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.