Getting Technical With Animation

After sketching down some concepts into my sketchbook, I've started laying down the foundations of the final animation piece. I've chosen to do my final animation piece by computer, using my graphics tablet, and so far, so good! Here's the plan so far:

Using Adobe Photoshop, I'm creating the individual backgrounds and characters, all in the black and white, sketchy style. Then these separate picture files will be put into either Adobe Premiere Pro, or Adobe Flash (depending on which works better) where two or more pictures will be layered over each other in each frame, depending on the scene. I'm creating a "motion comic" which focuses more on camera movements rather than full figure movements. For the finishing touch, I'll add a backing track, along with sound effects and even voice acting, thanks to my friend, Ian.

Here's a few of the pictures I am currently working on for the final piece:

No.2: Animation and Motion Design

Now it's time for another fresh start, this time with some animation!

First, we were shown some 30 second long Animes for the Japanese broadcasting organisation, NHK. We also receive our brief and had a quick chat with the tutors. After some brainstorming, I came up with my idea for the title: "I opened the door and..."

The Good Guy Vs. The Bad Guy

My idea for the animation is to create a scene involving a detective and a criminal in a balaclava. The setting is a run-down apartment, and the detective bursts through the door, and a gun fight erupts between the pair. I don't want to ruin too much of the animation, so that's just a very quick summary of it!

I am having a lot of fun drawing out the two characters, and refining their looks before starting to animate the final piece. I was very happy that I was able to use Vinny Rourke, a character I created during my free time last month, as the detective for this animation. This is a big, tough guy, with a signature cigar in between his teeth. Here is a picture I created of Vinny using Adobe Photoshop last month:

I was thinking of creating the animation using computer programs such as Photoshop and After Effects, and my friend, Ian, really wanted to do some voice acting for Vinny for the animation, which is great since voice acting didn't even cross my mind!

Hopefully all goes well with this porject!

Vis Com: Final Thoughts

So Visual Communications has come to an end, and overall I have had a great time in Visual Communications, and I'm very glad I tried it out. It's definitely in the running for my first choice (it always had been!). There are times were things can become a tiny bit stressful, but that's the same for everything really. You just need to try your best to keep on top of things. I was fun trying to come up with the best concepts possible for our given word, and executing the final ideas was what I enjoyed the most.

And so, here are the final two ideas I created for the Illustrative and Typographical Briefs:

(click on pictures for a better view!)

Illustration - Stretched Sleeve Shirt

The final idea I choose for the illustrative brief is the shirt idea, however, instead of making a shirt out of elastic bands, which would be too time consuming since I would run into so many complications, I simplified the shirt idea by illustrating an ordinary checked shirt with stretched sleeves. After creating a sketch of the idea, with different ideas for the checked pattern, I went onto Photoshop, and transferred the idea using my graphics tablet. I am very pleased with the final result, which is great, since I can now spend the rest of my time with my typography brief this week!

The shirt will probably be split into two A3 pages, and so, half of the shirt will be on on page, and i will cut out the rest of the shirt from the other page and stick it to the bottom of the first page, as if the sleeves are streching pass the borders of the page, or I might just cut out the whole shirt from the grey background.

(click on the pictures for a better view!)

 

                  

Illustration - Final Idea No. 2

My second idea for the brief is an "elastic shirt". This shirt will be made out off elastic bands of all different colours, and each part of the shirt will be able to stretch out when it is being pulled on. This idea will be tougher to create, but it will definitely be worth it. If the elastic band idea fails on me in the making of the shirt, I was thinking of creating the shirt using Lycra tights, or surgical gloves. Our group crit tomorrow morning will help me make the decision on which material will be the most suitable.

Hopefully the group crit will go well for everyone tomorrow morning, along with the results from our work done in the first semester! I can't wait to get start on making my final illustration piece.

Illustration - Concepts and Final Idea No.1

As we progressed further into the illustrative brief, we began working with concepts sheets. Concept sheets contain more experimental ideas which are much less literal. In order to progress successfully with our ideas, we needed to apply the SCAMPER rule for creative thinking:

• Substitute - Replace or change the parts, shape, colour etc.
• Combine - Merge the idea with a different idea
• Adapt - What else is it like?
• Modify / Magnify - Making it larger, smaller, exagerrated etc.
• Purpose - What else can it be used for?
• Eliminate - Subtratc certain elements, breaking it down into it's simplest form.
• Reverse / Rearrange - Changing the arrangement, turning it upside down, on it's side etc.

With this rule in mind, I combined things such as chewing gum and metal, and stretched out solid objects such as a chair. After talking with the tutors, Patricia and Mary, I began working on some of my final ideas.

One of my final ideas is the exaggerated tongue and lips. This piece, if chosen as the final idea to create the illustration, will be in a 3-D format, with the lips made out of cardpaper, or paper mache. The lips will be stuck onto the front of an enclosed box, which will stick onto a flat wall. Inside this box will be a cylinder on a holder (think of a toilet roll in it's holder on the wall!) and wrapped around the cylinder will be a stretchy material (I used a pink sock for the test piece) which can unravel as the viewer grabs the end of the sock and pulls.

 

Semester 2 - No.1: Visual Communications

I'm back after the assessments, and ready to get cracking on my first discipline, Visual Communications.

Today, we were given a brief on illustrations. We have to create illustrations, either 2-D or 3-D, which illustrate a given word. We each picked an active word at random, and the word I had chosen is "Stretch". With that word, I first needed to create a brainstorm that is individual and unique, and once that brainstorm is complete and stuck up on my studio wall, I then had to create coloured thumbnail images of the words written down in the brainstorm.

It was really fun to start fresh with a completely new topic, and drawing the thumbnails was quite a nice change from the sort of stuff I normally do. Now we need to experiment with different materials. So far, I have stretched out tinfoil with my hands, created a relief of my own face by stretching the tin foil in front of me, and I messed around with some other materials, such as bubble wrap, Lycra tights, balloons, plastic bags, string, and even chewing gum. I would love to apply some of my skills with Photoshop into this illustrative project, perhaps involving chewing gum, since it's quite different and quirky.

Here are some pictures of experiements I've done (More experiments coming up in the next update!):

To Sense My Space - My Final Thoughts

The project has now reached it's end, and what a journey it's been. I have experienced a lot during these few months, and what I have learned from this project will definitely stick with me for the rest of the college years, and beyond.

During this project, I've learned to become less literal in my approach to a given brief, and less representational. I've learned that it's good to experiment more, and that's it's okay to make mistakes, because those mistakes can be improved upon. I've left my "secondary school" approach to making art, and learned to express my own thoughts.

Another thing which I have learned is that it's okay not to have a whole pile of stuff cramming up your studio wall. There's no need to show off everything you have done, since the tutors know how your progress is going. As long as you keep enough on your wall to help you with your current thought process, then that's plenty.

Of course, for me, one of the main things I gained from the first have of the year is meeting with new people. It's great to talk to someone new, especially when it comes to sharing ideas and thoughts on art. I've gained some great new friends this year, after entering into the college on my own!

I feel confident with the work I have done for this brief, and I hope my tutors are pleased with what I have done. I can't wait to start the new year with my three chosen electives, and begin learning completely new skills!

Bring on another great semester of college!

Geometric Animation Using Light

As I mentioned earlier, I had an idea of what I wanted to do for a hand made animation, and here it is.

Using tracing paper, I drew a geometric ball which was then repeated on six other sheets of tracing paper. However, as I moved from page to page, I gradually made the sides emerge further and further towards the edges of the pages, creating these "spikes". The pages were then layered upon each other, and stuck onto a frame made from an old canvas painting, with the center of the canvas cut out. When the frame, holding the pages together, is held against a lamp, the transparency of the tracing paper allows light to pass through the pages, allowing the drawings from each page to become visible.

The repeated drawings create a sense of movement across the whole page, since you can see the spikes extruding from the geometric ball. If the frame is turn around, the same animation can be seen, but in reverse, which was great, since I wasn't expecting it.

I am really glad that this turned out exactly how I wanted it to. I love the subtle animation that is created, and how the transparency of the paper lets adequate amount of light to pass through.

Layering the drawings in order.

The Finished Piece

Notice how the other pages underneath are not very visible when there is no strong light behind the frame.

The finished piece placed in front of a desk lamp.

The spikes extruding from the surface of the ball is quite subtle, due to the transparency of the paper.

In front of the desk lamp, while the frame is turned around.

This reverse animation shows the spikes retreating back into the surface of the geometric ball.

Incorparating Colour to Paper Sculpture

In order to incorparate colour more into project, I decided to paint one of the folded paper sculptures I made.

This paper sculpture was originally just plain white until I used some bright colours with acrylic paint. I placed the paper sculpture on the desk and I painted the different parts of the folded paper with a colour that would be linked with how dark or bright the tone was on the paper. If there was grey tones present, I would paint those sides with dark blues or deep reds, and the white tones where painted over with bright yellows and subtle blues and pinks.

The result is a paper sculpture that is quite playful and illusory. The paint makes of the shapes extrude more than other parts, whilesome sides of the faceted surface may seem flatter than others at a certain angle. It plays tricks with the eye, and it also highlight's the three-dimensional shape of the paper.

 

Bridget Riley

Another artist which I decided to put into my Contextual work is the well-known British artist, Bridget Riley.

Bridget Riley is an English painter who is one of the foremost proponents of Op Art (visual art that uses optical illusions). Her art creates many intriguing illusions that are designed to disorientate the eye of the viewer. Shadowplay  shows her illusory style coming to play with the use of colour.

Shadow Play

1990, Oil Painting

Here, a series of trapezium shapes are combined together to create this repeated pattern. This tessellation pattern creates strips of contrasting colours which confuse the viewer's brain about how bright the individual colours are. I love her combination of geometric shapes and bright colours, and the repition of those shapes and colours. Fête (1989) shows more movement of those repeated shapes and colours across the flat surface.

Fête

Jelle Martens

While updating my Contextual Notebook, I found a wide range of talented artists who I can relate to on my project. One of those very artists is Jelle Martens.

Jelle Martens is an image maker from Gent, Belgium, and he deals with highly geometric and minimal work. His series titled "Quivering Forests" show a great sense of space, and great love for geometry.

Quivering Forests

"Quivering Forests" has been created through the combination of imagery and graphics. The rouged pattern enabled Jelle to design this eye pleasing aesthetic. I think the contrast of colours and Jelle's use of simple geometric shapes is beautiful, as well as precise and organised collage experiment. The landscape seen in the photos are broken up and distorted by the triangles and trapeziums, but it still seems to be very organic. It is a very striking series of artwork.

Geometric Animation

Before the Christmas holidays, my tutors asked me why I would choose Animation as one of my three disciplines, and so, to try and answer that question, I'm in the process of making a piece which shows fluidity and a sense of movement, which is handmade, rather than a Adobe Flash animated piece. Pictures of that piece will be posted when it's finished.

In order to gain some inspiration for this little project, I searched through some sites for some computer-based animation, and its safe to say that I found some really interesting pieces:

(click on the animated images to view them clearer)

These geometric shapes are twisting, turning, spinning, flipping and extruding within their given space, which are quite illusory. Unfortunately, I couldn't find out who created them. Nonetheless, they are still brilliant pieces that shows the great possibilities of animation.

New Year, Things To Do!

I'm back!

First off, I wish all of you reading this a very Happy New Year! I hope you all had a great time during the holidays. Now it's time to get down to the stuff I still need to complete!

Of course, us first years have our assessments next week, and I'm pretty sure there's a lot of people starting to panic, but I'm feeling good about going back to college. I honestly can't wait, but here's my little "To-Do" list for the next three days:

To-Do

- Write Simple Statement
- Finish Sketchbook
- Update Contextual Notebook
- Complete more colour studies of geometric shadows (more updates on this soon!)
- Finish hand-made animation piece (more updates on this later on)

Once I have these completed, I'll feel much happier going into my assessment on Monday.

It's good to finally stop procrastinating during the holidays.