Target X-Mas: Background Layouts

 One of the things I have improved on this term is background layout design and perspective. When before I couldn't understand perspective and different shapes and sizes, now I enjoy drawing layouts and being freely creative with them. I have made at least thirteen layouts this term for Target X-Mas. Below show my favourites I have made so far:

Target X-Mas: Auditorium Visual Development

 During the beginning of the film the Hitman goes into a convention centre to search for Santa Claus. My job was to design the auditorium inside the convention centre and draw it in the same way that the layouts would look like. Below shows the front of the auditorium (sketch included) and the back of it.

Off the Record: Textures

 Below are textures that I have made for Sasha's clothing. The first texture (close up to far away) will be used for her coat, whilst the second texture (close up to far away) was an unused texture for her dress, but shall be used for a background character.

Target X-Mas: Santa

 Below are pose sheets for the character of Santa Claus in Target X-Mas. Although I enjoyed drawing Santa I found it quite difficult to figure out how his body would squish and bend and how his beard would follow through or overlap after he moved. I used these pose sheets to figure it out. I also made a pose sheet for a scene in the film where he jumps out of a chimney set on stage. Some of the faces I drew here ended up appearing off-model, whilst others were accurate.

Off the Record: Sasha pt 2

 Here are two more pose sheets and and expression sheet I have done for Off the Record's 'Sasha'.

 Although some of them have a lopsided perspective I am really happy with the amount of expressions I've drawn! I've also found out that I like drawing my poses and expressions in a sketchier fashion, as I feel less constraint when I draw the characters. Obviously when it comes to clean up that's where I try to keep the character on model.

Target X-Mas: The Hitman

 The other short film I'm working for this year is Target X-Mas. Below are my first two pose sheets for the character of the hitman. For this film I must be able to draw the characters in a cartoonish fashion, so to start off with I tried to be as exaggerated as possible. With more practice I know I can do better.

Off the Record: Sasha

 Here are some poses and an expression sheet I have done for Off the Record, a short animated film I am working for my last year on my animation course. The character shown here is the main female protagonist on the film, Sasha. The order of which I drew them goes from top to bottom, the expression sheet being the latest. I'd like to think the way I have drawn this character has drastically improved.

So…the pitches.

 Earlier this month was the 3rd year pitches for my animation course, where I and many other students pitch their films ideas. I pitched my film Backpack Tortoise. It did not get green-lit.

 I'm not mad, if anything I'm quite relieved. The preparation for the pitches introduce to all the stress and anxiety you get being a director. I cried wondering if the film is good enough or am I being a good director? I really want to experience being a director one day, I feel like in the future I will be up for the task, but this year I just wasn't ready. Instead I will now focus on improving my animation and art skills in preparation for *dramatic pause* the real working world.

 I'm honestly disappointed in myself. I remember not so long ago I was craving for a leadership role and I wanted to be the best director I can be! I wanted to have the most organised project and the most beautiful looking film with the best story, my expectations were so high. As you can see it didn't go as planned. Despite being relieved for not having the directing duties I had for a few weeks before the pitches, I still felt like I let my younger self down. But I know another opportunity will come across soon, so next time I will be prepared for the stressful yet rewarding job of a director.

 For the third year I am working for two films, which both have beautiful art work yet are completely to each other story-wise. I really hope they do well and I will be posting work on here that I do for them soon.

You really cannot prepare enough when you show your story to the world, so prepare prepare prepare! Are you working on a project now and you think you've done enough? Keep going! You can so far with this idea! Unless you need to eat or sleep, do those first, and then work. But don't forget to take a break either…..basically, work in moderation, but still push yourself. You've got this!

Pre-Prod Setting Designs

 Below are two concept pieces for the beach setting in my pre-production film. The film takes place on an island similar to the Galapagos Islands on a swamp and a beach.

 The design is inspired by SHOUT, who I did artist research for before. I love the flat and horizontal look of the setting, making it simple but aesthetically pleasing to look at.

 One thing I think would improve the designs would be to make the lighting more explicit and to add more textures to the rocks and plants like I did with the sky.

More Life Drawings

 For these drawings, I feel like I'm beginning to understand shape and shading a little more. My favourite sheet however was when I was practicing drawing different dynamic poses.

Pre-Prod Wow Image 2

 Another wow image for my film project, Backpack Tortoise. This image is from a scene at the end of the film.

Live Brief - Stop Motion Tests

 For our live brief project this term, we decided to make it a stop motion short film using card and a multiplane camera to separate the backgrounds, effects and animated characters. Before we started animating for the final film, we decided to do some test shots to achieve our ideal look. The look was meant to resemble shadows, animating the movement of the bodies in stop motion and then adding facial features and the lip syncing in TVPaint or After Effects. Above is one of the stop motion tests I did.

Pre-Production Wow Image

 Here is the wow image (hopefully the first of many) for my pre-production film Backpack Tortoise. Not only am I working on this idea for this semester, but I also want to pitch it as my third year film.

 'Set on the Galapagos Islands, a baby tortoise born without a shell tries to survive after her family abandon her.'

SHOUT Artist Research

 This is my artist research on SHOUT, and is the inspiration for the backgrounds in my film for my pre-production work. I love the flat, bright simple style and to me it's suits the atmosphere of my film very well, since it is a simple story with simple characters.

 This was my favourite artist research to do as I already like drawing in this style. SHOUT's original drawings are in the the corner of each drawing I made.

Evgeny Hontor Artist Research

 This is my artist research on Evgeny Hontor. Though the original art are all sculptures, I focused more on the fantastical elements of the sculptures, like the colours and patterns, in my paintings. I am not proud of my traditional paintings as they all look messy and the colours have mixed together to create a disgusting colour. I could've done better with the digital paintings too. Though the research didn't turn out right, I think the style will look a lot better when it's used in practice for my pre-production project.

Erica Russell Artist Research

 Artist research on Erica Russell for my pre-production work. The drawings are references from her films Feet of Song and Triangle. I really like the simple shapes used to create a human body, and I love how to colours pop in the animation! It wasn't until the last page where I started to like my interpretations of the research. I used ink to re-create the images, which looks like it was the material used in the original films, but I do want to try drawing in this style digitally.

Robot Concept Design

A concept design for a robot character in a student film. The film involves mo-cap so the robot had to be humanoid. The design wasn't picked for the final film.

My Inbetweens!

 I LOVE inbetweening! It sounds like a job nobody would care for but it's my favourite part of animating! It's that point in the animation process where the animation is beginning to look smooth and almost finished. Doing a job that takes the film that one step further makes me feel good about being part of a project. I can't remember if I posted my inbetweens on this blog before, so here they are! I'm generally proud of these:

First Life Drawings of 2018

 Here are my first life drawings of 2018! 

 It was in this life drawing class that I realised I liked drawing figures in simple shapes instead of realistic details, because to me trying to draw realistically makes the drawing look like it's in the uncanny valley, which isn't my favourite thing.

From here I got ideas for what kind of artists I wanted to research for my pre-production bible.