3D Stretch and Yawn

My first attempt at the new rigs. I don't think this looks realistic nor even slightly like a stretch and yawn would animated, but it was my first hour spent with the rig just figuring out how to move it and it took me about 20 minutes to realise that it's mainly manoeuvrable through roating the limbs.

My second and more successful attempt at the Stretch and Yawn. This time I completed it with a different rig which was a lot easier to work with. I haven't yet moved it's legs, or given it any bounce back in the movement which would make it look more human rather than so robotic.  This is an area that in all of my Animations, I need to work on. Giving a character life is a little more difficult than simply moving it. 



2D Squirrel Animation

Here is my first attempt at animation a Squirrel in motion. I'm not too keen on the overall look of it but I'm fairly happy with the movement of the squirrel itself and that was the main aim of this task.

 

 

 

tonal self portrait in the style of 'crumpltography'

 

 

Similar to the reasons behind blind drawing and upsidedown drawing. I took the concept of 'crumpletography' and drew from an image I took of myself, that i'd crumpled up.

My idea here was that, I wouldn't be able to just draw what I thought (from memory) was there. Instead I had to really focus on each individual line in order to get an accurate result. If I had just attempted a straight forward self portrait, the results wouldnt have been as successful as this. I would have just guessed that certain features looked a certain way because it's less work for my eyes.

 

A very important part of any art, whether it be: Painting, drawing, photography and especially animation. Is to look at the subject you're working on/with. Not just once, but almost all of the time. Something I've learnt from continuous line drawings, blind drawings and other exercises in my life drawing classes, is to look more so at the subject than the actual piece of paper. Of course for animation it's slightly different if its an improvised/original character. However by observing the movement of humans and animals it's more likely you'll get fluent, life-like movement in a character.  

Trash Man

Sketched on a Wacom Tablet in 10 minutes

Pencil Drawing - 20 minutes

Egon Shiele

Egon Shiele is one of my favourite Artists and I think this is because he makes bodies that aren't meant to be aesthetically pleasing, beautiful. By this I mean we perceive skin and bones showing as an imperfection and view it in a bad light because we will link illnesses such as anorexia with bodies as slim as those that Shiele paints. What intrigues me more is that he over exaggerates his works by making bones pointier, defining the ribs, creating lumps and bumps that shouldn't be there, But it all works. I have drawn a few direct artist responses and then have developed my own take on Shiele's work using my own models and media. 

  

-Pen and Ink 

Development from Shiele's work to my own 

-Oil painting 

-Charcoal sketch 

-Monoprints on a mixed media background 

Sketchbooks are your best friends

Last week Luis Cook visited the Campus where he spent time with the animation students over the course of the week. For us first years, we were privileged enough to receive an hour long talk about himself and the industry. He was extremely full of life and positivity. The talk itself was very inspirational and motivational. He spoke lots about his sketchbooks and showed us some of his own which was brilliant to have the opportunity to see. I think it was this talk that really confirmed I'm in the right place and I hopefully have a fun and bright future in this industry ahead of me. 

A few pages from my last A5 sketchbook. Currently I'm working in a new book and after having a long summer of very little sketching and experimentation with my art, I felt it was necessary to go back through my old sketchbooks. Excited to get creative with a blank canvas all over again! 

2D Lifting heavy weight

To assist me in my attempt to create an Animation involving a character lifting something heavy, I turned to a first year animators best friend: 'The Animators Survival Kit'.

 

 

 

First sketchy attempt at the 2D animation

 

Sculptures at the Eden Project

Throughout my trip to The Eden Project, I discovered lots of diverse characters both inside and outside of the Bio-Domes. I found the variety of different sculptures extremely intriguing and inspiring so I took photos as I went along of almost all of them I came across. I believe where ever you are, photography is essential. Photography will and continues to be one of the biggest influences on my art works. Whether it's though observing the photo and drawing from it, creating something based on or creating something inspired by them. 

Two Goats made from Wood

 

Funky wooden characters which are personally one of my favourites from the Eden Project. Based on Tribal Art, I just find them extremely quirky and  somewhat modern take on the historic drawings. 

Moon face Sculpture

Star Sculpture with Spikes

What looks to be a female body with a flat circular Face

Metal Spider and Web 

As a beginner to Animation. I found looking back at these photographs have stimulated lots of ideas I may not have thought of without studying the various sculptures shown in this blogpost. I've never found it easy to create something purely from my own mind without some form of research beforehand, and I've definitely not established my own style of drawing yet. Therefore I believe if I continue to stimulate my mind through photography and observing everything around me, I will gradually find it easier to Character design and complete Concept drawings without so much conflict. 

Rabbit head on a spear 

My Ultimate favourite sculpture from the day - This piece was designed by Paul Bonomini and was based on the amount of electrical waste one person throws out in a lifetime (about 3.3 tonnes). Which I think many would agree is a huge amount of waste, and alongside that hefty weight is this Waste Sculpture which shows exactly how much waste we as Humans individually produce. Very fitting piece to be at the Eden Project, but also very worthy to be shared outside of the small area it sits in today. It hit a nerve and made me think about how destructive the modern Human race can be. Definitely something to act on, if not at least think about. 

Back to the reason why I've made this blog post - Not only has this particular character inspired me in a lifestyle sense, it's also an extremely intricate and clever piece of Art which I'd be interested in simplifying and creating an Illustration from. 

Stop Motion Puppets

Head to Toe Stop Motion Animation 

Turning the Head Stop Motion Animation 

Concept drawing for beginners

This week in my drawing for animation class we were split into small groups and chose two items to stimulate ideas for a concept. We chose a Policeman's Hat and a Scottish Wig. From this we discussed various ideas and eventually started to develop some characters. The characters are quite a literal translation from the props we chose however the characters are very unique in style.

The first character is a Police officer. His head is simply a Police Hat and instead of a badge, he has once eye in it's place. On top of his head/hat is a siren which is set off when he's in pursuit and/or when he's surprised etc. He has an extremely slender body with a short torso and long bandy legs and arms and very small feet. He has a moustache but no visible mouth.

The second character is a small Scottish man. My main inspiration for the Scottish man's physique is based on the Loony Toon character 'Marvin the martian' with his small body and big helmet. Instead of a helmet the man has a very large Scottish Hat.

My original drawings of the characters were very rough and extremely stiff. As the post continues it will become aware of what I've changed.

Refining the Police Man:

When I went to develop the Police man characters personality, I also changed a few things about his aesthetic. First of all, I changed his moustache into a more recognisable 'English moustache'. I feel the one before was very American looking. The reason for this change is because I want to base my concept in London where this almost 'PC Plod' character spends his days drinking builders tea, combing his moustache and hopelessly trying to find something or someone to investigate. 

He aspires to be a private detective but has never quite earned his way up the ranking system, Until now... 

To create some key frames on his body structure in certain positions, I simplified him even more and I actually prefer the really simplified version to the one above.

Expressions 

A beginners attempt to character design on Maya

Quick Sketch on Flash using a Wacom tablet

Police Man Walking - Created on Flash using a Wacom tablet 

Refining the Scottish Man:

As shown in comparison from the previous sketch of this character, I have changed quite a lot in terms of proportion. Now he is much shorter, yet keeps the big feet. Again, little detail to the body but the characteristics such as the boots, enormous moustache and bush eyebrows really make him an individual. I've kept the hat because I feel like everything so fat has stemmed from hats therefore they should feature throughout.