Rhys Harvey Artist

Hello all,

Its been a while since i have posted on my blog and the main reason is because i have put my focus else where. So if you want to see my latest work i will be posting more regularly on these sites:

Website: http://www.rhysharvey.com/

Artstation: https://www.artstation.com/artist/rhysharvey

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Rhys-Harvey-Artist-1677059882513226/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RhysWHarvey

Intagram: https://www.instagram.com/rhys_harvey_artist/

Feel free to follow me and ask any questions you have about my work. :)

The pursuit to becoming a visual development artist update

Hello, its been a while since I have updated my blog as it has been a busy couple of weeks, I am now officially a graduate in animation and visual effects and thought it was time i stepped out of what i'm used to doing and give matte painting/concept art a go.  The technique of using photos to create concepts to me used to be an annoying thing for me as I didn't see it as "proper art" but now after 3 years at uni and the last few months realising what it is I really want to do. Concept art needs to get across the idea quickly and look cool! so for a realistic looking piece the only way to achieve this quickly is to use photos and mash them together in a clever way. Most people don't agree with this approach to concept art but the professionals are doing it and getting paid for it so what's so wrong with it?

so here is my first approach to this way of doing things. I started with thumbnail sketches, then created a 3d mock up in maya to play around with camera angles and composition. Then I took it into Photoshop and started mashing images I collected and painting all over the place.

 updates with the full breakdown and process will be coming soon.

Anatomy study in depth

So I thought this time I will take a lot more time over the process of an anatomy study. There is a certain way that I have developed to draw the figure that i find works really well for me. I find that its more about thinking about what you are drawing when it comes to figure drawing, not just the final drawing.

so here it is, how my brain works when I do figure drawing most of the time.

The reference

Real life drawing is so much better but as its so much quicker and I just want to learn loads with lots of different models quickly I have been using this great you tube channel.
https://www.youtube.com/user/NewMastersAcademy

for this piece this was the reference I used

1)  I start by looking at the model and focusing on purely the pose and proportions, drawing simple lines, the blue lines are looking at what direction the pose is going in and things like the the gravity centre point  (if that's what its called) The black lines are the bones in a way and where the joints such as the knees and elbows are. I start with the direction of the shoulders, hips then the spine and go out from there.

2) The next step I take is adding in the muscle structure, as I can't see through this models skin and I don't know the ins and outs of the human body I make a good guess from muscles that I know are there and general shapes that make up the figure. Ideally this would help a lot more if I did know the full muscle structure of a human but that will come with time and lots of studying. 

3) Then I go onto putting the line in around the muscles as if you were tracing the outline of the model and using the muscle and shape structure as a base. 

4) next and nearly to the end its the fun bit of putting in the tonal values. Again having this base of bones and muscles (well something similar to) really helps figure out why the light and shadows make the different shapes on the figure. 

5) finally I add the finishing touches. 

I don't always go into depth this much with my figure drawing but this process does go through my head, even if it is very quick 30 second sketches. figure drawing is one of those things that I feel I will never master but i hope this helps those trying to improve there figure drawing.  

The pursuit to becoming a visual development artist (trying a new style)

So I thought it was about time I tried something new and just went for it and did something I wanted to do.
This piece is one of what will be a set around the idea of a hunt and who is the prey and who is the hunter?

I was inspired by the amazing visuals of the maze runner and wanted to create something with a similar feeling. I created this piece in Photoshop and used Maya to block out the shapes and play around with the camera. I then took a still into Photoshop and worked on-top of it mainly painting everything in and using photo textures here and there for the grungy walls. I really enjoyed this piece even though I know there is mistakes and issues to correct but it was nice to create something for myself

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The pursuit of becoming a visual development artist (anatomy drawings)

Here is a collection of sketches, some quick and some more refined, that I have done over the past few weeks. Most of these human form studies are of the male form but I am now moving onto the female figure.

Even though I have been drawing mainly just the human form for the last few weeks I feel like it is something that you can never practice enough. I will continue to practice my anatomy drawings and am still trying to hit the target of a drawing a day. 

and a few I did a while back 

The pursuit to becoming a Visual Development Artist

So I have recently finished my degree at University in animation and visual effects and its time to get a job! I had been struggling for a while on deciding what it actually was I wanted to pursue as a career within the animation industry. There are so many aspects of animation that interest me and so many areas that I have had a go at and wish to do more of but it seems with this industry its hard to get a job if you like doing everything and don't really narrow yourself down to a specific area. I recently attended the Annecy animation festival in Frace for the second time which is an amazing festival and for those who haven't heard of it or been yourselves I highly recommend it. http://www.annecy.org/home.  Anyway this was an amazing eye opener for me again and made me realise that every company is different in many ways making it more difficult for me to understand the big question, How do I get a job in animation? 

The more I think about it and the more I find out it seems like there is no set way of getting a job, obviously being good at what you do and networking is a big part of that but most of the people I spoke to at the festival and stories i have heard from guest lecturers all have a different story to tell in how they broke there way into the industry. 

For about the last year I have been following the amazing artist Chris Oatly and his online site that offer's a great deal of knowledge and advice for students http://chrisoatley.com/. Over the last few months really thinking what it was I wanted to do was stressing me out, as I felt like there was so much pressure on getting a job in the industry straight out of university. But a great piece of advice from Mr Oatly really set things straight in my head and that advice was.... simply what is it that you are really passionate about? I'm really interested in loads of things within animation and visual effects and am inspired by everything but what was it that im really passionate about? and for me that is coming up with designs of characters that audiences fall in love with, designing environments that the audience gets completely lost in, creating moods and telling stories that engage people. 

So Becoming a Visual Development Artist is by far the job that I am passionate about. I know I haven't picked an easy one to break into but the most important thing to me is doing a job that I love for the rest of my life.

For the past year I was the writer/director/art director/character + environment artist/lead texture artist and other bits for the short film Headless which is in its final stages of completion so I haven't really had the time to specialise in the visual development side of things, bringing me to where I am now. Finished university wanting to become a visual development artist and not feeling like my work is strong enough so I have decided to take thing back to the basics and get better at drawing firstly brushing up on my human anatomy skills. I have set myself the task to make sure I draw at least once a day every day for as long as it takes until I produce work that will help me to achieve my goal as a visual development artist. 


so here are the first two sketches and hopefully over time I will improve more and more. 

Head Character Texturing

The latest render of the Head character.
Original Design, Sculpting, animation and Texturing created by me. Rendering and Compositing by Matteo Veglia  http://matteoveglia.com/
Textured using Mari with a mixture of ptex and uv's.
Diffuse, Specular and Bump maps for all aspects apart from the head, consisting of just diffuse and specular.
Sub Surface Scattering Texture map also created for the head.
Breakdown of texture maps will be posted soon.

I was very happy with the outcome and particularly how close it is to my original design.

Original concept by me. 

3d Head Textured and Rendered