Life Drawing: More lion skulls

I once again decided to return to the skulls this time around. However, I changed the perspective so that this time we are looking at the skull from a 3 quarter view. The bottom picture is a little more detailed and finished, and the proportions are more refined as well.

Life drawing. Rats

For this session, I decided to draw the stuffed rats that were on display. Once again, proportion was a bit of an issue, this time concerning the distance between the arms and the head, as well as the length of the tail.   

I think this second drawing was a little more in proportion. I also think the linework was better here, as you can see a more furry texture.

Nursery Rhyme: Mindmaps

One of the main chunks of this unit revolves around a nursery rhyme. We have choose from a list of nursery rhymes and create concepts and storyboards for our idea. We were given a lot of freedom with this, with the only condition being that it had to feature animals.    

I chose to do my project based on the Lion and the Unicorn, an old English rhyme featuring a battle between the two animals. The only real problem I had was that I did not want to be too literal with this, so I have decided to anthropomorphise the two creatures.  

To start with, I began some drawings for the two characters. Because I want them to represent England (lion) and Scotland (Unicorn), I have given them costumes that are associated with these countries, with a fantasy flair. The lion is wearing full plate armour, whilst the Unicorn is wearing a kilt and sash.      

 I also started a mind map to explore possible ideas to start with when developing this project.

Animal drawings, lion skulls

For this first life drawing session, we were given a choice of stuffed animals to draw. For me, this has been fantastic so far, because although I can draw the human form, the same cannot be said for realistic animal forms. As I will be doing a lot of lion drawings for the nursery rhyme, I thought it would be a wise idea to start with a skull, which was one of the supplied subjects. 

This was the first drawing I tried. The proportions here weren't that great because I didn't structure the drawing first. which would be preferable.  

 These two were a much better in my opinion, because I did the structure and proportions first. 

Life Drawing: Animals

For this unit, we were going to be focusing on a more animal oriented project. We would be taking a nursery rhyme and doing our own take on it. For the first exercise however, we had to draw a few animals, but only from memory. As a result of drawing from what we thought the animals looked like, each of our drawings came out very unique and interesting. In my case they each looked more cartoony than anything else. I am however quite happy with how the horse looked, having grown used to drawing horses already.  

 This frog looks odd to me now that I have looked at it again, especially with its legs. 

Masking Exercise

As part of our Sound and Visualization unit, we had to learn some basic PhotoShop techniques. One of these is masking, where you take two photos and then remove a single part of one of the photos so it fits in the other photo. We had to create a new forest scene using these two forest pictures. To be specific, we had to place two of the big trees from the first picture into the bottom image, and then place layer masks on three of the surrounding trees. 

This is the finished piece. I placed two of the bigger trees in the foreground. As the colors in the two pictures are different, I had to use a color balance layer to change their colors. I used the burn tool to create shadows in the trees as well, just as I used the dodge tool to create highlights, so as to simulate light and shadow. I think this turned out rather well, although the shadows on the tree to the right could be refined a bit. 

Production Diary: Wednesday 7th October

We met up today as a group, primarily to finalise the designs of most of the elements. 

 We have decided to give the boy more of a Charlie Brown-esque design, however this was done before we decided. I added some more aboriginal patterns to his body. 

We have also decided to make the creature more humanoid in appearance. While it still isn't completely human, what with the long fingers and frog face, it looks a little more human than it did initially. 

Production Diary: Tuesday 6th October

Today I began thinking about initial storyboarding. Although I still have a way to go, I have mapped out the first few seconds of the story, where an elder is telling the story of the Yara-Ma-Yha-Who. The boy, frightened of this tale, sneaks off and goes for a walk in the woods. As far as storyboards go I am a little rusty, but fortunately we were shown some techniques today, such as the 180 degree rule. 

I also did some more creature drawings. I think I've grown quite attached to idea of a frog creature. I have also given it more human hands. 

Production Diary: concepts

This was an initial attempt to realise the creature on Photoshop. What I like about this stage is that it has given me a chance to use PhotoShop for art based purposes, something I've been wanting to do for a while. The colours blend well together, but I should try a slighter brighter red next time, perhaps a more bloody red. 

Production Diary: Moodboards

 As part of the visual research for the Project, we had to create moodboards for different elements of the story. These were created as research for the aboriginal style we'll be using in the dream sequence, as well as the creature the film is focused on.  

Production Diary, Tuesday 29th September.

Today, we had our first meeting as a group. I am going to be working with Dave, Ben, and Marwan on a 2D piece. It is about the Yara-Ma-Yha-Who, a creature from Aboriginal tales that jumps on its victims from trees and sucks out their blood before devouring them. It would then regurgitate the victim, albeit in a much weaker state, who would then eventually turn into another Yara-Ma-Yha-Who.

The story will be about a boy who thinks that he encounters one of these creatures, and after a lengthy chase, will discover his pursuer is little more than a common frog. Dave's idea is that this shows how imagination can sometimes induce irrational fear, an idea I can certainly agree with.

To start with, we all did some sketches for the main characters and style, and must next focus on how we want the main film to look.

Here are some drawings I did during the session

Already starting to consider the style. During the chase sequence, the animation style will resemble Aboriginal art, so will need to consider using circular patterns in place of traditional linework. 

Group project presentation

As part of our second year at animation, we have to take part of a unit called 'Animation Group Project'. As the name suggests, we have to work together in groups of 4 or 5 to create a piece of animation. In this particular case we have to create a short piece of animation about 30-40 seconds long. It had to based on either a personal memory, or a foreign myth. During the summer, we each to plan our ideas and then present them in a short presentation during our first week. The best 8 were then chosen as the projects.

I decided to do mine based around the Norse legend of Thor and the Midgard Serpent, or rather how the Norse believed their final encounter would turn out. I spent much time on the concept art, but I feel the story could have been more defined.

In our first week back, we pitched our ideas in a 5 minute presentation to the rest of our group, along with Colin and Meg, who would be acting as producers for the chosen project.

The presentation itself was interesting. It was a good experience because it gave us a good idea of how we have to present our ideas in a professional environment. It was also very good to see the ideas of my peers, and the concepts were very diverse.     

Visual Journey

For our final project, we had to animate an abstract animation to a piece of music of our choosing. It couldn't have any lyrics because we would only animate the sound. I chose to animate to 'Atlantis' by Two steps from hell. I think the piece turned out quite well, and the timing is spot on. However, I could try using more effects on it next time, such as fades on the circles.  

This is the final version. Overall I think I did a good job on the timing and the shapes. 

This is an alternate version of the final. The black background was accidental, however I really like how it made the color stand out. 

Flash: Musical experiments

For this exercise, we had to create some simple animations based on music. We listened to two different tracks and created animations based on each. 

Experiment 1, based on Satyajit Ray from the Darjeeling Limited soundtrack.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6pHzQtwunw&index=9&list=PL10C755BF662DD475

Experiment 2, based on Different trains by Steve Reich 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1E4Bjt_zVJc

Flash exercise 5: Tastes

Next we had to create 3 animations that would show an abstract response to a different taste. I think I may have over-complicated some of them a bit, as simple shapes would have been far better than repeated linework. 

Spicy

Sweet

Sour 

Flash Exercise 4: More tweens

I experimented with tweens again for this one. I created two balls bouncing around 

Used a classic tween to animate this one. 

Did another one, this time with a motion tween, so it would bounce across the screen. 

Flash exercise 3

We then had to take our bouncing character from previously, and make it bounce across the screen. We did this by making a tween, which allows to repeat an animation at least once or twice. I animated my character bouncing across the screen. While I think it is ok, it looks as though the animation is being dragged across the screen, and it freezes briefly when the ball hits the ceiling.     

Flash exercise 2: bouncing ball

                           

                             We next had to animate a ball bouncing up and down on the floor. I think it                falls down too quickly

Next we had to add a second ball to the original and animate the two bouncing together. Next time I should add more in betweens for where the ball hits the ceiling. 

Finally, we had to add arms to it, and create a character bouncing up and down. Next time I need to add more frames to the ending. 

Flash exercise 1: line

As part of this unit, we also had to learn how to use Adobe Flash, a 2D animation software. Our first task was to animate a line displaying an emotion of our choice, I decided to show it in a very sleepy state, constantly dropping and getting back up before dropping off completely. I think the line could be a little slower, and more consistent, but aside from that I think it turned out alright. 

Musical journey: concepts

As part of our final project 'Visual Journey', I also had to create a lot of concept work either by hand or digitally. These paintings convey the type of colors and shapes that I will use in my final animation. 

Music response 2

In the next session, I had to swap music with someone else and then create a response, so we could compare and contrast everyone's different take on a piece of music.I swapped with Warren for this session, so I listened to the opening theme from Final Fantasy VII. I got a very space opera feel from this one, so I ended up illustrating a storyboard-like piece, featuring two starships orbiting a peaceful planet, before getting blown apart by two enemy ships. The music starts off very calm before taking a sinister turn. 

Once again, I need to be more abstract with these, and stop trying to make a story out of music, a habit I unfortunately still keep. I am however very happy with the way the colors turned out, they reflect each moment rather well. 

click this link for the music

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8NGDsnv34M

1

2

3

Music response

 In what I considered a very enjoyable session, we had to bring a piece of music (of our choice, so long it had no lyrics), and then paint a response. I decided to listen to 'He who rules the night' by Two steps from hell, a song that made me think of rather dark and evil things, such as dark dragons and zombies. Although I personally do like this piece, particularly the glowing red near the dragon's mouth, it is possible I went a little too literal with this, and next time try and be more abstract. The zombie hand is also a tad distracting because of the bright colour on it. 

Click on this link to listen to the original song 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxNwZ0_xvP8

 I did a second response as well to continue from the original and create a storyboard. This one should actually be finished next time, although the colors are more suitable in terms of hue. It should be noted this takes place before the first image. 

Music notes

For our final few weeks, we were going to be focusing on creating animation work based purely on musical rhythm. To begin with, we listened to different pieces of music and took notes on what words first came to mind. We could also do drawings and marks to better visualize them. A lot of the actual music was completely different to how I visualized it in terms of origins and context.  

Photo taste paintings

We had to walk along the Portsmouth seafront and take photos of the area. We then had to alter its mood through color. This time they had to be based on different tastes. I once again used Photoshop for this.   

                                           

Salty

Sour

Sweet 

Window painting

 Next, we had to select a view outside a window to paint, taking into account the sky, lighting etc. This was a bit tricky considering how much the weather changed that day. 

Once, again, I had to alter the mood of the piece. I chose to base it on the word 'sickly', using very pale colors 

Still life painting 2

We had  a second session of still life painting. Once again, I believe I used a warmer palette here, although I think some of the areas surrounding the bag and flower came out quite cool.   

These are palettes that I used.