This ride is coming to an end.

I'm going to stop working on this short. Working in Max and Maya on the same day is just too much. I need to really focus on Max for my new crazy job. There are so many things I need to learn in Max - mainly Character Studio (Biped). I miss Maya :)

I'm going to put together what I've done. My Next post will be my short!

A shot in the Arm

Eric Williams was the lead designer on God of War, he's consulting at BHG.
He's like a shot in the arm, his experience with animators and approach to design is just awesome -refreshing. He reminds me why I wanted to be in games instead of film.

Check out his Blog, good stuff!

Sorry nothing new on my short. Here are samples of my work to hold you guys over.

Samples -some good, some bad, some ugly.

What does not kill you will make you stronger!

As the title suggests, I'm going through some rough times. It's a growing experience for me, really. My new job has been challenging and rewarding from a technical, artistic and personal level. I'm learning what it takes to be a leader and manager -learning what it means to lead by example. Yeah... you can be talented and do great work but how is your conduct? Do you work hard? Can you communicate your vision? Keep the team motivated with the changes that happen in production? These are things that I've been trying to figure out.
Man... I'll stop the complaining here (suck it up).
I have been busy but not as busy as I was my last year at Calarts. So there really is no reason why I can't finish my short right?

Here is a rough cut of scene 3. Some really rough animations and camera works. Just wanted to see things together for pacing and storytelling purpose. Watching this you have to use your imagination.



This one is the end of scene 3. There are two shots before this that I didn't show because... they're just not ready for primetime (not even posed just sliding the character around).




Hope you guys enjoy some of this.

I've haven't gotten into any more accidents or bought anymore crack. :)
Maryland is a beautiful state in the spring, I'll post some pictures next time.

My First Week in Maryland

My first week has been... how should I say ridiculous. There are some kind of large black bird outside my apartment in the trees -no their not crows their huge beast from a forgotten era. I think their called TurkeyVulture.

I've gotten lost twice. I found myself in places that I think some might call the "ghetto". I stop to ask for directions but the guy wouldn't tell me anything unless I bought some "coke". I did. Now with directions and some coke I make it out of the ghetto.

The next day it snows. I'm at work, I look outside and turn to my office mate Bill "hey it's snowing that's kind of cool" I was a little excited. Bill says with no expression "yeah". It continues to snow. My excitement slowly goes away as I see my car being covered by 6 inches of snow. People are beginning to leave early "before things get bad" they said. None of the other leads are leaving -plus I didn't want to show them that I was scared of snow. I stayed. I continue to work but getting more nervous as everything that was white is turning brown and black because of cars leaving and the plows that are clearing the roads. It was time to leave. I went to my car started scraping snow off. In case you guys don’t remember what I drive –Scion XA a car that is fuel efficient and built for harsh conditions. I get into my car and feeling good. I can hear snow crunching under my all weather tires. Feeling good, getting close to home it was dark I see my street. I turn right but instead of turning my car keeps on going –going towards the minivan in the other lane. The only thing I see is the lady in the minivan with her mouth open and shaking her head “no!” I pump the breaks turning the wheel. The XA keeps on sliding… it stops about 4 inches away from hitting. We come out of the cars to see the damage. The lady was yelling at me. I show her my all weather tires.

“I’m going to call the cops on you for reckless driving”
“Come on lady, be fair is there anything I can do”
“Give me your information so I can call my insurance”
I go to my glove compartment and pull out my insurance, registration then the small plastic bag of “coke” falls out.
“Hey is that coke!” she says from behind me.
“Yeah, I had to buy it because…”
“Give me the coke and we’re good” she says
“Okay, Merry Christmas”

Friday I wake up. Leave the house wave to the black birds of death I call “the Jones”. Get into my undamaged XA. Go to work meet the Art director for THQ Thom Ang.
Company meeting… drank some beer. Played some pools.

Went to watch Cloverfield. Was surrounded by loud, hormone, crazy, dumb teenagers who talked throughout the movie; I kept calm because in the state of Maryland you can’t fight teenager or some crazy law like that. Met up with co-worker at a bar.

I’m going to stop writing because I’m running out of words I know.

The BIG HUGE Change

I accepted a position at Big Huge Games!
That means that I will be going to the east coast. Maryland to be exact. I would have said something sooner but I didn't want to cause issues for anybody. I'm super excited about the move. The Game is going to be Awesome! I will get to animate some cool Characters, Creatures and Weapons (No more Guns, hyper real humans!). This is all that has been announced about the game. So I guess that's all I can say.

Big Huge Games RPG.

As for my short, I've made the tough decision to finish it earlier then later. I'm planning to slim down so the production value will not be as high :(

East Coast here I come!

Merry Christmas!
















Old Painting.

Hex or Hexmor?

A friend of mine (a great artist) is thinking of changing the way he signs his work. Hex or Hexmor?

I think Hex is better than Hexmor. I guess that is how I know him so I'm bias.

I've changed my name from Nhan to Young. Just because no one at work or any where can pronounce it correctly, the first time (neither could I).

I think Hex is the way to go Hugo.

But this is not the change that I was implying in my previous Post. I'll announce the change next Monday.

Change is in the Air!

I’m making some big decisions right now. I’ll post what they are in the coming weeks.

Man, it has been a long time since I posted! I have not been working on the short because of all the things that are going on (my excuses) and probably will not until next year.

Here are some sketches I did during some meeting.

Rock on my fellow artists!