Final Space Animation

I am very proud to say that we completed our space animation. Despite having to remove scenes and edit the script multiple times, we think that this final version still works really well and that we've achieved a pretty high standard

There are still parts I'd like to change, as some of the animation is a little jumpy, like in the scene where the rovers are leaving the lander. Some of the effects could also use a little work, as I think that the perspective of one of the flames when the second lander enters the scene is a little off. Overall though, I'm pretty pleased with the result, especially after the amount of problems we encountered along the way, as I've highlighted in other blog posts.

Proof of Concept shot

This semester, my animation shot is in a very different style and of a very different character. Because of that, it presented different challenges when making it, but it was good to do that also helps prove that the art style works in this format.

The director instructed me to have the rat waking up and peering up out of the hole of an upturned ship. Here are a couple of videos of my progress to making the final shot. I’m quite happy with the final outcome, although I wish I could have worked more on putting follow through in the ears and in his sway. I also want to put more thought into his arm actions too.

Now that the story has started to develop more for Sold Out, I have started to create some artwork for the project. As I am acting as producer, I have been keeping the director organised and on track to create all of the things we need for the bible. Our concept art has so far been a team effort, shown below. The lineart was created by someone else, while I have taken the time to colour. I have then passed this on for more shading, so that we can get the best possible outcome.

Here are some turnarounds and expressions I completed for our child character, Kid Li.

And these are backgrounds we’ve been working on. I would have liked to work more into the shading on the noodle stand, but I tried to make the shadows on the ground look as accurate as possible.

Below is some work I've completed for Rat Trap as well, including turnarounds, expressions and poses. If I have time, I would also like to add to the turnarounds and do a view from the back to show how their clothes and tails look. I would also like to work more with the character Scab (green), as I think I've managed to draw him quite well so far, really getting his face shape.

EGX Rezzed

This year I had the opportunity to attend EGX Rezzed with the Pocket Pals team, using it as an opportunity to promote the game. Not only did we speak to the public, but we also spoke with developers and game designers, and attended talks about getting into the industry. While it was focused around gaming, I think a lot of this could be applied to animation as well, and therefore it was a worthwhile trip for both education and a bit of fun as well!

Inspiring Animation - Isle of Dogs

I went to go see Isle of Dogs in the cinema recently as a fan of both the animation technique and Wes Anderson, and I was very impressed by the quality of the stop motion. The models of the dogs were fantastic, and you can tell the animators were skilled. I particularly like the attention they paid to the dogs facial expressions, and you could feel their emotions even though they weren't human.

One thing I really appreciated about this film as well was the amount of background they provided for those who were interested. I have watched a number of videos about their animation process and the creation of the movie, and they're all very interesting to see.

Updated Concepts

Following my original post of the character art from these scenes, I have now worked on the backgrounds using references I took myself by going to the beech near Falmouth. I was able to use the rock shapes and layouts to plan my compositions, which was quite helpful. I also added some lighting to the characters to make them look like they were actually in the scene, and also added shadows below them. One difficulty I did have was with the sky, as both the director and I didn't want this to be an empty colour, but it was difficult to reference from the artist who influenced the style. I think we managed to do something simple that still works within the image though.

Space Brief Progress 2

Here I have some more screenshots of the things I've been working on for our Live Brief project. The first image shows one of our large crater scenes, which like the last one, we had to change in order to show the real size of the crater. This meant I had to work a lot with the camera as well as the lighting, and it took a lot of tries to get this right.

 

In this next screenshot, I completed the first pass animation in this shot. Our original idea was to have this linker with the wide shot above, but as we couldn't get this to look good with our moon texture, we compromised and made them link in seperate shots, which I think still works well.

 

 Below is an example of some of the texturing work I had to do. While we had a team member who was quite good at texturing, we found that these textures weren't transferring correctly between programs, which meant I had to fix the issues we were having. This took extra time, but the outcome wasn't too bad in the end. If I could do it again though, I would learn more about how to use hypershade and things like bump maps and shaders.

Inspiring Animation - Lone Digger

 

Lone Digger Video

This is a music video, Lone Digger by Caravan Palace. I was introduced to this quite a while ago now, but I recently encountered it again and thought I could talk about it. The animation works really well with the music, the shots cutting in time. I also really love the lineless style, like I've said about other animations before, and the lighting is also quite striking to look at. The story of the video takes an interesting twist too, with the characters being not quite who you thought they'd be.

I unfortunatly couldn't place the video directly, so I have provided a link.

Concept Drawings

Here are some of the drawings I have been working on for one of the preproduction projects.

Currently it is only the characters, but over the next week I intend to work on the backgrounds as well, although these will take a little longer because of the style. I think these are quite dynamic poses, although it would be good to investigate some more to make sure the silhouettes are interesting and they have a lot of action in them.

I have also been looking into action scenes for the other bible. Here are some examples, one being from an anime called Cowboy Bebop, and the other is from a live action movie called

Inspiring Animation - Sand Planet

This music video, Sand Planet, was released a few months ago. I really love the 2D effects animation in this short, and the movement of the smoke as she swipes through in the first gif is really impressive. The shadows through the smoke are also quite interesting. The way the clothes move looks quite realistic, and their is nice anticipation on her arm movement.

 

I also really like the character designs in the back. They're all similar yet have subtle differences that make them unique, in both their masks and their coats.

Space Live Brief Progress

Recently I have been putting a lot of work into organising and setting up our scenes so that we can finally begin animating and rendering for the final film. As producer, I am very determined to keep the team motivated so we can produce something we’re proud of, and I am glad that most of my team also want to dedicate time and get involved.

Here are some screenshots of some of the scenes I have been working on. Seeing these will break the illusion that we are going to create in the animation once it’s is rendered and composited. The scenes themselves look quite simple, but I have to shape the planes, apply the textures and places the rocks, as well as plan the lighting. The lighting also has to be consistent between scenes, which is something difficult I have had to deal with.

Something we’ve had a hard time with is getting the crater to look as large as it actually is. Our model can only have so much detail before it starts to become unusable, so we have started talking about ways we can use lighting to respond to feedback about this problem.

Since it is the beginning of a new study block, we will again be producing new animation bibles for submission this term. I have decided that I want to contribute to others work this time, and help them develop their stories to become something better.

One project I am interested in is about rat pirates, with the title in progress. Here is a sketch I have done for this project already, although the style hasn't been decided on and the story is still in progress.

Another project I am showing an interest in is very action based, with a lot of fight scenes. I will be working as producer on this project, and will hopefully be able to create a good bible with a very different subject matter and style to my last.

For our Live Brief, we will now start animating and finishing actual shots, and I am excited to see how far we progress, as we have a lot of work to complete.