I couldn't decide which of these 2 I preferred, so I settled with the top design for the DVD and the bottom design for the Data Disc
Sunday, 8 May 2011
Friday, 6 May 2011
Important New Direction
Ok guys, this week has been pretty tough on us all and i know it has made everyone quite stressed, but im very impressed with the work that has been produced, however.......
After filming our animation in the rostrum room, we still needed to decide on how to add Imogen's family photo onto all the frames. We had already attempted to place it behind the frames on top of a lightbox, but this didn't work, so the only option we thought of was to scan the family photo, open in photoshop alond with all the frames and get to work!!! This would be a very monotonous tast, though Imogen and I offered to help Laura with the workload.
It was suggested by John whether we need Imogen's opening scene for the animation because realistically, it would be near impossible to superimpose the photo onto hundreds of frames and keep it consistent. This suggestion lead to some positive and negative feedback due to the fact no one wanted to cut a group member's work from the final animation unless absolutely necessary.
After consulting Imogen, I found out that she understood if we couldnt include her scene in the animation and said herself that it was causing too much hassel with such short time and came up with a better idea to have the animation, then fade out to a scene where the family photo was laying on the table where the puzzle once was, with children's toys etc around it to set the scene in the same way as Andy suggested for our stop-motion.
Laura also put forward a suggestion to keep half of Imogen's part and cut it from where the boy is holding the 2 pieces of the ripped photo (so that he never puts it in the puzzle frame), photoshop the photo onto these frames and then reverse the actions.
It's now Friday and we only really have 2 days to finish editing and putting the final touches in and we still don't have the family photo drawing...in fact, we havent even seen what it looks like since it was asked for in February. I have discussed with the group and after losing heart at points this week, we have decided that it's best to not wait around, in case the photo doesnt even get to us, for us then to have to rush around re-editing, then exporting and authoring the DVD.
So, to clarify, after the long explanation, I have decided after weighing up the pros and cons, that the first scene will have to be cut out and we will start the animation with the child starting to make the jigsaw. If we do get the photo, I will add it at the end- as explained above, but i think we could all do without the unnecessary stress.
Imogen's scene will be put onto the data disc and hasbeen blogged for proof of the work and to show that this particular part met the deadline. Hopefully no hard feelings but I really do think that this is for the best :D
Nearly there guys :D
After filming our animation in the rostrum room, we still needed to decide on how to add Imogen's family photo onto all the frames. We had already attempted to place it behind the frames on top of a lightbox, but this didn't work, so the only option we thought of was to scan the family photo, open in photoshop alond with all the frames and get to work!!! This would be a very monotonous tast, though Imogen and I offered to help Laura with the workload.
It was suggested by John whether we need Imogen's opening scene for the animation because realistically, it would be near impossible to superimpose the photo onto hundreds of frames and keep it consistent. This suggestion lead to some positive and negative feedback due to the fact no one wanted to cut a group member's work from the final animation unless absolutely necessary.
After consulting Imogen, I found out that she understood if we couldnt include her scene in the animation and said herself that it was causing too much hassel with such short time and came up with a better idea to have the animation, then fade out to a scene where the family photo was laying on the table where the puzzle once was, with children's toys etc around it to set the scene in the same way as Andy suggested for our stop-motion.
Laura also put forward a suggestion to keep half of Imogen's part and cut it from where the boy is holding the 2 pieces of the ripped photo (so that he never puts it in the puzzle frame), photoshop the photo onto these frames and then reverse the actions.
It's now Friday and we only really have 2 days to finish editing and putting the final touches in and we still don't have the family photo drawing...in fact, we havent even seen what it looks like since it was asked for in February. I have discussed with the group and after losing heart at points this week, we have decided that it's best to not wait around, in case the photo doesnt even get to us, for us then to have to rush around re-editing, then exporting and authoring the DVD.
So, to clarify, after the long explanation, I have decided after weighing up the pros and cons, that the first scene will have to be cut out and we will start the animation with the child starting to make the jigsaw. If we do get the photo, I will add it at the end- as explained above, but i think we could all do without the unnecessary stress.
Imogen's scene will be put onto the data disc and hasbeen blogged for proof of the work and to show that this particular part met the deadline. Hopefully no hard feelings but I really do think that this is for the best :D
Nearly there guys :D
Individual Animation Quicktimes
Hey guys, the next couple of posts are our individual scenes we animated- i have edited them together and still working on improvements. I have made a couple of versions depending on what ending we are going to use and whether Imogen's photo is going to be available to us soon, so ill upload them as soona s they are completed. The title sequence and DVD menu are also half finished and should be finished by the end of today and ill blog those too...
so... here are the vids..... they will all be sized so everything matches perfectly
Part 1 (Family photo will be added)
Imogen- scene 1 from Jade Midson on Vimeo.
Part 2
Laura- scene2 from Jade Midson on Vimeo.
Part 3 - Im going to cut mine a bit as the middle doesnt quite work and when the child pauses, the background doesnt move, so im editing that at the moment :) and working on the speed seeing as mine is on doubles.
jade- scene 3 from Jade Midson on Vimeo.
Part 4- I have adapted the brightness of Tom's so that it stays consistent throughout the animation and resized the files so all the images fill the entire frame
Tom- scene 4 from Jade Midson on Vimeo.
so... here are the vids..... they will all be sized so everything matches perfectly
Part 1 (Family photo will be added)
Imogen- scene 1 from Jade Midson on Vimeo.
Part 2
Laura- scene2 from Jade Midson on Vimeo.
Part 3 - Im going to cut mine a bit as the middle doesnt quite work and when the child pauses, the background doesnt move, so im editing that at the moment :) and working on the speed seeing as mine is on doubles.
jade- scene 3 from Jade Midson on Vimeo.
Part 4- I have adapted the brightness of Tom's so that it stays consistent throughout the animation and resized the files so all the images fill the entire frame
Tom- scene 4 from Jade Midson on Vimeo.
Wednesday, 4 May 2011
Blue Cloud Studios Logo Design
Hey guys, i realised we didnt really have a logo to put on our animation or our blog, so I sat down tonight and got designing. I had previously drawn a couple of really rough designs in my sketchbook over the Easter and I came to the conclusion that they needed to be a bit more graphical so that it was professional looking. I need to scan in my drawn designs, which ill have to do after showing you the final design.
Ignore the dark grey background as this is just to emphasise the logo. I thought we'd keep it quite simple and graphical to go with Tom's blog background design, but still kept the cute fluffy cloud and made this blue obviously!! i like the way that this is the only blue imagery as it makes it stand out more. The little circle-looking images are C's rotated and there are 5- representing the 5 members in our group :D
Title Sequence
I spoke to John today and we had a discussion about the title sequence- I know he has produced a couple of ideas, then I thought of something that will work really well and after some discussion and a look at my designs, we were both happy with the idea, which will be posted soon. Ill also be using the font from the title sequence for the DVD menu, which is also in the process of being completed and will be posted before the weekend :D
Backing track for the animation
What does everyone this about using this as a backing track for the animation?
The music comes to a natural end 1:12 in I think so could be easy to cut/edit?
Tuesday, 3 May 2011
Line test.
heys guys, just a line test. If there's anything that needs doing before tomorrow please tell me :) I know there's a weird wobbly bit with the mum's hand before she waves. There's a frame when the boy's hand is missing and it could do with smoothing the movements out at the end. If there's anything else (other than filling them ofc) then please say. What d'you guys think?
& Jade, what would you like me to do with the dog?
Saturday, 16 April 2011
Tuesday, 5 April 2011
DEADLINE!
Ok guys, here's the deal :)...
We spoke to Andy today in our tutorials and he suggested line testing what we have to far today, which we uploaded earlier and he also suggested booking out the rostrum room to animated because that way, we are in a controlled environment. This means that all the lighting will stay constant and the camera we'll be using will take higher quality pictures. GO1 is good for testing, but the lighting is inconsistent, with people coming in and out of the room, lights being turned off and on etc...
Andy caught up with me today and handed me a timetable spreadsheet with which time slot he has allocated us. We have the rostrum room on FRIDAY 15th APRIL - we need to be there for 9a.m sharp to start animating. Andy explained that if the room is left unattended by at least 9.30, the room will be taken from us and given to someone else in need of it.
What does this mean?
ALL drawings need to be completed before then so that we can have the whole day to photograph the images and create the final animation. If there are any issues, please contact me or Laura ASAP as failing to meet this deadline will result in putting us way behind and having to work throughout the Easter Holidays with no way of meeting up with each other.
We would like the final week to be dedicated to finalising the animation and last-minute editing, creating the DVD menu and cases etc and authoring the DVD...
I understand people have other work commitments, but if we put in the hard work, this deadline can be easily achieved.
Sorry to sound harsh, but I know everyone's eager to do well and finish the animation and feel happy with the end result...
Keep up the good work :)
We spoke to Andy today in our tutorials and he suggested line testing what we have to far today, which we uploaded earlier and he also suggested booking out the rostrum room to animated because that way, we are in a controlled environment. This means that all the lighting will stay constant and the camera we'll be using will take higher quality pictures. GO1 is good for testing, but the lighting is inconsistent, with people coming in and out of the room, lights being turned off and on etc...
Andy caught up with me today and handed me a timetable spreadsheet with which time slot he has allocated us. We have the rostrum room on FRIDAY 15th APRIL - we need to be there for 9a.m sharp to start animating. Andy explained that if the room is left unattended by at least 9.30, the room will be taken from us and given to someone else in need of it.
What does this mean?
ALL drawings need to be completed before then so that we can have the whole day to photograph the images and create the final animation. If there are any issues, please contact me or Laura ASAP as failing to meet this deadline will result in putting us way behind and having to work throughout the Easter Holidays with no way of meeting up with each other.
We would like the final week to be dedicated to finalising the animation and last-minute editing, creating the DVD menu and cases etc and authoring the DVD...
I understand people have other work commitments, but if we put in the hard work, this deadline can be easily achieved.
Sorry to sound harsh, but I know everyone's eager to do well and finish the animation and feel happy with the end result...
Keep up the good work :)
Laura's Line Test
We line tested Laura's part of the child placing in the first puzzle piece before we spent hours colouring in all the frames, so that we could see if the animation would work. We were thinking of possibly adding in a pause to portray the child thinking where the puzzle piece would fit in and also maybe removing a couple of the frames to make it run smoother.
line test 2 from Jade Midson on Vimeo.
line test 2 from Jade Midson on Vimeo.
Wednesday, 30 March 2011
Kite section
For Tuesday's meeting in GO1, I brought in all the frames I had drawn out after John had drawn the motion of the kite, for us to all colour together as it's a tedious task.
Before finalising this section of the animation, we line tested it to see if the timings were correct and how well the kite moved and we were very happy with the outcome and hopefully the rest of the animation will be ompleted to this standard. It was great seeing part of it come to life and made us more motivated to get started on the rest.
Here's the test for the kite :) it works really well, tho we will take out that random cloud that appears for one frame then is forgotten! lol. We like the way that the scribbled lines almost make the whole image seem animated and as if the child is drawing the pictures.
Kite Test from Jade Midson on Vimeo.
Before finalising this section of the animation, we line tested it to see if the timings were correct and how well the kite moved and we were very happy with the outcome and hopefully the rest of the animation will be ompleted to this standard. It was great seeing part of it come to life and made us more motivated to get started on the rest.
Here's the test for the kite :) it works really well, tho we will take out that random cloud that appears for one frame then is forgotten! lol. We like the way that the scribbled lines almost make the whole image seem animated and as if the child is drawing the pictures.
Kite Test from Jade Midson on Vimeo.
New take on the Animation
This was briefly mentioned in Laura's last post, but as of yesterday, we have decided to produce the animation using purely 2D. We had a long discussion of the pros and cons and referred to our production schedule to see how well we were getting along, but we were stumped. It was also in the back of our minds the difficulty of green-screening the puzzle and having to photoshop all the different puzzle pieces to then be added into after effects, we felt that this was overly complicated especially after mine and Laura's conversation with Andy last week to see if he could work it out, to which his response was, 'ah, my brain feels like its melting!!!' This issue followed us around for a few days and was really getting to us as a team, especially considering the time we have left and the lateness getting started due to many reasons.
It was brought forward to me that my team would feel a lot happier with creating the entire animation in 2D and after collating everyone's ideas, i also think that this is best. It is a shame, but we can still create a great animation in 2D, proven by Laura's animatic example. A Happy Team = Great Animating :)
Ok, so for this week:
Imogen: First part of the stpp motion- child placing the family photograph in the centre of the puzzle frame.
Laura: Child placing puzzle pieces 1 and 2 (mum's head and dad's feet)
Jade: Child placing puzzle pieces 3 and 4 (kite and dad's head)
Tom: Child placing puzzle pieces 5 and 6 (mum's body/feet and 'missing piece') and boy slamming hand onto the puzzle
John: Keeping up with the good work of the rest of the 2D animation (the 2nd half- animated kite, dog, family etc)
Remember : Meeting Thursday 31st March- 10am GO1- bring all work so far so we can hopefully line test :)
It was brought forward to me that my team would feel a lot happier with creating the entire animation in 2D and after collating everyone's ideas, i also think that this is best. It is a shame, but we can still create a great animation in 2D, proven by Laura's animatic example. A Happy Team = Great Animating :)
Ok, so for this week:
Imogen: First part of the stpp motion- child placing the family photograph in the centre of the puzzle frame.
Laura: Child placing puzzle pieces 1 and 2 (mum's head and dad's feet)
Jade: Child placing puzzle pieces 3 and 4 (kite and dad's head)
Tom: Child placing puzzle pieces 5 and 6 (mum's body/feet and 'missing piece') and boy slamming hand onto the puzzle
John: Keeping up with the good work of the rest of the 2D animation (the 2nd half- animated kite, dog, family etc)
Remember : Meeting Thursday 31st March- 10am GO1- bring all work so far so we can hopefully line test :)
Tuesday, 29 March 2011
Stop Motion Test
Here is the test of the stop-motion. Its a tad inconsistent in terms of lighting in the bottom left corner and with static puzzle pieces moving so will need re-doing me thinks...
Stop Motion Test 1 from Jade Midson on Vimeo.
However, the latest decision is to do the animation in 2D, which I think is going to be more realistic in terms of time left and also as the tests on digitally merging the stop motion and 2D were both extremely time consuming and also unsuccessful as the drawn puzzle pieces were not fitting onto the stop motion ones etc.
Stop Motion Test 1 from Jade Midson on Vimeo.
However, the latest decision is to do the animation in 2D, which I think is going to be more realistic in terms of time left and also as the tests on digitally merging the stop motion and 2D were both extremely time consuming and also unsuccessful as the drawn puzzle pieces were not fitting onto the stop motion ones etc.
Sunday, 27 March 2011
Thursday's meeting
Ok, so after our meeting on Wednesday and speaking to Andy, we decided that it would be best to get cracking on the 2D animation and merge it with the stop-motion at the end because by the time next Thursday's come around, it won't leave us with much time.
John, Laura and I spent all day Thursday deciding on the right approach to the 2D and also created a stop-motion test using the light boxes in GO1 to see if we were headed in the right direction and to get prepared for Thursday. I think this test worked really well and Laura will be uploading it to the blog in the next couple of days. We are also waiting to get feedback on it from Andy, though i think after a lot of thought, it may need to be a bit slower.
We set up a little system in GO1 which involved John planning out the frames, focusing on the parts that are going to be animated, then passing them on to Laura, who drew the outlines first of the rest of the image, before colouring some in, whilst I was trying to cut up plastic for the puzzle and mounting it for the stop motion test, cutting my hand along the way!!
We spent the next couple of hours testing the stop motion and continuing with our little system, with John still sketching out the key parts of the frame and Laura and I spending a gruelling process colouring the background and the parts that 'stayed the same,' which then has been continuing through the rest of this weekend!
So far so good guys and I'm really proud of my team!! Keep up the good work! I dont think we realised how monotonous colouring the layouts would be and how many packets of colouring pencils we'd go through, but we have to keep going and I'm confident that we'll suceed in this project!! :D
John, Laura and I spent all day Thursday deciding on the right approach to the 2D and also created a stop-motion test using the light boxes in GO1 to see if we were headed in the right direction and to get prepared for Thursday. I think this test worked really well and Laura will be uploading it to the blog in the next couple of days. We are also waiting to get feedback on it from Andy, though i think after a lot of thought, it may need to be a bit slower.
We set up a little system in GO1 which involved John planning out the frames, focusing on the parts that are going to be animated, then passing them on to Laura, who drew the outlines first of the rest of the image, before colouring some in, whilst I was trying to cut up plastic for the puzzle and mounting it for the stop motion test, cutting my hand along the way!!
We spent the next couple of hours testing the stop motion and continuing with our little system, with John still sketching out the key parts of the frame and Laura and I spending a gruelling process colouring the background and the parts that 'stayed the same,' which then has been continuing through the rest of this weekend!
So far so good guys and I'm really proud of my team!! Keep up the good work! I dont think we realised how monotonous colouring the layouts would be and how many packets of colouring pencils we'd go through, but we have to keep going and I'm confident that we'll suceed in this project!! :D
Saturday, 26 March 2011
update
I've done about 5 seconds of the hand-drawn animation today. Planning to have the 30 seconds done certainly by this time next week. I'll start posting line-tests when I'm back @ uni.
Thursday, 24 March 2011
Recap of yesterday's meeting
WE HAVE BOOKED G143 THE SMALL STOP MOTION STUDIO NEXT THURSDAY - (March 31st) AT 10AM!!
Please make sure you are all available to join! Andy will be meeting us there to help set up lighting etc. By this time we need to have all the props ready which include: A table top, pencils/crayons (anything extra that can be laying about on the table where the child is making the jigsaw, blue tack, puzzle pieces and someones hands! As head of Stop Motion Tom, I will leave you to sort this out! :)
Imogen, could you please upload the family photograph onto the blog before then :)
We also decided that as we have 3 weeks before Easter and preferably we should get the work finished before - then to get a break. The 2D animation should start ASAP which John is over-seeing as the head of 2D animation as the stop motion and 2D can be created singularly or each other. The week before Easter (2 weeks time) is when the digital merging shall begin, this way if we do find obstacles we have the 2 weeks Easter as a back up.
Any questions, let me or Jade know :)
Please make sure you are all available to join! Andy will be meeting us there to help set up lighting etc. By this time we need to have all the props ready which include: A table top, pencils/crayons (anything extra that can be laying about on the table where the child is making the jigsaw, blue tack, puzzle pieces and someones hands! As head of Stop Motion Tom, I will leave you to sort this out! :)
Imogen, could you please upload the family photograph onto the blog before then :)
We also decided that as we have 3 weeks before Easter and preferably we should get the work finished before - then to get a break. The 2D animation should start ASAP which John is over-seeing as the head of 2D animation as the stop motion and 2D can be created singularly or each other. The week before Easter (2 weeks time) is when the digital merging shall begin, this way if we do find obstacles we have the 2 weeks Easter as a back up.
Any questions, let me or Jade know :)
Thursday, 17 March 2011
Here's a couple of possible intros for our studio. Lemme know what you think, and be honest :) just playing about with the sound at the moment. We could also have a glowing/animated logo instead. Just need you guys to decide on a logo if you want me to do that. I'll upload my designs as soon as illustrator starts working again :)
Wednesday, 16 March 2011
Animatic
Ok, this is my fourth attempt trying to upload this!! ARGH!
Anywaaaays...
Here is the animatic, I'm not sure about the music both in terms of copyright and also if it actually fits with the animation? I will email Andy to see what he says about using others music work and let you know what he says :)
Also, Andy replied to my email regarding what was needed in terms of sound and he said that just a song in the background is insufficient so need to add in some Foley work. I was thinking maybe wind blowing, birds tweeting, dog barking? And also a slam when the boy punches the jigsaw?
Can you guys think of anything else we could add in?
In terms of the animatic, I had trouble making it reach the minute work hence the longer time on the last "My Perfect Family" frame. However, if we are following John's suggestion in regards to using the animated logo, I think it will work :D
Let me know what you think!
http://vimeo.com/21120750
(Sorry havent figured out this new vid thing yet!)
Anywaaaays...
Here is the animatic, I'm not sure about the music both in terms of copyright and also if it actually fits with the animation? I will email Andy to see what he says about using others music work and let you know what he says :)
Also, Andy replied to my email regarding what was needed in terms of sound and he said that just a song in the background is insufficient so need to add in some Foley work. I was thinking maybe wind blowing, birds tweeting, dog barking? And also a slam when the boy punches the jigsaw?
Can you guys think of anything else we could add in?
In terms of the animatic, I had trouble making it reach the minute work hence the longer time on the last "My Perfect Family" frame. However, if we are following John's suggestion in regards to using the animated logo, I think it will work :D
Let me know what you think!
http://vimeo.com/21120750
(Sorry havent figured out this new vid thing yet!)
Tuesday, 15 March 2011
Vimeo
Hey guys :)
After our discussion with Andy earlier, I've just created a Vimeo account. I used our group email adress and password which I'll remind you of in our Facebook Group for anyone who's forgotten :) It's veeeryyy easy to use, so to upload our own videos onto blogger, we'll use this account rather than youtube :D
After our discussion with Andy earlier, I've just created a Vimeo account. I used our group email adress and password which I'll remind you of in our Facebook Group for anyone who's forgotten :) It's veeeryyy easy to use, so to upload our own videos onto blogger, we'll use this account rather than youtube :D
Reasons why children draw how they do?
Some insights on the history of children's drawings - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1798813
Understanding children's drawings - http://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=NMmF6OdXnTAC&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=history+of+children's+drawings&ots=hRmxdbZHOq&sig=B1w9Zmzr0MTiRndo3DiSvDp_xWs#v=onepage&q=history%20of%20children's%20drawings&f=false
Drawing development in children - http://www.learningdesign.com/Portfolio/DrawDev/kiddrawing.html
Children's drawings, come to life - http://teachingthatsticks.blogspot.com/2010/04/childrens-drawings-come-to-life.html
Some theorys about why children draw how they do? The typical artistic side for certain ages.
Good insight for thinking about how children could draw?
*The book one is kinda long!!!
:)
Understanding children's drawings - http://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=NMmF6OdXnTAC&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=history+of+children's+drawings&ots=hRmxdbZHOq&sig=B1w9Zmzr0MTiRndo3DiSvDp_xWs#v=onepage&q=history%20of%20children's%20drawings&f=false
Drawing development in children - http://www.learningdesign.com/Portfolio/DrawDev/kiddrawing.html
Children's drawings, come to life - http://teachingthatsticks.blogspot.com/2010/04/childrens-drawings-come-to-life.html
Some theorys about why children draw how they do? The typical artistic side for certain ages.
Good insight for thinking about how children could draw?
*The book one is kinda long!!!
:)
Kids drawings old research!
Found these earlier on, to help brainstorm typicsl childrens drawings.
The colours, brush mark used, how they interperate forms of animals and people etc.
Jungle one is my fav! Was wondering whether we need to make the dog more like the leopard? By having more simple shapes used?
:D
Some Animations
I found this tumblr with some animations on, stop frame ones we could use as examples of how smooth we can get the jigsaw puzzle going?
http://lostmojo.tumblr.com/
Personally i love this one :D
Pretty beast :D Watch it and also watch the puppet stop frame, gotta say that one didnt give me the heeby jeebes watching it! I liked even though for stop animation it was really smooth!
Let me know what you think!
http://lostmojo.tumblr.com/
Personally i love this one :D
Pretty beast :D Watch it and also watch the puppet stop frame, gotta say that one didnt give me the heeby jeebes watching it! I liked even though for stop animation it was really smooth!
Let me know what you think!
Sunday, 13 March 2011
Mock-up Puzzle
Hey team :)
Just thought I'd let you know that I've made a mock-up of the jgsaw puzzle so that when it comes to the stop-motion animating, we canget everything perfect. The overall design is working quite well, though I added a tree on the left hand side of the image in the border because it was too plain.
For the final puzzle, the material needs to be quite sturdy- my mock one is ony made of pieces of card sandwiched together which works, but when it comes to the stop-motion, I can see the pieces moving and coming apart quite easily...
Ill research some more into some materials and also try to get it ready for tuesdays meeting in our lesson :)
Just thought I'd let you know that I've made a mock-up of the jgsaw puzzle so that when it comes to the stop-motion animating, we canget everything perfect. The overall design is working quite well, though I added a tree on the left hand side of the image in the border because it was too plain.
For the final puzzle, the material needs to be quite sturdy- my mock one is ony made of pieces of card sandwiched together which works, but when it comes to the stop-motion, I can see the pieces moving and coming apart quite easily...
Ill research some more into some materials and also try to get it ready for tuesdays meeting in our lesson :)
Wednesday, 9 March 2011
Character Designs Finalised - Dad & Dog
Firstly i have to say blogger is awful for uploading! 3 TIMES i have done this!
Rotational character designs for the dad and the dog. The style is achieved by the lines need to be thicker. It was somewhat comical doing this!
Front - Dad and Dog
Back - Dad and Dog
Side - Dad and Dog
Crouch - Dad and Dog
Rotational character designs for the dad and the dog. The style is achieved by the lines need to be thicker. It was somewhat comical doing this!
Front - Dad and Dog
Back - Dad and Dog
Side - Dad and Dog
Crouch - Dad and Dog
6yr Old Boy Character Designs
Here are the development, final and turnaround of my design for the illustration of the little boy in our animation:
Please let me know your thoughts on the design and if it needs to be developed further :)
Felt Tip Pen Animation Test
Hey!
So as Jade explained, me, her and Tom were given a different media to test the animation and as suggested by the title, mine was felts :)
I think the boldness of the lines work but unlike crayons, you are not given as much freedom in terms of varying the weights and shading etc. However, does this matter when drawing in the persona of a 6 year old?
The characters are positioned differently to Jades, personally I think hers works more effectively as keeping the characters looking straight ahead is making the animation look quite woody? But as Jade also said, the inconsistent lines used to colour in I think works very well :)
So as Jade explained, me, her and Tom were given a different media to test the animation and as suggested by the title, mine was felts :)
I think the boldness of the lines work but unlike crayons, you are not given as much freedom in terms of varying the weights and shading etc. However, does this matter when drawing in the persona of a 6 year old?
The characters are positioned differently to Jades, personally I think hers works more effectively as keeping the characters looking straight ahead is making the animation look quite woody? But as Jade also said, the inconsistent lines used to colour in I think works very well :)
Animatic Test of a scene
So that we can identify which media we're going to be using for the animation, Tom, Laura and I picked a few frames from a scene to prodoce a test animatic each using wax crayons, felt pens and colouring pencils.
My given media was colouring pencils.
The scene is only 5 frames and not brilliant but it gives an insight into how the animation will look like using coloured pencils. The quality of the images isnt that great as my scanner seemed to change the colours a bit and alter the brightness, so i had to play around with the contrast of the images first.
I must say, it was quite fun, and also wierd at the same time, drawing as if I was a 6 year old child!
I like the way that in each frame, the colouring, ie the lines of pencil, are inconsistent, giving an almost animated feel. This works well because the scribbly lines children use when drawing are also inconsistent and also makes it more obvious that the child in the animation has drawn his perfect family- it's more edgy.
My given media was colouring pencils.
The scene is only 5 frames and not brilliant but it gives an insight into how the animation will look like using coloured pencils. The quality of the images isnt that great as my scanner seemed to change the colours a bit and alter the brightness, so i had to play around with the contrast of the images first.
I must say, it was quite fun, and also wierd at the same time, drawing as if I was a 6 year old child!
I like the way that in each frame, the colouring, ie the lines of pencil, are inconsistent, giving an almost animated feel. This works well because the scribbly lines children use when drawing are also inconsistent and also makes it more obvious that the child in the animation has drawn his perfect family- it's more edgy.
Tuesday, 8 March 2011
Crisis Meeting with Andy
Hey guys, I dont mean to be negative on the blog, but I thought id note down what came out of our crisis meeting today.
Attendance to the group meetings and tutorial lessons is VERY important- if you know you cant make it for any reason, please let either Laura or I know in advance.
The main issue we're having is not meeting our individual deadlines and with the help of Andy, it has been decided that if you have been set a task to do for a certain time, and you don't keep to the deadline that is set, your role and tast will be allocated to someone else who will meet the requirements. That does include the director and producer roles.
However, we are on the right track, we just need to pick up the pace to keep up with our production schedule. We have notified Andy about needing to book out the stop-motion studio and he is allowing us to use the small one upstairs- we just need to send him our production schedule so that he can give us a realistic amount of time to get the animating done.
By wednesday's meeting....
- Jade, Laura and Tom- have test animatic done for the kneeling down scene in a variety of media.
-John- character designs and also note down how you think the best way to approach the 2D animating will be and how to merget the 2 together in After Effects etc.
-Imogen- Drawing of the photograph of the broken family.
See you all Wednesday at 11 in the Library!
Attendance to the group meetings and tutorial lessons is VERY important- if you know you cant make it for any reason, please let either Laura or I know in advance.
The main issue we're having is not meeting our individual deadlines and with the help of Andy, it has been decided that if you have been set a task to do for a certain time, and you don't keep to the deadline that is set, your role and tast will be allocated to someone else who will meet the requirements. That does include the director and producer roles.
However, we are on the right track, we just need to pick up the pace to keep up with our production schedule. We have notified Andy about needing to book out the stop-motion studio and he is allowing us to use the small one upstairs- we just need to send him our production schedule so that he can give us a realistic amount of time to get the animating done.
By wednesday's meeting....
- Jade, Laura and Tom- have test animatic done for the kneeling down scene in a variety of media.
-John- character designs and also note down how you think the best way to approach the 2D animating will be and how to merget the 2 together in After Effects etc.
-Imogen- Drawing of the photograph of the broken family.
See you all Wednesday at 11 in the Library!
Monday, 7 March 2011
Heys :)
Here's a few of my rough character sketches. I think the very childish look we're currently working towards could be fun, (though we could perhaps clean up the lines with our final animation) and we could animate the characters taking into account the restrictions their body type might have on their movement. I still think the surrounding articles such as the tree etc and background should animate on as if it were being drawn by the child. Though perhaps at a fast pace than real time drawing.
Main puzzle image design
Here are the 2 images that I would like as the basics for our main image on the puzzle- obviously, the characters will be changed. I'm still unsure about the white space on the left, it looks quite uneven, though adding a tree there gets in the way of the sun. I know children have a lot of negative space in their drawings, but at the same time they do almost make things look evenly spaced. I'll see what you guys think. Im thinking that it's just maybe the size I've drawn the boxes in the picture so it'll probably be more compact in the actual final piece, especially if there's animated objects in the scene.
Anyway, here's the design- the 2nd is the same design as the first, but drawn with colouring pencils.
Anyway, here's the design- the 2nd is the same design as the first, but drawn with colouring pencils.
Layout designs
For these layout designs, I was experimenting with media, colour, space and the main components of the puzzle image, which is mostly the outside pieces of the puzzle as these aren't animated over.
When I scanned the images into the computer, the colour didn't come out properly, mostly in the images i drew with colouring pencil. I've written notes beside the images in the sketchbook for more details on these designs. I can also do some more designs as i didn't have any wax crayons.
When I scanned the images into the computer, the colour didn't come out properly, mostly in the images i drew with colouring pencil. I've written notes beside the images in the sketchbook for more details on these designs. I can also do some more designs as i didn't have any wax crayons.
Mum Character Design
Ok, so here's my rough character designs for the mum! Tom came up with a great idea to make our drawings more uneven and child-like, which was to draw with our left hands (or whatever hand's opposite to your writing hand!)
I thought I'd add large images so that you can see my notes from my sketchbook rather than typing them all out on here.
I thought I'd add large images so that you can see my notes from my sketchbook rather than typing them all out on here.
Recap of today's tutorials and meeting
Hey guys,
So, our tutorial went well today and Ron seemed pleased with our work so far and was very impressed with Laura's production schedule :D so from now on, lets all try to stick to it- if anyone has any planned time away and can't turn up to the meetings, please let Laura or myself know before hand :D
Anyway, as there was only 3 of us today and we really needed the animatic done, we decided to take 1 character each and do a few character designs. Jade- mum, Laura- child, Tom- dad and dog!
We also decided that even though these are 2D drawings, we should do a couple of turnarounds or at least some different poses. We'll post these designs on the blog, but there's always room for more and improved ones!
I said that I was going to take on the role of creating a few layout designs using different media and compositions, which I'll also post after this.
Laura, Tom and I decided we should do a test animatic each, taking the same scene and drawing using different media-crayons, colouring pencils and felt pens.
We're waiting on the design of the family photo from Imogen, though Tom offered to produce one as backup.
I posted a note under John's door with the stuff he needs to be doing this week so that we can get the animatic done :)
We'll be back on track very soon so everyone get to it :)
So, our tutorial went well today and Ron seemed pleased with our work so far and was very impressed with Laura's production schedule :D so from now on, lets all try to stick to it- if anyone has any planned time away and can't turn up to the meetings, please let Laura or myself know before hand :D
Anyway, as there was only 3 of us today and we really needed the animatic done, we decided to take 1 character each and do a few character designs. Jade- mum, Laura- child, Tom- dad and dog!
We also decided that even though these are 2D drawings, we should do a couple of turnarounds or at least some different poses. We'll post these designs on the blog, but there's always room for more and improved ones!
I said that I was going to take on the role of creating a few layout designs using different media and compositions, which I'll also post after this.
Laura, Tom and I decided we should do a test animatic each, taking the same scene and drawing using different media-crayons, colouring pencils and felt pens.
We're waiting on the design of the family photo from Imogen, though Tom offered to produce one as backup.
I posted a note under John's door with the stuff he needs to be doing this week so that we can get the animatic done :)
We'll be back on track very soon so everyone get to it :)
Saturday, 5 March 2011
URGENT PRODUCING NOTE ALL MUST READ!!
Ok so I think I should start with an apology as in terms of schedule I should have been more organised, however, I have learned the error of my ways and as of next week we need to all pull our weight - and attend ALL meetings! If you cannot attend a meeting, you need to tell me before so we can rearange as a group. If this is not possible, it is up to you to chase up either me or another member of the group who was present at the meeting to catch up on what you have missed.
Here is our master production schedule. If any of you have planned time away from now till Easter, please let me know so I can plan accordingly.
If anyone has any questions etc get in touch, will talk it through this Tuesday!
Have a good weekend :)
Laura
Here is our master production schedule. If any of you have planned time away from now till Easter, please let me know so I can plan accordingly.
If anyone has any questions etc get in touch, will talk it through this Tuesday!
Have a good weekend :)
Laura
A is for Autism
Hey guys!
Was re-reading through my notes and came across the name of this animation we all watched as a class at the start of the project.
May be useful with our project animating childrens drawing etc. :)
Was re-reading through my notes and came across the name of this animation we all watched as a class at the start of the project.
May be useful with our project animating childrens drawing etc. :)
Thursday, 3 March 2011
Kinda Urgent- blank puzzle!
hey guys, as i was doing some research, i came across this website that sells blank jigsaws and the right amount of pieces that we need for our animation. U can get 2 in a pack for £2.03 or 6 in a pack for £5.10. Im not sure how big they are tho, but i need ur feedback on what to do. The minimum order price for the site is £5 so need to know soon so I can get shopping and i don't wanna waste money on something that is pointless :) Please get back to me- ill write this on the facebook group too!
Tuesday, 1 March 2011
Childs Development In Drawing
http://www.learningdesign.com/Portfolio/DrawDev/kiddrawing.html
Was looking into children's drawing and came across this site, worth having a look and considering for our character designs.
HAVE A READ :)
Was looking into children's drawing and came across this site, worth having a look and considering for our character designs.
HAVE A READ :)
Monday, 28 February 2011
Font Research for Title
"My Perfect Family"
This is a bit of research into the many different fonts out there that we can download and use- I will also try and post some hand-drawn font ideas too in my next post- but for now, some research!
These fonts are all black but obviously when theyr downloaded, we can easily change the colours!
Just quite a fun and colourful font
This font is very generic in Primary Schools as it's
easy to read and is how children are taught to write.
More font designs to come!!!
This is a bit of research into the many different fonts out there that we can download and use- I will also try and post some hand-drawn font ideas too in my next post- but for now, some research!
These fonts are all black but obviously when theyr downloaded, we can easily change the colours!
Just quite a fun and colourful font
These two train fonts aren't very appropriate for our 
animation, but I think they're a clever idea.
This font is very generic in Primary Schools as it's
easy to read and is how children are taught to write.
More font designs to come!!!
A bit of randomness from Jade
Hey guys, this hasnt exactly got anything to do with the project itself, but i stumbled across it as I was researching into children's TV shows to get an idea of the types of fonts they used and how they were animated (if they were)[will publish that post next!]
This is a children's cuddly TV!! I thought this idea was genius and just had to share it with you whilst we're on the subject of children!! There are so many animals to chose from as well like polar bears nd giraffes!! lol..
Anyway...back to the serious stuff- meeting tomorrow- will post details on the Blue Cloud Studios Facebook Group and will also text everyone.
Please keep blogging too people! We will be marked on this and it's a great way for everyone to keep up to date with what's going on in the project, even if its just research!! Sooo, blog, bog, blog!!
This is a children's cuddly TV!! I thought this idea was genius and just had to share it with you whilst we're on the subject of children!! There are so many animals to chose from as well like polar bears nd giraffes!! lol..
Anyway...back to the serious stuff- meeting tomorrow- will post details on the Blue Cloud Studios Facebook Group and will also text everyone.
Please keep blogging too people! We will be marked on this and it's a great way for everyone to keep up to date with what's going on in the project, even if its just research!! Sooo, blog, bog, blog!!
Research into Font Titles for children
The title of the animation, "My Perfect Family," will be appearing in the beginning shot and also coming into view in the grass area of the last frame. As a group, we were thinking of the type of font we could use that was suitable for children and quite 'fun.' I then thought of the type of doodle-style designs of Nick Sharrat, for the Tracy Beaker books and TV programme. In the programme, the writing and doodles become animated in Tracy Beaker's dream world, so I thought this style would be quite effective. It was then decided that we should research some more fonts, to find an appropriate style.
Tracy Beaker
This image is from the Tracy Beaker page of the CBBC website- i love the bright colours and the 'bubble' writing as it is very appealing to children.
Quentin Blake
Another one of my favourite illustrators growing up, was Quentin Blake, who drew for Roald Dahl. His book covers and titles are very sketchy and scrawly, but they have become very popular with children. Here are some examples:
I like this book cover because the title almost reminds me as if it's been drawn in felt tip pen as the lines aren't perfect and sometimes wobbly and is all one colout. It makes me think back to when I was younger and tried to create a magazine, and all my title pages used to look like this- quite uneven, all one colour pen, but still quite fun. 
This image is a sign designed for children to print out to stick on their books so they can personalise them. Quentin Blake;'s writing is quite scrawly, even the bubble writing is, but it is still legible and appealing to children.
As much as I like Quentin's work, I think that out of these two styles (Quentin and Sharratt), I prefer that of Nick Sharratt's. His imagery has become increasingly popuar with children and still is today.
Next, I will research into some basic childish fonts to help generate some more ideas.
Tracy Beaker
This image is from the Tracy Beaker page of the CBBC website- i love the bright colours and the 'bubble' writing as it is very appealing to children.
Quentin Blake
Another one of my favourite illustrators growing up, was Quentin Blake, who drew for Roald Dahl. His book covers and titles are very sketchy and scrawly, but they have become very popular with children. Here are some examples:
This image is a sign designed for children to print out to stick on their books so they can personalise them. Quentin Blake;'s writing is quite scrawly, even the bubble writing is, but it is still legible and appealing to children.
As much as I like Quentin's work, I think that out of these two styles (Quentin and Sharratt), I prefer that of Nick Sharratt's. His imagery has become increasingly popuar with children and still is today.
Next, I will research into some basic childish fonts to help generate some more ideas.
Friday, 25 February 2011
Recap of Todays Meeting
As mentioned in my last post, the main aim of today was to finish our storyboards which we have! As well as the puzzle design and decided on all our roles.
Our roles are as follows:
We have also confirmed that out animation is going to be created thorugh stop motion in terms of the hands placing the puzzle pieces, traditional drawn animation for the puzzle pieces and then use After Effects or similar software to merge these together.
Our next meeting is Monday on room G01, for then please make sure the following is completed:
Our roles are as follows:
- Director: Jade
- Producer: Laura
- Editers: Jade and Tom
- Sound: Laura
- Layout Design: Tom
- Character Designer: John
- Acting Adviser (role name subject to change :P): Tom
- Stop Motion Animators: Jade and Tom
- Hand Drawn Animation Supiviser: Imogen
- Hand Drawn Animators: John, Imogen and Laura
We have also confirmed that out animation is going to be created thorugh stop motion in terms of the hands placing the puzzle pieces, traditional drawn animation for the puzzle pieces and then use After Effects or similar software to merge these together.
Our next meeting is Monday on room G01, for then please make sure the following is completed:
- Tom: Research into Children's programmes logos for the "My Perfect Family" text at the end of the animation.
- John: Work on our studios logo
- Laura: Animatic
Wednesday, 23 February 2011
Production Schedule
Last weeks schedule was for thursday to have own individual storyboards and then by tuesday to be able to compare these storyboards and come up with a final story idea which we have kept to schedule!!
THIS WEEK:
By Thursday
THIS WEEK:
By Thursday
- Have storyboard drawn up and ensure that everyone is happy with it in terms of shot angles etc.
- Have an absolute final storyboard!
- Be up-to-date with research uploads onto Blogger
- Character Designs completed - shouldn't take long given the limitations of the child drawing style
- Animatic - may be a hard push but we can split the drawing. However, this will only be a plausible deadline if the storyboards are finalised by thursday to give everyone the weekend - imperitive they are finished tomorrow!!
Music suggestion?
See what you guys think, am thinking the disjointed piano at the start could work well with the broken family idea?
Memo to Director:
Hi just to clarify a few points;
Thanks!!!
- Please offer me some idea of how you want your story to be produced?
- Software involved etc
Thanks!!!
Puzzle Research
This is the research I have found so far in terms of jigsaw puzzles
I thought the map puzzle shows how we can exploit the negative space left by the unfilled puzzle pieces and also the white space similar to the childs illustrations. However, we may need to place the puzzle onto a table or a similar setting to avoid the puzzle being washed out into the background and also to make absolutely clear where the empty places are.
Another thing to think about is the 3D catepillar puzzle. Could we make our puzzle 3D and animate that as well as the image of the puzzle?
In terms of puzzle design the main characters and focus are placed in the direct center of the puzzle - this needs to be replicated in our image designs!!
Scanned in Images
Hey guys,
Sorry i has taken so long to get these scanned in! Here are Tom's brothers pictures! :)
If we are going to base our animation style around these particular images, I think we need to carry through the white spaces, blue line at top for the sky and green line at the bottom for the grass etc. Also, could the idea of labelling each character be played with?
Sorry i has taken so long to get these scanned in! Here are Tom's brothers pictures! :)
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