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.

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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Headless Update - Texturing

Hello all, it has been a while since I have updated my blog so there is lots to show off.

Headless as a whole has been going really well in some areas but not so much in others. I have been focusing on the Texturing side of the film and making sure the town buildings and characters have good quality textures that still fit with original style of the film. UV unwrapping was one of the laborious tasks that had to take place but now all of the buildings are unwrapped and ready for the texture artists. I have taken the role as lead Texture artist, overseeing everyone's texturing and  texturing myself the characters and key interiors and exteriors of buildings. I chose to start with the Flat interior as it was one of the most important interiors and has a lot of assets to unwrap and texture.  

I decided to unwrap and texture the assets as I went along instead of unwrapping everything and then texture everything at once. This way I can start to see it all coming together quickly and realise what to focus on and what not focus on. It also makes the whole process more rewarding for myself as I can see it all coming together as I work and when I get bored of uv unwrapping I move to texturing. doing it this way I have found I work much faster as I'm not doing the same thing for too long.

The original Concept created by myself

Texturing, Look development, ncloth, Lighting and rendering created by myself.

Modeling by Toby Ellis

created using Maya, Mari, Photoshop and Vray

Im very Happy with the outcome so far and its Great to see finally some work getting close to the final stages of the film. I also used Mari to texture this scene and after learning it and continuously finding more things that it can do as a piece of software. These images are work in progress and are created using only diffuse textures. 

I have also been focusing of texturing the exterior of the bookshop, again using Mari and Photoshop.

 again a work in progress with just diffuse and specular maps at the moment. 

Headless Concept art

The animatic has finally reached a point that im happy with so its now time to move onto concepts :) At this stage in the project I am the only 3rd year pre production concept artist working on this film and with so many modellers working on the project i am immediately under pressure to produce concepts quickly as it has started to get to the stage that the modellers are modelling things such as buildings and vehicles from photo reference and trying themselves to change it to the style im going for but not achieving the look i want. so its been a struggle to keep everyone going in the same art direction but now i have time to create some concepts it is starting to look more like what i had initially imagined. Anyway here are the concepts so far with much more to come.

I did this concept at the very beginning of the project but i have forgot to show it of. but here she is the bookshop owner who is one of the main characters in the film. 

The Interior of the Bookshop 

The missing wall that The camera is looking from in the previous concept.

Boots For The Body 

The Interior of the flat where the body and head live which is situated opposite the bookshop. 

   Building Concepts, influenced by Falmouth

All of my concept Art and 3d work are now on ArtStation! feel free to check it out. http://rhysharvey.artstation.com/ http://www.artstation.com/artist/RhysHarvey

Headless Concepts and Art Direction

Before i Pitched This as an idea i spent a long time refining what style i wanted it to be in, i had the style in my head and eventually got it down on paper.

the style is a mixture of artists work that i have seen but all with this similar look using pastel colours with an edgy painterly look to it.

Style reference. 

So After studying images like the ones above I re did some of my old concepts and tried to get this style in there. I Have see this style  a lot now i have been looking for it but im hoping that taking reference from a combination of them and creating this in 3D with give it a slightly more original take on it.  

Here is all the concepts so Far for headless all created by me. 

Concept art is something that I have always loved doing and is something I wish to do a lot for this film. But being the director and sorting the story out at the same time is making it difficult to create the concepts along side all the other work. The concepts are a key thing to have so modellers can then create the stuff in 3D and keep to the style but at the moment the modellers are quicker at doing the work than there is concepts being produced so I have started to recruit extra concept artists and am still looking for more. 

Flat design

A key part to the story is figuring out how everything is going to work in 3D and how things are going to work together in a way that the story makes sense within the environment. The flat interior was one of those environments that had to be right and fit with the style, i didn't have the time to design this so i got a second year on board 

Katie Wyman, who is brilliant at concept work and i asked her to design the interior of the flat, at this stage it was just a plan to get an idea of where everything would happen. 

I gave her information about what was going to happen in the story and what we would need where and this was the result. 

it may not seem like much at the moment but i was very pleased with it as it all works perfectly and fits with everything around the story that will take place in the apartment. 

Headless Short film

In a few weeks time I will be pitching my idea for a short film in front of my fellow class mates and an industry panel so i thought its time to make my idea more interesting and refined. 

the rough outline of the story ....

He is the only person in the world to be born with their head detached from their body, but the head and the body have two separate personalities, desires and attitudes. They never get on with each other but need each other to do everyday tasks. How will they learn to live with each other and become one person?

Im really excited about this idea but i'm more excited about creating a world and characters that are visually stunning. I am planning on creating the film in 3D and it will range between 3-4 minutes  long. Although it will be in 3d Im planning on sticking with a more stylised look inspired by many different artists. i have collected a range of images which can bee seen on my pintrest board http://www.pinterest.com/rhysharvey/headless-film-inspiration/. But recently I have been more inspired by the work of an artist called Goro Fujita, check out his blog http://chapter-56.blogspot.co.uk/. 


A back alley of the setting of my film inspired by the beautiful cornish seaside town Falmouth, where i am very luck to be living. 

The body of the main character.

The Building that the main characters the head and body live. 

3rd year 'A Light from the dark'

A light from the dark is a third year film that i was asked to help out on and do some concept art for. the story is based in a dark scary warehouse that will eventually be on fire, that has this fire/wolf/alien monster that is chasing this girl.

I was asked to come up with the design for the monster and some designs for the interior of the warehouse to try and get across the mood of the film.


The development of the character design for the monster.

A close up of the monsters face.

A couple of inside concepts one with a more surreal look to it with the darkness overtaking and the skewed perspective and the second piece is more realistic.

Pre Production Project

So my initial idea was a no go. This meant i went back to the beginning and primarily done allot of research, mainly on my style first. I looked at underground comix in detail and found that the artist Robert crumb was said to be the pioneer of underground comix I really loved his style and the content in his comix were just crazy which made me love his work even more.

Here is just a few examples of the vast amount of comics and illustrations Robert crumb has done.

I also came across a documentary called the confessions of Robert crumb, which was really interesting to watch as it gave me an incite into his life and who he is as an artist. i found that he is just as mad as his drawings.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yR9vfcNYBhc

After doing more research it sparked an idea for a new story.

This new story is based around the idea that for the soldiers to get into Hitler army they have to be able to sing. it will be along the same lines as x factory but with Hitler and his fellow men as the judges with the soldiers as the people auditioning for a place in his army. if the soldiers cant sing then they would be sentenced to death. The hermit character is the executioner hired by Hitler to kill off any of the un talented soldiers. I want there to not be much focus on the main story but more on the back stage element of the show with crazy things going on and creature comfort styled interviews with the soldiers and the hermit character. 

I haven't thought a great deal about what format it would be but i was thinking more of  strong black comedy series as it doesn't have a strong story and will have some strong violent and rude content in it.

So the next stage was to come up with some concepts of various bits in the same style as Robert crumb.

I started by trying to create a poster looking concept in the same style of r. crumb but mainly tried to get across the message of what the series or show would be about. and then a quick character design of one of the soldiers in the same style.

here is just a few frames of what the set-up of the show would be with the interview backstage first, then the performance on stage and then the execution and interview at the end. This is a very brief structure of what an episode could be like  and i plan to change allot of the content in each episode to make it more unexpected, crazy and interesting.

 and finally a quick concept of what the hermit could look like back stage as an executioner.