Robert's Art Blog

College Board Project

2011-12-09T10:22:00.004-05:00

So, I got to work on another College Board project, except this time they were my direct client! Thanks to Gloria Chen, me and my team Idle Wheel, were referred to College Board, and they hired us to work on the video content for their website. This was an overwhelming experience in a positive way, because this was our first paid gig ever, and the biggest client we ever had up until now. And through this, we officially registered our team as an LLC company. Thinking about the first day we met at Bite Asia Entertainment, and the days we spent working on free music video projects to build our portfolio, makes me feel proud that we stuck together this whole time, and that we are where we are right now.

The project entailed interviewing professors and college board staffs about their College Level Examination Program(CLEP) at a conference in San Diego, and making different cuts of videos for different purposes. The thumbnails above are from the video we made for the social media purpose that will be posted on their youtube account.

It was pretty draining to work on this and work for at&t at the same time, but it was totally worth it and time well-spent. I hope this will lead to more projects and that Idle Wheel will continue on!

It's been a year

2011-06-27T23:58:00.002-04:00

Last year today,

I was holding her hand saying my last goodbyes.

작년오늘,

엄마손을 잡고 마지막을 지켜보았다.

벌써일년이란 시간이 지났구나.

엄마에게 자랑스러운 아들이 되고싶은데

그렇지 못하게 살고있는거 같아 죄송스럽다.

My thoughts are still with you always

Zero

2011-05-26T01:11:00.011-04:00

It's been almost a month since I moved out and started living alone, but for some reason it still doesn't feel like I'm living alone. May be because I was too busy working and unpacking that I didn't have the time to let it sink in. Or may be it's because Zero always makes sure to greet me home when I get home.

The Proposal

2011-05-20T22:57:00.000-04:00

So about a month ago, Steven's good friend Billy needed help creating a proposal DVD that he wanted to use while proposing to his girlfriend. I was asked to work on the first part of the video (their first date), while Steven worked on the rest. I tried to go for a simple, paper cut-out like style and I'm happy with how it turned out considering that I rushed through it at the end. I don't want to post the entire video, so here are some screen shots of the part I worked on.

Rotoscope Project

2011-04-13T19:27:00.002-04:00

Finally I can share with you one of the projects I did for at&t! Usually they don't let me share any of the work I do for them, but I was glad to find this on their website. :) This was all rotoscoped, meaning traced frame by frame from a live action footage. Then I replaced the backgrounds and added in all the graphic animation. The process was a bit tedious, but watching it now on their website makes me feel it was all worth it :D

Hope you all enjoy!

Is this you?

2011-03-17T02:13:00.008-04:00

I do this all the time.

College Board projects

2011-03-06T03:49:00.001-05:00

I had the honor of working for a company whose client was College Board. The type of work I did includes storyboarding, opening/closing animation, and general motion graphic art. I remember around the time I was applying for colleges, going on collegeboard.com many times to check my SAT scores and have them sent to schools. Who knew I was going to be working for them one day! well.. not directly... but still! :D

Church project

2011-03-04T03:38:00.003-05:00

These are some snapshots of a recent church project I worked on.
Illustrations were drawn in Corel Painter, and the video was put together in After Effects. It may look simple, but I put lots of time into it. I was asked to do this last summer, but because many things happened then and after, I had to put off finishing this project.

One of my new year's resolution is to not do any pro bonos. I've always been caught up with doing favors for others, it took away the time I needed to work on my own projects. Plus now that I'm almost completely independent, I cannot afford to do so much free labor. I might sound money hungry, but I think it's only fair.. Just like doctors and accountants, art is also a profession that people go to school for... and taking advantage of it isn't cool.. (I'm talking about people asking for a very time consuming project as a favor. I don't mind drawing little things for friends)

I've been very bad at saying no. A lot of times I accepted free projects because I felt guilty or obligated. but I plan to take a break from all of them.(unless I voluntarily do it) and that includes all the church projects, wedding slide shows/videos, any projects that are not my specialty (logo design, menu design and etc..), anything that takes me more than a day to finish with no compensation.. May be I'm being cheap, but at one point last year, I was too overwhelmed by all these free projects, I was so stressed and worn out. so I think I deserve this break...

I want to work on projects that I have passion for. the ones that speak my mind. This one though, was for a good cause, and I have no regret working on it. I hope my video helps inspire people to make a difference in lives of the needy.

Demo reel opening

2011-02-03T01:43:00.001-05:00

production reel opening from Sun-Joon Robert Hwang on Vimeo.

So the huge project I was working on for at&t finally came to an end a few weeks ago, and I just started working for Furnace Media again today for another College Board project.

During the few weeks of break I had, me and my friends got together to finish up our demo reel which we have been trying to finish for the longest time. Above is the demo reel opening I made using maya and after effects. It has been so long since the last time I touched Maya, I barely remembered how to do anything. Those simple rotating wheels took me almost a day and a half to finish. I need to use Maya more consistently before I forget everything about it.

Unfortunately the opening above didn't make it in our reel. Upon my friend's request, I had to change the color of the wheels, and get rid of the old film effect. But for my own taste at least, I like this version the best.

Background arts

2011-01-14T04:37:00.001-05:00

Happy 2011 whoever's reading this!

I am ashamed It's been half a year almost since the last time I updated this blog. (I feel like I say this too much)

Good thing is though, that as soon as I came back from Korea last summer, I constantly had projects to work on.

These are some backgrounds I drew for the most recent project I worked on for at&t. (I actually just delivered the final copy this morning) Unfortunately I can't post the entire video anywhere due to copyright issues. but I hope they'll let this one slide.. haha..

In Memory of Mom

2010-08-07T03:25:00.000-04:00

I try to keep this blog within the things related to my artwork and career, and not so much my personal life stories, but this time I can't help but to write about the most amazing person I knew that just left this world and is now in heaven.

This past month I was in Korea for a month to visit my mom who was struggling with cancer for years. One morning, I got an email from my oldest sister telling me that mom's gotten a lot worse. Right away, I called my dad, and what he told me was too much of a shock for me, I was lost for words. He told me that he was expecting her to live about a month or two long, and that we(me and my sister) should come see her before it was too late.

At the time, my sister just started a new job, and I was offered to work on another project with at&t. But we had to leave everything behind. it was that season when it was hard finding a plane ticket to Korea, so we ended up going to Korea a week after we heard the news.

When I first saw her, I tried really hard not to cry because I didn't want her to see us grieve.. I didn't want her to lose hope... but that attempt failed.. both me and my sister broke down at the sight of her..

She was unable to talk, and there was no focus in her eyes, but when I called her, she looked at me and seemed surprised that I was there right in front of her. then she lost focus in her eyes again.. later when I tried calling her again, she looked at me and smiled. and then from that point on, all she did was sleep, and occasionally make noises to claim that she's in pain.

Dad, my sisters, my brother and I almost lived at the hospital. We took turns watching her overnight, and during the day, other family members came to help. I can't imagine how hard it was for my big brother and sister who also had to go to work everyday.

While I was at the hospital, I met most of my relatives whom I haven't seen for years. I also saw many of mom's friends and former co-workers come and go. Watching them weep in sorrow made me realize what a great person she was.. and I so wished she would wake up and recognize them, and talk to them..

One time, everyone in the room left for lunch, and I got to be with mom by myself. I'm so thankful for that moment, because I got to tell her everything I've been wanting to say to her.. I told her I was sorry, and that I was thankful, and that I loved her so much. I wish I could've told her these earlier. She didn't respond in anyway, but I want to believe she heard me.

A week after we arrived in Korea, she passed away on a Sunday morning before the Sun was up. It was a few hours after Korea lost to Uruguay in World Cup. I remember it was raining outside as if the sky was grieving too.

I was lucky enough to be holding her hands and watch her go at her moment of passing. I will never forget that moment. when her breath slowly faded, and her hand stiffened.. the four day long sleepless funeral.. the cremation, the burial..

When I first met her was probably when I was three, when she came to Maryland to visit my dad who was really sick. Yes, she wasn't my biological mother. She was the wife of my dad's big brother. (my uncle) After both my parents passed away from cancer, my uncle and aunt embraced me and my sister into their home and became our parents. Growing up, I never had to be reminded of the fact that I was an orphan because they made sure, they filled up the place that was missing from my life. They were so loving and caring, and so were their children (my cousins) who are my big brother and sister now. Honestly I don't know how many people can easily decide to adopt two children not of their own, and raise them like their own children. And for that alone, I have tremendous respect for mom and dad, and I cannot even begin to think how different my life would have been without them.

When I first started living with mom and dad in Seoul, may be because I knew she wasn't my real mom, I had a hard time talking to her comfortably. Both my mom and dad had a job, and so they always came home late in the evening. and my grandma took care of me and my sister most of the time, so I guess back then I was closer to my grandma.

One time, I was a fifth grader, and we were having a camping night at school, and everyone's mom was supposed to be there. I knew my mom wasn't going to make it because of work. Then when it was time for moms and the children to dance, my mom surprised me from the back and smiled at me. She looked as if she rushed to make it on time from work.

I don't remember what she said to me, but we started dancing, and I can't, will not ever forget that moment. I think that was the moment I engraved in my head that she really was my mother.

Here's another thing I remember about her. I was about 12 and it was her birthday, and I went to the market and got her a ridiculously bright, cheap looking red lipstick. it was about a dollar,

and the color was just so red, it looked like something clowns would wear. I was too young then, and I thought all women would like red. I remember the next morning, her wearing the bright red lipstick as she was going to work. Now that I think about it, it must've been really embarrassing.. and now that I think about it, I think she wore it on purpose to let me know that she liked my gift.. to make me feel good..

There are many more memories i have of her..

Never forgetting to bring home a cake and gifts after work on my birthdays..

Coming to my high school festival and surprising me at my cartooning club exhibition,

and giving me a flower bunch...

Always getting me and my sister something really nice whenever she came back from a business trip outside of Korea.

Crying at my farewell dinner, before I left Korea to come to the states..

Coming all the way to Virginia with me to look around my new high school.. to make sure that I'll be studying in a good environment...

Whenever I went to visit them in Korea, just before I had to come back to the states, she would always give me packs of dried anchovies and seaweed for me to take home.. I never liked that because I didn't want to be inquired at the airport for bringing in foods from overseas.. and also because they had them here too... she also got me books to read, which I never really read.. and always wrote me a card.. telling me to be strong.. and passionate..
I didn't give much thoughts then, but now that I look back, these little things she did for me make me miss her so much, and realize how much she loved me.

My mom was the first born of 7. Her mom passed away just when she got married to my dad who was also the first born son of 7, and all the responsibilities she had to fulfill, I cannot even begin to describe. She was basically the mother figure to all of her brothers, sisters and in-laws.

On top of all of these, she had a full time job, two children to raise, and her mother in-law to take care of who I remember was very mean.. And when her sisters and brothers seemed to be settling down, me and my sister came along. There was just no break for her. Things kept on happening. but she never complained or neglected us. She raised me since I was 4 till I was 17, and even after I came to the states, she continued to support me and my sister financially and mentally.

3 years ago, she retired from her job, only to find out that she had cancer. It started out as a thyroid cancer, then breast, then lung.. eventually to all of her back and neck.. it just never stopped spreading.. I hoped she'd have some time to relax and enjoy life after her retirement, but instead, she had to suffer from all the chemotherapy, endless examinations and surgeries..

One of my aunts told me, when she was barely conscious, a nurse asked her how many children she had, and she answered 'two sons and two daughters'.. I could not stop myself from crying when I heard that. It is just so unfair.. how she had to suffer when all she did all her life was constantly give and love.

The fact that I was nothing but a burden all her life, and that she passed away before I even got a chance to pay back a tiny bit of what I owe her leaves me with so much regret and sorrow.

I didn't give her phone calls as often as I could've... even after I heard she had cancer,

for some reason I wasn't too worried. She was never sick all her life, and she was still young,

and because she sounded healthy over the phone.. I just thought everything would be okay as long as I believed God would heal her.

Two days before I came back to the states, I went to mom's grave to say goodbye. Coming back home while leaving dad alone was especially hard. Sure, my brother and sister are close by, but without mom, I cannot imagine the loneliness and emptiness he feels.

I know the only thing I can do now is to move forward and live a life that would make her proud.

but I will never be at peace with this regret I have... that I didn't get to do anything for her.. when she's done so much for me.. that it's too late for everything.

You've worked so hard and gave so much to the people around you all your life..

Thank you for loving me unconditionally. I am forever in debt to you.

whether we're blood related or not does not matter.

you will always be my mother.

I love you and miss you so much.

and I'm so proud to be your son.

Rest in peace

Ending Credit

2010-05-06T12:09:00.000-04:00

Ending Credit from Sun-Joon Robert Hwang on Vimeo.

This is an ending credit I made yesterday for somebody I've never even met. It's someone's thesis project according to my friend who requested me to make this, and I thought I'd post it here since I don't have any drawings to post for now. I haven't been drawing because I was busy lately with a new freelance job I got with AT&T. It's a 4 week long project, and I have a week left to finish whatever I'm doing. I've been drinking red bull almost everyday and wrestling with Aftereffects every night. I hope they like whatever I'm doing right now, and hope it leads to some more projects too.

Friends

2010-03-29T22:04:00.000-04:00

I've been drawing some portraits/caricature of people around me. The first one is a drawing of two members from my church band, and the second one, a drawing of Idle Wheel Productions members :).

Children's Book Illustration

2010-03-29T21:54:00.000-04:00

I was asked to do some illustrations for a book my cousin wrote, and here's one possibility of the main character's look. What I don't like about my drawing is that I have no distinct, unique style. This is a start, but I need to develop it more and make it more stylized and attractive. This is one time I can take risks since it's a children's book. I will upload more designs later.

Storyboards

2010-03-21T02:13:00.000-04:00

These are some quck storyboards I drew in painter the other day. We have an upcoming MV project and I had to prepare some visuals to show the client. This is going to be a challenging project because there are lots of things we're attempting for the first time. But I gotta say I'm excited!

3D tracking

2010-03-17T05:42:00.000-04:00

3D tracking from Sun-Joon Robert Hwang on Vimeo.

I've been busy trying to learn these 3d programs called maya and boujou. I'm going to have to know how to use them for the upcoming MV project we are about to start. This clip was filmed in front of my apartment, then 3d tracked in boujou, then exported to maya. In maya I modeled the 3d texts, placed lights, then exported the whole thing back to AE for final compositing and color correction. This little clip took me so long because I had to watch tutorials after tutorials to learn the softwares. I'm satisfied with the outcome, but I hope to get faster next time!

Interview

2010-03-09T04:31:00.001-05:00

Going to interviews was very nerve racking for me from the very beginning. Not being comfortable with the language enough to have formal conversations without pauses, not having anything spectacular in my resume, my extremely quiet personality.. none of these helped me stay confident during interviews. but as I go to more and more interviews, I do feel that I am improving little by little, and getting less nervous. I gotta keep in mind Steve's advice. Firm Hand Shake, Eye Contact, Smile, and Speaking with Confidence. Drawing above was done in Flash then color corrected/textured in Photoshop.

Random Drawings

2010-02-26T05:09:00.000-05:00

I was told by one of my friend about this artist she knows, that currently works at the Blue Sky studio. I checked out his blog and was blown away by his work. The sad part was that he was only a couple of years older than me. When I came back to my blog and looked at my drawings, it was depressing. I felt the urge to draw more and get better. Usually this kind of motivations don't last long, but I think this time it really hit me hard. I favorited his blog so I can go visit it once in a while and use it as my driving force.

2010 demo reel

2010-02-12T11:24:00.000-05:00

Robert Hwang Demo Reel 2010 from Sun-Joon Robert Hwang on Vimeo.

Instead of making it fancy like last time, I quickly edited my reel in Final cut pro.
no text effects or transition effects... and it took me half a day.
Guess this is the right way to do it. since I have to update my reel often..
I cant spend too much time on it.

My reel now consists more of motion graphic samples.
I've always wanted to be an animator (animating cartoon characters)
I was so determined since I was little, and until college, I never doubted
I would give up this dream of mine.
Not that I decided to give up to become an animator, but before I could even realize,
I noticed I was heading towards becoming a motion grapher...
Working with people in media, and striving to survive in this industry with scarce job opportunity... and many more reasons probably drove me this way.
I don't really mind becoming a motion grapher, but somehow it makes me feel sad that I am no longer so determined to be an animator.
I feel like a failure that gave up his dream. even though that's not the case.
I still want to be an animtor and will pursue it sooner or later.

Some drawings I posted below were characters from my new film.
but I decided to scratch that idea for now.
I just need to make something that has contents...
that makes people think...
rather than something that's just marginally funny..
hmmm...

Happy New Year

2010-01-18T03:22:00.000-05:00

Happy New year everyone.
I started off this year really bad but hope everybody else had a good start. I was sick for more than a week, and I couldn't eat anything in the beginning. I've never been sick for such a long time. I just hope this means there's one less bad thing I have to go through this year. I finally feel like I'm fully recovered, and to celebrate that, I cleaned up my room and tried to draw. My cintiq has been functioning as a simple monitor most of the time, and I'm trying to change that. the painting above is some random character I drew, and I tried using the oil brushes in corel painter for the first time. I'm very new to this software, and up until now, I thought no other softwares could top photoshop when it comes to painting, but that's about to change. I love how it makes me feel like I'm actually using the traditional medium and I don't have to worry about getting my hands dirty. even though there's a lot for me to explore with this software, I think I'm going to be using this very often from now on. It just makes painting so much easier and faster. and I hope this means that I'll be updating my blog more often. There's so many softwares I want to master. 2010 will be a very important year for me and I better well spend it.

2010-01-14T06:59:00.000-05:00

corel painter cool software

Diva design

2009-12-17T03:05:00.001-05:00

Now that I've installed windows 7, and all other tools I needed,
My computer looks better than ever.
I love how clean it is and how convenient it is for me to access things I use often so easily.
Other than that my printer isn't working right now,
Everything is set! (it took me quite a while...)
I can't remember the last time I posted a drawing here.
shame on me. This is a character design for a short film I have in mind.
more to follow. hopefully.

Resume

2009-10-31T22:20:00.002-04:00

Sun-Joon Robert Hwang

143-30 38th Ave. 6D Flushing, NY 11354 1-646-379-7213

sunjunrobert@gmail.com

EDUCATION

School of Visual Arts New York, NY

Bachelor of Fine Arts, May 2008

Specialization: Animation

EXPERIENCE

February 2011 - Present
Furnace Media - Freelance motion graphic artist, Storyboard artist
Worked on storyboards, and opening/closing animation for the SAT introduction video for College Board

October 2010 - January 2011
at&t Tech Channel - Freelance animator
Worked on a rotoscope animation project

July 2010 - September 2010

Furnace Media - Freelance Motion Graphic Artist

Worked on the graphic animation contents for the Advanced Placement Program video for College Board.

April 2010 - May 2010

AT&T Tech Channel - Freelance Motion Graphic Artist

Worked on an animated introduction video for one of AT&T's new projects.

September 2009 - January 2010

Music Video - Freelance Motion Graphic Artist

Created special effects for a music video "Love again" by a Korean artist, NY Fish

July 2009 - August 2009

Music Video - Freelance Motion Graphic Artist

Created special effects for a music video “Open Your Eyes” by a Christian rapper, Hee Sun Lee

August 2008 - March 2009

Bite Asia Entertainment - Motion Graphic Artist

· Planned, produced, and coordinated all motion graphics and special effects featured in the TV cooking show “Isabel’s Sweet and Spicy”

· Created storyboards for various projects such as TV commercials, “TKC Newsdesk”opening, and “Isabel’s Sweet and Spicy”

Flushing, NY

November 2007 - January 2009

World Leaders Entertainment - Intern

· Venture Brothers (Cartoon Network TV Channel - Adult Swim Cartoon Series)

Assisted with inking, production work in Flash

· Advertisement

Rotoscoping, and created some concept designs

New York, NY

SKILLS

Proficient in Photoshop, Aftereffects, Maya, Flash, Pro-tools, Premiere, sketching, rendering, painting

LANGUAGES

Fluent in Korean and English

Work Samples

Animation http://youtube.com/user/clario85

Drawings, illustrations http://sunjoonr.blogspot.com

demo reel 2009

2009-10-29T17:41:00.000-04:00

Robert Hwang Demo Reel 2009 from Sun-Joon Robert Hwang on Vimeo.

so here's my demo reel that I just finished.
My first official demo reel!
I'm not so proud to say that I've finally made my demo reel
when it's been more than a year since I graduated. My only excuse is that I wanted
to wait until I had some good samples. Not that I'm totally satisfied with what I
have right now. Hopefully I'll have better samples as I go on.
It's got clips of projects I've been working on.
If you'd like to see full versions of my films and other videos,
You'll be able to watch most of them here.
http://www.youtube.com/user/clario85

wow it's been a while!

2009-10-29T17:31:00.000-04:00

I can't remember the last time I posted something on my blog.
This image here was done a while back when I was still an intern at
world leader's entertainment.
The theme was 'Nerdy Mythical Creatures'.
This is an unfinished work, but I'm posting it anyway because I don't know
if I'm even going to finish it.
I've been working on some music videos and other motion graphic projects.
I don't draw as often as I used to. but hopefully feeling compelled to
update this blog comsistently will make me draw more!

Kimberly & Jason

2008-09-18T02:40:00.000-04:00

Third Draw Off
theme : Old Power Rangers

work in progress

Designs I did at World Leaders

2008-09-11T23:21:00.000-04:00

:D

funny vet & deli owners

penguin film

2008-09-11T14:36:00.000-04:00

A film I had in mind for months..
it should only take a week or two to finish animating because it's a really short film. but I've been lazy as always.. I need some motivation

Robotic God

2008-09-06T00:22:00.001-04:00

The interns did our second draw off.

the topic was a 'Robotic God'

pretty random huh..?

we drew straws to decide on one adjective and one noun,
and that's where we got 'robotic god' from...

Although the topic's not always interesting, it's a good way for me to keep my hands moving.

my thesis film

2008-09-03T23:23:00.000-04:00

noah's ark

2008-09-03T23:19:00.000-04:00

ink on paper
then photoshop
!!!

tried getting rid of the outline

recent doodlings

2008-09-03T23:17:00.000-04:00

still life, portraits

2008-09-03T23:13:00.000-04:00

more stuff

2008-09-03T22:58:00.000-04:00

some backgrounds and designs

2008-09-03T22:52:00.000-04:00

more figure drawings and skeletons

2008-09-03T22:46:00.000-04:00

figure drawings

2008-09-03T22:40:00.000-04:00

Kaiju Monster

2008-09-02T21:50:00.000-04:00

I decided to start a blog because...

Everyone else does it haha

this is pretty much going to be used mainly as a space

where I upload my artwork and films.

I've been uploading my work on other websites,

and I'm so lazy to start all over..

but this is a beginning.. haha I will soon finish

putting everything up in the near future..

This is something I drew at my internship.

the topic was a kaiju monster with electricity power.

I brought it home and finished painting it with photoshop.

hmmm please feel free to leave comments & criticisms!