A Pint After Work

I have recently been getting back into illustration, as I get enough of my share of animation at work. This picture of Orion was drawn at the start of my temporary break from work at Studio B / DHX Media. It originally started as a doodle to help me warm up on my gestural drawing, and suddenly became more of a finished piece of artwork. I may make a post on how this evolved from a doodle.

The original drawing didn't have a gun on the table. But I figured if it weren't there, it just looks like Orion was mugged. I wanted to make him look like he has been through some action. Realistically, Orion wouldn't just have his gun laying out on the table for all to see, and guns are very uncommon in the UK. Placing the gun there was more of an artistic decision.

I also would have placed another agent having a drink beside him, but no other characters have been designed yet. There is a Commander Draco that exists, but at the moment, she is just a murmuring sound at the other end of a phone conversation.

I just really like the liberties in 2D that I can take, which would otherwise be very labour-intensive in 3D, such as the open jacket, tie, hair, etc. The stylisation of the line is something I have revisited in Photoshop, and looks very similar to how I used to ink my drawings traditionally many years ago.

I would bet that you like the 2D version of Orion more than the 3D version...?

This was another doodle of Orion, done within a few hours. It's less refined in line quality and proportion, but has a more lively style of colouring.

Codename Orion

This personal project which I have been working on during my free time is a short film to get me more experienced in using Maya. I chose an easy-to-understand premise to avoid setting up a complex story within a couple of minutes. It's a combination of subjects I like: James Bond, London, fight scenes, and coffee. Currently, this film is animated more than halfway. I intend on finishing it when I have the time.

Codename Orion: Orion's addiction for coffee has made him late for a briefing, and the sudden appearance of the dangerous Peacoat Ninjas makes this morning even worse for the half-alert agent.

Although this project is being done in 3D, I have found some technical limitations I wish I had the resources to get around. For example, I would have preferred to have Orion's jacket open, as would be the norm for cityworkers. That would have given a more dynamic, blowing-in-the-wind effect with the tie that I would like. But I imagine animating that would have been twice the work.

I am thinking about doing a 2D animated version of Orion after completing this film. I have already done lots of drawings of Orion, and am more pleased with the more dynamic clothing and hair that I couldn't do in 3D. I will post some art of Orion for you later on.