Encounters

Another year of the Encounters Short Film Festival (Bristol) is over. Managed to go to a few screenings; where, in my opinion, the animation shown (though there seemed to be less focus) this year had a more consistent flow to it. Not generally amazing, but for a good/passable selection.

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I was set to work on another little project that sounded like more fun and less pressure than other projects, but unfortunately ideas were changed and so we are no longer appropriate for it. Though I must admit I have got plenty of things to be getting on with, so such an opportunity can be spared right now!

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I will try and post some imagery soon.

November, already?

Hello again, here's a few little updates:

My final film story has been through a lot of changes, though keeping the main idea, thankfully, which I think is good; I want to make it as good as I can at this stage, so every suggestion really helps. I can say for sure it will be a sequel to 'The Little Red Hen', the fable you may or may not have heard as a youngster about a chicken who makes bread, asks for a pig, cat and dog's help each time, gets none; then when she's made it, these three animals want some but are declined. My continuation of this story is a tad on the dark side... (More again at a later date.)

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Projects/Opportunities:

RAM projects ideas are underway. Ideas loosely based from our hat-picked word, 'Acedia'.

SS Great Britain project we had interviews a few weeks back. I know for sure I have been accepted as an animator in part three of the documentary. (Oh crumbs, must sharpen up my animating skills!)

Opportunity has arisen for an abroad Festival trip where even third years are invited; so here's hoping for the more conveniently dated MONSTRA, Lisbon (Portugal) festival to be chosen. We also hope to look into submitting ALICE to it.

Doubtless I have forgotten something...

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Time for some silly doodles again! (They were starting to clog up my Mac, waiting to be put on here.)






(Done just after ALICE completion, actually. Yes, I know she should show the most recent drawings...)

New Uni Year

Busy busy time now with the final year (not even a full year, sadly).

Planning for my final film is under way - I can definitely say it will be 2D hand-animated and will feature some particular animal characters... More to come soon on this as it progresses.

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On top of this, I am also taking part in a great opportunity to help create an animated documentary concerning the SS Great Britain in Bristol, celebrating its 40th anniversary of coming home - 'The Incredible Journey'. There has not been many details on it as yet, but it sounds like a very useful experience to get a taste of what a post-uni 'professional' project would be like. Interviews will even be held for positioning us, and currently I am interested in Character Design and/or 2D animation (most likely Flash), so it remains to be seen what I get.

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As if that wasn't enough for me to be getting along with (when just the final film will be hard work!) I also hope to get involved with the annual RAM project. A collaboration between the Royal Academy of Music and UWE/Bristol School of Animation to make an animated piece to music, with very little knowledge either end of what will be produced! Again, this sounds like a great and valuable project to get involved in.

But for now, watch this space . . .

Silly Doodlings

(Random gold ball and number due to recycling old animation paper!)

I haven't updated in quite a while, so here's a few silly quick doodles I've done lately for fun.

In additional news, the fim ALICE got longlisted by Virgin Media Shorts. Unfortunately not shortlisted, but I am pleased with the achievement all the same! We are currently awaiting any news for other short film festivals.

Banksy Exhibition

As I return home I hope to do a few little animation tests to keep me active; as well as preparation for the final year final film!

I have been offered, by a known being(!) in a band, to do an animation for one of their songs, so I hope to give that a go during the summer.

Here's hoping I can get other creative endeavours finished during the summer!

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About the title... the current Banksy exhibition in Bristol was very interesting; more so than I had anticipated, with lots of paintings, animatronics, sculptures, etc., to view; as well as some hidden additions throughout the entire museum! And there was me thinking he just did outdoor graffiti pieces.

ALICE COMPLETE!

That was a tough several days of good ol' animation love-hate!

I'm pleased it's over now, but also pleased with the finished result! It looks very effective the white, traditionally animated Alice (and friends) against the mixed Photoshop collage backgrounds. There are things in my animation scene that I'd like to change, but it can't be helped now, and it's all a learning curve/curb of what to look out for next time. In fact I experienced a lot of faults that had to be rectified, just showing how much I have yet to learn and drill into my mind - I know my learning is slower than others so I shouldn't worry if only after a year I am still making mistakes because it is the time to be making them an' all... What I achieved even just in that scene is a surprise to me and (despite the strain) I'd like to think I am ready for more!

Various joyous animation and clean up sheets used...


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Film details:

Traditional animating: pencil to lightbox. Clean up with pen. Roughly 2 minutes long. Photoshopped backgrounds with collage photos. Created with fellow animation students Jessica Marcell and Tanya Scott. Interviewee Alice Gowland. 2009.

For this film I was responsible for: character design, sound foley, animating the entire Humpty Dumpty scene and wondrous clean up.

You can view the animation here: http://www.virginmediashorts.co.uk/films/film/alice-on-mayonnaise/

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Here's some early concept and character idea doodles. Apologies for the faintness! I will post some more later when I am able to scan/upload in colour!

Rough material choice turnaround of the finalised Alice. I can only show you a rough version because to this day I'm not sure what someone did with the original!


An earlier rough turnaround for Alice. Note particular differences.


Early layout idea of Alice in the boat.


Fisherman Chris. Based on our animation tutor!


More Chris.


Humpty Dumpty!


Alien in an earlier idea of Photographs taken for 'Not human!'


More concept ideas for Alice, as well as life drawing and random doodles to come soon...

Hello...

I'm currently trying out various background colours on this blog, but none seem to stick with me, so hopefully I will sort that out soon.

I also think I should start making this blog more accessible soon. Only about two or three know about this and I do feel quite loathe to let everyone see - but that is partly the point of this blog, to sort of advertise myself out there.

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In creative news, last week saw the deadline of the Visual Narratives module. I can't say I'm sad for the end to come, because that module did nothing for me. After being subject to around nine hours of presentations (argh!) it was a relief to finally relax - albeit not for a long - and start concentrating more on ALICE.

At some point, I may well upload my final piece (currently being externally marked), consisting of:
- A mock-book for children about a Sphynx Cat;
- Five coloured pages taken from the book that were coloured in watercolour (something I have wanted to try and improve in, amongst other traditional techniques). Evidence will be that I still need some work with watercolour, what will come with the time and practice.

This low note is not to say I am all negatives to illustration - certainly not! I still seek to improve on the subject as long as drawing and a good story idea drives me.

ALICE & Animation

Just thought I would mention I am currently working on an animation, entitled ALICE, with two friends. It's the first bit of animation I have done in quite a while, shamefully! I am happy to hurt my back a little (my huge lightbox will only fit on the bed in my uni room) just to get in the swing of traditionally animating again, but by George, to get it right takes a lot of patience and time. Time, that is running short...

Hopefully we will be able to complete it within a few weeks, and maybe we would try and get it in a festival, should it be good enough.

ALICE is a recording of an interview with a friend who gave us some very interesting things to animate to! I was in charge of the character design and am currently animating a scene with Humpty Dumpty...

More about ALICE as we near completion. :)

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FATHER TIME - Flash Animation

On the subject of animation, to view the film I completed with two fellow students earlier this year for a university module, you can view it via here: http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/478937 .
I was chief character (I did not design the cat thing) and prop designer and some foley. I also animated in several scenes as a newcomer to the Flash program. I do feel this animation was more the director's, as it was his story, his program choice, most of his animation style... Nevertheless, I made several contributions to this film!

So the hope with ALICE, it will have more of a personal touch to it. :)

Typography

A few weeks back we had a Typography workshop. Now Typography is something that doesn't interest me usually (not image-driven enough for me). So it is somewhat ironic that this is perhaps the workshop that created my best - or at least obtained the most positive response - final piece. The brief was that we were given a font, and we had go to away and find an invention or particular note that happened in the year the font was invented, or the year in which the creator was born.

Where Graphics works in my favour is the sketchy, playful ideas with a definite font or image... perhaps I am making little sense. Maybe I should upload my sketch ideas; it's usually interesting to see the thought process before the proper thing.

The first poster, at A2 paper size, was my final piece. My font was Broadway, and it is representing the Solar Eclipse of 1929 - the year the font was created. It interestingly even matches the style of graphics imagery that may have been at the time.


The bottom poster was again, Broadway, but this time it represented the first broadcast on television from the BBC in 1929.

Please note that these are pretty rough looking because of the amount of time I had to do them in. With more time I would hope they would be created more cleanly.

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In other news, I have been to see new stop motion Coraline at the cinema, twice. Both times I have enjoyed it; and it has been a nice difference to see a good non-CGI animation on the big screen again! I had some initial reservations about the film: the design looked nothing too appealing/would it just be another stop motion that comes out looking practically another computer animated venture, etc. Fortunately at times, you could tell it was stop motion with particular close-ups and a wonderful scene of performing mice!

Definitely more fun than the simply average Bolt.

Finally, an image!

By all means not my most recent picture, but one I randomly doodled and rather liked. I will colour it up in Photoshop at some point - really need to improve my skills on that versatile program. Unfortunately a part of his arm is missing due to my online editing means.

He has no relation to any projects. He is just good ol' 'Happy Plant Robot'.

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At another point I will upload my typography graphics posters (that was liked by the tutor) I was required to do in Visual Narratives, that, coincidentally, I have finally thought of a workable story idea for.

Dessert

I have just been getting on with my (Illustration) Visual Narratives work the last few days/weeks. It's strange to think what I'm doing at university is 'drawing animals and experimenting with pop-up book methods' - take that, academics! Should things work well with this project, I may elaborate in further entries.

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This is a post more as a reminder to myself for getting all my bits and bobs together on the web, for whenever I work on my website.

+ Fransdesign website - under construction.
+ Youtube account for my animation tests.
+ Blog - (trust me, I'd forget even this.)
+ 'Professional' Google e-mail.
+ DeviantArt gallery - (It's probably preferable not to include this - it's hardly selling me.)

Main Course

On Thursday the 12th of March, at the Bristol Watershed, I got to see Ray Harryhausen, the stop motion legend. He was there as part of the Encounters Festival, for a screening of his most famous film to have worked on: Jason and the Argonauts.

Unfortunately, as we had got our tickets well in advance, they failed to state upon that he was doing book signings before the screening. So I missed out [as usual] on a great face-to-face moment. Still, it was great to see the man - albeit at a distance - and hear what he had to say. A very inspirational animator. (His drawings are also cracking.)

Peter Lord of Aardman was the introductory-head (third time of seeing him!) and Richard Williams walked by in the queue and was sat in the screening too (also the third time of seeing him!).

Seriously, they don't lie when they say Bristol is the main hub of Animation in the UK. ;) It's a great experience.

For Starters

I very much just started this blog on a whim...

However, I had been wanting to create one for a while now to coincide with my 'currently in the works' website, at the moment under the title Fransdesign.

Anything related to creative events - including Animation, Illustration, etc., that I have attended/am doing will be documented here. (Naturally with my own opinions.) Any sketches and whatnot I feel worthy will be also posted up.

I hope this will be a good way of seeing my creative thoughts behind the more professional front.

A 'quick' (hmm, yeah) bio about me:

-- I am currently studying Animation at UWE, Bristol, England.

-- My animation preference leans towards 2D Traditional, but I am very keen to try out Stop Motion. I feel more comfortable when my hand has the control of a drawing, puppet, etc., and where you can actually seen the obvious hand-made quality within the animation. I can appreciate 3D/CGI, but it is really not for me.

-- I am also, as you will have gathered, keen on drawing, and always have been (particularly animals). Illustrating for children's books - young and older - has for a while been an interest for me, but as of yet, I haven't approached it like I have done for Animation.

-- Currently I work predominately with pencil and pen, the good ol' sketchy doodle approaches. This was always be my natural way of drawing, but I am interested in learning the tools of the trade with traditional mediums paint, pastels, etc., and digital means, such as Photoshop.

-- I do have interests other than artsy things... just not enough, clearly. I'd love to say I can play various instruments, am highly intellectual and do the odd sport. This, however, would be an absolute lie. I am interested in writing (not essays) and would love to write a proper novel someday (reading being another interest). My music intrigues lean towards the 80s, 60s, 90s and 70s. There's something about the classics and cheese that I just love. And so on.

I've run out of waffle now. I hope it gives you a good starting idea about where my interests lie. They'll probably be explored further in a different posting.

I think that's all that needs to be said for now...!

Here's hoping I don't forget about this blog...