| |
|
I am
a professional freelance artist working in the creative fields
of video
games, television commercials, films and games, bringing the
fantastic to life.
Coming from a Lead Art role in a small studio, I had to juggle
many roles, and learn on my feet. This early experience has
given me a broad and deep skillset as an artist. From
concept art and storyboards through to fully realised 3d character
models complete with rig, fur and surfacing, I can take any
project from idea to rendered completion.
Over
the last decade I have produced both realtime and cinematic
digital content for AAA game projects
such as
Dragonage:
Origins, Unreal
Tournament 4, Civilization
4 and Dungeons & Dragons:
Stormreach among many others.
I was lead artist and art director at Bigworld games for seven
years before becoming a successful freelance character artist.
This work
led me to becoming the Games Development consultant for the
Asia Pacific region at Discreet (now Autodesk),
where I travelled around the world assisting studios develop
strong art pipelines, providing training, demoing and holding
white papers at conferences such as Siggraph,
ChinaJoy and The
Games Developers Conference.
|
|
Over
the last few years I have extended into films such as Where
The Wild Things Are and The
Spirit, as well as many TV commercials, including
as the award winning Comcast Rabbit,
5Seeds Cider, Ribena
'Dancing with the Stars' and
God of War III.
Outside the digital realm I design and sculpt fine scale miniatures
for companies such as Lead Adventure
and Eureka Miniatures
as well as my very own label Bederken Games! (www.bederken.com)
My work includes designing an official Michael
Moorcock range.
Well thats a brief run through of me, please check my resume
above for full details!
So hey, I am currently freelancing in good old Sydney, Australia.
If you have a project, comission or require product demos
or training, feel free to drop me an
Email for
an NDA and quote!
Thats it from me- go check out some pictures or something.
I hope you enjoy browsing the site!
Dave
|
| |
|
|
Of
Mari and Miniatures...
[30 May 2011]
You know
I have been so busy this year that updating my site has gone
to the bottom of the pile. Wow...
So much has happened...
On the digital front, in addition to freelance work, I have
been kicking around with Intraware visiting studios and providing
training in high end texturing software Mari
(The Foundry)- which is absolutely brilliant. Spent a few
days touring with Jack Greasley, (product manager, developer
and all round master of all things Mari for a few days) which
was a blast. He is just brilliant- how often can you send
a software developer an email and get a response back?
I will
be doing some Mari masterclasses shortly if your looking for
training- dates and all other info TBA.
|
| |
|
|
uhm,
my BeDerken miniature range has been going great guns and will
shortly be expanding. You can follow the new releases on my
blog - (www.bederken.blogspot.com)
|
| |
|
|
UNITY
project
[01 Jan 2010]
Recently
I have spent a few weeks with a design team building a full
3D unity project for a secret client. I started with concept
work, but when it was realised that real time experience was
needed, I stepped up to modelling and texturing characters
and props, setting up UNITY and getting the particle system
cranking with as much effects as I could throw at it.
Its great
being back doing real time development, especially using UNITY,
which is a dream come true if your trying to knock out a project
fast.
In my
own time I have been teaching myself UNITY java, and have
made a couple of little games and a Science Fiction sound
board for my Role Playing group- providing atmosphere, laser
blasts and all the cliches the genre can offer!
Its been
a really freeing experience- in the eight years of solid full
time game studio work I always had to go cap in hand to a
producer so I could get a programmer to get a little code
developed for a fun feature. With UNITY if I want something,
I write it myself in no time. Am I officially a slashie? You
know, programmer/artist. No, but look out!
|
| |
|
|
Advanced
Mudbox and Creature Design course
[28 April 2010]
I have
just confirmed with the Academy of Interactive Entertainment
that I will be running another Mastering Mudbox class- this
time, however just a single day intensive for people who already
know their way around the software. Subjects covered will
be things like fixing problem meshes, transporting data between
models, building corrective pose sets, making sculpt stencils,
extracting maps like a pro and working on multiple UV set
models.
I am also going to be running a two day Creature Design course,
exploring the theory and practice of taking your monster design
from idea to presentation. Topics include history of creature
design, psychology, anatomy, idea exploration, xenobiology,
testing performance and concept rendering techniques. Dates,
cost and locations shortly.
|
| |
|
|
GCAP
[11 December 2009]
With the
games industry in Australia struggling with the double blow
of a strong Aussie dollar and the credit crunch, it was good
to catch up with old friends and meet some new faces at GCAP
to swap war stories. On the whole, the independants at least
are still strong in spirit- and with apple shining a ray of
hope with its Iphone platform, clearly its not game over yet.
I manned
the StormFX booth, happily crunching out monsters for all
comers and providing training and info in Autodesk Mudbox.
|
| |
|
|
5seeds
Birds vs. Humans TVC
[10 October 2009]
Congratulations to Michael Spiccia and Goodoil films on their
new TVC campaign for 5seeds cider. I was the concept artist.
Here is a still from the ad. Linky
|
| |
|
|
Autodesk
2010 Launch Mudbox masterclasses
[8 October 2009]
Yesterday
was the first of two new Mudbox masterclasses - this time
oner hour classes for Autodesk as part of their Mudbox 2010
launch at the Animation Blockbuster event. The venue was nice,
and it was great to see lots of familliar faces in the audience-
Its been a while since I did industry drinks too. Must, must
go to more!
Well, I am about to jump on the plane for Melbourne again
for the next leg of the launch - my masterclass will be on
friday morning at 11am - see the Autodesk emails for details
and among the stuff I will be covering is some nifty ways
on how to transfer sculpt data easily to rescue work and save
time in production. Drop on by and say hi!
Mudbox
masterclasses
[29 September 2009]
I just
wrapped a tour of masterclasses hosted at all three locations
at The Academy Of Interactive Entertainment (AIE) in Australia.
I
figured everyone could read the help files for the basics,
so we dived straight into what all the tools can be used for
in a practical day in the studio.
The classes where broken into two days, with day one building
a solid foundation of workflow and day two focusing on more
complex studio production techniques such as adding limbs
and moving data between models to rescue projects at the 11th
hour.
Big shout
out to to Storm FX and Autodesk Australia, who supplied a
prize copy of Mudbox to one lucky person in each location.
We are in talks regarding a second wave of masterclasses-
this time covering the fine art of creature design! Stay tuned.
|
| |
|
Rabbits,
plinkety, plinkety plink
[8 may 2009]
Comcast
Rabbit has won a stack of awards - A Mobius Award, A
gold and silver Andy, as well as a bronze lion At Cannes.
I was responsible for modelling, surfacing and fur grooming
of the rabbit during my stay at Animal Logic.
For the project we spent a day playing and photographing
hairless Sphynx cats, which are ridiculously friendly.
Me researching Sphynx cats so I could
model and shave the
Rabbit-Panther thingie for the Comcast Rabbit.
Then I had the opportunity to dissect a couple of food
grade rabbits to get the correct muscle
and bone placement
reference pics for our animators. Smelt... Interesting.
By strage cooincidence Baz Luhrmans Australia was shooting
a scene next door at Fox studios using a rabbit and
the animal tamer had the exact same rabbit we had to
match in our car park. What incredible luck!
|
|
   
|
|
Holy
Melting Ribena Berries Batman!
[9 Feb 2009]
Well a Happy New Year to one and all. Its a heatwave
in Sydney and my studio has been COOKING. I have big
fans, every window open and am seriously considering
hiring a nurse to pat my forehead dry like a surgeon
whilst I work. So far, my fiance has vetoed that last
one.
The heat has brought a few challenges. Like most 3D
animators I have a few action figures about the place,
actually I have several hundred of them in my studio
(nerd brag) and a few of those plastic fellows have
started to sag somewhat. Hermione Granger keeps taking
a dive off the shelf, as does the entire NECA AVP range-
not built to stand up those suckers.
Aaaaaanyway....The
new season of 'So You Think You Can Dance' is now airing
in Australia, and this year Ribena is a major sponsor.
Z-space created a whole new series of ads featuring
dancing Ribena berries.
I was called in to model
the new berries, and as it was quite some time ago it
was a real joy to see them finally dancing around on
TV. Even if it means I have to watch the show with my
partner between ad breaks.
Spirit
and Wild Things
[8
feb 2009]
Speaking
of things I worked on a while ago, The Spirit is in
theatres now and Wild Things finally (FINALLY!) has
a release date.
Dragonage
Trailor Out
[Jan
2009]
The
trailer for DragonAge is now out. I produced several
character models for ACT 3, one of which now appears
in my Cinematics gallery.
GCAP Speech- Sculpture for games
[25 Nov 2008]
Gcap was great fun- especially getting caught at Brisbane
Airport in the most terrific thunderstorm I have ever
seen- I grabbed some video footage for reference! Unbelievable.
It was great seeing so many of my friends, old students
and clients all in the same venue- I will definately
be adding GCAP to my calender from here on.
My speech was on the subject of Sculpture for games-
which I did using the latest release of MUDBOX. I covered
how you can sculpt using 'feel' by dynamically reposing
your mesh to include strong gesture and weight. My class
also covered some primary anatomy and general tricks
for laying down detail fast using stencils.
Its actually a really vast subject, and due to a delay
getting started I had to skim the sculpting techniques
a bit - however I am currently planning a MUDBOX masterclass
tour.
As promised, I will be adding the character 3D files
and the stencils I used shortly to my Tutorials page-
please check back in the next few days! There may even
be a few tutorial videos there if your good. :0)
|
|
|
|
Two
Moons release
[3 November 2008]:
If you where at either my GDC and AGDC talks on rapid
prototyping games a few years ago you may remember the
brightly colored diablo-like fantasy game I was showing.
I received a few comments on what the game was and when
is is coming out- I had to say that sadly it was only
a prototype and it was made specifically for the show.
However that may no longer be the case.
I have decided to release the funky ninjette 'two moons',
her kookie Pumpkinjack enemies, effects, weapons and
all the scene assets and animations as downloadable
game packs that indie developers can pick up and run
with.
The first release will feature Two-Moons herself, in
several pack formats.
She has been totally revamped to work for third, first
person and RTS as well as her native isometric, and
featuring 3dsMax 9 file, OBJ file, biped rig, bones
rig, bone constrained to biped rig, several levels of
detail and a handful of texure sets (A range of armors,
good and evil, team colors and more realistic styles).
|
|
 |
|
19
August 2008: Stormreach Gallery added
I
just put up a gallery of some of my fave peices from
my Dungeons & Dragons: Stormreach work. Check out
the 3D gallery for 58 new images featuring oodles of
costumes, models and weapons from Turbines MMOG extravaganza.
I did so many textures for this game I ended up having
to keep a database to track just mine! Seriously good
fun old school texturing.
|
|
|
|
11
August 2008: Fuel
I recently worked on a number of projects with the team
at FUEL, including five TVC slots, including a new Toyota
commercial (my second- I hope Toyota send me a free
sample one day). I also did some digital set dressing
on the forthcoming movie The Spirit. Looking forward
to seeing it arrive on the big screen.
|
|
|
|
2
August 2008: Comcast rabbit
I
finally saw the finished Comcast rabbit slot I worked
on during my time at Animal Logic. I created the Rabbit-Panther
thingie, including modeling, surfacing and Shave&A
Haircut groom. (Someone else did the Turbines) I used
Maya, NEX, Zbrush, Body paint, Renderman and coffee.
Lots of coffee.
|
|
|
|
27
April 2008 Z-space
I have just finished a month onsite at Z-Space modelling
and surfacing for the new FOX sports HD network among
other things. Very exciting. A big hi to the great guys
and gals at Z-space. Hulk smaaaaaashh!
|
|
|
|
FURY
trailer released
[2nd August 2007]
AURAN
has just released the cinematic trailer for FURY, which
was created by the team at ACT3 Animation. I was brought
onboard to model and shade the characters. You can find
it on Game trailers Here
|
|
|
|
CGOVERDRIVE
07
[24th June 2007]
CGOverdrive
was a world class conference- even just for the speaker
line up- Blizzard / Blur Cinematics masters John Chalfant
and Paul Hormis, Mohsen Mousavi, Kyle Balda, Feng Zhu
and Michel Gagné among others. Square Enix also
showed a sneak peek at the new Tabula Neo Crystalis
series and The Lucasarts empire was there in force with
some very authentic clone troopers keeping us rebel
scum at bay (though thinking about it- my fiance did
buy me a red lightsaber this year- perhaps I
am on the Dark Side.)
Anyway, If you are in the asia pacific I highly recommend
getting on a plane and hitting CGOverdrive 08 if anything
just for the speakers!
I was up to my old speed modeling mayhem again- knocking
out yet another freaky little demon model during my
two hour long show to a Prodigy soundtrack. Very demonic.
The
atmosphere at the show was electric, especially near
the end- there was just so much enthusiasm in the room-
we did lots of interviews, photos, give-aways and signings!
I have to say Kyle Blada gave the most amazing presentation
I have ever seen- a fully animated CG tutorial synched
to his live talk- showing how to animate like a Pixar
badass. Excellent stuff
|
|
|
|
The
Winner is Syd-en-neee!
Kathryn and I have waved farewell to London and have
moved back to spiritual home of Sydney Australia. We
are full of fairly strong spirits as we speak. Great
bars in Sydney.
|
|
|
AUTODESK
Head Modelling tutorial
Those cooky kids at Autodesk are now hosting some exclusive
monster head modelling video tutes from yours truely to
celebrate 3December! Consider this a taste of the next
3D Creature Workshop modelling disks!
Check the tute out here
(you will need to be logged in to The-Area to grab these.)
|
|
|
Liquid Animation chooses Dave King Digital Art for 'Choose
your Own Adventure' TVC
Yeah, yeah, the title is blah. I recently had the pleasure
of creating the three lead characters for Liquid Animations
TVC for the NSW government 'choose your own adventure'
campaign. The TVC called for characters that had to look
like old school video games characters- great fun to create-
especially the dirty great Croc! Its really weird having
to make TVC characters that LOOK like video games characters
are imagined- you dont have the restrictions or feel of
the engine- you can have as many polys as you like, however
its still got to look like a game. A really cool challenge.
|
|
|
|
|
|
