Digging up the past.

In conjunction with other work, I began looking over my old projects and though it's true that I despise practically all of my old work, there is one or two piece's which I really wouldn't mind going back too and redoing.

"Game Over" was my first attempt at animation, made during my last year of High School I can honestly say it makes me cringe looking back at it, the premise, though relatively cliche, had decent aspects, it was based within a Video Game world where corruption had taken form into an entity named, "Error" and a young computer nerd named Cain was sucked into the Video Game realm where he teamed up with Dynamite Headdy and ultimately overthrew Error, even typing that makes me cringe. In any case, that was about 3 or 4 years ago and I'd honestly like to go back to it, how I currently visualise it means that 2D animation would be extensive and time consuming, that said, I honestly think it would look better in 3D, though that's just it, 3D isn't exactly my strong point so it would require practice... And lots of it.

Currently the redesign is very reminiscent of Dead Space and it's something I'm not particularly happy about, the story has already changed though the premise of digital warfare still remains a driving point and also the character of Cain will most likely change due to the fact that the character's within the Digital Realm are personified Anti-Viral software with human's puppeteering them. Again, the idea is still in the air, it's something I may well develop since I'd love to see the old project reworked and brought back in a more serious light.

This was a very quick draft I did to try and get an idea across for how the helmet may look, what I aim for is the human figure consisting of a Matrix-like coded structure with the "armour" holding it all in place.  

It's like the Terminator, only... It isn't.

Growing up I was always quite the fan of Sonic the Hedgehog, always liked the old, round Sonic never being a fan of the New Generation look nor the games for that matter. I can remember on Christmas getting Toy Story and Sonic 2 for my Sega Megadrive and being blown away, nostalgia aside a few years back I had the idea of making a short series which mixed elements of Sonic and The Terminator but it was something which, like allot of my old work, never took off, anyways, the idea came back to me and during a half hour break I drew up a really rough image of all the central character's, I'll definitely go back to it later on since it's been ages since I've drawn Sonic and I want to experiment with metal surface's in Photoshop though the idea of whether or not I'll go back to the actual project itself is adrift in a sea of the unknown.

Because I'm just boring a person, I drew up some rough frames, just to get idea's out really, if I do proceed with this, it would be relatively short and most likely resemble a motion comic, the reason being that I don't think fan-fiction should overstay its welcome.

Though upon reflection, I wouldn't find the prospect at all satisfying, using already established and overused character's never has been favoured, Sonic the Hedgehog especially is a character whose franchise has been sabotaged by its own following, so although I like the concept, it's not one which I'd follow by any means.

You Can't Turn Back The Clock But You Can Wind It Up Again.

My first Module on my current course was simple Traditional Rotoscoping Animation, I had covered Animation about 3 times on my last course which was National Diploma Interactive Media so I had a decent grasp on the principles of Animation, methods and the general background of 2D animation as a whole, it's an area of Animation which really interests me and is mainly where I wish to specialise, that said, 2D Animation isn't as mainstream as it was when I was young and now the industry consist's mainly of 3D Animation, not all of which is good.

It had been over the Summer before starting FD Animation that I took a huge interest in the Clint Eastwood character, Harry Callahan from Dirty Harry, it's said that the walk cycle is the hardest aspect of Animation to do which is why you should cover it straight away, with that in mind I tried to do a Harry Callahan walk cycle, this was my first attempt at traditional 2D animation, all prior work had been Flash based. Looking back at it, it's very jittery and the walk cycle itself is far too forceful, the back should be straight and what I ended up with was a walk cycle with running attributes.

The second Animation was a complete failure, reminiscent of Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn, the purpose was to try and make the hand type on a laptop with a foot hopping past, stopping and staring then hopping off again, what transpired was nothing more than an Animation with poor anatomy continuity and a simple premise with no story. 

  

What it boiled down to eventually was an attempt to make a decent 2D Animation, coloured with Marker's and smooth running, I used the concept of a Troll in a Jar, I still like it looking back at it and for a first module I wouldn't say it's too bad, it can definitely be improved upon, for me it looks far too much like Ren from Ren and Stimpy.

 

This was my first module in a nutshell, personally after this, I believe it went downhill, mainly because I was too ambitious in what I wanted to achieve though I'll explain that in more detail when I get to it. Anyway, let me know what you think if you can and I think that's everything I need to cover... I bet I've missed something.

Shit Happens.

As tempting as it is to make on as though this is a new Blog, the fact of the matter is that it's just a relaunch and a chance to express who I am and what I do, my first run in with a blog never took off and because of that, it felt very lacking, unpolished and wasn't enticing to the viewer at all, that said I went back and started from scratch. The background is custom made though not finished and what I have planned is constant updates featuring idea's, concept's, artwork, animation and so on.

So, who am I and what do I do?

My name's Callum, 19, 20, I'm currently studying Foundation Degree Animation in the hopes to pursue a career in something geared towards just that, Animation and Illustration, at the time of writing I'm nearing the end of my first year though I started back in September and it's really flown over, scarily so. I'm known for my "verbal diarrhoea", elongated writing, rants and have been classed as insane by my peers , friends and the elderly, though this is an entirely debatable subject. You may find, if you follow my Blog, that there will be a mass amount of post's being uploaded shortly, this is mainly because I need to go over the past 7 Month's and talk about my work within that time lapse.

In any case, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy what's to follow.