Ryal's Animated Rambles

Rapunzel

2011-07-20T22:23:00.002+01:00

I'm going to do another promise to post. I have been busy and I have been doing interesting things. I just haven't been documenting.
I am however going to be on a farm in France for a week, so I wont be posting tomorrow etc...

Postcards

2011-05-18T17:55:00.003+01:00

Because I would do that

2011-01-12T11:12:00.004Z

I hate being cold. In the winter I wear about 3 or 4 jumpers at once
(which gains me a few rolled eyes from my friends who wear one at most).
Yes it's quite a random advert, and yes it's pink (which I'm not that found of).
Though I would definitely do this, if just to weird people out.

Why don't I have this poster in my life?

2011-01-12T09:30:00.002Z

The King's Speech Poster:

I love it for so many reasons. The film, (which I was fortunate enough to see before general release - thanks mum) is amazing. I'm half in love with most of the cast, which helps, but the whole film is just very well done and a lot more fun than I anticipated.
The posters I've seen before ranged from quite good to awful.
Compare versions here:
http://www.movieposterdb.com/movie/1504320/The-Kings-Speech.html

I'm not saying it's the best poster in the world. I'm just saying that I want it, and as it's an American poster for a British film the chances of me getting one is limited.
I'm hoping that after The King's Speech as finished it's run, the poster's will become more accessible.

Message failed to reach Lion

2010-12-17T19:44:00.003Z

Working at Fopp over Christmas allowed me to meet Jared at Left Lion magazine, which, for those of you who don't live in Nottingham, is a free and very popular newspaper.
I mentioned that I'd always wanted to submit something, he said to do so and he'd look out for it.
Still unsure of what to send I decided to send some photos. Therefore sending something sooner rather than later. I worked on some photos that I had recently taken in and around Nottingham. Though unfortunately my email failed to send.

So... I decided to post them here.

Rocks and light

2010-10-13T23:08:00.006+01:00

An update of my scene image. I have been concentrating on drawing rocks, surprisingly fun. Unsurprisingly however I have painted them in shades of purple and green. When in doubt, or just bored of grey, purple and green is my default.

Painting a Scene

2010-10-12T23:31:00.010+01:00

Most of the drawings I do on a whim tend to be portraits. I like drawing faces basically. Most of the backgrounds/ landscapes that I've done are because someone told me to or I decided I need to practice. Though really what I should be drawing is scenes.
Narrative and stories are my favourite things in the world. Nothing inspires me more than a story. In any form; books, word of mouth, songs, films, television, etc... Actually I'd say mostly television. Its a complex story form. It has to have all the effort of detail that film has, with the character/plot development that a book has. At least good narrative television does.
What I mean is there are a lot of 'forgotten' scenes in television. Side plots, unimportant moments or even something a background character does that isn't really noticed. This is what inspires me. Something fully formed like a film is something I admire, but something a little unnoticed, an idea, a fragment of a side story, that's what I get excited about.
I watch a lot of television and film, but not what ever is on at the time. I research into it, which is an odd pastime, but I much prefer watching something a little odd, unpolished and unpredictable. Foreign programs and old films.
Favourite era of film, the 1930s, not quite as jarringly experimental as the 1920s, but everything is still new and untried.
Favourite country's media (at the moment) is South Korea. I wouldn't necessarily say that everything is unpredictable, but maybe the clichés of that particular culture are so unfamiliar that I found it hard to predict (or at least I did until I watched too much of it)

Ok, after all that, the point. (I did call this Ryal's Rambles for a reason you know)

I was watching a program when a particularly epic looking scene caught my attention. Narrative wise it wasn't a very important scene, it was in fact the beginning of episode two. Though the appearance of it was very dramatic. So I went and found a couple of screenshots. (It helps to find things when there are other fanatics about)
And started painting...

England day and night

2010-10-09T15:32:00.003+01:00

Those quickly passing moments when you wish you had a camera, fortunately in this case I did.

England can be pretty too.

2010-10-01T09:47:00.006+01:00

I recently came back from Japan and I liked it so much that I was quite sad to leave. Though I shouldn't take England for granted.
So I decided to upload a few of my favourite old photos so I can share them with a friend who has never been here.

I hope you like them.

Another Update

2010-02-24T10:31:00.003Z

Here's a few more scenes I've done recently

Park scene from Anya Kordecki on Vimeo.

This is just a background scene to be used later.

The movement on this next scene is little rough but its nearly finished.

Bright from Anya Kordecki on Vimeo.

Inspiration from Sylvain Chomet

2010-02-23T20:52:00.003Z

More clips for inspiration, this time from Sylvain Chomet who created Belleville Rendez-vous.
My own character designs are pretty limited, on my next project I would really like to try more caricature-like designs. Sylvain Chomet's style of animation always impresses me.

This is an interview about his new animation L'Illusionniste. The interview is entirely in French but the clips of animation are so interesting I recommend watching it anyway.

Links, vids and inspiration

2010-02-17T21:56:00.004Z

After posting that first scene I decided to link to videos that I aspire to. Therefore showing how far I have to go.

These are all from the Annecy International Animated Film Festival

First scene

2010-02-17T21:52:00.004Z

This is the first scene that I've animated for my final project. It's very short and I have a long way to go with getting it done but it made me feel better to put this one together.

Scene 1 from Anya Kordecki on Vimeo.

Other characters and effects may be added later depending on how it looks when I start putting scenes together.

Quick update

2010-02-17T00:39:00.003Z

This is some of what I've been working on since my last post. This background in particular took me much longer than I expected so I am trying to make it as high resolution as possible so I can reuse it for the close ups. I have started the animation, but I want to work out some of the kinks in the movement before I post it.

When the scene is all finished there will be effects added to the background to make it more interactive with the character.

Lily unseen- backgrounds

2010-02-03T20:39:00.004Z

I find it kind of difficult to blog regularly, but I thinks it's because I always try to do large posts. So I'll update you quickly and then hopefully soon I'll post again.
It's finally time for work on my third year animation to begin. All pre-production, sketches, research, storyboards, character designs and animatics have been submitted and assessed.
So all that's left is to start the actual animation.
Here are two of the backgrounds I'll be using. They're mostly complete. Other foreground objects and colour correction will be added in post production so they are about as complete as they can be for a while.

This background is for Lily's first recollection. Car headlight stream through the bus window and transport her back into her memory.

This background is actually for one of the very last scenes when she is hurrying home. A lot distortion effects will be added when used in the animation.

This was just one of the concept images to show how Lily is drawn in a different and much sharper style than the painted backgrounds.

Last day at Uli Meyer Studios

2009-12-18T12:56:00.004Z

Its my last day of work experience at Uli Meyer Studios, if you haven't heard of them google it. Their website is cool. Anyway I know I shouldn't be online. I should be doing more work experience type stuff... though I actually don't know what to do. I am completely doodled out. Which isn't what I should be doing either. Hmmn.
I've spent the week sitting in a very cold Studio in Camden, playing on Maya and eavesdropping on what all the proper animators talk about. Which is... what they did yesterday, stuff they find funny and dun dun dun... the weather. Though it has been snowing so I suppose that's fair enough. So what I've discovered is that they are people... yeah that's about it.

Though I have learnt more about Maya and redone my story structure for my final project. Talking it through someone who knows lots about animation and nothing about my work was very useful. I am much happier with it now, as all my tutors were far too nice and didn't point out the obvious, that it was kind of boring. I knew it wasn't good enough and I really hope that changing things last minute (again) doesn't cause more trouble than its worth.
I'll upload some drawing that I did when I am near a scanner...

Despite not really knowing what I was meant to be doing all week I have still enjoyed it. The work that they have pinned up everywhere is amazing. I am however even more worried about the shift from 2D to 3D, I still just prefer 2D. Both to make and to watch. Not that I don't find the 3D effects amazing. I like doing the lighting, texturing, etc... the modelling drives me a little nuts. I just want to reach into the screen and model the damn thing with my hands.

Anyway, brief film review. Avatar, go see it. I mean of course you will, everyone will. The story is a little blah blah, but you honestly still get involved in it and that's ok. If you care, then it doesn't matter if its predictable. Obviously though the effects are what you should see it for. They have some of the most beautiful scenery and weirdest animals I've ever seen.
Overall, completely worth it, but word of warning, you will hate the humans... it just happens.

Effect videos

2009-12-04T16:57:00.008Z

Here are some of the animation tests I've done recently.

Guilty Pleasures and Proactive Procrastination

2009-12-02T16:34:00.009Z

Deadlines are looming again, as you may be able to tell as I'm posting again. Which is what I hope to be proactive procrastination. What isn't proactive is my addiction to watching videos on youtube. I spend way too much time finding weird and wonderful videos. At least I find them wonderful. Other people may beg to differ and also beg me to leave them alone and stop showing them pointless videos.
Anyway, I'm not particularly interested in video-blogging, except for amazingphil because he's... well ... amazing. What I like to watch is clips of old sitcoms and sketch that I never got to watch because they are from the 80s and early 90s. At which point I was mostly into watching Disney and playing on the swing. Though for some reason I did like watching things like Drop the Dead Donkey and Whose Line Is It Anyway, which are now on youtube. There goes all my my free time. Just look at it go.

Other procrastination you've already seen. My photoshop creations.
I've started working on a background for this one, which I haven't done before. I'm trying to draw a scene from Howl's Moving Castle, the book not the film. Its a bit distorted and out of proportion, but hey it's not finished.

I have been working though. I've been making a more complicated animatic with the effects applied. I'll upload the videos when Vimeo lets me.

If you're interested here's one of the strange videos I found. Its a sketch based on Logan's Run. The sound quality isn't very good but it stars Emma Thompson, Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry, so its worth a look.

Background and android picture

2009-11-25T21:26:00.005Z

I'm still working on both. The android girl is really just someone in a helmet, so I'll work on adding more robot like features. So it may show up again with wires and random metal gadgets.

The background is quite strange and its look even weirder with the warp effects. I'm using it to work out my animatic, which I need to have finished by the end of term.

Warp test and tech update of TED.com

2009-11-21T20:07:00.005Z

warptest from Anya Kordecki on Vimeo.

Ok this isn't the most interesting thing to watch, but it quite exciting for me as all the effects are done on AfterFX, which means I can design the background for my animation as I normally would and then warp them to simulate visual impairment. This means that I have a lot more time to work on the animation and also that I can manipulate how her environment changes around her as she moves.

Now for something really cool. On TED.com they often have interesting talks on technology and scientific advancement, but not usually something that would be so useful for animation.
Go to www.ted.com for more talks

Walk test

2009-11-15T22:00:00.003Z

Lily walk from Anya Kordecki on Vimeo.

I wanted to upload some the other video tests but Vimeo isn't behaving at the moment

Because I said I wasn't going to do digital paintings

2009-11-06T20:15:00.003Z

so I did this

I might not finish though, since there's this degree- thing I'm meant to be doing.
*cough*

Getting it together

2009-11-05T12:30:00.005Z

I've been struggling with my work lately, worrying a lot, but I really want to focus and do it.
I did a showreel yesterday, it isn't perfect, but it was a good way of getting my brain working again and tying up lose ends from last year.

Showreel from Anya Kordecki on Vimeo.

I've also been working on concept images for my animation this year.

Mentally blogging on trains

2009-11-02T16:38:00.006Z

I haven't really felt like posting anything when I've been near a computer, but instead I blog in my head while bored on trains and buses. So here it is. I wrote this last week on a train back home.

'A sort of failed inspiration has struck, as in I feel inspired to do something but I don't know what. I'm stuck on the train for the next two hours so my options are limited. I wish the two opposite me weren't there so I could sprawl out over the table and draw. My back is hurting too. I want to lean forward and crack it, but if I did I'd come very close to a middle aged man with four gold earrings. Is he a pirate?
Next to him is a very blond biology student, the book is AQA so I think that's A-level. He doesn't look that young though. I wanted some time to myself before I stress and get lost tomorrow. I mean where the heck is Bolsover? I definitely shouldn't have done this project. I want to do something fun instead. I'm going to stick at it but that doesn't mean I wont complain the whole time.
Wouldn't it be great to have a photographic memory? You could just glance at someone and then be able to draw them without all the awkward staring. I can't draw his hair without looking properly. His eyebrows are a lot darker I wonder if he dyes his hair...'

Well I was going to type it all up but then I read ahead and decided its probably better not to. Its too random. I suddenly decide to rant about Jasper Fforde books, which are really good, but not an interesting subject unless you've read them.

Anyway... I'll post something picture-wise. I worked on someone else's animation over the summer. These are some screenshots of the finished animation. It turned out really well. I just coloured a few frames so I deserve no credit. It was Ben Blease's animation.

Sight Unseen

2009-10-18T12:39:00.004+01:00

I'm reading this book, or rather I was before I decided to drink tea and write this blog. Its called 'Sight Unseen' by Georgina Kleege who has been legally blind since the age of eleven. It was one of those books that I found hard to make myself read, but since I'm meant to return it tomorrow I thought I should just get on with it. What I read however was interesting and well described. I mostly wanted to read how she understands her world, through touch, sound, the edges of her vision, etc... but what I found most interesting was her opinions on sight and the sighted. Her musings on eye contact in particular were fascinating.

I'm not too sure how to use this book however, other than to renew it and read more. My rather over ambitious project this year is an animation about character who has lost her sight and wants to maintain her independence. I wanted a representation of how she understands her surroundings and to use that as the only information shown on screen other than herself.

At one point in the book she describes the ache above her rights eye. "This pain is familiar to me. I think that it is there most of the time that I read, lurking in the background of consciousness. But it is certainly not the worst pain I've ever known. And it's nothing compared with the debilitating agony that migraine sufferers describe. In general, I can ignore this pain."

This made me think of when I was younger, for a few years, I think when I was around 9, I suffered from frequent migraines. Children very rarely get migraines, but I did. They left me immobile and blinded with pain. If I opened my eyes, my vision would blur and I'd feel shooting pains behind my eyes. If I closed them I'd feel the room spinning until I was sick. So I used to lie still with the lights off in the room and my eyes only a tiny bit open. I'd have the TV on quietly since I hated silence and watch light flicker through my eyelids.

This is just a memory, I'm not sure how accurate it is. I don't often suffer anything more than a bad headache now, which I can usually sleep off. But I wonder if I can use any of this memory. I am reluctant to use my own experiences, as how could I ever really understand. Although they'll be some of my assumptions and ideas distorting fact no matter what I try.

What have you been watching?

2009-09-20T23:32:00.007+01:00

Another post before I go to bed, read or whatever. Since I spent the majority of my time watching or talking about various films, animations and series why not mention a few. Maybe then I'll stop bothering people in real life who don't really have the time to watch that film from the 1930s or that series from Korea. Maybe not.

Anyway firstly a small plea for World and Black&White cinema. Those of you that switch off as soon as you notice subtitles or an absence of colour, you're really missing out. I'm not going to tell you off but I am going to say that you have absolutely no right to say that everything is clichéd or predictable. Its you're own fault. Even the clichés are unpredictable when you are unfamiliar to the culture of that time or place. There is a whole world out there and it doesn't take much to connect to it.

www.viikii.net/ is a website with a great idea, it takes tv from all over the world, (yes mostly asia) subtitles them and adds comments throughout. Which in my opinion is brilliant especially if you're watching something a little obvious and there is over excited or sarcastic discussions running across the top. Of course you can turn these off, but I quite like the cries of 'In your face' during intense scenes. Just so you know, they don't host the video files and they are non-profit so be nice.

Before I forget.
I saw this today. To steal a synopsis... 'Away We Go is a film about a young couple who are expecting their first child. After learning that the child's paternal grandparents are moving away, the couple decides they have no reason to remain in their rural town, and begin visiting family and friends across America to try to find the perfect place to raise their soon-to-be family'

I liked it a lot. The couple feels real and warm to me; and everyone else in it mean well but are more than a little crazy. I especially liked Allison Janney as Verona's former boss Lily and Maggie Gyllenhaal as the earth-mother cousin-but-not. Both made me feel uncomfortable while I was laughing whole-heartedly. Burt and Verona are the nice warm centre that you can relate to, they are not perfect and they not mushy.

There goes my little review. I could delve in deeper but since I'm just trying out this possible film critic side I think I'll just leave it as that.

Another 'indie' type film that is good to watch;

Again, I liked it. I don't think its for everyone, its neither run-of-the-mill or ground breaking, but its enjoyable, well acted and well put together. The "I love the Smiths" bit did make me cringe a little but I am bias towards the actors anyway so I forgot it quickly. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would and I would watch it again.

Ok now film not to bother with;
Dorian Gray; I didn't expected it to be amazing, but it really wasn't worth it at all. Not even Colin Firth could save it. One good thing was that it made me want to read the book again. Mostly to clear out that version from my mind, but hey, reading is a good thing no matter the cause.

Holiday's end

2009-09-20T22:42:00.003+01:00

Well I said I'd be slackerish after assessment and I managed a total of zero posts over summer so at least I'm true to my word. Term starts again a week tomorrow, so now is the time for reflection and panic. Why didn't I do more work over the summer? Well that's simply because I am unmotivated and easily distracted. Not to say that I haven't done anything, but most of what I have done hasn't been that relevant. I have a load of sketchbook stuff that I'll probably upload soon to make myself feel better. Everything I did on the computer since my last post in ... oh dear... may, has been for other people.
I did some frame colouring for a friend's animation and I need to ask him if I can post some of the frames. I think his work is brilliant and if I was even a little help to him, than I'm very glad. Also I've been designing "Advanced Phonics Flash Cards" to clearly show the pronunciation of the sounds that make up the English language. I'll hopefully post examples of these later when I've completed them.

Other than that I been travelling around England, Scotland, Croatia and a day trip to Bosnia. So I can say that Split, Dubrovnik and Mostar are all very pretty, as is the Lake District. London is as fun as ever and the Fringe Festival is worth it even for a day. Here's a photo of Split in Croatia because I don't like posting without pictures and this is my favourite of my holiday snaps.

Being productive

2009-05-19T16:26:00.010+01:00

Surprisingly I've got quite a lot done today, mostly sorting out things for assessment. However I did mange to break two hole-punches which isn't good, but look what came today! It isn't relevant to work and I probably shouldn't have bought it, but I was so excited.

This magazine is from 1937 and has the full story to the sequel of one of my favourite films 'The Thin Man', which is a sort of funny detective film. Not a spoof though. It stars one of my favourite actresses Myrna Loy. Who is amazing in her role.
Also I finished another picture. This is more what I was attempting to do with the blue-helmet girl.
So another picture post. These posts will probably be less frequent after this since I tend to work in bursts.
This picture was drawn from a screencap of Joo Ji Hoon in Naked Kitchen, which is worth watching if just to see him trying to sing in French.

Done

2009-05-17T21:38:00.004+01:00

So its done, not what I planned to do though. It turned out more of a fanart to Coffee Prince, but since there's no more of it to watch, it can be a goodbye tribute as I go and find something else to watch as four o'clock in the morning.

Update on helmet girl + ramble

2009-05-17T02:28:00.004+01:00

Yeah I know it needs a better name... I thought I should post an update of what I've been doing. My final assessment this year is on friday, so you would think I'd be incredibly focussed and motivated. No? Your catching on. What I have been doing is not sleeping, wasting time on photoshop and watching random things in Korean. Aren't I productive? On the plus side I sold a picture. Not intentionally and I felt a bit awkward about the whole thing, but there we go. I was at life drawing attempting to do a portrait in soft pastel, which I had never ever done before, but it couldn't of been bad since the life model guy bought it. I've only ever sold one other thing before and that was a print that my school sold for me, and the only reason that sold was because I was too lazy to remix the ink for my print so I was the only one with a print that didn't look like a 50s musical (technicolor). I called it 'the moors' because I designed it when soaked to the skin in Derbyshire with a whole bunch of miserable teenagers.
Hope you didn't bother to read all that.

Because I need to do my Crit Studies essay I did this instead

2009-05-13T00:21:00.004+01:00

Just goes to show that I'm always much more inspired to do my own drawings when I have a deadline coming up. I'm posting this and promising myself I'll finish my crit studies straight after....

New work in progress

2009-05-11T16:50:00.003+01:00

I wanted to do a vector drawing or at least something using the pen tool. So I traced the basic lines of a picture of a girl in a helmet, but then I got sidetracked and started painting the face. I'm not sure if its going to end up how I intended but I'm going to carry on with it anyway.
Picture so far:

The (hopefully) final lip sync

2009-05-08T13:30:00.002+01:00

For this the chin and eyes were changed so they moved more as he spoke.

Infinite improvement? from Anya Kordecki on Vimeo.

Lipsync and link to BBC project

2009-05-08T13:02:00.004+01:00

The springwatch vids are finally up on the BBC website, and I'm first which is scary. I wasn't there for the interview though so no pictures or random comments from me. Which is for the best.
Here's the link:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/norfolk/hi/people_and_places/nature/newsid_8036000/8036784.stm

Nice, simple and easy to remember...

Anyway. Sorry I haven't updated in a while, but I have been working. I have just about got my Lip syncing done. I used a clip from Douglas Adams' audiobook.
Oh and I joined Vimeo, purely so I could get my friend's opinion, but I'm sure it will be useful as it plays the videos quite nicely.

This is before improvements were made, I'll post the other version as soon as it has loaded.

Infinite lipsync from Anya Kordecki on Vimeo.

Pretty close to finished

2009-04-06T00:25:00.003+01:00

I going to post the sort of final image of Kenichi Matsuyama now because I'm quite bored of drawing it. It was particularly difficult because he is looking directly towards you. I'm going to try more of a pose next time and I might work more on this picture if my perfectionist nature kicks in.

Unfinished Procrastination

2009-03-31T02:53:00.004+01:00

My collaboration project is now over, which I am very glad about. I wasn't completely happy with the result. I'm hoping to work more on it after a break. We have a new project now. Lip syncing, which I am quite excited about. I just have to find a really good vocal track to use. I'd like to use something expressive, funny or angry. I've been scouring the internet for sounds to use and so far my favourites are from Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory(1971), but I'm going to keep looking for a while.
As I said before, during the last project I started drawing directly into photoshop and I did more than just the picture of Gemma Arterton as Tess D'urberville. This current one I haven't finished, but I thought I'd post some of my work in progress this time as its taking me a while.

I started by roughing out the facial features based on the picture on the right. Then cleaned up and softened to features into each other. After that I played around with the luminosity and colour of the skin.

I then luckily found a better quality photograph and was able to work on the features to look more how I wanted. I'm still struggling with the likeness, but I will post the final when its done.

The image is an attempt at drawing Ken'ichi Matsuyama.

More digital procrastination

2009-03-08T12:32:00.008Z

By procrastinating from work and my previous procrastination, I created a new picture. Her jaw is a little wide but otherwise she is finished. Now I just wish I had this much of an attention span for work.

I didn't want to mark her, but as my first complete digital picture I'd be sad to lose credit for her.

Procrastination

2009-03-05T00:29:00.003Z

I need to do an animatic, which I will, tonight... but for now I've been playing around on photoshop. So I thought I'd post this now. Its not finished, I want to add more detail to the skin and hair. I think I might add more shadows too.

Some BBC

2009-02-20T20:55:00.009Z

I'm not posting the whole thing since its going to be on the BBC website anyway, but I'll post a few clips that I am at least semi happy with.

I had a big problem with the sound. I couldn't figure out what music to use due to the copyright restrictions so I just used sound effects. I'm hoping that for assessment I can change it because I really don't think sound effects are enough.

I've started the encounters project now. My character is a little difficult to animate, so I'm a bit concerned. The student I'm working with is really good though. I hope I don't hold her back.
My 'character' is basically living fabric, so I find it really hard to call her a character. I do have a personality in mind, but showing emotion is going to be really difficult. I guess she's sort of like the magic carpet from Aladdin. I think she's going to be a faded red colour, used to be vibrant and proud but now just a little forgotten.

Update and final lions

2009-02-18T10:12:00.008Z

I'm still working on my bbc project, even though I now have a new project as well.

This is one of the backgrounds I'm using, the video is still pieces but I'll post when its completed.
For now here is the lions animation I forgot to post.

Its meant to be looped, but you get the idea.

Sonic postcard

2009-02-17T19:43:00.004Z

This is a project from last term that we did in order to learn how to use after effects and how to make our own soundtrack.
I used a Dave Mckean Illustration which I cut up and animated. I also added a few extra parts such as lightening, a bird shape, ... etc

The other puppet vid

2009-02-17T19:25:00.004Z

This is the walk and double take I did with my puppet. The poor thing is now stashed in a shoe box on top of my wardrobe. I hope to use her again later...

Puppet vid

2009-02-03T21:34:00.003Z

I'm struggling with a new project at the moment, but as I haven't had the internet I haven't posted anything in a while.
So I thought I'd post this.

Expression

2009-01-19T17:26:00.003Z

Last summer we did a project on expressions. Mine wasn't very good because I messed up the film language and I used flash to put it all together, but here it is anyway...

Thanks to Jatzu for the voices.

DVD Menu

2009-01-18T21:03:00.003Z

My assessment is in 10 days, so I've been attempting to create a DVD menu for my animation and digital images. The yellow text is only for when the button is selected. Otherwise it will be a darker orange colour.

Lion test

2009-01-18T20:39:00.004Z

This is my animation for the dynamic project. Designing the two headed lion gave me a bit of trouble since I wasn't sure how long to make the necks, but in the end I wanted to show the stretch and struggle of the lion so they needed to be fairly long. I blame the idea of two heads on listening to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Below is just a recording of my hand drawn frames. Since then I've added colour and sound. I'll upload the final version later.

A Gris Grimly Xmas Present

2008-12-31T16:17:00.005Z

Puppet

2008-12-30T20:35:00.010Z

I've finally finished my puppet, though I still believe the world is conspiring against me. I wasted at least 2 days trying to do the hands the way I was told. By stitching them and turning them inside out to hide the seam. Sounds simple enough, but life is full of simple sounding things that I just can't do. The fingers were too thin and would tangle and tear when I tried to push them inside. So I finally gave up and just stitched the felt directly onto my puppet. The outcome is a bit chewed looking, but there was just no way I could continue to mess around with them. I now have less than a week to do everything else I planned for this holiday.

Here's a few images of the final puppet, work in progress and the concept picture.

Lack of progress

2008-12-18T19:11:00.005Z

I'm ill at the moment and haven't been able to get much of my work done. I've done a little on my puppet, which I'll post pictures of later, but what I'm most worried about is my springwatch project. I need to have a 30 second animation at least halfway done before I go back to uni.
I've done my storyboard, and after a few attempts I've finally got a story I'm semi-happy with.

2008-12-09T19:27:00.003Z

I've been working on creating a logo for watermarking my pictures. I'm not really sure about it at the moment. I know the placing of the little R shape is a bit random, but I thought I'd test it out on this scan from my sketchbook.

I've always been a bit tentative about posting my images online. I feel a bit like they will get lost amongst the masses. Its not about copyright, but I think this added identity will give them another tie to me.

First mark

2008-12-08T00:24:00.000Z

There comes a point when you just have to start; the first sentence of a story, the first note of a song, that fresh page in the sketchbook. It’s frightening. Often that first stroke of pencil on paper is wrong. It will be erased or drawn over.
However that mark must be made. It spoils the perfect blank space and allows you to create something more.

This is my first mark.