Um, is there alcohol in this?

For motion studies we used the rig Mery to lip sync a phrase from Mean Girls that was found on the 11 second club. I found it quite fun to work with lip sync, although it was very difficult to move the tongue to make her speech seem more realistic. I have only created a playblast from this for the moment as I am having some trouble working out how to batch render in Renderman for maya. 

Thanks to MeryProject.com for the rig.

Life drawing

The first five drawings took about 15 minutes each. I found the positions quite difficult to draw, however I feel I am improving greatly in the proportions of the model, although I think the size of the head isn't quite in proportion to the rest of the body. 

The last set of drawings were about 5-10 minutes each of the model with clothes on. I liked this as the clothes were a different aspect of drawing we could focus on and the folds acted as extra measurements for the proportions of the body. We eventually ended up doing a drawing in a more stylistic method which I found was rather fun.

Plans for urbex environment

After choosing my environment and finding some photographs for inspiration, I drew some plans and sketches of how I want my 3D environment to look. I may tweak it here and there if I feel I can improve the look of the mansion, but so far I'm happy with the plans for this project and how this project is going.

Urbex

For my 3D urban environment modelling project I've chosen to model an old fashioned, slightly spooky house/mansion. I found a few pictures that inspired this environment. 

 

The first photograph was taken by Michael Kotter and the second photograph was taken by Andre Govia. I liked the look of old fashioned, rustic pianos and I wanted to include one in the library room of the mansion I will build in Maya. 

 

These photographs are similar to how I want my lounge/living room to look like. The first photograph was taken by Julien Cornette, the second photograph was taken by James Kerwin and the third photograph was taken by Niki Feijen. I like the gaps in the window casting light and shadows across the room. I also like the old fashioned sofas and chairs, I'd like to model these in my project.

And of course, every old fashioned, slightly spooky mansion needs a great staircase! 

 

1 - Fibreciment, 2 - Andre Govia

 

3 & 4 - Luna Feles

 

5 & 6 - Okieh Pics

Drawings for Penryn 800

I've started drawing up the buildings for the layout for our animation. I used photographs to draw around the detail on the buildings. 

Penryn 800

Penryn 800 is a group project we've been given this semester where we have to come up with a 90 second animation based on the history of Penryn, celebrating 800 years since it was founded. We've chosen to base our story on a man called Peter Mundy who enjoyed travelling but always returned to Penryn.
This is a moodboard with some rough background ideas I created for China as that was one of the places he visited. I quite like the sketchy style, however I feel it needs more texture and layers. 

See the light!

This was a design for animation class where we looked at light and how it affects a background and where light bounces off from other objects. We had to choose a direction of light for a simple line drawing and use shading to make it look as though there was light shining from that chosen direction. I'm quite happy with my first attempt at focusing on light but as always I can improve this with practice!

Mery

I really enjoyed my 3D motion studies class last week as we were given the task of positioning a character called "Mery". We then rendered it using Pixar's Renderman in Maya.

I chose to place her in positions which showed her character and mood in a very subtle way.

With the first one I was attempting to capture a daydreamy kind of look with the character by positioning her in a relaxed sitting down pose and looking up toward the sky as though she's in a world of her own. I gave her a hint of a smile to show that her thoughts are happy ones. To show she's relaxed I positioned her hand hanging down as her arm rests on her knee. I also positioned the lighting onto her face to create a angelic look as she is away with the faeries! 

The second pose was an attempt at making her look slightly sad and exhausted which is why I have placed her on the floor. I feel like this one could have been a bit more expressive in the face to show how sad she is by making her brow look furrowed. I positioned one leg down but not straight so it seems more relaxed however I could have angled the foot so it seemed even more relaxed as though she is completely drained from her upset. I am very happy with the position of her hands though as they were very difficult to place in a relaxed curled up way. I set the lights above her to cast shadows across her face to enhance the idea of her hiding behind her fringe.

I realised in this one that I needed to angle the foot slightly to make her look relaxed. Here I went for a chilled out sunbathing kind of look. I think I captured it pretty well by placing her hands behind her head and again only one leg raised to maker her look like she's chilling in the sun on a hot summers day. I made her lips slightly pouty as if to suggest she could be bopping her head slightly to music in the background. I also closed her eyes and raised her eyebrows a bit as though she's about to smile as she is really enjoying the sun.

This last one I was going for a moody teenager look at around 5/6pm which is why the lights are fairly low. I positioned her against a wall as though she is leaning against it waiting for someone who is clearly late by the annoyed look on her face and she is passing time by inspecting her nails. Her upright position with her arm folded across her waist and angled hips as one leg supports most of her weight was a good way for me to portray her boredom as she is tired of standing around waiting. I captured annoyance on her face by giving her a slight pout and a hint of a frown.

Thank you to MeryProject.com for the rig and thank you to Pixar for Renderman for Maya.

More life drawing!

Five minute drawings

For these three we worked on one dynamic drawing for 30 seconds, and switched to the other for 30 seconds adding to each as we swapped between the two poses.

The four drawings of the model in a sitting down pose were drawn over 3 times as we switched between poses after a couple of minutes and then returned to them later.

These were quick sketches as we captured the movement of the model walking around the room. Trying to show the weight shift from one foot to another was very difficult.

These were the last two drawings we did, they each took 15 minutes. I think by drawing quickly to begin with it became easier to sketch out the main pose and then add the detail.