Matthew Nellis

Well, I’m finally back. I’ve decided to embrace the goodness that is Wordpress and managed to get it working with a bit of effort. Here’s my past week or so in Haiku form:

New toys to play with
A shiny new camera
And Wacom Bamboo

When pay day hits, it’s a glorious day. I can slowly work my way through my Amazon wish list one item a month, but this time I treated myself to two! I’ve been meaning to buy a new camera ever since I lost my old one a few years ago in New York. It took a good few weeks of researching, going back and forth over whether I should splash out to get a DSLR, or whether a compact will suffice. But then I also wanted to be able to shoot decent video. Have you seen the price of consumer HD camcorders? I really didn’t fancy spending a fortune getting two devices, one to shoot stills and the other to shoot video.

I eventually decided that my best option was to get a DSLR that was also more than capable of shooting HD video. After much deliberating I was erring towards the Canon 7D, or the Panasonic GH1. Both fine cameras that are capable of good looking HD video.

But then I started looking at prices.

As much as I wanted either of the cameras, I just couldn’t justify myself shelling out over £1000 on a piece of  equipment that would satisfy my hobby. Perhaps in a year if I’m really getting into photography then I could consider such a purchase, but not now. So back to the drawing board. DSLR out of the question really. Too expensive for what I need. What do I need? A good camera with full manual controls that shoots HD video.

And in steps this beauty. The Panasonic FZ38, a superzoom bridge camera which ticked all the boxes! I’ve only had a few days, and already I’m very impressed. Easy to use, all the manual controls I want, HD video (albeit in the horrible AVCHD codec), and at a very reasonable price tag of £245.

So I’ll be planning on posting random pictures as the weeks go on, and also some video stuff I have planned. Below are a selection of images I’ve done, and you can check out the rest on my Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mnellis/

Just the one haiku today, and yes I know its a day later than usual!

Textpattern, you bitch
Why are you so difficult?
So long, and farewell

Currently the site is powered by Textpattern, an open source content management system similar to Blogger and Wordpress.

I chose it over the aforementioned for various reasons, mainly because Worpress would just not install correctly on my web host. Whilst it is a very powerful and open-source system it also has it annoyances which, quite frankly, are really starting to piss me off.

So over the next week or so I shall be migrating over to another blog hosting site. Not sure what yet, might try to give Worpress another install and see if it wants to work.

So bear with me in the next couple of weeks where content might be a little light.

Where has this little gem been all my life? Probably the most fun I’ve had gaming in a while, and only £6.99 from Steam!

Ladies and gentlemen, it is that time again. Time for words presented in a certain ancient Japanese verse…

Magazine layouts
Are an artform of their own.
Strangely fun to do

Random indie game:
EnviroBear Two Thousand!
What the fuck is this?

You what? Drum and bass?
Oh whoops, you said ‘triple date’…
Damn my bad hearing

Last week was spent putting down the foundation for Muckle Sandwich issue 3. Really excited about this on-going project! Magazine layout is something I’ve never done but I’m finding it very interesting. Certainly learned a lot about the digital print process of the past week and I’m sure I’m going to learn a lot more before the issue is finished!

I really like what Muckle Sandwich is all about. In this day and age where digital rules over us, its easy to forget how nice it is to hold and read an actual printed publication (especially one that isn’t a free newspaper thrust into your unwanting hands).  I could go on but the founder of Muckle Sandwich, Neil Warrack, says it all in his editorial for issue one:

“Born out of necessity in reaction to the ‘log-in and blog’ culture of the internet. We are Muckle Sandwich, we’re here for you and we’ll always have time for you.

Now, we shall not criticise the Internet, we shall not dismiss such a hugely important network of minds, nor shall we discourage people from using it and loving it like the wonderful entity that it is. But we feel like it has taken something from us, something that we want back.

This publication is produced for those of you who, like us, appreciate the tactile aesthetic of physical printed press.“

Following on from last week’s scare fest that was Aliens vs Predator classic, I thought it’d be fun to subject myself to some more scares by trying out the multiplayer demo for the new Aliens vs Predator.

Like every Monday, here is my past week summarised in Haiku form:

Begun writing now
Forming back-stories and plot
A hit in the works?

It’s taken a while
But now we’ve got a drummer
Wait, no. No we don’t.

Come on Spurs, just score!
nil-nil is not good enough
Top four still a dream

Its been a strange old week. Work has gotten weird again which pushes me ever more to pursue alternative ventures. I’ve finally started work on my screenplay, and immediately I realise just how much work I’ve got myself into. It’s not a feature film screenplay, but an 8-part TV drama. I’m not going to disclose the finer details just yet, but I will say that it’s based in the city of Aberdeen. How glamorous!

More of practice with Adobe Illustrator rather than a design piece. I wanted to have a go at vector drawing and practice using the pen tool which I’m not too familiar with.

Hit the jump for a bit more insight and a link to the high-res version.

You can view the high-res version here

It was a nice challenge, and as a first time vector illustration I’m reasonably happy. I found shading to be the hardest part; it took quite a while to get my head around some basic techniques.

It’s strange, I’ve read comics all my life, mostly webcomics nowadays, but never have I studied the art of them. Looking at Mike Krahulik’s work over at Penny Arcade helped me a lot in terms of basic form and shading, something I have never studied up until now.

I’ve got a couple of ideas for further design pieces, the next one will probably be in After Effects, so keep an eye out.

I know I said I was only going to look at indie games, but I saw this on Steam for only £2.99 and I had to try it. I love the Alien franchise, but unfortunately I just don’t do very well with scary games. Have fun watching me be terrified…

Well, its Monday and here is last week summarised in Haiku form. Enjoy!

It’s started again,
Recording is underway.
New songs imminent

Pen tool is your friend
In Illustrator, that is.
Too bad I can’t draw

Hark! What is that sound?
Nothing, it’s just in my head
Need to get out more.

What have I got planned for this week? Well Wednesday there will be another ‘Impressions’ posted. I wasn’t looking forward to this one, simply because the game I chose scares the pants off me. And I don’t do scary games very well. You’ll see….

I thought it’d be a good idea to post some of my older work so I have something to compare to now that I am getting back into motion graphics etc.

This is an ident I created for BBC’s Big Screen in Birmingham using Combustion 3 when I didn’t really know what I was doing to be honest!

Co-designed by Matthew Hamer and Andrew Morland.