Deep Update One

Being invested into the design side to this project, myself Jordan and Carl have been focused on

how characters will look, and the over all style for the first week. So far, we really only 

know that we are seeking to emulate a Hellboy comic style, that is a style which includes heavy contrast of black and whites, in a very graphic style. We also only really have two characters within

this scene, a female and male. So really in terms of our design process we are concentrating in this early stage on the way the characters look and how the overall scene will look.

These first early concepts are just playing around with the graphic style that we are trying to mimic. As an artists I rarely draw in this style, so this kind of stuff is quite new to me. However I feel that there is some real promise in working with this style in terms of animation.

These next few images are seeing how colour looks in this graphic style. We have been looking at comics for reference, including the Sin City original comics, Hellboy and various others that all include a similar style. Within these comics we found that often there are various bits of colour used in a mostly black and white image.

Finally, I have drafted up a early concept of what the background may look like. Again here I have added some colour to the black and while image. Within our scene there is a lot of snow and trees, and originally we thought the shot was during the day, however we have now been given more free roam in terms of design, and thought that having the scene in moonlight would enhance the contrasty look.

Animation Practice 4: Deep.

One of our major projects this year is working this shot film project: Deep. This is a real live brief, being directed and produced by one of our senior lectures, Derek Hayes. The production has been in the works for a while now, on and off, and includes work from both the professional industry and now is incorporating students too. 

As part of our module, have been given a selection of shots / scenes that are available, with a variety of roles within those shots or scenes. Ideally I was after any sort of animating role, or failing that, backgrounds / concept / character work. Anything that involved drawing. Luckily, myself and my group have been assigned to one of the most important scenes of the film, which is the final climax scene. It involves a lot of work, and we were told upfront it is going to be a challenge, any work that they don't like (which could be all of it) can and will be scrapped completely. However we are all up for the challenge, and my team (which includes Carl, Ben, James and Jordan) are all very keen to do it justice.

In terms of the team roles, four of us are animators  / designers (Myself, Carl,  Ben and Jordan) while James has been assigned technical director. Our scene consists of 22 shots of varying time scales and some with animation, some without. It takes place in a snowy woodland scene, and there is a lot of tension within the scene. 

Below is one of the concept pieces we were given to try and illustrate what it might look like, however we have been given quite a lot of free reign in terms of design, and Derek said he wasn't actually too keen on this image. However we are aware that he wants in the a sort of Hellboy comic style; black and white, stark contrast and very graphical, with limited colour when appropriate. 

The first step for us is to really pin down  a style, develop the characters in the scene and begin animation tests. 

Animating For Fun: Dog Walk Cycle

The other day I came across this professional animators blog that basically highlights the fact that there are hardly any animators out there (student or professional) that actually animate for fun. They concentrate on paid work or work that they have to do. Understandably, this is the way for most animators purely because its such a time consuming and labour intensive activity. However if you find yourself with some free time, its often not taken into consideration that animating can just be done, for fun!

So here is an quick walk cycle development of a dog, for which there is no reason other than the fact I wanted to animate a 4 legged beast. I've never done it before, and thought it would be good practice. Low and behold, it actually was fun! I really enjoyed doing it, and it only took one evening to complete.

so here it is:

Any feedback is welcome.

Sketchbook update

Quick peek at some of the drawings I've been doing recently which has no relevance to anything on my course. Just some sketches I wanted to do. 

Most of these drawings have taken influence from using my Pinterest, from various artists, photographs and from life. 

Crocodile Tears shots progress

Just a quick update from the other day after what I've already talked about from the Crocodile tears project. So far Ive worked on around 5 or 6 shots, most of which are only a few seconds long, the longest being 4 or 5 seconds. Most of the action is simple, i.e head movements, blinks, and the occasional prop moving. However, so far I have really enjoyed the process. I suppose apart from the normal enjoyment I get from animating, I'm really enjoying working in a situation with may represent what it feels like to work for a studio in many respects. I don't need to do much thinking in terms of planning or anything like that, I'm simply provided a basic shot with several keyframes put it already as key positions, and I work out the motion, how it should feel and put in the in-betweens. Its quite rewarding really. 

I look forward to seeing how the clean up artists paint and finish of the shots so I can see the final product. However its still early days, and I'm hoping to get a fair few more shots to work on, and perhaps do some clean ups too. 

Here are some of the shots Ive completed. It may look messy, but its really all about the motion at this point, the bare bones if you like. The colour is for what cleans ups are for!

The Crew: Crocodile Tears

So now that I have officially finished my first semester of my second year, I'm now continuing onto

the second semester, which means I'm exactly 50% way through my degree. Shocking.

Any who, one of our most recent assignments is called 'The Crew', which essentially 

means that we as second years, have to go out and find a third year project for us to work on. 

This can be anything from backgrounds, to animating, foley, or just key framing. Luckily I was

on the ball with this one, as I knew this project was incoming, I sought out  a third year project early on, so that I could get involved asap. That project is called 'Crocodile Tears', directed by Darren Smith.

As you may notice from the poster, it is a flash animation involving a bunch of badass crocs.

I really like the design work that has gone into it, and so far from what I've seen, I think it will have a really successful outcome. I really wanted to find a project that I personally like, as I have worked on a project before just for works sake, and I ended up hating the work I was doing. For this project, I have been assigned animator, doing in-betweens and clean ups. This essentially means someone (namely Darren) will assign a shot in which he has added the essential key frames, which could mean as little as 3 or 4 frames within a 5 - 10 second shot, and its up to me to work out the motion properly, and add in the 'in-between shots'. Its a pretty important role as its not just simply adding in the middle frames, but working out the 'feel' of the motion, and is key to creating solid animation. 

-So far I have worked on two shots, of both I have added the in-betweens for the rough animation.

The next stage for this shot is to go into the clean up stage.