Andrew Dowell

It's no secret that I love watching movies for a variety of reasons, and some lucky flicks more than once. The current trend of movies being released so quickly, really doesn't provide much time for a rewatch. Once at the theater and then again on blu ray at home. Done and on the shelf only to be bought out every four or five years at Christmas. Seems so sad that amazing films just don't get the use that they once did. I remember watching my Vhs tapes until they snowy and squiggly. However, whilst reviewing pre and post production film pipelines I had a crazy idea. Flip the horizons and watch a mirror image. Yes, the text is wrong but its creates a weird je va vous, I know this movie but my memory can't place the imagery. It's fantastic, you focus on parts of the film you didn't see before, your experiencing it again for the first time. And the best thing is, its so easy to do. Download VLC player on your computer and adjust the geometry effects. Some TV's a...

With all the new work I'm producing I need to update my website (again), it seems yearly at this rate but its getting better with every reincarnation. Version 1.8 will be out soon, but in the mean time; here's a wallpaper I made in anticipation of a new game called Fire Watch.

Today I got to check out some material over at Brogent. This meant spending over an hour in a "state of the art" 180 degree 16 meter cinema whilst being suspended from a chair. Awesome!

This week I had a fantastic opportunity to meet with a visual effects animation director called Hock Wong.  He has worked on some awesome movies but also had an interesting career with Sony video games, he really knows his stuff when talking about layout. I'm really keen to learn more story boarding advice from him and developing my pre-vis animation.  In one hour, he has completely transformed the way we think about ride films and made our current project so much better.  If you're interested to see his work check out http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2773686/ and his website http://hockwong.wix.com/wonghockhianart

A colleague (friend and patient tutor of Maya) were recently discussing Art books. As an avid collector of nearly 30+, I thought I should post a quick review as a purchase them. The Art of Dragon Age Inquisition is a fantastic book, it covers a huge range of material from the game and is shows character and story development. The hardback book is printed on high quality paper and every page is full color. Awesome 5/5 Genga is a collection of artwork images from Otomo Katsuhiro, the Japanese artist who created Akira and many other great works. This book is huge and contacts lots of black and white and some colour images. If you're a fan of his work then this book is a must. 5/5  I've had the pleasure of meeting Scott (http://cargocollective.com/drawthrough) a few times and attend two of his workshops with Neville Page (http://www.nevillepage.com/) and Nicolas 'Sparth' Bouvier. (http://www.sparth.com/) If your considering a career as a concept art...

I've spent the last two months learning new software and getting to grips with Maya. Here's my first project: