Andrew Dowell

Welcome back. Another exciting week and a lack of work due to another Typhoon. Luckily this one isn't as strong but it's gonna hit us straight on. But, Typhoon Megi isn't strong enough to stop me. Lots of cool stuff happening so let's get into it. A few years ago I really enjoyed a video game called 'Remember Me', clearly, from the same Deus Ex mold this game's core feature was to allow players to rewind scenes and change other NPC's memories to effect the scene in play. Straight out of Ghost in the Shell, this game not only had a great story, fantastic visuals but also a nice game mechanic.  It's actually very revolutionary and raised the bar for in performance and quality. Like a lot cutting edge games which help drive game engineers to excel, this one also slipped under a lot of people's radar. 'Rage' is another one to check out. It used incredibly diverse textures, a new realistic physics engine, could run at 60fps, had

"Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth." - Alan Watts Hayao Miyazaki has always been a creative inspiration and a hero of mine. Although most people in the west have no idea who he is, they will at least know some of this work. Studio Ghibli is an institution, an idea that will never fade or die, even though the company has closed. Today I watch this video, ' The essence of humanity ' and would recommend it to anyone interested in storytelling, animation or exploring the human condition. I love books, I don't have much time these days for novels but usually get a chance to catch up with audiobooks whilst cycling or at my desk. I have always made it a matter of fact to buy a few art books every few months. I've been quite particular as a few years ago these were expensive but thankfully they've declined in price over the years whilst the quality remained high. I started posting a few blogs about my books but I'm not

"If you can't join them, beat them." - Me As I learn more, I also discover it's not only important to keep a record of your final work but also your process and specific settings. This metadata is not only useful for oneself, but also for others. As my blog starts to develop and define my processes, interests, and artwork, I clearly need to set out a format to keep things together and relevant to what I'm doing. Simply put, I will attempt to keep my blog going at least once a week and in this layout: 1. Quote 2. Updates and Industry news 3. Artbook Review (If any) 4. My Work (Process, results and software settings) 5. Lost Worlds (Progression) Last week I posted some renderings of some finished modular spaceships I had made in Maya. I was pleased with the results as its was an organic experiment within a quick timeframe to see what sort of results I'd receive. I hadn't included any process notes or images to document my project. I will rec

A few weeks ago I started on a small procedurally generated spaceship project. With the excitement of No Man's Sky I was enthusiastic to see what I could do with my 3D skills. A few hours later I had about 25 different parts, and started randomly attaching them with locators. I had decided that using a locator socket was a good idea to avoid any misplaced parts and at least try to get something fairly acceptable. The results were horrible. The ensemble of parts looked like a Mary Shelly novel, far from the idea of creating over three thousand different models (I'll let you do the math). I was frankly annoyed. I left the project to work on something else and naturally started thinking about what when wrong. It was the human element. That's what was missing or maybe more sophisticated accertane generation; but the point is an artist not only brings the technical skill of several years but also the lifetime of memories, creative inspirations and imitations to the table. This r

So once again I find myself questioning everything. Is this the right direction, am I enjoying my work and why do I constantly fail to keep my website and blog updated? Honestly, I think the answer is simple. I'm learning too much without focus and don't get enough chance to practice the things I've learnt. "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." Damn it, Ferris was right. As I've grown older, I realize that the inner me was right all the time. I should have stuck to the things I really enjoyed as a kid and pushed harder to learn more, develop my skills and become more than the sum of my parts. Follow the dream. "I may not be the fastest, tallest or strongest, I may not be the best or the brightest, but one thing I can do better than anyone else, that is to be me." - Leonard Nimoy As part of my work (and I say work but really it's a labor of love) I spend a lot of time either creating 3D