Today i went out and started looking for some supplies to use different medias than digital, i wanted to buy some paints and charcoal but i ended up only getting paper and some sketch books as i did not find any that i wanted.

Nearly finished expressions sheet only thing left to do is the Background and a Title,

but i can say one of my Model sheets is completed(almost).

Saw people were posting again and saw some lip-syncs which made me think i should start some animation just a small 10 min "project"' to get me back in the game, starts about 10secs

I drew this gnome awhile ago on paper then i decided to scan it in and colour it up on photoshop, and he wears a fez.

SMART Targets 

• With 3d characters,models or objects i will try to improve on the texturing to make them look as they should, also use correct lighting in the appropriate situation.
• Further improve on use of c4d by making models, and other objects with textures. this goes the same of illustrator.
• Plan out work t keep on track and not fall behind.

Over the year on this course i have learnt some new skills and also improved on old ones. each project that i did helped greatly in the process of learning them, one of the first projects that i did was creating a walk cycle and i did this in a couple of different ways, the first time i did it is was quite difficult but has i went on and as practiced doing it, it got easier and the end result looked a lot better by the end compared to when i first started. i liked this as it was simple and quite easy to do but the downside is that drawing each frame by hand takes a lot of time and getting smooth accurate lines each time can be difficult. next the that i did was create a morph, which i essentially drawing a object into another which i had to morph a animal into something that could be related to it. after a few designs and testing flash i i chose to morph a octopus into a sea mine, i was unsure how i would make the morph but after testing some ideas on flash i found one that i thought was quite good. 2d animation is i think the weakest form of animation i can do simply because i can not do it to a great standard but the time consuming of just drawing hundreds of frames takes a lot of patients.

Something that i did enjoy very much was the progression into working with a 3d environment  originally it started out just doing some simple Cad lessons showing some of the basics how to use key frames, animate a texture on a plane and also some modelling, such as a hand, ufo and even a wine glass. another modelling thing that was done was tooth paste and not also did you have to model it you had to animate the paste coming out the tube which was the first real animating done entirely in 3d. there were other lessons were we used 2d image that were animated and made backgrounds which were also 2d but we placed them into a 3d environment making 2.5d which is what my next project was creating an animation using 2.5d. first i had to create a basic idea of what would happen in the animation, once i got the idea i had to write a script and create a storyboard which i found very useful as when i previously tried to make small little animations on flash i would just go in blind not knowing what to draw, were to start and so the story board helped when it come to what angle the camera we be at or what sound would go were. After the storyboard and script was complete i had to make an animatic a rough animation to so roughly what to would happen in the scene and give a general idea of what the final product would look like. then the next thing was to create the animation which compiled of creating assets and compelling them into c4d some 3d elements were placed in such as the boulder and the alarm.

During later months we did some small mini projects and activities to diverse the range of media that we used. One thing that we done was direct film, this was a solo/ group project as i and other had to scratch on to film anything so when it was played it would become an animation so we scratched onto our own individual pieces of film then they were scanned in altogether and played back. this was interesting but not the sort of animation i would get into. other group activities that were involved were live action stop motion i did not take part in this but i wish i had because i thoroughly enjoy watching stop motion and i have tried it before and it was great fun to do. another piece of stop motion that we did was a sort silhouette animation which again was a great thing to take part in. but the best and funniest group activity i was in, was a activity that got us using a green screen and working with aftereffects. our group idea involved us sitting in front of a green screen pretending to be in a space ship when a gun is fired and we all die, in aftereffects the green screen was keyed out and replaced with a interior of a space ship that was made in c4d in 3d, and then there was a laser that needed to be fired so that was done in aftereffects also along with an explosion at the end. 

the next project was the most fun and more enjoyable of them all because it felt as if i were in a business and i was working to meet a clients specifications so i was not just doing it for me but someone else and this was the e4 project whereby we had to make and e4 sting for e4 and what made it different to other projects it had more specific guidelines such as it had to be 10 seconds long and it could not contain anything that might be considered offensive. this project was probably the best out the of the all other projects in my opinion as i like integrating different medias in one single piece of work, and i did, before we could make the animation we had to come up with ideas develop it and make  story board so we could know what was going to go were. in the animation everything was done in 3d but the flames on the side of the building were done in flash in 2d and the movement of the flames looked quite good and with the added sound make it better.

The last project that i did was build rig and animate a 3d character. But before i could do that i had to create character sheets and develop my ideas until i was satisfied with my chosen character then i had to create a character sheet with elevations of the character which would help me, make the character in 3d, and on this character sheet they had to be elevations of the character, different facial expressions, a title and a backs troy of the character. once all that was done the character could be made this was a tough thing to do as it was my first time creating a character from scratch and what difficult was if the elevations of your character were not right it would be wrong, it could easily be fix but i was just time consuming as it happen to me. once you had modelled you had to rig it so it could have joints to move and be able to be animated, this was not so bad but the main problem i and most people had was the foot roll for something so simple as a foot roll it gave so many people trouble. working with 3d is great but if you don't know what you are doing or even make a little mistake the whole thing can go wrong. animating the character was the easy part as we made a random character to rig and animate so we could get used to it beforehand.

as for what i would do next year i do enjoy stop motion so was thinking of doing a animation in that style as i had not experimented with it much in the past year. as i think that one of my strengths could be with stop motion as i am quite interested in it, so that my weakness would be traditional 2d animation i as do not enjoy it as much and i as not as good as i could be while doing it.

Targets

• Draw at least one picture per week,
• Design and develop and character,
• improve illustrator and c4d skills by showing a range of different image and designs

-Summer project-

SWOT ANALYSIS

Strengths

meeting clients specs the e4 project was a good example of this as i had to follow specific guidelines. and designing characters is great as possibilities are endless and you can have fun doing it. plus i have an interest in all elements of animation media and i like working with 3d as it is my strongest of all animation.

Weaknesses

time checking

procrastination 

Opportunities

There area a few opportunities to help improve my skills and get used a working environment working with or for a client and the best things i could do as they improve the two skills that i lack in are they are 11 seconds club in which i can use c4d to create an animation and illustrator friday to use to help with line work on characters or elevations.

Threats

time management 

lack of skills

SMART targets

Texturing

Lighting

improving c4d and illustrator 

proper planning

Timeplan

25/5/12- work one draft ideas for short animation script.

1/6/12- illustrator friday

8/6/12- Design, rig and animate a character in c4d

15/6/12- design ideas for animation short

22/6/12- design development

2/7/12- Story board first draft

9/7/12- storyboard a few more developments and then a final.

27/7/12- illustration friday project

3/8/12- finish summer project.

Short Animation -ALARM- HD720

When i create 3d objects or characters i would like to think i could progress enough to get to this level of quality and knowing that something like this is possible is amazing. everything about this is incredible, the animation is of the character and the objects are so natural along with the textures and the lighting it makes it seem all the more real. Another thing is that compliments the animation is the sound everything sounds as it should and its all crystal clear, theres no mic static noise or echoes which makes it brilliant.

Thought of You By Ryan J Woodward.

This is piece of animation is in my top ten favourite, as it feels to my style of work, it was all hand drawn and am not a fan of that but i know it was done on the computer and really enjoy working with computers. and i prefer t then if i had to hand draw everything, computers feel better for me. the other things that draw my attention is the fluidity of the movement it feels some smooth and not jerky or has delays between frames added with the sketchy style makes it even better. the reason for that is i find myself liking sketches rather than the finished coloured products.

Collapsing Cooling Towers

Frederick Avén / Helpful Strangers
i find this great as it firstly shows how you can make something so simple and turn it into something funny, and also like the mixed media approach how they have applied these 3d elements and composted them in the live video feed. its a great way to combine different types of media and bring them together.

3D character

Here is the final 3d render but without a few textures.

A quick look at something i am drawing to help practice with

blending and shading in photoshop. 

Finally working on this not complete but here is the basic outline.

Heres half of my character sheet for my 3D model that i am making things that are still to complete is backstory, placement of different views and working on shading and background then Harold will be complete.

The All-New Volvo V40 - Sloths

This shows a perfect example of 2d animation that has amazing smooth animation,
i think that this has been done in Flash and or After Effects.

Studio Killers - Ode To The Bouncer (OFFICIAL)

I find this to be one of the more weird videos but i do enjoy it as it combines
different animation techniques- 3d, 2d etc...- which i would enjoy to to.

My Finished E4 sting.

almost final render test, only a couple of minor things to change for the final thing is done but the main thin i have to add is sound.  

Here is the neatened verison of the flames it now looks 10 times better than before.

Here is a test of the flames that are in my E4 ident although the timing was perfect 

the image was fuzzy and pixelated so it looked untidy.

e4 ident and character design

Currently i am creating a proposal for an e4 ident and showcasing a range of ideas to be made for e4 that could be shown on e4. the ident has to be 10 seconds long and has guidelines of what should and should not be in the animation such as it must include the e4 logo but can not contain inappropriate content.

The character design is for a 3d model that will be made on cinema 4d for this i have to draw a range of skinny characters for ideas then choose some that i like and that would be quite easy to make, then once i have a final design i will draw it in different perspectives, front, side and top view for the correct proportions.

Today i have been experimenting with illustrator and outlining some drawings getting better at the software and it is practice for incase i want to do more professional artwork.

This is very simple and clever its not animation but it just a representation of creative side of this Project.

Life Drawing

Over the last week i have been doing life drawing, which consisted of drawing a nude model using a variety of techniques and methods to draw. Drawing still figures is not my strong point but i enjoyed it as over the week i learned new skills and improved old ones such as something new i learned is using ink to outline a figure and give shadows while using white paint to show highlights, something old is figuring out correct measurements on a figure and scaling them to the right size and scale on paper also using charcoal is something that i have used and improved on.