Top 5 of 2014

Here it is. Another year down and its time for my top 5. This year I have to say while there's usually the odd little indie film that I absolutely love, I've either not had a chance to see it (a la Mr Turner which I really want to see) or they just generally weren't up there. Instead its been a heavy hitter for the big tent pole tiles of the year which to be fair, given the line of work I'm in, can't be a bad thing!
Could this mean the quality of the blockbuster is improving. Probably not but lets have a look shall we...



5. X-Men: Days of Future Past
- OK, so maybe a bias opinion on this but I love me some X-Men and to have Brian Singer back in the fold on this was great to see. Bring on Apocalypse!!

4. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
- this was a surprise hit for me. I took a shot on seeing it based on the trailer. 'Rise' was really quite boring in comparison or just acted as a 2 hour intro movie to this much more explosive and interesting film.

3. The Wolf of Wall Street

- waaayyy back in January so its still within 2014 for the UK! Scorsese brings the excess to banking of all things. Some (including Scorsese) would argue this is similar ground he has covered before but as a fan, it's what we like to see from him and he came out swinging in deplorable style thanks to DiCaprio's antics.

2. Edge of Tomorrow
- a film that from the get go, looked like great fun. Such a shame it missed its target thanks to VERY poor marketing plan. Most people thought the film was called Live, Die, Repeat! Either way, great action, really well placed humour, Tom Cruise probably in his best roll since War of the Worlds. All round fun for sci-fi fans!

1. Interstellar
- and so the Matthew McConaughey revival (see last years Mud) comes full speed into the station!
What am I supposed to say about this film. Honestly, I'm sure whatever I have to say will either seem too glowing or pretentious but what ever right?!So here goes; this film reminds me of why I love film (in a slightly less sentimental way than Hugo does). The whole time I was taken in by everything on screen.
When I first saw 2001:ASO I realised what people meant about film being an experience. 2001 wasn't just a film. It was an experience.
So watching Interstellar, I was taken on such a journey that I came out emotionally drained. The McConaugh-ssance is in full swing, what with True Detective on TV.
Interstellar wasn't just a film. It was an experience...

For my honourable mention, I'll put a tie in for Godzilla and How to Train Your Dragon 2.

The bottom of the barrel this year comes from the following which need no comment:
Transformers 4 too many, Sharknado 2, Blended, Robocop and Man of Tai Chi.

See you next year!!

Merry Christmas 2014

Nearly the end of the week! Merry Christmas to all from MBD!

Compare piece

20min painting to free my brain up from work. same image but tonal tweeks and content adjusted. Think I like the left one more

waterfall, waterball.

No textures, just brushes and playing around.
Tip: whenever you don't know what to put in a scene just throw a floating sci-fi sphere in there! ;)

First in AGESSSSSSSS!!!

Fortunately I'm on a TV series at the mo which is cool as it gives me some work but it means my personal work has had to take a back seat. BUT finally after a few months, a new laptop with a tonne more RAM then before and PS CC (I used to rock CS2 which was wonderful) I've had a chance to do stuff for myself. yay.

Model making 101

So here's some kitbashing I did tonight. SketchUp model. The best way to get the result I did in this is probably through abusing the program but whatever lol
Just a few initial renders. Usually I do a paintover off of a basic model like this but maybe I'll take time to further define the details.

Cave Fishing

New concept art

Stranded loacation

Tried out some stuff from Jan Urshels tutorial. This Gumroad stuff is blowing up!

VTOL Dropship

So Edge of Tomorrow was 98% awesome. (2% sucked because of the last 3 minutes which dampened my take on it initially).
So many cool tech designs.

Off the back of that and chatting with a great designer, I thought I'd play with Sketchup again. Built a VTOL and then photoshoped the final image.

Asteroid Outpost

Personal Project Im attempting. Perhaps a sci-fi short film or comis book to start with?

CG Model city paint over

Paint over the sketchup city render i attempted the other day. Probably going to detail out the vehicle at some point :)

2 Landings in 1

Military mood at the mo it seems. Enjoy

Deserted Post

sci fi landing

Jet Fighter *peuw peuw

Been a long time since rock and hotroded...

So after another delayed time I hope to post a few new bits. Had a month holiday in Feb but back now. Got a new vehicle done. A hotrod with a more modern working on it.

Spitpaint 30_1_14

The theme was Turtle Temple. How could I resist!

Car sketch

Just for fun. 20-30 mins

Mech Droid Soldier

New concept art finally. Had a go at a mech of sorts. Photo bashing and paint