Honestly, I feel like I am. I mean, I update this darn thing more than I really have to if you think about it. But I can't help it. There's always something new I find that I want to share or something I want to talk about (either art based or me based of course), although I suppose I could show a little bit of restraint. But I have grown to love this little bloggy wogg of mine.
I just wish it would let me sleep some nights though. Then again, it doesn't make all that much of a mess. Not often anyway.
Anyway, as far as my work goes, I'm... yeah, again, didn't meet the targets. Man, I've been sucking hardcore lately. I do have a legit excuse though; one much better than "The sun was shining and I couldn't be arsed". My driving test is coming up and obviously I want to pass so I've been tootling about in Yaddick (my darling little broom broom) quite a bit. I did manage to do one character design and a bit of the scene so... at least I didn't fail totally? Always helps to be positive methinks.
Basically I'm gonna try and find a way to juggle all this nonsense, working on the portfolio, finishing the animation, passing my driving test... I think I'll have to come back to a structured plan later. SMART targets take time that I don't have right now so I'll probably update with that later.
Onto other news. Yesterday we had a meeting for the folks going to Berlin for Pictoplasma. Yep, I'm going again! I really can't wait, it's gonna be amazing... although I don't think the travelling at 2am thing will be as much fun. Yuck. AM times should not have a single digit number. It's just plain wrong. The fact that I'm awake to attend college at these times is nothing short of remarkable.
But I digress. It looks like it's gonna be a fun trip again this year! Once again there will be the character walk and seeing all the screenings and just looking around Berlin and general... I think I'm gonna buy a sketchbook for myself to celebrate the occasion and fill it up with my sketches while I'm there. The Berlin Book it shall be called.
I also need to figure out what I'm going to do in final show as well, how everything is going to be presented. But for now I've got to sort out PPD stuff, basically stuff talking about career choices, college options, contests, CV and all that good stuff. And then after that I'll be off to the pictures with Rachel, Ashleigh and Zoe to see Pirates in an Adventure with Scientists. What a nice way to start off the Easter holidays that I didn't know we were having!
Remember when I went to Liverpool to see my friend Ellen and be on her radio show? You know, the one that I design the posters for? No? Well here's your chance to re-remember!
Its a little over an hour so I'd set aside some time if you're interested enough to hear it. I had a good time being on the show and so I figured I'd put this here to remember it always. Not to whore myself out in any way. Nope. Nuh uh. No way.
Yet another animation analysis video from the guy that did all the other ones. I'm really learning a lot from these I have to say. This one seems to really rely and benefit on the techniques used in Flash, which I've been considering learning to use. Always good to gain skills in as many programs as possible!
Just coloured one of my sketches, specifically the Ruby chibi. I hadn't actually coloured any of my chibis before so I was curious how they'd look. I'm happy with it, I think.
Wun, Wooby, wun!
... yeah, chibi Ruby's name is Wooby. It's cute, big whoop, wanna fight about it?
I'm going to take a break from the norm for a moment here as I feel I couldn't call myself a fan of his work if I didn't.
If you remember my Portfolio and Show Reel analysis entry a couple of weeks back, you'll remember that I mentioned the work of Edd Gould. I have been a fan for over a year now, having been introduced to his animations and art by a friend of mine after joining this course. Ever since, I subscribed to his youtube channel, facebook, deviantArt, twitter... it was safe to say I was very impressed with the fun, wacky nature of his work. His Eddsworld cartoons still make me laugh to this day.
I was also introduced through this channel to work from his friends that also brings a smile to my face every time I watch them. It was good to see that even if I had a bad day I had places on the internet to go to see something hilarious, random and cheerful to make the day seem a little better.
Last year, Edd was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia for the second time in his life but kept himself and all of his friends and fans in high spirits, even finishing the second part of a two parter while going through treatment, as well as helping his friends work on their own pieces. We were all optimistic that he would kick cancers ass once again.
Then last night, this was uploaded to his channel.
To say I was devastated was nothing short of an understatement. I know this sounds absolutely insane as I'd never met or spoken to him but his sense of humour and upbeat personality really shone in his work and really made me feel so much better when I needed a pick me up. How he and his friends interacted, how he animated, it was all stuff to take on board and adapt to my own work to make it even a little bit as fun as his. It's devastating to think that such a kind and funny person is no longer with us.
But, if you'll pardon me for getting a bit emotional here, he's not really gone. Not really. Sure, he's not here able to bring us videos by his own hands but he left behind a world that, even if it doesn't continue further than the two parter mentioned in the above video, will bring the same uplifted feelings they always brought us. And I think that's what Edd would have wanted. I'm only guessing here, I never knew him but if he turned down work chances and tv show opportunities just to keep working on the cartoons for his fans then I believe he'd want us to remember him for how he's bring a smile, no matter how fleeting, during a bad day.
And that's what I hope to do in my work. Even if its animation or comics or whatever, I want to make someones day a bit better, even if it's just for a little while. Edd and his friends have made me consider how I can use my art to do that and I think it's helping me look at things a bit differently from now on. Now to get a bit better at animating first. I don't want to make a COMPLETE arse of myself after all.
Before that though, I want to just leave some links and videos here showing some of my favourites that Edd has done. Hopefully they'll amuse you as much as they amuse me.
... and believe it or not, there are more. I figured I should probably stop now before I uploaded his entire channel up here. I'll finish with a few links to his various sites. Although I won't link his actual Eddsworld site, apparently there's a malware thing-a-ma-jigger on it. But here's some stuff for you all to have a gander at. Whatever a gander is.
Oddly enough I'm feeling much better after doing this entry. It's actually fueling my desire to make an inspirations page for the blog where I can talk about people I find inspiring and give others the chance to see their work and why I admire them so. Yeah, that's what I'll do...
"Edd may be gone but his world will keep spinning."
~Tomska
Godspeed Edd. At least there isn't a chance of you suffering through a future without cola. And my heart goes out to his friends and family at this difficult time.
It is! Hello, old friend! Feel free to stop by more often!
... well ok, maybe I'm being a bit hard on myself. I mean it's not as if I just sit on my arse and do nothing but go on the internet or Xbox all day. Well, not very often anyway. But while I've been focusing on the portfolio and blog I feel that my work on Crumbs has been wavering ever so slightly due to too much development and not enough actual animating.
Well, that's changed today. I've got cracking on the sequence where Lilac shoves Green to the ground. I'm going to tweak-
Eagles?
No, not you. Piss off.
I'm going to CHANGE a few things, maybe give Green a bit more dialogue in this sequence but other than that it'll stay close to the animatic. Just gonna leave a little screenshot of the animation here...
Damn, woman, what have I done now?
As well as this, Dave came to all of us individually to discuss our progress, where we were up to, what deadlines we had to meet and whatnot. He seemed to think I should cut myself a break saying that I'm making more progress and effort than I give myself credit for, crossing out the 4s I gave myself on the sheet and replacing them with 5. Well, I ain't gonna complain!
Here's the self assessment sheet thing-a-ma-jigger where I mention what I've done since the last assessment (which I don't remember... derp), what's going well and what can be improved. Then Dave and I made a note of what we need to have finished by what date. This is mainly a file with written work about what careers I would like to follow, how my UCAS application went, research of the courses and colleges I applied to, research of the festivals I want to enter my final piece in, live briefs I might like to do, opportunities I'd like to follow and companies that interest me, that type of thing. I still want to do the toy thing... maybe I'll even... *gulp*... attempt to do 3D again.
... oh God, I just felt a horrible shiver up my spine.
If you noticed the little square scribbles at the side, that's Dave telling me to do a birds eye view of the setting where the animation takes place so i can consider where the park is, if there's a city nearby and so on. This was because he felt my backgrounds weren't populated enough, that there could be more featured while the pigeons were interacting with one another. Which is a very fair point. The background in the screenshot I included in this entry has been improved and it does look a lot better. It's helping me think of other things I could include and what else that needs to be tweaked.
... what, nothing this time, Tweak? Or have you gone away to hide from the eagles again? Meh.
Well, I think I'll wrap this up for now. I have a driving lesson to prep myself up for.
Yes folks, this is truly a sight to see. Ashleigh asked me to help her make some 3D buildings for her animation and I'm relieved to say it was easier than making a character. Not that I didn't have a lot of help though, I did get a bit stuck in various places. Hurrhurr.
Ashleigh had sketched out a little doodle of what the wanted the building to look like and it wasn't terribly hard for the most part- namely using a lot of squares, extruding, changing the length and size and so on. I got into it a little bit actually, even adding a giant ball to the top for all the townspeople to look and see the city. Or something, whatever Ashleigh decides to do with it.
Here it is, unfinished. Ashleigh has the file now and she'll be making the changes she wants to make. I wonder what she'll do with it...
As of right now, I'm pondering a few things. Today Dave spoke to us about final show and our chance to present our work professionally. So I've been wondering how I'm going to present said work and make my stand look interesting enough for people to want to look at. I have a few ideas, such as use stickers of fake pigeon droppings on the floor (seems appropriate with those feathered rats with wings) but that's literally the only set idea to have. Not to mention I have to animate and work on the portfolio and decide what I want to print out for final show. Oh, and my driving test is coming up. Busy busy busy.
There's no point getting stressed over it though. All I can do is think up how I can create work that portrays myself and do that 200-words-no-more-no-less thing Dave wants us to do for the time being. Hopefully after that I'll have a clearer idea of how I want my presentation to go.
I said I'd report back about the Paul Hess talk so here I be!
It was very interesting learning about what life as a freelance illustrator is like, how he sets up his day, where he gets inspiration and also the advice he gave us that will be very helpful once leaving college, such as how to get an agent and various ways to organise your ideas so that you have time for everything. It was a really interesting talk.
We also had a look at some of the books he had illustrated. One that Ashleigh and I looked through was written in a different language and so we had a good time trying to tell what the story could be through the illustrations. It was quite a bizarre story though and I think we came up with the conclusion that the man was battling a drug addiction, the cottage he went to was rehab and he's completely curde after drinking soup with nails in it and wearing a crown. I assume that's not the real story though but that's the conclusion we came to.
I also had the chance to talk to Hess a little bit, show him this blog and ask for advice. He seemed to like what I was showing him and had very helpful advice, such as considering giving different characters different shapes for variety. Funny he said that because I'd been having that thought for a while now and have now sketched characters with varied body shapes. But we'll come to that in a moment.
He also suggested that rather than look at an obvious reference to start looking at random things that could be duplicated in our work, such as how castles look or how different trees are. It's given me something to think about and I'll definitely think more outside the box when it comes to illustrating.
... ok, yeah, I know I said I was gonna get those character designs done but the FUNNIEST thing happened yesterday. See, I had a mock driving test and I seemed to do well and stuff but it ate about an hour of my time and then I went to get my hair cut and that took about half an hour and then I walked home but I couldn't find my keys and so I started to walk back to the hairdressers but then I found my keys in a hidden part of my bag but as it was such a nice day that I didn't mind and then I had to walk the dog and then after that I was gonna crack on with the designs but then the sun was like "You should totally be outside right now, you never know when I'm gonna shine this brightly again!" and I was all "That's so true!" and so I sat in the garden for a long time and...
... I'm sorry. I'll try to suck less.
Anyway, moving onto today. Lets get cracking with them thar target thingies.
S- I want to get the character designs for both comic series and two of the Crumbs sequences started, one of them complete- specifically Lilac tackling Green into shot and strangling him and a hungover Pink stumbling into Lilac and Blue. This is important because I want the character designs to feature in my portfolio and the sequences to appear in the show reel. I will be working on all of these myself at home and at college any chance I get.
M- If the character designs are done by Sunday, I know I'll be on the right track. This is so I will have the rest of the week to work on the two sequences.
A- The character designs wont take long to do as they are pretty much fleshed out, they just need to be coloured. This is why I am working on them first. Best case scenario, I will have one sequence completely animated, coloured and rendered and starting work on the other.
R- This is important as I am developing my portfolio and I want to show as much of my characters as possible. I am also working on a show reel and as Crumbs is one of the first big productions I put together myself, I want the coloured sequences to feature. This is certainly the right time as deadlines are looming and I need to have such things under my belt.
T- I want to have the character designs complete by Sunday and one of the animated sequences complete for the show reel by this time next week. As of what I can do today I can get cracking on the designs. This will be as soon as we've done Paul Hess' talk. I'll do an entry for this later today.
Always good to have a clear idea of what you wanna have done and when. I could do with being more organised.
I'm not sure if I've mentioned it in my blog just yet but if you look to the right, you'll see other pages in Lets Emmanimate that you can visit. So if you're not particularly interested in reading long walls of text, you can click on a link to the right and see artwork of Underdogs, Crumbs and college projects. The comic tabs and show reel tab are still under construction so sadly this blog won't be at its spiffiest until they're done. Watch this space!
For some reason, this wasn't on my blog. Obviously that is disgraceful. So now I'm rectifying it and then pulling out an eyelash for every day this wasn't on my blog.
I honestly feel like I'm not getting all that much done. Probably because I haven't really done all that much from my to-do list. I've mainly been organising my blog, which wouldn't have been happening if blogger hadn't given us a pages option. So frankly, this isn't my fault.
... OK, it is. I regret nothing. Although I am planning on finalising the designs for the not-yet-introduced characters as soon as I finish this entry, so I will be a bit more productive today.
I showed my rough show reel to Dave yesterday and he seemed to be quite happy with it. I was worried I'd have to put every full clip of animation in order which would have gone against the happy cartoony tone I wanted the reel to have but thankfully he didn't seem to have any complaints. Now that I don't have to worry about that, I'm going to animate and colour the scenes of Crumbs that I want to have shown on the reel. I think a time plan is in order! (which is about time... hurrhurr...)
Today: Finalise character designs for both series and also redo character sheets. I'll leave all day for this so I can finally get it done.
Tomorrow: Well lets see... after my driving lesson (which is a mock test... gulp!) and my hair appointment (gotta keep up appearances!) I'll probably be working from 3pm sooo... lets get cracking on the scene where Lilac throws Green to the ground and strangles him. Should be fun!
Friday: After the college day (apparently we're having a speaker of some sort and normally I take most of my time on Friday perfecting college entries) I'll continue and hopefully finish the scene. If it gets finished, I'll maybe expand on the entries in my development pages like I've done on my projects.
Weekend: Mainly blog work and more frames. Nearer the time I'll figure out what scene I want to develop and work on over the weekend.
Seems like a good plan. Here's hoping I manage to stick to the damn thing though. In the meantime, here's a funny video I came across on Tumblr. I think this is exactly how Hank would react.
I promise I'll have more artwork to show soon, especially once there character designs are done. In the meantime, look at my development tabs to see pretty pictures.
I meant to do this yesterday but then again, I WAS spending time with my Mum. What with it being Mothers Day and all.
I don't recall if I did an entry with my card last year but stuff it. Either way I'll add it in with this one as well. Because my Mum is an amazing person, extremely supportive and always there for me. So she's getting a page telling the world how awesome she is.
While plugging my artwork obviously.
To the left is the picture I designed to put on a notebook I ordered for mum for her birthday. Just a little thing she could write notes in and whatnot. I always like to get things that someone would find useful. To the right is last year's Mothers day card. This one was deliberately designed to be crude and childlike as in the past year we all had to support each other and Mum through her fight with breast cancer and as she is now in remission, we're all happy to get back to simpler times... Mum more than most I'd imagine!
Underneath is this years Mother's Day card. As you can see, it's a tad different from the previous pictures. This piece is a bit more symbolic, using the Doodlebug logo I have, nuzzling the green doodlebug. As green is my mum's favourite colour, it seemed fitting. She's a huge source if inspiration to me, how she's always able to be positive and strong. I hope that if, God forbid, I were ever to find myself in a harrowing situation that I handle it with the same bravery and maturity she did.
... I promise I didn't look at last year's card when I type that. That's quite the coincidink there.
Seriously Mum, you're amazing. Don't let anyone ever tell you otherwise. I love you.
Yet another helpful video from the guy behind the previous MLP animation analysis videos. This time, we're looking at the zip lines used in the series, when a character makes a speedy entrance/exit into the scene. It's interesting what goes into the series that we often take for granted.
I'll just leave this here, in case any of your characters need to make a quick getaway.
I think I might do a quick zip sequence to include in my show reel... and maybe use them more often in my work. Even without the use of flash, I'm sure I'll be able to replicate the movement somehow... hopefully.
I've gotten started on my reel, having downloaded the tune Happy Go Lively (which has been used in a previous project I was involved with. Points if you can get which one!) and started to mess around with the clips. It's looking good so far but I need to redo a few animations I want to include. Not to mention that I want to show it to some friends at college and get their opinions.
As of right now, I can share my title and end cards with you all. It's been a bit since I put a picture I created rather than a video of gif. That should change as I keep drawing to bulk up my portfolio.
And here's a helpful link I found as well, very handy when considering what to put into and how to present your portfolio. I'll just leave this here for future reference and for anyone who wants it.
After a non-productive night last night (curse you, Nostalgia Critic!), I’ve hit the ground running today looking at showreels other people have done as well as a few online portfolios. I was lucky to come across reels of people I already enjoy the work of, such as Edd Gould and Harry Partridge but I’ve also found a few new animators of varying techniques that I’ve found interesting.
Sometimes the clips are in chronological order showing the full animation, others seem to have the clips scattered around the reel, interacting with the music. I’m unsure of how I’d like to do mine at this point although I'm leaning toward the latter option. If anyone has any opinions, they're greatly welcomed and appreciated.
This is Edd Gould's reel, mainly knowing for his online comic and animation series Eddsworld, as well as the various other projects he's done. It really shows the variety of work he has and the other colouring and animating styles he uses. Also that music is pretty damn BAMF. It's following me, second time I've heard it this week...
Here is Harry Partridges' reel. You can't play it here for whatever crap reason Youtube have pulled out of their backside this time so just click on the 'watch on YouTube' option to really see it. He has also scattered his various clips and the humour really shows here, namely an upbeat chirpy song playing while random, sometimes gory scenes are playing. Which is pretty much his style!
This is from a YouTube user I came across called Sachin Choudhary. His reel seems to be in chronological order, from first project to last (at least that's how it appears). It's an impressive collection, the movement is very fluid and natural for the characters. I also like how they've included their character sketches and life drawing pieces are well. Quite impressive work.
And here's a YouTube user I came across that had actually done an internship at Pixar and made a reel of scene's he'd worked on that have actually appeared in Toy Story 3. Very impressive.
YouTube and/or Blogger are being annoying again though so I can only leave a link to said reel. Oy.
That should do for now. If I find any more showreels I find inspiring, I'll mention them here.
Before I go, I'm going to mention a few links for online portfolios that I believe can be a great help for me. While the portfolio I'm working on will be printed for people to see on the Final Show, these will still give me an idea of what strengths they have so that I can consider the strengths I have. And also give me inspiration for online portfolios should I need to make one.
April is an artist I have admired for a long time on deviantArt and one I have found most inspiring. Her animation style is amazing, how she can breathe life into her characters, be it an illustration or animation, and make it appear as natural as possible. She's been a big hand in helping me realise my goal to become an animator, even if I am just a silent observer most of the time. So I must thank her so much for that.
Anyway, onto the portfolio itself. It's very organised, eyecatching and the images really do the talking in the portfolio. There are contact details should someone be interested in her skills (which they obviously are, derp). I love the layout of the site and if I were to start up an online portfolio, I'd certainly use a site like this. Although I think you need a subscription to dA to use it. Either way, it's one to consider.
Here are April's other pages showing her art and animation:
Vivienne is an artist I have come across, again on dA, a couple years prior. I just adore her style, her ideas, her colouring, how everything looks on the screen, how her characters move... there literally is no end to my love for her art. She's very inspiring and extremely creative!
Here she uses Tumblr to showcase her illustrations. From what I can tell, this one is purely for illustrations, her animation tests and animatics shown on YouTube. The characters intrigue you immediately, the design, the look, just everything about them makes you interested and want to know more. I'm on baited breath waiting for her webcomic!
Here are Vivienne's other links showing her art and animation:
Well, I certainly hope I've done all these fine people justice! I'd put more reels if I could but the net at college is being especially rubbish today. As if today is Rubbish Net Day or something. Which is just rubbish.
Now to start planning and prioritising my various tasks! And boy do I have many...
Well, since the last entry, I've gotten an email from UCAS letting me know that I have a conditional offer from Newcastle College. Sweet! The condition, as far as I can tell, is passing this course and obtaining my Foundation degree. And then I have graduation in July, with the robes and the hats and everything. Ashleigh and I are gonna throw our hats in the air American style, rental be damned. So that'll be exciting.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. Today is Monday and we are back at college after our week off. Not sure what I got for the previous module and apparently we're not gonna find out until Wednesday. Fingers crossed that I did well. But now we're into our next task which is mainly portfolio development. We're now into the last semester of the course (blimey, it really has gone so fast!) and now we have to get all our pieces done in the course and any favourites done out of college and put them all together to create a serious portfolio and show reel.
To gain an understanding of what portfolios and show reels entail, I am going to research various ones I come across online as well as take reference from the hand out (it's about damn time I did). Apparently a portfolio and show reel should represent the artist as a person, showing what work they create and also showing a piece of themselves in the process. So rather than slap all my work together willy nilly, I'll have to see which ones really show off my true potential and what type of animator I am. I know that I want to redo a few things, namely the loop with BF and to add something to the run cycle with Ruby because I'm not happy with them by themselves. Other than that, I don't have any set plans for anything else at the moment. Which in my opinion makes this the perfect opportunity to make a plan. After all, we are meant to self direct our own work for this module.
Now, after talking to Dave today, we've been told that we can also design a toy should we want to and I have to admit that I am very interested in doing that. I have many characters and any of them I would be happy to have made into a figurine, pigeon or otherwise. I do have another few characters that I want to design before I make a definite choice though. I’ve had these in my head and done a few sketches for a while but I haven’t really developed them yet. What better opportunity than now, eh?
But that’s quite low on the priority list for now. Besides I need to decide what character I want to design a toy for. So let’s have a look and see what’s on the to do list for now.
Research portfolios and show reels
Finish designs for not yet introduced characters
Continue Crumbs
Redo loop and add to walk cycle
Develop portfolio further- pick out pieces for A3 print, commentary on pieces
Work on show reel
And then design the toy. Obviously though this is in no particular order, although starting with the research is obviously a good step.
Leaving this here as reference for when Ruby slips in the ‘Have a Nice Autumn’ sketch. Nice exaggerated movement. I can learn from this.
First off, I went to visit my friend Ellen in Liverpool. That was quite an interesting experience as she lives away from home and in University housing. I've stayed in such housing before, mainly when I was visiting Brandon but this time I got to experience sharing showers, bathrooms and a kitchen with other people on the floor. Very nice people I should add.
I had a great time. Basically going to the shops, buying a ton of nice things, seeing The Muppets (go see it damnit! Brilliant movie! I'm serious, go see it right now!), meeting all of Ellen's friends and even being a special guest on Ellen's radio show the Cocktail Hour, which I have designed the posters for. Once the recording of the show is uploaded I'll share it on the blog. I never actually talk much about animation though, we got distracted talking about pigeons and then seagulls and then... I don't even remember. Come to think of it, I forgot to plug my blog. I'll just shamelessly link it on their Facebook page, being the brat that I am.
I'll definitely be popping back to Liverpool again when I can. Had a great time.
This is one of the many posters I bought. I should really hold off on buying them until I finally get my mitts on a Brave one. And don't think I didn't look, believe me I tried...
Today I had an interview with Newcastle College to enter the honours year. Now, what I've realised is that it's quite different from the foundation degree in quite a few ways. For example, I would need to write two dissertations throughout the year, both between 7,000 and 10,000 words. Gulp. Not to mention that all the work is down by ourselves without help as the teacher will assume we have all the necessary skills needed to complete our tasks. Apparently our first semester is all done at home I believe? Blimey. Quite different.
As for the interview, I believe it went quite well. The woman talking to me seemed to like my portfolio at the very least. And of course I was asked questions but this time there were ones that related to the subject and course itself rather than just me. While I was asked what inspired me, such as artists, family members and so on, I was also asked about the economic situation of the animation industry for example. Cor blimey. Thankfully David taught us about onedotzero going bust in college a while ago. And major thanks to Ashleigh for jogging the ol' memory on that one.
But if I were to be honest I think everything went quite well. But obviously I'm waiting to see if the college accepts me before feeling confident.
Now, I also wanted to share some more pony videos with you all. Remember the one analysing Pinkie's walk cycle? This is done by the same person who is now looking at other animation aspects featured in the show and looking at them in great detail. They're probably more helpful with flash users but either way they've given me things to think about when I animate.
I think I'm gonna have a little me time for a day or two as I've been prreeeetty busy this week off. Funny how that works. I'm gonna pop onto Youtube for a while. Maybe to find more inspiring things, maybe to find brainless stuff that I find funny. Either option is welcomed.
Yep, it's been something of a busy week for me. The main thing has been my portfolio to present at my Northumbria interview, which went very well. When the person who would speak to us told any parents/accompanying friends that we would be busy for at least two hours, I was surprised when it turned out I wasn't even there for an hour. Well, unless you count the time I was sitting there waiting for the interviews to start. Where I live, I can only get a train once an hour on the hour and it's much better to get the early one than the late. Especially when the tour started at 1pm.
But yes, we had a quick tour of the area where all the various animation, photography, graphic design and various other art students work, leading into a short but sweet presentation and question time and finishing with interviews. I was surprised to be told that I would be the first one but basically I did the good old trick of letting my mouth run away from me while somehow making it relate to what I was showing. That's a vital life skill, y'know.
Anyway, I brought with me my laptop with all my digitally coloured artwork on the PowerPoint, about six sketchbooks that I had started working on since I started the course (both college work and otherwise) and the pigeon's character sheets and elevations. The woman I spoke to (Ellie, I think her name is called... I suck at names, I'm sorry if you're reading this!) was very happy with my work and said I'd have no problem with the various traditional means and character designing. However, I wouldn't be able to enter the third year if I were to attend Northumbria as knowledge of Maya, the 3D program (gulp!) is needed to get through to said third year. She said that if she could (if I were to be accepted obviously, which I won't find out until after Easter), she would try to get me into the second year with extra training in Maya to catch up. That's if I get in of course and if I choose to go there if I am. I still need to attend my Newcastle interview and see what's in store for me there after all.
Even so, I'm just gonna leave this here. This was actually for my Facebook page to show I passed my theory test over a month ago but eh.
I love how smug I look for some reason.
Anyway, we're gonna be off next week but I'm still planning on using my time productively. I'm going to sort out this problem of showing Lilac and Blue once and for all. And also I want to take the time to do more Underdogs art. Cos it really has been a while since I focused on them. I'll probably not be all that productive this weekend, Monday and Tuesday as I'll be visiting my friend Ellen in Liverpool. So that's... five more days until the Monday after that to be productive. I think it can be done.
As of now, I have to print out a few things, put my animatic and coloured frames on a disc and leave them here for presentation. Here's a pointless .gif because... of reasons I can't quite think of just now.
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