Doggo update

Experimental 1.0

For this project we were given the task of creating two 20 second animations using experimental methods of our choice. I didn't have plasticine, or clay so I thought I'd attempt it with blue tac and I'm pretty happy with the result. I had a lot of fun with this project although I feel I could have made it more interesting!

Doggo

I struggled with my quadruped dog run but I managed to end up with something that looks similar to a dog run. It's far too slow, I think I'll speed it up if I have time after I've completed my other work by moving the frames in the dope sheet.

Layout

I had a lot of fun with this part of our background project as I enjoy drawing backgrounds. I used the techniques I'd learnt from the portfolio tasks such as perspective, tone, dynamic shapes, vanishing points, repetition, harmony and clarity. I'd like to come back to these after hand in and have a go at painting them so I can show directional light and create specific atmospheres using colour. 

Rendered lipsync

After many attempts changing the lights and render settings I managed to get a fully rendered clip of Mery lip sync using Renderman. It took a while but I got there in the end and I'm pretty happy with the result. If I had more time I think I would fix the follow through of the eyebrows so that they don't move so quickly from one pose to the next. 

Thanks to Renderman and Meryproject.

Lip sync again

Here I've changed the shoulders, the direction Mery glances and added some follow through with the hair and eyebrows. I'm much happier with this version.

Penryn 800 final animatic

This is our final animatic. After a looooot of changes we finally ended with a good storyline some awesome characters and almost finalised scenes. I think we'll be changing the beginning where the camera zooms in; we'll have a pan down into Penryn instead as this will be much easier for us to animate at a late date and it will look a lot better in 2D. We had a big dilemma with the middle section of the story and what would make him want to return home. We came up with the joint decision on seeing his father in his sketchbook that he took with him everywhere and his father reminded him that home is where he should be. We also struggled with scene transitions as we didn't know how he would reach the next country, but as it is slightly abstract we decided to have a long background where he walks into the next country to enhance the idea of travel, exploring and moving forwards.

We may not have time to finish the animation by the deadline now but we're really happy with the final story that we settled on and glad we stuck with it. 

Perspective

One of our portfolio tasks was to draw in perspective, so I thought I'd have a go at drawing two in one point perspective from slightly different angles, two in two point perspective and one in 3 point perspective. I found the last one the most difficult but it was an interesting task! 

Here I've showed them before and after I've added tone as this was something we learnt in a lecture the week we were set this portfolio task.

Parallax 2.0

I had a go at fixing my parallax background. I removed the log and replaced it for rocks in the water. Although, the layers of water turned out to be a bit of a problem as the overlap made it look strange, I wasn't sure how to fix this so I left it as it was and I'll come back to it if I have time to. 

To hide the edges of the other layers I created a camera in after effects and made sure the layers behind the first layer were all larger and set further back. I then only panned the camera across to the edge of the first layer. This did mean that a lot of the background layers were cut off but it still showed the main section of my drawing. Next time I'll remember to make my front layer longer than the background layer.

To add contrast into the drawing, instead of on photoshop I added an effect on the layers in after effects instead which achieved the same result which I was happy with.

Here is a picture of all my layers together.

Parallax 1.0

This was my first attempt at a parallax background. I found the painting part of the background fun, but not so much the after effects part. 

I didn't think of how it would move when I began and forgot to make my layers different sizes which meant that the edge of the layers appeared too soon. 

I also put a log across the river which made the log look as though it was being dragged along the riverbank when it was put into after effects. 

I added a contrast/brightness layer in photoshop but didn't realize it wouldn't work in after effects as a layer. 

So basically everything went wrong. But I didn't give up, I kept on trying to find ways of fixing it!

Here is the build up of my parallax background layer by layer.

Improving existing art

For this weekly task we took existing drawings or our own old drawings and improved them to create clarity using design principles we learnt in the lessons.

(Original drawing not mine)

 (Original drawing not mine)

I began by using a single shade with a low opacity to show a direction the light was coming from and create balance within the original drawings. I think this also added a sense of clarity to the drawings as it set apart the foreground from the background. I had fun with these as they helped me to practice how light and shadows work within an image to create harmony.

I then moved on to improving other existing illustrations with colour. I found this more difficult as I couldn't get the tone, contrast and light to work as well as it did using a single shade. 

 (Original drawing not mine)

 (Original drawing not mine)

I was much happier with how the second colour painting turned out, however I think I still need to practise using colour to improve the mood of the background, as well as how contrast is created in coloured backgrounds.

I then decided to try and improve one of my own drawings. 

I feel like this one turned out better than the rest as it was my own work. I think I could still improve this background by drawing it from a more dynamic perspective along with a focal point to show how huge the plants would look from the perspective of a very small person. I like the colours I have chosen for this and the lighting from above. However, I think I could still add more contrast in lighting and shade to improve this. 

Copy and analyse

For our design for animation module we had to copy and analyse some existing backgrounds. I found this quite fun to do as it helped me to see how focal points, harmony, dynamic, rhythm and balance are used to create a good background. I also was able to see how light reflected and bounced off of objects and around a room and where that light cast shadows.