Opus Regalis: Story Art

Zack Snyder Watchmen Analysis (video)

2011-11-09T23:48:00.002-05:00

Been busy with work and haven't had a chance to upload any art worth uploading. Plans are being planned however. In the meantime I quietly work on my various film projects and pitches(yes) well into the darker hours of the night. I figure that's no excuse to embargo my presence from my humble blog space. Whist I prepare some future posts I wanted to share this awesome video analysis I happened upon not too long ago. A youtube user by the name of 2finnman has compiled a concise yet brilliant and insightful visual analysis of the 2 opening sequences to the film Watchmen.

I love it. Lots to learn and what's more, he really highlights the good work of Zack Snyder, a visualist, who is often underrated. Often due to someone who's either butt hurt that he touched their material and made it accessible or someone pushing some sort of agenda, or both. The film itself while not without it's flaws was a very enjoyable experience for me.Superheros in the real world being people with social problems putting on costumes in order to feel important. What I really enjoy about these vids is that they are completely dedicated to a technical analysis and thus I find them refreshing.

I surely hope this 2finn uploads more of this work, I'd love to see more.

You'll have to catch the rest at the source do to embed restrictions, it's worth it though. Part 2

Check this space soon

-Peace

Nicki Minaj Portrait

2011-08-17T14:43:00.002-04:00

Haven't done one of these in a while.

Too busy not just with work but with a different nature of work. However that did stop my brother from all but threatening my life last week. Apparently he was off to meet miss Minaj at her first Toronto show date by wa of a little back stage meet and greet. I figured of all the reasons to do one of these, the celeb in question seeing the work in person would be one of them. It's been a lot of months since I went through the process and that's never good with any skill task. I literally had to sit down and watch some of my old videos to re-learn the procedure and of course try to improve upon it. What I did learn is that I must have been an idiot savant because it used to be so easy whereas it's mostly painstaking now. Moreover, low angles are never fun because the proportions and likeness curves are thrown way out of whack. Still there is that split second where I find peace(of mind) because it comes together and all that stress was for not.

I let the dude decide which hair style to give her, I deferred to his opinion for most of the decisions and I was probably done in half the time because of it. I think I'll give Nicki another go just to really capture her crazy stare with funky hair.

The focal point in this piece is the lips I think. Similar to my Tupac I give them the that extra "i don't know what"

Lighting gave way to flesh tone on this one, mainly because my brother wanted to "play it safe." Coloured folk have the hardest skin tone to nail perfect but at the same time you can get away with a wider range of tones. I remember my painting professor would always get on me to add purple. I never really cared for the approach but in this instance the lighting really re-enforced it.

My brother bought a new slr a little while ago so I'm slowly finding more and more ways to incorporate it in my my work. When I learn to speed up the process I may even do one of these vids live.

Time Lapse speed painting featuring Minaj and done with pastel.

I might do a few more in the coming months, stay tuned.

-King

Too Close to the TV

2011-08-01T21:57:00.004-04:00

Mother always said not to. She never said why though.

The concept here being an obvious one, taking an urban myth and mixing it with some kinetic energy and movement. Initially the kid had both hands on the couch with the remote in the air. I felt that gave me the highest n.r.g. to image ratio, but the communication didn't quite work. Not enough cause and effect.

The Final

-King

Transform

2011-07-23T09:13:00.002-04:00

Just a little digital-sketch that turned into an unfinished digital painting based on a series I've really enjoyed over the past few years.

Getting back to that limited colour palette style that I don't enjoy so much.

This moment in the film with the cube I think was nail on the head for capturing the imagination of a child.

Peace

Spiderman Painting

2011-07-14T12:28:00.003-04:00

Been sitting on this one for a little while. I couldn't figure out what kinda composition to settle on, I mostly wanted it to fit into my ongoing series. Pretty much no a simple comp with no background and a recognizable aspect. This Spiderman started with the graphic and line I posted earlier and I finished it off with the old Cs4 paint set. This being my second time with the web-slinger I wanted to tackle the dreaded classic rendition of his costume. Eyes are more streamlined and forms are more highlighted. All in all I'm happy with it.

When it came to the full comp I experimented with a ton of fodder shapes and eye moving framing, they ended up being mostly distracting.

In the end I went with a surgical cropping.

The Final.
A blue background blends with the blue in his costume and really brings out the design.

-King

Bird-Fu

2011-07-03T12:05:00.002-04:00

Surviving High school

Saving the world

Every Saturday morning

-Peace

Superman StoryBoard Leica

2011-06-24T12:15:00.006-04:00

So I needed to relearn After Effects for an up and coming project and decided what better way than to cut together a leica for those superman boards I conceived a few months back. I can safely say I've gotten the dude out of my system at this point. The most frustrating part was trying to build and edit everything together all while my workstation would crash when I hit save.

But hey, it all worked out in the end and more importantly I'm proud of my work.

SUPERMAN: Gravity from King Mugabi on Vimeo.

It's quite the joy to finally see this plotting in motion. It's always stronger to convey your vision when you can control how long your audience views each panel/frame. Pacing really becomes apparent when you have a leica over 5 minutes, it really forces you to be away of scene that drag. Replay value goes down the longer the story so you try and fill it with interesting visual situations.

My favorite parts were the scenes I fully developed in real time. Mainly the car rescue. It's always cool playing with super speed and geography. When you do it in lieca form it really helps you convey your ideas...in "real time."

I've never been good with plotting hand to hand fights, and I don't do much to disprove that theory here.

What I really like about this piece is that within the span of 10mins(I know ridiculous), we cover some nice corner stones in typical superman narrative. The Kid stuff, the Lois stuff, the Lex stuff, some attempt at Humor and a few power displays. I also always love playing with traditional narrative; this is the story of a teen remembering when he was a kid having a vision of his future..or something pretentious along those lines.

I'm done with Superman for now, well till the movie comes out anyway.

-King

Naruto Painting

2011-06-23T14:43:00.006-04:00

"where's the original?"

I really can't list all the ways I love the work of Masashi Kishimoto. Every Friday for the past several years I've found myself with a cup of tea in my left hand and my mouse in my right as I read through his weekly manga chapters. I find it fascinating how alienating the character and work seems from a distance only to be a true gem once you've become enthralled. Most anime/manga that exists in the western world had this issue. It's a shame really but I can't say I don't understand it. I more than anyone else thought this material looked jacked and unapproachable at first but after a few issues I was hooked for life.

The Destined Child

Nartuo is the story of a boy, living in a village occupied by both "ninja" and civilians that have ousted him for the simple fact that he is the obligatory host of the same demon that periodically attacks said village. He has no family and it's his life long goal to become the greatest shinobi of the land. To do this he has to go to school. We follow him in his journey to achieve this goal, along the way meeting peers, rivals and mentors each with a story of their own. No summery can do the work justice, and at a distance even I can see that this looks like the same old eastern ilk that has been trying to infiltrate our fiction for years. It really is up to the reader to jump in or not. What can be said is that it's arguably the most popular ongoing series at the moment and when completed it will have a place right next to the great ones.

Like many other stories Naruto's birth is marked by his parents death and the whole ordeal is not only covered up from the village but the hero himself. However, it is when the truth in the matter is finally revealed that one understands how much planning it really takes to pull of these kinds of concepts. Naruto effortlessly out does Harry Potter, Superman and even DBZ in this terrain all while weaving it's own mythology. Yes, we've seen the hyper-destined boy adventure his way through wizard boarding school, but it's great to see the equally uniform Japanese school setting at play. What really makes this setting shine is how much of a hated underdog the hero is. It provides for a lot of catharsis when he outdoes the low expectations everyone has set out for him. Actually the series is full of losers simply trying to make it. It could be said that this aspect is both the flaw of the series as well as its most endearing theme. Everyone, antagonist or otherwise is has a similar troubled past as the hero and they're just trying to fix the world the live in. It gets kind of redundant watching the hero find common ground with everyone he fights but that's serialized thematic plotting for you.

Speaking of fixing the world, there are a lot of themes at play here. One of the more powerful themes is revenge bread war times. The world of Naturo is made up of about 6 villages that reside in about 5 feudal lands. There exists and economy that is pretty much run on ninja related conflict. I can't help but believe Kishimoto modeled this world based on his own cultural history. For instance, the manga begs the question; can the children of China forgive the children of Japan for the rape of Nan king? The entire conflict brought about by the misguided older wartime generation. Kishi weaves around this theme beautifully by making his protagonist, whose situation is a direct result of these wartime tactics, travel around forgiving and changing these very people. The (north) Korean land having to deal with the fallout of the larger adjacent warring states breeds a different kind of hate and in turn village destroying villain. One that fancies himself a god. This is social commentary at it's finest and it's distributed directly to children. I love it. I also love the theme of generations. Not only do the old have to die to make way for the new, but the new eventually become the old and you see these kids become the very same assertive sensei's we were so impressed by in the beginning, We even get to experience these older folks as young kids, and that’s where the magic really starts. Every death isn't just beautiful but it's permanent. No wishing back 17 times and an 18th time with a halo for good measure. The action in this saga is both inventive as well as emotionally grounded as the drama. There's nothing like watching your friend save the village right in front of the very people that would throw rocks at him in his childhood. It's also cool seeing this boy become the (endearing) man his absentee father was. On a personal level, there is something relatable in the idea of an orphan learning the true nature of his parent’s sacrifice where before he only saw absence. Sorry Jor-El, you've been outclassed..big time.

Admittedly, I've both cried and cheered out loud whilst viewing these stories. This eastern comic book/anime speaks to me in such a way that the comic books I read growing up only touched upon in broad strokes. Weekly installments probably help with that. It’s interesting how may people down anime, tragic really considering there really is no comparison in quality story telling for serialized animation in the west. Our best stuff was in the 90’s and even then Gargoyles and Batman stunk of corporate merchandising. But people will still champion our stuff over theirs whenever presented with the option.

I'd kill to meet this Kishimoto.

-King

Pirates

2011-06-22T14:50:00.007-04:00

I Gave the Pirates of the Caribbean films a second viewing recently. In turn I was inspired to whip up a few sketches.

Personally I don't get what the deal is with the films. It seems like the first one was a pretty entertaining film that the public was told to go crazy over(this happens often these days and no one want's to be left out). The second two films somewhat loose the magic, but when does that not happen. They loose the magic and the scripting isn't as tied down as the first, so the zeitgeist was of course reversed and everyone felt the need to hate them, some in order to fit in. Myself personally I think they're is too much hyperbole surrounding the saga. However I do think the director, Gore Verbinski is violently talented. As far as my take on the medium, this director is pretty much making live action animation. His film Mouse Hunt plays out like a pixar storyboard complete with powerhouse character actors and depth filled imagery. His take on The Ring is made only more powerful by his vivid use of visuals and atmosphere. His Pirates of the Caribbean series has some of the most beautifully rendered imagery and scope of the past decade, it's like he's a mad genius of set design.. The former compositor is made talented and johnny Depp owes much of his career resurgence to him(yes I said it). I've yet to see Rango, but I'm almost certain it's something special. In another reality he's the Tim Burton of industry, which explains his connection with Depp all the more. Burton being one of the other live action animators.

Anyways here are some of the board like sketches I conjured whilst watching the films. They're hardly special or inspired by this series, in fact you would think after my rant that they would be ultra relevant and inventive...nah.

-King

Mad Samurai

2011-06-21T14:54:00.006-04:00

This piece is about a mad samurai that has gone through many battles but has never drawn blood. Mostly likely because he's a coward.

"Madman" is supposedly what is written on his banner. It helps him avoid conflict.

The Final

-King

Spiderman

2011-06-21T09:29:00.005-04:00

Adding to my ongoing list of comic book character renditions. Here's my attempt at Spidey.

Me being me, I've put up a hand full of different images for one piece.

As much as I was digging the simple shapes, there came as time as there always does, when I decided to develop the work into something more accessible. I love the character because of how well his shapes work with his lines and how recognizable his iconic design is. The tear drop eye, the balance of two main colours, No matter how many times they change his costume design it usually takes a few months before they come back to what works.

The final in this case being a icy jazz setting with New York and it's character defining bridge in the background.

-King

Immortal Mission Update

2011-06-12T21:57:00.004-04:00

The Story so Far...

Immortal Mission storyboards VOL 1 from King Mugabi on Vimeo.

A ruthless killer is given a second chance at life after being tricked by a dragon into cursing himself. First act of a short silent film by King Mugabi.

Immortal Mission storyboards VOL 2 from King Mugabi on Vimeo.

A ruthless killer is given a second chance at life after being tricked by a dragon into cursing himself. The second act of a short silent film by King Mugabi.

Stay tuned...

-King

Story & Line 4

2011-06-10T01:05:00.002-04:00

Last story in for this particular line. I'll give this another shot with when I happen upon another line with potential.

-Peace

Story de la ligne iii

2011-05-31T00:02:00.001-04:00

The third story in the series, come by way of some very minimalistic changes, and mostly to setting.

Murphy spends his Sunday's feeding the birds, in a past life he used to test all sorts of products on animals.

And no he's not homeless...he's got a cane.

-King

My Next FILM!!!

2011-05-20T13:07:00.004-04:00

My next short is decided upon and rolling. Inquisitive minds and skeptics alike...

click HERE

-Peace.

Silly Boys

2011-05-19T16:26:00.002-04:00

...as a man he chased the red Ferrari, as a younger man he chased the lady in the red Dress...as a boy..well..

-King.

Story via Line II

2011-05-16T14:21:00.003-04:00

"It's difficult to tell an original boxing story, someones always down on their luck,"

The next story in this little series comes by way of a boxing manager and father.
Working with family is always tough I think, and nowhere is this struggle more present than in this relationship. Throwing in the towel is always an option, that's what the say to each other anyways.
This piece was inspired by a photo I saw once.

Something I've been finding when working with the story of this curve is how much humility I see in it. There's a scenario (perhaps down the road) where this line tells an imposing type of story but for now I just don't see it.

One line turns to two and the characters follow suit

This last piece I think tells a really intimate story, the right things are hidden and the lines converge where they may. It's here that find find ourselves backed into a corner.

One of my favorite films is Million Dollar Baby. It tells the excellent story of a man looking for a daughter and a daughter looking for a dad. Check it out some time.

-Peace

My Take on...Superman Returns

2011-05-13T17:28:00.016-04:00

SUPERMAN(Returns) by King Mugabi

I mentioned a pitch I had in my desk were WB ever to call on me to purpose a superman film. Though I won’t get into the exact details I will share an overview of my superman ideeeer. What can I say; I moonlight as a fan fiction writing geek.

I didn’t hate the 2006 film Superman Returns, but like many I’ve simply forgotten it, and in my opinion that’s much worse. I can’t believe that the best idea they came up with to reinvigorate the series was to make a beat for beat spoof of the original Dinner film. It was about the time when Lex’s female sidekick turned on Lex that I tossed my popcorn in the air ”…stupid” I said to myself. It’s sad because a lot of peoples main gripe with the character is that he’s old fashioned, boring, un-relatable and pointlessly over powered. And to top it off, I hated the cinematography and color palette. I admire the decision to try and emulate the original but the end product resulted in a film that looked old and boring. That’s all superficial stuff, the major problem of that movie is that they just didn’t understand what makes the character who he is for one, and why he’s great for another. I digress. The film fails right from the jump, and I’m not talking about the un-inspired abridged retelling of the death of krypton scene. Right from the very start, Why the HELL would superman of all the characters that exist in comic-dom, decide to just up and leave for, oh say about 5 or 6 years? Sure they got him pegged as a dead beat father in the film but he’s also deadbeat hero too?

Ok so Luthor is in jail (and knowing WB, that’s all the world really has to worry about). But what happens when (like in the 4^th movie) Lex escapes again and of course goes for more damn land. Where would the worlds greatest protector be in light of this situation? What happens if/when someone like Darksied shows up? What’s so gosh damn important about exploring huge chunks of kryptonite where one's planet used to be? It’s selfish, plain and simple. Not so say that even superman isn’t a little selfish, I mean Superman 2 kind of explores that, but this is on a whole other level of the sort that even Mr. Incredible would scoff at. The idea that the world is just fine without him is contrived considering the very entertaining universe they set up for our viewing pleasure, the best evidence of this is how Lois is instantly in life threatening danger not but 24 hours after his return. Sure it was as a result of Luthor but not directly and because of that, it laughs at it’s own premise. Is superman some kind of jinx? Are people only safe as long along as he’s not around?

I can actually quote a line from Superman 2 where he tells the president to his face that he won’t let them down again. Little did they know at the time that he had abandoned them to get into bed with Lois. Joker is more a man of his word than this dude. Now to be fair, there is a part of the abandoned script that says Luhor had arranged for superman to hear about a discovery that his planet Krypton was found and that in “tricking” superman to leave Earth he would steal 6 years of Supe's life in retribution for his prison term, which evidently was shortened to 6 because superman wasn’t around to testify against him (takes some effort to halt my eyes from rolling right around my head and back again). The (main) problem with this is that it still doesn’t excuse the (Christ like) hero from breaking character in such a way. What’s worse is that the film shelved the idea anyhow and what we’re left with is an even more flawed Superman experience than that would have been.

Now, I won't deny that it was an interesting concept on paper, and the truth is we are dealing with a hero that already gave up his powers and responsibility for selfish reasons in part 2 and thus isn’t so likely to repeat the offense. This is something I’d expect from Smallville (every second episode) but not Superman, Not even Spiderman with all his talk of responsibility. Lastly, I won’t speak of the “super kid.” for I refuse to. That being said, here is “MY TAKE.”

I loved the idea of playing off the fact that superman has been gone from the cinematic cultural landscape and conversation by using it as a returns plot/thematic device, they just went about it wrong and never fully embraced the fact.

PRELUDE:

THE EVENT

Nasa discovers an event deep in our galaxy. They, with the help of [an existing and scientific] Lex corp. build an experimental ship [with parts from Superman's advanced kryptonian baby ship] that can not only travel the great distance, but also neutralize the wormhole (Why not explore some science fiction in a superman movie: between Jor-el, Luthor, John Henry and a few other recurring characters of the mythos, you have some of the greatest scientific minds and engineers in all of fiction). The ship having been rebuilt can only be piloted by a Kryptonian and Superman willingly takes on the secret mission. At this distance from our sun his powers begin to suffer, but the mission is going as planned. Once the event (black hole) is all but closed, the ship runs a program that shuts him in and then begins to enter the wormhole (reverse thrusters and gravity). A final broadcast from Luthor appears and explains that he's lost

Luthor

"Or rather I’ve won, and you made it easy for me and so on and so forth…etc.
Superman
Luthor you ca...
Luthor
I can't what? Hope to get away with this? You hero types are all the same and all so predictable. I mean even though I recorded and sent this message 6 hours ago, I find it funny how it's always the same with you, give me a break. I'm Lex Luthor, I can do whatever I want. So Long Kent! Cheers to humanity, drinks on me."

And with that Superman begins to panic. A weakened superman is sent off annnnnnnnnnnnnd cue the main credits ala Abrams Star Trek prelude sequence. How Abrams did It in Star Trek.

In my humble opinion, the average audience would be so much more invested in the movie due to the emotions and scale and sci-fi involved in the scenario. At the very least it would be a lot more engaging than what we were given before the 2006 credits. Moreover it would literally take 8 mins. Plus if the first movie had superman being sent to earth in it's opening 8mins, this would be a good play on reversing that circumstance. And you still get to do your 6 year absence but without the glaring character flaw I've been harping on for the past few minutes.

THE COVER UP

Celestial events even at that distance tend to have a nasty ripple effect on our planet, so it had to be dealt with. The distance it happened at means it's easy for the government to cover it up. Luthor, shrewd as he is, buys as much media outlets as he can with his vast wealth, mostly digital media. He then spins the story to say that superman simply abandoned us (WHICH IS FUNNY ENOUGH, BECAUSE HE ACTUALLY DOES IN 2006 RETURNS). The younger generation grows up fed the idea that the character known as superman is a relic and selfish and an un-relatable old man. The one outlet that Luthor doesn't own is a small media print outlet called The Daily Planet. And one feisty journalist named Lois Lane, who has dedicated the last 5 years to unearthing the cover up and running conspiracy stories. It's all in vain though, who still reads the paper? Especially when everyone owns an Ipad? Old people right perhaps, but Lois doesn't simply want to preach to the choir. It's the younger audience that finds Superman boring and would rather watch marvel movies these day, they have no memory of those 70's movies. Also, this allows for Lois to play Lois, the rebel with a cause. Something even the miscast Bosworth can do in character.

THE RETURN

It turns out superman was sent across the universe to what's left of the Krypton System. The singularity as it turns out was partially due to a ripple in space formed by his initial arrival 25 years prior [and that’s why his ship was needed to close it. JOR-el's recklessly experimental worm hold tech. (desperate times)]. He's powerless and so he's immune to the radiation (hey, I’m not the first to do this) With no way of getting back to earth. After a few months, he's all but given up when he receives a signal from an AI system. This would be a solid introduction to Brainiac because he would appear as friend AND he could give a [manipulated] Kryptonian history lesson to Superman. They fix and improve Clarks ship over the course of a year (parts are scarce in the fallout of a planet) and the trip back takes about 4 light years. What I really like about this concept is that when we meet Brainiac, he has taken the android form of Jor-El (Superman’s dad)

Superman (grave whisper)

Brainiac, are we on the right planet?

Computer

Yes sir we are on Earth.

Superman

Open the shuttle door please.

Computer

With pleasure Kal-El.

(This is actually how I see the trailer playing out, just completely unrecognizable until the end.)

The film actually starts with this(after credits) and revisits Superman's years in exile via him telling the true story to either lois or his mother.

The Day Superman returns to earth, Dec 2010, He lands near the now abandoned Kent farm, a powerless and saggy Clark walks along the Kent fence built by his grandfather’s father. He runs his fingers in between the grooves like he did a thousand times as a boy returning from his many little adventures. Each crevice telling a different yet familiar story, he was home…at last.

He’s mother Martha Kent, lives alone on the farm, she’s been spending her time writing correspondence letters under Clarks name and keeping his cover. Little known fact, when Martha Kent was young she wanted to be a journalist. The day Clark told Jonathan Kent [his adopted father] that he wasn’t going to carry on the Kent tradition of farming he lost his father. Martha's fate apparently was to die in her sons arms upon his return from exile. Somehow she held on to life just long enough to see her son’s shaggy face for one last night. She cleans him up, and doesn’t wake up the next morning. (I like films where the main character undergoes a drastic visual change, it adds to the weight of the journey and feeling of time.It's like after the shave, you've found your old friend again)

Whilst walking upon the water, he buries her in the family lake.

What’s superman without a little Christian allegory.

BRAINIAC & LUTHOR.

Brainiac has been keeping busy planning out...

Lois

Judgment Day Terminator 2 style, part 3 doesn’t exist.

(Lois is all over the movie references). What's really juicy is that when Brainiac attacks the planet, Superman has to form un-easy alliance with none other than Lex Luthor, "a man he put in prison in the past." The Luthor owned media really plays up Luthors side of the story. Luthor comes out of this a hero and the world is indifferent on Superman...He’s relevant again.

Luthor

He returned with an alien menace in tow.

Superman Returns was insistent on the threat being of Kryptonian origin, but instead of that real estate scheme, I purpose the brainiac fleet. Of the many flaws with the land mass concept (any country with half a brain could have dealt with it). Invasions are all the rage these days and a great deal more cinematic. One thing I didn’t address was the short time on earth superman has to spend recharging and relearning his powers, this would be an interesting way for the audience themselves to experience the expositional wonder of what goes into executing superman’s feats and exactly how his powers work. All the fun of an origin story with half the hassle. Including a scene where he literally leaps over a building.

That’s My Take on Superman (Returns).

The treatment has it's flaws, but at the very least it’s a great deal more interesting to the general audience than Superman Returns was in my “humble” opinion. That’s all one can ask for, something really interesting. It ties in some superman mythos and introduces not only a respectable Luthor, but also a fresh villain that ties back to Superman’s origins and legacy for that un-educated audience member. There’s a much-needed physicality to it, as well as a very tangible global threat. What’s most interesting is that Superman is fighting an android in the likeness of his father or a space battle on the scale of man vs A.I. fleet.

The Superman boards I posted a few weeks ago were partially inspired by this, but for the most part are their own thing. All that being said I’m very much looking forward to what Snyder and Goyer come up with for Man of Steel next year. Hopefully I won’t have to ret-con that as well. I doubt it though, I love all their work.

This treatment has been brought to you by my dismay over the film of said namesake. Other films that have spawned fan fiction from me for simply falling short of their potential are:

Ninja Turtles
Blade

Stay tuned.

-King.

Story via Line

2011-05-11T18:48:00.005-04:00

Story of a Line is a neat little series of drawings all based on this curved line. All the drawings are based on this line and strangely enough they are all quite similar with minor changes to attire and setting as minimal as that is already.

A line drawing is built around the curve

Then some flat tone is applied to give it the allusion that I actually put some work into this sketch and presto.

Malcom's a good kid paying his way through med school, he likes to clean messes, He finds it relaxing..

-Peace

Can·tan·ker·ous

2011-04-20T14:19:00.008-04:00

Adjective: Bad-tempered, argumentative, and uncooperative.

Always found the idea of retirement homes fascinating. A thing that only exists in the west I assume. These people raise their kids in their homes and then when it's time, the kids send them to a different home instead of returning the favor.

This piece is called Cantankerous and it's a story about an old war vet that is sent off to live with a bunch of his old war enemies. He literally still drives his beat up infantry truck everywhere, including right through the front gate. Not so original a concept I know but a great venue for caricature and cliche.

As satisfied as I am with the above composition, I decided it needed a fix along with some simplicity.

The Final

-Peace

Dump X2

2011-04-20T11:58:00.002-04:00

2 short exploration pages

In order to be a strong gum shoe, you need a strong nose. A nose for trouble and or clues. Either way you need a nose.

Always enjoy pushing paint around faces

-King

Devil on My Shoulder

2011-04-20T11:41:00.006-04:00

I recently re-read William Golding's Lord of the Flies. I Can't believe I didn't enjoy that book more when I was forced to read it back in grade 10. Which is probably due to the fact that I was forced to read it out loud and as my pals remember, I coined the term "Stuttering Stanley" long before Shayamlan became a one hit wonder. I'm a big fan of stories that discuss the human capacity to simply be self serving and violent. They play to the fact that we are evolved apes and civility is a circumstance of intelligence and not some mandate or even god given characteristic. Everyday my prof would go on about are we born good or evil and where is the veneer drawn.

This imagery is speaks to the south beach attire wearing devil on the shoulder all innocent kids have on their shoulder called titled "The id"

Final Print

-King

Superman Boards Up

2011-04-12T17:47:00.009-04:00

Been wanting to board Superman for a lifetime now. Not quite the story I would sell WB when they want to reboot the franchise once more but a fun board none the less.

The first time a young kid named Clark stops feeling the pull of gravity, he's hit with a premonition of his future and his last fall. I may make a coherent leica at some point in the near future but time is precious these days.

link to BOARDS

-King

The First Artist

2011-04-11T19:59:00.007-04:00

Some grabs from a short story entailing the first artist creating his universe, finding a partner and crawling into his grave

-King

Romance

2011-04-10T21:00:00.009-04:00

Full story below

One shoe and a dozen flowers before the army draft

-King

Japan

2011-04-03T17:02:00.011-04:00

Mixed feelings about japan. Hopefully things get better...soon.
Water colour marker variation. Will get back to posting regularly again...soon.

-peace

Inside Baseball

2011-03-12T14:01:00.012-05:00

A quick Story Sketch depicting the perpetual struggle between the Catcher (unsung heroes) and the Umpire. Interestingly enough it appears as though the ump is calling the pitch.

-King

Sistas & Sailors

2011-03-09T16:06:00.012-05:00

This piece was originally intended to highlight the civil movement, and it ended emphasizing a more compositional movement and A symmetrical tone.

shapes and lines

-King

movie painting thing #4

2011-03-02T16:06:00.011-05:00

A film about a family of flawed people traveling to a beauty pageant.

This movie was surprisingly touching. I've always been a fan of stage play like character dramas set in a claustrophobic location. I also enjoy comedic actors giving dramatic performances. They always seem to have a good sense of timing.

Peace

The Under Appreciated

2011-02-28T13:44:00.007-05:00

Fathers Day

For all the sons who don't notice their fathers standing right next to them.

The Sub

What an interesting occupation these men lead. Like firemen they dive head first into the fray. The like adoptive parents they have to step in and try and form a bond with kids that would really much rather be someplace else.

Much respect to the Mr. Wrights of the world.

-King

Dinner for Two

2011-02-27T20:43:00.006-05:00

This was actually more about style research than any particular story.

But since you're here anyway,

"Susan is a cat person, cats are loners. Jimmy is a dog person and...well he used to be anyway."

-King

Tide

2011-02-17T16:15:00.007-05:00

Sunset and water with a hint of Canada. The idea with this digital painting is two different skies separated by a center element which combines the two. I figured, why not the flag. In my mind it would be a wall piece that evokes a sense of travel.

It's not period specific. But it could be.

Water is about as much fun to render as clouds.

-Peace

movie painting thing #3

2011-02-14T12:40:00.009-05:00

Not much to say about this entry, the third movie Painting/Poster. It's been about a year or so since I did my boarding with bay bit Good Times so I thought it only fitting I return to that style for this entry. I honestly love painting these characters, nothing has to be defined yet form is even more essential. Another movie series I miss not being a kid for.

with clouds

and here without

I Decided to skip the water colour brushes for this one. I actually didn't miss them all that much, however speed did suffer greatly. Looking back on these (three) pieces I regret not working on the lighting more. Perhaps the scale as well.

This last piece was from the boards I started then stopped when I got busy.

-Peace

enRoute Film Festival

2011-02-10T15:14:00.007-05:00

At the end of last year I was lucky enough to experience the enRoute Film Festival, not only as an attendant but as an official selection. In brief it was more than pleasant. enRoute and Air Canada flew the filmmakers to Toronto and had us spend a couple of nights as the Metro Hotel. We also went down to the Movieola studio and gave live interviews. I met a lot of great people and I ended up winning for best animated short. As part of my winnings enRoute sent me and friend to the Whistler film festival in BC and there we spent a week eating and watching films including my new second favorite film of all time Blue Valentine. enRoute is back this year so I highly encourage anyone, especially Sheridan Grads to submit..tell em King sent you. On top of everything else, Red Snow has been playing on the Air Canada airline for some time now, so if you happen to find yourself on a flight give it a watch, I actually get paid about $34.45 for each vi...no not really but do give it a watch, that's the only place you can view it till toss it up on here or enter into another festival.

This is an interview I gave at the time.

Air Canada’s enRoute Film Festival announces winners

Red Snow hasn't been doing too bad for itself. It's won a bunch of awards and like any good son, he's made me proud. Festivals are great, seeing your work on the big screen in front of a live audience is an experience I hope to enjoy a few more times before my time here ends. I'd like to thank my good friend peter for all the jokes and enRoute for the honors.

If you're in the area for the in the San Jose area in march, check out the Cinequest film festival. I look forward to seeing Red Snow converted to DV-Cam for the screening.

till next time

Peace.

-King

movie painting thing #2

2011-02-09T19:18:00.008-05:00

In the second of my attempt to compose about 6 digi-water-colouring a film scene/poster, I was inspired to try my hand at a movie that really affected me as a child. I've always felt that kids are the luckiest audience in the world. When it come to stories and films, for them, everything is based on a true story. More accurately everything is a real story. Watching the Rocky series growing up I was overwhelmed to say the least. The style and over the top visceral imagery and plots quenched my standards for cinema like no other movie of the genre. The second sequel and the Stallone directed part 4 are probably the least critically praised of the bunch (Part 5 doesn't exist), but you guessed it, I love em most. There's is a line in part 6, "Balboa fought wars in the ring." People died in the ring while I would sit in front of the TV and stare in wonder. It was simply awesome. And the music! The music was insane, it's pretty much why I can tolerate rock more than some of my pals. As far as Part 6 is concerned, I appreciate the real world approach they were going for but I felt it defeated the point. Rocky was at its best when it was surreal and epic. It falls flat when it tries to be somber. That would be like making a rambo movie where he doesn't take on a whole army for the sake of making it a real world film. That tone is better serviced in the far superior Million Dollar Baby.

/Rant

This first part of the composition was based on a poster/scene from the original film. The concept was simple, rocky loses but he wins. I like it because it's the oaf and his lady. Most people in North American as well as The Soviet (haha) can probably identify the iconic characters in this piece from a mile back. It stands as a testament to the design of the film more than anything else.

This next part of the piece is why I love rocky, the Goliath's to the hero. They were both just shot so powerfully and more than anything mercilessly. I would raise my blanket up over my nose when not reaching for the popcorn. The second biggest injustice of the 6th movie was not showing us how time was treating our old pals Clubber and Ivan.

The mix medium tech I'm using for these really speeds things up. I'm still trying to find the best mix of pastel vs cartooning. It's always strange knowing how much different all this stuff would look in medium of choice...For the time being I just stop when it looks about right.

Clubber would Kill Drago by the way

...always bet on black.

-King

Step to Me

2011-02-09T17:34:00.006-05:00

The entry into the story sketch series. This time we have a peace I'm calling "The Peaceful Belligerent" The people that end up the most belligerent are the ones that "come in peace." Gotta watch out for them.

This piece is going up in the compositional order I struggled with before calling it quits. I have a tendency to be compulsively additive to the point of fatigue. It has it's uses however.

The Smoker & the Smoking Sign
So first we started off with the concept of a smoker that doesn't give a damn. Then we decided to make him an American(yup) in a foreign country ready to cry ignorance and or start something if anyone decides to step to him. It's not his fault he can't read the language of the enemy.

The peace sign

At first the peace sign button was simply for composition. Later it was for contradiction. In the end it just stands to remind me of the wars Americans have fought against the Asians.

"...what's one more body amongst your foundations"

The Bull Dog

Rumor has it dogs aren't treated all to well in some parts of the east. In adding the dog with the "look" on his face. I feel it gives our hero some motivation that's extrinsic to a degree. Of course "Corporal. Rex" here is acting look out.

"you know the drill Corporal, just like the good old days."

The crowd of little people.

I felt this made the composition smaller but less intimate, it also adds commotion.

decisions, decisions.

The pregnant lady is my favorite.

The Final

And finally, after an embarrassingly long amount of time since I started, I just stopped. All the lines and cast shadows give me a sense of focus and area, but do they really? Maybe I had it right the first time.

-King

-Peace.

movie painting thing #1

2011-02-02T15:14:00.008-05:00

Just putting the new water colours to good use. There is a technique to water colouring, similar to marker work, it involves planning out which parts will be lightest and left untouched along with a hand full of other "rules." Coming from pastel junkie-hood I want nothing to do with that approach.

I have a few more of this coming along, This was the first and obviously the least creative.

Stay tuned.

-King

Role Models

2011-01-31T01:59:00.011-05:00

A concept for a short story that's been kicking around in my household.

The idea being the dynamic between friends of which both lack a specific trait that effectively hinder their roles in different society's.

"Lets go laser tag!"

-King

Water Colour eastWWii

2011-01-31T01:08:00.012-05:00

In between projects I've found myself working on some personal art mostly inspired by movies. At this moment in time I'm exploring some water color brushes.

The first piece is called long life

The second piece is meant to contrast the first with a sense of peace, nature and a lady also approaching an ever expanding sun.

-Peace

FootBall (updated)

2011-01-07T16:50:00.022-05:00

This post represents some quick studying I've been doing for football practice. See one of my next projects deals with a footballer of sorts and this presents a lovely opportunity. I've been working on speed and simplified communication.

Football Sequence from King Mugabi on Vimeo.

link to BOARDS

-King

Leaves from the Vine

2011-01-07T13:13:00.008-05:00

Some design I found in the back of my mind. In the spirit of organization I figure I should file it here.

The concept here being a samurai with red hair and two swords, very ambitious if I do say so myself. This is yet another victim of my new water colour brush phase, bare with me.

-King

Joker Painting

2010-12-13T12:14:00.015-05:00

As of late, I've been viewing a lot of (Chris)Nolans work. His more recent work is growing on me. It's as if it gets better with time or a tleast repeat viewings. Anyways, one thing I loved right off the bat(see what just happened there) was his approach/direction with the Joker character. There are alot of good things to be said about the character's direction. For one; like Nolan, the character isn't funny and he's not supposed to be. Secondly he looks like a colourful version of The Crow. It's almost like he's returned from the dead to exact his revenge and for all intents and purposeses, he can't be killed/stopped. That's all for now.

I'm also feeling inception and this trailer mash up makes me smile a joker like expression.

This Zack Hemsey's Mind Heist works over any and every trailer you can imagine, even my very own....and believe me, I've got the exports to prove it.

Peace

Incredible Hulk Painting

2010-11-24T16:00:00.021-05:00

Keeping with my run on digital comic book renderings, my second attempt is one of the Hulk. I've always had some thoughts on his ins and outs but I've never once put pen to pad. In what started out as a mission to "design" the hulk turned into a rather generic but enjoyable rendition. I found many paint streams along the character's vast canvas that have inspire me to really figure digital painting and its advantages. I worked on lighting(which is always the goal), and I found a piece to finally round out my banner.

Similar to the design forethought in Tarzan, I believe it prudent to design superheroes for their function. They shouldn't all look like swimmers that have too much time on their hands. Hulk, who has gamma radiation juicing up his muscle fibres should have a crazy physique, however there is still room for speculative function. I believe that his centre is his upper back. Everything he does from opening doors to smashing mountains is with his traps, and adductors. However, I must admit I'm very dissapointed by how generic this piece turned out, yet there is always something to be said for drawing on model.

-King

Working Demo Reel

2010-11-11T04:26:00.007-05:00

King Mugabi DemoReel: Story 2011 from King Mugabi on Vimeo.

-King

Blue

2010-11-09T21:20:00.011-05:00

Blue sketch with a blue pen and some blue light added for a blue esthetic.

flat version

-King

Wolverine Painting

2010-11-02T11:20:00.029-04:00

I woke up the other morning and felt the urge to paint a comic book character. Being an avid collector and reader one might find it strange that I don't really ever draw comic book related stuff. There was that Hellboy pastel but that was a film assignment and a fun one at that, also there was that black Siderman. Before I choose Logan I decided that I didn't want to do any costumes, I find costumes sometimes take away from what's interesting about a character (sometimes the costume is the only saving grace). With Wolverine it's the former.

cool thumbnail to sooth my obsession

What makes this painting appealing to me is the elfish characterization. When I think of the kinda man that logan is, my thoughts gravitate towards that southern American skinny legged, beer gutted, propane selling, King of The Hill mans man. Only Canadian. He's always down for repping where he's from. And he's covered in battle damage. He's 5'3, weighs about 300 lbs and hasn't touched a comb in years. That's my Wolverine. Hate it or love it...just like his personality, he wouldn't want it any other way.

It's amazing what one really needs to capture the iconography of a comicbook character. In wolverine's case it's either the hair or the claws for the most part. So with the white shirt one focuses on the hair and with the black one focuses on the claws.

-King

White Boots & a Blue Kilt

2010-11-01T18:17:00.019-04:00

High Viking?

A mix of a Viking Norsemen and a Highlander. This is another piece concieved digitally and on a whim. This man like his ale warm and think. His women, the same.. The character, fittnigly named one arm is in the vain of the classic viking hero mythology in that he's missing an appendage. Looking at the lore, a missing article is like having a beard or scar, it adds character and or presence. What would odin be with two eyes or the how to train you're dragon vikings if they were all whole.

One thing I already miss about the pastel approach to original art pieces, is the tangibility. I feel art doesn't really exist untill you can put it on your wall without it being a print out. However I do appreciate the control + alt + delete function. Anyone that knows me knows that I erase about three times more than I actually draw.

does that bg look familiar?

very good.

Thanks for stopping by

-King

Objects in the Sky

2010-11-01T17:36:00.014-04:00

Clouds.

It's always been difficult for me to really capture them I think because they have alot of form but are also formless. That's not me quoting from the Jeet Kune Do book of how to kick ass when you are in a large group of Japanese Karate students. Every since I started working on my digital skills clouds have gotten alot easier. Here are a few of the more successful attempts.

If you keep an eye out, you'll see them as shameless attempts at backgrounds in other images.

A new hobby of mine is to work on things I'm weak at...considering that's a genre in itself, you should see alot of new (digital) art from me.

peace

-King

Trailer Boardin

2010-07-18T14:38:00.010-04:00

Quick little variation on my tablet excercise. In my (non-existent spare time), I board a scene from a movie or just a trailer in this case. At first its just going to be a good round of pose sketches but then I get the camera involved and make an animatic sequence out it.

...good times.

trailer boarding; air bender from King Mugabi on Vimeo.

The timining isn't at all precise but it's passable, I may find time to animate this.

music credit - yellow card.

peace.

Vlog 4 "tv spot"

2010-05-13T20:52:00.011-04:00

Schools done, films done. I'm done.

One of the requirements for festival entry is promotional material for said film. Seeing as how I've been submitting myself into a good amount of festivals, I decided to begin with some trailers in tv spot format.

There is a backwards/rewind motif I'm experimenting with. The (brilliant) score is present but it's also playing in reverse to really sell my concept of snow rising.

Red Snow Teaser "falling backwards" from King Mugabi on Vimeo.

congrads to all the grads that finished there films.

-King

Vlog 3 Production

2010-01-25T02:39:00.014-05:00

Finally got a few moments to compile another vlog together. If you're wondering what happened to the second one, don't.

Big thank you to everyone that has given me feedback, I really had no idea what Red Snow looked like from outside my own perspective. I've been making a lot of changes and I'm sure I've found a middle ground between the thinkers and the watchers.

(special thanks to DQ, Van Woudenberg, Chris Walsh, Trevor Jimenez and Alessandro.)

this vlog has some layouts, bg painting, rough animation TESTS and other such things. The video itself is extremely random and cut together with random songs. Again mostly just me testing things...

This isn't my story persay, but it's a a necessary previewing.

I cut this vlog to Joseph Campbell's power of myth, it only seemed fitting.

Red Snow Vlog 3 Production from King Mugabi on Vimeo.

On a side note, I'm absolutely loving the "Troy" elective. Go (right ahead and) figure.

-King

4 mins of Story

2009-12-12T12:32:00.002-05:00

Truly

Peace

-King

Red Snow Story Sketches

2009-11-16T22:26:00.012-05:00

I found some time to do some story inspired digital sketches...they worked.

I've been focusing on Henry (the catcher) for the past little while, it's in him that I find the potential to really hit the allegory on the head.

Separating hero and protagonist is something I fist noticed in DC's Kingdomcome and ever since then it's been my favorite approach to epic story telling.

-King

Boarding With Bay UPDATED

2009-10-27T02:42:00.020-04:00

A new exercise I will be doing in my free time(between feeding the cat and brooding in the halls of my campus) is watching films and trying to tie down the compositions. I'm still a noob on the tablet so I figure it should be helpful.

This first session was centered around the stagings of 2007's genre defining Transformers. Golly, what can I say about the film (insert snarky high nose and equally high brow demeaning/belittling comment here) that hasn't been said....I enjoyed it. Just another experience I would sell 10grams of flesh to experience as a young boy again. ...anyways back to my purpose here to today.

Speaking soley visually, this film had some very powerful staging, however the editing and cutting is that of a music video at times. This works against it whereas in a film like Bad Boys, it was additive. Anyone that watches films with me knows I'm a lighting nut, and it's there that this film shines. So much so that I decided to add colour. Considering Bay is an acclaimed photographer and I've always been a fan of Mitchell Amundsen's work it just felt like a waste not to. (One Alessandro notes, that it's the contrast driven lighting that when applied to the cgi emulates the cariscuro effect of realism that most cgi driven films shy away from in an effort to showcase the detail work.) Some of these are more successful than others...I decided to get better as I went along. (who knew photoshop could be used like chalk.)

I made a quick video of all the colour thumbs (including the ones I threw away) and I put them in the order they appear in the film. The score mixes the best of the both generations. NOW WITH WIPES AND 3D SEPARATION... Enjoy

Transformers Painted Beats from King Mugabi on Vimeo.

-King

New Film Idea

2009-10-26T01:12:00.011-04:00

...but it'll have to wait until after the snow falls.

peace

-King

Life in the 4th Year

2009-10-24T11:50:00.009-04:00

adjusting to a new professor has it's ups and downs (especially when the previous one sought tone whereas the new one prefers life found in line) but they ultimately want the same things; form and structure and life.

-King

workbook

2009-10-24T11:18:00.009-04:00

This was from the film I worked on in 3rd year; My Hero

-King

Tablet Surfing

2009-10-03T00:31:00.013-04:00

Still practicing on the tablet, slowly but surely

this was going to be spiderman, but then I had a change of heart. I like the idea that the Surfer rides his board like a runner at a starting block that never quite sets off

-King

Film Production Vlog 1

2009-09-25T11:55:00.014-04:00

Everyone now and then I figure

Red Snow Vlog 1 from King Mugabi on Vimeo.

I designed a few inspiration posters and character outlines.

With the obligatory pretentious introspective quote to boot...i spend way to much time in movie theaters. (note; these are lines from my film)

I'm going for a black & white period piece mixed in with some eastern sensibilities and cinematography and tied down with mythic allegory.

music credit: Marco Beltrami

If a genie popped up and granted me a wish today, it would be to have a conversation with the poet Homer.

...pick his brain.

peace

-King

Robo_Cop

2009-09-18T17:31:00.007-04:00

united kindom edition

More art for the youth magazine I contribute to every so often, or to be more specific when one of the youth written stories is up to snuff and I have a weekend off.

black pastel on news print

to quote Rorschach; "Obvious really."

things I like; collar and tie

things I should fix; lighting..always lighting.

-King

Observations

2009-09-12T12:06:00.029-04:00

Caricatures

Left is Murphy and not the cyborg, right is some dude from bet, and in the centre,the beautiful wafa

I love girls with scarfs, I think I'll marry one. I like working the scarfs into hair shapes, sorta like a what if.

-King

Sketch Book Logos

2009-09-12T11:32:00.017-04:00

Some friends ask me to work on some designs from time to time.

Just another reason to sketch I'd say.

-King

Sketch Book Logos 2

2009-09-12T11:18:00.014-04:00

easily my favorite medium to work in.

peace

1938 - 2009

2009-08-30T16:30:00.004-04:00

His famous 1971 “Sugar Shack” dance scene appeared on the “Good Times” television show and on the Marvin Gaye album “I Want You.” This image has been widely imitated and Barnes’ expressive style has influenced countless aspiring artists.

Erine Barnes

Commission

2009-08-20T16:05:00.015-04:00

Capturing 2 persons presented the opportunity to pull out the double size canvas, which has it's perks.

I learned a lot.

For a lovely couple

King

Wrap

2009-08-13T00:05:00.021-04:00

Establishing the concept driven likeness capture was all well and good and there will be many more, something new I wanted to try is applying it to a culture

I like the horizontal head wrap because I find it completes the circular movement of the comp...this thoughtful character is comprised of all the colours of his/her nation.

-King

Michael Jackson Portrait

2009-08-09T02:12:00.013-04:00

More working with coloured lighting techniques. I'm learning that there's a fine line between lighting and face painting, and to make matters more learned I decided to try my hand at violet/indigo. As any good painter will tell you, violent tones are naturally prominent throughout dark skinned people. So what I ended up with isn't so much coloured lighting(see brown sugar) but rather cool flesh tone, which I'm cool with.

The thing about likeness pieces is that one relies on as many landmarks as possible to grab onto for recognizable caricature less portraiting. As I've done once in the past, a crop protrait proves to be 3 times more the challenge(for me anyway) then one without a facial crop. I find I could capture schwarzenegger 3 times before getting MJ's eyes to be his eyes.

lastly I went through a dozen concepts for this one, some of them are in the vid.

-I settled on the vinyl and pin motif with a reflection sketch to boot.

I was never really been the biggest fan of Jackson, however my mother was and is; I'm sure she'd like it.

lastly I went through a dozen concepts for this one, some of them are in the vid.

-I settled on the vinyl and pin motif with a reflection sketch to boot.

I was never really been the biggest fan of Jackson, however my mother was and is; I'm sure she'd like it.

-King

Role Models

2009-08-09T01:01:00.013-04:00

The piece in question was one of my first attempts at concept driven likeness capturing(his shadow is his birth place and he's looking back ohh lala). Emmanuel is from the same country as I am and it's all right there on the canvas, the colours, the shapes to the texture.

The man in this piece has nothing but my respect and admiration, growing up I've always looked up to him and I can't say that about many people. Mwanagu is an African term...look it up.

This was also my first foray into decisive half finished compositions.

peace

-King

Alicia Keys Portrait

2009-07-13T01:11:00.014-04:00

This started out as an idea for a beautiful educated sister, but then I sold out and decided to turn her into a familiar face...funny thing is not everyone can tell who she is(unlike most of my portraits) so I may have my integrity yet...

This is a new approach I'm going to be running with for a while. You see I just now remembered that I use brown kraft paper as a base; which means for a lot of these characters i really don't need to apply flesh tone, I can focus on the important things, like lighting.

The fun really comes in colouring the light, in this particular case I'm going for a jazzy blue.

Also I'm digging the half finished look, I can pass my laziness off as artistic decisiveness.

(her hand is only half rendered, any less and bad things happen)

peace

-King

Rosie

2009-07-11T19:38:00.016-04:00

A friend of mine introduced me to the music of Coco Rosie; a sister duo that creates some of the most interesting music around.

A few of their songs struck me as good and then there was "Werewolf," a ghostly touching semi auto bio from the sisters. Upon hearing it I couldn't help but assume it was about the romantic hardships of a young girl growing up and her relationship with her father. Funny enough it is except not nearly in the explicit way I interpreted it the first time...art's funny that way.

This was a fun yet emotional narrative composition, it's cool not to spend hours on trying to make eyes look like a certain celebrity and just being free to draw a person from my head, at the same time the song took me to a dark place, like those sad movie I can't watch anymore...

I also think I'm going to hold off on the flesh tone for a while(maybe)

The cool thing about making videos is the story. You can see her expression change in time.

-King

2009-05-18T21:35:00.007-04:00

My Film

2009-05-15T00:10:00.023-04:00

At last... I've started focusing on my film...well, I work at my co-op during the day but in the evenings I....well actually when I get home I nap, but around 12am, it's on.

I've always wanted to do a sweeping epic, something that if it was announced on one of those genre film websites with said cool director attached to direct, that it would generate interest...at the same time something that is relatable and charming in it's ties to a moment in each of our personal lives, has a message, and as always, something different...from the masses.

Red Snow is a Graphic novel idea the first in a series of 4, I'm so into it i figure i'd animate part of it for my thesis.

prelude

characters

poster

-King

Celebrating 3 years

2009-04-22T00:18:00.011-04:00

Back in 06 I remember having to complete 3 self portraits of myself for painting class with Andrew Bodor, one was in col erase(ok so they didn't have to be paintings) one was in acrylic(never using that again) and the last was in conte/pastel(chalk), it was a shockingly enjoyable experience, for due to my approach to drawing/painting, the chalk worked perfectly(I have zero confidence and erase a lot, sad really).

I also stared really blocking out darks and lights and with that first self portrait back in 2006, I've developed a hobby of chalking in faces whenever I have some time...plus i do commissions but who cares about those.

-King

2009-04-20T18:17:00.004-04:00

P-Nix - UPDATE

2009-04-07T20:57:00.010-04:00

finally added colour

Tablet Boogie

2009-03-28T15:59:00.010-04:00

Every Saturday morning i have free i wake up early and practice on the tablet, I honestly find the concept of drawing on the tablet very unatural and it's quite the learning curve, doesn't help that I'm a messy writer...Industry boarding is now almost all digital so i may as well get comfortable now.

just think of it as a trailer for one of those dance movies where the inner city guy will overcome the odds and be accepted for who he really is...

-King

2009-03-25T06:50:00.012-04:00

2009-03-22T08:58:00.009-04:00

2002

2009-03-21T15:16:00.010-04:00

Back in and around 2002 a friend commissioned me to do a recreation of a painting he cherished from his childhood At the time, I had just decided to follow art as a lively hood, so it was an awkward yes.

The original piece done by Barnes was(is) such a power house composition of life and movement, and his touch is so golden, i knew i was in for a headache as well as a learning experience

to this day his work inspires me. I remember sitting in the building laundry room* for about a month working on this (what I used to think was huge) 18x30 piece of illustration board day in and day out...with the completion of each character i felt a personal triumph over a facet of my own self doubt.

The next year i was off to Sheridan to do something art related...something that involved moving bodies expressively...

I also decided pencil crayon and marker were kinda lame, so for my next piece i gave something called pastel chalk a try...

ORIGINAL ART CREDIT ERNIE BARNES

-King

2009-03-19T20:37:00.007-04:00

Life

2009-03-18T23:54:00.010-04:00

-King

Sisyphus

2009-01-22T22:37:00.015-05:00

Finally wrapped this puppy up, I'm very pleased with the results, and i learned alot, mainly in compositing, I'd like to thank Nick from our tech office for all his insight.and of course Cinder my cat...

It is what it is, there's a ton of pacing issues in my opinion and as far as the 5 secs of clean up work, it captured the nrg i wanted but the sky was never fully worked out...

-King

The human Animal condition

2009-01-09T19:14:00.005-05:00

This is a documentary i found a long time ago

It's a day in the life of a group of african animals of different (popular) species.

Myself a fan of ensemble films like requieum for a dream and various others about the human condition in a social structure, I find doc's like this about a day in the life of the society of african animals very entertaining and enlightening.

If you watch the whole thing you'll find yourself rooting for creatures you never thought you would(no doubt due to disney telling you which are good and which are bad). The most important lesson i get from this is that in real life there are no good guys and bad guys, just characters who do ugly things for more or less justifiable reasons.

stories are everywhere around us...and they don't always end happy

as jeff goldblum once said

"life finds a way"

Phoenix Part 3

2008-12-31T01:19:00.010-05:00

Ok so this is my final cover in a series of phoenix/rising out of/evolution covers i'm doing for Visions of Science

I just took the literal translation of what was asked of me, but instead of fire I tried smoke, and then that turned into clouds

this is my last pastel of 2008, its been quite the learning experience

and now i've moved onto 24x36 size paper...oh the freedom

peace

Home Town

2008-12-24T12:07:00.012-05:00

I was born in Uganda, I'm east African, not so much "black."

Style wise, to me Africa is, Expressive, Organic and Earthy

hopefully this shines comes through in my work.

This is some of my first real cultural work as far as my own roots, I look to do more, especially if I end up making the film about Africa. The bird, this time less mythical is the national symbol of Uganda, the Crested crane.

If it wasn't going to be a gift i would have added more of an illustrative style but the person intended would more than likely be pleased with a more traditional take on the icon.

I did manage to capture a similar profile as the flag, plus the colours are still present.

The eye structure of the crane is one where the lids close horizontally. They also have a puff of afro hair which adds strong character.

I was going to add some sort of expression ie, tears or pride but that I found that would either show too much weakness towards my country or too much hubris.

The colour pattern on the face beckons me to apply it to human in a later portrait...look out for it.

This will probably be the last of my pastel work done in this style, I look forward to the new year and the new approach I've been working on.

Peace

Phoenix part2

2008-12-24T11:44:00.010-05:00

More work on the phoenix concept, the idea of transformation has risen from the flames of my mind

at first i wanted to do the back of a boys head with red hair so that it would tie into the front (or back) of the magazines phoenix face

but that was a little too ambiguous, so then, a boy with his hair on fire paralleling the previous image came to mind

with the flames, this time i wanted to keep the feel of hair whereas with the bird it was more feathery flames...

the colours are a little pushed but I feel it adds a sense of "childrens book cover" to the image

I grew up on Robert Munch and Michael Martchenko, in fact i listen to some of his work on my ipod on my bike ride to school, it's good for the soul.

peace

I ran into this little movie called Rare Exports Inc the other day

2008-12-21T12:11:00.008-05:00

I ran into this little movie called Rare Exports Inc the other day. I truly enjoyed it. I'ts been a long time since i've seen something that has truly called out to my sensibilities as a storyteller.

This year, being the third year in the BAA program i've been exposed to my peer's sensibilities for story and it's been a learning experience, I sit and watch as ppl other then myself imbue a story with what they think will enhance it or solidify it, and most importantly make it engaging. Everyone represents an audience and they(most of the time) try to appease that audience when pleasing themselves, so in a way I've been exposed to many different audiences.

The story then gives powerful emphasis to otherwise simple actions. This forces the audience to come away from a film feeling they witnessed characters who have accomplished great things. The metaphors are present of course, there are always thinkers in the audiences and they enjoy feeling smarter then the rest for they not only found the analogy before the rest, they best understand it, weather it be political satire or ecological awareness.

Lastly the humor, it's present but it's subtle, it's speaks to the audience in that the people that hate comedy won't have any contempt towards the story, they won't feel anything undermined, yet the enthusiasts, will get their payoff...

To take a myth and re-imagine it; take something everyone knows and reformulate it with a different tone...yet a similar one

-King

Wafa's Truth

2008-12-21T10:59:00.011-05:00

This past week i've been going back and forth with a poet I know; she's wanted me to work on a design for her for about a...long time now

She's arabic and muslim(who'd have thought).

The design itself is a rhythmic capture of her silhouette and the arabic word for Truth

it's all going to end up on a post card with a front and a back

peace

Phoenix

2008-12-21T10:30:00.014-05:00

This past summer I did some work for the visions of science society(some of which is on this blog)

For their annual magazine they gave me the honor of working on the cover.

The running theme being the phoenix rising

I did tons of sketching(I would post them but they didn't survive my frustration)

and i ended up with this Portrait...i figured why not, i haven't done a portrait in a while.

I wanted him cropped and very low on the page for one something rises its better if it starts off low...

the flames convey the compositional movement in the desired direction and thus objective is accomplished.

The bird itself is a mix of breeds for the phoenix is borderline mythic, I actually used my cats eyes just to add that extra sense of abnormal, plus cats eyes are the most piercing i find.

woot

Lifedrawing

2008-12-21T09:58:00.008-05:00

Managed to get some Toronto life drawing in, it's a bit different, mainly being the studio set up has you low to the ground and at school i tend to be higher...

Moreover Thierry, my professor this semester has been on my ass about what i do and how to improve so, i'm pretty much re-hauling my approach to life drawing,

"If you can use one word to describe the body part, u should only use one line."

Thierry's words

peace out

2008-12-16T18:27:00.004-05:00

Character Culture and World Literature

2008-11-21T06:56:00.012-05:00

For the pitch analysis assignment in the elective course, we were to draw specific characters and or specific narrative situations from the wide range of Stories we are to read this term. I choose the character of Scrooge.

I'm not sure why to tell you the truth. At first i just saw a chance to capture an old frail yet powerful creature. After reading the book, I found there was a much greater opportunity than just that, so i did two. Christmas Carol is a story that completely revolves around a character arc, in fact we almost never leave the character for the duration of the story. So I tried to capture who he is when we meet him and who he is when we leave, someday I might come back and do who he is after we leave him.

I wanted the images to stand alone as movie posters with tag lines and in doing so I pretty much generated viable book covers. I'll look into getting them into publishers hands cause you never know. I work at a book store and i have a love hate relationship with book covers. There are so many i want to do; Of Mice and Men being at the top of that list.

The arc and circle motifs in both paintings represent the character arc, the rings also represent his wealth and marriage to his beliefs, the wooden cane also represents a the 19ths century's capitalists society and how the well off stood on the backs of the impoverished, there was in inverted support system that's starting to creep its way back into today's society, but hopefully President Elect will keep his promises (seen here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvFJDzJ1PYk). I took the idea of scrooge squeezing and bending this piece of wood, his cane, it supports him and allows for him to stand as tall as he does, without it, well not only would he not be able to get around, but his stature would greatly decline.

Early in the book the character is in a cold dark, closed off world, after his change the world opens up, and he feels again, thus the snow for it triggers the sensation of being alive in the audience...snow is good for that.

I had alot of fun this time, the video was a great learning experience, hopefully i can incorporate some of this into my thesis film.

Song; This is your life, by Switchfoot (which is fitting, for they are a christian band)

interlaced with the Vitamin String Quartet's cover.

The content of the song work well with the themes of the story.

Merry Christmas, and god bless us, every one (not just America).

-King

inspired by Richard Williams...who never let the medium limit the idea

Winter Fair

2008-11-16T20:29:00.005-05:00

the fairs not quite my scene, i actually tend to stand out, not sure why...

it's a great chance to see the people (and animals) that feed our cities at work tho.

peace

-King

Turn Around

2008-11-12T22:15:00.009-05:00

-King

Opus Regalis: Story Art

Zack Snyder Watchmen Analysis (video)

Nicki Minaj Portrait

Too Close to the TV

Transform

Spiderman Painting

Bird-Fu

Superman StoryBoard Leica

Naruto Painting

Pirates

Mad Samurai

Spiderman

Immortal Mission Update

Story & Line 4

Story de la ligne iii

My Next FILM!!!

Silly Boys

Story via Line II

My Take on...Superman Returns

SUPERMAN(Returns) by King Mugabi

Story via Line

Can·tan·ker·ous

Dump X2

Devil on My Shoulder

Superman Boards Up

The First Artist

Romance

Japan

Inside Baseball

Sistas & Sailors

movie painting thing #4

The Under Appreciated

Dinner for Two

Tide

movie painting thing #3

enRoute Film Festival

movie painting thing #2

Step to Me

movie painting thing #1

Role Models

Water Colour eastWWii

FootBall (updated)

Leaves from the Vine

Joker Painting

Incredible Hulk Painting

Working Demo Reel

Blue

Wolverine Painting

White Boots & a Blue Kilt

Objects in the Sky

Trailer Boardin

Vlog 4 "tv spot"

Vlog 3 Production

4 mins of Story

Red Snow Story Sketches

Boarding With Bay *UPDATED*

New Film Idea

Life in the 4th Year

workbook

Tablet Surfing

Film Production Vlog 1

Robo_Cop

Observations

Sketch Book Logos

Sketch Book Logos 2

1938 - 2009

Commission

Wrap

Michael Jackson Portrait

Role Models

Alicia Keys Portrait

Rosie

My Film

Celebrating 3 years

P-Nix - UPDATE

Tablet Boogie

2002

Life

Sisyphus

The human Animal condition

Boarding With Bay UPDATED