2022 Round Up!
You know that feeling when you sit in a cinema, and the film starts, and the words ‘Please be good, please be good’ run through your head on repeat? That slip of fear that what you are about to watch is going to be so underwhelming that you might literally deflate and walk out of…
FIRES – The Pitch Film Fund Finalist
It’s been a while since I have posted anything. Work has been busy; some really interesting projects have come my way, and I have had the pleasure to work with some excellent clients. But in my spare time I have been working on another project – a pitch for an animated short film, which was…
Animation Graduate Advice, Pt1.2 – Learn What They Do
Learn the Software …if you need to, anyway. Once you have found a studio you’re excited to work for, have a look at what software they use and start learning it! My first animation job used 3Ds Max. Having just completed three years learning Maya, I was dropped into a software completely alien to me.…
Animation Graduate Advice, Pt1.1 – Learn What You Want To Do
The other day, a guy got in contact on LinkedIn. He had just graduated from the same animation course that I did 12 years before and simply asked for advice about getting into the industry. A lot has changed since I graduated – most significantly the course had changed from teaching 3D animation to 2D…
Two Headed Animation
So for a few months throughout 2020, I had the privilege to work with Derek Friesenborg (Moana, Frozen, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs) on a personal project he had been working on for a while. I joined several other very talented animators to help bring the animation to life, taking a short, 15 second…
Christmas Illustrations!
Every Christmas, my wife and I meet up with a group of friends, have a big board games night in and exchange gifts! A lovely festive event that, if I am honest, I find quite stressful. The reason being that, frankly, I am pretty bad at picking gifts for people, and their gifts always seem…
A couple of Freelance Projects – 2020 retrospective
Hey guys! It’s been a while. I mean, it’s been a LONG while! I still have “Lockdown and Up Skill – Part 3” to do, and I’ve been meaning to do that for MONTHS!But today I’m gonna talk to you about a different subject – how nice it is to see freelance projects get released!Now…
Lockdown and Up Skill – Part 2
Hello Everybody!So I managed to go a head and do my second write up of the things I have learned as I have tried to Up-Skill my animation game throughout Lockdown. In the Lockdown and Up Skill Part 1, I discussed the concepts of Leading and Following body parts, Separation of body parts, and the…
Lockdown and Up Skill – Part 1
Hey guys!I hope you are all doing well, especially through these unprecedented times. I really hope that you have all been able to be fruitful during lockdown, and as for me, I would like to share a couple of animation things that I have learned through this period.Before Lockdown started, I had made plans to…
Character Reel 2020!
Wowzers, it’s been 2 years since I updated my reel – I almost can’t believe that… But here we are with a brand new reel, and I’m so excited to share it with you all! I have really learned a lot in the past 6 months, not only due to the amazing critique from Marlon…
New Year, New Career, New Website
Happy New Year, Everybody! I hope that 2020 brings you all many blessings and much joy, coz – let’s face it – it would be wrong to start a new year holding on to any negativity caused by the year just gone. The start of 2020 heralds in a large change for me. At the…
Merry Christmas! – 1 week animation challenge
So last week I had a bit of time to devote to a quick little personal project. I wanted to put something together to celebrate Christmas, but knowing that I had a relatively short amount of time to get it done, I didn’t want to get too bogged down in creating a new character. So…
Spooky Animorsels Animation! Pt3 – The Bats of Animation
… And a Page full of Gifs! Tonight I have the pleasure of revealing the final animation, for which all of this work has been building up. Three ways to watch The first way to watch is to watch as intended. Click the YouTube video below on your smartphone (or other device) and get the…
Spooky Animorsels Animation! Pt2 Character(s)!
Good Morning all! So in my last post I talked about setting the mood and the atmosphere for my Animorsels piece, This included a lot of modelling, lighting and rendering, as well as a jaunt down particle lane. I cam up with something I was really pleased with, but this scene, as a single package,…
Spooky Animorsels Animation! Pt1 – Ambiance and Setting
Hey guys! So recently I have put the finishing touches to a short animation I have been working on over the past month or so. Or at least, that is, the first 20 seconds of it. You see, the piece is entered as part of an Animorsels challenge, and they only want to see 20…
Animorsels, NaNoWriMo and some Drawings
Hey guys! So it has been a little while since I have added anything to this blog… well, let’s just say it’s not because I have been lazy. NaNoWriMo After a while focusing on spending each morning animating, I then turned my attention to a bit of writing; spending my early mornings doing some writing…
Early Morning Cartooning and Other Animation Tests
Hey guys! How’s it going? So as I think I had mentioned before, I am trying to do a bit more animation in my personal time. Now, I am sure I am not the only person who finds it difficult to spend an hour or so practising your art after a full day of work.…
Family Holiday One Page RPG
So this past week I have been on holiday with my family. It was a really great time with my parents and sister (and bro-in-law). We ate some amazing food, drank some amazing wine and saw some amazing sights. And, like all family vacations, it had it’s fare share of conflict. It’s true to say…
Quill VR Tests
A Photo from a Friend So the other day, a good friend who worked with me at Sumo sent me a photo of my old desk, empty and deserted, screens blank, wacom un-loved. It was a kind gesture, one that said ‘we miss you, dude’, a sentiment that I share. And so I sent him…
A Whole load of New and Old
Well shucks, it seems that I haven’t posted anything on here since October… and that’s because a lot of stuff has been going on. Specifically a LOT of stuff going on during the weekend bridging January and February. Unfortunately very little of this stuff is good old animation, but let’s go through it. Special Announcement…
Showreel 2018
///EDIT/// I have updated my reel, with some more recent work, please visit my Showreel Page to check it out! https://youtu.be/Tpmm3lEcVOU Hey guys! My name is Oz Durose, I am a Freelance 3D Character Animator working in Leicester, UK. Feel free to check my Animation and Showreel pages for more info. Cheers!
ANIMATION SKETCHES 09/18
Hey Guys! So I still have a load of free time at work, and as such I have been able to continue expanding my own skills as an animator. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuyZIvpjvFQ&feature=youtu.be After learning a lot from the League of Legends exercise I completed a few weeks ago, I decided to do a couple of shorter animations…
LOL Cinematic Animation Exercise Part 3
Evening All! If you haven’t checked out Part One or Two of this write up, go ahead! They talk about the initial animation process and how I got the my works from Maya into Unreal Engine. This part is all about polishing up the animation to create the final piece below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhPzAH_FUos The Internet So…
LOL Cinematic Animation Exercise Part 2
Afternoon All! If you haven’t checked out Part One of this write up, go ahead! It will tell you a couple of things about the animation process and how I created the motion. This post is going to be all about the Unreal Engine, and the joys of making this piece look cool! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhPzAH_FUos This…
LOL Cinematic Animation Exercise Part 1
Morning All! So recently I have finished a short personal project; an animation based on one of Riot Game’s League of Legends Cinematics. A New Dawn was released in 2014, when I was still a young and impressionable CG generalist exploring a career as an animator. Needless to say, the animation blew my mind, and these…
Animation Sketches 08/18
Hey guys, So over the last couple of weeks I have been playing around with a couple of animation ideas and tests. Some i have brought to completion, some are just rough block-throughs that just got cast aside and forgotten about. Anyway, I thought I would upload a short compilation of these animations. https://youtu.be/PpfSm-P9N8w I…
Sketches and Fjord
So since the last post with some pictures, I haven’t been able to do anything I said I wanted to do – which was pretty much to write and do some comic stuff. Don’t get me wrong, I still want to do some more writing, and I have a few writing workshops coming up, which…
Human Insult – Animation
After a long day of work, and an hour and a half commute home, the last thing you want to do with your evening is do more work. So I did this during my lunch breaks. Wow. It’s been a while since I have posted a new animation on here… In fact the last animation…
Paper Drawing
On May 6th, 2017, I made signed a contract between myself and a lady named Kate which stated that every thing I owned was hers, and everything she owned was mine. That she would look after me during health and the lack of it, in return that I would look after her also. That we…
DREAD at Nightham Dale
Hey guys, I have been silent for a while, but I feel it is right to give a bit of an update on a couple of things that have happened over the past few weeks. So first I’m going to start with a game of DREAD I hosted…. DREAD It was my birthday recently, and…
Short Story – The Gambler
Hey guys, it’s been a while since I have written anything, and I know, I have to finish The Climber story, but I have been busty with other projects. One of which is the short story below – The Gambler. It is a story about death, and what could happen beyond. I have written it…
365 CREATIVE WRITING PROMPTS – DAY 6 – HELIUM
Day 6. Another short story. May have got a bit… weird… this time. But all in the name of good clean fun! 6. Eye Contact: Write about two people seeing each other for the first time. I didn’t quite stick to the brief, but was inspired by, as I had been the other days. Enjoy.…
365 CREATIVE WRITING PROMPTS – DAY 3 – The Unicorn.
Now this is what I’m talking about. Short story time. Sorry, but this is a little longer than both my previous attempts put together. It’s not strictly keeping to the inspiration from 365 Creative Writing Prompts, but is definitely inspired by it. Here you go… Day 3! The Vessel: Write about a ship or other vehicle…
Character Design – Spies!
Hey guys! So recently I have really enjoyed coming up with ideas for children’s animated TV series. Developing ideas, characters and narrative is something I can really sink my teeth into. Not only do I love the literary work, but as an animator and illustrator, I love designing the characters as well! Below are two…
Many Apologies… and a couple of pictures
Apologies So first I have to apologise. It has been far too long since I have worked on my webcomic Mr Think. I posted page 16 a couple of weeks ago, and I am halfway through page 17, but it has been months since I have regularly posted. I am looking forward to finishing the…
![PRODUCTION DIARY OF [CENSORED DUE TO NDA] – WEEK 4 – Smacking Ones Head Against UE4.](https://ozdurose.files.wordpress.com/2018/01/anim.jpg?w=1052)
PRODUCTION DIARY OF [CENSORED DUE TO NDA] – WEEK 4 – Smacking Ones Head Against UE4.
Calamity Joe, the smart git, chose to do all of his Cinematic work directly in UE4. I mean, ok, he is a young intern fellow, full of optimism and willingness to learn. So the opposite of myself. I have over 8 years experience in the animation industry. I am used to animating every detail in…
![PRODUCTION DIARY OF [CENSORED DUE TO NDA] – WEEK 3 – Mocap to Character, Previs and Mistakes.](https://ozdurose.files.wordpress.com/2018/01/sketches-censored.jpg?w=1200)
PRODUCTION DIARY OF [CENSORED DUE TO NDA] – WEEK 3 – Mocap to Character, Previs and Mistakes.
Let me start by saying this. Directing a mocap shoot is fun. It’s tiring – I mean it really took it out of me – but it was fun. Sifting through all of the data, trying to find the best take is not fun. It’s just tiring. I suppose it is like sifting through hours…
![PRODUCTION DIARY OF [CENSORED DUE TO NDA] – WEEK 2.2 – Motion Capture Fun!](https://ozdurose.files.wordpress.com/2018/01/mocap_censored1-e1515780518699.jpg?w=1200)
PRODUCTION DIARY OF [CENSORED DUE TO NDA] – WEEK 2.2 – Motion Capture Fun!
I have always been quite an active fella. Sure, my skills at a sport or a martial art were never up to scratch (I downright refused to play football during PE at school) but my preference was for the arts; drama and dance, something with a little more storytelling (though I struggle with contemporary dance…
PRODUCTION DIARY OF [CENSORED DUE TO NDA] – WEEK 2.1– Some More on Cinematography, Animatics and Mocap Prep
Just throwing this out there… This Production Diary entry is gonna be less about what I did, and more pointing out a couple of techniques and other things I am aware of whilst doing the work. So probably a little less ‘funny-funny-har-har’, and more ‘hmm… I see’. But Hey! let me tell you a couple…
Production Diary of [CENSORED DUE TO NDA] – Week 1 – Storyboard and Animatic
This year (well… week, really – 4 days if you want to be specific – Monday was a Bank Holiday) I have been mostly spitting out sweet storyboards, filthy and quick, for a short cinematic project that will probably only last a month at most. I wanted to keep a production diary of the process,…
Oz and Kate Wedding – Guest Illustrations
So a number of you may have seen that in May of last year I got married! First off, I have to say it was an incredible day, not only for what it meant to my wife and I as a couple, but also because of the amount of fun everyone had on the day.…
The Irrefutable Wisdom of Mr Think Chapter 1, pages 11 to 15
Well it has been a while, but I have finally passed my 15 page milestone! woop woop! CHECK IT OUT HERE! So what can I say? What have I been working on that takes precedence over my webcomic? well, if you haven’t checked out the ‘Hope’ project I did, then go ahead! that took quite…
Questions Nov17 | Hope Adverts
Over the past three months, a small team of volunteers have been working hard to produce an evening of entertainment. Over the past two nights, this work has been presented to over 400 people in the form of videos, plays, music and discussion panels. The ‘Questions’ event is an initiative of Holy Trinity Church, Leicester,…
7 Days of Pete Spotting
This is going to seem weird, but I’m ok with that. Today I photoshopped my friend’s face onto every character on the Thor: Ragnarok movie poster. ok, let me back up a little bit. A few months ago someone at our church needed to borrow an inflatable bed. My wife and I could help her…
![[CRITICAL ROLE] THE BLACKSMITH PALADIN PORTRAIT](https://ozdurose.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/cr-kerrek2-e1508763838113.jpg?w=1200)
[CRITICAL ROLE] THE BLACKSMITH PALADIN PORTRAIT
Sorry it’s taken so long – it’s been a while since I started this piece, but I’m happy with it now! But this here is tribute to one of the wisest, most down-to-earth and likeable characters in the whole thing! Kerrek as played by Patrick Rothfuss. Love this character! you can probably tell that my…
The Irrefutable Wisdom of Mr Think Chapter 1, pages 6 to 10
Hey hey, you lucky people! SO I have finally finished the 10th page of Mr Think, and have started on pages 11-15. This has been really good fun and I think that I have another 10 pages before the end of the chapter. I have a couple of great ideas for the next chapter and…
The Irrefutable Wisdom of Mr Think Chapter 1, pages 1 to 5
Well well, you lucky lucky people! The first five pages of my new Webcomic are up. Click the image above to check them out! About Mr Think “Mr Think. Always happy to think when you don’t want to!” Do you have an unsolvable problem? Do you have a puzzle that is halting your progress? Are…
Kikrill and Athnox
Soo… maybe a bit of an explanation is in order here… I have a couple of friends at work who are into the whole boardgame and RPG sort of thing. Their names are not Kikrill or Athnox, but pretty damn close! Anyway, I had this idea for a short story a little while ago about…
Hammer And Nail
Hey guys, I wanted to try something out that resembled a Hearthstone or Magic art style. This was the result. It was fun working with some more dynamic poses, but I think I may have gone a bit over the top on the magic FX. I thought this was a really fun exercise in lighting…
Painting Study – Aurora Battle by Clint Cearley
hey guys, so as I want to become a better artist, I decided to spend my Saturday studying a painting in the style I wish to develop, and here is the result! FOR THIS REASON I MUST STRESS THAT THE COMPOSITION AND DESIGN OF THIS PIECE IS COPIED, AND SO THOUGH THIS IS MY VERSION…
![[CRITICAL ROLE] THE HALF-ELF RANGER PORTRAIT](https://ozdurose.files.wordpress.com/2017/08/cr-02_vex1-e1502897601788.jpg?w=972)
[CRITICAL ROLE] THE HALF-ELF RANGER PORTRAIT
Having done this picture of Laura Bailey’s Vex’ahlia, I thought it would be good to do a proper portrait of her, in the same way that I have done the rest of ‘Vox Machina’. She is the last of the party I feel obliged to do to complete the set, but I think I may…
![[CRITICAL ROLE] THE MOUTH AND THE HAND](https://ozdurose.files.wordpress.com/2017/08/cr-02_scanlan1-e1502454483593.jpg?w=1200)
[CRITICAL ROLE] THE MOUTH AND THE HAND
Another Stylised portrait from Critical Role – Scanlan Shorthalt, as played by Sam Riegel. Check out the WIP gif below!
![[CRITICAL ROLE] THE RAGE](https://ozdurose.files.wordpress.com/2017/08/cr-02_grog4-e1501862896749.jpg?w=927)
[CRITICAL ROLE] THE RAGE
A very stylised Critical Role portrait of one of my favourite character – Travis Willingham’s character Grog Strongjaw. This one has taken me a little time, but I’m very happy with how it has turned out! Check the WIP gif below!
![[CRITICAL ROLE] THE GNOME CLERIC PORTRAIT](https://ozdurose.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/cr-02_pike2-e1501510402411.jpg?w=896)
[CRITICAL ROLE] THE GNOME CLERIC PORTRAIT
Ok, so a little more stylised than the last one, but this is the latest painting in my Critical Role Portraits series (I’m calling it that now!) Today’s portrait is of Ashley Johnson as Pike Trickfoot, a Gnome Cleric. Below is the WIP gif to show most of the different stages from reference to…
![[CRITICAL ROLE] THE HALF-ELF ROGUE PORTRAIT](https://ozdurose.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/cr_vax1-e1501080199491.jpg?w=859)
[CRITICAL ROLE] THE HALF-ELF ROGUE PORTRAIT
Ok…. so I might have gone a little more realistic than I usually do here… but that’s fine. Maybe the next one might be a bit more stylised (I’m imagining Travis Willingham’s character Grog to be a bit more stylised, anyway). This here is Liam O’Brien’s character, Vax’ildan, the Rogue. I don’t think I could…
Commission – Simon
So an old friend of mine got in contact – this guy is a legend, someone I used to be in a punk band with when I was at college (Too Far Forward – we were amazing!). So he told me that he was moving into a place with his partner, and wanted me to…
OZ AND KATE WEDDING ANIMATION – RIGGING!
Hey guys, So back in May I posted the OZ AND KATE WEDDING ANIMATION – MODELLING! blog, looking at the design principles used when creating the characters and artwork for my wedding. Today I have the follow-up post, showing off the Rig I had created for the characters, but the best way to do this was by…
![[CRITICAL ROLE] THE AIR ASHARI DRUID PORTRAIT](https://ozdurose.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/cr-01_keyleth21-e1500635152491.jpg?w=884)
[CRITICAL ROLE] THE AIR ASHARI DRUID PORTRAIT
So it’s taken me a couple of days to paint this Critical Role portrait of Keyleth, played by Marisha Ray. It’s quite polished, and a little too clean maybe, but I am happy with it non the less. Below is a quick development gif, showing the piece at different stages.
Some More Animations
Hey guys, thought it was high time I’d add a few more animations to the blog. These focus on body mechanics and video reference. Some are better than others, but I think they work well as tests. Marionette Game Animation Tests https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgoXSd9NCPI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMPbDk2d2r8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_94JXOCujY Below is a number of tests leading to the pieces…
![[Critical Role] THE GUNSLINGER PORTRAIT](https://ozdurose.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/cr-01_percy1-e1500394711310.jpg?w=1186)
[Critical Role] THE GUNSLINGER PORTRAIT
Another portrait paint of a character from Critical Role, this time it’s Percival played by Taliesin Jaffe. I get the feeling I’m going to do a series of these, just trying to better my portrait painting skills.
![[Critical Role] THE DM PORTRAIT](https://ozdurose.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/cr-01_mercer1-e1500308353610.jpg?w=874)
[Critical Role] THE DM PORTRAIT
A quick painting today, just a practice in face painting…. Critical Role’s DM Matthew Mercer.
Vex’ahlia DP WIP
So I thought I would put up a couple of pictures to show the process I used to create the Vex’ahlia painting. Originally I was just looking to create an image using a dynamic pose. Rather than trying to imagine one (and possibly throw the entire painting out of whack), I searched until I found…
Vex’ahlia Digital Painting
Hey guys, so this week I have been spending quite some time practising some digital painting techniques. I have been watching a lot of Kienan Lafferty’s tutorials on youtube, and, well, this guy is amazing! So I have wanted to try out a bit of a dynamic pose, and I found a cool reference photo…
New Illustrations! Joanna and Lion-o
So recently I have been watching through a number of cool tutorials. This has all come about through a boredom of spending an hour a day on a train, and looking to invest in a piece of kit that would allow me to utilise that time nicely. So going through these tutorials, I have created…
ICT Workshop Animations
I have uploaded a few animations in preparation for an Animation Workshop I hosted a few month back. Check them out!
Welcome to OzDurose.com!
Welcome to OzDurose.com, the online internet home of Oz Durose! This is where I will be posting a multitude of my Animation, Writing and Illustration work. If you would like to see my Character Animation Showreel, click the link!
365 CREATIVE WRITING PROMPTS – DAY 7 – The Climber (PART 2)
Just because I promised I would put Part 2 up this week, I thought I should finish it off and post it up. This is NOT the completed story, by the way, but we are almost there. Once again, this is unedited and a little rushed, but please feel free to let me know what…
365 CREATIVE WRITING PROMPTS – DAY 7 – The Climber (PART 1)
This week’s story is going to be split into more than just one part. This is Part One. The writing prompt was 9. Animals: Choose an animal. Write about it! so I did. It got a bit deep, so sorry for that. Here is the first part, once again I have to stress that this is unedited…
365 CREATIVE WRITING PROMPTS – DAY 5 – THE DRAGON’S MEAL
Hey guys, so a quick update on yesterday’s Creative Writing Prompt. So basically I have had an idea of making a fantasy children’s story, written and illustrated by myself. Yesterday’s prompt inspired something that would fit into it quite nicely, but it isn’t quite finished yet. I get the feeling that I will be re-working…
365 CREATIVE WRITING PROMPTS – DAY 4 – The Stone of Light.
Day 4. Another short story. This one, however, was something I have been playing around with for a little while, I just needed an excuse to jot it down. Todays 365 Creative Writing Prompt was: 4. Dancing: Who’s dancing and why are they tapping those toes? It takes me a little while, but I get there…
365 Creative Writing Prompts – Day 2
So… Day 2, and something quite different. Here is the prompt from 365 Creative Writing Prompts: 2. The Unrequited love poem: How do you feel when you love someone who does not love you back? I wanted to challenge myself on this one. Dialogue is not my strong point. Monologues and descriptive writing is where I…
Oz and Kate Wedding Animation – Modelling!
Hey guys, For the first time I am writing something that I hope non of my friends or family will see, not till next year, anyway. If you are a friend of family member reading this Pre-Wedding, either stop reading NOW, or DON’T TELL ANYONE! In 363 days, I will be getting married to a…
365 Creative Writing Prompts – Day 1
So it is true that if you want to become a better writer, you need to practice every single day. So recently I have been in a bit of a lull as far as creativity is concerned. I have ideas in my head, but it has been a little while since I have actually picked…
Oz Durose 