13/10/17

For DGA 210 we had our first production feedback session. We were asked to look more into whether the cat was a necessary addition to the advert, which I agreed with, and afterwards our group held another meeting where we discussed how our idea was kind of flat. We created the idea of Shelterbox as a character being a new box, and having a narrator instructing him on what to do. It has somehow turned into a spy thriller.

For DGA 220 we had a lecture introducing us to the history of computers, which was also fascinating. We were also introduced to the idea of coding and how necessary it is for everyday life. I've learned some python coding in the past for coding basic visual novel games, but I do want to learn some more of the basics to make my experiences using computers easier.

For DGA 230 I received feedback on my artwork. Later on in the week we had a pre-production seminar and a guest seminar with James Henry, where we generated story ideas. I had more inspiration for the first idea I generated in a group. The story was about a sheep who became mutated into a sheep-man in a radioactive explosion, and how he still wanted to marry his sheep lover despite being ostracised by their herd.

Inktober 2017 - Week 1

This year I decided to take part in Inktober to improve my traditional drawing skills, as these days I mostly create art using my Wacom tablet. I decided to do something fun so that I would stick to drawing every day, and ended up re-designing an old original character for the Pokemon franchise and drawing her on her adventures. Since she is an old character of mine from my early teenage years it was fun bringing her back, and I want to use this as an exercise to practice drawing environments and creatures since I mostly draw humans.

1: Skye arrives in the Hoenn region!

2: Skye meets her starter pokemon, Venus!

3: Skye meets a new travelling partner from the Johto region, Menta!

4: Training for the first gym battle!

5: Skye meets her hero at Poke-Con!

6: Skye earns her first gym badge!

7: Skye and Menta become culinary masters! (Or, Menta becomes the 'Brock' of the group.)

6/10/17

This week we were introduced to our new modules.

For DGA 210 we had our client briefing. A volunteer from Shelterbox gave a presentation talking about the organisation, what it does, and what they were looking for in an advert. We then got into groups and started assigning roles. Gabby was made producer in our group and I stepped in for role of director. We created a group chat to keep people organised and arrange meeting times. When we met up our goal was to come up with an initial idea to give at the feedback meeting, and we struggled to find an idea that all of us liked. In the end our initial idea was a personified shelterbox talking to a stray cat while in a truck going towards a disaster zone, with the box telling the cat all about what the organisation does. I'm not sure how happy I am with the idea, although I like the idea of making Shelterbox into a character that kids can relate to.

For DGA 220 we were given a brief introduction to animation technologies and watched an example video about a piece of software developed for Dreamworks. It was fascinating and I was intrigued as to how other pieces of animation technology worked as a result of what I found out. I began thinking about the kind of technology I want to research, and while I know I want to look into some kind of 2D digital software, I'm not sure what just yet.

For DGA 230 I was assigned the artist Ben Nicholson to study in order to replicate his artwork. I found this challenging because his art focuses heavily on traditional painting and an abstract style, things that I struggle with. However, I do think it is something that I should try and gain more experience with and that it will benefit me as it will force me to adapt to art styles, a useful skill for animation.

29/09/17

This week we were set the task of The Rush Job.

We were given a fake client, Benjamin Cook, and the brief was to create a Christmas-themed advert. Since Benjamin Cook was an antiques and furniture company, we decided setting the advert in someone's home would be a good idea. We had a robin fall down a chimney and a young boy treat it and send it back out, to where Santa Claus is waiting on the roof. I liked our advert as it had a very sentimental feeling to it.

The animators in the group divided up shots between us. I was given a shot of the boy holding the bird, and then one of Santa Claus on the roof chuckling. I think my frames came out pretty well but I was a bit disappointed that most of the workload fell onto the animation students when it was supposed to be a collaboration between the whole of SOFT.

Here is our finished advert:

Digital Speed Paint - 3 Colour Challenge

I decided to promote my artwork by doing art challenges on YouTube, so I did the 3 colour challenge, where you use a random colour generator to select 3 colours that you can solely use to paint with. I ended up with two nice teal colours and a deep purple, so I mixed them to create more colours to work with and designed a cabbage patch fairy. I had a lot of fun and it was interesting working on a new project. Setting up my YouTube account and learning how to record and edit a painting video was a lot of fun and I feel like I've learned a lot from it. I hope to work on these more over summer.

Final Animation - Playground Project

I finally completed my playground animation after a lot of long stressful nights and an abundance of changes from my original animatic. It was a very interesting experience and I feel that I've learned a lot of new things through this process. I found it was a lot easier to visualise my end product by colouring a scene as soon as I completed it, rather than animating the whole thing first. Being able to see how it would look finished was motivating.

I tried to incorporate different movements, such as running, punching and swinging, things that I hadn't practiced animating before. I feel that I pulled it off well but with more time I could have given the movements more realism.

Experimental Project

I completed my experimental project and although it greatly differed from what I originally meant to do, I'm satisfied with the result. My original intention was to show a progression of my artwork, from my earliest drawings as a baby to my current art style, since it's my strong belief that you can tell a lot about an artist from the way that they create their art, and the styles they choose. However, due to time management and tests turning out badly, I was unable to create a film that satisfied me. Therefore, I went for something a little different and experimented with a video editing software I hadn't used before. It was fun incorporating myself into the film, and experimenting with typography, masking layers and flashing imagery, as well as different video effects and transitions.