LOOK AT THIS IF YOU WANT TO LIVE

... well, maybe that's too dramatic. Pass perhaps? Either way, you'll benefit from looking at the link I am about to link.

Well. In a minute. Should share progress on Summer project first perhaps.

Basically... haven't really got enough to share just yet. Tweaking the script, sketching some new character designs (and characters) and still need to pen the storyboard. That's about all on that front for the time being.

... Now that that's out the way, link time!

http://livlily.blogspot.com/

Guys. So many production drawings. So many cels. Character designs. Documentaries. All of so many animated films. Not just Disney. But Pixar, Dreamworks, Don Bluth. Even less known works are in there, a few I haven't heard of but looked at and find interesting. One thing to catch some people's attention in my class will be Akira right at the top of the list. Now you can see the horrifying transformation in pencil AND coloured cel.

Not that Akira itself is a horrible transformation. I am of course talking about the iconic scene in said movie. I'm sure Akira is a very impressive piece of cinema but after many sleepless nights seeing the mutation scene I just... no. I feel so bad for the new first years. Poor sods won't know what hit 'em.

... Deviated. Sorry. But yeah, they have a lot in here! I even saw some from Mr Bean's animated series. Holy. Crap. These are amazing. I'm just... damnit, its 5am again and I really should be in bed. FFF I wanna look at this site more while I'm still artistically pumped. So to speak.

Ah stuff it. Hopefully I'll have the script done by tomorrow so at least I'll have THAT to feel accomplished about. And then do some epic character sheets. man, the one's I've seen on this site knocked my socks off. Especially the Rio ones, da-yum!

... Secret of Nimh? R-Road to El Dorado?? BOLT?? LILO AND STITCH?!? EMPERORS NEW GROOVE???

... HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON.

Right, thats it. F*** Sleep. *continues browsing*

Ain't that the truth...

Makes sense really. I did at some point wonder if taking drugs was compulsory for this course. I think I'll just stick to thinking outside the box and broadening my horizons for now though.

And caffeine. Lots of it.

B-but... but...

... chh, FINE...

Better late than never!

Ack!

I assure you all, I definitely intended to update you earlier than this. Lets just say time has a habit of getting away from you. Although I'm certain no one here is a stranger to that. Must be if you're reading my ramblings anyway.

Either way, its probably just as well that I haven't updated considering my artistic drive, so to speak, has been dried up for quite some time. I've been less than motivated for some reason, most likely due to my temporary summer job and then being in America visiting the better half. In fact, I'm still over the pond now.

I've still been pondering what to work on over the Summer and I believe I have settled on something. I really enjoyed working on my pigeon project and I honestly wished I'd been able to do it in a medium other than sudo 3D as I feel working in cinema 4D hindered the progress I could have made (I know, I know, a bad craftsman blames his tools, zip it all of you) if I'd done the project traditionally.

Well, I now intend to do so. I've decided I will remake Footloose and Footless, change some things but generally have the same story of the pigeon learning to walk straight again. I want to do this using Photoshop to colour the frames and various programs in which to animate. But at this point I'm getting ahead of myself. I want to redo the script, update the character designs and get cracking on storyboards. And I really want to make this blog look more unique too, do something with the overall design if I can. And I'll upload some drawings I've done over time. I'll definitely have more complete coloured works to share soon. As well as share other inspirations I've come across.

Although probably not right this second as its after 5am here and I probably should try to sleep soon (does jet-lag last over a month? Thought not.)

I will leave this here for the time being however. I found some character designs from the movie Rio at thespastudios.com. Link here: http://www.thespastudios.com/rio-character.html there are also links to moving unfinished animations, storyboards and visual development. Although the avian characters in this movie arent pigeons, I still think they'll be of some help to me.

Oh and I've liked ponies for at least a few months now. So yeah, expect to see more of that in the future.

Timing!

Just a little extra stuff that I should have included ages ago but didn't.

I have neglected to mention a lot about timing in my entries and as I have managed to create a little bit of 3D movement (not with the Frodo model- it became too messed up to work with in the short time we had and so Dave gave me an already made and ready to move model for the animation aspect. I can honestly say I'm not surprised) that I should remedy this now.

Using this dog model (I figured it would be fitting, considering I'd been creating a dog model for months), I managed to do a short sequence of the dog scratching while wagging his tail. I'm not entirely certain that I made it look realistic enough but I tried as best I could to focus on timing. The movement as the dog moves his head to scratch himself is quite quick and believable and the scratching action itself I'm relatively happy with. However, he kept trying to turn his head slowly while he was scratching, much to my confusion. He moves his head and neck back upright a bit too quickly for my liking and for some reason, I wasn't able to slow the movement done as I had wanted.

However, I made his ear twitch as he was scratching, making the sudden head movement appear as if he suddenly heard something and then stands upright to give it his full attention.

If I have the time, I'm going to create a short walk cycle featuring this dog model and submit this as my animation part of the module.

Rig Process

Updating blog to help me with my project writeup, which I will complete when the rest (or at least the majority) of the work is done.

So far, I've done the head controller, shoulders, both arms and am now working on the legs. The arm poles seem to be moving but there doesn't seem to be any effect on the head and shoulders, which is worrying me as I am running out of time and I'm really hoping that I don't have to redo the rig on top of everything else.

Hopefully I will have the chance to talk to Dave and sort out the problems that I am having with the rig.

I also still need to give Frodo some colour. As you can see, I have removed the eye holes. This is because after I presented my ideas to the class, I was told to make the eyes more 2D as they would achieve the look I was going for better than the 3D eyes. I'm not sure if I will get to this as achieving movement in the character is more crucial at this point so we'll have to play this by ear.

Can't wait til I can focus on the summer project. Seriously...

... wow. Seriously? Over already?

Regardless of the amount of complaining, whining and general lamenting towards the amount of work I've had to do, I'm actually surprised that the year has flown by so quickly. Granted, the school year started late in September and is ending in the middle of May so that shortens the year in comparison to my previous years of education (which basically calls doody on what my sixth form teacher said- that my previous summer would be the only long summer I'd ever have) but thats beside the darn point.

Anyhow, as this is the last week, I obviously have a lot of tying up loose ends to do, starting with this blog. This will be considered the last entry of the official school year, although I intend fully to update throughout the summer, discussing things that I have found inspirational and also to reflect on the summer project that has been lightly discussed: to create a script and initial character designs that can be about anything we want. But I digress.

I have been a little lax with sharing my time plans on the blog, although I have been making them; they've just been elsewhere. However, I think it will help to discuss my plans in more than one place, so that I have somewhere else to reference them from. Not only this but I have since separated the tasks, choosing what ones to do at college and what ones to do at home. For example, I am more likely to do my writing up tasks at home, while working on the rigging and animating of my model here.

MONDAY

At college- Finish blog with festival research. Once this is done, continue with rigging and possibly start moving character. Otherwise, begin putting colour on the character.

At home- Writeup of onedotzero and animex.

TUESDAY

At college- 500 word writeup of CAAD sessions. Once this is done, continue with rigging/colouring/animating.

At home- Finalise 3D 1000 word research essay. Most of the info is on the blog already, only needs to be typed neatly.

WEDNESDAY

At college- Should be focusing on moving the model now.

At home- Get storyboards completed and organised.

THURSDAY

At college- As well as animation, work on show reel during CAAD session.

At home- Blast on with completing written accompaniment and have everything organised and ready to bring in tomorrow. Disc, writing up, Character sheet and so on.

FRIDAY

At college- Hand work in.

At home- Boogie on DOWN! Or collapse in a happy heap, whatever comes first.

*****

Now that I have  a solid plan, its time to get cracking. Writing about the festival shenanigans shouldn't take too long, am I right?

Well, as its included on the list, I might as well mention the E4 Esting website, encouraging people to animate/film something featuring the logo and send it in. I seem to be having problems sending mine in. For some reason the site says it has my entry but there's no sign of it anywhere on the site and I haven't received an email telling me they have it so thats a tad confusing. But I'm rambling. Basically, every year, E4 holds this contest and the winner receives a cash prize and for their winning entry to be shown on the telly. Not too bad, eh? The site is located here: http://www.e4.com/estings/

Here is another site I am familiar with. As I mentioned earlier in the blog, I went to Berlin the previous month to attend the Pictoplasma Animation Festival for 2011. The festival is held every year and to tide them over, they encourage people to send in entries to show in a big screen! Check out the website here: http://pictoplasma.com/

This site I am not too familiar with but I liked looking at it even so and it might be a possibility for me to enter in the future. They seperate their entries into shorts, features, TV series/special features and cross-media so that your entry can have a specific length and target audience in mind. Their site is here: http://www.annecy.org/home

One I would consider a possibility, yet haven't seen much evidence of animated entries is the Bang! Short Film Festival. They have since had their festival but are right now taking entries that can be up to 12 minutes in length. They seem to encourage you to think outside the box and try things that are very conceptual. Many animations I saw at Pictoplasma had that same idea and it helps to expand your mind and create a whole new world of ideas. The website for Bang! is here: http://www.bangshortfilmfestival.com/

And finally, the British Animation Awards look very intriguing. They have a variety of interesting animations which fit into many genres. I wish I was able to see more of their entries though so that I would have a better idea of what to expect from this conpetition but I think its worth more investigating. Website is here: http://www.britishanimationawards.com/

This has given me a very slight idea of what festivals I would possibly want to enter my animations into in the future. Pictoplasma seems the most likely although thats probably only because I've visited the festival in person and therefore have more of a personal connection. I shall look into other websites as well in order to expand my ideas and opportunities.

*****

Well, as this is something of a special entry, considering its my last 'official' entry for the year (any I'll be making during the Summer will be development for the second year... well, I'm probably gonna discuss timing issues using my latest project but until then) I'll be signing out with this cute little gif from Rio to get you in the Summer mood. Enjoy the adorable dancing baby Blu!

They've rigged it!

Today I'd intended to get to work on catching up with my blog as I'd been falling behind in that area but Dave wanted to see my model, sort out any problems and get me started on the rig. We pretty much just got the model's ankles sorted out before deciding to just get started on adding the bones, deciding that the model was, while not perfect, good enough to pass (which considering the experience I've been having with 3D is A-OK in my book!)

I wouldn't be surprised if I have to redo any parts of the rigging but as of right now I've found it surprisingly easy to deal with, most likely due to the fact that my character has a very simplistic design whereas people with more detailed character designs told me of their difficulties. The handout we were given has been quite easy to follow, although I have found it hard to find certain things in the screenshots supplied in said handout. I'll no doubt stumble on such things eventually though.

I've saved the file and daren't risk working on this solo again today, due to the risk of undoing it. Also, the lack of finished rough/complete storyboards has been beckoning me for some time so I should probably get cracking with that for the time being.

I seem to always want the artistic, practical stuff out of the way before I focus too much on the writing. Which I still have to do. Always like a challenge to get things done!