Ta-daaaa!

Stretch and Scare

Hurray! The finished piece!

Basically we have a partonising safety video that also has a bit of propaganda towards the nazis. It also plays up to the aspect of how gullible and naive the public were in those days (believe it or not more so than now) by offering useless suggestions towards how to get rid of a monster. But hey, surely stretch and scare will frighten off a 50 foot monster!... Right?

As you can see, my animation doesn't play a HUGE role in it, just a cheesy cartoon mascot for the overall message. The rest of the animation was done by (director) Tom and Sam. Sam also did the video editing and sound work, along with (average) Tom. Yeah, we had a few Toms in our group.

This could also be considered my debut of voice acting! I voiced a little boy... now I know how Tara Strong and Nancy Cartwright feel!

There was supposed to be another video from another group but it was never shown. Maybe they never finished in time to present? Pity... my face was added to an olive in that one! Perhaps I'll upload and share my thoughts on it here if they every manage to complete it.

Well, thats pretty much it for the B Movie part of the project. It'll be idents next week... well for everyone else, I'll be in Tenerife... but if anyone in my future group is reading this, feel free to send me stuff on progress and I'll help in any way I can. I'll be taking my laptop with me and the villa has free wi-fi! As for right now I'll probably head home in a few, scan my passport and medical form to email to Dave for Pictoplasma purposes (yep, I'm going again!) and then collapse in a heap... till Mum drags me by the ear to continue packing.

Although I've just remembered... we were supposed to present our animation progress (remember my pigeons?) on monday and tuesday next week... bugger. Guess I'll have to email those as well. Better not deduct 10% off my final grade or heads will roll!

Premiere of the B Movies

It was such a glamorous ceremony. A bunch of adults buzzing off of caffeine in the computer room all gathered around the interactive board which would be the screen for our cinematic masterpieces. The directors were there, actors, animators, editors and so on, all there to see the fruits of their labour and everyone's reactions to it.

I was really looking forward to seeing everyone's final piece as I was curious about how everyone handled the project and their roles within said project. I know for a fact that everyone in my group had a role to play and would offer feedback to edits and so on. I'm really happy with how ours went. But before I get to our finished piece, I think I should show other groups as well as they are quite impressive.

 When Darkness Wakes

The first one is a horror movie trailer that is quite interesting. It seems normal enough at first, where Linsey is walking along the road. However, the ground starts to crack and the animation interacting with the real world really comes into play. I really like the 'darkness' and how it is portrayed, the shots were well thought out and the security cameras going out is very cleverly done. All in all, very creative.

The Page

The next video is also a horror movie trailer but plays more towards a humorous side. The villain is a piece of paper, The Page, that seems to enjoy tormenting and killing people. I have to admit I am intrigued about its motives. Revenge on animators for defacing its family and friends with drawings perhaps?

Everything works brilliantly; the music, voicework, animation and cuts, all working to make a creative B movie. Plus, I have a small role in the video! My acting days have not gone to waste!

And last but definitely not least, our own creation... which will go on a seperate blog entry. Won't upload to this one for some reason.

Almost there...

This title is quite accurate.

1. I've finished all of the main Underdog character models and only now need to fix their finished descriptions.

2. Stretch and Scare only needs to have the clips edited right and the sound arranged correctly. By then, it'll be complete!

We've all been especially busy on this project. And urgh, I for one am certainly starting to feel the burn. I haven't gotten my usual lie ins, I went in early on my day off... not to mention I accidentally left my laptop charger at home and so had to go aaaaaaall the way back home to fetch it and then aaaaaaall the way back to college. Spitting feathers isn't even the right term here.

But eh, no harm done, although it did cost me another return ticket.

Oh and I'm not the narrator of the animation anymore, we gave that role to Callum. Much better suited to it I think. Can't wait to see the final result of the video tomorrow.

Anyhow, I think if anything I should show you BF's new model for the character sheet. MUCH better than the old one and Brandon agreed when I sent it to him.

And now to collapse for the rest of the night and whinge about why there's no Baileys in the house. Or start packing for Tenerife where I will be heading with family on Saturday. Oh, I didn't mention that? Yeah, I'm going to Tenerife. I think the most thing I'm looking forward to about it is the fact that I won't need to get up at dawns ugly crack for a week. That'll be nice...

Cautiously Optimistic... Again...

Well I'm actually surprised at how fast I managed to get my sequences done. I forgot that a lot of my frames were duplicated and therefore in some cases I only needed to colour the one and copy/paste it to the appropriate frames so that cut the time in half.

And we had a group discussion today, deciding that the animated Timmy himself wouldn't always be seen but his voice would be so that means even less animation needing to be done. All that's really needed is the walk cycle and the narrator interaction, both of which I have completed. When I get home, I'm going to do some drawings that will fade into a 'stretch and scare' pose and also lineart mouth shapes that could be used for when the camera does see Timmy talking.

As of now, here are the fruits of my labour.

I'm feeling pretty damn good about this, especially after seeing the rest of the groups work. Tomorrow, we'll be editing and recording voices... my voices to be exact.

My apparently manly voices.

Which is either really good or really bad.

Getting There...

Here we have the basic background. It's not too detailed, just an outside area for Timmy to walk and whistle in.

And here's Timmy with a close up version of the background. It's so big so that I can move it as he walks in the sequence, as he'd be walking in place otherwise.

It's really starting to come together now. I'm hoping that I'll have it complete today, maybe even the Timmy and narrator interaction sequence.

*sees deadline looming* ... *gulps*

Snaps Complete, BF Under Construction.

Just finished Snaps' character sheet. Now to present you all with the finished coloured character model.

I had INTENDED to do BF after Ruby but every time I've sketched him out, it just hasn't looked right. I showed the design of BF to Brandon as I just wasn't happy with it. The main problems seem to be how I'm drawing his hair, which is too big, eyes, same problem, and snout which needs to be slimmer. I've included the design for me to look back on for development.

Now that I'm looking at him with fresh eyes after a few hours, the ears are also too sharp and his fgure has been drawn too feminine. He's slim but it looks like he's wearing girls jeans or something. Then again, that could just be how I drew the jeans. Either way, nuh uh. Not using this picture.

As you can see, its unfinished. At least here you can see a WIP, some of the lines being uncoloured and whatnot.

Anyway, that's my last entry of the day. Now to sleep so I can recharge and be just as productive tomorrow!

... *thud*

Timmy Meets Narrator Sequence Linearted!

... again, basically that.

I'm getting pretty lazy with my titles nowadays, aren't I.

Ah well. Now to (probably) work on more Underdog character sheets!

... probably.

Eek!

Anyone else think Timmy looks a bit possessed here?

He's in mid blink while turning around but I just can't get over how creepy he looks. Inbetween frames can be most fun!

Sprinkle of Ginger

... yeah, I don't know either.

What I DO know is that I've finished Ruby's and Ginger's character sheets as well as gotten started on BF's and Snaps'. I've made it a rule though not to upload the completed sheets until all four of the main cast as finished so in the meantime, this is Ginger in her featured pose.

Can't wait to see them all complete and together. They're looking pretty good so far. At least I think so.

As for the B Movie progress, I'm completely focusing on linearting and colouring tomorrow. I imagine I'll have everything done, with only lip syncing to do. That said, there might be something I'll need to do tomorrow after discussing things with my group. Watch this space...

Even More Timmy Related Things

Well, call me butter cos I'm on a roll!

After linearting the walk cycle, I decided to continue Timmy's reaction to the narrator's voice. It was still rough and I needed to darken the lines and determine whereabouts the facial features where, which I hope I've accomplished successfully. The people in my group seemed to be happy with it though.

As you can see, I've added more onto the end, with Timmy actually noticing the narrator, pointing to himself and listening to him. You'll also notice his mouth disappears. This is because Timmy will be speaking and I'm not going to start lip syncing until we've recorded the voice. Apparently I'm Timmy AND the narrator now. I don't know whether or not to be proud of the fact that I seem to have the most masculine voice despite being the only girl in the group. Neither does Dash.

But I digress. Here is the more refined sequence, yet to be linearted.

And I've even done a VERY basic sequence of the Stretch and Scare action which I intend to animate fully tomorrow. Til then, enjoy Blue from Dick Figures! ... or a rather pathetic lookalike.

And because the idea wouldn't leave my head, I whipped up a little poster advertising the Stretch and Scare technique. Spread the word, scare the... herd?

And finally I decided I just had to doodle something other than Timmy for the first time in a few days. I think I have ADD in terms of drawing, I can't only draw one thing all the time. So I decided to treat myself to a little doodle of Ruby. Well, it actually turned into a little shading experiment now that I think about it. But yeah, I'm quite happy with how this turned out and will be using it for when I finally work on the Underdog character sheets. Which will be soon.

So yep, all of this done in the one day! I've been quite the busy bee. So if you'll excuse me I'll probably go... stare at a wall for a while. Or draw some more. Whatever comes first.

Linearted Timmy

Basically what it says on the title. I've linearted Timmy's strut cycle and now it looks much more refined. At least in my opinion.

And now to colour it. Although I might actually sketch out the other frames first. Yeah, maybe I'll do that...

Triple Digits of YAY

Well look at that. 100 entries.

I should probably celebrate the blog lasting this long. I mean the biggest reason for this getting updated so often is because it's required to pass the course but that's only for the weekly Friday smart targets. Guess I have a lot to ramble about than I thought.

So here's Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie.

As well as this, I have more progress to share. I've tidied up Timmy's walk cycle, added in darker lines and facial features and for the most part I'm pleased with it. I think the face goes too slow when facing the camera and whips too quick when it faces the other side while strutting so I'll probably look into that and fix it before linearting in Illustrator.

This part of the animation will certainly get done by Sunday. The rest will be cake really, mostly reaction shots and adding in Timmy's mouth to lip sync. The next biggest thing would be the 'stretch and scare' part which I'll most likely work on next to get it out of the way. I'll see what the rest of the group think when I next see them.

I also want to do some more Underdog work, I've been playing about with some ideas in my head fr a while now, with characters and so forth. The week after next I'm actually going to Tenerife and while I offered to do any work I could for the next module, David told me to relax and enjoy myself, although I could work on a week long project or continue my pigeon work if necessary. He has told me to show some of the characters I have created in motion. Perhaps I'll do that...

Mug Shot

Forgot to upload this a few days ago. I felt like doing one of those exaggerated cartoon expressions and I was happy enough with it to use it as my Facebook picture. I was mainly inspired by the APPLE.MOV animation I linked here many entries back. I think I could have added more lines and wrinkles but it's not too shabby for a first attempt at the style.

Don't I look gorgeous?

Pixellation Nation!

... title, what?

Well basically, today we started the day by learning a little bit about pixellation. I had learnt a little about this before- basically stop motion using people and objects as puppets to create a movement or sequence that couldn't be achieved simply by filming. We watched a few animations to get a grasp of the concept. We looked a little but at Tom Thumb (which is apparently disturbing... I'll need to think about watching that one), Neighbours (which was quite amusing) and Food. The ways in which they created movement, be it conventional walking or random unrealistic actions were really interesting to watch and it really made you wonder how they could do that.

I especially liked all the creative movement in Neighbours by Norman McLaren so I'll share it here for future reference.

We were then put into groups and told to come up with a short animation of our own used in this manner. We made a quick spider diagram of ideas before all agreeing on the idea of musical chairs- we'd have people walk around the chairs then when someone was the last to sit down, the chair would disappear and the person would lie on the ground while everyone else kept playing the game. We did two attempts at this. The first went too quickly for us and we hadn't planned certain tings very well. I fell down too fast when it came to me loosing the chair for example. We watched it all back and decided to have another go.

This time, we shuffled around between the frames so it looked like we moved without moving our feet in the finished animations. We also had the chairs move rather than disappear and at the end, everyone came back on their chairs and started chanting and moving our arms up and down. I still don't know why we did that exactly but it was a good laugh!

We also wanted to add a bit of sound the the finished piece, some happy tune for the game, some atatic for when the chairs move around me and Connor and then some chanting for when we move our arms. However we didn't manage to get that completely polished in time to show the class but it has since been modified and now it's all ready to be shown to the world!

Presenting... Magical Chairs!

As for the B-Movie progress, still need to show people in my group my progress and finalise exactly what I need to do. I really want to get all of the sequences coloured in black and white by Tuesday at the very latest.

B-Movie Progress: Timmy's Walk and Reaction Line Tests

Spent the past few hours chundering through these line tests for Timmy's introduction to the movie. I followed the strut walk cycle from the example I posted on my blog yesterday to create a happy bouncy walk for little Timmy.

They're quite rough for now, I'm going to start working on the lineart and colouring for these two sequences. Once I finalise exactly what will happen for the rest of the animation, I intend to have everything complete for Sunday, Tuesday at the very latest.

Timmy's Walk/Strut/Swagger

Timmy's Reaction to the Narrator's Voice

I'm more or less happy with them and I'll show them to the group before I venture further into them. Want to make sure everyone is happy with them after all!

Progress So Far, Lip Syncing and Snaps' New Look

Still working on planning the animation and whatnot. So far in the groupwork, we have assigned everyone various tasks (for example I'm doing the 2D animation for the renamed Timmy) and now we're working on our individual storyboards and assets. And we assume the script is done, the person in charge of typing it up hasn't turned up to college yet. Looking back, we should have shared contact details such as mobile numbers and emails in case such a situation arose. Hey ho.

I do need it in order to complete my storyboards though, as I want to know exactly what is happening so I don't deviate too terribly far from what the rest of the group expects. I also want to get started on the line test, maybe have the whole opening sequence done for Friday. If I don't, I'll at least have Timmy's walk cycle down as I know for a fact him walking through the park whistling definitely happens. Most of the people in my group are worried that I won't get the work done in time and stress out.

They underestimate my power.

Anyway, as well as progress so far, I made this entry to leave a link I found so that I could come back to it when doing the lip syncing. I remember using this exact site when I was doing my extended project in sixth form. Brings back memories actually...

http://minyos.its.rmit.edu.au/aim/a_notes/anim_lipsync.html

This series of walk cycles by Preston Blair, which we used when we did walk cycles at the very start of the course (which I want to redo) will be useful for the cycle I will draw Timmy doing. I think I'll most likely do the strut as it looks proud and bouncy which I always have in my head for his walk.

Anyway, I always feel awkward if I make an entry without a picture I myself have done so here's a sketch of Snap's new look!

I've changed her design in a major way for a few reasons. One was that her half human/animal design was much too similar to a character of an artist I admire and I don't want to look like I'm copying. The other was because I wanted to make Ginger's family relatively big, good old Catholic Irish family... despite none of them being all that religious. So now she's Ginger's twin sister. I'd always wanted to create twin characters that, while they care for each other and have their similarities, also have their own independent aspects and thoughts.

The only thing that's really changed about Snaps is her look and that she wears pop socks rather than knee lengths now. Apart from that, same old really.

And now, back to sketching Timmy!

Cocktail Hour Poster

My very best friend Ellen, who goes to uni in Liverpool, is a DJ on LSRadio and has an hour show with her fellow DJs Scott and Dave. The show is known as the Cocktail Hour and it's a good laugh with good songs and plenty of banter.

I was in an experimental mood today after doing my character designs and as I'd just finished listening to her show, I decided to create a simplistic poster design for her. The picture they'd used on their Facebook page was a photo of various multiculoured cocktails as well as the reflections under them. I liked the effect and how the colours of the drinks stood out from the black so I tried to recreate that. I liked the idea of the drink being spilled, as if the sheer force of the music knocked the glass over.

I sent it to Ellen to get her opinion but I never actually expected her to use it! Safe to say I'm quite chuffed! Cheers Ellen, if you're reading this! Loving the show!

Oh and the 'Juice like Jagger' is half of a joke towards Ellen (she knows why. It involves Moves like jagger obviously) and... well, juice, cocktails, it all  works.

zzzzz... *snort* Oh! ... Oh Drat...

Well, remember all that work I'd planned on doing throughout the week off? All the Underdog character sheets, theory studying and finishing writing up the treatment? Yeah, never happened. Guess I needed more time to relax than I thought.

Oh well, stuff happens. Especially considering how hard I worked. We went back to college today and were given our results. I got 60% for both modules which I'm quite pleased with. I remember getting 70% at some point though. I hope I get to that level again...

Anyway, today we were given a new task so we could explore something different in animation. We were put into groups and told to create a one minute(ish) B-Movie of whatever we wanted and to make it as daft/serious/whatever as we liked, within reason. I was put in a group with a Sam and three Toms and together we came up with a safety video of what to do when the Nazi's create a monster that will try to kill everyone. Something of a nod to the safety videos of the 1940s: duck and cover defeats atomic bombs every time!

We've not set out to write individual scripts and share them with the group tomorrow. I also volunteered to create a little cartoon child that the narrator could talk to throughout the safety video. This is what I have so far and will show the group tomorrow.

I'm not entirely sure what to call him just yet. For some reason, Little Billy is sticking out in my mind but that seems like the generic child in a cheesey documentary/safety video/after school special name. Then again, that might work, considering the tone we're going for.

Now, I should really pull a short script out of my back end to share with my group tomorrow.

Underdogs: BF Colour and Lineart Experiment

After handing that workload in, I've been enjoying my time off so far. The weekend I just spend kicking back for a bit to recharge and now I'm back to developing some ideas which I hope to develop further as the week progresses.

I've started the treatment for the proposal and I'm just pondering how to voice what my animation gets across exactly. It says to be specific so there is no chance of misinterpretation as that can cause communication problems. I'm still pondering all of that. I'm hoping to have it finished by tomorrow so I can focus on more concept art including backgrounds and also study for my theory.

For today though, I was in the mood to do something with one of my Underdog sketches and so I decided to pick the BF one. As you can see, I've experimented a little bit with the lineart, making it that bit thinner than normal. I've also done a spot of cel shading, which I think really makes it pop much better. I'm willing to listen to any feedback and in fact encourage it. Best way to learn after all!

Currently in Snooze Mode

Today is Saturday, the day after I parted ways with my mountain load of module work. It's still hard to believe that all of the linetests, artwork and writing up (for the previous modules) are now done and I only really have to worry about my Proposal work for the animation all of next week. I think I'll crack down on that one afternoon and then focus on studying for my theory yest the rest of the time I'm off. I really want to be able to drive myself around, damnit.

And I've got another idea ready for a separate series to Underdogs which I'm contemplating working on to bulk up my portfolio and give me something other than pigeons to work with so that will be fun.

But more on that later. For now, here is a photo of all my work all finished and presented awesomely. Except for Tweak's character sheet and Green's elevation still not cut from the foamboard. Dave hadn't gotten back to them as he was helping other people in the class and he doesn't trust me going at them with the knife. Not that I'd cause myself any injury (well, I think I wouldn't) but because I made a right balls up of cutting up Lilac's board. Luckily Dave managed to make it much neater.

So there it is in a pretty formation. At least until Dave says "Emma, godamnit, you're not marked on presentation here, put them in a pile!"

Urgh fiiiiine.

Still looks pretty though. Ha!

Anyway, as you can see from the two photos, I've included a picture showing the blog address and title. If you've come here from seeing that, hello there! And seriously, it's cool to feed the fish. Provided you aren't at the college, they block them for being distracting. Making them STARVE. Think of the virtual fish!

Work All Done and Snaps says Hi!

I planned on being complete by Thursday with everything so I can just hand it in and sign it off on Friday. And I've achieved that.

And it's weird. I'm done with the project. Everything's covered from what I can tell, all printed out and put in files, all the animations burned to a disc, all of the elevations FINALLY printed out to be mounted on foam board tomorrow... it's just so unnatural that there is nothing to stress about the day before hand in. Everything is ready yet I'm still on guard. Guess I'm so used to cramming at the last minute with stuff despite how well I plan that I don't know how to react if I have time to spare.

Not that I'm complaining, I'm actually quite chuffed with myself.

My work is sitting at the end of my bed, five files containing separate sections of work: character skill development in writing, my colouring and linearting methods, all versions of the script, concept art and research. Quite a lot to show. I'm a bit hazy which goes into which module however, hopefully I'll have that cleared up tomorrow. I also have the blog title printed to show and the disc containing all the line tests.

And with all the character sheets and elevations being at college... mmyep, guess I'm done.

Awesome!

So to celebrate, I decided to colour that picture of Snaps (Thanks for the feedback Brandon!) that I showed you gius in the previous entry. It was quite fun choosing colours and patterns fr her clothes that just didn't match, it's something of a change for someone who likes to draw characters clothed colour co-ordinating.
And I hadn't drawn any Underdog characters using the lineless style for some time now so I decided why the heck not. I love using Illustrator for the lineart, it makes the edges look that much smoother.

It's still a little smudgy and I've missed colouring in small areas. I hate being sloppy yet I still have my moments where I am. Blah. Well, I was mainly colouring this because I'd run out of work to do and I was tired so yeah. Totally valid excuse.

That said, I really love how this came out. The pose is especially dynamic and it challenged me a bit. In fact, this while picture did, from the colours to the various contrasts to the character herself. I think Snaps is gonna be fun to work with.

Well, off I toddle! Next time you hear from me I'll have handed all this stuff in and be working on some Underdog stuff or doing whatever they sometimes give us over the week break. Or both. But I'll most likely be sleeping off my impending ailment. It's waiting to strike once I hand all my work in and the relief washes over me; I can feel it.

Dick.

Goodnight!