:00.003+01:00

Blake stand from oliver brown on Vimeo.

Animated in Maya, a little test piece using constraints and IK/FK switching,

Explore! Rescue! Protect! Octonauts have gone live!

2010-10-24T20:20:00.005+01:00

I'm delighted that the Octonauts website has gone live. It's the first of three interactive projects i've worked on recently for Plug-In media, with the next two rolling out shortly.

With The Octonauts already having a strong style, my job as Designer was to carry the look and feel of the show forward into the site. The Octobrowser is used to navigate content, go on missions to release sea creatures and explore the Ocean.

On the missions you play as Barnacles, Kwaazi and Peso to release creatures trapped in the ice, caught in a storm or visiting your undersea hospital.

Partridge in a Pear tree

2010-10-17T19:12:00.001+01:00

Blake's run

2010-09-25T09:20:00.001+01:00

Blake run from oliver brown on Vimeo.

Blakes Castle

2010-09-23T13:27:00.001+01:00

Blakes castle from oliver brown on Vimeo.

Heres another short acting experiment, this time using the Blake rig.

I've tried to look at the overall posing for each of the main phrases, and hey, no gimbal lock!

Digger test

2010-09-15T10:28:00.003+01:00

Digger test from oliver brown on Vimeo.

Another animation test. Here the challenge was setting up the aim constraints to allow the pistons to move correctly as the digger arm swings, and parent constraints to allow the box to be picked up and dropped by the scoop.

Lamp Animation

2010-09-15T09:18:00.001+01:00

Lamp animation from oliver brown on Vimeo.

A Maya animation test based on an Escape Studios tutorial. Model was rigged for animation then animated, lit and rendered.

Owl

2010-09-07T22:59:00.002+01:00

Lip sync test

2010-07-22T07:55:00.001+01:00

Lipsync test from oliver brown on Vimeo.

A short Lip sync test based on a tutorial by Eric Luhta.

NURBS scooter

2010-07-19T15:31:00.005+01:00

Had a go at NURBS modelling, lofting or extruding all the major components, and here are the results!

Blue nose friends

2010-07-01T09:37:00.005+01:00

Heres a link to the Blue nose friends story, 'Adventure in the Park' animated by Steve Whiteley at Gizmo Animation.
I worked with Steve on the project as a Celaction consultant and built alot of the characters.

Handspring

2010-07-01T09:17:00.001+01:00

Handspring from oliver brown on Vimeo.

Here's a short animation exercise i've been working on in Maya.

Skillset

2010-06-29T11:11:00.003+01:00

I've just completed my first Accreditation visit as an Animation Evaluator for Skillset . I can't give any details about the visit, but it was a very interesting day and great to meet the tutors and students and see the work.
For more details about Skillset, the sector skills council for Creative media, check out their website at www.skillset.org/

Acting test

2010-06-13T21:34:00.001+01:00

Acting test from oliver brown on Vimeo.

A short acting test done in Maya a little while ago.

Busy, busy, busy

2010-06-13T21:00:00.003+01:00

I haven't posted for ages, been too busy on some exciting projects.
Most recently i've been working on a football game for Plug-in media, a fantastic Brighton based company. I've been animating assets for the game and designed the logo and icons for the user interface. The game should be going live in a couple of weeks so i'll post a link then.

Amantia Design

2010-04-25T19:58:00.003+01:00

Really been enjoying the output of Czech studio Amantia Design, especially their Machanarium game. Fantastic design and headscratching conundrums, and cute robot designs too!

New website goes live!

2010-04-09T09:24:00.003+01:00

My new website has gone live at www.obrown.co.uk
Its linked to the blog, so regular updates will still appear here and you can check out my Vimeo and Flickr gallerys directly.

Walk Cycle

2010-03-22T17:24:00.002Z

Walk Cycle from oliver brown on Vimeo.

Ronald Searle exhibition

2010-03-19T09:41:00.002Z

Ronald Searle turned 90 on March 3rd. To celebrate the Cartoon Museum are hosting a great exhibition of his work, dating from the early 30's right through the St Trinians and Molesworth era to later political works. Great stuff! There are also tributes from Uli Meyer, Steve Bell and Posy Simmons. Thoroughly recomended!

Award Nominations

2010-03-11T12:06:00.005Z

'Horrible Histories', a show I animated on, has been nominated for the Best Children's Programme award at the Royal Television Society Programme Awards 2010, to be held on 16th March.

Two shows i've been involved with have made it onto the shortlist for the British Animation awards 2010. In the Best Animated Special category, 'Little Princess Winter Special' by Illuminated Films has been shortlisted, and in the Best Pre-School Children's Series category, 'Poetry Pie' by Triffic films.

Best of Luck!

A short walk

2010-02-23T09:16:00.001Z

Another little walk, this time starting from a standing position, two steps then stopping.
Arms are still using IK so will try reanimating using FK.

Acting test

2010-02-22T22:00:00.005Z

Here's a first acting test using a bit of old audio, combining all the animation skills i've learnt so far.
Really enjoying the animation side of the program.

Apple

2010-02-16T08:06:00.002Z

I've been looking at layered shaders using fractals to gennerate a random texture for the apples skin and the lighting set to get a nice render.

A garden visitor

2010-02-12T21:44:00.002Z

This little fellow keeps coming down to the garden, I hope he stays for spring.

Flash Flower power

2010-01-28T23:00:00.007Z

Princess Uppity

2010-01-27T13:14:00.001Z

This young lady is Princess Uppity, produced for a pitch in December

Cat on a pushbike

2010-01-25T23:49:00.013Z

A work in progress using the new 'Bones' based armature in Flash CS4.

Bear in Flash

2010-01-18T21:59:00.003Z

Using the same Illustrator artwork as the previous Bear test, this time fed into Flash rather than Celaction. A different feel altogether!

Plane!

2010-01-07T23:29:00.007Z

I thought i'd have a quick modelling session, and heres a little cartoon plane.

Thor Magnusson heads out on another saga

2010-01-03T22:12:00.004Z

Here he goes, setting off on another saga in his longship.
Been a while since I played with vectors so this is something a little out of ordinary for me. Back to Celaction tomorrow!

Happy New Year!

2010-01-02T21:03:00.002Z

Happy New year to one and all! To celebrate i've uploaded a new showreel to my Vimeo page!

Olly Brown 2010 from oliver brown on Vimeo.

Run test

2009-12-30T20:28:00.001Z

Well, Christmas is over for another year, so its back to work. Heres a run test i've been working on. Can't seem to edit curves in IK so will experiment with FK next.

A jump

2009-12-08T21:02:00.003Z

Heres a little jump using the Andy character. Used to setting the keys now, just need to work out how to get in and adjust the cushioning.

First walk test

2009-11-29T21:31:00.001Z

Here's my first Maya animation test using a pre-rigged character.
Getting the hang of keying out the scene, copying and pasting keys and 'playblasting' the result.

More head modelling

2009-11-22T10:56:00.002Z

Here's some more head modelling. This time i've looked at eye and mouth loops and more careful modelling around the face. I've also tried UV mapping the skin and playing with the shell in photoshop to hide the joins. I'm quite pleased with the results, but as ever, onward and upwards!

Bear head

2009-11-11T09:02:00.001Z

I thought i'd have a go at modelling a head, so heres a little brown bear. Modelling this was pretty straightforward except for the muzzle which took quite a bit of fiddling to get right. I wanted to keep everything quite smooth and cartoony for this one.

Second 3D test

2009-11-07T19:00:00.002Z

My second 3D test was a little more challenging. Forming the smooth nose cone and mudguards was probably the hardest part. I found a great way of duplicating and revolving the treads for those chunky tyres too. I also tried adding some photoshop textures to the finished model. The colours have come out very glossy, but i'd like to try a grungier finish too.

First 3D test

2009-11-04T09:14:00.002Z

Heres my first 3D test, a little toy Locomotive modelled in Maya. There are 101 things I want to change / tweak / alter but the learning curve in the program is so steep, i've decided to move straight on. I haven't even touched the lighting or texturing side of the program yet, so theres a long way to go!

Vimeo and Flickr

2009-11-03T09:06:00.002Z

I've started to upload Videos and Images for online perusal at Vimeo and Flickr.
Follow the links for online galleries!

Childrens Baftas

2009-10-30T12:27:00.003Z

Its that time again folks. A couple of projects I've been involved with this year have been nominated in this years Childrens Baftas.
In Pre-school animation, Little Princess: A Merry Little Christmas, and in Writing, Horrible histories has got a nomination.
For the full list of nominations, go to the Bafta website.

Autumn

2009-10-30T12:21:00.000Z

Over at Apple and Egg

2009-10-21T15:09:00.005+01:00

Go and have a look at this lovely post about author Dorothy Clewes over at Apple and Egg.
The Illustrations are by a chap called Peter Edwards and date from the mid Sixties. Bold blocks of contrasting colour and really characterful machines.

The Facts of Life

2009-10-21T15:06:00.003+01:00

A great little booklet published by the BMA sometime in the early sixties. Illustrations are by Jaqueline Van de Sande.

Found!

2009-10-19T21:56:00.002+01:00

Bear walk test

2009-10-14T09:37:00.002+01:00

Cake

2009-10-14T08:40:00.000+01:00

Heres a quick Illustration I did for Steve and Chloes wedding last week. I mixed three CD's of music for the big day and these were the covers.

Brighton Breeze

2009-10-12T20:05:00.006+01:00

A bracing October dawn saw nearly 1000 Volkswagen vans of all ages, shiny or otherwise, converge on Brighton's Madeira Drive. It was an awesome sight, Vdubs as far as the eye could see, with the cold grey sea as a foreboding backdrop.

Bus

2009-10-07T22:14:00.003+01:00

Fly

2009-09-29T13:21:00.001+01:00

Milk

2009-09-29T13:17:00.002+01:00

Eype

2009-09-28T09:58:00.003+01:00

Legoland

2009-09-14T10:16:00.004+01:00

Provence and Burgundy 2009

2009-08-25T10:31:00.006+01:00

You are Number One!

2009-08-25T09:01:00.000+01:00

Okkie Gingernut

2009-07-29T14:21:00.004+01:00

A really old childrens book. Sadly no date on the flyleaf but must be at least 50 years old, it belongs to my Dad!

Found stuff

2009-07-29T14:19:00.005+01:00

Russian sweet wrappers collected on a trip back in1991.

Lovely Spuds

2009-07-26T09:52:00.002+01:00

These are the last of this years crop of potatoes. I'm so pleased with our little garden's tasty produce. They were really good spuds with a firm yet creamy texture and buttery taste. We'll be sure to plant more next year.

Farmer Bear

2009-07-22T09:06:00.001+01:00

Summers here

2009-07-17T14:02:00.000+01:00

Summers here, and look what fell out of an old sketchbook.

Kids @ 4 promo

2009-06-28T21:29:00.004+01:00

Promo delivered to Stuart Dean, one of our curates at All Saints who's heading up the Kids @ 4 project.

The Bus

2009-06-19T06:47:00.004+01:00

Our new Volkswagen Caravelle, Betty. A lifelong dream of ours to own one, so here she is!

Snowshill

2009-06-19T06:44:00.004+01:00

A recent visit to the beautiful Snowshill manor in the heart of the Cotswolds. It was owned by Charles Wade, a nutty old excentric who filled his house with his collections of bicycles, samurai armour and old toys. Eventually, with no more room in the house to actually live, he had to move out into an annexe.

Wealden wonders

2009-05-24T08:53:00.004+01:00

Another trip to the wonderful Weald and Downland open air museum. What a fantastic day.

More cars

2009-05-13T23:19:00.000+01:00

Deckchairs on the beach

2009-05-11T13:59:00.001+01:00

More kids@4

2009-05-05T21:43:00.003+01:00

Kids @ 4

2009-04-22T11:37:00.003+01:00

Here are a couple of logo ideas i've been working on for the 'Kids @ 4' brief. I'm using some good old roughing up techniques, some real some digital to add some aged appeal to the designs.