Fibers

Fibers is yet another impressive graduation film from the Denmark's illustrious Animation Workshop school and the first of this year's impressive crop to feature a combination of live-action along with CGI. Whereas previous films have consisted of narrative stories told from beginning to end, Fibers is an interpretive dance video told through both a macro- and microscopic scale of events. Jens Brøndum choreography set to Thomas Ahlmark and Kristoffer Jorgensen's pulsating electronic score is a sight to behold.

Roommate Wanted - Dead or Alive

'Roommate Wanted - Dead or Alive' is yet another graduation film from the venerable students of The Animation Workshop. The short opens with Adam, a financially-strapped medical student posting a desperately-worded roommate opening online.

Within minutes (as is the typical case for cartoons), Adam is greeted by Zack, the one and only response to his posting. Little did Adam suspect however that his plea for a roommate regardless of whether they possessed a pulse or not would yield a result for the latter. Can these two strangers manage to make it out together, and maybe even become friends along the way?

The Odd Couple

There's a lot to love about this short. What sets "Roommate Wanted" apart from the rest of the graduation films I've seen come out of the Workshop lately is that it is a purely physical, clay-mation puppet production as opposed to the 2D-3D animations we've seen up until this point.



It certainly wears its influences on its sleeve, with the exaggerated pantomimic gestures typically associated with Wallace and Gromite coupled with an over-the-top Vincent Price-esque narration rhyming throughout the short. I absolutely adore the intricate touches of detail,  the crooked xylophone-like grating of the radiator, the faded postcard stickers and leather of Zack's suitcase.
The slapstick tone of Composer Mathias Winum's score certainly is reminiscent of Frederic Bayco's iconic work. Check out more of the team's production work on their student Tumblr.

GIF-JAM 2014

GIF-JAM 2014 takes some of the internet's most talented GIF artists and brings them together into 5-minute collection of mesmerizing loops. Accompanied with the music of the talented Paul Fraser, artists submitted their work unknowing of the final product. The result of the collaborative effort is nothing short of amazing. Despite each artist being unaware of the work put in by others there are quite a lot of similarities in ideas that comes into play.

The constantly changing music of Paul Fraser really ties the collaboration together, and gives the odd assortment of GIFs the opportunity to perfectly sync with the awesome tunes. For a full list of artists featured in the collaboration, check out the description over here. 

The Colorful Art Of Mintchoco

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Mintchoco's colorful work literally bursts off the page, with some really cool saturation usage that strangely enough doesn't overwhelm the rest of her images. Inspired by some truly interesting illustrators, including Dutch children's illustrator Dick Bruna (Best known for Miffy) and pop artist Keith Haring, you can see where she gleaned bits and pieces of her style from.

With a nice mixture of original art and fanart from franchises including Metroid, The Powerpuff Girls and Pokemon, her vibrant, summery gallery of work is truly satisfying to check out. More of Mintchoco's pieces after the break.

"Barcelona Go!" - A Spectacular Look At Barcelona

Using a really amazing technique called 'flow-motion,' Barcelona Go! is dubbed as a fast moving short film, and we can absolutely see why. Created by photographer Rob Whitworth, the technique employed allows for a seemingly one take fly around of Barcelona, even though it's mainly a series of cleverly edited, fluid transitions that we're witnessing. The mixture of time lapse footage with a never ending sense of motion made for a truly surreal combination.

Rob Whitworth shared some numbers about the making of this project:
363 hours work
75 Hours Logistics and Travel
31 Hours Scouting and Location Finding
78 Hours Shooting
179 Hours Post Production
26014 Camera Raw Files
817gb of data

"Dip N' Dance" - What You Own Ultimately Owns You

Directed by Hugo Cierzniak, Dip N' Dance is a short about affluence and excess at it's most ridiculous, telling the tale of a fellow enamored with his fully automated household. When a malfunction causes this fellow to lose control of his body and voice, he comes to realize how over reliance can backfire spectacularly.

Using a fantastic cel shading technique with CG, the short ultimately feels like a really awesome short that could have been created by the likes of Disney back in their heyday. The color scripts alone evoke an awesome feeling of nostalgia, as well as the amazingly fluid animation. The short was created at Delapost Paris, which is an atelier dedicated to animation and post production work. Check out the awesome making of for Dip N' Dance after the break!

The Illustrations Of Tadahiro Uesugi

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At a first glance, Tadahiro Uesugi's work resembles more of the type of exploratory concept art pieces you'd see in a Pixar or Dreamworks art book. Long, elongated femmes that seem pulled straight out of a fashion designers book of ideas wandering about some truly European looking locales, either on their way to a rendezvous or simply sightseeing.

While on a first glance his pieces might seem a little light on detail, Uesugi's pieces showcase a masterful understanding of light and color all around. Over the last few years he's been privileged enough to have his work showcased internationally, as well as contributions to France's Elle fashion magazine and work on some of Laika's features, including promotional artwork for Coraline. Check out more of his fantastic work after the break.

The Awesomely Stylized Art Of Mike Bear

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Ever see an artist do a complete 180 on their style and really hit a solid stride? I kind of get the feeling that's the case with Mike Bear, a concept artist and illustrator that I've followed for a few years now. Sometime around the middle of 2013 there was a major shift in his work, which went through a period of feeling like it was experimenting with a more common realistic style.

I still remember the day he submitted Ancient Ravenskye (Above) last July, an environmental piece which really blew me away with it's amazing usage of color. Since then it's been a stylized path throughout, and he's been absolutely killing it. Mike has worked with clients include Rockstar Games, Popcap, Electronic Arts, Hasbro, One Pixel Brush, Big Red Button Games, and Lolapps. Check out more of his work after the break!

The Colorful Characters Of Andres Ariza

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Andres Ariza goes by the artist name of 'Ariza Maquinita,' a reference to the two sides of his artist persona. On one hand, Ariza represents the quiet artist who appreciates the arts, videogames and film and draws inspiration from them. Maquinita is the machine that brings the vision and execution to the table, obsessively doodling and continuously creating new worlds and characters.

With a persona like that, you can imagine that Ariza's work has a definite wild side, and I absolutely see that. Colorful, over the top characters with a penchant for wild street fashion make up the repertoire of Ariza's stable of creations. And it's not hard to picture these characters inhabiting the likes of wild animated Nike commercials, games similar to Jet Set Radio and plastered on colorful fashion advertising-The clean vector look, crazy color palettes and designs give this group a certain, refreshing pop that nearly seems wasted in a 2D image. More of his fun designs after the break!

The Colorful Art Of Bloody Pepper

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Bloody Pepper had me fooled. We originally ran into her work on Japan's 2chan boards, and considering her style it wouldn't be a stretch to assume that she was part of the burgeoning Japanese illustration movement. Not the case. Bloody Pepper is actually a Mexican artist who's been around since 2004/2005 and has successfully assimilated into a whole slew of international art communities, where her art enjoys plenty of praise. Ranging from Pixiv to Deviantart to Tumblr, I feel like I've run into her art multiple times over the years.

How to describe her art? Eastern influenced, colorful, ornate, experimental. As we've mentioned many times before, this hybrid style that's been emerging in the US with young illustrators is a really cool mix of east meets west, a mix that I feel could be traced back to Korean concept art trends (Which had a pseudo-European influence thrown in).

I really loved looking through all her work, and if you're a Game Of Thrones fan, you'll get a kick out of her take on Arya Stark and her beloved blade, 'Needle.' Check out more of her work after the break.

"Grounded" - Going That Extra Mile

Created by a group of 13 students as part of Sheridian's year 3 animation program, Grounded is a seriously cute animated tale about a bunny and his brother getting caught in an unexpected adventure during a fair. In an attempt to ignore his fear of heights when his little brother wants to go on a carousel, an elderly rabbit attempts to distract him by winning him some balloons. The plan ultimately backfires, as you'll see.

The final result felt like a mix of Animal Crossing with a dose of Up, and there's even a fair amount of drama present when their adventure unexpectedly goes a little awry. Loved the colorful style and the teams success in delivering a compelling tale with no dialogue.

The Art Of Ranbararu

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Ranbararu is a Japanese concept artist and illustrator hailing from the Chiba prefecture, and his work brings back memories of what I like to call the 'Good ole days' of Capcom. The days in which Street Fighter 3 - Third Strike was the hottest thing around and Capcom didn't shun some of their more creative and niche franchises like Breath Of Fire, Megaman and Rival Schools. The concept art coming out of the studio back in Capcom's heyday was really loose but always cool.

Ranbararu channels that vibe, with plenty of artwork that emulates that retro Capcom look and level of stylization that the studio had at it's prime. Speaking of which, Udon is planning to release the Art of Capcom: Complete Edition book which will contain art from that era I'm referencing (Late 90's, Early 2000's), so I'd recommend picking that up when it's released on July 23. More of Ranbararu's work after the break!

The Art Of Colie Wertz - Scifi Goodies

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A 16 year veteran of the film industry with lengthy gigs at companies including ILM, Image Movers Digital and The Orphanage, Colie Wertz has spent a good chunk of his time working on countless movies before transitioning to a more freelance oriented role.

It's not too hard to figure out where Colie Wertz has been getting a lot of inspiration from by looking through his recent work- The Wipeout vibes and Dust Brothers style typography are front and center in his awesome scifi pieces. The bold splashes of color, stylish logos and product placements emblazoned all over the ships and protagonists in this colorful world..It's all got a really familiar scifi vibe that I truly enjoyed checking out.

Technique wise it's a good mix of 2D, 3D and photo bashing techniques- All the typical tools employed by any concept designer in the feature film industry in this day and age. Check out more of his awesome work after the break!

The Art Of Lorena Alvarez Gómez

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Originally hailing from Bogotá in Colombia, Lorena Alvarez Gomez is an awesome Arizona based illustrator with an appealing children's book style vibe to her work. We discovered her work via some of her pieces created for Gallery Nucleus in LA, as well as her beautiful cover created for the Adventure Time spinoff comic, Fiona And Cake.

Dabbling in a variety of different mediums, including T-shirt design, toy making, puppetry, character design and illustration, her aesthetic and distinct stylization remains consistent throughout. Innocent and endearing, the only thing Lorena hasn't set out to do just yet is create a children's book, which I'm guessing will be a project she'll probably embark on not too far off in the distant future. Check out more of Lorena's awesome work after the break!

The Art Of Rakuchi

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Rakuchi is a Japanese hobbyist and illustrator with a bright, poppy colorful style that fits perfectly with the onset of summer. Backdrops of rich blues, warm oranges and more pop his characters off the canvas they're rendered on, giving his vibrant pieces a pleasant aura that we couldn't get enough of. This usage of ultra saturated elements has been very popular with a growing generation of young illustrators on Tumblr especially, who've been incorporating these unorthodox stylistic flairs based off of higher accessibility to websites like Pixiv.

The artist also does enough things different to differentiate his anime aesthetics from most of the crowd, with wild compositions and a great sense of movement to his work. You can check out more of Rakuchi's portfolio after the break.

The Art Of Milky Liu

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Milky Liu (Aka Liu Naizhong) is a certified fresh™ 26 year old concept artist and illustrator hailing from China. Whenever we're hunting for artists abroad, one of the coolest things to run into is artists with a definite artistic interest in what's across the pond. Liu fits that bill, with plenty of awesome art dedicated to western movies, comics and more (He's definitely a DC fanboy).

Stylistically I just really loved his loose, line art based approach to his work. Instead of opting for a very tight, refined style Liu really enjoys keeping his work rough, which gives his pieces a certain sense of movement and energy that is always more subdued in vector traced, squeaky clean illustrations. Instead of erasing out those mistakes and smudges, he incorporates them into the entire aesthetic of his pieces, which is really refreshing. More of Milky's awesome work after the break!

The Art Of Guillaume Singelin

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Guillaume Singelin has been at it for a while on Tumblr, curating his 'Black Junk Gallery' as an outlet of his more personal work. The bande-desinee artist has been publishing various comics with French publisher Ankama since 2009 or so, including works like Doggy Bag and The Grocery. Singelin's work reminds me of the same level of stylization present in the likes of Zac Gorman and Bryan O' Malley (Of Scott Pilgrim fame), who both developed a style with inspiration like Akira Toriyama and Otomo lingering in their creative subconscious.

Within his portfolio of personal pieces it's easy to see ideas for future projects taking shape, including the one eyed femme mercenary that's been present in a lot of his recent illustrations. Check out more ork by Guillaume after the break, and keep an eye out on his Tumblr for a healthy stream of regular updates.

The Art Of Zoonoid Redux

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I just love Zoonoid's work. A relatively low profile artist hailing from Russia, Konstantin Maystrenko has been on a freelance path for close to 3 years following a stint at the countries Blizzard equivalent, Nival Online. And he's taking advantage of all that free time by pumping out amazing work and improving piece by piece, no question about it. After all this time of curating art posts on AwesomeRobo I'm genuinely curious about the Russian art education system and the colleges concept artists attend to get into the career path, because the artists there truly have a little something 'extra' from the get go.

I attribute it to a heavy fine art focus before even touching the stylus, because the design decisions and color understanding (He's up there with Zedig) present in someone like Zoonoid's character designs are just stellar. Mix that fine art aesthetic with the tastes of a modern concept artist, and you get one heck of a great combination.

Konstantin has been on a character concept artists path, and hasn't strayed from that path since he began. While most of his initial designs when he started posting online were really cool scifi/anthropomorphic blends, he's been venturing off in different directions as of late with excellent results. Bizarre alien entities packing heat, sentient and ornate golems, flora gone amok and mercenaries with a soft side, his designs show a great level of creativity with some excellent, tight technical execution. Check out more of his awesome character designs after the break.

The Art Of Toshiaki Takayama

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Toshiaki Takayama has been making waves for a while both in his native country and abroad with his awesome art, which has graced promotional materials for anime, various card games, arcade titles and console games for the likes of Konami and beyond. Aside from his wonderfully chunky mecha illustrations, which always have a nice sense of atmosphere and scale to them Toshiaki is incredibly versatile in his subject matter, creating pieces that range from scifi to fantasy, and even combos like his untitled mecha-knight piece above.

All of his pieces have a great sense of movement and calculated flow to them, while also making great usage of secondary elements like saturation to control where the viewers eyes land on his compositions. Considering the sheer amount of work he's pumped out over the years I'm not the least bit surprised at his ever improving skills as an illustrator. Check out just a small sampling of his work after the break. Minor nudity warning for those concerned.

SenbeÏ - "The Robbery Anthem Song"

Directed by the folks at Grey Monkey Productions, an outfit comprised of Eddy Loukil & Victor Jardel, The Robbery Anthem Song is a colorful endeavor on all fronts. Featuring a polygonal world that gets plugged into the chunky SenbeÏ remix, all the inhabitants of the planet finds themselves enticed by the rythm.

High energy sound with some awesome visuals to boot, it's an awesome combination overall. If you enjoyed the track you can get it for free over on SenbeÏ's Bandcamp.