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AVE230: CHARACTER DESIGN: Re-Design

07.11.18

So, since the last update things have continued to be up and down. We got good feedback on my other module (finally) which was nice, but my brain’s been back to out-of-sorts so have spent the last 2 days at my partner’s computer to keep away from the noisy, crowded studios. 

In that time, I’ve made some good progress with my character module. After reflecting on my character so far on Monday, I felt that I needed to revisit some areas to try and improve the design. So, after spending half of yesterday in bed/ figuring out what to do by finding brushes, doing colour palette’s and generally not knowing where to start, I started to draw bears.

It’s not often I’m very happy with my drawing but on this occasion, I feel like it’s gone really well. I actually really enjoyed going back, finding the shapes, finding the shade and then using my current palette for Logan to see how it would work on a realistic bear- as well as testing out some of the brush sets I found. I think some have really worked and I’m happy to continue with the standing pose, but I do think I need to re-look at the head of my current design to see if I can make it more elongated like a real bear. I’m also tempted to look at the arms / hands and neck.

After feeling this way, my next step was to revisit some illustrations. I repeated the process I did on the bears on a selection of illustrated bears I found online. 

Some, I found really useful- many of which I hadn’t seen the last time I was looking at bear designs. After looking at these I think it’d be a really nice option to slouch Logan, especially as I’m looking at having a no-dialogue film and body language will play a major part in storytelling. Another point I took was how many of the designs had heads separate to the body, which was a point I think I need to take on board. Keep the rectangular body, as that’s common, but also have a square head sat on top. Hopefully that’ll give a bit more character again and give me more options in emotions.

My next step is to use the shapes etc that I’ve found in the real bears and the illustrations to try and re-design Logan. Not to such an extent that he’s unrecognisable but hopefully just to improve his design a little bit.

I’m happy that it’s already going so much better than it was previously and am excited about what could come for both Logan and Mack.

However, the next few days really ought to be focused on AVE210 as it’s been a few days now since I visited that so, prepare for some lack of activity for a bit- not sure how to update you on how that’s going still, besides clips on Twitter and Instagram stories...

Anyway, as per usual, thanks for reading through. You guys are ace.

- SAM

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AVE 210: SHORT FILM: Introduction

04.11.18

As I said in my last post, the past few weeks have been super crazy so updating between 2 hefty Uni modules, eating, sleeping and maintaining relationships has been non-existent.

Anyways, in this post I’ll be going through my other Uni module which is a live brief for a 1-2 minute film. The brief we’ve got is pretty interesting; it’s commissioned by a local charity gathering history, creating artwork and resources to help promote the lido that sits at the end of Penzance cove- the Jubilee Pool. With an extensive history and plenty of community links (a factor that’s highly regarded by the local-run pool and an element that was important to those that we’re working with) it’s a fun project packed full of almost 90 years of history and imagery. With the art-deco style of the pool and countless memories provided to us as audio clips, it wasn’t difficult for many groups to start to bring together ideas.

My group chose a very personal story about a boy and his ex-military teacher at their swimming lessons. As director, script writer, storyboard artist and editor for the animatic it’s been really important for me to crack on these few weeks and nail the story- which has NOT been easy. These first 6 weeks we’ve been back and forth with ideas, none of which has been received especially well by tutors so we’ve had to keep editing the shots until we’re at the point we are now where we (hopefully) have an animatic that we can take on to start animating.

It’s been an incredibly stressful ordeal- but has been an important learning curve in terms of learning how to be a good director, storyboard artist and beaing able to take criticism well and learning from it. I’ve also been lucky enough to have a strong team that’s worked well in the hardest days without too many arguments.

There isn’t too much to say in regards to this module away from going through every version of the animatic and storyboard etc which is not only boring but dull to look at too so I won’t force everyone through that. However, as I say, it’s been tough with the animatic going through stages of being too static, too rigid, to being too much and un readable. Hopefully we’re at a stage now that we have enough variety and interest in the film that we can head into a really strong film that we hope the clients love.

So, yeah. Fingers crossed this one keeps going up.

- SAM

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AVE230: CHARACTER DESIGN: Introduction

04.11.18

So, it’s been a minute and a half since I updated and it’s all because of this. Uni’s bogged me down the past few weeks so updating the social media accounts has been at the back of my mind- hence why I also gave up on Inktober for the 4th year in a row...

Anyway, I’ve come to a natural kind of break in the course at the half-way mark in the semester and have decided to do a couple of posts just catching everyone up. So, for this module, AVE 230, it’s a character design module. 

Understandably, I was PUMPED. I really enjoy character design and was lucky enough to have a couple of different story ideas with characters that I was hoping to explore in preparation for 3rd year film pitches. The story I ended up running with for this module, and hopefully 3rd year, was a story about a reclusive lumberjack named Logan who finds unexpected love in a stranger, named Mack (yea it’s gay- of course it’s gay. It’s gay culture to create gay content so here we are.)

We were to start the module with just one character, mine being my main character, Logan. In the next part of the module I hope to design Mack, backgrounds and delve further into the design of the film. Hopefully.

So, this is essentially the first 6 weeks of the module. Of course, it’s broken down; there has been a lot of design and re-design that’s gotten to this point and these certainly aren’t the finished articles. However, this is the very solid basis.

To begin, I looked at grizzly bears and their shapes, alongside typical shapes found in animated characters as this is going to be a 2D animated movie set in Canada. I also looked at previous illustrations of bears to gain inspiration before settling on the quirky oblong shape for Logan. He initially didn’t have hair of a beard (he also had a hunters hat for a while...) but as the lumberjack design developed, the big bushy beard seemed incredibly fitting and resulted in a design that I am genuinely proud of.

From that point I developed the style and started to play around with him as a character, doing action poses / thumbnails and expression sheets. My aim is to have most of his expression, especially facial expression, be conveyed through the brow of his head and his nose. As a particularly grumpy, slouchy character, especially in the beginning of the story, his body movement will be fairly minimal so his facial expression will be particularly important which is why his brow and nose are exaggerated. Despite this, I think my actual drawing in these areas could improve. I did struggle to keep on character for many of the poses so in my further development I would like to return to these and bring them along a bit more- hopefully to the point where I could use them in a a character bible.

After the poses, I went on to the turn around and final design where I began to look at colours and brushes. I was always intrigued by illustration without line art and have been dabbling in it in a more graphic way in my personal work but this is the first case where I really explored it in this way. He initially did have line art and once I accidentally turned of the line art layer while doing the turn around realised that actually his design without it really worked so have settled on it.

I then went on to the concept art for the module. I liked the idea of trying to construct a poster for the film, which also gave me an opportunity to look into background design. Unfortunately, I’m not as big a fan of this so far. I think I need to go back on what I learnt last year in background design and really look into artists and develop a background style that way, rather than just going for it and trying to use the same brushes as the character as I’m not sure that that works. It’s certainly not a bad attempt but I would like to spend a little more time on it and really nail a design style that slightly differs from the characters to help the characters stand out.

Finally in this part of the module, we’ve been asked to construct 3D models and marquette’s of our characters. I don’t think the marquette went that badly, however it’s certainly not finished yet. I feel similarly with the 3D model. I struggle quite badly with the Maya interface so 3D modelling was already a struggle so I’m proud of what I’ve been able to accomplish considering. Although this also has a long way to go as it the polygons still need to be fixed before I take it into Mudbox to sculpt and paint it.

Regardless of the work that still needs to be done on this project, I am immensely proud of how far it’s already come. Out of the few film ideas I had, this is one of the ones that has stuck with me and that I am most passionate about and to see my character and environment finally begin to take shape is really exciting and quite.. inspirational in a way. Can’t wait to get it created!

So, yeah. That’s me trying to explain my absence and hoping you guy’s are okay with it. From now on I’m hoping to update on things as they happen, rather than every 6 weeks! So, look forward to that.

Love to you all,

- SAM

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EXTERNAL: Inktober

10.10.18

SO, IM LATE AGAIN.

Apparently I'm doing Inktober in 3 day spurts...

So, for star we've got a lil portrait of my partner bc he is a star, I've done my dog for precious bc he is and a lil volcano for flowing .

Hopefully I can get some Uni work uploaded soon so you all can see that...

I actually don't hate any of these so thats a first..

- SAM

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EXTERNAL: Inktober

07.10.18

I got behind on Inktober again...

Here's a leggy chicken , a drooling St. Bernard and an accurate, exhausted me.

Not a fan of the St. Bernard; using the colour pencils was a mistake... but liking the minimal chicken and cartoon self.

- SAM

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EXTERNAL: Inktober

04.10.18

Yesterday's Inktober was late again, but here's #Roasted and #spell .

I actually don't hate these half as much as my other drawings... Still unsure of the style but heyho

- SAM

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EXTERNAL: Portraits

03.10.18

So, apparently it's National Boyfriend Day and guess what I finally finished?!?!

It's the portrait I've been doing of my wonderful partner @storgyslider

I'm not 100% please with it; I definitely think this could have done with some more variation in skin tones to bring out the eyes and nose and the shirt still looks a tad 2D so still got work to do there..

BUT he's pretty cute so that immediately makes it 10 times better. Kudos to him.

- SAM

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EXTERNAL: Inktober

02.10.18

It's that time of year again, inktober is upon us. Was late when I finished yesterday's and I've done today's so here's Poisonous and Tranquil together.

Honestly have NO idea what's going on with the art style today and I don't really dig it but heyho, at least Im actually doing inktober this year which is honestly a first.

- SAM

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EXTERNAL: Portrait Completion

It's true. After a very busy few weeks, this damn portrait is finally finished. Got myself a new profile picture!

Now that it is finished, I'm not entirely set on it. I'm not sure the colours or art style is nailed yet, but art is a process I suppose.

Nevertheless, it's still not bad and I am very glad to see it finished. I'm hoping to do these more often, maybe even commissions but I'm sure I'm not at that skill level as yet... The next year of Uni is also starting in 3 days now so I imagine that may swamp me..

Anywaay, now I'm in the swing of things, expect more content.

- SAM

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EXTERNAL: Portrait Development

So, I really enjoyed the last portrait I did, so figured I'd do another (for profile pictures etc on my arts account.)

It's been a tough weekend with working so, not much time to keep up with it but after doing a few hours on a break today, we've got some progress!!

Thinking the green is a bit bright, but otherwise a promising portrait..

- SAM

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EXTERNAL: Guess Who’s Back

So, it's been a hot minute since this account has been active, I know. Things got pretty hectic last term and I hardly drew over the summer unfortunately. So, to get myself on it, I've done a little portrait. Luckily, it's got the thrill back and has already got me drawing more and thinking more about whats to come.

This piece, however, I'm pretty happy with. The colours leave something to be desired but considering how long its been since I did a semi-realistic digital piece, it ain't half bad.. Hopefully more of this to come!

- SAM

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Been really REALLY inactive as of late. Trying my best to correct that; so much has happened over the last 6 months that art has been really tough to keep up with, nevermind document and share. This is my current project though; decorating is a pain and often boring... drawing in it before you paint over the wall can ease the pain.

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Hi, I'm Sam and I suck at updating blogs. This a doodle of me. Hopefully, more to come soon. 👊.

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2D: WEEK SEVEN: "I Love You" 2

13.03.18

After roughing out the "I Love You" task and being given an extra week for motion studies due to the snow, I was able to go back to the task and do the final cleanup. It's still not perfect, but is more readable than before.

What I can say about this task is that I have been able to effectively sync the speech. It took time and I still have an issue around mass, line and design but I still thank that comes with practice, which I certainly need more of. I'd like to think I'm slowly getting there though and, although not to be compared to my peers, my personal progress is still slowly climbing and I'm still finding comfort in at least understanding the principles in each task, even if I struggle in execution myself. 

Hopefully, it'll all be okay. Sam

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Experimental: WEEK SEVEN: Armatures

13.03.18

After practicing with paint on glass, I figured it time to look more at the stop-motion side, so have attempted my first armature.

It's clearly very basic. I need to add more when it comes to features like eyes, eyebrows, nose and clothes etc, but I think I've got the basic shapes down. It might be a little difficult to animate with at this stage as I've not used proper armature wire for the arms, I've also added padding at the knee joints which is hard to animate with. However, for a first ever pass at a stop-motion puppet, I'm not too upset with it. Onwards and upwards. Sam

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Design for Animation: Environments: WEEK SEVEN: (Not Much) Progress

12.03.18

Unfortunately, due to the massive amount of work and stress that's been coming with this semester, and my true hate for the Maya interface, I've not been very productive when it's come to creating the 3D environment, but felt it necessary to update.

I began by blocking out the scene which is kind've where I've remained. However, I have been able to do a kind of model for the main church.

It needs a door, and some detailing on the sides and roof, but the very basics have been done ready for texturing.

The issues kind of arise in the rest of the scene. It's still, for the most part, blocks of buildings that I still need to model.

Luckily, the modelling isn't too horrendously difficult and can be done while I'm home for Easter. However, I do need to brush up my skills on rendering and texturing, ready for Easter so that I am able to do that while I'm home. Sam

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Group 'Tea' Project: WEEK SEVEN: Onward and Upward

13.03.18

So, in the group project we've been slowly trudging forward. We now have a finalised animatic which means we also have a shot-list and can finally start distributing work for animation.

There are parts that need to be edited slightly, but can be done in production, and we've adjusted what we count as a shot and scene, as I was slightly off, so the top left queue is incorrect now, but now the shot-list is written it's alright, and as soon as we start cutting in animation then we'll be alright. As for animation to cut in, this week I've done a rough pass at the final scene.

Again, it is rough, but I think I've got the timing nailed. It's slightly longer than expected in the animatic, but that shouldn't be a massive problem. I think I need to add some more animation into the end, and in the water, as well as using the finalised colour palette. Otherwise, I think it's really good to visualise the art style with the live action with 2D over the top. The comedy is there and that's what's most important.

Finally looks like something's being done. Sam