itsholjackson

[itsholjackson]

Tourist Trap - Short films for children

I absolutely loved this film, I loved the combination of stop motion and 2D animation, most of the elements were created using card/paper.

Not to be confused with the 1979 horror this animation shows how idyllic areas are spoilt by tourism, there is no speech in this film, it’s brought to life with sounds

[itsholjackson]

Mido & The Instrumentals - Short films for children

The overall design of this film was much more simplistic than others, quite child like. The story line was based around music and how to connect with others through music, I think anyway!

There was a lot of varied shots & camera angles, in all honesty I didn’t particularity enjoy this I think the story line would be quite difficult for children to understand

[itsholjackson]

Mush & The Mushable’s - Short films for children

I loved the graphics in this film, really bright and colourful.

The intro music was great and I particularly liked the use of sound affects, it really added to the overall feel, I really liked that even though they are all mushrooms each character was different. I also thought the use of lighting was great, it created a dramatic affect in certain parts.

[itsholjackson]

As part of my research and character development for AX2001 I have purchased these Ebooks with video lessons to try and improve my animal character drawing! ✍🏻

[itsholjackson]

Meet Eric & our new puppy Fred! 🐾

These two nutcases are my inspiration for AX2001 short film 🎬

This narrated childrens cartoon will follow the story of the day Eric got a little brother and how their friendship develops

I adore dogs, especially sausage dogs so I am excited to bring them to life in an animation 🐶

[itsholjackson]

365 - One Year, One Film, One Second a Day

I really like how random each and every one of these animations are, although they are very similar in style there are not two that are the same. This to me demonstrates how sometimes it’s best not to overthink it, just go with the flow and see what the outcome is! Like most things in life the unplanned things usually turn out to be the best… 

[itsholjackson]

My favourite one second a day animation, I didn’t have high expectations when I started this but I love it!

[itsholjackson]

Simple but effective! This character mash up of Sulley as a peppa pig character really tested me, I am the first to beat myself up as I’m constantly striving for perfection, something I am trying to rein in as I will never learn without making a few errors along the way! When I was drawing this it felt too simple, if that makes sense, I lost count of the amount of times I rubbed it out and started again! Until I actually sat back and realised that this is the style that is intended, it looks childish as it’s aimed at children!

[itsholjackson]

I absolutely loved experimenting with the character mashups as part of our summer brief for AX2001! After a bit of a rocky year I really had fallen out of love with drawing and couldn’t bring myself to put pen to paper, however this little project has reminded me why I am on this course! This was the first time I had also really experimented with digital drawing. Having purchased an iPad in the summer ( I’m an apple wh0r3 don’t judge me!) I really wanted to get familiar with Procreate, I’m not going to lie it’s was, and still is completely alien to me but I am slowly improving with practise! Fred Flintstone really does work well as a Lego character!

[itsholjackson]

This short animation of a surprised stick highlights the appeal principle of animation, keeping the audience interested. Building up anticipation in order to keep them intrigued of the outcome. I quite enjoyed creating this, giving a simple line a personality. I am still very much getting to grips with Harmony, progress is slow but I am happy with what I have learnt so far!

[itsholjackson]

Manchester Animation Festival 

Ordinarily we would have attended Manchester Animation Festival, however this year due to the circumstances everything was online. It was a great week watching other peoples work and listening to talks from a range of animators. Was quite cool to think that my film could be at the festival one day!

Short Films For Children

My vote for this category goes to Shooom’s Oddessey, this was a lovely story about a baby owl who hatches during a storm after her tree is turned upside down. The animation follows her journey to find a Mother. I loved the artwork in this film. The colours and illustrations were lovely, a style I would like to work in 

Short Films 1

My favourite animation from this category was The Passerby, Pieter Coudyzer. Ill be honest there were some strange films in this category, in my opinion anyway. The Passerby is about the paths of two boys who do not know of each other cross unexpectedly. The majority of the film was on a panned background which I thought was really effective. There was a very hand drawn and hazy feel throughout, making it feel almost frantic in movement. 

Short Films 2

There are a couple of films I really enjoyed in this section the first being

The Great Malaise - I actually felt quite a connection with this film, the message really resonated with me. Trying to be the best at everything you do but in the end burning yourself out. Putting on a façade to make everyone believe everything is okay. I have felt like this in recent times, trying to juggle work, uni and home life has been a bit of a struggle, but I am so desperate to make it work and have a career that I love 

Alex and Mr Fluffkins - Although this was only a short feature, less than a minute, I thought this was quite fun! I really want to try some stop motion during year 1 and set design. I think the characters in this film were created by the process of felting. Anything with animals in I am usually a fan! 

Commissioned Films 

This was a great category to watch, I enjoyed most of them, here are a few that really stood out for me;

Rest of My Days - I loved this! An upbeat music video that really did make me smile! The animation was super realistic! The lighting and the dance movements were great! A real feel good watch!

Kroger Aerobics - Again this was a feel good film! I love the colours, the character and set designs. 3D animation that almost looks like stop motion, really effective!

A Dog By Your Side - Well as you probably guessed, its based around animals so I loved it before I even started to watch it. Yes I sat here and cried! A lovely animation, the simple visuals were really effective in getting the message across. 

[itsholjackson]

A project I have recently completed - Bentley Logo 

Prior to this I had lost my s#!t with after affects! Laptop nearly went out the window and I nearly sacked it all in! Sounds stupid I know but Covid hasn't exactly made things easy, even when I have been able to go into Uni it’s not as easy as being able to have your tutor sat right next to you helping with any problems. However, with all that being said, the Bentley project really helped me to overcome my anger with after affects. Mario’s tutorials were brilliant, very straight forward and easy to follow. A step by step guide that taught me a lot! 

This was a compositing project, I didn't create the logo or the animation, mainly the affects and sound but I am really happy with the outcome!

[itsholjackson]

Some digital artwork I have been practising on, I have an enormous amount of love for dogs, I hope that my future work and animations will centre around animals. 

This was for a friends birthday, her lovely little dog called Eddie!

[itsholjackson]

Nik Nak Animatic 

This is my animatic for our Nik Nak Sting, my idea is based around two cavemen. Two Nik Naks fall from the sky landing directly infront of them, confused they wonder what the objects could be used for, in this case a club! 

There are tweaks to be made before I create my final advert, everything has been very new to me starting this course, I had never done any digital work prior so its been a massive learning curve, a stressful one to say the least. I have definitely felt like I've been lagging behind and that everyone else is leaps and bounds ahead of me. I am however slowly starting to feel less out of my depths as the semester goes on!

[itsholjackson]

This mornings quick activity was looking at combining 3D shapes. Breaking characters down to the basic skeleton has really helped my understand how simple it can be to draw them in different positions using shapes like these and then building on top of that to bring it to life!

[itsholjackson]

Continued artist research Izzy Burton. 

These images are from Izzy’s website. As I mentioned in a previous post I love her style of work. The layout of the character expressions and turn arounds will prove very useful to me in future projects. I am going to research further into her digital drawing techniques in a bid to improve my own as I personally feel the painted textures are very effective

[itsholjackson]

Having a quick look through Tumblr I found the work of Izzy Burton, I found her website and instantly fell in love with her work. Her style is something I can only dream to be close to! Her short film Stella is about loneliness around Christmas time in the over 75′s and how difficult it can be for some. On her website she includes her mood boards, colour swatches and character expressions. Something that will be very useful for me in future work.