Parallax: After Effects

In today's session with Simon we created a parallax in After Effects using one of our own images. I chose another drawing at first, but it was too complicated as I needed an image with a foreground, mid-ground and background, so I chose my Breaking Bad drawing.

Fantastic Voyage: Nature Badge - Thumbnails (1-17)

Due to the Nature badge's level of importance to the animation, I wanted to do some thumbnails so that it stands out and, obviously, looks good. I used the same technique of creating these badges as the life cycle thumbnails, and so it was very easy to do, compared to earlier methods. I chose similar colours to the life cycle and forest concept pieces as I wanted to show a subtle link between them. I really like these thumbnails as they suit the animation well, and would work well with the intended style.

Life Drawing: 25/03/2015

Today was our last life drawing session of the term, and we did some much faster poses. We did, however, begin with 3x 5 minute poses, which is obviously an exercise we're used to, and i a good way to "warm up". I really like my drawings as they are all well proportioned and have no clear error within them. As it was an exercise to get us used to the model, I kept it simple and stuck with my thin black pen. 

We then did 5x 1 minute poses. I tried not to look at all the detail and just got most of the shape and stance right. I then added colour where there were dark patches on the model. I quite like these as they are quite interesting poses and the colours work well, as both the colour of the lines/detail and the tone are similar. In the past, I have used completely different colours, and so I now think similar colours work much better.

After managing to do 1 more 5 minute pose, we got a bit faster by doing 30 second poses. I didn't have time to add the tones and so drew the body as fast as possible and added detail, if I had enough time. Sure, they're not proportioned correctly, but that's expected, however I think I got the overall stance right and positioning correct.

We then got a whole lot faster, by going down to 10 second poses. At first, I was going to do a load of full body drawings on a page then move on to another page, but as soon as the first pose was finished, I had only drawn the head, shoulders and left arm. I therefore decided to keep going as fast as I can, switching pens after each pose and sticking with the same page. It got more and more complex as it progressed and so the page looks very weird. I do quite like this page, though, a it has a sort of pattern to it and all the different colours look quite strange.

We then ended with 2x 20 minute poses. I drew them out in pen and then used a coloured pencil to add tone. For the second pose, the model was wearing clothes and so was a little different. Having got used to the model, I drew it out first as if she had no clothes on, then I drew the clothes over the top. This allowed me to get the proportions correct and for it to make sense. I really like these two drawings as the coloured pencil works with the pen outline well, and it is clear where the light is hitting the model.

3x 5 minute poses

5x 1 minute poses

1x 1 minute pose & 5x 30 second poses

10 second poses

20 minute pose

20 minute pose

Texturing 1: Surface Texturing Part 1: Maya Fur Presets & Attributes - Tutorial

Annotations..... COMING SOON!!

Texturing 1: Ulitlities & Shading Networks: Sampler Info Node (Double Sided Shader) - Tutorial

Annotations.... COMING SOON!!

Texturing 1: Ulitlities & Shading Networks: Sampler Info Node (Xray's) - Tutorial

Annotations... COMING SOON!

Photoshop Session: 23/03/2015

In today's photoshop session, we drew our self portraits. I'm not a fan of drawing my face anyway as I can never get the proportions right, and so it was lot harder for me as we had to do it on photoshop, as I would, ideally, draw it on paper first, if we were allowed to. 

I got really frustrated at first as they always went wrong, no matter how I'd try to do them. After Jordan showed me a brush that I could use, I just got on with it and didn't try to care much about the results. I did three quick studies before moving onto one final/longer drawing. I'm happy Jordan showed me that brush and gave me a bit of a push to get on with it, as I was really finding it difficult. 

Although, I don't think any of them look like me, they do have some similarities. In the bigger drawing, I think the hair looks ok and the nose, maybe too. I think I showed the tone well as there are a lot of dark and light patches in the drawing.

Maya Session: 20/03/2015

Life Drawing: 18/03/2015

Following on from last week's, almost, fully self directed lesson, this session was also a bit more free, as we could either work on the big sheets or continue making post cards. I chose to go back to working on the big sheets throughout this session. We began with 4x 5 minute poses. I had a few proportion issues here and there, and some of the positions of the arms/legs were made up, slightly, as I couldn't see too well from the position I had at first. 

We the did some 3 minute, 2 minute and 1 minute poses. The first one I did went wrong completely and so I drew over some of the wrong areas and made it look like shading (Top right). I do quite like the composition of this page, as it is all over the place, which I think works well. I could imagine if I were to continue working on that page, a strange pattern might be created.

We then did a 20 minute pose. As I really liked how it was going I spent more time on it and so I probably spent around 30 minutes on it. At first, I wanted to do a very detailed line drawing, which I think I did to some extent, but as I did it very quickly and began to think that too much detail would look strange, I instead chose to add colour. I didn't chose any abstract colours and chose the closet coloured pens to the real thing. I tried to experiment with how I used the pens and it has mixed results. I really like the colour style on the model as it is very abstract and, almost, "trippy" looking. The colour of the sheets do not have a unique style as I didn't manage to work into enough before we had to clear up, and so it looks a little rushed and takes something away from the model.

4x 5 minute poses

3 minute, 2 minute & 1 minute poses

30 minute pose

Fantastic Voyage: Pitch Presentation

Fantastic Voyage: Pitch

Animatic - "Stamp of Nature"

Fantastic Voyage: Animatic (With Sound)

I have now added some sounds to the animatic along with a title screen. I decided to call it "Stamp of Nature" as it refers to the boy's need for the nature stamp in his book of badges. I made it look very child friendly and include some cell style patterns. In terms of the sound, I added sounds of birds/wind and the sound of the boy on his bike. I got them from a royalty free sounds website, so they're not the best quality in the world. I was looking for some kind of tune for when the boy is on his bike and for the end/start, but I was unable to find any that matched the feel of the animatic.

Fantastic Voyage: Forest - Concept Art

Following on from my latest thumbnails for the forest, I continued with the water colour paint look. After being quite happy with my last set of thumbnails, I don't actually think this works quite as well. It's perhaps too washy and it doesn't have the same pen style that the thumbnails had, so it doesn't have the same classic look. It is somewhat generic, and looks more like the first set of thumbnails rather than the latest. I will look to develop more in the coming days that have that 1950s style.

Fantastic Voyage: Animatic (No Sound)

While I'm waiting for other things to download/export, here is my animatic with no sound. It is quite simple in it's design, but I think that's down to it being a bit rushed. I drew each frame out on paper and then edited them on photoshop, before taking them into premiere.

I will now add some sounds and the title. The sounds will be very simple as it shouldn't be too much for the ears to handle. As it is intended for kids, it shouldn't be too loud or abstract.

Fantastic Voyage: Character - Concept Art

This isn't exactly a concept piece for the character's look, but rather the personality. It demonstrates his excitement about finding something that can help him get the badge he so desires. This look will be suitable for the intended audience, and so that is an obvious plus.  This 2D design should work well in the 3D environment.  

I quite like this concept as it shows what the character is like, although maybe the eye in the magnifying glass is a bit of a strange shape. I used the liquify feature, something that I used in the What If? Metropolis project. A bit more work can be done on that.

Fantastic Voyage: Life Cycle - Concept Art

Using the same technique and style in my life cycle thumbnails, I made a concept piece that shows how the life cycle will be shown. As the life cycle goes through the steps, the magnifying glass will follow the cells. The cells will transition/move cleanly and in straight lines. 

I quite like this concept piece as it demonstrates how it will look in the final animation and the style matches the thumbnails, and the intended 1950s style.