Exaggeration Ecstatic
The first task was to gesture draw
emotions. The initial drawings were not
exaggerated enough do I re worked them
using green. These are better and have
more life
Exaggeration Angry
Exaggeration Bored
Exaggeration I Love You
These were my favourite for each emotions. I had
to chose one which could animated to a lip sync of
I love you. I chose the one propped up against the
wall is my favourite as it can give a lot of humour
and character. The speed could rally be played
with also with a slow slide down the wall.
Lip Sync Task
Sex is so overrated
I had to chose from a selection of BBC Listening achieves a conversation which I would create a lip sync animation to. I would
have to create an animate the character or characters as well as the scenery.
I chose a conversation between two women discussing the menopause and how sex relates to it.
I had two character to create. Through continuous listening of the track I decided to have both characters be middle aged.
(40-55). I also decided one should be large and the other skinny. I thought this would create a nice juxtaposition between the
two on frame.
These are designs for the fatter character. In the segment I chose this character has no dialogue and simply reacts to the
other. I thought this would give me an opportunity to create a really appealing character.
I experimented with different styles, From sketchy to more illustrative. I was struggling to find a style which I wouldnt not
only enjoy animating but would look visually appealing.
Although I do like the bust designs here, the character was to bland and
boring. Nothing about her stood out. Which isnt what I wanted to do as
she wouldnt be discussing a topic such as the menopause in such a
humours way.
I actually liked these head designs. Character design doesnt come natural to me but I could imagine this character in
a caf reading a book or walking her dog in the park. This is where I really began to understand what I wanted from
my character and where they would be discussing such a topic.
After sketching out many designs, I
found myself sticking to one
elongated face shape. This worked
well as I always envisioned this
character to be the skinnier of the
two. I wanted to focus on this
character being glamours. Bright
makeup with matching earrings and
styled hair.
I had originally began to animate my lip sync on Flash. However it was evident that I was struggling with it. I had chosen
difficult camera angles and it was looking very odd, anatomy wasnt correct and all enjoyment I had for the project was
lost. After discussing with lectures I chose to change my idea, redesign the characters and animate them in a cut out
style of after effects. This was more in line with my personal interests with working in a more mixed media style. I would
still like to revisit Flash however for a lip sync.
These are my final character
designs. After doing some
test animation in Flash I
found myself losing all
passion for the task. The
animation didnt work and
the I couldn't get the
personality of the
characters across right.
I recreated my characters
in a layer format sand
decided to animate on After
Effects. This meant the
animation style would
almost become like paper
cut outs.
These are the original image over which I applied a outlined boil
These textures were used for the characters. One for the hair and the other for the dress. I didnt want to have a
boring block colour and thought these boiling textures would nicely complement the other boiled images.
The final animation was
created on After Effects. I
sourced images which I
created a 5 frame outline
boil to overlay over the
original image. I then used a
wiggle on the position of
each to offset it.
This with the overlays of
textures created a overall
appearance which I really
like. It shows that I prefer
more textural pieces of
animation and will look
great in my showreel.
I created a lip animation synced to 2 seconds from my chosen clip as a revision after deciding against using
Flash for my final animation. This was so that I still had some Flash work available for my showreel, and to
show I can do lip sync. I then used After Effects to composite this on to the face on image of my Margaret
character.
I liked the look of this and especially like the still image with a moving mouth. I would use this technique again.
Concept Art
Workshop
Using black and white
tones only I had to create
landscapes following a
brief that had to show
some sort of monument
or temple. I used the
lasso tool along with a
variety of brushes to
create these.
The technique was so
helpful and I hadn't
thought about using the
lasso tool like this before.
I now have been
frequently using it,
especially with early
stage thumb nailing.
Taking my previously
created landscape
thumbnails, I had to try
and apply more depth to
each image. Using
different opacity's and
flow rates I applied some
fog to images as well as
some more detailing to
the foreground to create
depth. I feel these work
and only improved a
good set of landscape
thumbnails.
It taught me that the
foreground is just as
important as the
background and the
darkest areas of the
image would be in the
foreground.
Here I was tasked to take images from my final film to show composition
I had to take a shot from my project and alter the composition to make it more appealing. It really helped with my
project and made my alter a lot of my composition through the film.
The task here was to take
a image from my major
project and recreate it
with a different colour
pallet. I didnt have any
colour or scenery in my
project to use. So I made
a quick landscape. The
outcome was not good so
I decided to do it again
and experiment more.
I was tasked with recreating the images on the left on
Photoshop. I was not allowed to use the colour picker tool
and had to find the right hue and saturation myself.
I think that I was able to achieve the same colours. However I
didnt focus on the detail therefore the images look blurry
and mixed.
I found this task really useful, I hadnt thought about
recreating painted artwork digitally. It allowed me to
understand the processing of colour. For example starting
with the base colour which is the most used colour in the
image.
Pixilation
We created the pixilation with the use of toys. We wanted to create a Toy Story esque story. It was all filmed in
segments and stitched together and edited in After Effects.
I really enjoyed it especially the stop motion with the Lego, which I thought worked really well.
Horse Walk Cycle
I decided to choose a horse for my walk animation. I first drew
the keys out on a lightbox, then I drew over them in Flash. I
found the horse walk the most difficult of all the cycles I
completed. I found it hard to get the legs to match. And then it
was difficult to get the body and head correct with it also. In
the final animation the legs work, but all together as a whole
there are issues with the head proportioning.
Horse Walk Lightbox
Horse Walk Flash V01
Horse Walk Flash V02
Horse Walk Flash V03
Horse Run Cycle
For my Horse Run Cycle I again started on the lightbox
I then cleaned up in Photoshop and applied a green fill
to each frame. This allowed me to key them out and
easily apply a texture on After Effects.
I then applied other assets to create a textured piece. I
really enjoyed creating this animation and think it
works well.
Bear Walk Cycle
I again began with animating on the
lightbox. I managed to get the legs to work
and flow properly quickly. However the
head grew and shrunk and went in on
itself.
I went back and addressed the head to
make it move from side to side to show the
weight of the bear.
I then cleaned up in Photoshop. I wanted
to create a different appearance than my
other walk cycles so I used a mask and
feathered it for each frame.
The first After Effects animation used
assets I Painted in Photoshop. Upon
receiving feedback the assets didnt fit the
style of the frames.
I then went back and applied the same
concept of mask layers in Photoshop to
hand drawn assets like my bear. This
worked and looked a lot better.
Bear Cub Run
Cycle
For my run cycle I decided to use a
bear cub instead of an adult. I drew
the frames on the lightbox first. The
legs worked well but the head grew
and shifted.
In clean up on Photoshop I addressed
these issues. I then created assets
alongside block filling the cubs
silhouette. I can then apply these
with a felt texture on After Effects to
create the cut out fabric animation in
my final scene. I really enjoyed
making this animation and would say
this was my favourite walk cycle to
create.
Cat/Dog
Animation
I was originally going to create a cat walk into a run cycle. However, I had never animated a dog before so I decided to
change. I enjoyed creating this animation mainly because the different actions meant that I didnt get bored as I was
constantly doing different things.
