Animation at the university of wolverhampton: January 2015

Thursday 22 January 2015

character development (final outcome and evaluation)

This post shows the final outcome to presenting my character Margaret on screen with information on sound reference links and one of the filming footages I've used for the rotoscoping methods before filling in the right character shapes and features in the outcome.

footage, clips and soundtrack referencing

These two vids are filmed references I used for the rotoscoping stage of quickly sketching the movements on tv paint.

These links below show the audio I used for the lip sync and theme song for the animation

Theme song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaxTRX9oAV4

voice:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjRXIVSv5JQ

Margaret (final outcome)

This vid shows my final outcome to presenting my character on screen

Character development module evaluation and reflection.

In the character development module, our goal was to develop and produce our own unique character. The first process was to produce two character ideas inspired by research that could help with the unique scenario of each one in terms of emotions, characteristics, backstory and personality. This was through grabbing personality traits and characteristics from people through the form of quick sketching from primary research. I also explored different internet sites to look for articles that could fill the back bone of what can make my characters different and be able to develop further.

The two characters I produced included Carson, a veteran solider and Lady Margaret, a self-centred, vicious young woman who thinks she is beauty. After viewing both characters to an audience, they chose the best one that was more believable which Lady Margaret was.

Once chosen our next approach was to develop the character further through the forms of sketching a lot of drawings to develop the perfect shape and features through all body parts, suitable for her personality and for the production stage; producing initial concept arts that reflects the character in different stylized ways; creating a Marquette to see her from a 3D perspective; and a line test to show how she reflects her smug attitude through her walk cycle.

The production process was to animate the character to see what she would look like on screen. The stages included line tests of how she would move from gestures, common traits and walk cycles; lip sync to display how she would talk in situations with her movements to show more of her personality and a ten second cut with colour to show what she would look like in the final stages of production. This main stage was done through the software of TV paint. This was helped with my own filmed footage of movements and adding a theme and voice soundtrack taken from YouTube to create an atmosphere and vibe with her personality.

The best part of this animation module is learning that there are many ways to create the perfect character for on screen. It also gave me freedom to explore how to make my character better with help from feedback. I also enjoyed creating different approaches to character development including 2d and 3d perspectives.

What I like to improve is too keep on exploring ways of developing my characters further, mainly through drawings to give them that edge to succeed if published on screen. Another would be to improve animating skills when crafting more solid drawings within every frame to look less loose and more understandable to get the full picture and start drawing free hand without rotoscoping but still using the footage I use as only reference. This would also help with the lip syncing methods aswell. The last thing I would like to improve is more planning to be more grounded in exploring the right options to develop my character. This would show how her presentation can be unique and different from planning ways of animation styles and producing the right design workflow on facial and body shapes. And this would help show what can be further improved in changing the plan or adding another drawing method into the mix if the character isn’t appealing enough.

more concept expriments

The images below show my experimentation with creating ugly female figures who think they are beauty through adobe Photoshop. The images I referred from the internet are manipulated to look more ugly to show off what type of trait and personality I wanted for the end result.

Wednesday 21 January 2015

all group projects

this posts shows the videos of finished projects I was apart of within different groups:

week 1:BLU's MUTO inspired graffiti animation (chalk) 13th-20th October 2014 Matthew, Keiran, Richard, Shain

Week 2: Black card stop Motion animation (lotte reiniger) 20th-27th October 2014 Matthew, Chris, Natalia, Stee

Week 3: Time lapse animation (photography) 27th oct-3rd November 2014 matthew, chris, natalia

Week 4: multiplane animation 3rd- 10th November 2014
Matthew, Chris, Andrew and Peter

Week 5: sand animation (Sandman) 10th-17th November 2014
Matthew, Rob, Peter, Andrew

full line tests (rotoscoping and shaping)

This post shows the full before and after stages with one vid displaying quick frame sketches of rotoscoping filmed footage that shows my character's natural movements I would like to present her in on screen. Then the other vid shows the shape of the character coming to form on top of the rotoscoping sketches before applying the features.

Full line test (30 seconds)

Margaret's full shaped line test

Tuesday 20 January 2015

margaret line test

This post shows a quick line tests that displays how my character Margaret would move and walk.

Monday 19 January 2015

jousting animation (final outcome and module reflection)

Jousting match animation (Final outcome)

Evaluation and reflection

At the beginning of the Innovative animation module, I worked with a number of people on different projects throughout the first five week period. The techniques we learnt through course of each one included the Artist BLU street art animation which we did through the form of chalk; Lotte Reiniger’s silhouette style; time-lapse method through photography; multiplane method of using multiple frames going over on top of each other and Caroline leaf’s oil painting style of animation through using sand materials.

What’s worked best through all groups I’ve been with is working with different people, building confidence on leading, helping and communicating at times with other members; planning, executing and finishing the main scenario before deadlines. Even learning many ways animation can take form from through useful experimentation that would help build ideas to make my animations unique and different.

What didn’t work well in groups was in some case the lack of communication, mostly online and worrying that myself or other members aren’t contributing enough towards the projects as other group members.

In the last half of the module, our task was to create an individual animation inspired by the group projects we did at the beginning. First approach was planning decent ideas that would fit the outcome. The main ideas include faces that morph into different emotions or features and the other was a jousting match. The idea I chose was the joust as it fitted the criteria I want for the outcome. My original though was to use the silhouette technique as it was a method I enjoyed when filming. But to make my animation more interesting I decided to use mixed media elements, comprised of drawing, puppeteering stop motion and multiplane. For starters I produced character designs for the puppets and a storyboard to form the main scenario of the scene. Then I started to rotoscope footage from internet research of the jousting scenes I needed which was done on TVs paint; drawing the outlines of the jousters then filling the colours in with backgrounds. Next, I used after effects to form multiplane backgrounds to move with certain scenes in the animation which once each background is positioned in the right time length, it blends into tv paint with the scene.

Next was filming the puppets, which were made from black card for body parts and white paper to create different emotions for each character. Once each scene of stop motion was done, the next thing to do was blend them in with the backgrounds which were both done in tv paint aswell as placing them in between rotoscoping scenes based on the storyboard. Once that was done, the last thing was blending the puppets with the rest of the animation, by using the drawing tools to sketch the shape and shading onto the puppet images using only black and white colours.

The final thing after exporting was putting a decent soundtrack based on sounds that would be normally heard in a jousting match through adobe Audition then placed with the footage on premiere pro from the free sound website and YouTube.

The best part of this piece was creating my own technique by mixing drawing with stop motion. What I could improve on is mainly time management when planning and executing the production stage and being able to do all scenes I planned from the storyboard; and I would like to improve my sound making skills to make the animations more interesting.

references, puppets and backgrounds

Reference links
This section shows the links to the rotoscoping references and inspirations I used within the animation. But only four were used in the production stage. The asterisk * links to what was used.

Amazing galloping horses 1080p hd (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OapMBWNgTzU)
Arabian horses by felix redkov YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHNF6kI5slI) *
Full metal jousting s01 e01 the ultimate extreme sport YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48BS6mM8vd4) *
Full metal jousting the biggest hits YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWVZgp-eQG8)
Greg robinson horsemanship intro to the turn around YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihXYcwQgX_g)*
How to fit horses with english saddles how to hook the girth of an english saddle (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DOpH7p_2oE)*
Most beautiful horse film ever (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apXGSzStESI)
ser loras tyrell vs gregor clegane tournament (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcnFPp2mFoc)

original main background drawing

This is original drawing of the main background used in most puppet scenes and some rotoscoping scenes. This was sketched through pencil then pen using a set of three A3 paper sheets.
Edited main background

This shows the edited version of the background which was done through adobe photoshop which was then used for most of the scenes in the animation and was used for some scenes that had multiplane elements to it.

Puppets
this images show what some of the puppets look like before the filming process and the editing within tv paint.

Thursday 15 January 2015

Margaret 30 second scene storyboard

This post shows the storyboard of the Margaret scene I want to represent my character in through personality and characteristics towards other people.
But this might be change as the outcome for the module would need to be a line test and it should mostly concentrate on drawings of margaret which in turn can save alot of time towards the deadline.

Wednesday 14 January 2015

Advanced 2D module summary (part3)

This post shows the spider animation outcome and the reflection on the overall scenario of this module

Final outcome
This display shows the final edit of the animation with the name changed to 'Breeding cycle of spiders', formatted further with clean drawings and colour. For the most part I used TV paint's smearing paint tool after applying rough colour schemes on each frame. This would allow me to be3lnd the colour in and make it look more of the animation style of a painting. After it was further edited through Adobe Premiere, added with the music from the YouTube reference link which was slightly modified to suit the feel of the scenes within this short clip.
Click here to go to my uploaded version for better quality on vimeo.

'Breeding cycle of spiders'

Module evaluation and reflection

For this module, the main scenario was to learn and understand the ways of advancing 2D animation within the boundaries of software methods like TV paint and after effects; and drawing methods including cel animation and rotoscoping.

First I researched the main topic I would base the 30 to 60 second animation which was originally the life cycle of spiders but was changed over time to suit criteria’s requirements and suit the amount of time I can complete the outcome before the module’s end. This was eventually changed to the theme ‘Breeding cycle of spiders.’ Next I produced initial sketches to show my understanding of the theme. After that I started with the pre-production stages of storyboarding and animatic based on the research elements of the reference footage from YouTube. But like the titles, it was changed drastically to avoid doing too much work when in the production stage. Once I was in that stage, the main formatting and method I used was TV paint and rotoscoping based on comprised research footage, sliced and put together on TV paint to suit the story I want to tell from the theme.

Once the line test for the short spider documentary was done, I then proceeded to clean up the frames and add the suitable colour I wanted for the outcome. This was a great opportunity to let the audience understand each frame with the selected colour schemes to represent each drawing. For example, to know which spider is which, I decided to use the colour schemes of reds for the female and blues for the male. To make it feel less of a rotoscope, I decided to further use the TV paint features of blending the colours to look more like a painting, mainly using the smear paint brush tool.

Once the production stage was done I edited the footage with the sound on Adobe Premiere Pro. Once this was easily done, I exported it to an AVI file to be ready for publishing.

What’s worked best in this module is learning more methods and productive ways of using after effects, Photoshop and TV paint. Even though I’ve only used more methods in TV paint, it’s useful to have this sort of preparation and knowledge to help further my animation skills when put onto digital formatting in future.

One thing I would change is work better on my time managing skills to get the right results on time, produce the right length for the animation, planning ahead on research, tasks and stages; and produce the best out of the animation aswell as the other production stages when cleaning them up.

Animatics and other line tests

Line tests (mutliple scenes

This video shows multiple scenes I expereimented on the tv paint software to practice my skills and to prepare the best out of ther main scene I want for the main prodcution and the cleaning stage

Animatic

This post shows the pre-production stage of an animatic through the length I want the animation to be through static pictures. This has also been Combined with the soundtrack I want for the post production stage.

As you watch, the sketches are based on the footage I have found on the internet which have bern organised, cut and compressed together to form what I want for the outcome and be based on the storyboard at the beginning of the pre-production stage.

Tuesday 13 January 2015

4th December 2014 character development presentation

Initial sketches

This section shows the initials I incorporated to produce ideas of how I want my character Margaret to look like, mainly to show off her vicious personality and show off her false exterior of thinking she is beautiful whereas she is actually ugly.

Head and Feature shapes

This slide shows the initial steps I had to produce to make my character more appealing, mainly shapes on eyes, mouth and head shapes. When I chose the right features and shapes, I experimented with facial expressions and poses to see if the features are suited and grounded to what my character should look like.

Body Shapes and General poses
This slide displays my experimentation of producing different body shapes to suit best for the personality I want for Margaret. Once I've chosen the best shape I further experimented with how the shape can do well with different poses.

Character Sheets and Turn Around sheets
This slide shows sketches of a turn around sheet which is comprised from different angles to get a full picture and perspective of the character. The other sheet of drawings display the sort of personality and characteristics she would normally display on screen to show what can see do when being portrayed with other characters and other setting she would be in.

Marquette Model
This slide shows the production stages of how I did the main figure of my character through a 3D modelling perspective through using plasticine modelling clay and carving equipment to produce all the shapes right before putting in the detail. For the face I simply created skull to easily stabilize the features especially when creating the cheek bones and eye sockets to look like a female face when the full head is produced. What these images also show is that I used simple equipment of pencils to wrap the material around to stabilise the shape when all parts are put together to avoid collapsing.

Concept Art
This last slide shows intitial concept arts I've produced to get an overall feel and visual development of the character mainly through colour schemes, styles, refining the detail and developing it through different perspectives to show characteristics and personality.

Tuesday 6 January 2015

spider doc line test (clip)

here is a small taster on what I am doing for the Advanced 2D module which is based on small documentary about the life of the female spider. This tests shows signs that I have used rotoscoping which will be cleaned and coloured in a particular artist style to form that its my own piece and not make it just like a rotoscope.