2003
2001 ---2002--- 2003 --- 2004 --- 2005 --- from 2006 and on
December 27, 2003
I uploaded some of the concept art I've done for the past year or so. They are in the Paintings/Drawings section, underneath the Sketches/Fun section.
December 22, 2003
Uploaded a recent 3D model of a prototype female. Also added the promo posters for Promise and Scythe Wolf. See them all in the 3D section.
Posted a couple of color background paintings I did as backdrops to render some of Steven Stahlberg's images for a Korean company. See them in the Paintings/Drawings section.
December 4, 2003
I was pretty excited about Sega's Animanium coming out with a trial version, since I've been drooling over it ever since it was talked about at cgtalk. So, I decided to pop my 3D animation cherry with this cool app. I've never done any 3D animation before--in fact, I've barely done any 2D animation, so I'm basically a newbie to animation. Anyway, after about 4 hours of animating, I ended up with a short clip. The cherry's been popped. I think I'll be animating more from now on. See the animation in the 3D section.
November 20, 2003
For those of you that emailed me about banners, they are now back. Get them in the goodies section.
November 6 , 2003
Elena and I are now officially living in Malaysia. I've started working at Optidigit, and between working on multiple projects at Optidigit and co-writing a book on digital art with Linda "Enayla" Bergkvist, John Wallin Liberto(A.K.A. Captain Flushgarden), and Philip Straub for Ballistic Publishing(the folks that brought you EXPOSÉ), I barely have the time to catch my breath. The book should be out around February, so keep your eyes opened for announcements at cgtalk or other digital art websites.
For those of you that are fans of Steven Stahlberg's work, you might be delighted to know that we're doing a collaboration right now--both as writers and artists. Check back in a few weeks and I might have some cool stuff to show.
September 28 , 2003
I keep getting emails from people asking me the same thing over and over, and it's getting a little too much. Now, I have disclaimers up in a couple of sections of the website to address the issue, and I'll post it here too:
"I get emails from people all the time, asking me why they couldn't reproduce the same result in their painting from following my online tutorials. It always surprised me that anyone would think a tutorial is all it takes to get the same results that it took me half my lifetime so far to learn. They would ask me, "What is it that you did between the step before the last and the finished work?" or "What brushes did you use? Why can't I get the same look you did?" My reply to them have always been the same:
"It's not the brushes or any other secrets that I've held back--it is simply patience and practice needed on your part."
If an experienced guitar player showed you how to finger a bunch of chords and showed you all the notes on a guitar solo, you wouldn't automatically think that you could play just like him, would you? Then why would you believe a painting tutorial can turn you into an experienced painter? The only thing that could get you there is lots of practice, and years of hardwork. The painting tutorials are just chords and notes that I showed you--you're the one that has to practice the until your fingers bleed."
September 23 , 2003
3dvf.com, a French CG website, translated the interview I did with CG Networks. I really like the way they cropped my work as header image at the top of every page. See it here: http://3dvf.com/modules/publish/_969_1.html
I've been very busy doing writing, concept art, storyboard..etc for TV series that I'll be directing at Optidigit. For those of you that visit regularly, you will probably be disappointed that there won't as many updates as there used to be. All the stuff I'm working on now are commercial properties, and I can't disclose images, stories..etc from them. I'll try to keep you guys updated on what I'm working on, and where/when you can catch the shows though. I'll still work on personal work whenever I have the time--I'm not going to just stop doing writing, photography, music, painting..etc. I'm happy that at least the shows/films I'll be directing are most likely going to be my own creations anyway--so in a way, they are still my personal works--except with a producer, crew, and investors.
So, bottomline is, if I don't update for a while, it just means I'm working my ass off, and something cool will come of it. Just be patient, and you'll see the results. ^_^
August 27, 2003
Just got back from Malaysia. Had a great time hanging out with Steven and others at Optidigit(Soon to be changed to Androidblues). Elena and I shopped until our feet were raw--we shopped just about all the major malls in KL.
But anyway, the new is: I accepted the offer from Optidigit, and we'll be moving to KL soon. Promise will now be worked on internally at Opdigit, with me as writer/director/art director. It's going to be a wild ride, and I hope we all come out of it alive. . .. ^_^
August 15, 2003
Shot a new session today. This might be the very last photo session I shoot on the Olympus C3030Z. I'm happy to say that time has come for me to "graduate" to a professional camera system. My shopping list for the new system looks something like this:
Canon 10D, Speedlite 550 EX, Delsey Pro 2 camera bag
Lenses: Sigma 15-30mm f3.5-4.5 EX DG, Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM, Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM, Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 , Sigma 180mm f3.5 EX APO Macro IF HSM, Canon 2X Teleconverter. Of course, I can't afford to get all these lenses at once--most likely about 3 initially.
August 15, 2003
Ok, as far as I know, everything should be back to normal now--including email(web@ethereality.info). The move to the new server killed the forum, and since it was so new anyway, I'm going to leave it for now. I'll be quite busy in the coming months, so I won't have time to tend to the forum anyway.
There's now a Press page in the "About Me" section--where all the interviews/articles are grouped.
August 14, 2003
Sorry about the prolonged downtime of my website! I only moved to a new host for a couple weeks(b12.org), when it was attacked by hackers, virus, and a host of problems. My emails are not working yet, so if you need to email me, try lunachild_sf@yahoo.com whenever my default emails are down.
Now, I'm hosted by the fine folks of CG Networks. Pretty neat, eh? I should be moderating there in the Painter/2D forums pretty soon too.
Steven Stahlberg has invited Elena and I to visit him and his family, and we'll be off next week. Should be fun to check out his studio and go shopping in Malaysia!
August 6, 2003
3dtotal.com just posted an interview they did with me. It was the best interview I've done to date--lots of great questions. I had a blast doing it. Here's the link: http://www.3dtotal.com/team/interviews/rob_chang/robchang1.asp
August 2, 2003
I went ahead and fixed all the javascripts, so now the Mac users all should be able to browse my site with no problem(thanks to P.A.Buffo and Frank Dittrich for the help!). Man, you Mac guys sure are hard to please(j/k). I'll probably go ahead and change the entrance page javascript to flash instead--just to make you Mac guys happy. Aren't you touched?
August 1 , 2003
I wanted to implement a guestbook for this site, but there wasn't one implemented in the control panel of my webhost, although there was a phpbb implemented--so I just used the phpbb. Of course, phpbb is far more powerful and full-featured than a guestbook, and I had so much fun designing my own theme that I ended up creating a full-blown forum. David Kulen(merlyns) helped out with some of the design/tweaking of the icons/buttons.
Anyway, here's the link to the forum:
Here are the general rules for anyone thinking about registering to join the forum:
1)This forum is an extension of my website(www.ethereality.info)--like a virtual livingroom/backyard of my cyber home, where friends, family, and kindred souls come and hang out at.
2)Observe standard forum etiquette/rules here as you would anywhere else. You read them when you checked the "I agree" box when you registered, and I'll hold you to it. This is my home. You are my guests. Be courteous, and I'll be hospitable. Be a jerk and I'll throw you out. Simple.
3)I'm not a prude and neither are you, but for purely legal reasons, please do not post pornography. The line between porn and non-porn can be blurry at times, but my standard would be: A rated R movie is not porn; A XXX movie is. Use your best judgement.
4)If your post will contain materials that are questionable, either don't post it at all(better safe than not), or put a *WARNING* heading in the topic. This includes disturbing images(violence, gore), erotica, or other iffy stuff. Some people might browse this forum at the workplace, and some members are underage--please keep that in mind when posting.
5)I have no problem with profanity--but if you overdo it like a pissed off truck driver, the mods will probably edit/delete your posts.
6)Thank you for reading. Make yourself at home, and the drinks are in the fridge.
July 28, 2003
It has been brought to my attention that my website cannot be properly viewed by Mac users, or people that has disabled java. I'm looking into solutions right now, but I really, really, really hate dealing with technical troubleshooting. How many of you can actually see the image fading javascript on the entrance splash page anyway? I mean, I spent a lot of time trying to come up with a solution for that, and now I find out Mac users can't even see it. What's worse, is that Mac users can't see any of my artwork because they can't see the popup windows to the full-sized artwork. This really upsets me, because I've been using javascripting for the popups for years now, and that means for years, no Mac users were able to see my work.
I'm not a techie guy. I hate dealing with this stuff. I'll see what I can do though. There are going to be some problems with the site as I work on fixing problems. Please bring any malfunctioning links or scripts to my attention if you see any.
July 27, 2003
I uploaded the 2 new tracks I did again("Tribe"s and "I Remember You"). They've been tweaked a bit in Cubase--just to fix some quantizing problems. If you have the old version, please download the new versions and get rid of the old ones.
July 25, 2003
Yay! New webhost! I'm now hosted on b12.org instead of prohosting.com. Prohosting was charging me an arm and a leg for bandwidth overlimit fees, and now I have a much better deal with b12.org. This also mean, all the mp3's are back online! For those of you that missed out on my new music, now's the time to check them out.
I changed the name of the website to Ethereality because I've been using Enchanted for years now, and to me, it will always represent the comic book series I did--which is something in the distant past now. So, a new name for the present and the future seems to make sense. The reason I registered .info is because .com, .net..etc are all taken.
I'm toying with the idea of implementing flash into the website--but I know that many of you are still on dial-up modem, so I'll probably only make a flash intro which could be skipped over.
I got my copy of CG World magazine, and I scanned a better copy of the interview so the text is easier to read. Just click on the previous thumbnail links to see the updated scans.
July 17, 2003
Angel Ding from Fantasy magazine sent me the scans for the interview I did with CG World magazine(Chinese Edition). Thanks!
For those that can read Chinese, have fun reading!
July 17, 2003
Due to the overwhelming traffic to my website, all the mp3 files of my music are now disabled. I need to find a solution to the bandwidth consuming problem of hosting mp3's. If anyone has a good suggestion, please email me.
July 7, 2003
Someone wrote me an email stating that he was a bit offended by me describing one of my new pieces of music as tribal, as he felt it was really tablas in Indian music. My response to him:
"Hi,
Actually, I researched all kinds
of percussive music--from Turkish, Indian,
Pakistan, African, Japanese...etc, to modern percussions. The
structure/sounds of all tribal/belly dance music are very similar, and the
scale/harmony I composed in was actually mostly Arabic.
Rob"
July 5, 2003
Man, when it rains, it pours. I just saw this at chinadv.com:
Looks like they picked my painting Snow as the July cover. I guess the interview they did with me will be published in that issue too. Here's the link to CG World Chinese edition: http://www.chinadv.com/cgworld/cgworldnew.asp
Two more Chinese CG magazines contacted me to do interviews, and I'm waiting for them to send me a copy of their magazine before I say yes.
I finally broke down and got myself a X Box. I'm a PC gamer at heart, but every once a while, there'll be console games I just HAVE to play. For example, I got Dreamcast when Virtua Fighter 3, Soul Calibur, Dead or Alive 2 became available for it. My rule of console purchasing is--if there are at least 3 games I want on it, I'll get it. For the X Box, it was Dead or Alive 3, Halo, and Dead or Alive Extreme Beach Volleyball. I was never a fan of Playstation, and Playstation 2 didn't impress me too much. Oh, and of course, I have a N64 just so I can play Conker's Bad Fur Day!
July 3, 2003
CG Networks did an interview with me: http://www.cgnetworks.com/story_custom.php?story_id=1321&page=
3dtotal.com posted one of my tutorials: http://www.3dtotal.com/team/Tutorials/lunatique/mood/mood1.asp
cgland.com in Korea also posted one of my tutorials: http://school.cgland.com/index.html?mode=short&code=view&no=2989&category_1st=3&category_2nd=700000&start
July 2, 2003
Ok, I've taken the direct links to the mp3 files off of this main page too. I think people who visits the site just sort of clicks on what's latest on the page, regardless if they have a real interest in my music or not. From now on, people that are specifically looking for my music should find them from the "Music" section of my site.
June 30, 2003
Due to the insane amount of traffic at this site lately, I have decided to take the mp3 files off for now. Those were the ones generating all the traffic and exceeded my allowed bandwidth. It gets really expensive, and until I find a way to resolve this, I'll only keep the most recent finished music I've done available. So, as of now, except for the new finished music, all the other mp3 files are gone--including the "Share the Love" section's mp3 files.
June 23, 2003
Recorded a piece of music that's been in my head for a few years. It's available in the Music section.
June 21, 2003
I finally started making music again. I tried doing a short test on my Korg Triton LE Music Workstation. It felt awesome to get back into music after almost 5 years of silence. My music can be found in the Music section.
June 19, 2003
I upload a few WIP pieces in the Paintings/Drawings section. A new journal entry was added.
Exposé is just about finished. Check out the newly added stuff like proof sheets, award winners..etc: http://www.ballisticpublishing.com
June 9, 2003
I uploaded an alternate version of the Mood1 painting. I had started on it, but I didn't like where I was going with it, so I didn't finish it. Too see it, click here(and scroll to the bottom of the page).
June 3, 2003
I uploaded a photo session today. It's another "Second Look" series of past works revisited. See it in the Photography section.
I took down the PDF versions of a couple of tutorials, since those paintings have been repainted.
Added a Share the Love! The subject this time is none other than the musical genius, Sakamoto Ryuichi.
June 2, 2003
I just finished repainting/touching up all of my Exposé entries. See them in the drawings/paintings section(The ones that's been significantly repainted are Scythe Wolf and Blood Siren. Mood1 was moderately repainted. Black Wolf Ronin, Promise promo illustration, and Snow were retouched.
The official website for Exposé and Ballistic Publishing just went live: http://www.ballisticpublishing.com. You can pre-order your copy now, look at some sample layouts, find out about the different category awards...etc. I'll start the judging process with the rest of the Jury probably starting tomorrow.
3D World Magazine published an article about Exposé(Thanks to Boone for scanning it and emailing it to me), and they used my painting. Pretty neat, huh?
May 30, 2003
David Kulen just did an interview with me for his school project. Read it here: http://www.madclan.nl/davidkulen/rc/
I'm currently busy trying to get all my repaints done for Exposé and the CG World magazine interview. Got about 8 more to go. . ..
May 27, 2003
I repainted a lot of Scythe Wolf, trying to get it ready for EXPOSÉ, and also a CG World magazine(Chinese edition) interview I'm doing. I will be repainting a lot of my past works to get them ready for EXPOSÉ and the interview--aproximately 10 pieces total.
April 29, 2003
Update the site with some screen-caps of my current 3D model in progress.
I was just informed that my Scythe Wolf painting will be used as one of the 18 images for the Call for Entry promotional cards given out at 3D Festival. ^_^
April 17, 2003
Hehe, pretty cool that cgtalk used my painting as the promo image for the new EXPOSÉ ad banner.
A site in Hebrew featured my work: http://3dfaculty.goldmanland.com/article.php?sid=82&mode=thread&order=0. I never imagined my work would be noticed by someone in Israel and written about in Hebrew. Pretty cool I must say.
April 13, 2003
Shot a new photo session today. Check it out here.
April 9, 2003
The official website for EXPOSÉ: http://www.cgtalk.com/expose/index.html
EXPOSÉ, "the industry’s first art book celebrating the creative talents of digital artists worldwide." is now calling for entries. I'm honored to have been asked by the editors/publishers of EXPOSÉ to be on the Advisory Committee and Jury, along with some of the most prolific digital artists in the world. Enter your submissions today and be part of this history-making event!
April 7, 2003
Finally finished the Scythe Wolf painting. I took time off the short film to do this, and it took far longer than I had planned. See it here.
March 20, 2003
I took a break from the production of Promise and did a cute anime styled pinup piece. Check it out in the Paintings&Drawings section.
I uploaded the PDF version of the Painter Tips & Tricks in the goodies section. Thanks again to Mark E. Feathers for compiling it into PDF format.
March 6, 2003
The public announcement of Promise was a huge success. Tons of volunteers, and got 2 new members(Taos and ZeroNeuro) out of it. It was featured on the front page, and now in the gallery section of both cgtalk gallery and 3dfestival gallery. I even got a cgtalk choice award! Woohoo! Anyone interested in volunteerng to help should read the thread for instructions.
A French online CG magazine featured me in their March 4, 2003 entry: http://www.vocanson.com/tm/A/A1_actu/2003/03_mars/04_mars.htm
Mark E. Feathers so kindly made my tutorials and Painter tips into pdf files for easy download. Thanks Mark! Grab them from the "Goodies" section.
March 4, 2003
Uploaded a page on "Painter Tips and Tricks" in the Goodies section.
February 23, 2003
Finished a new female prototype head mesh. I'm so used to Wings3D now that I don't even want to model in any other software anymore. Check it out in the Topology Research page--it's at the very bottom.
Uploaded a tutorial for the Mood1 painting. I've had it on my harddrive for a while now, but just never got around to making it into a page. I usually keep incremental versions of my paintings, so it's quite easy to make tutorials out of them.
Did a quick 90 minute IRC sketch session. Check it out here.
February 22, 2003
Just got back from a week in California. I rummaged through my storage and brought back some excellent art books that I might scan in some pages and share in the future.
I added a new entry in Share the Love! section. Go check it out and see who it is!
February 8, 2003
I updated the Blood Siren painting with changes.
Created a new page in the 3D section called "Topology Research." It contains my latest prototype base mesh.
I will be going back to California for about 2 weeks starting February 12th to take care of some business and also see the John Singer Sargent show in L.A.. If you email me during that time, I might be late in getting back to you.
January 24, 2003
I finished Blood Siren, my entry for the cgtalk's CG Challenge. Go check it out in the Paintings/Drawings section. I posted a tutorial for the paintng too.
January 22, 2003
I did another piece for the CG Challenge at cgtalk. You can see it at the link from the last update, or just go to the "Paintings/Drawings" section--it's in the Sketches section of New Artworks.
January 18, 2003
At the insistence of fellow CG artists at cgtalk.com, I gave in to peer pressure and took a break from my short film to enter the CG Challenge that's going on at cgtalk. You can see the progress of my entry here.
2001 ---2002--- 2003 --- 2004 --- 2005 --- from 2006 and on
