3 new “Ocean Invasion” artworks
For anyone interested, I have 3 new works in my "Ocean Invasion" series up over at my Laughing Mantis Studio website.
Ocean Invasion #2: Nectar for the Orcas
Here is the second in my Ocean Invasion series:
"Ocean Invasion #2: Nectar for the Orcas"
"Ocean Invasion #2: Nectar for the Orcas"
Closeup
Previous works:
"Ocean Invasion #1: Octopus arborealus"
"K-T"
Ocean Invasion #1: Octopus arborealus
This is the first in a series of pieces I'm doing.
"Ocean Invasion #1: Octopus arborealus"
Click for larger. NOTE: actual resolution quality of the piece is MUCH higher than these compressed jpeg images.
"Ocean Invasion #1: Octopus arborealus"
Closeup
Modeled & Rendered in Blender2.52. Post-processing in GIMP 2.6.
I was asked by another artist whether my inspiration was the "Save the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus" campaign. Honestly, I actually had never heard of such a thing, and was a wee bit disappointed to learn of it's existence 
Then again, a tree octopus is too cool an idea for to have not already been thought of.
The Firefly and the Deer – “Moonbeam Death Ray”
Since, it seems that I've been on an art post kick for the last two days, I thought I'd toss one more out for you. This is on oldie for me, but I'm betting that few if any of my current readers have seen it.
Way back in 2006, a buddy of mine (Joshua Robertson) was in a band called "Bronze Fawn," a progressive, instrumental group based in Seattle.
One of their songs (9 minutes in length) was called "Moonbeam Death Ray". Listening to it in the car one day, I had a "vision" (i.e. a cool idea).
I had just recently picked up a copy of the 3D computer animation software, Maya 7. So I thought, "what better way to learn to animate than by practicing with my idea for Bronze Fawn. I'm sure they will appreciate the surprise video!"
That, in essence, is how the following music video was made.
Josh was more than a bit surprised.
The video was written, directed, and animated by me with Maya 7 Unlimited. It took 200 hours over 4 months plus 600 hours of computer render time (i.e. I would set up the render and let my computer crunch out the stills while I was at the lab finishing my PhD). I modeled and textured the deer and firefly based on deer in my yard and fireflies I caught. I initially mixed the song down to its current 3 minutes length.
The YouTube version of this video has currently been watched about 478,000 times.
I have many, MANY problems with the animation (like some horrible deer movements, texture problems, lighting, etc...), but overall I was pretty happy with it for a first animation.
If anyone wants to learn animation - I say just do it. Download the free and opensource Blender software and start doing tutorials!
My interest in animation started when I needed a good animation for my dissertation defense on frog heart development. This was the result (intended to be illustrative, NOT 100% accurate - and yes, that is what early Xenopus larvae look like):
And one more just for fun (no sound).
"Feeding Time"
You can see more of my animations HERE.
