Dancing Fishes

I'm not sure what I'm saying in this picture, exactly. It was a spur of the moment thing. Probably it is suggesting a union of atheists and Christians(!) (certainly no religion bashing here!). Mostly it is just random.

When I saw the Darwin fish sticker on the back of someone's car, I really thought it was the most funny and brilliant thing I had seen in some time. I mean - what a clever idea!

So you see, I just had to do something with that in.

Jubilation Jaguar

I did this a few months ago now and kept forgetting to put it on here. Well now it's gone on. He's called Jubilation Jaguar... well, there was a point to it, but that had its reasoning a few months back, also.

I drew it with biro without taking my pen off the paper to see what I'd come up with, during my holiday in Malta.

Coloured Piccies

A mouse with a bow tie. This is actually a mixed media piece as the bow tie, eye and nose were coloured with coloured pencil, then the rest was coloured in Photoshop. I like that I ended up drawing this on grainy paper and you can really tell. I'd like to do more pictures in this way (plus I have some coloured pencils to use up).



I wouldn't usually post 'fan art' up, but I thought it might be okay to put this here. Inspired by one of my favourite old cartoon series The Animals of Farthing Wood, I am basically saying I wasn't too keen on the silly Mole. Quick job: hand drawn with pencil and coloured in Photoshop. Oh yes, and it was drawn on the back of an old printed off CV. A bit of the good ol' recycling.



It was about time I uploaded some more colour images! I do hope people take a look.

RAM Film Up!

Like my final film, finally got the means to get this compressed and up online! A quick recap:

This film was a collaboration project between a composer at The Royal Academy of Music (London) and filmmaker's myself and Dominique Bongers (for UWE). To make a short animated piece that could work with the music with limited contact! Our word was 'Acedia'. A few little problems, but here is the result. More information written at the link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ho2REzRf_38


All the main animations are now online which is great! Now for more experiments...

Final Film Up!

After a few little troubles and an incredibly slow transfer, compression and upload rate, the film that I completed in June is now online.

A quick reminder: 2D traditional with boiling frames and backgrounds; pencil to paper at lightbox, scanned, darkened in Photoshop and compiled in After Effects and Premiere Pro; about 4.30 with credits.

The film is called "Not I" as in the original fable of The Little Red Hen which this is a sequel of, that is what the animals exclamed to the hen. It also fits with the sequel for their possible guilty consciences after the hen's murder.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vE7_IgVe4vM

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In other news, I have been very fortunate to gain work experience with a studio in London, in November, which I'm very enthused about! More at a later date.

SS Great Britain Documentary Up!

The animated documentary project that I and several other UWE animators and Motion Graphicers helped make is finally finished and up online to view. It was created in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the ship's return to Bristol.

Last week there was a little bit about it on BBC Points West news on TV where I saw some bits I had worked on; I found that fun to actually see something I'd contributed on up on television for many possible viewers! On the BBC Bristol website the image still they show before you click to view the film is the scene I did the little bit of character animation and design on, so that's also quite fun for me. Not quite a celebrity, but it's just nice!

Here are some stills from the (Flash) third part of the documentary, which I worked on (apologies for heavy compression):

Due to busy work on my final film, I could only afford the time to animate one scene in the end, but I also designed several of the characters that appear throughout the third film (drawing into Flash with a mouse while the tablet wasn't working was not easy!)

And here you can view it at large size (and find out about the actual ship):

http://www.ssgreatbritain.org/Home.aspx

Alternativey, at smaller size on the BBC website:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/bristol/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_8829000/8829153.stm

Silly Doodles Dump

The most free expression...

Doodles are great. I'm not saying these are brilliant drawings, but it's just nice to upload various random doodles every so often. :) Enjoy...? 2009-2010.

A single storyboard panel for what was squillions of storyboard roughs for "Not I".

Doodled during Visual Culture...

Original Father Time concept. Okay, so this is late 2008...

Chibi Yoda

I started doodling one day and this guy started to look a little like some stylised version of Yoda. So I made him more Yoda-y. He has big ears. Recently coloured him, and the paper was kind enough to retain texture in the scan.

Illustration-y

They're a little old now, but I made edits and I want to start the ball rolling for more drawings.

My take on the caterpillar in Alice's Adventures In Wonderland (everyone has to illustrate things from that book sometime). Purple and pink biro of all things. Recently coloured up in Shoppy.

Cat creature thing. Black biro. I don't know what others think of this drawing technique but I've always been fond of it and wish to do more.



I'm regaining the motivation to draw, thankfully.

There's not much on it, but I've now added an 'Observational Sketches' page.

Promotional Gear

We just do not ask about some things. Move on...

Business cards that can be picked up from under my One Sheet in the hallway at the show. And for general business card-y use. Obviously it does not have 'Business card' in grey letters at the sides.




And to coincide with the film: '"Not I" - the early days' postcard. It's not perfect, but it's rather cute. Feel free to pick one up.



Degree Show private view starts tonight, and open to general public for the rest of the week.



Advertising poster for our animation show, designed by fellow student Jim Wheeler!
View our website for more: http://uweanimation2010.com/ !

Also, I added a new page for life drawing! — please take a look. :)

Appreciate the trees, plus film clips

Because it's 'the thing' to do.



Considering the amount of paper I really did use, this photo is a lie. You can't quite see how much paper was stacking in this photo, but anyways, there was much much muuuuch more used during production. Thank you paper; sorry good, kind trees.

Oh yeah, here's two brief clips from my film in a more finished form:





There's not much animation in these, but you get the point.

My film (along with my fellow animation students' films!) will get its first proper public viewings at the UWE Creative Arts Degree Show, opening 18th June for a week. So far I am not ashamed of my film, so here's hoping all goes well with that! Postcards and business cards I hope will be available for then, too.

"Not I" draws to an end

Wow, apologies for not writing sooner. My little film work is coming to a close (!!!) after several months where that little bugger of a creature has been my only thought. It's going to be weird without it.

I've learned a lot from the creation of the film, including underestimating how long the computer editing part of the film would take. But I had never done this before, so I have discovered, paid the price, learned from it, and that is all I can do really. The time management has been frustrating, but I have gained a lot from the filmmaking experience and I can even say I'm rather proud how it's looking. I have achieved. Slowly, yes, but it's so nearly there!

It is no longer in colour due to time constraints; however the black and white I have found works nicely and refocuses on the great appreciation I feel towards traditional animation.

My one thought for how the film will be received: You don't have to like it at all, but I sure hope you can appreciate it! A heck of a lot of work went into it. Many struggles, frustrations, tears, intrigue, confusion and goodness knows what else.

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As the degree show and various events to spread our films draws near, I must get some promotional bits and bobs together, and for a bit more professionalism, this blog needs a new look! And more images. I PROMISE you.

So back soon with more stuff. :)

Film Update

I've been most focused on the animation at the moment, it's going okay but too slow for my liking. Some bits of animation keep needing refinements; this is good if it really needs it but it does slow me from moving on. It has been advised not to get too picky with it - so I hope I can just work through it okay.

I managed to record narration and sound for my film before Easter, but unfortunately it seems that it won't play on my mac Premiere or After Effects. This is slightly concerning, but I'm convinced I'm not beaten. One thankful note is that it does work on uni PCs (though this might mess my schedule up a tad...).

Backgrounds have ever felt a nuisance to me. I'm still not 100% decided on how they'll look and the absolute colour palette. I've made more tests but I just can't find a happy balance. I can only hope very soon a Eureka! moment will hit. I might show some tests soon.

After uploading, I realise that this line test doesn't have much animation at all. I did it a few weeks back now and it is by no means a great piece but finally a chance to see what kind of thing I'm doing. It is part of my scene 1 with a cat that is evilly preventing a pig from getting out the door. Meanwhile, a dog's shadow looms overhead.



Here's another super quick line test. Is it just me or does YouTube upload videos to play faster than they are supposed to? One of the first scenes of the dog approaching the hen, menacingly, while the cat keeps back and grins.



I will upload more soon.

Lisbon Images

I said I would...

Part of a church as we went uphill towards castle.


Part of the castle. (I like castles.)


More castle.


Funky Twisty Tree in the botanic garden beside the Natural History museum of Lisbon (it's no London, by far).


Lush greenery of the gardens.


From Lisbon centre you can see statue and castle... It always amuses me when birds sit on top of statue heads.


Proof of Bill Plympton meet-age! Me and my friend have currently censored faces for a few little reasons (maybe soon it will be replaced). Bill is tall. I am short.


Sketches from the castle.






I did more sketches, but apparently I wasn't on form that week.

Hoorah for imagery!

Monstra Festival, Lisboa

I came back from the Monstra Festival in Lisbon, Portugal a few days ago. I must say I'm very glad I went, and I think it cheered me up in various ways (can't say so much for giving me bounds of motivation for my own film, unfortunately). It also made me think again about my priorities with work and such.

The screenings themselves were mostly in the evening; we generally went to the Competition and Student showings. There was some positive stuff coming out from all around - and of course a bit of muck to baffle the mind. There was lots of hand drawn films coming out of it too, which was nice to see.

The most stand out part of the festival had to be meeting Bill Plympton; I am also proud to say I am no longer an autograph virgin. I think I came across slightly fangirl-y, what with the getting a picture taken with him, two signed postcards with doodles on (from separate days) and a signed copy of his 'Bill's Dirty Shorts' DVD. In my opinion, Bill's human-focused films are far better than his animal ones - they're the proper good Plymptoons to me. But yeah, that was a great experience!

Also interesting was Michaela forgothernameI'llputitrightsoon, who also did a masterclass, among some others as Normand Roger. I am only sorry that I was so tired through several of the screenings and classes.

Monstra, Lisbon was definitely a great opportunity - a nice little festival, though not the best organised. There was plenty of interesting buildings and some things to see around the city, too. It was nice to chat to fellow students out of uni-hours and get to know a few new faces. :) Again I say: very pleased I went!

I will upload a few pictures soon of Lisbon-yness.

Ah... March

Well I didn't update about The Princess and the Frog, did I? The long and the short: some good moments, bit too jam-packed, sad, shocking, too many 'unfinished' songs... There's hope for Disney yet, but they just need to brave it and not stick to that certain kind of Disney 'style' that they think everyone expects.

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In other news, the SS Great Britain project is sailing slowly forward... (sorry). Some scenes are close to being animated and me and a friend are to design '70s characters for it.

My main film project is now underway. The Animatic has been through the mill several times and I am into the animating. Less than 12 weeks to go. Pretty darn frightening.

I haven't really posted any pretty pictures to break up my waffles, so here is an early production still I knocked up in time for the pre-production hand in. Since this, things have changed quite a lot, but it's all I can really show for the moment for some small kind of idea...



My film "Not I" has a pig as the 'main' character. The obvious problems with this image: the background is too detailed for this piece really and the colouring is the wrong way round (should be dark front, lighter further away), etc. There has been several changes since; for the better I should hope!

As it is, I am pretty busy; even now I am half working on some backgrounds. I will try and update with a few snippets of my film at some point.

For pointless extras:



A very quick mouse doodle in PhotoStudio that was used in my most recent animatic. There is a cat and a dog too. And a hen.

New year, new directions...

The Princess and the Frog

You bet I'm going to mention about a TRADITIONAL DISNEY FEATURE.

Disney. Sometimes I love them; sometimes I despise them - but that company is ultimately what got me into animation. How my heart saddened when Disney announced they would discontinue making traditional animated films back in 2003, something to this day that still confuses me; why exactly did they stop? 'Money, money' tweets a little blue bird in my ear. But that's what it's all about; got to make ends meet... But anyway: and how excited I was when I heard Disney would be making a 2D again! Brilliant - that's my Disney! But of course they would be playing safe with this one; perhaps a little too safe. Trying to please everyone is NEVER going to work (my god, I've seen some bloody irritating comments from people online), so Disney should stray away from trying to be such everybody-pleasers, and just concentrate on making a great story. I'm sure there wouldn't have been such hassle if they hadn't made the Disney Princess theme such a marketable thing right now. Well, I could easily go on, but I'll watch it first (hopefully this Friday!) and try and go into more depths about my thoughts then.

Oh, I do hope Disney don't get discouraged because this film hasn't done amazing at the American box office (there are several reasons for this that you can discover elsewhere). They have suppassed an amount that puts it to a similiar success rate as Lilo & Stitch (2002), so really, it is good progress and shows that, rightly so, there IS still a market for 2D - especially where Disney are concerned.

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I went on about there, and it's nearly 1... So I will update again soon. Toodles (if anyone reads these, that is!)