After working this weekend on an older project I wanted to put into the portfolio, I realized that I sucked more than I thought at sketching a year ago and need to put in quite a bit of work to get that project ready to show. I'll take those first couple of weeks in DesComm to work on it, but for now here is the newest compilation, complete with chair:
http://www.daapspace.daap.uc.edu/~engelhjs/Jeff_Engelhardt.pdf
My goal was to give it a little more personal style, and I think the new color palette helps. Once I complete my last project, I'll have a wide enough range of designs to be able to tailor the portfolio to specific employers.
Last shot at the dream co-op. Even though "In [Obi-Wan Kenobi's] experience there's no such thing as luck," I could use some.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
What a difference style and design can make
James Cameron hasn't made a movie since Titanic. Considering it made over a billion dollars, I guess he has an excuse. His next effort, Avatar (due out in December), has been one of the most widely anticipated movies among the wide circle of internet movie geeks. That is, it was until Friday and the debut of Avatar's first trailer. Since then tones have changed from giddy anticipation to increasing skepticism.
Initial buzz surrounded the film's radical use of CG and 3D, which Cameron says has been in development for over 10 years. 90 percent of the movie is [supposedly] computer generated to photo-realistic quality, and Cameron claims it will usher in a new era for 3D cinema. Everyone was on board until last week's trailer.
So why the drastic change? Unlike my fanboy counterparts, I really didn't have any bias for or against the film leading up to the trailer and went in with an open mind. Am I still curious about the movie? Yeah, but by no means am I excited. My problem is that the images I saw did not live up to Cameron's claims of "photo-realism." Characters and story are much more important than pretty pictures, though, and this could still be a great film. I don't believe this is where the majority of the negativity is coming from.
My completely uninformed opinion is that people were turned off by the fact that the aliens look like pussies. Seriously, they look like Thundercats with down syndrome, and they're supposed to battle giant beasts and robots? An audience can't be expected to buy into that when they look like they would get their asses kicked by a spray bottle wielding eight-year-old?
Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe expectations were too high. Maybe Cameron will revolutionize the movies industry and go on to make another billion dollars. Who knows at this point. My money, though, is on the eight-year-old.
Initial buzz surrounded the film's radical use of CG and 3D, which Cameron says has been in development for over 10 years. 90 percent of the movie is [supposedly] computer generated to photo-realistic quality, and Cameron claims it will usher in a new era for 3D cinema. Everyone was on board until last week's trailer.
So why the drastic change? Unlike my fanboy counterparts, I really didn't have any bias for or against the film leading up to the trailer and went in with an open mind. Am I still curious about the movie? Yeah, but by no means am I excited. My problem is that the images I saw did not live up to Cameron's claims of "photo-realism." Characters and story are much more important than pretty pictures, though, and this could still be a great film. I don't believe this is where the majority of the negativity is coming from.
My completely uninformed opinion is that people were turned off by the fact that the aliens look like pussies. Seriously, they look like Thundercats with down syndrome, and they're supposed to battle giant beasts and robots? An audience can't be expected to buy into that when they look like they would get their asses kicked by a spray bottle wielding eight-year-old?
Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe expectations were too high. Maybe Cameron will revolutionize the movies industry and go on to make another billion dollars. Who knows at this point. My money, though, is on the eight-year-old.
Been a while...
Sadly, this is the second time I've written this message. It's been almost two months since my last post. It's not that I haven't had anything to say. I'm just really lazy. In the next few weeks, before school starts, I will attempt to make up for it. As a little preview, here's what I plan on throwing out there:
- Star Wars Design - The Art of Clunk (provoked by John Scalzi's Guide to the Most Epic FAILS in Star Wars Design)
- Becoming an Instant Expert - How Industrial Designers' Research Methods Create Everyday Obsessions
- Opinions on some of the movies I saw and the books I read this summer (possibly:Terminator 4, Up, Bruno, The Hangover, Funny People, District 9, Transformers 2, Star Trek, GI Joe, Inglorious Basterds - Scott Robertson's Start Your Engines and Lift Off, The Simpsons and Philosophy, Batman and Philosophy)
- An updated portfolio (nearly finished - just need to back sketch on one more project)
- My adoration for the three An Evening with Kevin Smith dvds
- More props to Crossfit and Crossfit Atlanta
Until then, I'll leave you with a small sample of the new portfolio
- Star Wars Design - The Art of Clunk (provoked by John Scalzi's Guide to the Most Epic FAILS in Star Wars Design)
- Becoming an Instant Expert - How Industrial Designers' Research Methods Create Everyday Obsessions
- Opinions on some of the movies I saw and the books I read this summer (possibly:Terminator 4, Up, Bruno, The Hangover, Funny People, District 9, Transformers 2, Star Trek, GI Joe, Inglorious Basterds - Scott Robertson's Start Your Engines and Lift Off, The Simpsons and Philosophy, Batman and Philosophy)
- An updated portfolio (nearly finished - just need to back sketch on one more project)
- My adoration for the three An Evening with Kevin Smith dvds
- More props to Crossfit and Crossfit Atlanta
Until then, I'll leave you with a small sample of the new portfolio
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