Life Drawing

It always takes so long to get some results worth looking at when you haven't done any life drawing for a while. . . started using a rotring pen, which is unforgiving, but actually lets you be more free because you can work quickly.

Some sessions just didn't work for me, but there were a few that did and these drawings were a slight departure.

Background and Characters

Backgrounds

Mediums and techniques are causing problems, I have had some success with mixed media. . . using a combination of pastels and pencils over computer artwork - making one layer transparent. And I think it can work well for certain backgrounds, ethereal places such as underwater. I don't seem to create landscapes well because they end up either too real or too flat and non-perspective. . . I need to break the cycle.

Anyway, the landscape (which took ages to do, and feels like I was flogging a dead horse) doesn't fit with the style of the street background, so need to try something different.

But I need to take a break, so maybe I'll do the character turnaround sheets and start getting what I have done together for the design bible and let the backgrounds evolve at their own pace.

Landscapes

Having some problems with getting the right effect. . . think I'm just not in the right frame of mind, or maybe I'm just not a background person!

It seems to be a combination of not using the right medium for the idea in my head, or something like that. . . I get some aspect of effect but it doesn't work for the whole image, or it doesn't work from one background to the next. So all the backgrounds end up looking like they are for different projects rather than the same film.

Anyway this is where I have been going, but I really don't like the direction. . . which is a shame because it took an age to do!

Dog and Cat street scene

They seem to look OK on this background. . .

New colour work

Added some texture and light direction. . . seems to look OK, will have to review it after a while. But it does seem to look warmer than the grey version, so it feels like the right way to go.

I think the images will develop as I go. . . but I hope they don't start to look different from each other though, this is a real danger!! Well, I will just have to address that problem when I get there.

Backgrounds

Trying to get a style which will be consistently usable for all types of scenarios for the series. . . I want to get some colour but muted, and some texture in there too. I think these colours work better than the greys and they would blend with other ideas I have for the other scenes. . . and have more interest than the greys which seem cold in comparison.

Inspiration stuff

These are concept artwork from 'The Peoples', a Disney film which was scrapped. I love this artwork and was trying to achieve a siimilar feel. . . but failed!

What has emerged is different, not wrong, just different. . . which is OK, but I do love the backgrounds which have texture and colour, and yet are still simple.

Colour versus Black & White

Don't know now. . . I do like these characters on the grey background as well, so maybe minimal colour will work just on other scenes, keeping mainly to greys where applicable.

Ben Nicholson

Heart felt inspiration. . . poster in street scene of my favourite artist of all time.

Street Scene

I don't mind this stage scene. . . I do like the grey background because it contrasts well with the characters, but don't know if this will work with the whole series. Because it is a street scene, therefore a town it is ok, but once I get into other scenarios such as countryside (for the road safety on country lanes) then it may not.

There should be a consistent look, so maybe this scene needs some minor colour elements to tie it in with the rest. . . and then I can add colour where appropriate.

Major Project

Well, after completely changing my major project. . . I am trying to get to grips with it.

Got some characters now, wasn't sure about then at first. . . but they have grown on me since the presentation (which was horrible - I will never get used to standing in front of people and talking about my work!)

Anyway. . . the look of the project is a bit skew at the moment. I have started down the clear 'vecter' route, but it wasn't what I really wanted. . . so don't know whether to change. Prehaps the characters work OK in this style but the backgrounds could do with being a bit more interesting, more sketchy.

Some of the characters work, but some need work. . . these are the first draft of them in colour.

Dissertation Hell !

I would like to find a picture which would illustrate how I feel about 'theory' and 'academia' but I don't think one exists that would truly project my feelings. . .

Major Project - meagre beginnings

First blog entry for the third year. . .not the start to my final year that I had planned.

Anyway, here are the beginning stages of my project. . . public information films based around a family. Don't know what to do about 'PC' stuff at the moment, so I am ignoring it in the hope that it will all come out in the wash with the end result. I think eventually it will mean that the family will be extended to include other nationalities, thinking about an adopted child of ethnic background and the teenagers girlfriend being of mixed race. Don't really feel confident about tackling the topic at the moment though, so I'll see how things develop.

Not too sure about the characters, they have come out differently than I had intended. . . may have to just live with them for a while. Think I might try to '1950's' them up abit, which is the look I wanted more so. Colour versions may make things clearer, want to keep things simple.

Backgrounds: I have a look in mind, I hope it will work out. . . I want the backgrounds to be pale and based on monochrome rather than too colourful, haven't got that far yet so I'll have to wait and see.

3rd Year Major Project

I'm hopeing to take an idea that came about this year for the 'Storyboard' project (which is on the previous blog entry) and take it to the next stage of develoment for my final year major project. The panarama artwork above, of fish and a manta ray, is a snap shot of the imagery that I would like to achieve.

It is the story of a woman who falls asleep and starts to dream. The dream is common to her as is it a memory from childhood which caused her stress. It is the time that she learnt to swim, when first taking her feet off the ground and trying to float. Unfortuantely she goes under water and a sense of panic grips her, as it probably did with all of us at some point or other when learning to swim. Of course she is only under water for a few moments but these moments last much longer for her whilst in her state of panic. Her mother, who has just let go of her hand, reaches down and grabs her arm to pull her up out of the water. She splutters and gasps for air, there is no harm done and it is the usual learning curve for being under water, but the memory of the fear and the feeling of not being able to breathe never leaves her.

This memory becomes a recurring dream, it starts out as an under water adventure with colourful fish and flashes of colour in turquoise water but the light turns to the blackness of the abyss and she sinks so far down that she cannot get back to the surface and the darkness brings scary creatures from the deep. Sharp teeth, dark slimey scales and bulging eyes appear from out of the darkness and swim at her while she trys to pull herself up to the surface. Eventually the hand of her mother reaches down and pulls her out. At this point of fear it is normally time for the woman to wake from the nightmare and she sits up in bed to calm herself before falling back to sleep.

I want the artwork to become abstract when the dream begins, with flashes of colors dancing around and the fish becoming these flashes of colours. At one point I would like the girl to become abstract in shape also, so that she becomes at one with the water before turning back into the girl as the fear sets in with the darkness and the scary creatures.

It will be 2d and I hope to do the artwork for the pre-production: character designs, backgrounds, script and animatic. I would like to work with someone on sound, which would take alot of pressure off and achieve a better result.

Storyboard Project Inspiration

The storyboard and the lyrics of the song which inspired the images and story, have inspired me with the idea for my final year project . . .

The theme of the project was to create a music video for a song, I chose a Kate Bush song called 'The Fog' which tells of:

". . . is this love big enough to let go of me, without hurting me

. . . deep and dark like the water was . . . the day I learnt to swim".

As with most Kate Bush songs there is normally some form of personal experience included in the sentiment of the lyrics, particularly about family and friends.

Life Drawing

I didn't get as much life drawing done as I would have liked this year, but managed to get some done in a few hours here and there.

I am hopefully doing some in the summer months and it is something that I am going to try to concerntrate on next year. Mainly because it seems to be the key to improving drawing in general.

Tabby Monster concept artwork

Following on from the script writing assignment in the 1st year, I did some further work on the story and drew up some sketches, mainly just to get some ideas down on paper.
Again I suppose this would make a 'book' story but I also can see it working as a short animated film.

Scale Drawing Project

After sketching in the garden (although not too low to the ground, as when I did finally get the chance to sketch it had been raining, so the ground was a bit damp!) . . . I decided to have a little garden nymph waiting to pick a flower to make a hat. So in the first picture she is sheltering under a plants large leaves, standing in a plant pot. . . and in the second she is sitting on a reel of cotton thread and looking at herself in a powder compact mirror, fixing her new creation.

Scale drawing Project

I really liked this project and would have liked to have alot more time to experiment, had only about 2 days in the end. . . and my images are probably more illustrative than film orientated, but they could be used for concept artwork and in the use of scale for film characters and objects.