Reflect: More Progress

As I am going to mention the things that I have enjoyed doing, I thought it would be best to also mention the things I have disliked. I really didn't enjoy working with Flash as I couldn't get my head around it and I found it much harder to use than say After Effects. 

I was unsure how I was going to demonstrate this as an image when I got the idea to draw the icon for the program being thrown in the bin. Not only would this show my frustrations with the program and my disliking for it, but I thought it would also look quite comical. 

I went ahead and drew out my idea. It didn't take me very long to do as the components were very basic, but I think it demonstrates my point well. I also included this animation inside the reoccurring oval shape (even though I said previously I wasn't going to do this with my animated pieces) as I think it just finished off the animation nicely and I think it works this time around as it doesn't feel too cramped/"busy".

Reflect: Further, Further Progress

I wanted to talk about what I wanted to get out of the course and my time at University, and thought it would be best for me to demonstrate this by holding the programs I wanted to get better at using. I chose Photoshop and Maya as I like working digitally and also because I wanted to explore using 3D. I feel I have made a good start at doing so and I'm definitely looking forward to experimenting further in these fields. 

Finished Drawing

I was really pleased with my drawing, as again it was consistent with the rest of my presentation so far, and it was relevant to what I wanted to talk about. I was happy to leave it as it was, but I thought it might look better if I animated it slightly just to make it that little bit more interesting. I experimented with different brushes to add a glowing light shining from my hands, as well as moving the icons slightly to make it feel as though they were bobbing up and down/floating rather than just being stationary in the image. 

Finished GIF

I think the addition of these subtle movements has greatly improved the piece, as it gives the image more depth by making the icons stand out. It also draws more attention to the program icons which is a bonus as these are what I shall be talking about whilst this slide is being projected. 

Reflect: Further Progress

One of the things I wanted to mention in my presentation was my trip to York with Maressa for the environmental storytelling brief. I thought this was a really fun brief and thoroughly enjoyed producing work for it. To represent this in an image, I decided to draw me and my sister at the top of Clifford's Tower, making sure to finish the drawing with the circular border to keep the style of my presentation consistent. 

I really liked the drawing and for my own personal use I decided to extend past the circular boarder to finish the whole picture as if it was a photograph of us together. 

Another point I wanted to talk about in my presentation was that I had had many breakdowns/rough patches throughout the year. I thought this was one of the most important things for me to talk about because I have struggled at times but I have managed to get past the problems I have been having and pull through with my work and issues. It's something I have been battling with for a while and I'm slowly (but surely, hopefully) getting better at keeping cheery. 

I didn't want to draw something that wasn't as bubbly as the rest of my images as I didn't want to dwell on the hard times, instead focus on the overcoming of these rough patches. I thought of drawing a short animation that featured me banging my head on the table. I thought this was a nice way of showing my frustrations but does so in a way that could be quite comical and lighthearted. 

I didn't do any planning with this animation, I just went ahead and drew it and I think it turned out okay. Whilst I was drawing I tried to think about the twelve principles of animation to help me animate this action well, in particular Anticipation, Overlapping Action and Timing. I wanted it to seem as though the character was really slamming her head on the table rather than just resting it there, so I made her drag her head back and really push it down by drawing less inbetweens from the upright position to with her having her head on the desk. 

I initially just drew the main body of the character, leaving out the facial expressions. I was going to include these after I had finished the main bulk of the animation but I quite liked the look of it without the face. To me, it helps portray the mood as the face is just blank. Having said this, I think it would be beneficial to add these features in, but at this moment in time I don't feel it 100% necessary, so if I have a spare moment I may return to this and add them in.

Once I had finished the animation I tried putting the content inside a circle like the rest of my images so far, but I didn't like the look of it so removed it. To me it felt too cramped and brought attention away from the animation. It works well for my stationary drawings but just not in this case, so if I am going to draw more animations for my presentation, I shall keep the style consistent by having all GIFs/MOVs without a border. 

Reflect: Initial Planning and Progress

For this brief we are required to put together a presentation to show to the class that reflects upon the year we have each had at University. We are to look at our personal highlights and critically reflect upon our progress in the year. Not only this but we are to incorporate some of the animation skills we have learnt.

I decided that the best way to deal with this brief would be to write down all the things I want to talk about, and create an animation or illustration based on these points. This way, I will be able to provide a visual for the topics I shall be talking about, and also meet the requirements of the brief by incorporating some animation related skill. 

I figured the first slide would be the title/introduction to the presentation, so I started with that. As it was going to be all about MY year, I thought it would be a good idea to include a character based on myself in the illustrations, so I designed a title with myself included. 

Title Page: Original (Left) and Slightly Animated (Right)

I was really pleased with how it went, and I thought it would be nice to have all of the illustrations/animations in a similar style, so when I designed my next slide, I made sure to use a similar background to see if the consistent style would work well...

Highlight: Meeting Peter Lord at BAF

... and it seems to have done.

The Animated Self: Planning and Generating Ideas

For this brief we are required to produce a short 15-30 second animation that reflects myself and my interests. It could also be an opportunity for me to build on existing skills, or to widen my range of skills by experimenting further, and I can do this by creating an animation on pretty much anything I like. 

At first, I really liked the sound of this brief, as I have total freedom with what I produce, but I soon realised I had ZERO ideas. Since the majority of my previous briefs have given me a topic to work with or at least a title to base my animation around, I found it incredibly hard to think of something. So I began making notes and brainstorming. 

I thought about my strengths & weaknesses and began to consider the different ways in which I could produce the animation. I thought about what programmes/methods would be best to produce certain things (e.g. animated logos, a short cartoon, etc.) in hopes that I'd at least decide on what I wanted to make. I decided I didn't want this animation work to clash with my current project, so instead thought it would be best to stay clear of after effects and work in another way. I then realised that I only have just above a month to complete both projects, so I decided that it would be best to build on my existing strengths rather than be adventurous and take the challenge of learning new ones. As much as I would have liked to do this, I don't want to get too stressed by creating too much work for myself; I'll be able to do more experimenting in the Summer holidays anyway.

I decided that I'd like to practice animating movement, either by traditional means or digitally. This won't require me to do weeks of planning to solidify an idea for a storyboard so I won't be rushed for time, and this way I can also focus on my animating. I think this will be beneficial to me as I haven't done a great deal of moving sequences, so I can use this time to practice this skill, which I can then relate to future projects. The idea sounds quite simple but I think it could be a good opportunity for me to produce some good work, especially if I really focus on capturing movement accurately. 

The only thing left for me to do is to decide what movements I'm going to animate. I'm leaning more towards the human form as I feel this will be the most beneficial and exciting, and also because I really enjoyed my life drawing sessions and would like to continue with this. I have made a list of all the different actions I could choose to look at (for example, dancing, jumping, running) and I will decide on which I want to continue with when I collect the reference videos I will need to draw from. From these I can also work out how many I'm going to need to animate to meet the requirements of the brief.