Halloween Doodles

Here are the unfinished Halloween/Autumn related pictures I promised.

I took the photo fuzzy for a reason, due to it being a WIP and whatnot. The characters as you can see are shaded and complete, its the background that's being the proverbial pain in the rear. Should have learned my lesson from my sketchbook cover.

So far I'm quite happy with it. I'll share more details about the picture and characters when I finally complete it. I've just been too ill/run down/working on pigeons to focus on much else.

And now for the uncoloured stuff.

Ginger as a 'Vampire Witch' (she always finds it hard to choose a costume this time ofyear so often just blends two together instead). I might still colour this on the computer, even if it'll now be late.

BF drinking tea! Which... isn't particularly spooky or Autumny or anything. But uh... he's wearing a jumper! An ORANGE jumper. At least it would be if I'd coloured it. Probably. Most likely not.
I haven't coloured him in orange before so maybe I'll try that.

Jerry (or Russell which is also being played about with in my mind. If anyone has a preference to hiis name, please let me know so I can settle this once and for all!) dressed as a chav and trick or treating. Don't worry, he won't do anything destructive, like smash your car in. I'd still give him some sweets just in case though.

Just a nice picture of Ruby walking. She's looking at leaves being blown through the air by the wind. I'm definitely gonna colour these at some point, depending whether or not I have the time and/or motivation.

And finally this one is just completely unrelated to Autumn and Halloween in general. I drew this dog-girl hybrid sometime ago and uploaded her to my blog but she's been through a few changes. Her name is now either Prism (due to the various colours she wears) or Snaps (a joke that works on two levels- nothing she wears ever matches and because she's best friends with Ginger- Ginger Snaps. Well, I thought it was funny). This one is definitely gonna be coloured although I might be a bit more experimental with this one.

So thats more or less it in terms of these doodles. Wish I'd gotten the coloured one finished, gutted that I didn;t but hey, no law saying I can't be late with it. Besides, I need to focus on my pigeon work the rest of the week due to hand in. I'll work more on these guys next week.

I hope you guys have had a good Halloween. We only had about six groups of kids come to the door. Not that I mind. More sweets and crisps for me!

... yeah, I just found this gif to be hilarious.

Pigeon Progress: Linetests Complete!

Well, I'm still looking at my workload and basically feeling like:

Pigeons:

Me:

BUT I have news of the good variety!

I have completed one line test for each character, finishing off with Green's cheeseburger dragging and eating shenanigans. I also managed to take the opportunity to do the pigeon head twitches and fast movements that they often do.

I intend to lineart all of the remaining tests but time might be against me at this point. If so, I will only select one out of the three to lineart. I do have evidence of lineart (Lilac) and coloured work (Blue) so at the very least I have something to cover all areas.

Also, I intended to colour some random stuff for halloween but haven't gotten around to much in terms of sketches. I've been working on a big coloured picture that I'll hopefully finish by tonight and then upload to here to show you. I've got some doodles I could share, although I wish I'd been able to finish them all for the occassion. Hey ho. At least I'll have the motivation to work on Christmas related art. That's always fun.

Til I show my doodles and art however, here is Lilo and Stitch to wish a happy Halloween and whatnot!

Pigeon Progress: Pink's Flying Cycle (rough)

I've been quite productive today, I'd like to think. I wasn't able to work on Pink's flying cycle yesterday, I've been feeling a tad run down and icky, which I blame on the seasons changing. Bastards.

However, today, I sent off my Pictoplasma Yeti and I've done the rough of Pink's flying cycle. I'm actually quite proud of it and I think it's my favourite one yet. Not perfect but the wings have turned out better than I was hoping. Hopefully they'll still look as good when I lineart the rough frames.

I did something different with this one than with  the other ones. As the body's movement wasn't any different throughout the sequence and the wings were the main things moving, I decided to put the body and wings on separate layers, only moving the body up and down as the wings flapped accordingly.

I've just realised that I haven't put up Tweak's sequence yet. Its not finished, I still need to tweak it (yes, they've had enough of that joke now) but the general point is how unhinged this pigeon is.

This one has definitely taken the most frames so far I think.

Tonight I hope to have Green's sequence rough complete by tonight. If so, I'll be further along than I thought!

Oh, and I actually forgot to upload this. The finished Spirit Day picture. Ginger being a friend and telling whoever is looking at the poster that there is always someone there to support them and that things will get better. The idea is for whoever sees the poster to feel comforted, especially if they can relate to the situation. Posters like that have always been my favourite.

Probably cheesy a bit but considering the topic matter, it will being someone comfort knowing that they are supported for who they are.

SMART Targets 28th October (with added Rio gifs)

Referring to my SMART targets of the previous week, I feel that I forgot to really make them all that specific. I have already done half of what I planned, namely linearting Lilac's puff cycle and sketch out Tweak's line test. I still need to perfect said line test, do tests for Pink (a flying one for him as he doesn't do much in terms of movement in the actual animation) and Green (dragging a cheeseburger onscreen and eating it) AND lineart all of those as well. I intended to have all of this done by Sunday and while I still hope to think that this deadline will be reached, there is the possibility that I will have to extend it by a few days. I had hoped to have at least the line tests done so I could buzz through the lineart and begin wrapping up all my written work for next Friday's deadline.

Best case scenario, I will have all the linetests and one lineart done by Sunday but as I have family down all weekend, there will most likely be some distraction for that not to become a reality. Not that I won't try my best to get all the work done, mind you.

I often don't like to set myself goals in this way, I'll be honest. I often just like to go with the flow and see what I get done first. However, I'm starting to see the benefits, namely if you manage to complete all your targets and even do more work than usual, you feel really ahead and it can be quite the stress killer and confidence boost. Hey, simple things.

Anyhow, onto my targets for the final week of this project!

S- Obviously as this is the final week I'll need to finish all the work. So I'll just mark off what still needs to be complete from today to next Friday... all line tests to be linearted, one per character and burned onto disc, writeup for this module complete, all three versions of the script printed, writeups for both this module and the last, have all character sheets and elevations printed and stuck on foam...card... thingy and probably something mentioning my blog so that I can show anything I might have potentially missed out in the writeup. After I have finished with my SMART here, I will make a time plan and fully decide what work I will complete at home and what I will complete at college.

M- I'll need to get cracking to get all of this done by next week. Not that I'm in any trouble in terms of time management but when a deadline approaches, there is that feeling of dread, starting to second guess everything and worry whether or not you've done enough work. Although that might just be me.

A- I'm sure this will be achievable with an effective time plan, shown below.

R- Mainly focus on this project rather than any spare time doodles for this week. I know I need to show variety in my work but this is a priority for now.

T- Possibly any inevitable freakouts I might have as the deadline approaches. But I don't think thats any different than anyone else.

Here is a completely irrelevant gif.

Time plan time!

Today

At home- As I will be doing mainly UCAS work at college today deciding where I will take my third year (preferably near home as the fees will be bad enough without learning expenses), I'll be doing my work when I get home today. What I intend to do at the very least is tweak Tweak's freak out sequence (hurrhurr, see what I did there) before starting Pink's flying cycle. Best case scenario I will have the latter tweaked and even line arted but I think thats being a tad optimistic. Still, I've been surprised before. Either way, the work I complete will be updated and added to my blog to show progress.

Saturday

At home- No choice but to do work at home today, being a weekend and all. Today I will complete the flying cycle and hopefully start on Green's dragging cheeseburger sequence. Again, if this isn't achieved, I will complete this on Sunday.

Sunday

At home- complete Green's sequence and shoot through the lineart. This is relatively quick to do and should only take till the end of Monday at the most.

Monday


At college- Ahh, at college again. Today if I haven't completed the lineart yet, it will be finished today. Then I will be able to focus fully on perfecting the writeup. I'll need to buy discs this week to put the line tests on.

At home- much of the same. Just breeze through and see what I get done. Maybe even do some Underdogs work if I feel like I'm ahead of schedule.


Tuesday


At college- Again, breeze through the writeup for this project if not completed yesterday. If it has been, I'll polish up the writing up for the previous project. I also think by this point, finalizing the final script should be a priority as well (duh).

At home- Again, much of the same. A good idea today would be to see if my printer has stopped acting like King Bastard and will actually print something out without smudging everything everywhere. Otherwise, I'll probably have to spend a lot of money printing out at college. Oh joy.


Wednesday


At college- More typing! What fun! Mainly of the previous project as I intend to have the writing up of the first one done by now.

At home- Continue writing up and burn line tests on a disc in preperation for hand in. Print out all of first project if it is complete (which it should be) if the printer is working. If not, go into college tomorrow and print out both projects together.


Thursday


(Optional) At college- as stated above, if not done already, go into college and print out work.

At home- basically making sure everything is organised and see if there is anything else to add in. I don't think there will be, especially if I can't print out work from home.


Friday


Hand in work and rejoice!

Pigeon Progress and Halloween Doodles

This week started out interesting. Interesting in that I came into college yesterday without the knowledge that it was a staff training day (thanks for the memo Dave! But yeah, not fair of me to keep on your case about it when I've already forgiven you. Cos I'm so nice and all) and so I basically just turned tail and headed home. Didn't get up to much pigeon-wise but I did do some character notes on Ruby and co. So... at least I was somewhat productive, even if it was on the wrong thing.

Oh, and I got to watch a boatload of Regular Show, Amazing World of Gumball and Spongebob. You know, for research.

As for today, I managed to get more done with my pigeon work. I made the tail fold in and meet Lilac's head when she puffed up. Here is the rough version.

Once that was tweaked to satisfaction, I linearted the frames in Illustrator and then reopened, copied and pasted them all into Photoshop to animate. I think the lineart itself has improved the movement. If that even makes sense.

Now I have completed two cycles/sequences of two characters. I am abandoning working further on Lilac's courting dance for the time being as I want to show the other characters movements in the project. Starting tomorrow, I will get cracking and hopefully have the rough linetests done by Sunday night.

As of right now, I'm home chilling and feeling in a kind of autumn/Halloween kind of mood. Before I knew it, I doodled Ruby as a Rabid werewolf or something. Could be her costume for this year, she's never been terribly inventive in that area. She'd just tear some old clothes up a bit and use whipped cream as froth.

I think I'll draw more of these, they're quite fun.

I'm considering calling my comic Underdogs... namely due to the mainly canine main cast. Not sure if its too cliche though. I think I'll dwell on it for a while. Has a nice ring to it though...

OHSHI-

Well, I did begin some artwork for my own personal characters BUT nothing pigeon related. So technically yes:

Looks like I'll need to crank up the pigeon work to make up for it this week! I intend to do sequences for Green, Pink and Tweak all of next week so I'll be a busy bee. Again.

SMART Targets 21st October

No witty/whimsical title today. Just straight and to the point. Mainly because I already updated my blog with the progress I'd managed to achieve throughout the week. I didn't manage to finish everything I wanted to do but I have more ideas for line tests that I'll get started on this weekend, provided I wake up before lunchtime for once, otherwise I just lose any focused motivation.

So on that note, onto the targets!

S- I intend specifically to work on more line tests this week, as well as get cracking on my written work which I have sadly neglected (although I generally leave that till last minute anyway due to how I can just blast through it but regardless I should probably touch up a few things). I also need to finalise my final script, which isn't terribly different from the second draft but still has some significant changes. I really should get cracking on animating Jerry as well. I need to do more practice drawings of him as he's still a relatively new character and I'm not all that used to drawing him yet.

M- Again, I hope to have at least two new line tests, Lilac's finished coloured puff cycle, Jerry expression animation and final script done by this time next week.

A- I hope these goals are more achievable as I wasn't able to get as much work done as I thought last week. I also want to leave time to fill my new sketchbook that will feature work I've done in my spare time, in order to show more variety in my work.

R- I should hopefully get this work finished, provided that I do a little bit of college work every day rathe than take a day off. I need to realise time does not entitle me to such a luxury nowadays!

T- Again, the main threat will be procrastination, which a lot of people deal with. I just need to remember that the feeling of satisfaction I get from finishing something I planned to work on is much more satisfying than lazing around.

As well as college work, I want to draw a Breast Cancer awareness poster as well as a Halloween themed piece in my spare time. As well as more Autumn themed pieces. Because lets face it, Autumn is an artist's dream. So many colours...

Maybe an Autumn themed blog title image... I mean I've had the current one up for over a month now and as amusing as it is to see me kick the title over, its always fun to have something new. Maybe I'll put that as the title when I'm stressed or bored or something.

As for now however, I'm going to tidy up my Yeti and Ginger pieces on my previous update before group critique (if mine is scheduled for today). I seemed to colour out the lines without noticing. Shoddy. Shoddy I say!

Been a Busy Bee!

Safe to say this week, I have indeed managed to do quite a bit. Not as much as I would have liked in terms of my original plan but I'll go into more detail in tomorrow's SMART update.

For now, I will share the work I have managed to do and then some.

This isn't finished as I want to tweak a few things, namely Lilac's tail raising up as she puffs up, and it also needs to be coloured. However, it is definitely on the right track I believe.

I didn't get far into Lilac's courting dance, just managed to do the foot movements, which needs to be tweaked also. However it's a good start.

And I also coloured my yeti. Still having some problems with resizing making the lines pixelated so I'll need to do something about that. Still, he is adorable regardless.

And now onto some non college related artings. I'm not sure how many people are aware of Spirit Day, a day that spreads awareness of bullying towards LGBT people in particular and remembrance of those who have been killed or taken their own lives because of who they are. Basically I wanted to do something for the day in my own useless way. The poster isn't finished yet but it does involve my favourite Irish Setter.

Once I finish the poster, I'll maybe show it to you all.

And finally, my opening image in my new sketchbook. I'd been afraid to draw in this baby as it's simply gorgeous. This sketchbook is huge AND hardback, basically my dream sketchbook. But I finally got over myself and drew a nice autumn themed piece for the first page. I think my more refined pieces will be drawn in here rather than experimental stuff. Not sure though.

Anyway, I think thats about everything. I better go to sleep now before Mum decides to force sleep upon me... with a baseball bat.

Goodnight!

Yeti Design Take 2

I decided to redo my yeti last week. Because I decided the old one sucked.

Seems much more lively and adorable, I think. I wanted to make him look more cartoony and adorable. And I'm a sucker for the pie eyes.
Hopefully I'll get around to colouring this soon.

She's not bad...

She was just laid that way.

... wait, that sounds bad. Then again, this IS Jessica pigeon we're talking about!

Yeah, ever since I made the comparison between the pouter pigeons and Jessica Rabbit, this wouldn't leave my head. And as I've completed my puffball Lilac line test and her foot movements in her courting dance, I figured I'd earned something of a break.

I may or may not colour this...

Cluster of Frames

As you can see, I'm starting to use Photoshop to animate, rather than Jasc Animation Shop. For a long time now I had been struggling to use Photoshop as an animation program. Up until now it hadn't agreed with me. However, thanks to some very patient friends, I seem to have finally come to grips with it.

I figured I should considering that no potential jobs would use the animation program I'd been using previously. Not to mention I'd have to convert the finished animation a dozen times before it became playable on a Mac. Doing it this way proves to be much less stressful.

And makes for some trippy pictures like this.

Pigeon Progress: Cos You Haven't Had Enough Of These Already...

I have reviewed my Blue walk cycle and for the most part, I am happy with it. I think I need to change the head bobbing a bit however. In the cycle, the head only bobs forward when one foot goes forward, never the other. Pigeon's walk movements are fast and the head bobbing is too slow due to not bobbing forward every time both her feet step forward. Dave disagrees with me, thinking this will be too fast but after reviewing various pigeon videos and looking at pigeons while walking to and from college every day (not to mention the pigeons that eat all the bird food in my garden) and I think its worth experimenting at the very least. I'll save it until I've done a few more line tests however.

Leading onto my latest progress. Yesterday I got started on Lilac's rage puff line test. Basically, I wanted her feathers to fluff up with rage before her chest puffs out intimidatingly. Unfortunately my laptop ran out of battery and I wasn't able to find a working plug anywhere so I wasn't able to do much except do the key frames and an inbetween or two but I got the basic gist of the action across.

So far so good and it's not quite finished yet. Which is lucky because I went onto YouTube and out of curiosity searched for a pigeon puffing up (which would have been logical to have done before now but come on, you're giving me too much credit here), leading me to this hilarious gem. I wasn't sure how far to puff out the chest, either to emphasis it for comedic value or whether that would stretch the bounds of reality that bit too much. Upon seeing this however, I don't think I have much to worry about now.

Good lord. I don't think I've laughed so hard at a pigeon in my life. And I've seen THESE.

The animal lover in me has pity for the pigeon. The heartless sod in me is greatly amused however. Rainbow wings, whut? Besides, it doesn't seem to be bugging him too much. Better not anyway.

I rejected the idea of the Tommy pigeon character for the animation (apparently they're called Pouter pigeons? I think I'll have to look deeper into that) due to having too many characters already. However, maybe as something to add in my portfolio, I'll design one. I mean come on, look at these things and tell me you don't want to draw them/ They're the male equivalent of Jessica Rabbit... for pigeons!

And this would probably be Lilac if she were a pouter and a male. Kind of a funny concept. Gender bended pigeons...

Say what you want about pigeons, you can't deny that they're hilarious.

Anyhow, upon looking at the first video, I've determined that I need to add maybe a couple more frames at the end, puffing her chest out to the max. Her head needs to also touch her back and her beak pressed into her chest. Maybe have her run offscreen too, after an unknown victim. *coughGreencough*

Certainly a lot to think about. now, I believe I will go back to laughing at the first video before continuing my line test. As any normal(ish) person would do.

Obligatory Friday Update (with added SMART)

Haha, never mind then, I suppose you'd need to go home to feed my fish as they're blocked at college. If you care that much!

Anyway, today we have the obligatory blog entry where we have to reflect on the stuff we've done this week. However, I think I've kind of already done this in my previous entries this week. Curse my pro-activeness! It always leaves me with nothing to say every Friday! Still, I am being assessed, especially on the weekly entries so I better think of something to say. David is currently telling us to make SMART targets which will help us plan and help him assess our work. Sounds fair.

I think I'll start with a little bit of reflection. This week, I managed to sketch, lineart and colour my walk cycle. I have also created a design for my Pictoplasma monster, which I have yet to lineart and colour, however we have been told that we will do more about that today. I got inspired to animate expressions of my dog/koala (which I am considering naming Jerry, jury's still out on that) and finally, I took the chance to upload work I have done in my spare time, traditional colouring experiments and also explored potential story arcs and their own individual personalities and insecurities, which I believe makes a character truly come to life.

Onto my SMART targets for next week:

S- I will complete two more line tests next week- Lilac puffing up her chest to look intimidating and also another of her doing her courting dance. As a side project, I will work on a small animation of Jerry's expressions.

M- I am planning to have these done this time next week. However, if I have the time, I will do another cycle involving either Pink, Green or Tweak. Otherwise, I'll work on them next week.

A- It is hard to be specific with my goals as I feel much more pressured to achieve them. I've never had many problems with deadlines as long as they're set by other people. Not sure how that works. However, that said, I do work incredibly fast and therefore I believe that I should be able to get three line tests done at most, provided I don't colour them. If I do, it would take at least a couple of extra days.

R- As I said before, I work fast so I don't believe that I'll struggle too much with this. As far as relevance to any of my other work, such as showing work I do in my spare time, I believe this shows variety in my work, allows me to loosen up and stops me from going stir crazy from drawing pigeons all the darn time. It also gives me the chance to explore the individual characters in detail, their personalities, likes, dislikes, better qualities, flaws and so on. And I just love doing that. It's been a great help to me, especially with my pigeon characters.

T- I'm planning on a week to do at least two linearts. If I get the chance to do Jerry's expressions, that will be great (and give me a break from animating pigeons). As far as threats go, I don't think there are many, if any at all. If anything, it would be procrastination but even then I'm always able to get things done.
Provided my computer doesn't freak out like Ashleigh's did.

So yeah I think thats pretty much everything relevant for the time being. Nothing too insightful this time. In that case, I will end this entry by bragging about THE LION KING 3D AND HOW I WILL BE SEEING IT IN A FEW HOURS. SUCKAS.

... you know. For research!

Trust Issues. Also I Have Fish Now.

While I was off the past few days, I decided to colour a few more things traditionally, after finishing my walk cycle of course. This image was one I was hmming and hawing over colouring before deciding eh, why the hell not. Besides, in the original sketch, Ruby looked too angry when I wanted her to look nervous.

Anyway, I'll bore you all with a bit of backstory. Ruby had been deeply burned by someone she considered a very true and close friend (ahh school days...) and so has basically only trusted BF up until meeting Ginger when they went up to High School. Ginger doesn't give Ruby any real reason to be suspicious. In fact, she is very kind and friendly, despite her outgoing nature and popularity. However, the story arc (should I ever write and draw the damn thing) really explores Ruby's insecurity towards letting people in, so to speak. She is never noticeably insecure (this picture is a representation of their emotions more than anything else) but I definitely want to show how when we get older and meet new people, we tend to keep them at arms length and not really share every part of us the way we would when we were young children. Once bitten, twice shy after all.
They do become extremely close friends later on, this story would most likely be in a flashback, explaining why Ruby is the way she is. Still pondering over that.

Anyway, sorry for that text wall of absolute philosophical tomfoolery there. As you can see, I think very deeply when it comes to my characters. In other news, I want to do a line test of Lilac puffing up from her slim form to a full king pigeon stature. And possibly Green shrinking within himself and running away from her. I'm also considering what I'm gonna make my dog/koala hybrid do in his line test. I might explore emotions with him as his face can my much more expressive in comparison to my pigeon characters.
I also still need to talk to Dave about my yeti. And I still need to print out my last three elevations which I should have done weeks ago.

There truly is no rest for the wicked. OH BEFORE I FORGET. Scroll right down to the bottom of my blog. You will see multicoloured fish. You will go wtf. And wonder how and why I did this. And you will amuse yourself by moving your cursor around and making the fish follow you. If you click, you can feed them. Feel free to do so. I need them nice and fat for them I cook 'em.

Also, guess what I'm seeing tomorrow.

Fecky Leg Muscles May Affect Attendance...

But NOT productivity! Yeah, my leg muscles got the better of me today. However, they don't affect my hands now, do they? Mwahaha...

So I managed to get the frames coloured, inbetweened and animated today. Now you can see Blue swag like a BOSS.

I'll probably end up having to put this on YouTube or make the cycle a bit longer. I'll just put it up this way for now and change it if I have to.

As faras the animation goes, I'm much happier with the feet and head bob overall. I'm uncertain about the filter, it seems to be moving about. Personally I think it adds something but it could distract from the audience. I suppose it could be feathers ruffling but that could also be pushing it. We'll see on that front.

I also saw this when I was mindlessly browsing to rest my brain. Even if you don't like ponies, it'll still make you laugh. And hey, 2001 references are always epic!

Don't be talkin' smack 'bout mah sandals, yo.

I decided to colour it traditionally. However, I have a copy of the sketch so I can digitally colour it if I ever want to.
Now with added sandals.

The sandals are actually there because I accidentally inked the underside of Ruby's foot wrong, making it look too big. So I just decided "Meh, screw it," and gave her sandals. She does occasionally wear shoes so it's not terribly out of character. And we could say that BF was mocking her footwear, leading her to poke him in the chest and mock stuff he's ever worn. So yeah, there's a point to this picture now!

Kind of.

In terms of pigeon related work, I only need to do a couple more inbetweening frames before its perfect. Well, perfect considering how hard it is to make the feet and head bobbing compatible with each other. Today I settled on running the animation on 10 fps (frames per second to those not in the know) after showing Dave what I'd done. I actually have four versions of the same walk cycle, all of which have different frame rates. And all of which will be burned on the disc to show development apparently.

Some Non Pigeon Related Stuff

... with added pigeon!

Haha, no but seriously, I figured it was about time I shared something other than my pigeon progress. I do draw other stuff in my spare time but have been focusing on those feathered blighters too much to really share it. So I figured why not now.

Although I should explain the little bit of pigeon work I got done today...

Everyone:

I know, I know but this IS primarily a blog to show my college project. SO. Zip plz.

Honestly, not much to say. I get started on the line tests today and figured what would be a better line test than a walk cycle. So I got four frames done, the less frames make the quickest movements, as pigeons heads and feet normally move very fast. However it seems a bit jerky, which is what I was afraid of. I think I'll need to add a couple more frames in to be sure and made the movement that bit more fluid.

... SEE? Was THAT so bad?

I also need to consider entering live briefs, contests and so on so that I can get my work out there, build up my portfolio and basically have something to write or talk about artwise that isn't a project I made up on my own. David encouraged me to design a yeti for the Pictoplasma contest. It was basically how the artist themselves saw the yeti, yet still keeping them friendly. Mine seems to want cuddles. Gives them to him.

I'm still touching him up in Illustrator and Photoshop and I need to talk to Dave about a few things, such as how to resize the pic without effing it up.
Dave was also impressed with a character I've been doodling for the past few days. He's a new one and I'm not certain of his name yet, although I'm considering going with Jerry. He's a Irish Setter/Koala mix. I very much like to blend different species together.

The majority of these are rough sketches. Although I'm sure you don't mind that too much.

But yes, Dave wants me to create a line test of this little guy as well, just for something not pigeon related to put in the ol' portfolio. Fair dos!

This was basically an experiment with traditional colouring, as I haven't done that in so long. Didn't turn out too bad actually! I used crayola coloured pencils and Bic Mark It Markers. And a pencil. And a fineliner pen to lineart.
I also wanted to draw a pic of BF having fun with his photography hobby. He certainly liked wearing Hawaiian shirts when he was younger. Still occasionally does (they're kind of fun to draw).

Anyway, not onto various sketches that will either be coloured or not!

This will get coloured on the computer methinks. Although that said, I might do it traditional, just because I really liked how the above experiment turned out. I suppose I'll have to ponder on that. Anyway, Ruby is basically mock-bitching at BF for trolling her and he's all BF in his BFness. Smug git.

This is quite an interesting pic because it represents Ruby and Ginger's earlier relationship. Long story short, Ruby had trust issues with letting people become close to her so Ginger's openness and keenness to get to know her kind of rattled her. She's also kind of shy whereas Ginger is quite sociable and popular, which peaked her suspicions. They get along like a house on fire now but I think its an interesting stepping stone in terms of developing a friendship.

Might redraw this pic, uncertain about colouring it just yet.

Ahh, now I've had fun drawing these two. Ginger and GG (kind of an inside joke with Brandon, long story XD)'s first meeting. Some dick in the hockey team would knock him down and Ginger would immediately run to help him. While friends with many superficial people, she doesn't have it in herself to be mean to anyone. GG has a tendency to develop a crush on any girl that shows kindness to him. However once he meets Ginger, she becomes his one and only. Haters to the left, yo.
I'll probably colour this one on the computer, background and all.

Here is an earlier pic of them I did when I was stranded in Minneapolis over a month ago. They're co-workers, hence the same shirts XD GG always looks swamped in anything he wears. He was the runt of the litter.

And now its off to bed with Emma. Nighty night, everyone.

Contemporary Character Design Notes

As we end another week, I think it will be better if I get my research out of the way now rather than work on it later after the line tests. Its not unusual for me to leave developing my research for last as I can normally zip through all my typing and written work- the drawing requires the most attention I find. That said, I think it will be helpful for me if I have detailed notes that will make me get my written up work done even quicker.

What my research needs to revolve around is contemporary character designs and animations, how both have been done and what they bring to the story. While contemporary means recent and trendy character designs, Dave thinks it will be more helpful to consider the animations that are less well known. Obviously, even though they are more obscure and less known, I suppose Dave means contemporary in the way that most animators have adapted to such a style.

Well, when considering such work, I always turn to the many animations that I saw when I was in Berlin at Pictoplasma (man, I so hope I can go again this year...). A few days ago, we had a small recap on a couple of animations that used simplistic or contemporary character designs that the animator found smiple to animate or people would relate their design to something similar. I think it's best to start there.

BIRDBOY- Pedro Rivero and Alberto Vazquez

I didn't catch much of this animation, was late to the festival for some reason I can't remember. But what I did see, I really liked. The piece itself is subtitled but the emotion was still there. The animation was about the stigma that Birdboy seems to suffer and the little mouse girl that is there for him. I wasn't able to find the full animation anywhere sadly but this trailer is nice enough to show.

Apparently the animation started cheerful and bright until the mouse family caused an explosion that created the dark world shown in the animation. Birdboy is one of the few survivors of said explosion and often suffers stigma due to rumours spread about him.

I like the way the backgrounds and characters are coloured. They look almost like illustrations one might find in a childrens book yet at the same time, there is an eerie, twisted and somewhat depressing tone to it, which defies the conventions used for such a style. That alone interests me.

WISDOM TEETH- Don Hertzfeldt

Now this animation I remember quite vividly. What I think got everyone the most was that there were basically stick figures yet you would still cringe at the sound of the stitches being pulled out for something along the lines of two and a half minutes straight and at the marker drawn blood doing down the figures body, You don't even know these character's names and yet you just can't help but relate to them... kind of. 

The animation seems to be done traditionally, using just markers. At least until the hallucination scenes when the stick guy has the baby in his mouth.

GIANT- Celine and Yann

Giant Episode 2 Sun from Celine&Yann on Vimeo.

I never caught these at Pictoplasma but managed to finally see them a few days ago. I really enjoyed the design of the characters and I loved how the animators brought things like the sun, clouds and moon to life in their work and had them convey emotion and wonder (the cloud crying rain, the moon bringing back the balloon and the sun making the city wake up and make noise when it comes out of its hiding place). All of the animations end in a somewhat humorous and destructive way. I particularly liked the one of the sun, especially when it tries to rebuild the city it had a help in destroying.

GLUKO AND LENNON- Punga

Gluko & Lennon ENG from Gluko & Lennon on Vimeo.

I've definitely mentioned this one on my blog before, comparing the two main characters to Spongebob and Patrick. Lets be honest, but those two pairs in a room, it would be F.U.N at first sight. But I digress. I loved this animation. The bright colours, general happiness and the fun of everything really raised a smile from everyone in the room. I could use a smile right now so I'll probably end up watching this once I've finished the blog entry...

Oh and the characters, while looking 2D, were actually done in a 3D way. As I'm avoiding 3D like the plague, this probably isn't the route I would take for my own work. However, this style is very contemporary and enjoyable to watch.

DOOMED- Guillermo Garcia Carsi

Doomed - English Trailer from El Señor Studio on Vimeo.

Sadly I wasn't able to find the full animation so this trailer will have to do. I'll hunt for it and link it if I ever find it.

This will definitely be a big inspiration to me in terms of how narration has been used in animation. In this instance, it is used because these characters don't exist in real life and so the absurdity of these character designs (especially the hedgehogs with the inward spikes) add to the humour, especially when they seem to defy logic and go against their will for life. Hence, Doomed.

To justify my own decision to narrate my animation, it is mainly something of a spoof of documentaries like Meerkat Manor (the title I am considering is also a parody- Pigeon Planet) how pigeons can be relatively mundane and seen in everyday life, often as a nuisance. I don't think I've seen a pigeon documentary done before. If I find one, I'll study it and link it to the blog. Its basically mainly to give a documentary about pigeons a, most likely undeserved, sense of elegance and prestige that one would get from the meerkat documentary.

The humour of the c=documentary is my main source of reference here, as I will not be using unusual characters or working in 3D. I do however find the designs enjoyable.

Also, I met the animator in Berlin and he drew me a cubefish. I was so happy... I'll put a pic up later.

THE UNDERWEAR RULE- Punga

Made by those geniuses who did Gluko and Lennon, they were commissioned by the Council of Europe to create an animation about teaching kids not to fall victim to sexual abuse. Considering the subject matter, it is handled in a very light matter, portraying the child as a cute green thing wearing underpants and the pervy adult is represented by the hand. I like how they handled this subject in a way that will get the childs attention and have them listen and adapt the rule to their life and keep them safe.

Again, it has been done in 3D but the simplistic design and indeed the representation of the hand are quite clever. It shows that we don't have to always use a detailed human being to get the point across.

ON MELONCHOLY HILL- Jamie Hewlett and Pete Candeland

Sung by Gorillaz

This animation I was surprised yet delighted to see. One of my favourite songs and an amazing music video to boot. Wonderful! They seem to combine characters that look traditional to a 3D landscape, which to me would be really difficult to pull off. I find it really wonderful to look at though and I have always really admired how the character designers and animators bring the musicians to life through animation.

LOGORAMA- Ludovic Houplain, Francois Alaux, Herve de Crecy

Logorama from Marc Altshuler - Human Music on Vimeo.

This one was just such a scream. I thought it was amazing how they took pretty much every logo and mascot in existence (more or less) and applied them into buildings, bikes, cars, characters and at the end planets. It especially tickled me that not only was Ronald McDonald the bad guy but what tripped him over was the huge weightwatchers sign being the cause of Ronald falling into the crack in the road. I smell ironyyyyy!

I don't think I would apply any techniques of this to my work as again it looks 3D which isn't what I want to achieve for my project. However, I had to link this here because... come on. Soooo many puns and so much irony.
I couldn't decide what picture to use for this one so... here's a lot of them.

DADDY'S LITTLE DOLL- Paulo Muppet and Luciana Eguti

Daddy's Little Doll from Birdo Studio on Vimeo.

I just found this absolutely adorable. However I will admit, this doesn't relate to the project I am doing currently. When I draw, I often try to draw in such old time speghetti limbs. I just find something so fluid and enchanting to them. Its something of a reference to my usual work I suppose.

BEAR UNTITLED- Christen Bach

OK, this one I'm not using as a reference to character design, I've just been looking for it for months and finally found it after seeing it at Pictoplasma. it's just so... absurd. A relationship between a hunter and a bear. That can only raise many many questions.

I liked the 8 bit graphic animation style, I have a fondness for such graphics. And the voices sound like they've used Microsoft Sam or whatever they're calling him these days.

MEERKOVO- Darren Walsh

Compare the Market/Meerkat

... yeah, I'm not using this as reference in any way. I just absolutely adore these meerkats. They're realistic looking (despite the whole clothes wearing thing) and just adorable overall. Like my pigeons! It relates! Simples!

I do have more that I want to share but I think I should probably save them for another blog, otherwise I'll have nothing to write about for another blog entry. I can blather on sometimes.

Next research blog, I'll reference a couple more animations I saw AND mention some more mainstream things that I find inspirational as well. So yeah, look forward to that.

Pip pip, cheerio!