What is this site about and who am I?
I create CG artwork and animation in various different styles and formats – abstract, semi-realistic, in VR format too sometimes and often in accompaniment to a musical score. My most-used animation tools are Maya (including MASH), After Effects, RedGiant Trapcode Suite, MotionBuilder and Vicon Shogun. For abstract artwork I use Corel Painter extensively. Currently I work at the Griffith Film School (part of Griffith University) in Brisbane Australia, where I teach and manage CGI subjects like 3D modelling and environments, post production, and motion capture. I’ve worked at a few other places too and all of these jobs have contributed to my interest and understanding of art, film, animation, and the software that is used to make it all. This site gives me a space to share and talk about my work.
Current research
In addition to teaching, my job requires me to complete a certain amount of research too, which doesn’t just mean writing papers, but also making animated films and artwork. While I do this, I also explore the ways that we humans develop creative ideas, especially unique artistic ideas. I want to find out how we do this so that I can come up with more ideas too and maybe help my students to do the same. Hopefully this will result in me creating an explosion of amazing artistic works! Hmmm, perhaps. But this IS an interesting topic, and some people just seem to be born with this kind of creative ability. It would be wonderful if we could identify tools and techniques that the rest of us can use to be creative too.
But all of this creative work takes time, and because I seem to have so little of it, I’ve also been looking into ways I can create my work more quickly. That means trying to locate software tools and methods of production that can make the process of 3D animation and digital art creation much faster. Right now, software like Maya, Vicon Shogun and MotionBuilder (for motion capture), Mudbox, Corel Painter, Allegorithmic Substance tools, Filter Forge, DAZ studio, Trapcode (suite of plugins for After Effects), fractal programs like Apophysis, mandelbulb 3D and so on are part of my tool set. Some of these programs (especially DAZ, with its huge library of pre-built models and tools) have a lot to offer in terms of getting work done quickly, but at the same time, I have this disturbing feeling that somehow, by using shortcuts, I am ‘cheating’ in some way. That is something that might resolve with time if I can demonstrate that some of these cheats can produce creative and original work.
Louise Harvey, 2018
Past employment and education:
2009 – present date – full time lecturer at Griffith Film School, Griffith University, Brisbane Australia.
2008 – VFX coordinator on the film ‘Australia‘, Bazmark Productions Sydney.
2007 – VFX coordinator on the film Where The Wild Things Are, Iloura, Melbourne.
2006 – 2007 – previs lead on Animalia animated TV series, Warner Bros (Roadshow) studios Gold Coast Australia.
2006 – graduated Doctor of Visual Arts (majoring in 3D animation), Griffith University.
2003 – graduated Bachelor of Visual Arts with Honours, Animation, Griffith University.
I can be contacted via the contact form below.