The day Stan Winston School of Character Arts published my work

One of my artworks made it to Stan Winston School of Character Arts facebook page. Till now the picture got thumbs up from more than 2650 members and had more than 450 shares. Awesome motivation for the start of the year since the page only publishes quality artwork. Let this continue and let my art skill get better! 8). Thanks to everyone who appreciated and all the new fans.

LUAS Art Competition Entry- RUNNER UP

So I got a text from my friend Gabriel on 11th October about LUAS Art Competition and decided to enter. I Found the deadline is next day 11pm. Since there is nothing to lose and art is always fun I gave it a go starting with research. Since the title of the competition is 'adding the missing link' certainly a picture of evolution appeared in my mind and also Darwin, will have to fit the old man in this somehow. Most data is taken from Wikipedia and I have found stages of development in LUAS history.

Animated Documentary: Invention of the Moon

Concept of my animated short is taken based on this image illustrated by Yoshi Toshi.

PART- I: Theme Image

Source: Museum of International Folk Art http://www.internationalfolkart.org/exhibitions/past/moonweb/section2/057.htm

PART- II:Treatment and Script

In’ei from Nara, Yamato Province was a Buddhist Monk who has mastered the art of Yari (spear) during Sengoku period. As a master of spear fighting  he knew about the flaws of Spear as a weapon. One night when he was walking past Surasawa Pond he saw the reflection of a crescent moon crossing with the practice yari he was holding which gave him idea to invent a spear with crescent cross in short called Kamayari. With the kamayari one can do much more than just thrust. Thanks to the sickles (kama), the two side blades of the spear head, the opponent’s spear can be controlled, dominated and manipulated in a number of ways. It can be struck down, or thrown to the side, the sickle also allows the blade to slide along the shaft of the opponent’s spear targeting the opponent's leading hand.
Its reputation spread nationwide and the number of disciples increased. As martial art of Hōzōin-ryū sōjutsu was passed down from generation to generation, various new techniques as well as new dojo were created.
At the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate, (around the middle of the 19th century) there were many masters of Hōzōin-ryū sōjutsu employed at the shogunate's martial arts training center.
Eventually in 1976, Hōzōin-ryū sōjutsu returned to Nara. In 1991 Kagita Chubei was appointed the 20th headmaster and has been leading the Hōzōin-ryū sōjutsu school since then.
An ancient Japanese poem expresses the spear of Hōzōin-ryū sōjutsu:
"It can be a spear to thrust. It can be a pole-sword to cleave. It can be a sickle to slash. In any case, it never fails to hit the target.
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Invention of the Moon
by 
Arif Iqbal

Fade In: Japanese manuscript

An illustration of Japanese warrior class with notes Sengoku (mid 15th to mid 16th century), Japan.

Zoom in

Narrator

Sengoku, Japan.

Cut to

An illustration of Monk In’ei holding a spear in attacking position

Narrator

Monk In’ei of Hozoin Temple practised the art of So’jutsu, spear fighting.

Cuts to: Day Time: Void.

Monk In’ei and shidachi facing each other. As Shidachi tries to thrust the Monk with the tip of his Yari (spear) the Monk blocks it and pushes it out of the way and hits Shidachi in his throat.

Cuts to

Same illustration of Monk In’ei holding the spear

Narrator

Over the years of practise [cont.]

Cross dissolve: Day Time: Open Field.

In two point perspective Monk In’ei charges forward from left side of the field and gives a harsh blow to Shidachi as shidachi flew away.

Narrator

... he has mastered the art.

Cuts to

A silohuette illustration of the monk meditating illustrated on Japanese manuscript

                       [Cont.]

Narrator

But the Monk knew the weapon has its flaws.

Cuts to: Surasawa Pond: Night Time

The Monk enters the screen from right side of the pan with his practise spear in his hands.

Narrator

One Night When the Monk was walking past Surasawa Pond

Cuts to: Close Up: Same

The Monk animates and leans over to see the reflection of crescent moon crossing with his spear as the practise Spear and Crescent moon morphs into a Kamayari swiftly. Meanwhile magical sparkles beams on the monk and the reflection of the pond and the environment turns brighter.

Narrator

He imagined this can be made into a weapon to...

Cuts to

Illustration on Japanese manuscript of the monk dismounting a horseman

Narrator

Dismount Horseman...

Cuts to

Illustration on Japanese manuscript of the monk controlling Shidachi’s weapon on field battle.

Narrator

Or over come enemies by controlling their weapon in battle.

Cuts to

Illustration of Monk In’ei holding his Kamayari in aggressive position with silohuette of another 3 people with same pose and props behind him training illustrated on a Japanese manuscript. On right middle-top we see the poem

"It can be a spear to thrust. It can be a pole-sword to cleave. It can be a sickle to slash. In any case, it never fails to hit the target. –Ancient japanese Poem.”

                       [Cont.]

Narrator:

Kamayari’s reputation spread nationwide and the number of disciples increased. The art is still practised all over the world in the name of Ho’zoin Ryu Sojutsu.

Cuts to

Credit

The End.

PART- III: Animatic with Rough Sound File and Music.

PART- IV: Promo Illustrations.

 

PART- V:

 

Animation Art Show

Recently I have donated one of my artworks for a charity auction organized by the wonderful animators of Boulder Media.

Following was the message from them:

[Calling all creatives in the Irish Animation Industry. We invite you to submit a piece of artwork to be auctioned in aid of The Children's Sunshine Home & LauraLynn House. We will hold the auction on the 29th of July in the Science Gallery. You can all come along and bid on something you like. You could walk away with a bitchin' piece of artwork all in the name of a good cause.

Deadline for submissions is 18th of July.
If you would like to post your artwork please send them to us here at
Boulder Media,
14 Hawkins St,
Dublin 2.]


It was good to hear the work got sold to some generous buyer and I hope the 'Kendoka' in my painting has found a good home. Here is a snapshot I have stolen from the organizers facebook photos.

Mumeishi's 3

Last year I was commissioned by Mumeishi's Kendo Club in UK. I was asked to do the poster design and few black and white illustration to print on their T-shirt and Tenugui (Head Scarf) for the Mumeishi's 3 Kendo Competition 2011. Since some of these artworks were chosen I thought I should post them in my blog. The one above is the poster and below are the illustrations done for T-shirt and Head Scarf design.

This year I was asked to illustrate few paintings to give the Kendokas with outstanding results in this year's competition. For now I have same black and white illustrations I made for their T-shirt and Tenugui design. I will update this post as other illustrations will be added.

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Death!

2D pencil animation I did for my graduation year lip sync project from BCFE. Character used are Merlin and Madam Mim from The Sword in the Stone and Horned King from Black Cauldron. Soundtrack is taken from Monty Python's 'Meaning of life- death' sketch. Hope you guys like this.

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Photoshop CS5 Mixer Brush Tips

Photoshop CS5 Mixer Brush Tips