Walk Cycle Start

Story Log: Meet (unnamed)

So this guy popped up in my sketch book a while ago, but he intrigued me so I started experimenting with him.

I'm not sure his exact story yet, but he is in a dream, hence the blue skin.

Consistency template found here: http://circus143.deviantart.com/art/Consistency-Exercise-Rainbows-144680987

Animation Test 2- Vector Animation

This little guy I made in Illustrator based on a sketch from last week, the I imported him into Flash and voila!

3D Animation

This week I looked at three dimensional animations. 

These are the artworks I looked at:

Slimetime - by Bertrand Avril, Pierre Chomarat, David Dangin and Thea Matland

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZYVogCYsdA&list=PLkw-h12KMtYl115hH9BzDeooFi2PNTwkH&index=41

The Forest - by David Scharf

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTXudHZM39Q&list=PLkw-h12KMtYl115hH9BzDeooFi2PNTwkH&index=33

Gentleman's Duel - by Blur Studio

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyzSYuZPcmc&list=PLkw-h12KMtYl115hH9BzDeooFi2PNTwkH&index=32

The Tale of Three Brothers - Excerpt from the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows film

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdSpZgE3fD4&list=PLkw-h12KMtYl115hH9BzDeooFi2PNTwkH&index=7

(All artwork belongs to their creators not me, no copyright infringement intended.)

Three dimensional animation, is built digitally rather than drawn. This makes the characters and worlds more tactile, as if the shapes could just be pulled right out of the screen. The way the characters and the world moves is very important when developing a congruent world. Also significant is the color choices, like I have talked about before.

Each of the films have differences and similarities with the other ones. All four portray humanistic characters, though their stories are all very different. The Talk of Three Brother's and the Forest are both darker stories, which causes their lighting and color to be darker and more dramatic. Slimetime and Gentlemen's Duel have very bright palates. Slimetime set inside, in the near future, has a limited range of colors, mixing bright highlights against a vast white space. Gentlemen's Duel uses a large variety of very warm tones, its setting is in the past, outdoors.

Gentleman's Duel and The Tale of Three Brothers, have somewhat similar character shapes, however their styles and plots are quite different. A comedic energy is captured by the way the characters in Gentlemen's Duel, squash and stretch whenever something interacts with them, like getting hit in the face with a platter. The Tale of the Three Brothers managed to create a paint like effect, having their figures be mostly silhouettes that move very willowy and fluid. The view point is very dramatic also, most of the time the viewer is looking up at the characters making them seem powerful and important. In the Gentleman's duel the camera looks straight on the characters most of the time, an advantage that allows all of the characters to be seen clearly, letting the viewer catch every amusing antic.

The Forest's characters seem like a puppet or doll, they distinguish less between individual characters than the other films. Most of the body shapes are very similar, but you still know who each character is. It is a very simplistic style, which makes the tale even more haunting. Each scene transition is very interesting , like changing the set of a play, things slide off or pop up to create an entirely new place. The Slimetime world consist mostly of rounded shapes, many of the characters have the same body shape, though there are a few individuals. The story is about losing weight, which is accentuated through the way the characters move. When the larger women walk, their stride is somewhat bouncy, contrasted with how the smaller women seem to glide along. 

Vector Based Animations

My second research assignment is looking at vector based animation.

These are the artworks I looked at:

Urbance by Steambot Studios

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrLdXY_lsy8&list=PLkw-h12KMtYl115hH9BzDeooFi2PNTwkH&index=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgZoSPNbwgk&list=PLkw-h12KMtYl115hH9BzDeooFi2PNTwkH&index=40

The Cat Piano by The People's Republic of Animation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uj4RBmU-PIo&list=PLkw-h12KMtYl115hH9BzDeooFi2PNTwkH&index=11

Secret world of Kells  directed by Tomm Moore
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMPhHTtKZ8Q&list=PLkw-h12KMtYl115hH9BzDeooFi2PNTwkH

Archer by FX Network
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9x6KApzgtjU&list=PLkw-h12KMtYl115hH9BzDeooFi2PNTwkH&index=66

Vector animation usually has very clean lines with smooth and flowing movement. This effect can be used for a variety of work, from kids cartoons, to adult comedy shows, to more serious pieces.  The films I looked at were very different from each other.

Urbance, is a stylized but semi-realistic cartoon. Archer is also realistic, but has a flatter look. Archer's scenes play out like a sitcom, while Urbance's camera angles are very dynamic. Both portray action adventures but in quite different ways. The color palate of Urbance is contrasting dark rich tones with florescent bright colors. It gives the whole piece a futuristic urban look, and as it happens to be set in a city in the future this works very well. Archer uses a much wider range of colors, depending on the scene. It's characters are outlined by thick black strokes, that give the show it's very two dimensional appearance, especially when compared to Urbance's shaded three dimensional style.

The Cat Piano and the Secret World of Kells, both are less realistic than Archer and Urbance. Like Urbance, the Cat Piano's color scheme is very dark, using mostly dark blue, grays, and black, contrasted with a little bit of white. Unlike Urbance, the Cat's world is more abstract, though still in an urban setting. It's drawn in a way I can only describe as pointy, from the cats' features to the world around them. The Secret World of Kells also uses a style that is very basic shape oriented. It has a wide range of vibrant colors that give off a feeling of being alive. Like Archer each character has clear outlines around every feature, unlike Archer the lines do not draw attention to themselves. Each outline is a different color that best fits with the object it is encompassing, while giving a flat appearance not quite as dramatic as in Archer.

Sketches 2

Here are some of this week's sketches, I started to work on the computer a bit.

Animated tests

I started doing some quick animations to get used to different software, the first one I did in fully in Adobe Flash, and the second one I based off of a previous sketch and animated it in PhotoShop.

Painterly Animations

For my first research assignment, I decided to look at a few different pieces of animation which are more abstract or artistic than your normal Saturday morning cartoons.

These are the artworks I looked at:

101 Dalmatians - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulsjuiFO2J0&list=PLkw-h12KMtYl115hH9BzDeooFi2PNTwkH&index=18

“Danny and Annie” from StoryCorps - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNfvuJr9164&list=PLkw-h12KMtYl115hH9BzDeooFi2PNTwkH&index=29
Felix in Exile - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vF5cngcXqSs&list=PLkw-h12KMtYl115hH9BzDeooFi2PNTwkH&index=4

The Man Who Planted Trees - http://vimeo.com/32542316

(All artwork belongs to their creators not me, no copyright infringement intended.)

Painterly animation, is one style of animating. The medium used to create the artwork is either traditional (like charcoal, pencils or paint), or it is digital media made to look like the traditional. The films I looked at all had a strong mark making aesthetic, though it was more pronounced in some than in others. There's a sort of movement that most painterly animations have, a sketchy shimmery quality caused by the handmade marks. The strokes are very important, they are each left by the artist, almost like a signature. Each mark and texture influences the entire feel of the piece, so you can get a sense of the story from the drawings themselves.

101 Dalmatians, the popular Disney movie, has a simple, minimalist style. The still backgrounds, are contrasted by the sketchy outlines of the characters that move. The hand drawn movement gives the a realistic, vivacity sensation to each character, especially the dogs. Similarly, "Danny and Annie" the StoryCorps short, have still flat painted backgrounds, and unlike the Dalmatians the characters are very crisp, differing from the background that way. Danny and Annie don't seem to quite fit into the backgrounds that create the emotional tone of each scene (this is unlike the Datamations whose backgrounds compliment the characters). The StoryCorps clip is an illustration of two interviews given by the couple, the effect of the characters being placed in a background that they don't belong, emphasizes the idea that the places in the animation were not real, but the characters themselves were.

William Kentridge's animation "Felix in Exile", takes a different approach. Each stroke is very bold, there isn't a heavy distinction between the foreground and the background, all is done in the same way. The artist used charcoal to create the film, erasing and redrawing as he went, this leaves a ghosting effect sometimes in the film. It is surrealistic, and has a somber feel, only amplified by the limited color choices and style. Instead of a scene playing through and cutting to the next, each image seems to morph into the next. "The Man Who Planted Trees" uses the same morphing effect, with a different style. Its artwork is soft and fluid. Many of the outlines are incomplete or unfinished, drawn with a loose hand. The whole film feels almost wind-swept, just like the land it is portraying, the artwork has a peaceful and calm quality like the man who plants the trees. Where Felix in Exile, is clear and hard portraying a violent event, The Man Who Planted Trees is the opposite, portraying an act of love and persistence.

The style of the animation has a great effect on the overall film. I can use this knowledge to help dictate the general feel of my story with whatever style I choose to create it in.

Story Log 2: Meet Potion

This is Potion, he was created in a witch's potion accidentally. The witch knocked over a bunch of bottles into her cauldron by mistake, it began to rumble, making noises, and changing colors. She dived under a table just when she thought it was going to explode, and then it only poofed out a bit of smoke. After the witch went to sleep, this little guy poked his head out of the cauldron and started exploring.
Potion consists of a goo like substance. He moves around by flowing like liquid. Potion has two eyes that stay together but can float all around his body. The liquid above his eyes sometimes move like eyebrows would giving him more expressions. He doesn't really have any other features, but can form tendrils to be hands.  He can disguise himself as any shape he chooses. Potion is a shimmery black color, kind of like oil when light bounces off of him, that is, he turns rainbowy.

Story Log 1: Meet Emma

This is Emma, a very bubbly little girl, who love climbing trees. Her thick, brown and semi-curly hair is almost always a mess of leaves and twigs and flowers, which her mother removes before bed. Emma is very inquisitive and curious, and likes to explore. She has a giant imagination too, with an even bigger smile.

Sketches 1

Here are some of my sketches from the past week:

Getting Started

Welcome to my blog, Building a Story!

On this blog I will be posting:

• The research I do on different forms of animation or different pieces of work.
• Any stories, concepts or characters I come up with that are inspiration for my end project.
• The sketches I do each week, whether they are random doodles or based off of my research.
• Finally, once I start my final project, I will post updates of my progress.

Thanks for following!