"The Timeless Racer" by Daniel Simon

Good morning readers,

I would like to share with you an artist that inspired me throughout my time in education and continues to inspire me today. Some of you may not know him by name but there's a strong chance you will have seen his work on the big screen. I am of course referring to German concept designer Daniel Simon. 

Daniel Simon and his Bubble ship from Oblivion
Image courtesy of danielsimon.com

Backed with a degree in automotive design from the University of Applied Science in Pforzheim, Simon spent 5 years in Barcelona at Volkswagen's advanced studio where he eventually became the senior designer for Bugatti automotive. Not many people had the chance to work on the legendary and world famous Bugatti Veyron so this must have been a real honour and certainly a lot of fun.

The Bugatti Veyron
Image courtesy of  bugatti.com

It was in 2007 when Simon published "Cosmic motors", a book that opened the doors to Hollywood. This book was a collection of sketch work and high end 3D visualisations showcasing a work of cutting edge vehicles from an unknown galaxy. Upon discovering this book was the time I knew I wanted a future in visualisation.

I have followed his career closely, witnessing his vehicle designs in such films as Tron Legacy and Oblivion. It's with vehicles where we are very similar as I have mentioned in my previous blogs that I am a huge petrol head and automotive racing nut. Something that I believe can also be said about Simon. The way he combines his passion for design, 3D modelling and all things automotive is incredible. His technique and style are the things that really set him apart, combining high end 3D models with photography and some compositing resulting in a visual that looks convincingly real. 

 

All three images are courtesy of Cosmic motors and danielsimon.com

So with this I am happy to say that Simon has a new book on the verge of release. "The Timeless Racer" is his second book and is the first in a series depicting a racing world that could have existed between 1916 and 2615. This book, set in the year 2027, is due for release in the next couple of weeks. I have no doubt the visuals will be of an incredible standard, I am just as interested in seeing his sketching and Photoshop rendering, as this really highlights his design process and the origin of his final designs and the subsequent 3D models.

All images courtesy of danielsimon.com "The Timeless Racer" and Design studio press.

It has been 6 years since his last book was released and 10 years since he started his first. It will be interesting and also very exciting to see how his style, techniques and process have changed since cosmic motors. All I can say is that I'm looking forward to being utterly blown away, as I have had it on pre-order for 5 months.

You can find out more info on Daniel Simon and his work at www.danielsimon.com. I will leave you with a selection of some of my favourite pieces of his work.

Happy reading.

All four images courtesy of danielsimon.com and Google images.

  

Short films by Nicolas Deveaux

Hello readers,

Have you ever wanted to see an elephant skydive? How about giraffe's partaking in some Olympic style high diving? If you answered yes to both these questions then your in luck, but who wouldn't want to see those things? Well thanks to french visual artist Nicolas Deveaux and Cube Creative this vision has now come to light in a collection of short films.

Image courtesy of Google Images

Image courtesy of Google Images

Cube Creative is a production company based in Paris that specialize in 2D/3D animation and digital special effects. Cube Creative also spend time with young filmmakers from the top animation schools to help them develop and create their first short film and video clips.

Nicolas Deveaux started at Cube Creative in 2003 where he created his first short film 7Tonnes2 : The everyday story of an elephant trampolining. From this point on his work has gone on to achieve numerous award nominations and also wins. Nicolas is known within the industry for his talent to re-create animals in 3D and has worked on a selection of ads as well as documentary footage. Nicolas does use a lot of elephants within his work, this is apparent when watching his showreel.

Image courtesy of Google Images

The quality of work that has been produced by Cube Creative and Nicolas is of a very high standard, the lighting looks really natural which gives a great sense of realism. The animals are rigged really well, allowing for high quality motion with the body and facial animation.

Image courtesy of Google Images

Image courtesy of Google Images

For me the creativity behind these animations is what really impresses, because why wouldn't a giraffe enjoy high diving?

These videos made us guys on the SoVibrant media team laugh and are well worth a watch.

Videos courtesy of cube-creative.fr

Enjoy.

Ryan Blackburn - Media Productions

www.sovibrant.co.uk

Artist of the Week : Fausto De Martini

Good morning readers

Today we bring you a 3D artist from Huntington Beach, USA. Frausto De Martin has worked in the gaming industry for a number of years now and has made a name for himself creating some of the most realistic creatures and characters in 3D using software like 3ds Max and Mudbox. 

The software aside his actual designs are inspiring. The way his concepts mix organic anatomy with the hard surfaces of nuts, bolts and metal is brilliant.

If you are interested in learning more about Fausto please visit his Gnomon workshop page where he is planning to do a live workshop.

http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/live/

Enjoy

Sovibrant / Artist of the Week

Artist of the Week : Scott Robertson

Good morning readers.

Today we bring you a true legend in the industrial design industry. Being a lecturer at the Art Center in Los Angeles, as well as creating numerous training DVDs and books. Scott Robertson is the antithesis of the phrase "those who cant, teach"

Please find below a few pages from his latest book "DRIVE" which shows some of his best vehicle designs from the past year or so.

Enjoy.

Sovibrant / Artist of the Week

Artist of the Week : David Levy

Good afternoon readers.

This week we bring you the work of the lead Concept Artist's for Ridley Scott's Prometheus. 

David Levy has spent the past few years travelling the world on his way to the top. He started his career studying Industrial Design and Architecture in France and the Netherlands before taking a one way ticket across the pond to begin his role as a lead concept artist in Los Angeles. 

He has worked on many movies and games in the last few years including Tron Legacy, Prince of Persia, Assassins Creed and just recently Prometheus.

Let's take a look at a small selection of his work from the past few years.

Enjoy!

Sovibrant / Artist of the Week

Artist of the Week : Francesco Corvino

Good afternoon readers and welcome to another instalment of Artist of the week.

This week we bring you Francesco Corvino, an amazing matte painter from Los Angeles. Francesco has just recently finished working on Wrath of the Titans and Abraham Lincoln - Vampire Hunter. He has also created incredible pieces of artwork for TV commercials for big names like Mercedes and Gillette.

At a young age Francesco had an eye for environment and landscape design and had a love for architecture. In 2009 he attended the Gnomon School of Visual Effects in Hollywood where his primary focus was the creation of Digital Matte Painting and Concept Design. 

Nowadays Francesco is working at The Aaron Sims Company in LA.

Let's take a look at some of his most recent work.

Sovibrant / Artist of the Week