New Ballerina download page

The download page for Broken Down Ballerina has been updated!  If you haven't downloaded your copy, check it out!

http://hasanistudios.com/brokendownballerina/

Crystal reading, complete

Here's the completed image of Crystal reading her book for my website Hasanistudios.com.

The book is still available online for free fro those who haven't read it or need a gift from someone:  http://bit.ly/19kIMzy

Crystal the ballerina reading

Working on a Sketch of Crystal for the "Broken Down Ballerina" Sign up page.

Copies of the book are still available here:  http://www.hasanistudios.com/bdb/bdb.html

No!

A quick gif of Winter, the butterfly, saying "No" in Suicide Friends.

Broken Down Ballerina is doing very well!

So far it looks like my first digital book "Broken Down Ballerina" is doing very well.  People who have sent me messages after reading it say they love it!  I'm working on more stories right now, but until those come out, you can download "Broken Down Ballerina" for free here :

http://www.hasanistudios.com/bdb/bdb.html

Share the link with your friends, and please let me know what you think of the art and story!

Thank you,

Hasani

Nearly done rendering act 2

Crystal sketch, and Ballerina book still available.

Broken Down Ballerina is still available for download here: http://bit.ly/1b5nPbq

So far the people I've heard back from say they love the book!  I hope you enjoy it too.

Broken Down Ballerina Book, now available!

My book, Broken Down Ballerina, is now available for free download!  I've had this story for years, and I'm finally sharing it with everyone.  I hope you enjoy it!

http://bit.ly/1b5nPbq

A quick bit of sketching

 

 Trying to get more sketching done these days along with updates.

A new site is coming!

A new website is coming!  see the countdown at   hasanistudios.com

Render of the day.

An image from todays render on the project “Suicide Friends”.  some elements are still being rendered like the depth.

A look at episode two

Here's a quick look at episode two of the Grim, now in production.

The Grim: part one, now on youtube

Episode one of the Grim is now on YouTube! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGTu4vO6RYI

The Grim on Youtube

The first episode of "The Grim" will show on Youtube Oct 31st at 7 p.m.  I hope you enjoy it!

Render of the day

I love animating this butterfly.  Her name is Winter if anyone was wondering.

Working away on scenes

After rendering, I take all my frames into after effects to adjust the final image.  Depth, reflection, specularity, shadows, and everything else to make it look the best I can.  I like how it's coming out.  I hope the look of these films continues to improve over time.

Butterfly ambient occlusion render

A render of the day, or quarter render.

Grim morning test render

Just finished a test render of the first act of the Grim episode two.  The scene will have fog in the final render which shouldn't take much.  The grass however does take a lot of time but it looks great.  It's nice to see everything start to come together.

Render of the day

The first in film render of the butterfly finished today.  The background still needs to be added.

Renders of the day

Here's the render of the day.  Luckily this scene started and finished rendering completely in one day.  All the others have taken a few days to complete, but this was a short shot.

Morning scene with moving cloth

Last night I finished one of the first acts scene and completed the cloth simulation.  I had a bit of an issue when Gertrude's arm collided with her vest and caused some strange reactions, but a few adjustments later and I have it all cleared up.  Now on to the next!

Another luxurious home

Another amazing exterior house model by Ginger Schultz

All Kickstarter rewards have been sent

With all the Kickstarter rewards sent out, I'm now sending the film to as many festivals as I can.  I'm also checking festival requirements to figure out a time when I can post the film online for everyone to see.

Background houses by Modeler Ginger Schultz

One of the houses made by 3D modeler Ginger Schultz to decorate the exterior shots of Suicide Friends.

Progress on Gertrude's morning

Continuing work on animating Gertrude's going about her morning in the Grim episode 2.

Need to post more!

I'm constantly working on these projects, and because of that it's extremely easy to fall into them and lose track of time.  Because of this I tend to not update often, which I don't like.  I'm hoping to change that and try to work up a discipline to update with anything, even if it's just to say I'm still rendering a scene.  Here's hoping I can get into it!

Rendering continues.

After dealing with a tough scene with an animated texture (which didn't work so well on rendering), I'm back to rendering more scenes from Act 2 of Suicide friends while also animating scenes from the Grim.  I'm really loving the depth in the renders so far.

Good Morning

As a scene from Suicide Friends renders, I'm animating scenes for the second Grim short.  The film opens early in the morning and I want the lighting to reflect that.  Here's a look at the progress of Gertrude from Act 1 of The Grim episode, Hunter.

Rendering Act 2

After creating 3250 frames of animation and cloth simulation, I'm ready to render the first scenes of Act 2.  While I render the scenes I'm moving back to the second episode of the Grim to animate scenes from Act 1.  I try to keep busy.

Animating Dialogue

The first animation of dialogue started today.  Soon I'll need to post a video of the characters with dialogue.  I really like how the voices of Michelle Chin (Dana) and Juliet Drake (the Butterfly) are matching with the characters.

Butterfly animation begins

This week I'm beginning the first animations of the butterfly in the hospital scenes. Here's an image of the work in progress.

A midnight call

Dana in the hospital

Here's a quick render of Dana in the hospital.  this week I plan to continue touching up the scene before rendering on this scene begins.

Animating Act 2

Animation on parts of act 2 in the hospital room have started.

Heading out

Production is moving fast, certainly faster than the last one.  I'm now animating on weekends and evenings while rendering during the day.  I believe I'm starting to work up a system.  Here's an image form the latest render.

Rendering continues

3 days of rendering 400 frames for one scene.  Ambient occlusion just finished.  Someday I hope to upgrade my system of rendering and animating.

lighting and texture develpment.

After animating the first scenes of Dana, I rendered them and found that they didn't seem right.  So I went back and added a few things (tapping her foot, biting her nails, and eventually tugging at her fingers, much more lively).  Since I'll need to render her again, and These are still the first scenes being done, I went back and adjusted the lighting to reflect the cloudy day that will be outside.  I also fixed Dana subsurface scattering so it's not as prominent.  Along with this I adjusted her eyes and added a light to give them a nice sparkle.  I did this to all the model to get the best look I can.  I'll start rendering her scenes this week after adjusting the camera.  I'm taking inspiration for camera positions from my favorite film makers.  This means I'm watching a lot of Wes Anderson and Coen Brothers films.

Animation begins!

Animation has begun on Suicide Friends.  This project has been in development for so many years, I'm glad to start moving in a path that will see it completed.  Here is an image of Dana being set up for animation. She's still being positioned, which is why her hands look like they're in mid hamboning.  It's great to see her on set.

the bookshelf

This area probably took the most time, and may only be seen at one point in the film from the far side and most likely not up close.  Along with a 3D puzzle of the Tempietto and some made up young adult novels written by Timm Bird (for Bruce Timm and Brad Bird), some of the other books include "The Once and Future King", "The Metamorphosis", "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", "Edgar Allan Poe", "Don Quixote", and 3 "Spectral art books", a play on Spectrum.

Bedroom set complete

lighting will be adjusted according to the scene, but now it's time to start animating.

Time to complete the room textures.

Posters have been set on the wall, books on the shelf, magazines set about, a desk chair has been added.  Now I need to start on texturing Dana's room.  after that I'll start animating some scenes.  I'm still doing this along with the Grim project. so texture a few things here, then adjust some animation on the Grim. I have something of a rhythm going.

furnishing the bedroom

After building different props, I'm now working to decorate Dana's room.  The lighting is something I'll do later depending on the scene.  At the moment I have a sunlight as a temporary, though I really like the ghost house feel it gives.

light test

a few light test on the scene.  I like the first one the most.  I don't want to give too much story but she needs to want to go outside, and the house needs to feel quiet, almost dead.  The second feels very staged to me. like a cartoon, while the third seems okay, but I'd like more depth in a night shot.  I believe the part of me that loves the night scenes in Batman the animated series is picking at these images.

Gertrude lighting render

A render from a scene in the Grim.  I liked the first renders, but I felt like they could still be better, or at least look more solid.  Maybe it's because I'm use to stop motion, but I like CG to look like I can touch what's on screen.  I'm glad I messed with the lighting and rendering early on to get the look I want.  I love the eyes in this render and the ambiance makes me think of films like "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events", which is exactly what I wanted.

textured figurines

a few textured figures to decorate Dana's room. even included one of them anime figures the kids seem to like these days (which I made from the old big eyed Dana model). that's what kids like right? mini figures, anime, and the musical stylings of the Oak Ridge Boys, right?

small props for Dana's room

I'm working on one of the last rooms needed for the film, Dana's room.  To make sure it feels like a girls room I'm making numerous props of trinkets, posters, and other items.  here's an image of some of the small figures being made to decorate her shelves.