FREE IMAX Star Wars: Rogue One Ticket Giveaway

Be the first to correctly guess the 5 missing middle ticket letters and numbers and win the FREE IMAX ticket for tomorrow at SilverCity Riverport Cinemas in Richmond at 12:40 PM (Seat H16). Enter as many times as you like. Good luck!

Marvel's Avengers Age of Ultron Trailer 3

So it's been a while since I posted so I thought I'd just leave this here as my first post for 2015. Check out the trailer down below and leave your thoughts ... comments.

Ahhh ... Holy Hell ... So this happened .... Awesome!

Marvel's Avengers Age of Ultron Trailer 3

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Darvin K. Manwah: Matte Painter & Digital Compositor
ACM SIGGRAPH S3R3 Subcommittee Member

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Are you going to see Avengers Age of Ultron? Let me know in the comments below.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Official Teaser

For those of you who haven't seen this as yet check it out. I've been waiting on the teaser trailer all week and I'm pretty excited about it. It looks good and I'm sure all the Star Wars nerds out there is going crazy. If any one of you are hardcore fans, let me know your thought on the trailer in the comments down below. I'm sure there are easter eggs in there somewhere.

Have a great Friday and "May the Force be with You"

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Star Wars: The Force Awakens Official Teaser Trailer

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Darvin K. Manwah: Matte Painter & Digital Compositor
ACM SIGGRAPH S3R3 Subcommittee Member

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Whats your honest opinion about the teaser trailer? Let me know in the comments below.

Chris Jones Create Photorealistic Head Called Ed

So I saw this and I just had to post it. Holy macaroni this render looks crazy amazing. The movement looks pretty convincing and on my first viewing I thought it was a puppet moving an animatronic head only to be fooled by really good 3D renders.

The interesting part, besides the obvious 3D render itself looking flawless is that Chris is using Lighwave, Sculptris and Krita and he composited using Davinci Resolve Lite. My very first 3D program was Lightwave but version 5.5 I think or might have been even earlier, it's been a while so I don't remember. I used it for quite some time before switching over to Autodesk's Maya full time just when it became the industry's standard. I tried opening up Lightwave recently and I was completely lost. I tried messing around for a bit and unfortunately I couldn't figure it out. Times have changed I guess and so did its layout.

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Video of Photorealistic Head by Chris Jones Called Ed

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What was your first 3D Program and in what year did you begin using it? Let me know in the comments below.

Darvin K. Manwah: Matte Painter & Digital Compositor
ACM SIGGRAPH S3R3 Subcommittee Member

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World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor HD Cinematic

So here's the newest trailer from Blizzard Entertainment for World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor a few weeks ago and it looks awesome. As a digital compositor this must have been complete fun to be in production. The lighting and visual effects looks pretty spot on. I also like the water on the skin, especially in those close up shots. Also the hair looks good too, the way it moves and feels.

I love the cinematics that come out of Blizzard Entertainment, they really pour their hearts into the work. I'd love to work for their cinematic department some day either as a digital compositor or matte painter.

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World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor HD Cinematic

What's your favorite cinematic trailer from Blizzard Entertainment? Leave it in the comments below.

Darvin K. Manwah: Matte Painter & Digital Compositor
ACM SIGGRAPH S3R3 Subcommittee Member

Digital Concept Art That's Worth Every Pixel

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I'm always looking for inspiration for my next piece of digital art and here are few digital paintings and concept artists that stood out for me. Since I've had a bit of free time during the summer, I wanted to work on some digital paintings using digital photography with the Canon PowerShot s110. In addition to checking out the forums for anything relating to visual effects (VFX), digital painting, matte painting or even digital photography (which I've been taking a liking to recently) I was looking around for inspiration from various sources. I'm heavily influenced by matte painters and concept artists just for their wide range of imagination into their paintings.

So in my search for inspiration I stumbled across some digital artwork that I wanted to share. Each digital artist below reflects a different style when it comes to composition, colour grading and over all completion of the artwork. I'm sure having an all digital artist exhibitions with these guys would be awesome, possibly even having official canvas prints or even digital prints of these would be great for purchasing. Selling art online and making art posters from digital artists to get their work on different mediums must be exciting for any artist, digital or traditional in my opinion.

As for the digital art software used today, these include the likes of Adobe Photoshop, Corel Paint, SketchBook Pro and Painter as the main competitors. These are mostly 2D programs but are extremely powerful when it comes to the control for digital painting. So check out some awesome digital artwork from these artists below who certainly deserve the recognition. These guys are good digital painters and I think that's a great foundation towards a visual effects career.

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Ivan Khomenko // Freelance Concept Artist

Here is another concept artist that's worth mentioning. He's talented in both character designs and environments and I particularly like his use of colours and focus points in his artwork.

Check out more of his work at http://www.artstation.com/artist/Hamen

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Wojtek Fus // Freelance Concept Artist

Here is a concept artist who really knows how to do character design and can do it well. Most of Wojtek's characters seem interesting based on their composition and contrasting colours in his digital painting. One of my favourite is his 'Goddess of the Sacred' from Legend of the Cryptids which is just awesome.

He currently lives in Paris France based on his Facebook page and currently works at Platige Image. If you don't know about Platige Image, you should definitely click here.

You can check out more of his digital artwork on Artstation at http://www.artstation.com/artist/Fus

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Brandon Liao // Concept Artist at Riot Games

For Brandon's work, I really liked his character design concepts, especially his dynamic compositions for each piece. You can check out more of his work at Brandon Liao Art Blog

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What websites do you use for daily inspiration? Let me know in the comments below and I'll check them out.

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Darvin K. Manwah: Matte Painter & Digital Compositor
Online Portfolio, Personal Blog and ACM SIGGRAPH Portfolio Review Mentor

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Transformers 4: Age of Extinction

Hey Hey Hey,

Aaaaaaaand I'm back. I've been on a break for a while more so because of my work at Zoic Studios and with its crazy episodic TV Shows and deadlines. We recently wrapped on several TV Series such as Once Upon a Time, The Hundred and Once Upon a Time in Wonderland which were very VFX demanding but rewarding when it was finally over. Now that the Visual Effects, Computer Animation and basically all 3D Computer Graphics work is slowing down, I'm looking to be back with the blog full time along with some new personal projects this Summer. In addition SIGGRAPH is on its way and this year it is being hosted at the Vancouver Convention Center, just a block away from Zoic Studios.

So to kick-start this blog again, I'm jumping head first with Michael Bay's Transformers 4: Age of Extinction. I've always found the Transformers Franchise to be enjoyable and to just be able to switch your brain off for 2 hours. When is Transformers 4 coming out you ask? June 27th which is actually only about 4 weeks away. And if you can't wait that long then you can play Transformers games such as Transformers Universe by Jagex over on Facebook, it seems to be catching on recently. Also check out the Transformers Youtube Channel with all the HD movie trailers and latest Transformers Toys. And if that's not enough then check out the Transformers TV Series with Hasbro.

For me the current Transformer that seems to be most recognized by the audience is Optimus Prime and secondly it's Bumblebee. But besides the Visual Effects cast how about the Transformers 4 trailer's leading live action cast members which include the likes of Mark Wahlberg, Nicola Peltz, Ken Watanabe, Stanley Tucci, John Goodman, Kelsey Grammer, Jack Reynor, Peter Cullen and Bingbing Li. Pretty impressive line up of actors I'd say but I'm hoping this one makes it worth the theater price. Check out the latest Transformers 4 HD Trailers below.

Transformers 4: Age of Extinction Exclusive TV Spot (2014/05/30) Friday

Additional Transformers 4: Age of Extinction HD Posters & Images

Darvin K. Manwah: Matte Painter & Digital Compositor
Online Portfolio, Personal Blog and ACM SIGGRAPH Portfolio Review Mentor

Transformers: Age of Extinction Super Bowl Teaser Trailer

Quite possibly the most highly anticipated Trailers for the Super Bowl is Transformers 4: Age of Extinction. Everyone's been talking about it for months and finally it's here. Check it out and share your thoughts on it below. Enjoy.

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Darvin K. Manwah: Matte Painter & Digital Compositor
Online Portfolio, Personal Blog and ACM SIGGRAPH Portfolio Review Mentor

The Haunting Hour Creature Wire Removal Shot

Here is another VFX Breakdown I did for The Haunting Hour Season 1 back in 2010. I'm not too sure how popular the show was at the time but it's been picking up momentum lately. This episode had about 45 shots in total and was around the Christmas break so we had little time to get all the shots out the door for colour correction and final delivery.

Click here to see the original image

Darvin K. Manwah: Matte Painter & Digital Compositor
Online Portfolio, Personal Blog and ACM SIGGRAPH Portfolio Review Mentor

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5 Second Wins Pilot Webisode

Recently I've been toying with the idea of using Youtube a bit more as a Creative outlet and I might have found the answer. I'm not into Vlogging, filming my life every day and then posting it, my life is not very interesting like that so that was out of the question but I do like making videos.

So for the past few weeks I've been trying to figure out what I'd like to do and I came up with a Youtube weekly webisode called 5 Second Wins. It's a compilation of the week in 5 seconds clips compiled together with recent artwork overlaid with background music ... plus it keeps me on a schedule. This also related to SIGGRAPH 2014 and local Vancouver VFX Artists but more on that in the coming webisodes. I'm not entirely sold on the name just yet but I'll stick with it for now. So here is the Pilot webisode for 5 Second Wins. Let me know what you think in the comments below, Yay or Nay. (keep in mind that this is only a test pilot)

5 Second Wins Pilot Webisode and 'Like' the video on Youtube

5 Second Wins Cover Artwork

Darvin K. Manwah: Digital Compositor at Zoic Studios (Vancouver) & Matte Painter
Online Portfolio, Personal Blog and ACM SIGGRAPH Portfolio Review Mentor

Shooting on the Burrard Bridge with the Canon Powershot

Last night I ended up walking along the sea wall down at English Bay and took some photos of the Burrard Bridge. Here is one of those images from last night. I did do some editing in Photoshop to play with the hues but the composition is directly from the camera. I got to say, ever since I got the Canon Powershot s110, I've been taking alot more photos and editing them. I'm still learning to use the camera but they look OK so far. I'm also messing with new techniques for editing in Photoshop. I got a bunch more and I'll add then as I get time.

Check here to see the before and after for the photo »

Darvin K. Manwah: Digital Compositor at Zoic Studios (Vancouver) & Matte Painter
Online Portfolio, Personal Blog and ACM SIGGRAPH Portfolio Review Mentor

Online Movie Rentals & Disney Movies

So, I wanted to share some thoughts I had floating around in terms of the movie industry. I used to visit the open theaters back in Trinidad where we'd pull in with our cars, park next to a miniature standing speaker and wait till it got dark to see the movie on the giant movie projector. Transitioning to that, now there's movie rentals online or access to buy movies online. Everything seems to be moving digitally and it's all about online movies recently. Then I remember watching lion king movies, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Peter Pan or even The Little Mermaid movie on weekends flocking to see the latest on that impressive movie projector at the time. It was the greatest movie experience at the time and probably will be for years to come. Even here in Vancouver you can go to the David Lam Park and see open nights on a movie projector on Saturdays with friends.

The craze is all about digital content for on line movies with the ability to rent movies almost any specific time you want. Before you'd have to drive to movie clubs to get decently cheap movies but now you have the ability of downloading movies online. You can even download movies or have streaming movies online for the iPad and iPhone which personally I think it's a tad bit too small.

I don't know many people who would download movies legally anymore but I think it's on the rise towards being able to rent movies online. If I had a TV I'd probably have movie on demand or have a movie rental service of some sort.

I have a few vintage movie posters at home I'm sure and it was fun to have them on the walls in my room. I never really got into the craze of collecting them though, just the random ones I always got from time to time. Now that I work for TV I guess the ideas change over time and understanding the amount of work and time it takes to have a single movie made and the incredibly talented people to make it all happen makes it harder to not purchase the movies. At the end of the day, it's all about change and moving with the time and keeping up with what viewers want.

What's Your Fav Disney Movie? Leave it in the Comments Below.

Darvin K. Manwah: Digital Compositor at Zoic Studios (Vancouver) & Matte Painter
Online Portfolio, Personal Blog and ACM SIGGRAPH Portfolio Review Mentor

10 Reminders for the Wild and Free

What's Your 10 Reminders?

So I saw this video and had to post it. It reminds me of the amazing summer I had in Anaheim earlier this year for SIGGRAPH. Sometimes we get tied up in our daily lives that we forget to live. Here are 10 reminders why sometimes we just got to put down the work bags and get out of the office.

1. Unplug and explore nature
2. Never grow up
3. Take the leap
4. Find a beautiful place and get lost in it
5. Nothing cures fear faster than actions
6. When nothing is certain anything is possible
7. Live unbound
8. Plant a tree
9. Don't quit your day dream
10. What do you think 10 should be? Leave it in the comments below and let me know.

Darvin K. Manwah: Digital Compositor at Zoic Studios (Vancouver) & Matte Painter
Online Portfolio, Personal Blog and ACM SIGGRAPH Portfolio Review Mentor

Youtube Preview Commercials and Ads

Best Youtube Commercials and Ads

Recently I've been on Youtube alot more than usual, mainly looking at various channels and seeing how Youtube is slowly progressing into the mainstream entertainment as compared to Television. I didn't even know that Youtube offered Movies and TV Shows to subscribe to as compared to having an actual Youtube Channel. Based on what I've seen if you're a Youtube Partner and you have a descent following, then your channel will become part of the their content source for TV Shows. You get all of this plus tons more content at the cost of a monthly internet bill. I don't have a Television and I'm glad I don't because I appreciate the content on Youtube a whole lot more and the best part if that you can relate to the Youtuber alot more.

I'm still a huge TV Series fan though so I'm all for the Shows still, I even work on a few at the moment, Falling Skies and Once Upon a Time in Wonderland. Back to the original point, here are a few Youtube Commercials I've seen that sticks out for me. Let me know what you think in the comments below of the ads and also your take on Youtube becoming the new Main Stream Entertainment Network against Television.

Star Wars - The Old Republic Live Action Trailer

Hardbite Chips - You Live Here Ad

Guinness Basketball Commercial

Raebok Crosby SC87 Training Collection

2014 Yamaha Viper - Every Viper Has Its Venom Ad

The BMW 4 Series Coupé

Darvin K. Manwah: Digital Compositor at Zoic Studios (Vancouver) & Matte Painter
Online Portfolio, Personal Blog and ACM SIGGRAPH Portfolio Review Mentor

The Avengers Age of Ultron Teaser Trailer

So I just had to post this, I didn't even know The Avengers - Age of Ultron had a teaser trailer, did you? Looks promising though, another Summer hit I think for 2015. There are tons of films coming out in Summer of 2015 and it's going to be one crazy VFX Summer. Anyways check out the teaser for The Avengers - Age of Ultron and leave a comment below. Also what other films are you interested in for Summer 2015, leave a comment below and let me know.

Darvin K. Manwah: Digital Compositor at Zoic Studios (Vancouver) & Matte Painter
Online Portfolio, Personal Blog and ACM SIGGRAPH Portfolio Review Mentor

Blue Jasmine Junket Interview with Woody Allen

Here's a film I've been looking forward to for quite some time. I've been in a Woody Allen streak for a while just because of his directing and cinematography but I think his framing of shots are really great and the compositions are usually spot on. Some of my personal bests from him includes Manhattan, Whatever Works starring Superman himself Henry Cavill and my personal best Midnight in Paris (might just be my best film ever, just saying).

Blue Jasmine's cast includes the insanely talented Cate Blanchett as Jasmine (She's from Australia, really, didn't know that), Alec Baldwin as Hal and Sally Hawkins as Ginger. I don't really know alot about Sally but I'm guessing she's right on the money since she got a Woody approval (wink wink). The film came out in August and has received a 7.8/10 in IMDB which is not bad, given that Falling Skies got a 7.2/10 but I'm not judging, moving on.

Directly quoted from Blue Jasmine's IMDB Page, the Synopsis reads (and just because I'm lazy to change the words)

"A New York socialite, deeply troubled and in denial, arrives in San Francisco to impose upon her sister. She looks a million, but isn't bringing money, peace, or love..."

Below is an Interview Junket with Woody Allen talking about Blue Jasmine's idea and how he went about shooting in San Francisco. Maybe one day I'll be able to make my films and randomly choose a city or even better a country for my film. Also don't forget to stay updated with Blue Jasmine's Facebook Page for more updates.

... and a clip from Blue Jasmine

Midnight in Paris

I had to include the trailer for Midnight in Paris just because it's an awesome film by Woody Allen. It got a 7.7/10 on IMDB and won an Oscar for Best Writing. Even though it's back in 2011, this film is still one of my favourites.

What would you consider to be one of your favorite Wood Allen Films? And what's your best film of all time? Let me know in the comments below and also any recommendations on any other Woody Allen Film you think I should check out?

Darvin K. Manwah: Digital Compositor at Zoic Studios (Vancouver) & Matte Painter
Online Portfolio, Personal Blog and ACM SIGGRAPH Portfolio Review Mentor

Falling Skies on Jacked In with Emily Hartridge and Alfie Deyes for Virgin Media

Emily Hartridge on The Snap

Here's a Youtube clip I found talking about Falling Skies from one of my fav Youtubers, Emily Hartdrige along with one of her pretend boyfriends (Alfie Deyes) from her show '10 Reasons Why' (which I highly recommend you check out). She's ridiculously funny with the 10 reasons she comes up with every week about random topics. They are on a new Youtube Show called The Snap by Virgin Media. Subscribe to her channel and to The Snap and have fun.

Scrub to 1m 37s to go directly to the Falling Skies blurb. If you'd like to get more from Emily, check out her Facebook Page or her Twitter Account for more updated posts. Enjoy!

Darvin K. Manwah: Digital Compositor at Zoic Studios (Vancouver) & Matte Painter
Online Portfolio, Personal Blog and ACM SIGGRAPH Portfolio Review Mentor

Happy Canada Day 2013

I was fortunate enough to move to Vancouver, Canada 4 years ago to study Visual Effects for Television and Feature Films at the Vancouver Film School. Now I'm employed at Zoic Studios in Vancouver and working on an amazing TV Series called 'Falling Skies'. What would I like to change? ... hmmm I'll let you know if I ever come up with anything.

Happy Birthday Canada and thanks for being awesome.

Marvel's Iron Man 3

Synopsis

Marvel's "Iron Man 3" pits brash-but-brilliant industrialist Tony Stark/Iron Man against an enemy whose reach knows no bounds. When Stark finds his personal world destroyed at his enemy's hands, he embarks on a harrowing quest to find those responsible. This journey, at every turn, will test his mettle. With his back against the wall, Stark is left to survive by his own devices, relying on his ingenuity and instincts to protect those closest to him. As he fights his way back, Stark discovers the answer to the question that has secretly haunted him: does the man make the suit or does the suit make the man?

Official Trailer



Also Check Out:

* Iron Man 3 Teaser
* Iron Man 3 Returns Robert Downey Jr. & Gwyneth Paltrow

Transformers 4, World War Z & Marion Cotillard

Hey guys, So recently I`ve been having a spin with my career and new things are on the horizon. The wheels are turning and hopefully soon I`ll be able to confirm BUT until then we`ll kill some Zombies with Brad Pitt in World War Z and see what bigger explosions Michael Bay brings for Transformers 4.

Some interesting news today as Michael Bay official confirmed that Mark Wahlberg will be the leading man for the Transformers Franchise (TF4) which will be released Summer 2014.







World War Z Official Trailer



World War Z starring Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, Matthew Fox and David Morse upcoming post-apocalyptic horror film directed by Marc Forster based on a novel by Max Brooks. "World War Z" movie hits theaters June 21, 2013.

Brad Pitt stars as Gerry Lane, a worker at the United Nations, as he searches the globe for information that can stop the Zombie outbreak that is bringing down nations. He is racing against time and fate, as he travels the world trying to stop the outbreak of a deadly Zombie pandemic.


Rust and Bone



Marion Cotillard and Mattias Schoenaerts star in Rust and Bone, a drama directed by Jacques Audiard and written by Audiard and Thomas Bidegain in which a marine animal trainer and a brutish bouncer develop a relationship of strength and emotional dependence. Check out the trailer here.