I decided to learn something new, so I taught myself how to make a book. Using various scraps and leftovers I had hanging around I made a blank sketchbook for my pal Josh. It certainly isn’t a perfect book, but for a first try I think it turned out really great.
I started editing this before I moved to California, but didn’t have the time to finish it. I’ve slowly chipped away at it, albeit in small chunks, and finally have it finished. Credit goes to Matt Sweat for helping me pick the song. Here’s some of my older ones for convenience.
As an artist, a hobby of mine is to take my old ideas and techniques and revisit them years later just to see what happens. In 2005-2006 I spent a great deal of time on a visual effects shot for a superhero short film “War of the Heroes” here is an attempt a decade later to recreate…
I’ve been re-watching Stargate Atlantis again recently and really enjoying myself. The show sparked my interest to attempt some of the iconic visual effects on my own. I started with the Stargate Event Horizon. These are some of the reference images I pulled for inspiration. Using my trusty weapon of choice, After Effects, I started with…
In my early days of using Photoshop (back in version 7.0, before Creative Cloud, before Creative Suite!) I enjoyed the challenge of making pieces of art from scratch. Among my favorites were creating planets and other science fiction landscapes. Here are some other tests but this time in After Effects. AE recipe Planet…
Same cast, same location, 13 years later. Based on our first short film “Demise of the Republic” in 2003 comes this impromptu 2016 remake. We shot this in two half days during my little sister’s wedding while all of us were in town together again. Finally Finished! Please enjoy Demise from 2016! A Look Behind the…
Star Wars episode 7 The Force Awakens premiered before Christmas. It was fantastic! I have always loved Star Wars, I credit a lot of my early imagination to that galaxy, particularly my interest in movies and special effects. There is a great scene toward the beginning of the new film where Poe Dameron shoots at…
I never found the time to finish this project. Perhaps some day I will start a new one.
I absolutely love the Back to the Future movies and have always wanted the Time Machine, sadly I can’t afford a Delorean at the moment. So, I decided to make one. I’ve wanted to do this for probably 15 years now. I don’t have a real Delorean so for now I will make due with…
I finally bought a 3D printer:) Model used: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:653085 More about the Micro: http://printm3d.com/
I recently had the opportunity to cut a quick video for some fun guys, the Festive People. A friend of mine, John Lane, texted and asked if I would cut this for them. The video needed to be finished pretty quick, go figure as most of the projects I get have a fast turn around.…
The first tutorial I ever recorded. It’s pretty rough around the edges and probably not very helpful to watch. It did however, teach me a lot about myself. Through the years and looking back I’m still learning how to better present information, though I still have a very long way to go I feel like…
Check out these sweet looking post apocalyptic titles… Watch the Tutorial: Watch the Timelapse: Watch the Demo:
Here’s a tutorial about dynamic paper edges around anything in After Effects. It works on text layers, keyed elements, and pretty much anything you can Pre Comp… And here’s a timelapse of the process.
How to make an affordable lightsaber? Why a hardware store of course! I walked around the PVC aisle looking for cool pieces and slowly piecing together my own custom lightsaber handle. I took home the handful of plastic parts, screwed them all together, ground off the lettering on the sides, and painted them with some…
I recently had the wonderful opportunity to work with Lindsey Stirling to design some artwork to accompany a narration for part of her show. The project had a fairly quick turn around so the style consisted of elements that I stole from myself, basically for the sake of time and simplicity. Things don’t look as polished…
Here is a semi Star Wars style spaceship built from scratch. Please excuse the messy workplace, when I get on a roll, that stuff happens… Also, the pink poster paper was left over from some props we build last year, figured it could get put to use as long as there was paint involved;) …
It has been a wile since I’ve made a new demo reel, early 2013 was the last one, and the one before that was in March of 2011. I figured it was about time to whip out a new one, especially as I will be graduating college shortly and will likely be asked to show…
In a nutshell, the trick is to give some color variation to those subtle yet tricky gradients. The techniques can also work in other programs as well. Here’s how to approach it inside After Effects: Make sure you’re working in at least 16 bit color. Blur things a tiny bit. Add some noise/grain. Watch the video to see the…
Here it is! The first official Swemsley film of all time! In all of its SD glory! (or grossness… whatever) Our first movie was full of enjoyment and learning. Here is the trailer: And here is the effects shot that started it all:
Back in action! Lethal Abilities is the second official movie my brothers, cousins and I made; (I say second official movie because it was when we started to get serious about making movies. We had been filming ourselves for years: skits, plays, short stories, whatever, but it wasn’t until we had the ability to edit…
I wanted to make some kind of shield, work in wood, and get some new tools. I used this project as an opportunity to do all 3! 🙂 I am a huge fan of The Replica Prop Forum, the creativity in those forums is amazing, so here’s a shout out to all you inspiring people!…
This was a short film for a class, loosely based on another student’s script. Very loosely. Filmed on an iPhone 4 and a Nikon DSLR. We shot for an hour and a half starting at 9:30PM, I transcoded the footage, and then edited all night and burned a DVD by 6:30 AM, just in…
This is a short Batman parody we did as an old group project for school. We were supposed to “swede” a popular film. So, we decided to do some Batman stuff, we mixed The Dark Knight with the 1960s shows. It was shot in one night and cut in the following day or so, just in…
For a class assignment I get to make a mask of some sort. I decided to try Hiccups flight armor from How to Train Your Dragon 2. I started with the helmet. I wanted to do this freehand instead of from a pattern or pep files. Though I am not done yet, I’ve learned a lot.…
When Adobe released CS6 in 2012, I was more exited for the addition of the Global Performance Cache than anything else. I was in love instantly. No really, instantly. The first time I toggled a layer off and back on again without having to re-RAM Preview was a spectacular moment. I’ve been using After Effects since…
There are two versions of this one sorry. The original isn’t really a tutorial, it’s more of an overview/afterthought. I originally built it as a test then recorded myself walking through the project, making it a nice sneak peek for advanced users but nigh impossible to follow along and create from scratch. So I eventually got around…
In the spirit of school starting up again, here’s a few thoughts on taking notes in class. I’ll be the first one to admit that I don’t particularly care for going to school, although I love learning. Now that I am finally almost done I’m starting to find bits here and there that make the…
The making of a short intro cartoon for an online finance course. Each segment had an intro of its own, featuring the professor of the course. Here is a link.
These finally came in the mail today:) I ordered a pair of prescription sunglasses and I have to say that I’m quite pleased with them. They have a neat wood looking texture on the front and sides. I even had my name engraved on the sides, cool. I have a pretty high prescription so they…
This is just me messing around with the 3D features in Photoshop. I wasn’t trying to make anything specific, I just started the recording and experimented with things. Here is a link.
Just messing around in After Effects. This is just a circle cut into 4 pieces, each parented to the next. Here is a link.
Edited by Josh Contor and Justin Hemsley (I also was in front of the camera in this one) Directed by Josh Contor. I also did a few visual effects shots but not all. Here is a link.
The beginnings of a concert I am working on, this is a music layout temporary mockups representing visual moments in the show. Everything is color-coded so I can see at a glance which pieces are live performers on stage and which are things that I need to design. I am assembling this in Premiere Pro…
Edited in Avid Media Composer 7. The titles and 3 effects shots composited in Adobe After Effects CS6. Trevor Guthrie and Sydney Jensen Choreography by Curt Holman Directed by Karen Jensen Editing and Visual Effects by Justin Hemsley Here is a link.
It has been more than 10 years since my cousins and I shot our first movie. Who would have guessed that what began as boys, bathrobes, and broomsticks bolting around with a camera, making movies during summer vacation; would become so much more than a hobby. None of us knew what we were doing, but…
One halloween my brothers and I dressed up as Star Wars characters and brought awesomeness to our town. I was a homemade Han Solo of course, complete with a sweet holster and an orange toy blaster. My younger brother went as Luke, and the youngest as Darth Vader. I have often wanted to revisit that…
So it begins… Here is my obligatory first post. I guess this means I will have to start writing stuff now…
