Lighting Reel - Hisham Taufik

Five Feet Apart

While surfing through the social media, I stumbled across the works of an amazing Character Designer & illustrator, Kuya Jaypi. And one of works, Five Feet Apart, which is a fan art of the film with the same name really struck me and I knew that I had to intepret it into 3D. The goal for this project is to make it feel like its an animated movie in which I hope I achieved!

Gathering reference

Gathering reference is one of if not the most important first step into any project. Spending more time searching for reference is always better than spending time doing guess work. It helps your work to be consistent. It can be in the form of photographs, still from a film or even color scripts!

When searching for references, I personally like to use Pinterest as it has better related results than other search engines like Google. Also it's Board feature is great! Love it!

As a Lighting Artist, I knew early on that set dressing the scene would be a huge challenge as there is a lot going on especially in the background. Even though I am adequate at modeling, it would take me a long time if I am to model every single asset.

Knowing that, I went on to sites like turbosquid to download assets like the bushes, trees. As for the streets and buildings, I downloaded an asset from the Academy of Animated Art Marketplace called : 1940's Harlem Street by Sara Tarr, and did some texturing work here and there. 

I had a generic male model laying around my hdd that I did awhile ago and I went on to model the accessories. I also went and downloaded the Mery rig by Jose Manuel Garcia & Antonio Méndez Lora from meryproject.com.

As this project primarily focused on lighting, I am not afraid to download and use models to set dress my scene! And you should too, just as long as you are not using it to resell or use it for commercial purposes and give credit where it's due!

So Sick Of It

I got the opportunity to collaborate with an amazing Character Animator, Rodrigo Coronado, on this animation shot mentored by Becki Tower, courtesy of the Academy of Animated Art. This was my first time working with an animator and hopefully to collaborate with more talents in the future!

Searching for the perfect mood

After getting the files from the animator and going through the animation, I instantly knew what kind of mood I am going for. It needs to feel both dramatic and cinematic, matching the emotional and powerful dialogue of the shot as well. 

While going through the internet, I found some stills from the film, 'The Post'. The film uses a soft directional light on the characters and it made me feel intimate towards them, which I would like to have in the shot. Also the subtle glow in the environments really help to make it more cinematic.

The Cabin

For this project, my aim is to create different lighting scenario on the same scene, Morning and Night. The asset was provided by Pixar Undergraduate Program called 'The Cabin' by Alyssa Minko and Taylor Schulze. And also not forgetting the cute knitted monster asset by Ali Chenari.

Inspirations are all around you!

I woke up one morning and went to open my front door and the morning lights came flooding in the living room and I really loved the look of it so much that I spent way too long just sitting and staring at it!

This particular moment for me shows that sometimes you don't have to force yourself to find inspirations, maybe it will find you! So try looking outside your monitor from time to time and enjoy the beauty of nature!

That light bounce on the wall is *chef kiss*

For the night scenario, I had the opportunity to get feedbacks and critiques from Francesco Giroldini, who is a Lighting Lead at Dreamworks Animation. He did a fantastic overpaint of my render and gave me a strong direction to go with on the scene. It's also my first time working with an overpaint which I feel will come in handy in production. So grateful for feedbacks and knowledge, thank you Francesco!

In The Streets

At one point in time, I was craving to model some simple character to light and render for my reel. Again, social media is an awesome way to find talented artists haha! I stumbled upon the stunning works of Victoria Vincent, aka vewn who is a stunning Character Designer and Illustrator!

I also decided to add my own creative input into this project by going for a hand sculpted clay look.

Heaven On Earth

Another asset provided by Pixar Undergraduate Program by Christina Faraj. Concept by Paul Felix. 

The goal for this is to create a warm and welcoming mood in the heartiest part of home, The Kitchen! I was inspired by isometric renders on the internet I thought it would be cool to do it here! 

Many thanks to Michael Tanzillo and Jasmine Katatikarn over at the Academy of Animated Art for the immense support and all the feedbacks and critiques. You guys have created an amazing community of like minded people from all over the world to learn from one another and continue to grow as an artist! Thank you again!