Quick 5 minute break...

It's no exaggeration when I say that i've worked none stop all day today and for the past few days and my back is really starting to feel the strain... Makes me feel old...

Today I've been "power-modelling" as I like to call it, I call it this because I HAVE to get this model finished today so I can start the rig tomorrow and hopefully get it sorted relatively quickly. Thankfully, the only animation needed is from Magnus, the robot, is going for sitting down to standing up. It took an hour (if that) to make the original mesh, then I got told, "make each part separately, it'll become more robot-like" so that's what i've been doing today and my god it's been a chore...

Each slab is made from an individual cube, so far there's 50 slabs, I wasn't stupid enough to do each one individually and did copy and paste a few slabs, mainly to cover the back since that's really a part you don't see. Either way it's close to being somewhat finished... Hopefully...

As for 2D animation progress... It's... Been interesting. I've redrawn the cycles quite allot and achieving a distinct look has been challenging. I can't remember if I covered it in my last blog entry, but I'm sticking to 1 tone colours, it speeds up production time, I hate it as much as the next guy since I want to produce the best I can but I've really had to nip the bud and go, "right, draw the line here". So using Piper as a demonstration, this has been the progression of work...

The first tests used the original scan-in line work as the basis, when this proved inefficient due to drops in quality I traced over the pre-existing line work, this time digitally which made Piper look cleaner. That said, feedback brought up the issue that the original outline ink work for Piper made him more rat-like whereas the digital retrace kept the inner detail, so I did the obvious, merged them and the outcome was satisfactory... I could knit-pick but I'm at a stage where I really just need to get a move on, if issues arise further down the line, i'll address them, for the time being however, I'll stick with this...

Snorre's frames were the cause of this whole change in the first place, using the original line work was meant to be a quick way of whacking out animation... Yeah right! They turned out hideous!

The next weeks plans are simple, get everything sorted. Paper work is nearly all finished, the weekend will be a bit strenuous, need to add the finishing tweaks to a character sheet or two, script and then, hopefully, do a few more animations. I keep worrying but really, I've basically finished... Not that I'm happy with my work, the quality is pretty shoddy and I don't know if I'm fully satisfied with it, the animations need tightening and perfected but I can't see that being a tedious over haul but we'll see how it goes!

Also the Yeti! It's been a while since I've blogged so here's the final stages as well as the final outcome!

I think that's everything, don't expect a post tomorrow... I quite simply have to much to do to worry about ANOTHER post. I don't know when the next update will be but expect a nice new look to this drab blog in the near future. Take care, love you all... Except you... Yeah... YOU!

On the train...

You ever had it when you're just on the train, minding your own business... Then BAM! You look in one direction and see a cretinous being staring at you... It happened... And this was my response.

...Anyone who knows me will probably know I just wanted an excuse to use this GIF... It's brilliant. 

Anyways, I'm on a roll with writing work so I'm just going to get back to it. Not much more to do now, happy days! I have quite allot of idea's spiralling around in my head but the perfectionist side of me always sees fault in my idea's which is why, for the most part, allot of them never take off... It's annoying to be blunt, maybes I should, for once, drop the restraints and just go for a totally balls to the walls idea and produce it, maybes next Summer, I will, see how it goes till then though.

And again... Another Yeti update... I'm growing tired of these so I might just knock it on the head soon, that said it keeps me coming back to my Blog ssooo it works both ways. 

Just to add a bit more, last night Photoshop crashed on me! It would load up but would crash when I tried to open up a new file! I was absolutely gutted! I tried to sort it out by the usual methods, restart, shut down then turn on, cross fingers, pray... None of it worked... It was as simple as installing a few new drivers and my god, it felt good... Sad thing was, it bastardised my early nights sleep...

Might want to click this bro!

...But in this world, there is no sleep, not when success is to be man-grabbed and wrestled to the ground!!

0.5/0.05

Fine-liners are incredible, I was told to buy 0.05 and 0.5 fine-liner's and although they weren't cheap the line quality is incredible! I've just looked over my work, a good few line tests so far, I'm quite pleased with myself but I know I have to do better so I'd rather not dwell in the moment.

This here is a crude size comparison of sorts, Piper's line work is inked out relatively well, Snorre's isn't but that's what I will fix tomorrow, thinking about, I don't have that much more to do, I'm pleased with myself to a degree since I've had to work on 3 vastly different character's and it's worked out quite well... So far at least.

Apart from that here's some more Yeti progression...

A much more cartoony look in general... 

Earlier on I had a drink, got a bit tipsy and started dicking around, I'm paying for it now with a head ache but it was interesting to see the results, if done correctly, I could achieve some rather nice stop motion / pixelation animation. 

I.

HAVE.

NO.

SHAME.

Enjoy.

SMARTY-PANTS

This week I've gotten quite a bit done, quickly going to run over what I wanna achieve within the next week...

Finish the model of Magnus: The mesh, as you've seen, is made, I plan to build upon that mesh using separate objects which allows (apparently) for a more easily animatable robot. I just have to build around the mesh, easily done!

Ink and colour: Get more line tests done, I plan on achieving about 5 lines tests each for Piper and Snorre and getting them fully coloured up.

Catch Up: On absolutely everything and anything which needs catching up on.

I've spoken about everything already... What else is there to comment on? Absolutely nothing for the time being... So I leave with this...



And this...



Speaking of which, don't know why, I got into a conversation about Pokemon, if they were real, which one would you have? For me? Arcanine.

I'm mature.

"Nicey, Nicey, Zoo, Zoo... I've got new, look at them shine!"

Just been tinkering tonight with some more animation, you might have seen the really rough animations I did about a week ago? Well I learnt NEVER to do rough animation like that again, it's more worth while getting the detail sorted the first time round, sure it's tedious but if you enjoy it then it shouldn't honestly be a hassle. Anyways, finishing off last night and starting today I finished my revamped run test for Piper, I can see faults but I think i'm getting there and it's all about trial and error. All I'm after is a quality piece of work by the end of it all which people will enjoy.

I've also been thinking and this spurred on when I was watching Tom and Jerry, does my character animation really need 2 tones? Now my heart says yes, because what I love is trying (key word) to produce nice, detailed and appealing work but my brain says no, adding a second tone is going to take up more time than necessary and time is my biggest enemy this year and the lack of it. I'll produce a couple more colour tests in the next day or so and see if there will be any need for 2 tones, Tom and Jerry doesn't use 2 tones, only a solid base colour for each section and it works so it'll be something to take into account and think about.

More on the Yeti, over the next 10 days I'll be uploading the gradual progression to where I'm at now, this was the line work I redid, I simply traced over the previous image what I wish I had corrected was the elbow... Look at how down it is... Look at it! I wish I had taken greater notice earlier... Anyways, do I have anything else to comment on? Urm... No... Don't think so... Actually okay I will cover one thing...

Going back to what I said about never doing rough animation again, the reason being is that when I tried to "ink" out the work in Photoshop, it was REALLY hard to keep it consistent... It got so complex that I thought, "F**k it! Just redo it from scratch" and it was ultimately (and thankfully) the best option! 

This is how far I got before tearing my hai- Wait... I don't really have allot of hair... Well, causing self infliction... 

A Days work, quicker than I thought!

Well, in hindsight I got a wee bit done today! My expressional animation for Piper is fully coloured! Was a right pain in the behind too, the video I uploaded isn't the completed video, I still need to add the second tones of colour... Which brought me to another issue, does it actually NEED a secondary colour? Reason I question this is due to time constraints and so on, that said, if I keep to using loops and recycle animation then I don't see why it can't see the light of day, fully completed and presented nicely...

Work has got me worried, despite the amount of work i've churned which I'll say has been a fair bit, I still worry about the idea of failure, y'see I know where I want to end up in life, I have a goal and it's success, recognition, being famous for my work, it's a damn long stretch but it's something to work towards at least which is why I constantly want to improve and constantly try and raise the bar with my work.

That aside,  here's another progression image of the Yeti, I'm still pleased I never left it at just this, it's really rather shite if I'm to be honest, I do like the concept but the colouring is its downfall! Good thing I fixed it! Speaking of which, the deadline for the Pictoplasma competition is in 11 days now!! Ooohh...

Going back to animation related work, I got back into 3D modelling today, I thought I'd be rusty with it and honestly I was but my main goal was to great a rough mesh to work from for Magnus the Robot.

You don't need to tell me that it looks UGLY, I know that already, what I now have however, is something to build upon and construct into what I visualise Magnus to be. In the conceptual drawing's, Magnus was shown to have a moss covering, I decided a while ago that the moss wouldn't be part of the 3D model, y'see, in the animation, Magnus doesn't walk, he simply stands up, when he does I want to really show his scale and have parts of his falling off of him such as his exterior, moss and other rocks and so on. One thing to comment on is the head, I simply extruded it to give the viewer an understanding as to where it would be, I plan on making it separately and then attaching it. See how it goes...

It's funny, I used to hate 3D work a couple of years ago but when I get into it, I really enjoy it, getting into detail and so on... The rigging just tends to kick my hiney... Not this year!

Also, I saw Toy Story 3 last night for the first time... Not going to lie, I cried... I was in tears, mainly because Toy Story was an important part of my childhood, I saw it in Cinema, same with Toy Story 2 and seeing the character's move on... As well as Andy is very touching, the last 15 minutes were especially heart wrenching, 15 years ago when I was 4, I saw Toy Story begin and now as a 19 year old, I see it end and it's honestly something I can't put into words, it's an experience where only those who were there to experience it all those years ago can fully appreciate it now.

Even if Pixar do use the same formula for each movie they do, it's a formula that ultimately works, it allows for character development to prosper and as the viewer, we become attached to the character's and empathise for them... I could go into detail but I'll only end up getting teary eyed again reminiscing on the fantastic piece of animation I saw last night and it truly is visually stunning, Pixar have really went above and beyond creating both gorgeous model's and scenery, it truly is now a fluent, breathing world and my god does it set the bar of things to come.

Anyways, that's all for now.  

Stay Calm and Keep on Keeping On...

Let me tell you something you already know. 
The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows.
It's a very mean and nasty place and I don't care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. 
You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. 
But it ain't about how hard ya hit. 
It's about how hard you can get it and keep moving forward. 
How much you can take and keep moving forward.
That's how winning is done! 
Now if you know what you're worth then go out and get what you're worth. 
But ya gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain't where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody! 
Cowards do that and that ain't you! 
You're better than that! 

The Yeti with a bit of added colour...

I'm sorry... What?

Since yesterday i've actually redone the Yeti Design making it more brave at heart, thing is when I look at the previous entries of the Pictoplasma Missing Link design I can't help but feel overcome with a certain distaste for a fair few of the "artist's", see, I think that's what bugs me, the term, "artist" is passed around FAR too easily nowadays when I see imagery like this...

Or this...

Or even this...

I honestly question what sort of industry I'm actually going into, there's no doubt that the art movement is constantly changing but to me it's moving in the wrong direction, you see, just because you can do it doesn't mean you should, vector imagery and simplistic blocky animation has become somewhat of a normality and why? Because it's easy. Really? You see this is why I can never have a full appreciation for contemporary animation, animator's like Richard Williams, William Hanna, Joseph Barbara, Hugh Harman and the like are always, always, always going to hold a higher spot than any contemporary animator, it may be because they're more mainstream, that it's because I grew up watching their work, I really don't know what it is but never did you see their work become poor and cheaply done for the simple fact that it would've been easier to animate, if animator's who had none of our fancy gadgetry like we have today could make such wondrous classics, then what excuse does this generation have? That's it's contemporary, maybes but allot of the time I would argue that it's laziness and that it gets you a quick shot of cash. 

I know damn well I could be accused of being narrow minded and I'm also fully aware that everyone has different tastes in what they both like and dislike but i'm one such being who, i'm afraid, can't see the novelty in these simplistic designs, with that said, here's some progressive imagery of my Yeti design... Well, my old one...

A sign of things to come...

On Saturday I worked on the Yeti design and actually got it finished, that said I won't be uploading the finished piece till after the Pictoplasma deadline, simply because I'm both paranoid and feeling that something is missing, what I will post is the rough outline I worked from and over the course of time up until the 31st, show the gradual progression.

It gives me something to talk about at least... 

WorkBound

This week and in the coming weeks I've decided not to go into college as much, truth is, I just don't get as much work as I need to and I work really well at home since it's a small studio with an all inclusive, mini-fridge filled with Irn-Bru and energy drinks, mainly Monster and those other cheap one's that cost about 30p, anyways I'm off topic... Thing is I'm ahead, really ahead but still I'm worrying because i'm on such a roll with things that the very thought of ANYTHING jeopardising my work is downright worrying! As I write this i'm finishing up my first draft of the script which so far is 18 or so pages long, that includes everything, it's probably crap but I don't think i'll hand in the whole document, maybes what's manditory, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense handing in the script when A) it's not being asked for yet and B) certain tweaks need to be made to achieve either a better script or easier work flow. I have a rough set of storyboards... I mean really rough so if I have time I might digitally redo them, not with colour though, not yet, that said there may be certain tweaks I want to make here and there with the script so I feel it'll be best to just leave it rough until the script is totally finalised... See how it goes. I've got just under a month to sort everything out, i'm a tad worried but it's all achievable.

"So, what is?"

Today we've been told to list SMART target's for the next week but really these are more accountable for the next few days. I've put up work, it's not bad, not good... But not bad... Or is it? Don't really know. Anyways, today I'm justing knocking my elevation's on the head, they're doing my head in now, I need to just go, "right, it's over, move on" but I'm getting that caught up with other piece's of work that I get side tracked. I looked back over my last module and this one and looked at what I needed to do.

Honestly?

Only the script, character boards and storyboards for AD203 and research and development for AD208, I always FEEL worried but there really isn't a need to be since I'm on track with everything and I'm shoveling out more work than what's required in terms of annotation, I just can't risk failing which is why I've cut out most social interaction and any form of entertainment.

Could be worse.

By Monday I'd like to have to have the elevation's for all my character's, that's 9-10 sheets, done. These include Piper's elevation, expression and dynamic page's, Snorre's elevation, expression and dynamic page's and finally Magnus' elevation and dynamic page's with the character expression, with there being only one, associated with the dynamics page. The last page will be a scale chart, basically to allow for a consistency during animation production.

Next week, next week is going to be a mixture of constructing the 3D model of Magnus and doing more line test's for Piper and Snorre which by the mid-section of the week, will translate into color. What's more I'll be working on my Pictoplasma work module of constructing a character which so far... Is going... Alright... Well alright... It's canny crap...

Needs work, looks wank.

I wouldn't mind doing something like this...

Or this...

Or this...

...Probably this.

Been working on backgrounds though, something I don't usually do so I'm getting used to doing landscapes, got so much to learn and I really need to put time aside to just... I dunno... Practice?

This is the background I'm currently working on for Snorre's character sheet background...

This is the background I'm currently working on for Magnus' character sheet background...

Is that everything? Just thinking... Hmm... No, that's everything sorted.

Updating since I not doing much at this hour...

Right! Been a while since my last update. I'm constantly working and getting side tracked with other things. I'm putting time aside today to focus primarily on getting AD203 done and dusted, all the paper work is done, I just need to knock up a couple of backgrounds, images, colour them up and ta-da, character sheets done, I know how to do it, and since I don't have to write paragraph after paragraph on the development of Snorre and Magnus since I covered everything whilst talking about Piper which saves so much time, that doesn't mean to say I'm not documenting it, I've documented everything and it's racked up a nice amount of pages, i'm not saying how much... I'm too paranoid too let others know about my work scheme...

God that's sad...

Anyways! You're probably thinking, "who the hell is Piper, Snorre and Magnus?" My character's in my animation, yes this is a relatively BIG update so I'd prefer not to dilly dally!

This first fella, Piper, is the main character, a Rat and a cowardly one at that. His design was influenced by the fantastic Peter De Seve whose famous for his work on Ice Age, mainly for the design of the beloved and the character of Piper holds similarities to Scrat, this DOES become less apparent so rest assured I'm not that big a rip off artist. 

This bandaged brute is Snorre the Unruly One, a barbaric man who is actually based off of my Father, fuelled by a short temper and irate mannerisms with an instinct to survive, he's a natural predator who, like Tarzan, has adapted to the world he's grown up walking upon. 

This colossal mass stands 25 foot high, Magnus' purpose has long been forgotten, the laws of robotics may or may not be apparent within its CPU and time has manifested upon his exterior. Is it a machine built in a time where human's were a prosperous race? If so, why is Snorre so barbaric? Or is Magnus a machine who has become self aware and can fathom the foundation of life and base its entire existence upon how life plays out instead of following order's? No one really knows... The story of Magnus and the world these three character's reside in is a mystery and one for the viewer to solve. 

Now, when I drew out these initial concepts one thing struck, "these are TOO complex to animate, I NEED to simplify the designs" So I did... 

This is how Piper turned out, much bolder in colour and easy on the eye, fur is only apparent in certain area's, much like Tom and Jerry or in particular, Wile E Coyote. 

Snorre went through the biggest change, his design was dropped down in quality to a very basic design

 however, it was easy to achieve since I had the detailed character's already drawn so it was a simple case of backtracking and drawing out key features. What you'll notice with all the drawing's is that they stick to two tones of colour, anymore and it just becomes over bearing, light and shadow is all you need, to be overly ambitious with this would, lets be honest, suicide. 

Magnus was kept more or less the same, since i'm going for an Iron Giant approach whereby the 3D keeps in theme with the colour tones and what not, so it looks 2D even though it's 3D... I'm basically copying. Thing is, working with rock is a breeze with modelling, rock formations don't have a common structure so it's pointless going into a horrendous amount of detail, so it's as smooth as diarrhoea my pretties... 

So then, that's not all, I've been busy doing line tests lately, some of which work better than others, the use of traditional 2D animation is one I love and find a fantastic medium to work with, I find it fun, relaxing and therapeutic, it's a medium in which you constantly progress at...

God that sounds sad...

Anyways, here are some examples of the animation line tests I've been working on, they're BAD but i've been going after for a feel of how character's, primarily Piper, will move. 

That's all for now my lovely's! 

Almost done!

I'm so close to finishing AD203 and having it ready for hand in with a hefty bit of work to boot! Pretty pleased but GOD it's getting irritating... To celebrate, here's a picture of a completely straight alien enemy from a particularly famous anime and manga series.

Make Mine a Muller

Holy Shit! The new Muller Advert is AMAZING!! Words cannot describe how incredible I actually find this... My only problem with this is that it was on during the break of X Factor...


...No one likes X Factor.

Discovering Sculptris

Today I stumbled across Sculptris, a free 3D model making program, I didn't have a clue how to use it but in all honesty I really enjoyed it, so I set out on making a creature, what sort of creature? God knows, all I know is that so far it looks like a Demonic Kevin Bacon Pig with quite possibly the tightest ass i've seen.

I don't even know what it is... 

"DAT ASS"

Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Batman!!

Got my hands on Corel Painter 12, i've messed around with it a wee bit, I'll be the first to say that I'm not exactly amazing with traditional paints and appliances but I gave it a shot... And drew Batman. Crying. I found it quite funny.

"They Mock Me..."

I also tried changing some background imagery I was working on, I'm not entirely happy with the results  so I'll have to keep meddling on with it.