robbiejohnsonyr3ax3021

[robbiejohnsonyr3ax3021]

University - Bolton Film Festival Reflection

Last week we were fortunate enough to spend the day at the Bolton Film Festival, a day filled with short films, talks, Q and A’s and more. We had tickets that allowed to visit/ view everything on show across the entire day so I tried to make the most out of everything available.

I began with the talks and Q and A’s, which gave an interesting in sight into what studios further up north in the country get up to and types of work available. There was an interesting look at what kinds of work is done at the studio “Flip Book” as well as talks following an animators journey from creating his own stop motion short films, to working at “Three Arrows Media”. Overall, I felt the talks were both interesting and useful as it gives me more of an answer as to what employers look for when hiring, yes getting a good grade is important, but they also want to see your personal projects, from small animations to other types of projects.

We then went on to watch two animated segment of short films, with a wide variety on show, from the weird and wacky to the disturbing and odd. These types of films always feel refreshing too me as a reminder that when create a story/ project, you do not always have to follow the formula of characters run into problem and tries to fix it. Some of these films were based on characters being created out of severed limbs to a short film about 2D, 3D and real life characters co-existing. There was a wide variety on show and  a lot to take away, but one of the biggest lessons from this I had learned and reminded myself about is to not be afraid to experiment, try something different when creating a project.

After a quick lunch I decided to split off from the group for a short while, as I wanted to view one of the Virtual Reality short films that was on site. VR content has always intrigued and fascinated me and I do enjoy watching VR short films that have been animated for a VR audience and not just 2D footage stretched into a 360 degree view. The short film I was able to see was a film called “Laika” an animated short film about the first dog to go to space and how the Russian’s needed to get Laika into space before the Americans. The short film was a joy to watch/ experience whilst also being a little sad with how it ended, but there was a wide variety of camera positions used throughout the short film, from being in Laika’s point of view, to rotating around a dark room watching as TV’s present headlines. Overall, a very solid VR short Film experience and one I will keep an eye on if it ever goes public.

After the VR, I then re-joined the group for the second half of the international live action films, although I was not able to see the first half of these films, there were some interesting short films on show, like animations earlier bizarre yet refreshing. From two men in present day having therapy by going back to being cave by being naked, to a short film about to film about a young couple trying to make things work in a toxic relationship. These films were good, but I'll be honest I do not seem to remember every film that was on show here. Not because they were bad or had anything wrong with them, but the moment I was watching these films, we had to move onto the next screening.

We then went to another live action short film screening, with once again a variety of short films on show, but a lot more emotional based films this time around. Short films about a man coping with dementia and the loss of his wife, to the real life inspirational story of a man’s life from a horrible childhood with abuse and personal problems, to growing beyond his past and embracing a brighter future. These short films again were more emotional, telling of real life stories and telling stories of which can relate to people who have experienced or had some experience hardships such as being poor or having a mental illness. Overall, a good showing and great use of having the viewer relate to what was happening within each short film. There was also a brief segment at the end as we got to meet/ see some of the creators of the short film as well as the elderly man from the real life story short film reflect his knowledge/ wisdom to us all.

The final screening I got to see was again more short live action films, unfortunately due to us needing to catch a bus part way through this segment, I was unable to view all the films on show, but from what I saw I enjoyed. The importance of compost and recycling to better communities, the story of a struggling mother with her baby and short comedic story of the creation of Cesar salad. Each film had memorable moments such as the mother leaving her baby on a train and the comedic timing and witty comments whilst Caesar is dying. From the short time I had within this screening, I feel that I was able to appreciate the variety and methods of story telling that is possible, from fictional to real life.

That was the end of the Bolton Film Festival and was overall very good, a wide variety of genres on show as well as many creative ideas. In sights into different company's nearby and the story/ journey of individual animators and a representation of VR short films, something I have not seen at a festival before. A lot on show, a lot to take away and a lot of fun was had.

[robbiejohnsonyr3ax3021]

AX3333 - University - TV series Project (Summer) - Tip Toe on the Road - Screenshot Timeline

Now that our summer projects are over in this post I wanted to post a timeline of sorts of my work for each project, in this post I will be focusing on Tip Toe on the Road.

(Unfortunately the remaining screen shots for the alps were corrupted an un recoverable, so here is the final export of the piece).

[robbiejohnsonyr3ax3021]

AX3333 - University - TV series Project (Summer) - The Stone Wall Arches - Screenshot Timeline

Now that our summer projects are over in this post I wanted to post a timeline of sorts of my work for each project, in this post I will be focusing on The Stone Wall Arches.

[robbiejohnsonyr3ax3021]

AX3333 - University - TV series Project (Summer) - Shadow Antic - Screenshot Timeline

Now that our summer projects are over in this post I wanted to post a timeline of sorts of my work for each project, in this post I will be focusing on Shadow Antics.

[robbiejohnsonyr3ax3021]

AX3021 - University - Major Project (Summer) - What do you think happens to Sky Lanterns - Screenshot Timeline

In this post I wanted to post a timeline of sorts of my work for each project, in this post I will be focusing on What do you Think Happens to Sky lanterns.

[robbiejohnsonyr3ax3021]

AX3021 - University - Major Project (Summer) - Mascot - Screenshot Timeline

Now that our summer projects are over in this post I wanted to post a timeline of sorts of my work for each project, in this post I will be focusing on Mascot.

[robbiejohnsonyr3ax3021]

AX3021 - University - Major Project (Summer) - Electrons - Screenshot Timeline

In this post I wanted to post a timeline of sorts of my work for each project, in this post I will be focusing on Electrons.

[robbiejohnsonyr3ax3021]

AX3021 & AX3333- University - Major Project & TV Series (Summer) - Project Reflection

Today was our final day for both of our summer projects being the ideas for  our major project (AX3021) and our TV series ideas project (AX3333). In this post I will be reflecting back on these projects together. I created these projects back to back, so I felt it was best to address them both within the same blog post.

Major Project

During the time I have had with working on the Major project, I feel that I have learnt so much over the this summer period. I also feel that I had found new things about myself along the way and used what I had learned to try and teach myself new things. The Major project was not only coming up with three ideas to work on for the duration of the third year, but for me to try and learn new skills and techniques, especially when it comes to drawing and illustration.

Learning to understand aspects of drawing such a depth, lighting and shading as well as gaining a greater understanding of complimentary colours and different variations was very useful. I felt with each piece of concept I had created, I could feel myself improving and if I felt that I was not improving I would try to focus on something else such as applying details and aspects to the concept. Other aspects such as trying learn/ understand how to draw human posture and differences between male and female characters, was another important lesson I have been improving upon over the course of the summer. The lessons I had learned over this project, I would sometimes try and put a twist on the lessons I had learned. For example when learning that male characters are usually more angular and females are more soft/ curved in their design, I would apply this to characters, such as the electrons and their outer rings being sharp and angular for male or and curvy and soft for the female characters.

I felt that my presentation for this project went alright, as I feel I was able to explain and establish the worlds of these ideas and characters who live within them to my class and tutor. Unfortunately some of the images that should have been in the power point were not loading which was unfortunate, but in the end I think things worked out ok.

TV Series

For the TV series side of the project, I felt that I was able to come up with some good ideas, from shows based on more action and heists, to calm spirit infested beaches. For most the TV series I wanted to try and experiment with my ideas and try to add twists to the status-quo of creating and developing a show.

The biggest condenser for applying these twists was the stone wall arches. But with the other two ideas I wanted to try and stick with something safer just in case, but I feel satisfied with all three ideas. As with the major project each concept I created had me either trying something new or trying to improve an aspect I was learning over the summer period. Easily the two hardest and longest pieces to create was the main area of the Stone Wall Arches and Sagarda Famillia Cathedral for Tip Toe on the Road. Both concepts were large in scale and had many features such as distant towns to a variety of statues, both of these images had a lot of work put into them both to try and make them look as best as they can be (and for the Sagarda Famillia looking like the original as much as possible).

Presenting these ideas was very tricky for to explain as each idea had it’s own twist and it’s own plot, trying to get an audience on board who know nothing about the project prior was difficult. In the end it seemed like most people understood Tip-Toe, some understood Shadow Antics (albeit I would need to change the age of the target audience), but people struggled to grasp the Stone Wall Arches. It’s shame really as the Stone Wall Arches was the idea I was most passionate about, but I have a little more time to see if I can flesh it out, if not I would need to let go of the idea, which is part of the course and sometimes a decision needs to be made and ideas need to be let go.

Final Thoughts

At the end of all of this both projects and presentations done, I feel satisfied. I am happy with the projects I have been able to achieve, happy about the self improvement and progression I have made and happy with my presentations. If I were to do this project again though, I would focus a lot more on the explanation aspect of my projects, as I felt that I had lost a few people with one or two of my ideas, but I feel happy with nearly everything else. It was tough deciding my 6 ideas total, which stay which go and which become major projects or TV series as at one point all my ideas had been written and adapted to work in both projects. For example at one point Electrons was a series focusing on the Electrons within different devices resulting in different environments/ locations.

Anything I was uncertain about, or felt I needed to improve upon will take precedence going forward, as part of the major project is continue with improving ourselves. Here’s hoping the final TV series and Major Project go well.

[robbiejohnsonyr3ax3021]

AX3021 - University - Major Project (Summer) - Creating the Poster and Presentation

After finishing my final piece of concept art for my three major project ideas, it was time to create the poster and power point presentation. The purpose of these two pieces of work is to explain and demonstrate my ideas as well as demonstrating what I have learned over the summer period. In this post I will be explaining the development process for each of the pieces of work.

 The Power Point

Whilst creating the power point I felt it was important that each idea should feature five slides, these slides include the following:

1.)    Introduction slide – the title of the idea and an image/ piece of concept to hint towards what the idea is.

2.)    Synopsis – A break down of the world that each idea takes place in, explaining the plot of each story and ending with a question to help viewer engagement for each idea (E.g., Will they make it in time?).

3.)    Inspirations – A page of images of a variety of films, TV shows, videogames, characters, etc that may have help inspire an aspect for an idea.

4.)    Character Concepts – A page showing off the characters within each project, ranging from sketches split into four quarters of a page with info and expressions and solid single images of characters who are coloured in.

5.)    Environments/ Location – A peek into the world and stories for the characters from different locations to glimpses into scenes playing out through a single image.

Putting the power point together was not overall too bad, but it did come with some challenges. In terms of gathering concepts and detailing each idea was not too bad, as I had these characters and worlds printed inside of my head over most of the summer. The most challenging part of this project was when it came to finding inspirations, as my method for coming up with each idea was from thoughts and questions, I had over the summer break. So, trying to relate inspirations with ideas you have come up with yourself with nothing that inspired you prior towards each idea proved hard for me to make connections with (In terms of comparing my idea with something pre-existing). I guess the best way to describe it is it felt like I was doing the process backwards, instead of working on ideas based/ inspired by already existing media, I had to try and find already existing work to try and link it to my projects somehow.

In the end I was able overcome this confusing hurdle and was able to finish my power point. Overall, I feel happy with the structure I have given myself as, I feel that each slide covers each of key topics that need to be discussed for each idea.

The Poster

Where the power point presentation was based on me presenting my work, the posters purpose was to explain my work, this proved to be quite a challenge. The main issues I had was making sure how I was trying to explain my thought process and my methods of teaching myself were making sense and did not sound too much like gibberish (whilst remaining within the (clarified) 500-to-1000-word count). I had some help form some support staff and friends checking through any areas of my descriptions I was unsure about being too confusing, some people thought it made sense, other asked for a little more explanation. Overall, the information on the poster was changed a total of 4 times before becoming the final poster, which explains my goals for over the summer break, how it continues into my third-year work and my methods I came up with to help teach myself.

After having everything typed out within a word document, I was able to get the word count to 1005 words being just over the required amount and I also realised I forgot to include the title. The following day whilst trying to narrow down these last few words, my tutor explained to me that it did not matter if I was a tiny bit over the word count, he said it would be bad if it was “over 1500 words long” but I should be ok being touch over. So, in the end after adding information into the figure image descriptions, my final word count was 1053 words.

I won’t really know for certain how well the poster has done until someone reads the newest version of it (most likely my tutor), but if there is any major takeaways form this, it is I hope it made sense for the methods of self-teaching I did and that the images I have added to my poster help back up my points.

[robbiejohnsonyr3ax3021]

AX3333 - University - TV series Project (Summer) - Tip Toe on the Road - Environments/ Locations

While design the environments/ locations for Tip Toe on the road, I wanted to create locations from memory, whilst still paying tribute to each location the best I could. Since Tip Toe on the Road is a European road trip, I felt it was important to create locations of varying weather and historical importance. In this post I will be discussing the development and thought process for each concept.

The Snowy Mountains

The snowy mountains is a ski resort populated by many other people enjoying the slopes. For this piece I wanted to create a scene where we can see the characters in different attire, whilst showing off a much colder environment, in comparison of most of the warmer places in the series. The inspiration for this scene was my memories of going to Austria on a skiing trip, I tired to put as much as I could remember from my time there and add them to this piece. Log cabins for people staying at the resort, ski lifts, large signs advertising the resort and more. In this piece I had a little bit of trouble with creating the sky, as I wanted the weather to be clear but not bright blue skies. I wanted the clouds to appear heavy as if snow is falling from them, so I used a mixture of darker shades to try and achieve the look I was looking for. In the end I feel that I was able to achieve this look, by having the sky darker in tone and the clouds grey, I felt that I was able to achieve this look.

Speaking of snowy skies, I was able to experiment with some of the effects brushes, I found a particular brush that had a solid outline, but transparent centre. I increased the brush size to roughly 300px and I was able to create the snow falling in this scene. I also wanted to give Jason and Tip Toe a different outfit to better suit the environment they were in, so I gave tip toe a small hat and scarf and the same for Jason.

La Sagrada Familia

Whilst thinking about the different the locations Tip Toe and Jason visit on their journey across Europe, I wanted to draw a location the pair can visit in Spain. After doing research I realised that Spain is a very religious country with dozens of beautiful cathedrals and churches and although I was tempted to recreate the Casa Batllo building, I decided to go with La Sagrada Familia cathedral.

Before further explaining the creation of creating this concept, I should point out I had to break my one rule from every other concept I had created, whilst creating this concept I had to leave a reference open on another monitor as there was too many details for me to remember. But instead, I would try focus on adding as many aspects and details to the building as possible. Such as trying to add as many statues as possible as well as creating darkness and shadows within the lower half of the image. Even though there is no sign of Tip Toe or Jason in this image, I like to think with the angle I have gone with that we are seeing the cathedral from the characters point of view.

Although in the end I may have not been quite able to get the perspective and depth correct in this piece, I wanted to make up for those short comings by adding as many details into this piece as possible. An example of this includes adding some smaller hidden windows in this piece, as well as the 35 diamond shaped blocks on an arch in front of building with all their letters and symbols. Whilst creating this piece, I had broken down creating the building into two layers, the first being the bottom half of the building where a thicker brush was used and the second layer for the back of the building leading up into the sky (separate colouring layers were made for each of these layers too). Whilst implementing the statues to the building, I had caused a problem for myself, as failing to get the correct angle of the picture meant, some of the characters I was drawing I could only see half off. For example, in the bottom left of the front of the building you can see someone riding a horse, in the picture you can only see half of the horse and rider, so I had to improvise and try to draw the rest of the horse and man the best I could. As a final note, I decided to not give the statues and eyes or mouths as to not make them look like real people in the concept, so I gave the characters noses and hair using two shades of brown so you can see where they are looking in comparison to their real-life counter parts.

Overall, I feel satisfied with these concepts, constructing one from memories, to really challenging myself with a cathedral. I knew the La Sagrada Familia, would be hard to draw, but I wanted to challenge myself and, in the future, I may try to redraw this building to see if I have improved on my drawings whilst working on my third-year project. But these concepts were definitely a learning experience, from discovering different effects brushes, to trying to improve my perspective drawing and applying as may small details as possible into a piece.

[robbiejohnsonyr3ax3021]

AX3021 - University - Major Project (Summer) - Mascot - Environments/ Locations

Whilst creating the locations for Mascot, I knew that the main location for the short piece would be at the theme park. But instead of drawing the park from different angles, I decided to create the main location and then a concept for an idea of which I am still debating about. In this post I will be discussing both of these concepts.

The Theme Park

The theme park is the main location for this short film, instead of only having a few rides, I decided to add rides both big and small. These go from carousals to roller coasters and more. I also wanted there to be some sort of representation of the Slushmellow character, beyond just the mascot costume itself, so I created a drinks shop with a statue of Slushmellow drinking his own straw.

This piece also took quite a while to make as I wanted to try a different method of creating this piece compared to my other pieces of work. In the past I had looked at an example of what I was trying to draw, close down the window and see how much I could remember. But for this piece I wanted to use no reference or preparation before starting and wanted to try and draw everything from memory. This meant that some aspects of the park such as the roller coaster and haunted house only took a few minutes (15 - 20 minutes roughly), but smaller aspects such as trying to draw the horse on carousal , took much longer as every time I tried to draw the horse, it never looked quite right to me (Roughly an hour and a half per horse). Even though this took longer than I would have hoped for, I felt that every time I started over, I was getting closer and closer to making the horse look good enough for me. This was long method of learning but an effective one.

Lastly with some of the taller rides such as tower drop or the sides of the shops, I made sure to try and add shadows to the ground or around the rides. I would create the shadow where it was most likely for a shadow to be cast, as well as the size of each shadow. This is why the tower drop has a long shadow, whereas the drinks shop has a smaller shadow (in comparison), I also tried to apply a shadow within the carousal, which works as both a shadow and an interior to the ride.

The Fire

Even though I feel that I have a good grasp as to how the story will unfold, there is one aspect of the short film that I have not fully decided on yet. The thing in question here is what is the incident that convinces Brock to change and help. I knew that a young girl would warm his heart and reignite the spark within Brock, but something happens to the girl, but what exactly I am still not 100% on.

The re-occurring idea in my head is that the little girl goes into the haunted house and the ride catches on fire. For the fire scene I wanted there to be a major focus on the building burning, whilst Brock looks on from a distance. I created the haunted house first and the mascot costume second, but I did try to be experimental with my colour choices. I wanted to see if it would be best to turn the building completely black, as if the light from the fire was so bad it had caused the building to silhouette. Testing this theory, I felt that it did not work as effectively as I hoped, so instead I made the roofs black and made the remaining colours the building a darker colour. The reason they are a darker colour instead of brighter, was because I felt a darker colours could show the damage the fire has done to the building.

Lastly I proceeded to add orange and grey glows to the building to exaggerate the fire spreading. This was also to show the key point of interest within the image with the colour of the glows getting brighter the closer to the fire it gets, attracting the viewers eye leading up to the haunted house on fire.

(Rough example I found online of what I was aiming to achieve but mine was trying to be exaggerated).

Overall, I feel happy with these concepts, unfortunately due to time constraints I was not able to create the little girl the idea I had of a run down locker room. But with these two images I feel they establish the location of the story and provides a scene of the drama/ problem that happens within a pivotal point of the story. As for the new method of drawing I was happy with my results, I have been working on both projects over the summer break and, I feel that creating these two pieces was proof that my method of learning was working.

[robbiejohnsonyr3ax3021]

AX3333 - University - TV series Project (Summer) - Shadow Antic - Environments/ Locations

Whilst creating the environments for Shadow Antics, I wanted to try and create the not only the environment/ location of a scene, but demonstrate how the show would work. So I decided to do two scenes that happen one after another, as well as showing off aspects such as how Shadow moves around the environments and more. In this post I will be discussing these environments/ locations and their creation process.

The Museum of Bizarrely Large things

Whilst on a heist together, Cheryl and Shadow find themselves sneaking into the museum of bizarrely large things, from enormous coins, to giant tooth picks and more. However, the duo are after one of the museum’s most prized possessions, the worlds largest atom.

For this scene I aimed to create a museum aesthetic with elements not usually seen in most museum’s, so I decided to make the museum based on abnormally large things. The environment features a giant euro coin, tooth pick, battery and part of a giant SNES controller. As with my work on the Stone Wall Arches, I tried to use darker colours for this scene to imply that this scene takes place at night, with source of the light in the room coming from the ceiling off screen, I also added a slightly brighter blur on the floor around the atom to subtilty signify that the atom is of importance. I then went back over everything I had drawn and added details and shadows to everything, from making sure the large euro coin had all 12 stars on it, to adding shadows onto Cheryl.

I also tried to think of how Cheryl and Shadow could work together when sneaking around the museum. Cheryl would be hiding behind walls and columns making sure not to be caught or trigger any alarms. As for shadow, I feel you could interpret this scene in one of two ways. The first being Shadow is signalling Cheryl that the coast is clear (this is how I interpret the scene), the second being Shadow has excitedly rushed on ahead and Cheryl is being extra cautious so Shadow does not get them caught.

The Calling Card

The after math of this scene playing out results in Cheryl and Shadow escaping before being caught by security. They have made off with the worlds largest atom and that remains of where the atom was, is a yellow bow tie.

For this environment/ location/ scene, I wanted to find a method of Cheryl and Shadow showing off/ gloating that they have stolen something. I was inspired by characters such Sly from the 2002 PlayStation 2 game series “Sly Cooper” and Lupin the third from TMS Entertainment Marza series “Lupin the Third”. After getting what they wanted, these characters would leave something behind, a calling card of sorts, I wanted to try and replicate this for Cheryl, so I made Cheryl’s calling card a spare bow tie which is the same as the one she wares (She has spares in her belt).

Although this scene had a lot of elements from the previous environment, I did try to experiment with something new. Originally I was going to have the scene be just the bow tie on the pedestal, but I felt there was something missing, so I decided to have someone discover the atom had been stolen. Using the circle and fill tool, I created a bright yellow circle and then changed the opacity settings for the layer. This created the torch effect seen in the final piece, but upon discovering this technique I tried to add the shadow of a character panicking at what they have discovered. So, I created a new layer for the person’s shadow and used the same method I had used for the torch by changing the opacity of the shadow to match that of the light.

Overall, I feel satisfied with these pieces, there was going to be a third image of the Cheryl being caught in a trap by a rival thief, where Cheryl caught by her belt would be stuck to the worlds largest magnet on ceiling. This would have resulted in Shadow distracting the rival thief whilst Cheryl tried to get herself free. Unfortunately this was cut due to time constraints and I felt that it was important to prioritise on what the duo do, an example of them on a job and how they usually leave the scene.

But, I feel that even if I could not get the third image done in time that I have been able to demonstrate an example of a location for an episode, how Cheryl and Shadow interact with one another and how the duo leave the scene of the crime. Learning about the use of layer opacity was also important for me to discover and as with everything else, I hope to improve and expand upon these elements with future pieces of work.

[robbiejohnsonyr3ax3021]

AX3021 & AX3333- University - Major Project & TV Series (Summer) - My Method for Coming Up with Ideas

Whilst working on both my TV series project and Major Project ideas over the summer, I have been creating all my ideas as drawn illustrations and not implemented any form of 3D, CGI or stop motion elements into my work. In this post I will go over my decision for this and due to me working on both of these projects at the same time (basically back-to-back), I felt it was best to address this reason for both projects within this post.

Why am I only doing 2D projects?

Whilst coming up with concepts for ideas for each project, I wanted to focus on creating projects that were focused for a 2D format. This dose not mean I have forgotten 3D or stop-motion formats, but I felt for creating concepts, it was best to stick with all ideas being created within a 2D format. This allows me to translate each idea from my mind onto paper (or Photoshop) easier and then during the production stages within the third year, I can focus more on deciding the final format for each project. It is good to have a beginning format to work with, something that you feel the project will work with, whilst allowing experimentation further down the line.

Another reason for the mostly 2D approach to my work was a goal I had set myself over summer and will likely continue with throughout my third year on the course. That goal being to improve my illustration skills and techniques, as I felt I was always lacking with these skills, compared to other things I have learned over the past two years. This was also due to a possible scenario that could happen to me in the future, if were to try and share an idea or pitch a show, etc. If explaining with words didn’t work and I would have to show illustrations of my idea and if I can’t properly draw my ideas/ thoughts onto paper, then my idea might as well be dead in the water. This was another major factor for deciding upon this approach to both improve myself with drawing but for an aspect that could help within any format of animation 2D, 3D, CGI or Stop-Motion.

No 3D or Stop Motion Projects in the future?

The straightforward response I can give is never say never, as I am still interested about other formats of animation, as previously mentioned creating a 2D format is a start, by figuring out how an idea works within a 2D format then breath opportunity and experimentation with other formats for projects. For example, for my major project idea “What do you Think Happens to Sky Lanterns?” I know and understand how this project could using a 2D format, the locations, animation techniques and short cuts to be used, flow of the story, etc. But I have had an idea how the idea could work in 3D, by using 3D models with 2D facial expressions. That is a possibility, but not a guarantee, so this idea could work in 3D, but it began as a 2D idea.

Another example of this 2D to other formats process was the TV series idea “Shadow Antics”. Although I feel the show would work best within a 2D format, I can see opportunity for applying possible elements of both 3D and Stop-Motion aspects to the project. For example, for a use of 3D animation, models of what the duo are trying to steal could be modelled and animated in 3D, whilst also being used to establish a key location such as the outside of a museum. Establishing the location could also possibly work with Stop-Motion by creating physical props and animating around them, I also liked the idea of the duo watching a TV advertisement created with Stop-Motion animation and the pair thinking to themselves that advertisements are looking stranger and stranger nowadays.

Will I continue working with 3D or Stop-Motion in the future

If the opportunity presents itself absolutely, just because I’m not doing them at the moment, does not mean I never want them to do them again. It’s likely if I am able to earn some spare time from working on my TV series or major projects that I will likely continue to experiment and expand my knowledge with working with these two animation formats. When starting this course back in 2020, I had no illustration skills or techniques. I had a small amount of knowledge about animation such as understanding unique character designs in films and videogames and learning about frame rates, but in terms of using the software and understanding the fundamentals I was out of luck, which since day one of the course I have been eager to learn as much as I can.

There’s a saying by William Shakespeare that most people only seem to recall the first half of. Whenever discussing my reasoning to people why I decided between learning 2D, 3D and stop motion back-to-back instead sticking with one and focusing in on it, I refer to the saying, albeit my version of the saying but it means the same thing. Somebody who is good at everything is a master at not none, but I’d rather be good at a everything than none. So if get the opportunity to work with any of these three formats you can count me in to try my best.

[robbiejohnsonyr3ax3021]

AX3333 - University - TV series Project (Summer) - The Stone Wall Arches - Creating the Jingle

Whilst creating concept art for the character and locations for The Stone Wall Arches, I wanted to create an introduction for the show. I knew before leaving the course for the summer break that we would be asked to create 15 seconds long animated introduction for the show, but I did not realise that we would be working on this when we returned to begin the third year. So, I guess this is still good as I now have some music to work with and implement whilst creating the introduction. In this post I will be discussing the development process for the music for my TV series introduction.

Whilst working on concept art for both my TV series and Major projects, I had tried for a few weeks to create/ compose a jingle for the introduction of the Stone Wall Arches. But after multiple attempts getting me nowhere, I knew I desperately needed some help. Thankfully I was able to collaborate with good friend of mine and talented musician Jack Steggles, together over the span of two weeks we worked together to create two versions of the introduction jingle. This proved to be quite a challenge for me to describe what kind of theme I wanted for the show, so I had quickly put together a mini pitch for the show to try help explain the show to Jack. Also having little to no music knowledge, trying to explain and tweak small parts of the song was complicated for me, but thankfully Jack Steggles was able to translate what I was trying to say into music. At first, I was a little worried that the music sounded a little too glittery/ fairy esc for the show. But after throwing ideas back and forth we were able to create two jingles.

The reason we created two jingles instead of one, was because I wanted to have multiple options to work with. For the first jingle I wanted to focus on creating something mystical yet relaxing and as the show takes place on a small fishing town next too the sea, I wanted to create a feeling of the sea in the first version. So, using instruments such as ghost bells, pianos and triangles we created the first jingle. For the second jingle I wanted the feeling to be more seaside/ harbour esc, based off what I had learned from Jack I was able to approach this jingle the two key instruments I wanted for this second version, those instruments being a violin and a flute. Together we expanded upon these two instruments by adding more background instruments to fill in any possible ambiance and thus the second jingle was finished.

Overall, I am very happy with these results and extremely thankful to Jack Steggles for helping me with this. Jack uses a software called “Cubase” to create his music and this was quite the learning experience for me, understanding tempo and how to keep the flow of music consistent. Even if the Stonewall Arches are not chosen for my TV series project, I’m positive I will be able to implement them into another project. Lastly, we had created three versions of each jingle, the original being 20 seconds long, then 17.5 seconds and lastly 15 seconds, so we have room to pick a length that works best for me. For the future who knows If Jack isn’t too busy (he is also a university student), I may work with him again on a future project, if is able/ wants too. (At the bottom of the page is a link to some of Jack Steggles work if you are interested).

Link To Jack Steggles’s work

https://open.spotify.com/track/5HlOE9kNnH87ND2VUDIiGG

[robbiejohnsonyr3ax3021]

AX3021 - University - Major Project (Summer) - What do you think happens to Sky Lanterns - Locations & Environments

Whilst creating the scenes for What do you Think Happens to Sky Lanterns, I wanted to try and create a variety of different settings/ locations for the characters to explore to show that the pair have travelled far. These would include calm environments to that of a thunderstorm. In this post, I will be discussing the creation behind each of these backgrounds and the creation process behind each of them.

The Thunder Storm

The first location I created was the thunderstorm where we see both Gus and Skyler trying to navigate through the harsh conditions. Whilst creating each location, I wanted there to be more than just set on display, I wanted to represent each piece as if it were a section/ snippet of the short film.

Whilst creating this scene I tried to use a mixture of different brush sizes to help create distance in this image, for example although the clouds may appear stack on top of one another, different brush sizes were used to create the lightning. Speak of the lightning, I also tried using the soft brush to create glows within the clouds to signify more lightning strikes within the clouds. I also used a mixture of differently shaped rain drops to also try and create a sense of depth, close raindrops were large, whereas minor further away tear drops were created as lines, I then tried to expand upon this weather further by adding spiralled lines to create the appearance that wind was also present within the scene.

Although not apart of the environment/ scene there was a new feature I added to Gus and Skyler, the new feature being a blurred glow within them representing their flame. When either of their flames extinguish, they will drop and as the two are journeying around the world looking for a place to rest. With this idea in mind a scene/ environment like this would build tension as the rain and wind could extinguish their flame earlier than they would want.

The Sunset

Taking place at around the halfway point of the short film, both Skyler and Gust watch a sunset upon the sea by a small island. This environment was created to help flare the romance dynamic that Skyler and Gust have formed and was vastly different from the thunderstorm environment, as the scene went from tense and worrying to relaxed and peaceful. When creating this scene, I had referred to a piece of concept I had created for one of my TV series for the TV series project being a sunset scene for The Stone Wall Arches. Using that concept as a guide for the glow of the sun and the colouring of the waves, I was able to create this scene much easier than I had trying to estimate the colours and how well they mixed.

I also added a small, deserted island to this scene to make the scene feel less empty and not just the sea and the sun. I also felt that the island would help compliment the sun going down as the sun then has something to hide behind, this also saved needing to focus on creating reflections for the sun going into the water and instead replace it with a glow. Lastly, I once again added the glowing flame within Gus and Skyler to show that although the sun is setting there light carries on as they continue exploring to find their ideal resting place.

The city

For the city scene I had two main goals in mind, number one don’t have a location/ scene that features water as the last two locations did and number two, try to create a piece that has clear depth to it. Throughout the course creating depth within a scene or concept was something I have always struggled with and was one my goals over the summer project to try and improve upon.

When creating this scene, I began by creating a horizon line and had the road pavements meet from the bottom of the screen to the horizon line. I then began adding buildings, with buildings further away from the camera having a roof as well as the brush sized used for each building getting increasingly smaller. Another aspect of the scene I used for creating depth where size of the humans populating the streets as the size varies form how close to the camera they are, the same could be said for the cars on the street being large and small in comparison.

When designing the street, I did not want there to be only blank buildings with windows and a door, so I decided to add some shops to the street, I tried to add shops that are known to having things outside of them, for example a white and red spiral for a barber shop or a large ice cream for an ice cream parlour. I also added a flower shop that both Gus and Skyler fly by and Skyler catches a flower on her way past which is why she has a small flower on top of her lantern. I then proceeded to fill in the background with a hill, birds, and clouds to make the scene appear less blank and more details as well as providing some light and shadows to the hill for the hill and clouds.

Overall, I feel happy with this scene and feel satisfied with the depth that have been able to create in this scene, could this scene be improved upon with depth, absolutely. But as an attempt of creating depth using solely what I have learned and referred back to (Past lessons) , I feel happy with what I was able to achieve what I set out to do. This also includes the different feeling between each scene, exciting and jolly through the city, worried and tense during the storm and calm and relaxing with the sunset piece.

[robbiejohnsonyr3ax3021]

AX3021 & AX3333- University - Major Project & TV Series (Summer) - My Method for Coming Up with Ideas

When beginning both my major project ideas and TV series projects over the summer period, I felt that I needed to make a difference and come up with a new approach to coming up with ideas and concepts. Usually, I would include details within this post to other posts relating to a specific idea or post, but I felt that it was important to discuss my idea process in its own post, so I could focus on explaining myself and my reasons for taking this approach. As this idea relates to both the Major project ideas and TV Series Project, I felt it was best to combine both projects for this post.

What is my method for coming up with ideas?

There are many ways that different people can forge and create ideas, they could be inspired by things they have seen in the past, by a specific individual, memories or events that have happened in their life, etc. But for me I wanted to try and focus on a new and different method of creating ideas (at least for me). I realised over time when I was coming up with my first two ideas, they were created/ began from me thinking to myself what if? By questioning myself on something fictional or asking myself questions I did not have answers too, I was able to come up with more and more idea. By questioning the unknown (to me), ideas were born.

For example, the idea for one of my projects has the title of what I saw and thought to myself one night over the summer “What do you Think Happens to Sky Lanterns?”. I know, I could look up the answer on the internet, but I feel by doing that and understanding what happens to sky lanterns is killing creativity and possibly the entire project (to this day I still don’t know as I have not researched this).

Some questions I had asked myself were not always directed at a real life or specific thing and more trying to add a twist to commonly established tropes and lessons we had learned in class in the past. For example, across every project I have done both at university and even prior to university, such as my two years of doing film in college, one common question was who is going to be the main character. I wanted to try and add a spin on the typical main character fixes problem and save the day and shift the focus from a main character to a main location. By working on ideas based on this question (What if instead of a main character there’s a main location), I came up with an idea of a large rock wall that interacts with characters who visit the area through subtle interactions such as sprouting flowers and carving rocks. This idea would eventually become the TV series idea the Stone Wall Arches.

 Why differentiate from what you have been taught?

I need to be clear that I have no grips or problems, regarding the methods we have been taught for coming up with ideas, they have worked for me for past projects, so I am not opposed to them. But with that said there was one main reason I decided use this approach to coming up with ideas, more accurately there was one project I had worked on last year that had sort of adopted this idea of thinking.

During the group project last year at the beginning of the second semester, we given the brief and were advised to watch movies, films any type of media that can give you an idea or inspire you, we were advised to think hard about what to create for ourselves. But for me, I had reached into my bag to grab a hard drive and instead had a large goggley eye stuck to the palm of my hand. I thought this looked funny and built my idea around that one bizarre instance in class and the final project turned out to be one of my better projects of the year, not to mention having fun whilst doing it. But I did not watch or research anything prior for inspiration or to help forge ideas I let my imagination run wild with the concept. The same could be said for what began as my major project be seeing toddler toys in a supermarket one day, leading all the way to a film about sentient shapes trying to fit in within a social environment by struggling to fit into the holes of the building.

I wanted to expand upon this accidental yet useful method of coming up with ideas and find a new way to forge ideas. So instead of doing something or seeing something that could give me an idea, I decided that I should lead more into the unknown things to for me and I felt the best way to do was to ask myself questions. These questions could range from real/ practical questions to fictional silly ones. For example, one night over summer we saw a couple letting loose some sky lanterns and what I asked myself became the title of the idea “What do you Think Happens to Sky Lanterns”. Another example was the question I had of what if there were microscopic workers that lived within all electrical appliances which lead to the idea for Electrons. A final example of a question would be what if we put a twist on industry established features/ aspects of a TV show. Could these features/ aspects be changed, such as instead of having a main character, what if instead it was a main location with characters appearing at the location with their own stories and troubles. This what lead to the idea of the Stone Wall Arches. If some of these questions had actual answers to them, I would not look up the answer as it could reduce creativity and jeopardise the idea entirely.

This was the method of learning I had used over the summer for my ideas, as I discovered that questions could lead not only to answer, but quite a lot of ideas too. Overall, I feel happy with the ideas I have had for both projects and any ideas that are not used for their final projects; I may use in the future if given the chance too. I hope this post was useful and made sense as to why I decided to work very differently this year when it came to finding inspirations and coming up with ideas.

[robbiejohnsonyr3ax3021]

AX3333 - University - TV series Project (Summer) - Tip Toe on the Road - Character Designs

Whilst coming up with the idea for Tip Toe on the road, I knew from the beginning that the heart of the show would be the story of a young child and their pet turtle going to out to explore the world. When creating the character designs I felt that I had an understanding as to how the characters should look, but I also felt that I should try and experiment with some aspects for the characters, especially for the human characters. In this post I will be going over the character designs for Tip Toe himself and son of the Celest family Jason.

Tip Toe

Tip Toe is like a regular house turtle, slow and relaxed yet quite excitable, especially when it comes to head butting stuff. When creating Tip Toe, I wanted to make him look as much like a regular turtle as possible. The reason I decided to go with a turtle was due to the name, Tip Toe sounds very slow so I was thinking about slow animals. I then remembered a short group project we did at the beginning of the second year where we had to animate something that would morph into the next person’s scene, for me I had a turtle ridding a Jack Hammer.

The idea for Tip Toe to be a very tame character and have each episodes plot happen around him was partly inspired by characters who appear for brief moments with an episode of a show and either say or do one thing and leave. For example the character Perry the Platypus from Disney show “Phineas & Ferb” to the main duo’s point of view is a regular platypus who doesn't do much, or would do one thing and be praised for doing that one thing and that’s all Phineas & Ferb see (Ignoring the whole secret agent part). Another example of these types of character’s is Waddles the pig from the Disney show “Gravity Falls”. Waddles is a pig, he oinks, he tilts his head and is just there as the plots of the shows episodes go on around him and everyone (both in show and the audience) seem to love him, that is sort of tone I wanted to set for Tip Toe.

Jason

Jason is the son of the Celest family and the owner of Tip Toe. Jason films Tip Toe head butting things in short clips and uploads them online where the videos gained immense popularity and got the family to tour Europe. Jason is an innocent kid, but is also quite protective over Tip Toe, he treats him like a best friend and doesn't want anything bad to happen to Tip Toe (especially if an episode presents any risks or dangers).

When designing Jason I knew I wanted him to be young, appearing to be around 8 to 11 years old. At first when designing the character I was struggling to find a balance of body proportion to make Jason appear young (E.g. Chest too wide, legs too long, etc). Whilst looking through past work where I rediscovered the character designs for the younger characters from the Nickelodeon show “Fairly Odd Parents”. In the show young children and the majority of Fariy characters have large heads, with small bodies, where as the adults have larger more proportioned bodies as there bodies seem to have almost caught up with their heads. Seeming as the age I was aiming to make Jason being half way between child and teenager, I decided to still make the head large, but make the body almost as large as the head to try to better represent an aspect of his age. I also experimented with larger facial features. Originally I was considering making Jason’s eyes big and his nose and mouth small, but in the end I decided to give Jason a large Oval shaped nose, as I felt it could be fun to play around with in some episodes of the show. Some examples may include him struggling to put on a helmet because his nose is in the way or he may have a very good sense in smell the list goes on, it also makes the character identifiable amongst other characters because of this aspect. 

Overall, I feel like I'm starting to get a better grasp behind the world and characters for Tip Toe on the road. One of the biggest aspects of this show however will be it’s environments as every episode would take place in a different European country. In my next post I will try to create some environments ranging from cities, to ski slopes and possibly more, I’ll talk more about this in a future post.