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Final Website

Below are some screencaps of my final website. I’m pleased with how it has turned out and think I managed to keep a consistent style and layout throughout which makes it easier to view. 

It’s also very easy to navigate, so hopefully, anyone; regardless of their technical or computing ability, will be able to easily make their way around all the pages. 

Home:

  Animations:

  Concept Work:

 About me:

Contact:

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Final Logo - Website Header

Below is the finalised logo. I played around with the idea of using animals as well - kiwis being one of them, but wasn’t sure. However, I had time and decided to try it out anyway. They turned out really cute and sweet, so I thought I'd add them in and funnily enough without trying, their orangey brown colour goes with the colour theme of the site. Therefore I thought I’d keep them in, they are just something quite different and will hopefully help make my page more memorable.

I decided to add in for my header three words expressing what I am and what I do. The reasoning behind this was so that it could match what I’d already done on some business cards I got printed not long ago:

This way I can try to keep continuity in my branding. I think it works quite nicely and lays out well with the logo above. 

Kiwi Designs:

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Showreel

I really enjoy editing and found the process rather fun - a nice opportunity to look back at all my work and progress over the past two years. I’m pleased with my reel and used the technique of parallel editing to present a couple of animations alongside one another without being too long or repetitive. This technique is one I quite like and think it can create a nice and easy viewing when done correctly.  

Mhairi’s feedback was that she liked the reel as a whole and through the use of the parallel editing was done well and didn’t ever create any confusion or disorientation for the audience. At one point there was a blank frame which I didn’t even notice, therefore when editing I need to ensure I pay close attention to make sure a silly error like this doesn't happen. She also suggested that I use the audio cue at the end of the reel to reveal my name (which can now be seen in the version above). 

My old edit waits too long at the end and it doesn't feel quite right, while not using the presentation of an obvious moment in the music would be a poor mistake.

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For the intro to my showreel, I wanted to try something different and had a go at animating my logo into the start. This was something I wanted to do from the beginning because I didn’t do anything like this last year.

However, I wasn’t sure what to do so I looked at some ideas online and found the video below. The idea is to animate the top layer of wording as though it was being written out, while the other just appear later. This seemed to fit really well for me since my ‘Olivia’ writing is drawn in a way that could be seen as a handwritten. 

I pleased with how it turned out and think it was rather effective. The look it creates is nice and engaging, but it’s also quick and to the point, which is the idea since I don't want it to be too complicated or to drag on at all. 

I’m still feeling quite new to After Effects so the use of a tutorial like this was really helpful, however, in future I’d like to start applying the knowledge I’m gaining into more new and original ways to animate text and other things like this. But this is a learning process and I’m sure I’ll become more confident to do so in time. 

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Final CV

Above is my CV. I’m quite happy with how it turned out and think that it is visually interesting but still informative. 

I wasn’t sure what to totally include in it, therefore there is a lack of art based information, however, I currently lack artistic experience or background, therefore I can’t really add it yet. But am aware that this is an always changing thing so I can keep updating and changing with each new role, job and experience I get. 

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CV - Research

I was very unsure how to approach the CV aspect of the site and assumed that it would just be a written piece of text, however, the advice from Mhairi was to make it colourful and visual with not too many words. I’m advertising myself to visual thinking people and therefore why shouldn’t this be visual and artist too?

Therefore I’ve been doing some research into visual CVs to help get an idea of what I can do to make mine more interesting and engaging as opposed to a basic written piece of text.  

https://geekflare.com/free-visual-resume-to-impress/ 

I really liked the use of images to help convey interests and technical skills, these helped it to be more memorable. 

http://visualbest.co/if-these-creative-cvs-dont-spell-cool-nothing-else-will/

The one above is very visual and has lots of colour and drawings - this certainly makes it interesting to look at and easier to read, however, this one is a bit too bright for me even though I do like it.

I think I’m going to make mine as visual as I can while keeping it quite minimal and sticking to the colour theme of my logo and website so that it is consistent in its style and layouts.

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Website & showreel feedback

I received feedback this week from Mhairi about my showreel and my website. As a whole, it was very positive, but there were some really helpful suggestions to help boost the quality of my work.

She liked the reel as a whole and through the use of the parallel editing was done well and didn’t ever create any confusion or disorientation for the audience. At one point there was a blank frame which I didn’t even notice, therefore when editing I need to ensure I pay close attention to make sure a silly error like this doesn't happen. Mhairi also suggested that I use the audio cue at the end of the reel to reveal my name. My current edit waits too long and it doesn't feel quite right, while not using the presentation of an obvious moment in the music would be a poor mistake.

The feedback on my site was also very positive and she liked it, however, felt that I was not using the power of colour enough. I’d gone for a basic theme where I could use highlights of colour to draw attention to areas like contact information. Therefore when creating a logo I consider the use of colour here and try to embed it within the rest of my website so it is more visually interesting. The last thing I want is for my simple style to border onto dull and bland.

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Website Designs

The site I chose to focus on is one of the generalist styled ones since I like these the best and want to showcase all of my work on them as opposed to just my 3D. I’ve gone with a very simple and neat design - hoping that the viewers won’t get confused or overwhelmed by style and colour.

So far I’m pleased with my site and think that it is easy to navigate and effectively presents my work and who I am. I still haven’t got a logo yet which is something I’ve saved a large space in the header for, therefore it seems very plain and bare there currently. I also haven’t perfected the wording as of yet in my ‘about’ section which is something that’ll need to be done at some point.

I like the layout as a whole and think it looks rather smart. 

However, it’s very plain at the moment on some pages like the contact one seen above. This doesn't have artwork or anything like the other pages to brighten the page - this is something I may need to consider. I have my tutorial later in the week and will respond to the feedback on this.

Below is one of the logo ideas for my site. But the issue with this one is that for it to look good, the entire background will need to change colour in order to match and suit. This looks okay, however, I’m worried it’ll clash with some of the colours on the animation and concept work pages. Also, the flowery header would need to be extended across the whole top of the page so it doesn’t look out of place which will take some time and effort to do.  

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Logos

I’ve been playing around with the idea of a logo. I know that I’d really like one, but am unsure if it should be word, letter or picture based. Therefore I’m trying to produce a few examples and ideas within each area so that I can get a good idea at what each can provide. This isn’t easy since I want it to be simple, but effective, especially the picture based one, where I’m still unsure about what the picture/image could be and how it can relate to me as a person and artist.

 I drew a few concepts to do with my name and variations of style and images to accompany it. I explored various concepts, particularly focusing on things I like and may represent me well. For example, I’m really into star signs and constellations so I played with this. I actaully found that my star sign Leo almost looks a bit like and ‘O’ and an ‘L’ which is the beginning of my name - so I tried out how this would look together.

I also drew a little character sketch like I saw on Mingjue Helen’s website that I could use in a logo or an about page. I tried a couple of animals like kiwi birds since they’re very cute, can add something memorable and I love them so it’s appropriate. 

I decided upon something rather simple and what I was already using as my signature on Instagram. I treid to make it look more intersting by adding the background of one of my favorite art pieces:

This looked nice and was pretty, however, it didn’t quite work and perhaps was a bit too much. I wasn’t sure how I could use this really like a logo on everything since it would always need to have that background - it just wouldn’t really work. 

Through some editing on photoshop, I managed to embed the background of the artwork into the writing to add some colour and style. The colour from this was a light pink and orangey tones - something I could use throughout the rest of my site like Mhairi suggested.

This looked so much better and added a touch of life and colour where the website desperately needed it. I used this as a theme within my CV as well to keep continuity in design and style, informing people that all of this is my work and has been carefully thought about.

It’s a bit dark in places so I did a bit of recolouring to make it brighter and really bring out the pinks and oranges in it:

This gave it a more soft and sweet touch which I really liked and think that its a way to keep consistency amongst my work but also be a bit different and new.

[oliviathomasba2b]

Website Designs

This week I’ve gotten fully underway in the experimentation of my website. Having looked at a lot of examples, I now feel more confident in what I want to produce and the best way to do it. The main look I’m aiming for is a minimalistic approach, like Millie Woodcock’s website where she has a simple layout with basic, plain background, but is made much more visually interesting through the presentation of her own work.

I’m still working on a range of layouts to see what effect and feel each one gives, ranging from a more generalist approach, as well as a more 3D animation oriented one. This way I am able to effectively experiment with both ideas, without the worry that I’m still unsure about what path I wish to take.

I have a few rough websites in action at the moment, each with a different style and aim - a couple being more generalist oriented in design, therefore a more simple layout and the other being a 3D styled site. This one can be seen below and has the main theme of grey and black to connote to a sleeker and more metallic style to suggest the concept of computers and software.  

However, I think my favourite is to look more into the simplistic design and work with that to create a generalist approach with my work and with who I am. I’m aware that this isn’t always the best route since often companies like specialists, but I’m still trying to improve in all areas and don’t totally know what I want to do or be as of yet.

[oliviathomasba2b]

‘About me’: Notes

Based in Uk

Norwich student NUA

Experience in Maya, 3D, Photoshop, After Effects  

Hello! I am an animation student studying at Norwich University of the Arts (link them in). 

My passions include animation, storytelling

When I’m not working I can be found on the Hockey Pitch where I play 

If you would like to work with me or just want to say hi, get in touch here

Hello!

I am an undergraduate animation student studying at Norwich University of the Arts.

​My passions include animation and storytelling.

When I’m not working I can be found on the Hockey Pitch or out on a run.

If you would like to see more about me take a look at my CV here.

​Please get in touch here if you would like to work together or simply want to say hi!

[oliviathomasba2b]

Website Research

Today I had a look at some other websites for ideas. I looked at Mingjue Helen Chen who is an artist I admire. Her one is more like a portfolio and displays the various designs she’s done for Disney. I like aspects of this and may try to incorporate it in my own work. 

The use of the dark background suggests to me a sleek and professional finish, with the colour from some of her art brightening the page. 

https://mingjuechen.carbonmade.com/

I really like her about page with the little drawing character representing herself. I think this is really cute and maybe a nice idea o try for myself to have on my about page.

[oliviathomasba2b]

Website research

https://www.michaelabloomfield.com/

This week I was actually able to apply the knowledge I’ve built up over the course of the project and assisted my auntie in creating her own website. She’s an independent illustrator who wants to get more involved online and felt that this would be a good start and place of contact. This was really fun to do and I found myself automatically suggesting various fonts, colours and layouts because I already had a good idea of what works well. She wanted something simple and easy to navigate, this is exactly the kind of design I liked and reminds me of examples like Millie Woodcock’s whose was also very simple and let her work do the talking for her.

This was a nice task to do since I had a limited time to complete it, while I was also guiding someone else about things to do with branding including the minimal use of font styles, colours and layout. This really helped solidify my knowledge and caused me to realise how much I’d actually learnt and taken on board from the sessions.

From here I’m going to continue on my own site and test out a few more ways in which I can present my work and what it tells the audience about me.

[oliviathomasba2b]

Portfolio Website

As my portfolio to enter NUA I created a website through wix as a place to collect together all my work. For this, I used a large image of one of my paintings to be the main focus of the page. I had the snow here animated so that it was a subtle, but still noticeable movement - reinforcing the idea of motion and animation. 

https://thomasoliviar.wixsite.com/oliviathomasart

There are a few things I quite like about this website, however, now looking back at it with my new knowledge there are a lot of things I would change this time around.

For example, there are various fonts used throughout which isn’t very visually appealing and rather distracting. 

it’s laid out more like a poster rather than a website, meaning it doesn't have quite the same neat and professional touch.

The way the artwork was presented was okay nad had annotations with them. I don’t like the garish buttons on the side much, although I’m glad to see I stuck with a mostly consistent colour theme with the blue highlights.  

Again, this new page adds another new font to the mix which isn’t even that nice and has a kid like element to it - which probably isn’t something I want to suggest about myself. 

Overall, it was a nice practice to look over my old site and to see what I would change and edit if I did it again. This will help me when it comes to creating my site, helping me understand what works, and what clearly doesn't. 

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Writing the Proposal

This week I wrote my proposal. I’m happy with it as a whole and think I managed to complete it to a good standard, clearly explaining my idea and what I intend on doing. I particularly like the ‘background’ section since I managed to embed information on the topic and prove my research and knowledge on the topic. However, it is rather long and over the suggested word count. I’m concerned this will be an issue, but after some re-writes and re-reads, I like how it flows and think it explains my intentions thoroughly. Therefore I’m going to leave it where it is in the hopes that it effectively does what is required in a way that doesn't seem dragged on.

I didn’t state in it however what aspect of animation I’ll be focusing on - whether this is TV shows or films. I’ve struggled a lot with this section and couldn't decide which will provide the best answers for research and questioning. I’m going to argue my point that both are as valuable to find answers. Animated TV shows are very interesting since they’re something that children will watch on a daily basis and potentially for hours at a time. Whereas films could be seen as more occasional. However, using films will allow me to look into the vast amount of research that has already been conducted on companies like Disney - looking at their representations of gender over time of princesses, protagonists and villains. But there are also some TV shows that have made a big progression in gender representation like Steven Universe where the representation of gay relationships and transgender characters are more common, which will interesting to assess.

Therefore I’m going to look at both, but this means I’ll need to carefully think about how I’ll ask my questions, collect and lay out the data in order to remain concise and focused.

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Proposal Template

Below is the proposal template I used to help me write the final draft. This was really useful in helping split up all the information into condensed sections so that I could ensure that all important points and aspects were covered:

[oliviathomasba2b]

Research - Notes and Tables: Gender Stereotypes

How does gender stereotypes affect Boys and Girls?

Girls:

The media is the message and the messenger and increasingly a powerful one– Pat Mitchell President and CEO Paley centre for media

People learn more from media than any other single source of information so if we want to understand what’s going on in our society in the 21st century we have to understand media – Jackson Katz, PhD Educator, Filmmaker, Tough Guise

Media and technology is delivering content that is shaping our society ……they’re shaping our children’s brains and lives and emotions– Jim Steyer CEO, Common Sense Media Lawyer and Professor of Civil Rights Stanford University

Girls get the message from very early on that what’s most important is how they look, that their value, their worth depends on that and boys get the message that this is what’s important about girls – Jean Kilbourne, EdD Filmmaker, Killing us softly. Wellesley Centre for women

The ideal image of beauty is more extreme and impossible than ever before. In the old days, the perfection was achieved through cosmetics and airbrushing but now it’s possible for that image to be absolutely perfect because of computers….girls are being encouraged to achieve that ideal at younger and younger ages all the time. They end up measuring themselves against just and feeling insecure. The effect is primarily subconscious it is very harmful, but for the most part we’re not really aware of that – Jean Kilbourne  

Boys:

We’re socialising boys to believe that being a man means being powerful and in control. Being smarter than women and better that women or our needs get met first in relationships with women that’ not genetically predestined, that's learned behaviour – Jackson Katz

Words that every man received who needs a boy is when he’s told to be a man– Joe Ehrmann Coach and former NFL Player

We’ve constructed an idea of masculinity … that doesn’t give young boys a way to feel secure in their masculinity so we make them go prove it all the time – Dr. Michael Kimmel sociologist & educator

Within their peer group culture, each of them is posturing based on how the other boys are posturing and what they end up missing is what they each really want which is just that closeness – Dr. Judy Chu sociologist & educator

When I went to high school I struggle finding people I can talk to because I feel like I’m not supposed to get help – high school student

During a class the boys were instructed to write down what they don’t let people see. 90% of them wrote things to do with pain and anger

Young boys struggle to express emotion and really “buy into the culture that doesn’t value what we’ve feminized. If we’re in a culture that doesn’t value caring, doesn’t value relationships, doesn’t value empathy you are going to have boys and girls, men and women go crazy - Dr. Niobe Way Psychologist and Educator

How do the media affect boys and girls in today’s society?

53% of 13-year-old girls are unhappy with their bodies. That number increased to 78% by age 17.

65% of women and girls have an eating disorder

17% of teens engage in cutting and self-injurious behaviour

Rates of depression among girls and women have doubled between 2000 and 2010

The more women and girls self-objectify the more likely they are to be depressed, to have eating disorders, lower confidence, they have lower ambition, they have lower cognitive functioning They have lower GPAs – Caroline Heldman, PhD associate professor of political science Occidental College

Boys are more likely to act out; they’re more likely to become aggressive. Most people miss that as depression or see it as a conduct disorder or just a bad kid – Dr. William Pollack psychologist and educator

Less than 50% of boys and men with mental health challenges seek help

Every day 3 or more boys commit suicide in the U.S

People resort to such desperate behaviour [violence] only when they are feeling shamed and humiliated or feel they would be if they didn’t prove that they were real men – Dr. James Gilligan Psychiatrist and Educator

If you’re told from day one, don’t let nobody disrespect you this is the way you handle it like a man, respect is linked to violence – Dr. Joseph Marshall educator and youth advocate

How do we influence the media? How can we change how media affects girls and boys today?

The media can be an instrument of change it can maintain the status quo and reflect the views of society or it can awaken people and change minds – Katie Couric anchor CBS Evening News

Media creates consciousness and if what gets put out there creates our consciousness is determined by men we’re not going to make any progress – Jane Fonda actress and activist