Marshland

REF

2011-12-06T03:29:00.000-08:00

It's not exactly news, REF is my shortfilm from 2004, but only recently I got around to upload it in good quality on vimeo. REF, apart from being my graduate film at Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow in Poland, ended up being huge character animation study. I knew very little about character animation prior to starting this project and it proved to be quite a challenge. I even wrote custom software to handle animation which I then turned into commercial product and had been selling for some time.
The inspiration for the film itself was the beauty of martial arts movements ( especially Aikido ) and my desire to see B action movie scene in a bit more artistic way, without the usual revenge plot ;)

Dog of Zone animation sample

2011-06-21T06:36:00.000-07:00

"Dogs of Zone" are moving forward and here is a first animation sample that I'm satisfied with. The sound was designed by my brother Maciej Pazera.
In the end, the project is meant to be an interactive animation installation and right now I'm working on a custom software that is going to drive animation based on the input from Microsoft Kinect (XBox 360 controller and motion sensor). Yeah, I'm coming back to my programming days ;) It's early stages but already quite exciting. The next step is to put together a prototype of the application together with a simple animation sequence, possibly based around this very sample.

I embedded Vimeo video below but I highly recommend switching it to HD and watching fullscreen straight from Vimeo website. It's got far better quality this way.

Dog of Zone walkcycle from Lukasz Pazera on Vimeo.

Real brushwork

2011-06-15T04:17:00.000-07:00

I don't paint too often and don't really consider myself a traditional painter but I like to grab a real brush from time to time. This painting is acrylics on canvas, 120x100 cm and can be considered a part of "Postcards From The Zone" series. It isn't very new, I did it in 2009 but wasn't really convinced about it in the beginning. It's been growing on me since and it seems to reasonate well with some of my friends who have seen it on my wall too. So here it is...

A Horde

2011-05-14T01:13:00.000-07:00

So I'm slowly working towards animating "Dogs of Zone". That is one of the elements of my PhD project. I've been trying different approaches and testing how they work with moving pictures and I believe I'm getting close to finishing this research now. "A Horde" and a couple of last dogs were created with a workflow that can be applied both to static images and to animation. You can't really appreciate it with a single image but I hope it'll make more sense once you see things moving.

Dog of Zone VIII

2011-04-20T00:33:00.000-07:00

Here goes another one...
As usual, you can also view this image and all others from the series in a bit higher quality at postcardsfromthezone.com (be sure to set fullscreen in options ;).

Alice: Madness Returns matte painting

2011-04-09T05:21:00.000-07:00

One of the background pieces I did for the third game trailer (see previous post for more info).

Alice: Madness Returns trailer 3

2011-03-27T14:58:00.000-07:00

The third trailer for the upcoming game "Alice: Madness Returns" has been released.
This piece, just like previous ones, was directed by Shy the Sun and produced by Passion Pictures. It was quite a big job for me - colour designs, some initial layout work on the big turnaround shot and a few matte paintings on different shots. The most fun to paint was the dark cloudscape in the last sequence with Mad Hatter's house and the tea party (as seen on the thumbnail below). Click the image to watch the trailer on YouTube.

Dog of Zone VII

2011-02-04T05:16:00.000-08:00

The Zone herd grows!

Dog of Zone VI

2011-01-12T06:15:00.000-08:00

I started PhD studies at Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow, Poland last fall and "Dogs of Zone" are part of my 3 years PhD project. It will not consist of still images only, I'm planning to incorporate my interests in other mediums and technologies but I'd rather not speak too much before I get well past initial stages of the work. Meanwhile, one more Zone creature.

Alice:Madness Returns color designs

2011-01-10T05:07:00.000-08:00

Color designs are probably my favourite part of the job. Basically, these are quick and loose sketches that are done to help visualise scenes better. The focus is on color and light, not on models or details. They usually go through a couple of revisions. Sometimes they end up quite close to final work and sometimes not. Commercials production is probably more freestyle and organic then movies so there is more margin for changes throughout the process.
First two images come from the second Alice trailer (look for links a few posts back) and were done with Passion's Stu Hall who was supervisor on the job. Third image was done for the first trailer.

Coke Zero dark cloud

2011-01-08T01:40:00.000-08:00

Before I put some new zone doggies on display here are the dark cloud matte paintings I did for the aforementioned Coke Zero "Invasion" project last year.

Coke Zero "Invasion"

2010-10-04T12:55:00.001-07:00

This is a job that was completed a few months ago but I think it has been aired only recently. Anyway, it's out now and my part was... you'll never guess... matte paintings! I've done a lot of work on this one, skies (surprise ;), hills, grass and the big, dark, bad cloud which was especially fun. Pretty much every shot has something I worked on. I also animated the dark cloud matte paintings and this animation was later mixed with CG particles simulations for enhanced effect. Overall, good memories of loooong, busy summer time days in the Passion Pictures studio ;)

Alice: Madness Returns Teaser 2

2010-09-28T04:46:00.000-07:00

Second teaser for this upcoming EA game is online. Done at Passion Pictures and directed by Shy The Sun. I got my usual job on this piece - I did a couple of color scripts together with Stu Hall who supervised the look on the project and then I painted London backgrounds based on those scripts. I also painted the Puppet Theater cut-out set which unfortunately you can't see in full glory in the final cut ;). I hope I'll be able to post original color sketches and mattepaintings soon! Meanwhile watch the teaser at the game official website or at YouTube.

"Dog of Zone II" making of

2010-08-07T06:17:00.001-07:00

The "Dog of Zone II" making of tutorial that I wrote for CGSociety has recently been released. I hope it'll be interesting read for everyone who asked me or was wondering how I created this image and other similar ones from "Postcards From The Zone" series.
Tutorial appearance is connected with the forthcoming release of Ballistic "Expose 8" artbook in which "Dog of Zone II" got one of Master Awards and is presented as a 2 page spread :)
Click the image below to read the tutorial or preview "Expose 8" book here.

Alice Teaser

2010-08-04T00:47:00.000-07:00

Latest project I worked on at Passion Pictures is online. It's a teaser for an upcoming game "Alice: Madness Returns". I got to do a color script and a background mattepainting. Enjoy!

Exhibition opened

2010-05-24T14:30:00.001-07:00

The exhibition opening event is behind me and it went very well. For me at least. Thanks a lot to everyone who attended. Here's a few pics of my works hanging:

Juz po wernisazu, ktory (przynajmniej dla mnie) wypadl dobrze. Dziekuje wszystkim, ktorzy przybyli. A ponizej kilka zdjec wiszacej ekspozycji:

A few pictures of the actual event by Jacek Topolski and Jakub Kaszuba:
Pare zdjec z wernisazu autorstwa Jacka Topolskiego i Jakuba Kaszuby:

postcardsfromthezone.com

2010-05-15T10:22:00.000-07:00

I set up a dedicated website (using viewbook album) for "Postcards From the Zone" project. You can see all works from series here. Watching fullscreen is definitely recommended as is bookmarking it ;). I'm going to expand the site by adding new works as they come so there is a reason to come back to postcardsfromthezone.com from time to time.
I added a widget with "Postcards From The Zone" album to the blog as well (look to the right -------->).

Pocztowki ze Strefy - wystawa / Postcards From the Zone - exhibition

2010-05-14T01:22:00.000-07:00

Moja pierwsza wystawa indywidualna bedzie miala miejsce w Galerii Miejskiej w Tarnowie (Rynek 4) w dniach 21 maja - 15 czerwca. Wernisaz 21 maja (piatek) o 18.30.
Ekspozycja sklada sie z 6 duzych grafik i 5 malych rysunkow. W programie wernisażu jest prezentacja pokazująca produkcję (tzw. making of) teledysku Gorillaz "El Manana", projekcja krótkiej animacji obrazującej proces tworzenia jednej z grafik oraz losowanie mini-albumów, o ktorych mowa w poprzednim poscie. Ponizej prewizualizacja czesci ekspozycji. Serdecznie zapraszam :)

My first solo exhibition will be held at the Town Gallery in Tarnow, Poland between 21st may and 15th june. The set consists of 6 big prints and 5 small drawings. During the opening event I will show a presentation on making of Gorillaz "El Manana" video and a short animation showing the process of creating one of the exhibition graphics. Also, a few of the mini-albums I wrote about in my last post will be given away to public. See a rough previz of a piece of the exhibition below. Please, feel invited if you are around :)

An artbook at Blurb

2010-05-04T01:53:00.000-07:00

I put together a little album (40 pages) with my recent works using services provided at Blurb.
I received my printed copies just a few days ago and I have to say the overall quality is great, even on the cheaper paper. I've always been afraid of distorted colours and lost details but I'm really happy with the effect this time.
It's very interesting exprience to see a lot of your work presented as a whole piece. It was also a challenge to make it look as one. A good way to reflect upon yourself, seeing a couple of years worth of work on a piece of paper that you can browse through in a few seconds ;)
Here's a photo of actual printed copies and interactive preview of the book (fullscreen recommended).

Artbook by Lukasz Pazera | BOOK INFO

Dog of Zone IV

2010-04-09T03:27:00.000-07:00

Fresh meat from the Zone...

Dog of Zone III

2010-03-30T01:48:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I know, it's been a while since last update. So, without wasting more time, here goes one more Zone doggie to keep series alive. This time it's a bit more mixture of 3d (the creature) and 2d (background, ink on paper). Enjoy!

Liquidator IV

2009-11-30T03:19:00.001-08:00

Something a little bit more human this time...

Dog of Zone II

2009-11-25T05:56:00.000-08:00

Experiments continued...

3d experiments on animals - Dog of Zone I

2009-11-04T00:06:00.000-08:00

I got back to using 3d as another technique for my artwork. Here's one of first experiments I've done so far. I hope it's going to evolve into larger series and be a part of bigger project in future.
A few years of gap in using 3d apps made for a nice surprise of what apps like modo are capable of these days. 3d is fun again! Now I only need to go 64bits to be able to push even more polygons into my images ;)

Crawl Back In

2009-10-29T06:01:00.000-07:00

My artwork "Forest" will be used as a cover image for the swedish metal band Crawl Back In newest release titled "Hang all hope from the nearest tree". Yeah, I'm a fan of such nice and happy tunes too ;) so I'm looking forward to see the real thing. Especially that it'll be 10" vinyl record.
Check out the cover and music at band's official website.

Coca Cola Zero Happy Kingdom

2009-09-30T09:47:00.000-07:00

New Passion Pictures project that I took part in is online. It's 60 seconds spot for Coca Cola directed by Pete Candeland and art directed by Mario Ucci. My contribution was rather small this time. I worked as matte painter on skies (yeah, again) for the "happy" section. I worked on layouts and color palette but most of the final look is done by Kim Frederiksen and he was the main painting guy on this job.
Some more info, video and full credit list are on Motionographer.

Sketchbook

2009-09-21T11:11:00.001-07:00

I put a few little sketches and thumbnails in the new Galleries/Sketchbook section of my website. There are studies and original ideas for some of the finished pictures from personal gallery. Have a look if you like "behind the scenes" stuff.
I've never really paid too much attention to how I start my work so I found it quite interesting to dig those sketches out.

Postcard From The Zone VII

2009-09-16T05:12:00.000-07:00

Fresh postcard from my favourite place.

Storage website online

2009-09-02T10:35:00.000-07:00

David Lea has finished his short live action film "Storage" and the new film website is online. I did some concept work and storyboards for this project. I posted some of the artwork in one of previous blog entries. You can see more on "Storage" website as well as movie trailer, production stills, a piece of animatic based on my drawings and some more designs and artwork done by Dave.

"Storage" shortfilm website

Universal Souls

2009-08-03T05:51:00.001-07:00

Finally!!! I shouldn't say it loud but it's a first, finished personal piece this year! It can only get better now...

Blue Canvas Issue One & Interview

2009-07-28T23:02:00.000-07:00

Blue Canvas is an online artist community and now also a magazine about artists and art. The first issue has just been published. I was lucky enough to be chosen for inclusion in this very first issue. I even got the extended feature spot so I had a chance to show quite a few works and say quite a few words. Nice.

The Beatles Rock Band cinematic online

2009-06-24T04:11:00.000-07:00

That is my latest effort at Passion Pictures. Great project, there was a lot of creative work there and very strong team working on it. Judge the result yourself. My official job title was matte painter and I worked on the "psychodelic" sequence which is the second part of the cinematic. I did a lot of landscape work (clouds mainly). I was also involved in some color design / styleframes and 3d layout for the long shot with the sun.

The Beatles: Rock Band opening cinematic

I haven't had a chance to update my website yet so a few snapshots from video for now:

IT'S ART Magazine interview online

2009-06-24T03:49:00.000-07:00

A while back, I mentioned an interview I did for IT'S ART Magazine. It's been published on magazine's website now so ... have a good read.

Comcast "Sing-A-Long"

2009-03-15T07:27:00.001-07:00

The job I worked on in Nexus Productions is now online (and on air in USA). There's more information about it and video links at Motionographer . I did some color design and styleframes in project's early stages. Then, I focused on painting environment elements ranging from buildings to interiors and furniture. Hundreds of big and little things in total I think. I worked over designer Chris Martin's drawings putting color, texture and shading on top of his black and white work. Unfortunately, my name (and whole CG team in fact) is not listed in Motionographer credits :(.
You can also watch a whole thing and play some games, etc. directly at Comcast Town website.

Corel Painter Magazine Feature

2009-03-15T07:00:00.000-07:00

If you come across Issue 27 (current one) of Corel Painter Magazine there is an article about matte paintings and I'm featured as one of 3 artists giving short interviews about our work. I've got 3 or 4 pictures printed which is more than I hoped to have, good stuff ;)

Weekend in Poland

2009-02-06T17:55:00.000-08:00

Yeah, it was supposed to be weekend in Poland. A brief glimpse on a home country after 5 months. Much needed break and landscape change after finishing huge job work at Nexus. It ended up as compulsory walk (buses were suspended) to Luton Airport only to learn that my flight (and many others) were suspended. The same happened the next day and a few days before. It seems UK services just can't be bothered to do any preparations for 2 hours of snow fall that is forecasted 5 days ahead. They just let it fall and make roads unusable within an hour. Than wait until it melts by itself. Go figure.

Liquidator I

2009-01-11T06:20:00.000-08:00

"Liquidator I" is the last work I managed to finish in 2008 year. It was a very good year for me. I managed to do some good projects in work and pretty much all were great-looking and "high profile". Moreover, I spent most of my working time painting and doing colour design so my "escape" from 3d that I planned over a year go worked :) . I was also able to put more of my own style into this year's jobs, especially BBC Olympics spot where I had so much freedom that I was basically painting what I wanted. Kudos to Pete Candeland (director) for that. Pete always leaves a lot of room for artists to contribute so if the project happens to fit you well you have a good time :)

Apart from commercial work I found some time for personal stuff and did more new pictures (still not enough though) then in any previous year since finishing fine art studies. That is a good sign as I have a lot of plans for this year and I'm looking forward to actually make them happen.

Right now I'm slowly finishing job at Nexus Productions. It's a big thing and I've done tons of painting for it so far and will do a bit more over next few weeks. The wole thing is painted and it's around 3 minutes of animation in total so You can imagine. I think we can talk about hundreds of painted elements.

Back to Liquidator... It's acrylics on 90x90cm canvas and I'm quite happy with this work. There is a second one in the making but it doesn't go as good as this one so I'm not sure when I finish it and how it's going to look. Fingers crossed...

IT'S ART Magazine Interview

2008-12-31T04:36:00.000-08:00

Some weeks back I've been asked to an interview for the IT'S ART magazine and a new issue containing my writing efforts and quite a few pictures is available now. Click an image below to go to IT'S ART Store. You can browse a flash preview there and order a PDF copy (printed version is coming soon I think). Obviously there are more artists featured so have a look there and maybe you can find it interesting.
For me, it is the first interview in which I talk about my artwork, both digital and traditional. I was interviewed about my animation work and programming projects before but not really about art.

It's been a while

2008-10-09T13:46:00.000-07:00

I've been doing a few things over past 2 months. I'm working at Nexus Productions now so a new place, new area, new people. It's going to be quite a big and long project, probably longest I've ever done so far in any studio.
I went back to traditional painting or rather picked it up in more serious way. Moreover, my work hangs at Advocate Gallery in Wimbledon now! That's quite an achievement for me. I've also been working on some animation spot but more about it in not so distant future maybe.
Thing I haven't done recently for sure was updating a blog with some work so here goes a recent acrylics painting.

Postcard from the Zone 5

2008-08-18T01:08:00.001-07:00

Postcard from the Zone 4

2008-08-15T03:45:00.001-07:00

Well, shortly speaking I tend to spend a lot of time in the Zone recently ;)

Postcard from the Zone 3

2008-08-10T13:07:00.000-07:00

One more postcard from my favourite place - The Zone. This time a winter version. This landscape is actually created from the same acrylics underpainting I did for "Red Forest". In "Red Forest" I overpainted bottom completely so I thought I'd do another picture but this time I'd overpaint top and leave bottom partially at least. I somehow feel that I will have to go back to this picture at some point in future but for now - it's done.

BBC Monkey online

2008-07-28T12:41:00.000-07:00

I'm a bit late with this but the animation spot for BBC Olympics coverage mentioned 2 posts before is being aired on tv and is available online. I still can't show the work I did for this but you can watch the whole thing on BBC Website.
I was hired as Backgrounds Designer and I painted a lot of backgrounds, see if you can guess which ones ;). Lots of work but lots of fun as well. The other backgrounds artist on this job was Kevin Dart .

Storage storyboard drawings

2008-07-06T03:46:00.000-07:00

Since I'm doing nothing but work currently I thought I'd show some of drawings I did a while back for Dave Lea, a friend of mine who's working on his live action short film "Storage". I did 100+ drawings in total I think. Dave took drawings and assembled them into proper storyboard, added post effects such as DOF, etc. So what you see below is not finished storyboard but drawings and elements I did for Dave (in no particular order). It was quite fun to work on this.

BBC Olympics spot

2008-06-22T08:08:00.000-07:00

I've just finished work on a 2 minutes long spot for BBC Olympics coverage. Project is not done yet, needs a couple more days but my part is over. It's gonna be on air a lot this summer during Beijing Olympic Games. I'll post more details once the job is done and out and I can reveal some of the work I've done for it. Meanwhile, read the story on BBC website:

Monkey's journey begins
Gorillaz design BBC Olympic titles

Carriage & Website Update

2008-06-01T14:25:00.000-07:00

I've updated my website with a few works today. One of them is recently finished "Carriage". It's more illustration than I usually do, inspired by "Roadside Picnic" book and the concept of Stalkers and Zone. This is my never ending inspiration, together with Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and the NPP disaster from 1986. I hope to visit this place one day...

Geisha published in "Expose 6"

2008-05-18T14:18:00.000-07:00

I'm happy to announce that my picture "Geisha" was selected and published in the forthcoming Ballistic Publishing "Expose 6". I was fortunate enough to get double page and one of Excellence Awards. More information on the book and a preview at publisher's website. As far as I know book will be available in june.

Red Forest

2008-05-07T08:29:00.000-07:00

Having a few minutes break at work while switching onto new project I thought I could post a pic that I made a few weeks back but haven't shown it yet. It's usual acrylics/painter combo. I tried to keep it loose more then usual and restrain myself from working on details too much. "Red Forest" was choosen for Ballistic Publishing "d'artiste Digital Painting 2" book that should be out in a few months. I'll add info about my other work that got selected for publication soon!

Smell of Rain again

2008-03-22T14:32:00.000-07:00

Two more pics from the series. I don't remember if I mentioned it before but these are actually inspired by Mortiis music, especially "Marshland" track from "Smell of Rain" album. Both images are quite big, around 8k resolution. I really hope to get all this stuff printed big size one day!

New website

2008-02-24T13:08:00.000-08:00

Finally, finally, finally...

After a few years I have my website again ;) It ended up more as online portfolio with just a selection of my best work rather then all various stuff and doodles I've been doing. I'm happy it's finally out and working :) You're more then welcome to have a look and comment here or in website's guestbook!

luk.pazera.pl

Storage

2008-02-22T09:17:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine, director David Lea, is working on a script for his live action short film "Storage". Without going into details I'll say I spent some time helping him out with storyboards and concepts. I think that was my first time doing "serious" storyboard drawings, I do not count all those doodles I did when working on my own stuff ;).
Have a look at a few pictures below...

Daido Moriyama

2008-02-03T04:02:00.000-08:00

From time to time I go to bookshop during lunch break and look through art albums. From time to time I spot something I have to buy ;) This time it was Daido Moriyama and his "Memories of a dog". I was instantly in love with his very contrasty and grainy photo quality. I recommend this book to everyone. Impressive set of black and white images.
Moriyama seems to have published a lot of albums, they are quite expensive though. I might be going for another one as soon as I have some spare cash to spend ;)

Postcard from The Zone II

2008-01-14T03:03:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been a while... I don't really know why it took so long. Lazy XMas/New Year time probably.
Anyway, here's one more colorful and happy landscape from a land of my dreams ;). Started as acrylics and finished off in Painter. I like starting pictures with real paints but I'm getting angry really quick because I can't control it the way I learned in digital media. I should probably spend more time working on my traditional painting skills rather then going easy way and moving things into safe digital envrinoment. Let's put it on the wishlist for this year ;)

Wolvies

2007-12-06T01:59:00.000-08:00

Wolves seem to be my favourite animals for some reason. I can't stop adding them everywhere ;) This time they got their own space. The first one is a mix of acrylics and Painter while second one is a rather quick sketch in Painter.

Busy days

2007-11-19T14:35:00.000-08:00

I'm currently quite busy working as concept artist on a project at Passion Pictures, hopefully I'll be able to show what I'm doing in a few months. I believe it'll be a really nice spot.
Meanwhile, a few old (2005) drawings.

Harmonix Rockband article

2007-11-08T13:19:00.000-08:00

CG Society has published an article on Harmonix's "Rock Band" cinematic that I took part in as matte painter. If You're interested - read here.

Smell of Rain

2007-10-19T06:38:00.000-07:00

These are 2 personal concepts inspired by the same thing - music.

Postcard from The Zone

2007-10-18T12:47:00.001-07:00

I'm a bit obsessed with Chernobyl's Exclusion Zone. A land created by people but now stronger then them. A remainder of how fragile our civilisation can be... and 90% of nuclear fuel is still there, at the heart of Zone.

Acrylic paints, ink, some Photoshop and Painter on top.

Marshland lives!

2007-10-18T12:18:00.000-07:00

Thank You so much for all comments so far! It means You actually visited Marshland and therefore gave it a life. It is not a lonely place anymore ;)

Speaking of loneliness - here is a piece that I started as acrylic painting earlier this year (image in the middle). I thought about this idea as a kind of film sequence and a few weeks ago I did some additional drawings with ink and put everything together. The locomotive I posted before could be a part of the same thing, too. Somehow ;)

Black & White

2007-10-11T03:27:00.000-07:00

I love good black and white art, be it a drawing, photography or painting. I had black and white mood last evening and here's a little thing that came out of this. Ink on paper and some work in PS and Painter, too.

Polaroid Fun

2007-10-10T05:00:00.000-07:00

I just bought a Polaroid Instant Camera. It's so simple to use, primitive I would say ;) but it's quite fun. Not to mention You can take beautiful pics with it - just check Andrei Tarkovsky Polaroids. Below are a few pictures taken during a short trip to Ashdown Forest in UK. It's me on the right on the last picture!

Wlasnie kupilem Polaroid'a. Banalnie prosty aparat, zeby nie powiedziec prymitywny, ale mozna i tym zrobic swietne zdjecia, polecam obejrzec polaroid'y Tarkowskiego. Ponizej zamieszczam kilka zdjec zrobionych w czasie krotkiego wypadu do Ashdown Forest w UK. Ostatnia fotka po prawej - to ja!

Harmonix styleframe

2007-10-09T12:18:00.000-07:00

Around 3 months ago I was working on cinematic for Harmonix new "Rockband" video game (something like Guitar Hero) at Passion Pictures. Among other things I did a styleframe that was meant to help with visual project development. I spent only 1 day on it but I thought it looked promising so I spent a few hours today to smooth the picture out and make it look more "finished". So here it is...

The video itself is in quite a few places over the net, here's one link: Harmonix video

Welcome

2007-10-06T10:50:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Marshland where You will be able to find my artwork and some comments to it. Maybe something more, who knows?
For the start let me introduce some of my artwork that I put together at CGSociety:

CGSociety Portfolio

And one of recent works: