http://www.libyana.org/art/

Animatic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGviPtiGr_U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXtwJtikxSU

2nd Year Begins

So, after a long summer, I am back in Falmouth. Sorry i wasn't posting over summer.

We have just had our first Animation Roles and Processes lecture, and have been set our project for the year. We are going to be put in groups of 3, working probably with people we haven't worked with yet. The project is making a title sequence for a fictitious film. there are various themes for the shows the titles would be for that stand out, my favourites at the moment are:

Yesterdays Tomorrow- A Sci-FI show, taking very early science fiction stories, pre Jules Verne sort of stuff, and bringing them to life. Cant use images from after the 40's.

My Father, The Hero- A biopic about somebody you know or a famous person, similar to things like "Walk the Line", or "The King's Speech" etc.

In the lecture we watched the Title sequence for Rango, Seven, Bond and others on watchthetitles.com

Another 11 seconds of Fun

Yay, we have been set another 11 second club! Back to Maya animation, my favourite :D So, in case you missed the other ones, the 11 second club (http://www.11secondclub.com) is a competition. Each month, they release an 11 second sound clip for you to animate to. You have a month to create this animation and then winners are picked. It is judged on character animation, its all about the movement, and believability of the character, not  any fancy effects, decent environments, or special lighting. This is great for practice, and anyone can enter, right from students up to professionals. So we have been set it this month (though rather late in the month)

This is my blocked out animation, I am still going to refine it, and I need to add lip sync to it, but I think it is coming together well :]


for some reason, every-time i upload this video onto Blogger, the sound cuts midway though.

Cornish Studies Over

So on Friday, we finished our Cornish Studies animation, and I think it went really well. Here is the final version:

Not entirely sure why, but the upload of this video has made the bird at the end red, but apart from that, this is the final version.

Did some doodles and sketches over the last week, finally got round to photographing them. Most are just quick pieces to practice my figures.

As its spring, and at the moment campus looks gorgeous with all the trees and flowers blooming, I thought I would draw a blossom I picked. Done quickly with chalks and charcoal, and a tiny bit of pencil.

These are all just sketches of figures doing various tasks that I saw, and the last one is a face i drew while bored.

Also, today I spent a long while attempting to iron out all the massive problems with my Matte Painting project. I have been having problems with it because firstly, Maya is a prrogramme that likes to crash as I am moving to the save button, and Secondly because, i missed the first lecture (I overslept, I know its my fault) where we learnt about it. Still, I managed it though, and thats what mattered.

Basically, we had to grab a photo of a building, and then using just the photo and maya, ahd to put the building in another environment, and projection map it onto a model to make it look 3d even with a small camera move.

This video shows my original photo, and then the final animation,a nd then a wire frame render.

So, once again I have been slow on updating my blog, so today will probably be another mass upload day. this is some of the thing I have thrown together from the Cornish Studies project so far.

In case i haven't mentioned it yet, the Cornish Studies project was set to us for Truro Cathedral. We were given sound clips of interview with Miners and Fishermen, and had to select one, cut it down to about 45 second and go through the entire animation process to create and animation for it. Our group is the smallest, with only 4 people (Me, Sam [http://helyer-art.blogspot.co.uk/], Max [http://maxheerasing.blogspot.co.uk/] and Likem [http://likemgayi.wordpress.com/]), but we are working hard, and it will be done by the end of the week. Here are some animation tests I have at hand, enjoy:

this was a test of the waves, which took me a while to figure out in flash, as the shape hints were not co-operating. I also incorporated a jumping dolphin, made from a dolphin that Max drew, which i edited slightly in photoshop and then through into the animation. The backdrop was created by Likem, and the entire thing is supposed to be in stained glass style.

This is what I have at the moment for the first part of the sound clip, built using the same elements as the previous video, with some Photoshop edits, and Likems boat.




Sam has a really awesome animation for the next part with the birds here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXCpGLS0ILM

Mental, Experimental.

So I have just finished my experimental animation. I had some problems with it, but I think it turned out really well in the end. I had to move the camera each day, because it was positioned in my room ate bed (the top bunk) to get the right angle, and I had to renew the camera in store each day. This resulted in some jerky animation, but I still think it works really well. The dancing goes with the music quite well also, which I was worried about. Now I have to wash that suit' as its been on the floor all week, and I need it this weekend for my cousins wedding...

So here is the finished piece:

Animals

So over the holidays, we were tasked with drawing animals while they moved. Unfortunately, I stupidly left my sketch book back in Norfolk. Still, I've bought a new one, and have started visiting people with pets and going out into fields etc, and here are a couple of the drawings I have done.

 There will be more to come, but for now:

I'm Back!

Okay, so once again I have neglected my blog a little bit, what with he Easter Holidays and everything, so heres me coming back with a vengeance.

One of the task we have been given is to make a character do a walk. Yes, we have done that before, but this time, we were each filmed, and using the reference footage, we have to try and create our own walks, and then some sort of unusual walk, in my case, a greatly exaggerated skip.

I decided to use a rig that I haven't used properly before, the Moom rig, which I quite enjoy using. I have had a few quick goes with it, and prefer it to the Morphy rig, so heres its debut on my blog!

So here is my reference footage:

And heres is the walk part (I shall have the skip done by tonight):

More Life-Drawings!

So, I know I haven't posted in a while, and while its a lame excuse, I have just had a busy week. Anywho, Here are Wednesdays life-drawings. it was a good session, with not too many short poses. My flatmate Alice came along and she really enjoyed it, and I think she got some brilliant drawings from it.

Experimentation

Did some experimenting with various types of animation today. Had a quick go with Sand animation, which I really enjoyed, and Pixilation which was fun too. Unfortunately, the sand animation is rather rushed because I wasn't the only one wanting to use it. The pixilation one wasn't too good, because I did it while locked out of the flat, on the landing, but it turned out okay, and makes a good test. In future, I need the camera higher up, and a sheet or something white on the floor to act as a backdrop. I got the idea for using clothes from last weeks Osbert Parker lecture, which was really interesting.

My Hat :]

Made another quick pixilation video. unfortunately, because the camera is full of pictures (I really need to buy one of my own) then I have a limited amount of frames I can shoot, so this time I just reversed the frames and stuck them on the end of the originally so it goes back again. Enjoy:

An Entire Face!

I modelled my face again yesterday, but this time I did the whole thing at once:

 

Also, I have some drawings to upload from yesterdays life drawing. The model didnt show though, so we drew each other:

Getting All Experimental

So we had a look at a few experimental animations from last years 1st year students, because this semester we have tom make one. This basically means we shouldn't really use computers, except to edit the animation together. We are going to be trying out various techniques, like Sand animation (putting sand on glass, with a light underneath, and moving the sand and taking photos), Paint on glass animation (like the sand animation, but with paint) and Pixilation (stop-motion of people and objects.)
heres some awesome video examples of some experimental stuff.
This guys is a 2nd year on my course (http://timwheatleydigitalanimation.blogspot.com/), amazing what you can do with a bike wheel:

 

Heres a lovely bit of sand animation I found on Youtube:

 

This is a brief bit of paint on glass animation:

 

And here is an awesome music video with lots of pixilation:

I had a really quick go at some basic pixilation earlier with my flatmate's camera (Thanks Alex) to see what its like. It was rally fun, though you need space and need to be careful what you move. So here's my first experiment with some Uno cards:

The Many Pases of Funny Faces...

Modelled the other half of my face in Maya, and this one went better, the nose came out much better than last time. The cheek bone comes out a bit too far this time though. Enjoy:

And if you want to compare, both together, though they don't quite match up.

Building a Whole New Face

Its the new Semester! So a whole new load of works gonna be heading our way. Had our first 3D Environment lecture today, and basically learnt all about modelling. Had mug shots taken of us and then had to model from it, and its surprising how unsymmetrical peoples faces are. To prove this we took half our faces and briefly flipped them in Photoshop and found how weird our faces look.. I got rather lost at one point, bu I asked Georg and then it was clear, though I didn't get a chance to properly have a go until I got home. Only modelled half the face, because it takes some time and Maya confused me a lot. Anyways, here is the mug shots and the result I got.

A Film, about Books

I was just shown a stunning Animated Short, called The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmorem, a wonderful film, with a beautiful narrative. Their use of colour in the film is done really well, and in certain parts reminds me a lot of Pixar's Up. Without further adue, the link :

http://www.theatlantic.com/video/archive/2012/02/the-fantastic-flying-books-of-mr-morris-lessmore/252703/ 

It was created by Moonbot Studios, who's website you can visit Here.

A Showreel and Some Pretty Lights.

So, this week I managed to build my show-reel of animations so far to hand in to Georg, though that was earlier this week, just took a while to post it, due to that horrible pain: The Essay. Still, I think its going alright, though the library books I'm using for research are annoyingly hard to decipher, why do they have to write in such a complex cryptic way? Still, it looks like I shall manage it. I'm looking at Stereotyping and Representation (Making reference to critical texts, their authors and theories, and using examples - discuss the issues relating to representation and stereotypes. Consider the aspects of representation and
stereotypes that are specific to animation and explore this concept in relation to a recent
animated film or body of films.) in Disney films. I'd be lying if i said it was fun, but it is a little interesting and rather necessary.

So, show-reel:

The other thing I thought I would throw out there is this lovely piece on lighting, courtesy of course-mate Yasmin (Her blog: http://gashumonsata.tumblr.com And her old blog [thought I'd put it up just in case] http://ydanimation.blogspot.com) Its some basic but useful lighting tips from a guy who heard a talk by a guy from Dreamworks, and I thought it was good.
Have a look if you wish. http://blackpassion777.deviantart.com/journal/Interested-in-Dreamworks-Lighting-Resource-283032819

Finally, after the realisation that I'm really bad at the whole draw an hour a day thing, I made a new album on facebook on Wednesday, determined to upload a drawing a day, and although its a little late, it appears that the accountability is working, and I have all 4 days so far uploaded. Its easy enough to find, but in case you cant, here is a link http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.340748079280048.80661.100000345772328&type=3 . If you don't know me I'm afraid you may not be able to see it, and I apologise, but maybe at the end of the year I'll post it all on here.

Eleven Rig

Just downloaded the Eleven Rig, and thought I would try it out. Some parts of it move differently to the Mophy rig, as it uses IFK a lot more, but I like it a bit better I think. Just threw in a couple of lights and some polygons to see what it looked like.

Yay, Normal Skin

So this is the almost finished animation for the 11 second club clip for January. I had some difficulty lip syncing to it because the clip is from a Bollywood film, and I would be lying if i claimed lip syncing in another language is easy. The basic principles are the same but without knowing a word i find it difficult to make the right mouth shapes. The rig also didn't have as much you could do with the face in comparison with the face rig Georg gave us last week, so I am thinking of going back and maybe accentuating some of the mouth shapes. I also still want to mess with the lighting and make one of the characters eyebrows move some more. but other than that I think it went well. Looking forward to the day where I learn to model some better backgrounds, though I may go fetch a tutorial now to see if I cant improve. Anyway, the animation:

11 Seconds Of Broken Skin

So I finished my 11 second club animation. I would render it and upload it, but I'm afraid there seems to be something drastically wrong with the characters skin. I will ask Georg about it in tomorrows digital animation lecture, but until then, here is the problem with the animation at the moment:

A Whole 35 Minutes!

 Here are Wednesdays life-drawings. my first time drawing a man which was different. Took me so long to upload because once again I had to acquire somebodies camera. I really need to buy myself one and stop buying instruments instead.

I used charcoal for most of the session, apart from a couple of poses in pencil. We started with 2 minute poses which weren't too bad, I think I'm getting quicker at all those short poses that I hate. Then we had 30 second poses which we had to do using only 3 lines. I overlapped the drawings for this to save paper, so they don't look like much. Then we were given a whole 35 minute pose which was the longest yet I think. I used charcoal and chalk to get a nice tonal drawing which I really enjoyed. Even found some fixative so the drawing survived the trip home! Enjoy:

EEFO!

So yesterday we had to pitch our ideas for animations to EEFO (http://www.eefo.net/) Each group of three had a few minutes worth of presentation to convey their ideas and convince EEFO to choose their Idea. Three are going to be picked to then go on and make full animations, and the winner will be picked from them and used by the company.

They already had 2 characters which we had to use, and the animation has to be suitable for school ages. It also needs to be able to convey its message with and without sound.

Our group decided to have the male character running through a hedge maze being chased by various monsters which represent problems that teenagers sometimes have. The guy gets cornered and the female character bursts through a hedge wall to save him just in time and leads him to the EEFO signpost which directs them out of the maze. Rachel (rachelstarkey.wordpress.com) came up with original idea and we loved it and ran along with it. She also drew up lots of awesome storyboards which I will post up if I ever find them. Elizabeth (http://elisabeth-haukaas.blogspot.com/, http://fuegokid.blogspot.com/), helped iron out some of the problems with the storyline and came up with the idea to have a dull colour scheme and then brighten the colours as the characters leave the maze, also a brilliant idea, couldn't have asked for a better group. We each drew some monsters to represent problems teenagers may have, some being Junk Foo, Smoking and Drugs. and Rachel drew the male character from varying angles.

Blob Monster, representing Junk Food

Drug Spider, representing Drug Use

Smoking Skeleton, representing Smoking Habis, and a test of the male character

More character tests

LIp-Syncing in 3D

Today we were given a 3D head rig, So we could have a quick go at Lip-syncing, So when I got back to the flat, I synced the head to the chorus of a song. Enjoy.

It's ALIVE!!

Had a stop-motion workshop today. Used rather basic armatures, but as we were only learning the basics, they were good enough. Some of the joints were a little bit stiff, and the clothes weren't starched, which makes it incredibly difficult to avoid creating crawl (when the clothes appear to move by themselves, because the folds in the material move when you manipulate the puppet) We just made the models bend over and touch their toes, but you need to think a lot about which joints and the order in which you break the joints (breaking joints is how certain parts of your Bordy start moving before others, for example in  this instant the head bends first, followed by the arms, and then the waist etc.)

Life Drawing in 2012

First life-drawing of 2012 today :] We had a younger female woman this time. There were many short poses, which I find difficult, and we began using watered down ink, which I find very difficult to use, especially with the thick brushes provided. I used pencil and charcoal to attempt the really short thumbnail poses, but I just could draw quick enough. I find small and quick are both difficult for me to manage. We also had to draw for a minute or two while the model moved around in slow fluid movements. I drew the area where she stood first so I could identify where to put her on the paper quicker. It was very odd, and although it ended up looking rather like a mess of scribbles, you could make out figure like shapes. At the end we got to do a 10 minute pose, which was my favourite. I chose charcoal and chalk on mid tone paper, which meant I could finally add in lighter tone and focus on the lighting, which I really enjoy. She was standing in front of the spotlight, creating a nice Rim Light effect which was cool. It went well, though I didn't get her left arm drawn as she slipped towards the end of the pose, which changed the angle when she sat back up, causing a problem. Here's the pictures :

Point Light

Quickly before i drop off to bed, i threw a point light around in my scene to experiment :]

3 Point lighting

Okay now i keep messing up the setting with 3 lights and either severely pixelating the shadows, or just over shooting the light. But its looking kinda better now. This is once again using directional lights, one for the Key light (the brightest one), one for the bounce back, and a third behind the character to create a rim light, which brings out the edge of the character.

2 Point Lighting :]

2 point lighting now, looks much more natural. 2 point lighting is what it sounds like, using two lights, coming from different points. In computer programs, light doesn't bounce like in real life, as the way light works in life is incredibly complex. so to make a light "bounce off something" you need two lights, one for the original one, and a weaker on to create the light that has bounced off. So this is what I have done, once again using directional lights only. Enjoy!