Update!

So I handed everything in on time- Commercial Animation Production, Work Based Learning, Personal and Professional Development and Contextual Studies- however I'm not quite off the hook.

I still have Digital Skills Application to work on and submit next week, so this weekend shall be spent getting that work done (I have to do a piece of digital concept art complete with a making of guide and evaluation).

After that, I'll also need to start thinking about what sort of work I'd like to produce for the final show which takes place on 9th June.

So basically I'll still be quite busy for the next few weeks, but having the pressure of the other units lifted is certainly going to be a great help to me.

Year Evaluation

As an artist I have definitely improved this year. This shows mostly in my latest storyboarding and model sheets, which bear a striking improvement to the work I was producing last year. However I still don’t feel as though I’ve found my area of skill as an animator, and the actual animated work I’ve produced has been fairly limited; this has led me to decide not to further pursue the education route for the time being.

Having said that I still wish to develop my knowledge as an animator, and will definitely seek out opportunities for internships or job placements in the future; I would also feel quite confident in applying for positions in the Graphic Design field or simply working as a freelance designer while honing my animation skills in my own time.

Over the year I’ve had many outside problems that have prevented me from realizing the full potential of my ideas and so most of them aren’t quite finished, but even so I find myself quite pleased with how I’ve managed to turn things around nearer the end.

Plan: 23/04 - 25/04 [EDITED]

The two main units I need to work on are PPD, Digital Skills Application and Commercial Animation Production. There's also a few other loose ends for WBL and the Contextual Studies essay that I need to address-- quite a lot for just under two days, so here's a breakdown of what I'll need to do and when:


Wednesday (23rd):

• Creative CV- I've decided for this I'm going to lay it out like a comic strip, since this is most relevant to my skills as an illustrator and comics fan.
• More research on job progression.
• Addition of more direct quotation to my CS essay, complete bibliography.
• Choose portfolio pieces, begin write-up (though that can potentially wait until tomorrow or even Friday, in case I end up changing my mind about anything.

Thursday (24th):

• DSA unit- digital concept art, making of, evaluation. NEEDS to be finished one Thursday so it doesn't end up a rushed mess! [EDIT: it turns out that I have some extra time for submissions that are already late, so I can take more time on this over the weekend and focus on making it good without worrying about the other units~]
• Write up portfolio commentary and final evaluation.
• Finish Creative CV
• Final evaluation (PPD)

Friday (25th- FINAL DEADLINE):

• Tie up any loose ends
• Print out portfolio stuff along with any other documents etc. I need for other units
• Buy A3 sleeves for my portfolio
• HAND IN FOUR UNITS (PPD, Commercial Animation Production, Work Based Learning and Contextual Studies)!

LoopdeLoop submissions details.

An animation challenge where we are presented with a theme, and those whose loops pass the initial quality control are accepted onto the blog will have them screened at Loop in Melbourne, Australia. They accept entries from across the world and in any media, so long as it's a loop.

The current theme is 'Rainbow', and is in honour of International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia on May 17th. I think this would be a great theme to explore, both as a means of exposure and because it's for a great cause! I've already had a few ideas that would suit both the visual theme and the theme of sexuality and gender, so hopefully I can get the time to produce something in time, but if not I'll post any developmental sketches here.

Here are more details on the competition.

Final Storyboards and Evaluation.

Finally completed! I think adding the arrows really helps to give a better idea of how the camera will move in this short, and I've added the text digitally because I think that'll look a lot better than just hand-writing it with pen.
For presenting, I would also add this piece of artwork-

-which is actually one of my first pieces of concept art- to my pitch. It's a nice visual representation of how dark the story is, and focuses on the mysterious 'Scavenger' character some more, as I feel it's a character that may need to be explained more and could be a good selling point.

Though there is still a few days until hand-in, my evaluation of the 'work-based learning' unit so far is as follows:

In this unit I have learned more about how it might be to work in the actual illustration/animation industry. This has entailed taking on various jobs, from writing and storyboarding to creating visual aids and full illustrations. I've found that my strengths lie heavily in storyboarding, as I'm quite good at visualising how I want things to look in my minds eye and translating it into drawing. This shows in the dramatic perspectives exhibited in certain panels of my storyboard. Screenwriting was also very enjoyable; though I had somewhat more difficulty putting my thoughts into words, it was definitely a good way to organise my concept before drawing it down. Unfortunately, due to the time constraints created by periods of illness and other personal problems, I have thus far been unable to actually present my proposal to others, though writing down my pitch has given me a taste of what is expected in the industry. The knowledge I have gained is adequate enough for me to be able to consider how I would pitch other ideas to an audience. As far as live competitions go, I have mostly been entering into free live challenges as money is currently an issue when there's a fee for entering certain larger competitions. Even so, submitting weekly to Illustration Friday has been a great way of doing some fast-paced artwork and gaining exposure online.
Overall I'm very satisfied with how this unit has developed my skills as a writer and illustrator, and definitely feel well-equipped to showcase my work as either a freelance artist or part of a team, or in a presentation scenario.

Storyboard Progress

I've finished painting up my storyboards now (finally)!

I think this story works very well in monochrome, but I felt adding the splashes of colour really added to the mystery of the forest clearing and the ancient tree. I'm quite fond of the sketchy style, too, and think that would be a nice aesthetic if this were to be a traditional, frame-by-frame piece, though it could work well with cut-outs too.
I'm going to add some arrows to each shot to give a sense of the camera's movements and how the characters will move on-screen, like so:

After this, I'll add some more specific written descriptions in the spaces beneath the frames, then they'll be ready to print!

Progress and Thoughts.

During this week I've found myself moving a little slower than last.

As far as projects go, Work Based Learning is very close to completion! After I've finished the last two panels of my storyboards and written the evaluation (which will also be posted here with SWOT analysis), I can cross it off my list. This needs to be done before the end of this week. 
Since the Digital Skills Application unit is a late submission, this is coming as second priority to WBL and PPD, which will both be handed in on time on the 25th. Of course, I still intend to produce high-quality art for this, as best as I can do, but I'm thinking I'm going to allot a solid day or two for this project, which includes making of and evaluation. That may end up being next week, which might be a rush... but still doable.
Another job for next week will be putting together my portfolio, including written commentary for each piece and an overall evaluation.

Aside from that I have been looking into potential jobs I could apply for when I'm finished with my course. There have been a few Junior Graphic Designer jobs cropping up which I've begun to apply for. I think this will be a good route for me since I'm a lot more confident with creating static images and designs rather than actual animation. However these jobs tend to look for those with a knowledge of Dreamweaver and Adobe inDesign, which I've yet to even use, much less master. This has led me to consider looking for night classes available to those wishing to learn specific software- basically to bolster my digital skillset in addition to having strong illustration skills and probably provide me with extra portfolio material. I fully intend to keep submitting to Illustration Friday whenever I can, just to keep up my creativity and keep practicing while hopefully getting some exposure!

As for the rest of tonight I'd like to get the main drawing section of my storyboards completed, and perhaps add arrows or other markers for camera movement. I'll post those here when I'm done!

Progress and Plan: 14/04 - 20/04

In the last week I have:

• Completed my script, project proposal and treatment
• Entered artwork for Illustration Friday
• Finished the contextual studies essay
• Drawn up roughs for my storyboards

This week my aims are to:

• Fully finish the storyboards
• Enter another Illustration Friday piece, or perhaps find another competition,
• Write my evaluation for Work Based Learning
• Digitally rendered concept art (complete with making of and evaluation)
• Find job roles etc. and document potential routes here.

Illustration Friday Entry - Theme: Survival.

I heard about Illustration Friday via Facebook when one of my classmates submitted a piece. A theme word is posted once a week, and anyone can post a piece of art portraying their interpretation of the word until the next Friday.

This week's theme was 'survival', so I came up with the concept of a drowning man who begins to transform, adapting to the water in order to survive.

I only heard about this challenge tonight so my entry ended up a little rushed- however I think it's a great way to keep up practice, see the work of other artists and come up with new and original designs. I'd definitely keep checking the themes and posting my entries in future as it might be a good way of getting some exposure among other regular users.

Storyboards - Rough

The Work Based Learning module involves script-writing, story-boarding and delivering a project proposal and treatment based on the characters we worked on developing in September. I didn't get past the early stages of this, unfortunately, because during the lead up to Christmas I was suffering quite frequent illnesses; however I do have the script and rough storyboards to work from.

They are very rough, mind you, so I'm just going to give a brief description of what's happening in each panel so that I have a clear plan in my mind for when I draw up the final versions.

1: PoV shot of rabbit making its way down a forest trail. The camera zooms as it approaches the end and the screen whites out

2: The rabbits eyes open and it focuses on the tree, looking up at the whole thing. Its vision is quite blurry.

3: Scavenger's PoV- it's watching the rabbit stumble closer, and we can see how bloodied and injured it is.

4: Back to rabbit's PoV: it spots Scavenger and then it comes swooping down, growing into a big black shape that fills the screen. Rabbit blacks out.

5: The rabbit's eyes open and blink, the camera zooms out a little to show that it actually collapsed.

6: Rabbit's PoV: Scavenger is now in its weirdly humanoid form. Camera pans up the imposing figure.

7: It bends down and extends a hand to the rabbit, appearing to be assisting it, but the rabbit flinches back.

8: Blinking momentarily, Scavenger moves aside and gestures at the tree.

9: A close-up of the tree. Weird wisp-like things fly around the branches.

10: The rabbit looks between the outstretched hand and the tree, thinking deeply for a moment.

11: It decides to trust Scavenger, and accepts its hand, but-

12: The rabbit is snatched up in the bony arms and embraced tightly. As this happens, something appears to come from the rabbit's open mouth, eyes and nostrils. The camera pans right, until-

13: We see its spirit has forcibly been extracted from the body!

14: Now that its a ghost, the rabbit can see the wisps for what they are- other animals who have been tricked into believing this tree would allow their souls to live forever, when in fact they are simply trapped for eternity with the Scavenger.

15: Scavenger drops the rabbit's lifeless body to the ground. Roots and vines immediately come from the earth and feast on the corpse...

16: ... until only bones are left. Now the rabbit's body and spirit belong the the tree and the Scavenger.

17: Scavenger returns to its bird form and flies back to its post while the ghost of the rabbit is pulled towards the branches, about to join the other tormented animals.

18: The camera zooms back on this scene, ending it where the rabbit first encountered the clearing before fading out.

Quite a dark story, I know. And not even a happy ending! I left it on a mysterious and grim note. There are unanswered questions, because that's the nature of death. The rabbit feared what death would bring, and risked its own soul for the chance to keep existing in a way, and now it has a damned existence.
What can I say? I was in quite a dark sort of place when I came up with this story! But I do think it's a short story that would provoke thought and discussion in an audience, which is what I also love to see in animated pieces.

My next step is to draw up the final storyboards today and tomorrow, and after that's done I'll begin work on the proposal and treatment.

Work Plan: 7/04 - 13/04

I got a little ambitious with my last work plan, but I did manage to hand in the COmpositing unit which is great!

Anyway here are my targets for the next week:

• Finish script, storyboard, proposal and treatment for WBL (work-based learning) module.
• Consider ideas for Young Illustrators Award entry (shall post the details of this competition at some point)
• Look into job prospects and document here
• Document any other inspiration, research and progress here.

Research - Idents/Ads V

Channel 4 Idents cleverly use the positioning of real footage to create a fleeting image of the number 4, which the viewer sometimes has to concentrate to see. It's a smart way of grabbing their attention before a show begins.

The use of blurring really gives a sense of depth and perspective to this clip as the black globs merge together and form this strange spherical shape. Live footage is encapsulated inside and changes into the logo, which gives it a very interesting and sophisticated look.

I love the subtle lighting and shadows used in this ad, and how the tangibility and shape of the smoke shifts so fluidly and subtly.

Research - Idents IV

A useful video about the history and function of Idents in the media.

Final Compositions - comments and evaluation.

Here are two stills of the final result. I really do love how the glass look of the shapes reflects and blends in with the background. It's unfortunate that I was never able to get video footage while I was in these places as it would've been amazing to 'travel' through the 3D forests I've made, but sadly my phone was unable to take decent quality videos (that and there were so many people who just didn't want to get out of the way).

Another unfortunate thing is that I have been unable to actually animate my tree shapes. Since this is a late hand-in I've been very pressed for time and so I've had to simply show that I can composite images, but with more time I definitely would have liked to experiment with making the trees 'grow' from the ground or weave in and out of the water in the second one.

I'll probably end up using one of these stills for the Look Book too, just to add some variation in addition to my usual illustrations.

SWOT:
Strengths- creating 3D shapes, positioning objects appropriately
Weaknesses- remembering how to do everything, forgetting little steps. Must take more specific notes in future
Opportunities- N/A
Threats- Not enough time to actually animate the shapes!

Compositing Progress III

For my other composition I wanted a similar sort of look, except with a more organic look to the shapes. Creating this effect turned out to be quite simple. I used the 'tree' shapes and simply placed them inside HyperNURBS to smooth out the shapes.

You can see how the objects are much smoother than in the other piece I was working on. You can also see how I've set up the planes and used the cameras get the lighting etc. right, and the effect of my sculpting on the planes.

Fianl versions will be coming up in the next post!

Compositing Progress II

Today I continued my work with the compositing module. I'd decided I wanted glass/crystal shapes for my 3D element. To begin with I applied my cube shape to a Banji material and found that I loved how well it blended and reflected the scenery. I tried using a pyramid and extruding all the surfaces but it looked juuust a bit too crazy.

I then went on to build a spiky tree-shaped object by starting with a cube and extruding from there. When I copied the object and applied it to the Banji material in my composition I was again very pleased with the result.

As you can see I copied this shape and played with the shape and size of them a little, rotating and stretching them so that there would be some variation. I think this still works really well as a visual, and I'd like to play around more with the layout of the 'trees' before rendering a final version. 

Perhaps I will use one of these stills as one of my look book entries to give more variation than just illustration.

Research - Idents III

Mun2:

This is quite a simple concept without too much moving going on- simply random images rotating and changing into other objects- however the use of laser-style lighting makes the effect very attractive. The bright colours work very well with the dark background, and the images suit the style and pace of the music in a way.

Research - Idents II

Idents for MTV:

This is quite a surreal example, and focuses a lot on the photographic side of compositing. These computer generated shapes contrast greatly with the realistic background, but they don't look out of place thanks to the attention paid to both lighting and shadow-- something to take into account when I set up my scene. The colour choice sort of makes the shape look like skeleton hands to me, which is pretty cool.

Another selection of animations, for an MTV top 10 countdown. They're all tied together by the same visual theme, which I think work very nicely as second-long snippets between music videos. The flashing lights look works really nicely with the reflections on the other shapes and use of glows and shadows.

Research - Idents.

Fuel TV Ident by Adam Haynes:

I love the sense of dimension and perspective in this clip. It truly feels like you're travelling with the camera. The dramatic switch from calmness and life to dark destruction is also very striking, and all the more potent once the green shoot begins growing again from the wreckage.

Aesthetically I love the 3D cel-shaded style, it gives a strong stylistic quality with the use of dark, thick outlines.

'Hunter Gatherer' for Fuel TV:

This stop-motion piece is a lot more abstract, and matches the animation to the rhythm of electronic music. The parts with the hand have probably had frames taken out to preserve that 'jerky' style and it works very well with the song. The building block look and chosen imagery (the keyboard, phone etc) is simple but very aesthetically pleasing.

Inspiration - Nychos

Nychos is a street/graffiti artist who focuses on anatomical designs, often dissecting creatures within his illustrations and using bright, detailed colouring for a lurid, even gory effect.

I love the attention to detail paid to the skeletons and other innards. It contrasts quite nicely with the often cartoonish faces of the animals and the fact that many of them are typically quite cute creatures. I'd love to incorporate more of these detailed and gruesome elements into my own illustrations, since I also like working with vibrant colours and slightly darker themes.