Okopipi

Welcome to www.okopipi.com, the online digital portfolio of Miguel Tjon-Kon-Fat, who lives in the Netherlands. The portfolio consists of mostly personal projects I’ve done in my spare time. However, a few of them, in particular the websites, were done as a freelancing job for small businesses. The portfolio features both 2D and 3D digital art. Most of the projects are in the realm of visual effects as that interests me the most. I use Alias Maya for all of the 3D elements and use Adobe After Effects to composit everything together. Some projects, especially the Macromedia Flash MX 2004 applications involve some programming as well. You can find out more about each individual project (like what type of software was used or how certain things were setup) in the portfolio section.

I’ve set up this website to show off my skills as a digital artist and someday land me a job as a visual effects animator and/or compositor. The opportunities for a visual effects artist in the Netherlands are not that good. Through this website my skills and digital art can be seen all over the earth. The website will also allow me and those who are interested to see how I’m improving as I gain more and more skill and experience in this exciting field. I also hope to inspire and meet others through this website who are just as passionate as I am about visual effects. A tutorial section will also be added in the future.

The great thing about visual effects, in my opinion, is that you get to use both technical and artistic skills. I’ve always been a visually oriented person. As a kid graphic design got my interest and I paid carefull attention to logo’s and how ads in magazines were designed. I always asked myself the question why are the types of colors, shapes or fonts used pleasing to the eye. I also purchased books on digital photo editing. I was amazed at the power one had at his or her disposal to edit images.

But what really fascinates me is motion! Any type of motion for that matter. I watch a lot of documentaries about animals in the wild and pay special attention to how the animals move. Especially the behaviour of animals as a group, like a school of fish, a swarm of bees, or a flock of birds intrigues me. I do the same with humans, especially dancers. I find that dancers are very creative in using their body to create interesting movements. The motion of natural phenomena is something that is always great to observe. For instance the other day I was watching the movement of the branches and leaves of a tree as the wind was blowing violently. I paid careful attention to the way the leaves fall down the tree and get blown away by the wind. Water droplets rolling down an umbrella and falling on the ground or the way a water droplet hits a pool of water are very interesting to watch, especially when a high-speed camera is used for recording. Waves going through a flag on a windy day, a bullet shattering a glass plate or just watching how a reflection behaves as one walks by a shiny car are some of the many other examples of fascinating movement. I consider myself blessed to be able to see and will always be a student of nature. As I get a better grasp on the terminology used in 3D I’m able to better describe an observation and pay more attention to the details.

To find out more about me or this website, check out the About section. Feel free to look around. If you have any questions, comments and/or suggestions on how I can improve as a digital artist or improve this website I’d love to hear from you.