alexmartinuniblog-y2-tri1

[alexmartinuniblog-y2-tri1]

Computer Generated Imagery – Week 7-12: 3D Environment Project

During the last six weeks of the trimester, I was tasked with learning the basics of Autodesk Maya to create a 3D diorama of a portion of a room. This room is to be based on the character I made for a graphic novel in Animation Practice. Seeing as the character I made was a punk bouncer working at a punk-themed nightclub, the most logical idea for a diorama was a portion of the nightclub he works at. I started by creating a simple concept drawing of the diorama, which consisted of two walls and a floor with a round metallic table, two stools and a small glass of wine.

Over the course of the project, I was taught the basics of Maya, including the modelling tools it provides along with model optimisation, UV mapping and texturing, animating and rendering. I used some of my knowledge to create a dining table with chairs and a bowl and a pair of glasses. However, things became more difficult for me when it came time to making my diorama. I have had some experience using other 3D modelling programs such as Blender, but I feel as if I needed more time to learn how to use Maya, as I found UV mapping and texturing my objects to be significantly more challenging compared to modelling them, even if I eventually got it to work almost how I wanted it to.

In the end, I am pleased with the way I textured my diorama and applied lighting, but I feel as if I could have figured out ways of texturing the separate parts of the stools as well as making a translucent glass texture for the alcohol. I could have also tried adding other objects such as a neon sign.

[alexmartinuniblog-y2-tri1]

Computer Generated Imagery – Week 3-6: Motion Graphics Production

During these four weeks, I began production on my motion graphic ident based on George Orwell’s ‘1984’. I started with an extremely simplistic animatic, which was based on the storyboard that I created digitally. It is here where I also experimented with sound, and one of the main ideas I came up with was a dark synth backing track to accompany my chosen sound effects. I chose dark synth as I wanted to harken back to the use of synth instruments in our timeline’s 1980s while also reflecting the dystopian aspects of the alternate 1980s I wanted to portray in the ident.

With the story board, thumbnail sketches and animatic finalised, I opened After Effects and began playing around with all sorts of shapes, typography, movement and transition options to convey the messages I wanted to tell in the final ident. The project took me at least four weeks and I am pleased with the final result. I believe I executed the feel of a dystopian setting well with the shapes and colour choices, although one thing I could have done is experiment with the typography more. Once again, I also feel as if I could have made my imagery much more abstract.

[alexmartinuniblog-y2-tri1]

Computer Generated Imagery – Week 2: Motion Graphics Concept and Production

During this week, I was tasked with creating thumbnails, sketches and a storyboard for my motion graphic project, which was to be based on George Orwell’s ‘1984’. The conclusion I came to from the research and development phase was that I wanted to use dark and foreboding shades of red, black and white, and I wanted to create visuals based on the themes of totalitarianism, propaganda, love, sex and privacy. When it came time to create the thumbnails and story boards, I explored various ways of conveying the themes. These included tall and foreboding metropolitan buildings to represent totalitarianism, televisions and newspapers to reflect propaganda, security cameras and an eye motif to reflect privacy and a pole dancer to reflect love and sex.

My ultimate goal with the final ident was to convey the quote “Big Brother is always watching” to reflect a major character in the story. To do this, I planned on showing one word from the quote in each shot of the ident, which would simultaneously show imagery reflecting each overarching theme from the book. I think what I came up with was decent, but I feel as if I could have done a better job at making the imagery more abstract rather than literal.

[alexmartinuniblog-y2-tri1]

Computer Generated Imagery – Week 1: Motion Graphics Research & Development

During this first week, I was tasked with doing initial research and development for a motion graphics project. My goal was to choose one book from a selection and create a 15-30 second ident as if it was for a re-launch of the book. The book I chose was George Orwell’s ‘1984’. My first task was to research the book’s premise, characters and overarching themes, as well as find visual inspiration to base my motion graphics on. My conclusion was that I wanted to use dark and foreboding shades of red, black and white, and I wanted to create visuals based on the themes of totalitarianism, propaganda, love, sex and privacy.

[alexmartinuniblog-y2-tri1]

Animation Practice – Weeks 7-12: Lip Sync Project

For the final six weeks of the trimester, I was tasked with creating a short lip sync animation from a piece of audio involving two or more characters talking. The audio I chose was from the 2005 film ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ and involved Willy Wonka, Veruca Salt and Mike Teavee. Naturally, I decided to create designs for those three characters, seeing as I could not imagine the dialogue belonging to any other characters. After creating a mind map and mood board based on the characters, setting and spoken dialogue, I developed coloured portraits for the characters as well as simple uncoloured turnarounds for each.

It then came time to work on the animation; I first broke down the audio into the sounds of the words, then I drew the characters over base keyframes. I then started on some in-between frames before finally adding the lip syncing. To do this, I had to make sure I had custom brushes of mouth shapes based on the sounds of certain letters, then I targeted them on the mouth areas of the characters and drew over them to make sure they reflected their emotions during the scene. The last thing I did after colouring the animation was using Photoshop to create a background and After Effects to let it seamlessly scroll as the characters walked. I added the animated characters in as a PNG sequence and ensured the timing between the shots was right. I also added simple silhouettes to represent other characters like Charlie, Grandpa Joe and the parents of Veruca and Mike, as I did not intend on making designs for them.

Even though I wish I had more time to ensure my final animation was to a higher standard, I am proud of what I did end up making. I feel as if I accomplished the lip-syncing part of the animation well, and the colours of the characters really stand out against the background. However, I feel as if I could have paid closer attention while colouring the characters, as some details from their designs may have been left out and some parts of the mouth area may have been left uncoloured. If I had more time to complete my animation, I would have definitely tried to incorporate more movement between poses as well as the some of the 12 principles of animation. Lastly, I feel as if I could have applied bold outlines to the characters, as well as post processing and additional sound effects to the final animation.

[alexmartinuniblog-y2-tri1]

Animation Practice – Weeks 3-6: Graphic Novel

For the next four weeks of the course, I was tasked to create a graphic novel featuring the character I came up with during the first two weeks. Finding a social issue to base my story on was tricky, but eventually I settled on sexual harassment, as I could make my bouncer character intervene and stop an antagonist character from harassing a woman in a punk nightclub. The next step after that was planning the general layout of the graphic novel itself, which was relatively easy even if the final comic didn’t 100% follow the original planned layout.

I decided that I was going to draw my graphic novel digitally using techniques that are familiar to me when making personal digital art. First, I sketched out the comic on four pages in my sketchbook, then I scanned them and transferred them to my preferred art program to draw over them digitally. I established a cell-shaded style with minor detailing which I aimed to achieve for every single page, and while it was extremely time-consuming.

I was incredibly pleased with the final results. I had never done full digital comics up until this point, and the whole project definitely helped broaden my horizons and try something I wouldn’t normally do with my personal art. However, one thing I could have added to the final graphic novel is traditional sound effects to reflect actions done by the characters (e.g. the antagonist character smashing a cocktail glass against the bouncer’s head). Another thing I could have done is create more dynamic panel shapes and sizes to emphasise certain moments in the comic.

[alexmartinuniblog-y2-tri1]

Animation Practice – Weeks 1-2: Character Design

During the first couple of weeks of this course, I was tasked with designing a character for a graphic novel. To start, I randomly chose three prompts to base my character off of, which included a setting, a body archetype and a personality trait. The prompts I ended up choosing were London in the 1980s for the setting, ‘Sturdy’ for the body type and ‘Rebellious’ for the personality trait. Naturally my mind was drawn to punk culture from the 1980s, so I spent time researching the culture as well as what London was like during that period of time.

I then went out to the Grand Arcade in Cambridge to carry out observational drawings, looking for as many sturdy and/or rebellious-looking people as I could find to draws inspiration from. After much observation and design experimentation, I came up with a design for a sturdy-looking punk bouncer with a red mohawk wearing a dark leather jacket and a pair of shades. It took me some time to pin down the right look for the character, but in the end, I was pleased with the results, as he looked quite angular. However, I feel as if I could have further emphasised his rebellious personality, not just in his design but also the story I would include him in.