Composting

Just wanted to update with my latest experimentation......
This is my first try at compositing on cinema 4D and am quite happy with it, this should help me in the set of idents I am currently producing for E4, which is a group project.

Thanks
L.D

Modelboard Madness

Well the development of my chameleon character Kodi on its way, and I am happy with the progress so far. Here is two of my finished model sheets for him.

I am now finishing the third board off and then I will be ready to evaluate. 

I will be animating this character in pose to pose cut out (hand drawn) and traditional cut out, using a laser cutter to create my puppet. I want to see the result of both of these trails before I decide on one to use for the whole animation. Whichever I choose I will be adding little buts of 2d traditional animation throughout. 

Thanks 

X

Back in Action!

Happy Halloween to ALL!

Well, after some technical difficulties I am back and could not be happier :) I seriously need to catch up so lets get down to buisness shall we....

First module back from summer and I am creating a character for my animation which I will be producing later on in they year. I decided on a childrens story of  a chameleon that changes his pattern to fit in and make friends. I'm hopeful that the end product will have a nice message for kids about being yourself.

The final piece for this module is a set of model boards and here is my main one so far.

It other news, it is all hallows eve after all and as a result I have been drawing up a series of characters for this fantastic time of year. Along with this I have entered a competition for a halloween illustration, pics for both of these will be coming soon.

Thanks for reading 

X

Illustrator & Photoshp

I just had a little play with Illustrator earlier on in the week to do my line work for a simple drawing that I did for an previous piece of work. I actually enjoyed this after sooo long of avoiding the dreaded pen tool, however I am now very much in love with it!
I then took the bare line work from illustrator into Photoshop to color it up and it worked pretty well. Although this was a simple experiment it has definitely made me want to use this technique in more of my work and I plan to experiment with illustrator further through the summer for my return in September.

Thanks

X

3D Character

I have designed a alien character which I am currently wrestling with Cinema 4D to make him come to life in the world of 3D. So far his general body shape, legs and feet are fully formed but I need to correct his arms and hands before I set out in the rig to make him walk......or dance!
Here's a shot of it in progress and I am hoping to ave him complete by Wednesday this week.

The body is made up of segments

 His feet have been box modelled.

So I'm off to get cracking on his hands, and I'll keep you posted on his progress.

Thanks 

X

Barnaby Barford

Hi all,
I was lucky enough to go to a great exhibition and lecture by Barnaby Barford, an artist who mainly works with ceramics, at the Laing Art gallery this week. His latest exhibition was entitled The Big Win and it was really great.
I really enjoyed his work, he is very free about how he express his thoughts on cultural factors, which is really refreshing and his ability to work with a narrative and the though he puts into his work is amazing. The story behind each piece is both in your face and hidden within each piece just waiting for the viewer to find it.
If you get a chance to pop down to the gallery, its definitely worth it, really enjoyed the exhibition.

Thanks 

X

Pictoplasma 2012

Well, back from Pictoplasma Berlin 2012 and it was incredible.
There were so many exhibitions and inspiring work its really hard to describe! I took nearly every lecture that was on the programme which was a really great opportunity to get a inside look at how each artist works and produces there commercial work, based on contemporary character design.
The character walk was a lot of fun and had so much variety. One of my favourite things on the character walk was a live show/workshop by the Bee Kingdom which are a group of Canadian glass blowing artists, who also did a great lecture on the final day of the festival.

The best workshop I took part in was the felt monster workshop with Joshua Ben Longo, where we all created our own little monsters made of felt. It was really inspiring to see what each person came up with, they all had such different creations.

It was a really great experience and since then I have seen a real freshness in my work. I can't wait till next year's and if you have not been yet, I really urge you to, you'd be glad you did!

Thanks 

X

Mix Media

Hope everybody is having a great easter. In the middle of researching mix media for my contextual studies and came across this music video. I really love the colours and imagery...not to mention the song which is I'm Still Here by The GooGoo Dolls, featured in the Walt Disney Classic Treasure Planet. I just thought I'd share it because I think this is a really nice example.

Would also like to mention the countdown to Pictoplasma, Berlin 2012 is now on and only a few days till the fun begins....can't wait to get there and experience all the fun and games which I shall keep you posted on!

X

Just for Fun..

This was a little dino buddy I drew out as a rough idea and coloured it up in photoshop. I really like him and am going to play around with drawing a dew different ones out digitally.

Cut Out Fun

The class were all put in groups and asked to produce a stop motion animation based on a line from the a fairy tale/poem they were given. I was placed with one of these groups with Ingrid, Andy, Georgie and Dan, this is the finished piece.

I really love the look of the tree and foliage, I think it has a really distinctive style and overall has a european feel to it. This way off working is something that interests me and I look forward to experimenting with it in my future work.

Cut Out Fun

The class were all put in groups and asked to produce a stop motion animation based on a line from the a fairy tale/poem they were given. I was placed with one of these groups with Ingrid, Andy, Georgie and Dan, this is the finished piece.

I really love the look of the tree and foliage, I think it has a really distinctive style and overall has a european feel to it. This way off working is something that interests me and I look forward to experimenting with it in my future work.

Treasure Trove!

I came across a great Illustration website, with a large variety of inspirational works from around the world, I recommend it to anybody to have a look at, weather it be for educational purposes or just a but of creative fun!
The website is: www.illustrationweb.com

Some of the artists I found on this website which I really liked are:


Alexandra Ball
I really like the the shapes and the gentle colours this childrens illustrator uses. They look as if they could be created using watercolour. 

Ron Borresen

I like the humour in this illustrators work and I really like the depth and quality of the digital colour work.

E.C Woodard

This artist has a very strange look to their work which I think is very striking and I think the line work contributes to this.

Tianyin Wang
This graphic artist is one of my favourite artists I found while looking through the artists archived on this site. I love the beautiful line work with the bright vibrant and wild backgrounds. I would like to look at experimenting with this in my own work.

Thanks
X

Pixillation!

We were given an hour to produce a sequence using the pixillation/stop motion technique and this is what our group came up with. My role was that of a director, rather then playing on of the live actors in this piece. I really enjoyed this exercise and  I can see the creative potential for this technique.
Our concept was a damsel in distress would be running away from a huge killer squid and a hero would step in and save her! We are pleased to introduce......The Attack Of The Squid (2012)  :)

Thanks
x

Deadline...

Well, it has been a hectic week this week (hence the late post-apologies!) but I am happy to say that my E4 Ident has really took shape and all although it still needs tweaking and a few finishing touches it will be ready to go for the competition entry! Below is a still from the animation, before the rabbit enters the frame just to show you how the whole thing will look like when it's finalised.

I have also finished my morph sequence, which is a flamingo turning into a old desk lamp....poor flamingo!

I am quite happy with this morph sequence, but I do want to work back into it, add colour and perhaps sound to give it a little life of its own in my spare time.

X

More E4!

This past week I was concentrating on the final look of my character for my E4 ident and concept ideas for the backgrounds. I the went on to producing the final version of the script and I am hoping to begin animating next monday using illustrator to colour up my assets and After Effects to animate it.

Illustrator Fun!

Well today I have been experimenting with the pen tool in Illustrator. This was a life changing experience for me as I have avoided as much as I could! But now i know the wonders of this tool and I look forward to using it, especially when colouring up a character in Illustrator, which I am developing for some 3D work. I've just put a snap shot of this experimentation, using the a character concept from my E4 project.

I shall be posting the work for actual 3D character soon......ooooh!
And speaking of illustrators, I jut wanted to share some examples of work from an illustrator that i came across during my research for my E4 ident project that I am working on. I really love the use of colour in her work and the composition.

This Week....
Well my plan for this week ladies and gentlemen is to finalize my storyboards for my E4 ident, start creating the assets towards the middle of the week and to colour up my model sheet for my 3D character work.

E4 Ident!

I have just begun working on a new, live brief for E4, which I am very excited about. I have been asked t produce an ident lasting exactly ten seconds but it can be as weird as I want and any media. I am looking forward to exploring all the different ways I could approach this, it's really good to have soooo much freedom op produce something really fun for such a well known client.
I have began by looking at various kinds of idents and mini-stingers that were produced for E4 and other companies to get a better understanding of the quality of work out there and then I went onto generate some ideas for my concept. I have chosen three from these that I feel I want to take forward and experiment with visually, and have produced some rough character designs for them.

Concept 1- The Abducted Cow

Concept 2- The E4 Hopper/Rabbit

Concept 3- The Hungry Little Mouse

I am now busy creating conceptual pieces, including style frames to get a better idea of how these three concepts will look closer to the finished idea. I am ainimg to have all concept art work and storyboards complete by wednesday night and I shall post them for you to have a peek at, and see how the ideas are shaping up!

A Week Of Perspective

I have just finished a week of life drawing, which was a very interesting week!

I found it very beneficial and we did various exercises to undersand the form better, including the structure, the importance of light and shadow and measuring proportions, which was especially helpful to me.  I  enjoyed some of the more abstract pieces produced during the week, like when we were asked to draw out the model just with plotting out where the shadow and light was seen, using chalk and charcoal.

Hooray!

Well after my hard drive broke the second time. Yes the second time! I am pleased to say all my work is back and I have finished my animation. Yey!
I had a great time putting the sounds effects on and setting up the scenes in the magical programme that is Cinema 4D.
I will be be posting the finished piece once it has been marked in my next post so fingers crossed for me all fellow animators!

x

Max Fleischer

I came across this video, it gives a interesting look at the work of

Max Fleischer and how he developed the rotoscope process. A

interesting video I wanted to share!