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.

Start of an Annual Series?

 I made a YouTube video where I talk about the movies I saw in the cinema in the past year and a half! Yes, a whole hour of me talking about 29 movies. Hopefully this'll become an annual series, what do you think?

When You Can't Bring Yourself to Draw

 I have had the roughest weekend you can possibly imagine. Mentally and physically I was drained. I couldn't bring myself to do anything, not even draw, which is something I love to do despite not being the best artist in the world. It's strange that I didn't draw, considering the advice I'm about to give.

 What's the one thing artists -professional or amateur- should do when they can't bring themselves to draw? Draw anyway.

 Seriously.

 Yes, you are tired or sick or depressed and want nothing but to wallow in your bed. But wallowing is the one thing that'll make everything worse, because you're lying in bed with nothing but you're thoughts, which got you into this mess in the first place.

 Even though you're not in the mood to draw, you should distract yourself by doing it anyway. Forget about drawing a masterpiece, just doodle what you feel and get it out of your system. You don't even have to draw. Do something else you like, or need to do. Literally anything is better than overthinking things.

Another Year, Another Term

 I hope you all had a wonderful happy new year and spent it the way you wanted to! The second term of my second year in Animation and VFX is starting soon which means blog posts are returning! Updates on my work, working for others and my opinions on animation topics and filmmaking in general will all be back. I'm very glad to start working again. See you soon!

Papa Poule: Basile Expression Sheet

 After having trouble drawing Paul last week, I got on to draw Basile the Lizard some more. Above is a rough expression sheet I made for Basile. This week I am to start animating keys and inbetweens for a couple of shots that involve Basile.

Papa Poule: Dynamic Poses

 Here are two pose sheets (line art only) showing Basile the Lizard and Paul in five dynamic poses. The feedback I got from the Papa Poule team was that although my drawings were nice, I was completely off model with Paul. I was then asked to just draw Basile from now on.

Papa Poule: Character Sketch Practice

 After being set to work on 3rd year film Papa Poule, I decided to practice drawing the main characters of the film; Paul and Basile the Lizard. Since I plan to do clean-up work for the film it only makes sense to at least know how to draw the characters! Three of the practice drawings are on paper because my laptop crashed whilst I was drawing in digital.