Minor/Major Project: All 3 Character Orthographs

Tim

Now that I have finished drawing all 3 orthographs, I thought that it would be best to have them all in one post to see the similarities/differences in each character and it would be easier when seeing what needs improving.

George

Alex

Minor/Major Project: Character Orthograph - George

I found doing the additional George orthographs more challenging than the others. One of the reasons for this is that, as you can see, in the front view he hasn't got a neck and his shoulders are higher than the bottom of his head, so I had to think of a way to make it look believable and for him to have a neck, otherwise it would look weird when animating. The other issue was that I wanted it to look like it was part of the same "World" as the other characters, as sometimes it looked like a different style, closer to the Simpsons. Overall though, I think these have worked out quite well, and like the other two, most issues can be fixed when modelling.

Minor/Major Project: Character Orthograph - Alex

I have now drawn the side view and back view of Alex, and I found them to be a bit more challenging than the orthographs for Tim. I couldn't seem to get the head to be at a good size, and so it was always too big - and it still is to some degree, despite it being in line with the original front view drawing. There are a few issues here, some of which are in the last set of orthographs as well, although some can be fixed when modelling. The back view looks a bit odd, I think, but this is probably just because it's the front view, but flipped round.

Minor/Major Project: Character Orthograph - Tim

I have now drawn the side and back view orthographs of Tim, by following the front view. It was a bit of a challenge as I needed to draw in photoshop a bit more than I am used to, as I usually draw on paper first. They are all accurate to each other and so are lined up properly, although there are a few issues, but I think they are ones that can be fixed when modelling.

Minor/Major Project: Character Orthographs - Front

These are the front orthographics for each character. I am having trouble doing the side views and so Alan will help me with them. I drew these on paper before editing them in Photoshop to get them as accurate as possible, although I think there a few problems with each, including arms being slightly different lengths.

 

Minor/Major Project: New Clip Ideas

By looking at the feedback from Alan on the last clip ideas post, I have tried to fix the ones that didn't quite work or needed something else involved. Clip #4 is, obviously, not included as that is the one that I have already done an animatic/storyboard for.

Clip #1

 "And there are people who say that you're involved.

That you might be responsible. That you're a very dangerous man"

Story Idea

Man speaking to himself in front of a mirror. Although, the audience do not know who he is until the end, and so while saying the quote, the animation will show close ups of him teasing his appearance, which would then lead on to the big reveal at the end.

Clip #2

 "Wait a minute, you're wearing black! That's my colour. I'm the Bad Guy!"

"But you're not wearing black, that's dark blue."

"It is not!"

"It is so. It's navy"

Story Idea

Darth Vader arguing with Luke Skywalker - Darth Vader being the one wearing Navy Blue. Darth Vader then asks another, random, Villain for their opinion of the situation.

Clip #3

"He said he was going to do it, and he's doing it now.

The most stupendous, the most incredible crime of the Century."

Story Idea

A man is saying the quote from the clip to another character, who has just asked him about his worried expression on his face - the camera slowly zooms in on his face, while he is saying the quote. Once he has said it, it cuts to someone doing the something very minor and not at all illegal, like walking on the grass, where there is a keep off the grass sign. (This is just an example of a minor crime, and will be thought about more).

Clip #5

"I had a friend. I was with him yesterday, but we got seperated.

Have you seen him?"

"Marshal, you have no friends."

Story Idea

A man and his subconscious.

This idea, I think, is the least developed and so I will continue to think about how to make this idea as funny as possible - as well as thinking about alternative ideas, like a man talking to a Therapist/Police man/Sheriff etc.

MEL Scripting 1: Random Placement - Tutorial

Apart from a view minor errors, I managed to complete this tutorial relatively quickly.

Minor/Major Project: Interim Crit.

Minor/Major Project: Interim Crit by DanReason on Scribd

Minor/Major Project: New Average Character Concept

Following on with the re-designs of the characters, this is the new average character concept that I did the other day. I don't think that this has fixed the issues that the first one had, and also looks a bit odd, especially the arms. Out of the heads, however, I think that number 5 works well and suits the character's personality, so in the next drawing of this character that will be the head I go with.

Minor/Major Project: New Short & Fat Character Concept

Taking into account the feedback for the last design of the character, I have drawn some more heads and have drawn him in a pose that is relevant to his shy and awkward character. I think there's something quite feminine about the body here, and I think that is because of the shape of the hips and the legs - the feet look a bit odd too. I think the head that is already on the character works quite well, and has a child like innocence to him, and so this can be beneficial for when he is with the tall character.

I'll try to sort out the problems in the next design, as well as chosing the right head shape/expression.

Minor/Major Project: Tutorial Feedback

In today's tutorial with Alan, we talked about the character designs and the clip ideas that I had come up with. With the character designs, we agreed that the tall and thin character design works well, where as the other two characters need a bit more work. It was clear that the tall and thin character had a bit more thought put behind it and had a clear choice of influences - John Cleese being the main example. The other two characters are a bit more random in that regard and so they need to be designed based on a certain personality/character.

Short & Fat Character

This character will be quite shy and nervous, and so will be very awkward when he's on screen. This will also mean that he's a bit clueless and is easily confused. Kent "Flounder" Dorfman from National Lampoon's Animal House (1978) and Fatbot from Futurama are too existing examples of characters who suit the design idea and the personality described. Both have a child-like innocence to them as well and so they would often say the obvious.

Average Character 

Where as the tall and thin character is quite stern and proud of himself, the average character is a bit of a push over. Although, he is more confident than the short and fat character, he still struggles to take control in certain situations. This character, however, does like to have fun and so does try to play the Joker in the group. Lee Evans and Michael Palin are too examples who suit the design, and are both capable of bringing the laughs.

In the tutorial we also discussed what my aim for the interim crit is, and that is to:

• Get the Character designs completed.
• Finalise the story/clip ideas.
• Create an animatic for one of those clips.

With the progress that I am making, I am confident that all of this is achievable and so the interim crit should go to plan. I have looked at the feedback on the clip ideas and so will try to sort those out as soon as possible, while getting the two character designs better suited to their influences and personalities.

Minor/Major Project: Clip Ideas Re-post + Character Heights

I have drawn this to show the difference in height between the characters - the tall character's height wasn't right/realistic at first, so it needed a bit of tweaking. I have also put them into some new clothes and have added colour for this picture. Below is my previous clip ideas post, with a few more ideas that I have come up with since.

Clip #1

 "And there are people who say that you're involved.

That you might be responsible. That you're a very dangerous man"

Story Ideas

• Interrogation Scene, with a toy being the thing that's being interrogated.
• Similar to the previous idea, but having a zoo-keeper talking to an animal at a Zoo.
• A trashman who likes to talk to the rubbish that he picks up off the floor.
•  In the bath.

Clip #2

 "Wait a minute, you're wearing black! That's my colour. I'm the Bad Guy!"

"But you're not wearing black, that's dark blue."

"It is not!"

"It is so. It's navy"

Story Ideas

• A married couple getting dressed
• Getting ready for a stage performance that leads to a fight.
• With the dialogue being slightly different, it's two decorators arguing over the colour of the paint, and they get other people's opinions involved.
• Political debate.

Clip #3

"He said he was going to do it, and he's doing it now.

The most stupendous, the most incredible crime of the Century."

Story Idea

A man is saying the quote from the clip to another character, who has just asked him about his worried expression on his face - the camera slowly zooms in on his face, while he is saying the quote. Once he has said it, it cuts to someone doing the something very minor and not at all illegal, like walking on the grass, where there is a keep off the grass sign. (This is just an example of a minor crime, and will be thought about more).

Clip #4

 "What do you want from me?"

"What do I want? I want to play a game?"

Story Idea

A man and a woman are in bed, and the man starts trying to wake up her, like a child on Christmas day. The woman annoyingly wakes up and asks what he wants. The man replies saying he wants to play a game. The woman is confused. The man then pulls a Spider-Man mask over his face and then grabs two cans of web spray cans from under the duvet.

Clip #5

"I had a friend. I was with him yesterday, but we got seperated.

Have you seen him?"

"Marshal, you have no friends."

Story Idea

• A man talking to his therapist.
• A boy/girl talking to their teacher.
• In the Jungle

Minor/Major Project: All 3 Characters

I have taken each character concept and have drawn them in this image, with the tall and short characters both having different heads. I will change the average character's head once I have come up with a better design, as this one looks a little too young - a teenager, rather than an adult.

When drawing this there were a few little problems with these designs: Firstly, the short character's arms are too long. It was quite difficult to get the arms right in the pose that he is in, and so I had to settle with the best that I could do. Secondly, when drawing the hand on the tall character's shoulder, it sisn't look right a few times due to the number of fingers. They original had 4 fingers and one thumb, but I had to chop off a finger as it looked better, and more cartoony, with just 3.

I'm going to draw another picture with these characters, which will give a better idea of their height difference, as well as trying to fix some of the problems that I mentioned.

Minor/Major Project: Short & Fat Character Concept

I have now finished my initial concept of the short and fat character, and like the previous posts I have drawn some alternate heads as well, so that I can see which would work best. I think the shortness in height isn't entirely clear, and he should be a bit fatter, so those are two things that I'll need to fix in the next drawing of this character.

Out of the heads, number 4 works the best, I think, as it looks like a miserable adult and that is something that would work with this character. The others are just a bit too simple, where as number 4 is a bit more unique, especially in the shape of the head itself.

Minor/Major Project: Average Character Concept

Carrying on with the character designs, I have finished the first design/concept of the average character, as well as some more heads. This one was a little more of a challenge than the tall and thin character as it was a struggle to make it look like an adult, rather than a teenager - which is a problem that this design has.

It was, also, reasonably difficult for the head/face designs, as they are all a bit basic and no one stands out. The majority of them have basic haircuts, with basic faces, and although the designs need to be a bit basic, they still need to stand out and suit the age of each character. I will continue working on this design as well as doing the first concept for the short and fat character.

Minor/Major Project: Tall & Thin Character Concept

For the animation, I want 3 different characters, who are all different in terms of shape and size, as well as personality. I have started by designing this tall and thin character and some additional heads that I came up with for this character.

My thought progress behind this character's personality is that due to his height and being skinny, is that he is somewhat out of control with the way his body moves, and so his arms and legs can be quite elastic, and would fling around all over the place. I have watched many Monty Python sketches recently, for this project of course, and have based this character on John Cleese. One such sketch that sticks out features "the Ministry of Silly walks." In this sketch, John Cleese's legs are so flimsy and elastic in their movement, and this is something that can look very funny in an animation.

I'm quite happy with the body shape, although the pose isn't quite how it should be. Out of the 7 faces, my favourites are 2,3 and 6. I think that's possibly due to the fact that they have a bit more character, where as the others are a bit more generic.

For the other two characters, I am trying to design a short and fat character (the opposite to the tall and thin character) and a basic mid-height/mid-build character.

Minor/Major Project: Clip Ideas

Following on from the feedback that I got from Alan in the last tutorial, which cleared up some confusion, I have come up with a few more ideas. Some of the ideas are for the clips that I picked in the last post, and some are from the clip ideas that I came up with a couple of weeks ago. As you can see, some of them have one detailed idea, which I have thought about thoroughly and have a good idea of what the animation would be, and the others have a few quick possible ideas of what I have come up with. I think the issue with some of these ideas is that they are too close to what the audience would expect from the clip and are not obscure enough in where they are set/how they are played out.

Also in the last tutorial with Alan, we discussed the possibility of having 3 main characters, who can easily be other characters - even going so far as to having a male character play a Woman - similarly to Monty Python, where the main actors can play several characters in one film. This idea is something that I have considered when coming up with these ideas.

Clip #1

 "And there are people who say that you're involved.

That you might be responsible. That you're a very dangerous man"

Story Ideas

• Interrogation Scene, with a toy being the thing that's being interrogated.
• Similar to the previous idea, but having a zoo-keeper talking to an animal at a Zoo.
• A trashman who likes to talk to the rubbish that he picks up off the floor.

Clip #2

 "Wait a minute, you're wearing black! That's my colour. I'm the Bad Guy!"

"But you're not wearing black, that's dark blue."

"It is not!"

"It is so. It's navy"

Story Ideas

• A married couple getting dressed
• Getting ready for a stage performance that leads to a fight.
• With the dialogue being slightly different, it's two decorators arguing over the colour of the paint, and they get other people's opinions involved.

Clip #3

"He said he was going to do it, and he's doing it now.

The most stupendous, the most incredible crime of the Century."

Story Idea

A man is saying the quote from the clip to another character, who has just asked him about his worried expression on his face - the camera slowly zooms in on his face, while he is saying the quote. Once he has said it, it cuts to someone doing the something very minor and not at all illegal, like walking on the grass, where there is a keep off the grass sign. (This is just an example of a minor crime, and will be thought about more).

Clip #4

 "What do you want from me?"

"What do I want? I want to play a game?"

Story Idea

A man and a woman are in bed, and the man starts trying to wake up her, like a child on Christmas day. The woman annoyingly wakes up and asks what he wants. The man replies saying he wants to play a game. The woman is confused. The man then pulls a Spider-Man mask over his face and then grabs two cans of web spray cans from under the duvet.

Clip #5

"I had a friend. I was with him yesterday, but we got seperated.

Have you seen him?"

"Marshal, you have no friends."

Story Idea

• A man talking to his therapist.
• A boy/girl talking to their teacher.

Minor/Major Project: New Sound Clip Ideas

Now that I have gone back and have listened to all the sound clips again, I have picked out some of the best clips, and have thought about what genres they could be. I have tried to think about what genre the film actually is, and what genres the film definitely is, but it still makes sense:

Clip #1

 "And there are people who say that you're involved.

That you might be responsible. That you're a very dangerous man"

Possible Genres

Horror - Action - Sci-fi - Thriller

Clip #2

 "Wait a minute, you're wearing black! That's my colour. I'm the Bad Guy!"

"But you're not wearing black, that's dark blue."

"It is not!"

"It is so. It's navy"

Possible Genres

Horror - Superhero - Action - Romance

Clip #3

"He said he was going to do it, and he's doing it now.

The most stupendous, the most incredible crime of the Century."

 

Possible Genres

Mystery - Thriller - Horror

 

Clip #4

 "What do you want from me?"

"What do I want? I want to play a game?"

Possible Genres

Horror - Romance - Sci-Fi - Family

Clip #5

"Was it a Dinosaur?"

 "It wasn't a Dinosaur"

 "So, you didn't see it?"

"I didn't."

 "So, how do you know it wasn't a Dinosaur?"

 "Because Dinosaurs are extinct."

"Oh...yeah."

Possible Genres 

Fantasy - Action - Adventure - Family

Minor/Major Project: Idea Progression

In last Friday's tutorial with Alan, I learned that I somewhat misunderstood the idea of using the sound clips. Instead of having a series of short animations, that are all in different locations with different locations, it is about having the same characters in the same World/environment - like old people at an old people's home. I have gone back and listened to all the sound clips again, so now I am thinking about what genre(s) would suit each clip, and then I'd try to think about how it could take place in an old people's home, for example.

I designed these three characters relatively quickly, and I tried to make them have different personalities, so that when it comes to intergrating the sound clips it can suit a certain character - or be for the wrong character (the grumpy one having a fun, high pitched voice, for instance). Of course, these are just initial designs, so once I have figured out what clips I'll be using, I can design suitable characters.

Minor Project: Clip Ideas

After listening to the sound clips more, as well as looking for some myself, I have got 5 quotes where I have come up with a good idea/ideas. 3 of these were part of the selection that Alan gave me, and the other 2 are ones that I thought about/found myself.

From Alan's Selection:

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939)

"He said he was going to do it, and he's doing it now.

The most stupendous, the most incredible crime of the Century."

Scenario:

A man is talking into the character, with the camera slowly zooming in on his face, while he is saying the quote. 

Once he has said it, it cuts to someone doing the something very minor and not at all illegal, like walking on the grass, where there is a keep off the grass sign.

Airplane! (1980)

"I just want to tell you both:

Good luck, we're all counting on you."

 Scenario:

The camera focuses on the door, while you can hear two people having sex. 

Then a small child walks through the door and says the quote, with absolutely no reaction to what they see. Then the child leaves.

   Shutter Island (2010)

"I had a friend. I was with him yesterday, but we got seperated.

Have you seen him?"

"Marshal, you have no friends."

Scenario:

A young child is talking to his teacher, who tells him the unfortunate truth.

Hearing the Teacher tell him, makes him burst into tears. The teacher then looks at the camera with an "Are you kidding me?" expression on her face.

The Clips I found:

Duck Soup (1933)

"I can see you right now in the Kitchen, bending over a hot stove,

but I can't see the stove."

 Scenario:

A man and a woman are on a date in a restaurant, and the woman asks him about the possibility of living together and how good it would be.

The man responds with the quote.

The woman has an immediate shocked look on her face. She slaps in him in the face and chucks his wine over him. She gets up and leaves.

The camera zooms on the man, as he turns his head to the camera showing a sad expression on his face.

   Seven (1995)

"What's in the box!?"

"Not until you give me the gun."

"What's in the f***ing box!?"

"Give me the gun."

Scenario:

It's Christmas, and a girl receives a present. This sparks a reaction from her brother, while he hold his BB gun and aims it at her. 

The Dad, who gave the girl the present, wants him to give him the gun. 

Rigging 3: Part 1 - Basic Squash, Stretch & Volume Preservation - Tutorial

I managed to complete Part 1 of this set of tutorials today relatively quickly. After doing a couple of the other tutorials, I was able to do this with no problems.

Rigging 3: Part 2 - Conditional Squash & Stretch - Tutorial

In today's class, we continued working on the rigging tutorials, and although I had no sound on my computer, I was able to complete this tutorial correctly with no major issues.

Minor Project: Character Design planning

After my dissertation meeting with Phil yesterday, I asked about my minor project and my new idea. One of the problems that I mentioned was that "as I'll be doing 3, or so, completely different scenes with completely different characters, how will I be able to do this?" A possible way to get round the character problem is by having a character design, that can easily be made into other characters: for example, the lego characters are the same in shape, but each design/paint work is different.

I went back and looked at my info-graphic work and the work of David Shrigley, as that is something that I felt confident doing and was able to create a good, little character. As this is 3D, however, the challenge with having my info-graphic character and Shrigley's work as influences is that they are 2D, and so may not translate quite as well. I've gone through many quick drawings over the past couple of days and have designed these characters.

As you can see, they are all mainly the same - hair style being the main difference. This page shows that it is possible to have one character design, that is then made into several characters. I like these drawings, although as I'm also considering doing the 2D facial rig on a 3D character, I'm not too sure how that'd look.

Minor Project: Tutorial Feedback

In today's tutorial with Alan, he suggested that I should move away from my silent horror comedy idea, and should instead listen to some sound clips from various films, and then try to think of funny/unusual sitatuations where they scene from the clip could be - this is something what year 2 are doing as well. There are 30 short sound clips altogether, some that I know what film it's from, some I recognise but can't quite think what film it is and some that I've not heard before. I think it will be more of a challenge to think of funny scenes for the clips that I do know because I have a clear understanding of it, where as with one that I don't know, I have no idea what is happening or what genre the film is.

After listening through all 30 of them, I have, currently, narrowed it down to 10, which are the ones that I think have the most potential. Alan also said that I could try to find some other clips, which I have, so I'm going to continue listening to those clips and will try to find the best, and funniest, 3.

Minor/Major Project: Influence Map

Although this influence map doesn't show much of a range of influences, it shows what my current idea is, which is to create a silent horror comedy over the year. I have been researching silent comedy and horror comedy quite a bit over the past couple of days trying to think of how the final animation would play out. As I said in the project proposal post, for the minor project, that will mainly consist of designing and modelling the monster character. Frankenstein is an obvious influence for this idea -  Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell is a film that has the known story in place, but has a completely different design to the original monster design from the 1931 film. This will allow me to make the design unique, but will still be familiar to audiences due to it's origin.

Young Frankenstein is one of many examples that demonstrate the potential in this idea, I think. The challenge will therefore spawn from the decision to make a silent film, and so I will need to use visual/slapstick humour in order to get the laughs. When trying to think of the style of the animation, I remembered that there are these figures called Vinyl Idolz, that have a fun cartoon design to them, similar to the style that I was going for in the From Script to screen project in year 1.

Rigging 3: Part 5A - Pose Space Corrective Blend Shapes - Tutorial

I have completed the arm swing section of this tutorial, and I think it has come out quite well. I think there's a slight moment where there's a little jump between the positions, so I think that may need some adjusting.

Minor/Major Project: Proposal

This year long project will involve selecting, and then researching, a specific period of film making and then using said research for creating a short animation in the comedy genre. Although the chosen film period does not need to be a comedy itself, it does need to be clear and faithful to the source "material".

By the end of the Minor project, the following should be completed to a high standard:

• Character Designs
• Full Character turnarounds (Several poses)
• Final Script
• Environment Designs

Once the Major project has finished, there should be:

•  Further Environment Designs (If necessary)
• A short animation (2-3 minutes)
• Full Storyboard & Animatic
• Production art
• Sound recordings
• Voice recordings (If necessary)
• "Art Of" & "Making Of" Documents

Minor Project: New Story Idea

Although I have already come up with a few, I have still tried to come up with more ideas for this project, which will allow me to make an animation in the comedy genre. Yesterday, I watched Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell (1974) with my Mum and Dad, and by watching it, it gave me my new idea.

The quality of character and environment designs in Hammer Horror films, and B-Movies, is clear, so this is something that I'd put into my designs. Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell is the first Hammer Horror film that, I think, I have watched in it's entirety, and so it was a very new experience for me. Some scenes, shots and lines of dialogue in the film were very comical, even when they weren't necessarily meant to be. By taking the well known tropes of these types of film, and taking them a step further, I am confident that I can make something that is both entertaining and funny to watch, even for people of my age.

My intial thought with this idea is to create a Monster/Creature, that roams around an empty environment - a castle, for example. By using visual clues and objects in the animation, I would make it clear that this creature would have been made/created, and has either killed or escaped from it's creators.  As the creature will be the only character, his loneliness will be clear and so he/she will be very bored.

Minor Project: Idea Re-think

In the previous post, I said that I thought that the cooking show was the best idea, but after a few days of thinking about it, I now think that the getting ready for a date, or job interview, would be the best idea. With the cooking show idea, I feel like it would be difficult to keep it going and it wouldn't have a consistent standard of humor, and would be relaint on the same type of joke. The getting ready for a date idea, however, has more potential in it's comedy. By playing to the cliches of how a man gets ready, and then "exaggerating" them, would be a fun thing to watch. I've been going through a rough idea in my head about how it would work:

• Man playing video games. His phone vibrates.
• He looks at the phone and reads a new message by his date. 
• He looks confused. He looks at the calendar and remembers, that the date is in 10 minutes.
• He rushes up off the sofa and heads to the bathroom.
• He goes for a quick wash in the shower.
• Gets out of the shower, and slides in front of the mirror, and starts checking himself out.
• He brushes his teeth, quickly and violently, so much so that the brush gets stuck up his nose.
• He tries to find the right hair style, and when he does, he gives a wink to the camera.
• He runs to the wardrobe and opens it. 
• While looking at the mirror in the wardrobe, he goes through a range of outfits.
• He then sprays some deodrant on himself, and puts a bit of after shave on.
• He leaves his appartment and we see that his trousers are ripped.
• The camera then focuses on his phone, which he forgot. The phone vibrates and another message from his date appears which then tells us that he got the date wrong.

That's a quick run through of how I imagine it working. As it is an animation, I can make impossible/unrealistic things happen which will add to the humor, so I think there is definitely potential with this idea.  Some of this will be hard to do, especially the changing outfits scene, but I really want to test myself this year and get much better grades.

Minor Project: Initial Story Ideas

After watching several silent films and more Comedy documentaries, I have come up with a few relatively simple story ideas that can be made into a funny animation. As I have said in a previous post, I think silent film comedies don't have much of impact on modern audiences, so I want to make something that would answer the question of "If silent films were made in the same way now, regardless of improvements in technology, how would they work and what would they be about?"

• Failing to get ready for a date/job interview properly.
• Someone from the past (early 1900s) "waking up" in the modern World.
• Someone "waking up" into a post-apocalyptic version of the modern World.
• Alien comes to find a human, but can't find anyone.
• A very bad "How to cook" show.

The middle 3 are all fairly similar in that they all tell the same story of someone interacting with the unknown, but obviously in different ways. I think the Cooking show idea would be quite amusing, if say it was done in the standard way of a chef following and teaching you a recipe, but they don't know what they're doing. The problem with this is the lack of speech, but I think it could still be easy to follow through gestures and screens of dialogue in places. With the first idea, I think there is the most potential in terms of visual and physical somedy in that the character can be making a complete fool of himself/herself. Out of these ideas, my personal favourite is the cooking show as I think it can be interesting and funny to watch, and it can be for all audiences.

Laughing Matters (1992): Notes & Idea development

In my first post about this project, Alan suggested that I should watch Laughing Matters (1992) - a documentary, presented by Rowan Atkinson, which explains the different types of Comedy, but is predominantly based around visual Comedy. I wrote a lot of notes while watching this, picking out the key points that he makes and by doing this, I have a clearer image of how the Animation should work, as well as how it is made.

Ironically, he raised a point that I too have considered, which is that old, silent film comedies don't have the same impact on today's audience, as they did when they were released. He used Charlie Chaplin as an example, by saying how modern audiences don't find him as funny. He elaborates by saying that "it's hard to identify with him" and is difficult to get "involved" with what he is doing.

"If you identify with a comic attitude, you'll laugh"

This is, therefore, one such challenge I'll face, especially as it is, of course, for modern audiences. If I can make the audience relate to the subject matter and, most importantly, the character they'll enjoy it more.

As I mentioned earlier, this spoke primarily about visual comedy, and how the character needs to be "portrayed". Many different aspects of the character can lead to the audience understanding who that person is. What they wear, how they move, how their face/body move etc. - all these things can be done in different ways to suit different types of characters. Innonence, however, is perhaps the most important aspect of a visual comedian - like he was born yesterday, or is an Alien completely unaware of what he is doing. Harry Langdon is one such comedian that he mentioned, and said that some one was said that he looked like "a baby-faced dope fiend".

Moving on from this, I will continue watching/finding videos like this, as well as watching some more silent films, so that I can expand on the running themes and could even take old jokes and turn them into new ones. 

Personal Work: Update

After looking back at my blog, there is a clear lack of digital paintings and drawings in recent posts, so I thought I'd upload some of my latest personal work. There is still a lot more room for improvement, but I am still happy with the progress that I have made over the past two years and so hope this year will see a bigger boost in quality.

I have organised these into the order in which I made them (Old to New).

 

 BB-8 from Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) - Digital painting - (Made 12th January)

House of Cards is one of the my favourite TV series', and Kevin Spacey is my favourite actor in general - his performances in Se7en (1995), American Beauty (1999) and The Usual Suspects (1995) are partcular favourites. I went into this drawing unsure as to whether I should do the usual, take a line drawing and then add to it in Photoshop, but as it progressed, I felt that using my line art style would work well - which I think it has.

Frank Underwood (Played by Kevin Spacey in House of Cards - Pen Drawing - (Made 12th March)

Although I do have a certain drawing style and way of using Photoshop, I feel that it could benefit from a further style choice. For this drawing of The Bride from Kill Bill, I drew this out on paper first, like I usually do, but I left in some shading in from the pencil. I think it looks quite effecttive in the arms and demonstrates creases in the clothes, but overall, it looks a bit too dirty and needs "brightening up" in places. I, also, tried to incorporate the anime influences from the film into this, but that is not at all clear.

 Beatrix Kiddo (Played by Uma Thurman) in Kill Bill (2003) - Digital Painting - (Made 5th July)

Recently, I have got into the habit of taking things and turning them into tattoo designs. I did also make a Drive (2011) and Trainspotting (1996) design, but they didn't look quite as good and look like I've just put a load of random things from each film into one image. Before I made those though, I turned one of my favourite film quotes into a design. The famous Joker quote from Batman (1989) is something that I've always liked, and so I looked at ballroom dancing images and used one of them as a starter for this design. I think the colours look good as they stand out and combine with each other well, although I think certain tones could have been improved, especially in the dress.

Tattoo design inspired by Batman (1989) - (Made 17th July)

Like many people, I saw Suicide Squad recently,and perhaps unlike many people, I really liked it, despite it's clear flaws. One undeniable strength of the film lies in it's character performances, especially Margot Robbie's portrayal of Harley Quinn. It seemed look a good fit to make a tattoo design based on her. It's quite simple, but the overall composition is what works best. I definitely think that my drawing of people faces is improving, as not only this but my Frank Underwood drawing both look like their respective actors.

Harley Quinn (Played by Margot Robbie) - Tattoo Design - (Made 9th August)

 In case you were wondering what the Drive (2011) and Trainspotting (1996) designs looked like, here they are (before doing further work in Photoshop):

Trainspotting (1996) - Tattoo Design

Drive (2011) - Tattoo Design

Year 3 Project: Initial Idea development

I have been thinking a lot about what I want to do for the first project of year 3, and have gone through many different ideas, of various genres - ranging from creating something that centres around race, gender or sexual orientation, then to something quite dark and ambiguous. I have been thinking about what my strengths are and what genre best suits me, as well as looking at my past work. It is very clear to me, in my opinion, that my info-graphic has been my best final piece of work yet. It was something I enjoyed making and is something that other people seemed to enjoy - which is what I was really happy about. I, therefore, feel that the comedy genre may be the most suitable genre choice.

I am not a fan of stand-up comedy, but one such comedian who always makes me laugh is Rowan Atkinson. I've been watching a lot of his sketches/clips of him online, whether it's from The Thin Blue Line, Rowan Atkinson Live and, of course, Mr Bean. He seems to create comedy in the simplest of ways and gets the audience to laugh just through his movement and facial expressions. One such sketch from his Live show is where he plays the "Invisible Drums". What stands out to me is that it's so memorable and enjoyable, even without dialogue - It acts as a silent film. I could expand on this by having it act as a call back to the era of black and white silent films, starring the likes of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, who we learned about last year.

I have not yet modelled a character, or even animated one, to a reasonable standard, and so this is a challenge I would like, and need, to take on. I want to create something that everyone will enjoy, but will demonstrate a clear style, which then combines with my "light meets dark" style of comedy, which worked well in my info-graphic.

Rowan Atkinson Live - Star of Mr.Bean - Funny Invisible Drum (2010) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_kloG2Z7tU - (Accessed 16/08/2016)

Maya: Submission Post - 06/05/2016

Pipline 2: Modelling

Games Assets PART 1 - Low Res Modelling

Game Assets PART 2 - UV Layout

Dynamics 1: Legacy Particles

Intro to Dynamics PART 1 - Sketching Particles

Intro to Dynamics PART 2 - Particle Grids

Intro to Dynamics PART 3 - Omni Emitters

Intro to Dynamics PART 4 - Directional Emitters

Intro to Dynamics PART 5 - Volume Emitters

Intro to Dynamics PART 6 - Emit from Curve

Intro to Dynamics PART 7 - Per Point Emission

Intro to Dynamics PART 8 - Surface Emission

Intro to Dynamics PART 9 - Curve Flow

Intro to Dynamics PART 10 - Emit from Particles

Intro to Dynamics PART 11 - Collision Events

Intro to Dynamics PART 12 - Instanced Objects

Intro to Dynamics PART 13 - Instance Rotations

Intro to Dynamics PART 14 - Animated Instances

Intro to Dynamics PART 15 - Goal Weights

Intro to Dynamics PART 16 - Conditional Goal Weights

Intro to Dynamics PART 17 - Sprites

Lighting & Rendering 2: Mental Ray

Mental Ray Sampling

Mental Ray Final Gather

MR Physical Sun & Sky

Mental Ray Portal Lights

Mental Ray MIA Material X

Mental Ray HDR Images

Mental Ray Ambient Occlusion

Motion Blur

Mental Ray Proxies

Adaptation A

A Beginner's Guide to Failure - Final Submission

Lighting & Rendering 2: Mental Ray Proxies - Tutorial

I have now completed all the Lighitng & Rendering 2: Mental ray tutorials. Overall, I managed to complete them with no problems and they were all very interesting and fun to do. The only slight challenge that I had with this tutorial is that I couldn't find the "Get Brush" tool straight away.

Lighting & Rendering 2: Motion Blur - Tutorial

I have completed both parts of the motion blur tutorial, with the arm batch render being in a video and the octopus, with some images showing frames at different shutter angle settings. Very straight forward and simple, so I had no problems with this one, except for Maya freezing when I changed the number of divisions in the Octopus when smoothing. I added the arm motion several times due to how fast it was.

 Shutter Angle: 72.00

 Shutter Angle: 144.00

 Shutter Angle: 250.00