Thursday 4 December 2008

4th December

I really enjoyed last weeks animations, being able to give the animations a bit more character was a challenge but really fun. Maya seemed to flow so much easier this week my 3D I managed to do really quickly and simply and its alright still the timing is a little slow but I didn't want to play around with it to much in case it all went wrong. The 2D I spent a while getting the legs and arms right he is supposed to be a Happy little chap and I thought I would incorporate a bit of character into his face but I got the timing and drawings wrong on his face so they accelerate. The reason for my error is that the symmetry of the frames is wrong on the legs so there are less frames in the 2nd leg movement. Live and learn.....

I managed to sleep through all of the life drawings this week which was annoying as we where doing the walks I found out, super smooth on my behalf so this week I am using Stephs filming and doing my own interpretation off hers. This week I have felt really tired and run down and just can't get my head around it so far. I really want this set to be the best so far but its not looking great.

The presentation was alright, had a few shakes. I was trying to make it a bit more involving and not just read everything out which made it probably a little bit too colloquial and I should really have referred to my notes more. I was surprised how Matt and I worked quite well together considering we are both so keen to get our point across and often talk over each other generally. Looking forward to checking out how we fared this week, I never normally care but I haven't done group presentations for years and I would like to see how bad we were.#

Life drawing wasn't too bad today I'm still distinctly average if not below which sucks but I felt some of the sketches today were not too bad. I loved using the colours for them it makes it so much more involving then just pencil or charcoal. Anyways......

Monday 24 November 2008

17th November Week

I have just finshed my 2D and 3D walks for the first time. The 2D one I did loads of because I didnt think through the timing. When I actually took the time to think each step through and play it out in my head it worked much better than my other ones even though it is effectively one step, I should have really done double the amount of frames and played out the whole thing so it would flow but I was trying to get the 3D girl working. I have found that I work best when I concentrate on one movement at a time eg. legs then arms ....
The 3D I struggled with as I still dont know enough about Maya. I havent touched the Graph Editor or the Dope Sheet as I dont know how they work and need to ask again as it obviously all went straight over my head. However the walk isnt to bad considering it was done with a few key frames, I loved having an actual character that you could really play around with. It made it so much more rewarding. For my first Maya walk I am relatively pleased but there is so many improvements to be made. It doesnt seem to let me do play blasts either which must be something I am doing wrong even though I have asked others.....
The Life drawing I am still struggling with Kathy got it spot on when she said I want it to be perfect when I draw the outline so I dont go loose enough. When others are better than you, you want to take the time to get the scaling right etc and I take longer. When we did the one where you dont look at your paper it turned out really well. Admitedly I did have a glance every now and then as did everyone. I need to work on sketching at speed and being more confident with my drawings. I think its because I always draw characters or charactures so I always exaggerate everything to make it more interesting. Life drawing is obviously different in that your trying to replicate the weight and mood of the character through sketches.
History is going ok, I really enjoy it when Annes chatting away but then we get completly off point and it turns into something completly random and I either drift off into my notepad with my pen or zone out, eg today Jonnie trying to justify Rape can be enjoyable. With my fantasticly short attention span, it's a struggle to get back into what was actually being talked about.
Finally Matt and I have made a good start on Triangle since yesterday, we have looked at the aesthetics and influences so far. I know I can pull the ideas and info together but its putting them across without rambling when we actually come to do it. I also realised I am going to find it hard to share the control when we talk so we will actually have to pre determine who is going to say what which makes it quite different and hard for me. Hopefully it will go alright but we are going to have to get it sorted by Thursday as I am off at the weekend. Good times.

Monday 17 November 2008

BAF Awards Bradford

Well we're back, loved the trip was great in so many ways! Got to finally know everyone on our course and think I've gathered everyones names which is always helpful. The festival itself was fantastic, its definitely completely broadened my horizon which was before extremely shallow. The films that inspired me the most where Fears of The Dark which was really interesting for how the film just kept jumping in and out of various animation styles and compelling stories. Idiots and Angels though quite long I loved the style ; very sketchy but really alive and without the dialogue it still managed to engage me which is really unusual for me. I loved so many of the films that were on but admittedly didn't take to quite a few but thats what made the great ones fantastic.

Top 3 probably were Dance with the Devil which was the music video with some shocking images that was really powerful and I loved the music. Skhizein was probably my favourite storyline with some really creative animation the style was really absorbing. My favorite CGI was one of the student films: Decendants. It was so sharp and slick I couldnt believe it was done by students and I'm still skeptical but it should have won an award! RIGGED! Actually one more the Cat film and also there was a black and white 2D with marching guys which I need to know the name of! Anyone?

My favorite event of the week however was the talk with Curtis Jobbling who is a bit of a legend it has to be said, I really enjoyed his talk and workshop and it really helped. Gave us all some sound advice and has made me think much more creatively about drawing characters, hope to get some more talks with him. Bad points of the week: Storyboarding talk canceled, SEGA guy talk in the Uni was a bit of an anticlimax he has inspired me for my up and coming talk as he was quite introverted in his talk, so at least he, who has been in the business for something like 15 years still gets nervous.

Anyway all in all fun times look foward to this week now!

Sunday 2 November 2008

Week 4 ish Review

This week has got me really annoyed, my 2D animation was awful I did one first and the timing was all out, didn't really concentrate. So I did another one which felt like it was too short and I should have added some frames to the end to give the whole thing a bit more character. The timing towards the end is also not great. On Maya it was my favorite week I've started to feel like I have got more of a grasp of the basics and the jump looks good although again the landing is debatable.

This weeks life drawing was good, I have one figure I am pleased with. I enjoyed the quick poses as well, I am definitely improving but I still trail most people in terms of how fast I can get down a pose accurately. Cant wait for Bradford to see some new animation will be awesome hopefully!

Wednesday 22 October 2008

Week 3 Review

The 3rd week so far I have really enjoyed so far. The history seminar was really interesting though I found this weeks readings hard going, plus the fact I cannot access them on my moodle for some reason. Among the films we watched this week my favourites had to be one of the Loony Tunes classics which I had never seen. Also the Tim Burton style film was awesome , I just think the style is so Burton and it gives it something a bit different, characterizing everything in such a sharp way gives everything a sharp edge.

The 3D this week I did not enjoy as much as previous weeks as I found it a lot more challenging - the bouncing ball using the excel spreadsheet thing I need to get used to, its very time consuming and I quite like doing it manually as opposed to trial and error but I guess as I learn the program more I will become more adept at it quicker, we shall see. I really want to learn how to use Illustrator and to improve my knowledge on Photoshop but I have no idea how to join the classes which I need to look into.

2D again I really really enjoyed, though it is time consuming it gives you so much more satisfaction to see your drawings in action even if it is only for a second or two, just so you can see how you have improved from the week before in terms of timing, anticipation and squash and stretch. We did the Jumping Man in simplistic form again however it was on a flat surface and we had to consider the landing more at the end, I got the anticipation right I feel and the timing for the majority apart from at the peak of the jump was good. The landing though was maybe a bit to quick it needs a few more frames at the end. Also I just watched it again and the volume is maybe slightly off on compression...... live and learn.

I have started drawing once a day however I started painting one which has put a stop to that but I just really wanted to, so I need to get back into the daily sketching. Life drawing tomorrow I shall blog after that to see how I got on

Tuesday 14 October 2008

My first Week - Animation

The first weeks been awesome and so far the second even better, the only part I havent enjoyed has been life drawing and that was because I feel really rusty and way off the pace at the moment. I'm going to practice drawing people and skeltons in the evenings every day to improve my skills as I have never really studied the human body at all just colour, moods, speed and the outdoors. I never really involved people and its probably time I did as I am doing animation. Its crazy to consider how much work has gone into doing a cartoon or any animation after doing a few exercises, theres so much to think about! I loved doing the 2D animation today using the squash and stretch and anticipation with the simple characters, it's really rewarding once you have done it, though I think I needed more frames in between. As with Maya its an awesome programme one I can imagine I could become quite addicted to as there is so much to learn though it seems really easy to get lost, my ball bouncing was ok though a little shaky I guess you can only get better. My favourite part of the week so far though has to be "screening" I thought that Triangle by Erica Russell was one of my favourite animations I had ever seen, its just amazing, I love the flow, the colours and how sketchy it is. This is the kind of animation I was intrigued about now Hollywood main stream animation which is all I have ever really been subjected to but little pieces of genius. I'm going to look at more of her work and unless I see something I like ever more I would like to do my presentation on it. Anyway back to Maya! CR