Twirling

Hello,

Update time!

Im currently in the process of cleaning everything up, although i want the sketchy

style it still needs alot of cleaning. I still have to add frames here and there to help

the animation flow and not be so jarring. Along with clean up i am adding secondary moves to

certain aspects, and also trying to create a bit more weight and action in the character.

I need to work with the timing, adding more pauses to help create the whimsical type of mood, as at the moment everything is way to fast.

Over all im happy with the movements, once the arms, shoulders and hips are tweaked i think

it will become more weighted and look alot more interesting.

The clip ive added is of Sam running, twirling then falling in the wheat, she actually sits up at the end but i couldnt get it to play the whole clip in vimeo (i always struggle with viddler and vimeo, perhaps i will ask if im using it right in class tomorrow because my files are always cut short). The run still needs lots of clean up to the hair, arms, face etc but the movement is there and i like the twirl she does before she falls.

So aside from being super tired and run down (as we all are right now) things are going pretty good and i can see light at the end of the tunnel.

swat

Untitled from emily dunlop on Vimeo.

Firefly/Dragons

The dragons as small little glowing spheres,

buzzing along the horizon.

The green will be replaced with the painted wheat, im really happy with

the sky, i love the texture of the clouds, and i like the

glowing flicker of the dragons also.

Once again i cant get this file to work in viddler

so i shall rectify this problem in class, but for the

time being i hope blogspot videos work.

A run test, the wheat will be slightly more parted down the middle and also

moving alot faster to make it look like a quick run.

The wheat hasnt been colour keyed out in this test.

Im not sure why but i couldnt get this to work on Viddler so i hope this will

sufice instead.

Eye Rub

Couple of key poses, i have also done some very rough animation with the little girl (Sam) rubbing her eyes, i really like it, the timing is nice and now i just have to clean it up and place

an inbetween in. This is after she has done a double take..........then she rubs her eyes............then does another double take because she cannot believe what she is seeing.

farmhouse

This is a screen shot of the farmhouse, just a test, not the correct background used as

i am painting on glass for the background, but gives you an idea of what im trying to

achieve. Also the farmhouse is not finished yet, i still have to do the balcony properly, and this is not the correct colours.

Update

Here are a few key poses that i have been working with, and also the windmill and fence.

I just added a gradient in the background so you could get an idea but of course this is not

the background i will be using.

Also with the girl lying down, Seamus and I added a bit of colour to see what that particular style would look like, e.g. just splashes of colour instead of filling out the whole picture. I really like the sketchy style.

The kitchen is not finished, and im unsure of the lines, perhaps more sketching is needed? I initially did a sketchy drawing of the kitchen but it looked a bit rundown and creepy, so i think i need to find a happy balance between the two with out it looking like a haunted house or the other extreme, an imaculate minimalist type of kitchen.

Inspiration

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2465595673/

Please check out this link, its an inspiration, Jack leant this animation to

me and i absolutely love it, its glass animation, and his art work is just sublime.

After Effects Wheat Test

Here is the test Darren and i did today in AFX

Taylor - Production Manager

I have aquired a Production Manager and her name is Taylor.

I had a big whinge to Taylor last week and explained the utter confusion i was feeling in regards to my animation, basically i had about five different opinions of what i should be doing and this resulted in me doing little bits of everything but not really finishing anything. So, in steps Taylor, she arrived at my house 9am sharp, sat me down, told me to stop getting distracted with cups of tea and to focus! So i did, and together we went through step by step and made a to do list, she also went through my storyboard and listed all the shots for my backgrounds, i.e. which ones repeated themselves and how many needed to be done etc etc.

My god this has made an imense difference.

So now focused on my backgrounds, im currently drawing the windmill, fence, farm house, int/ kitchen, and of course still painting my wheat.

I also had an interesting conversation with Darren today involving dropping the wheat into After Effects and using a motion grid (i think i got the name right). Basically the grid covers the wheat and you can bend it and animate this way, ideally i would love to paint frame by frame but its nice to know i have a few options up my sleave considering time is burning fast. I've drawn my windmill and i must say im quite happy with it, now just to colour it in photoshop and its good to go.

Here is my production schedual, and shot list for my backgrounds, also a quick test in after effects with the motion grid:

EMILYS ANIMATION CHECK LIST

BACKGROUNDS

à DRAW: Windmill base, Fence, Ext House, Int House

à Backgrounds 26 and 27 first and complete them

à Begin wheat, Background 4 first

1. Make wheat big enough to fill frame but also make a sky that can move behind it

à Finish all other backgrounds, remember remove the character from the space and do what would be behind them.

RUNNING COMP

à IMPORT: Finished backgrounds and animatic into After Effects

à Make Animatic smaller and put in top right hand corner

à Drag background into timeline and space as per animatic timing

ANIMATION

à DRAW: Using flash draw key poses.

à Do any repeated movements first, IE: Running, Walking

à Try to do all of Sam first and then move on to the lesser characters. Don’t forget the dragons as dots.

BACKGROUND ANIMATION

à Animate Wheat moving. Luma Key Wheat into backgrounds

à Animate backgrounds IE Zooms, pans, focus pulls.

COMPOSITE ANIMATION INTO BACKGROUNDS

à Import FINISHED animation into After Effects and add to relevant background layers

SOUND and FX

à Edit final sound track

à Import into After Effects and Add to Night Lights comp

LIGHTING AND EDITING

à EDIT: Cut out scenes (if needed).

à Fix timing (if needed)

à Add lighting and Shadows on characters/ground

CREDITS AND TITLES

à Add title to After Effects night lights comp

à Finish is credits and YOU IS DONE!

NIGHT LIGHTS

BACKGROUND CHECK LIST

BCKGND #	SHOT	DONE?
1	SH1 SH24 SH25
2	SH2 SH8 SH22
3	SH3 SH21 SH23
4	SH4 SH5 SH6 SH7 SH10 SH11 SH12 SH13 SH15 SH20
5	SH9
6	SH14 SH18
7	SH16 SH19
8	SH17
9	SH26
10	SH27

Fool me once, shame on you

Well, i kind of dropped the ball in the last couple of weeks, energy, motivation and inspiration was severly lacking which made it very hard to create.
Im learning valuable lessons about time management, and trying to get my priorities sorted out.
Yet another valuable lesson learnt is to back things up no matter how tired i am.......................and how did you learn this lesson i hear you ask? Well, my USB which i was probably holding a little to much faith in died.
It was instant and as always unexpected and i lost a fair chunk of my key poses.
I tried to get a tech guy to fix it but he said he tried everything to no avail and believed it to be an electronic malfunction.
Anyway, you fall off the horse you gotta get back on right?
I did a very rough sound edit last week, although its rough it still gives me an indication of timing and more of a feel for the story.
I was initially thinking of having a very soft soundtrack of music in the background, my friend is currently working on some music for it, but i needed something for the rough sound edit so decided to try without the music.
I actually dont mind it with just the crickets chirping in the background, its not too distracting and makes it feel like a summers night.

In class i placed a generic classical guitar rift into the rough sound and this also is ok, it definately gives it more feeling.
I have also been getting alot of drawing tips from Aidrian, he has been helping me with drawing hands and also trying to get my head around foreshortening.

My mantra taken from Finding Nemo:
"Just keep swimming, just keep swimming"

Update

Hello everybody,

Just a little update on what i have been working on lately.
At the moment im sketching out my key poses in flash, and
i have also been trying to get a run cycle down pat.
Jack helped alot with this run cycle. It is of the girl (Sam) running off into
the distance. I was struggling alot with the perspective of this
when Jack showed my how to use Maya to help get the lines in. Also
by placing an object at each key pose, i was able to have this in
Flash as a guide. I initiallly attempted to do the Animators Survival
Kit run cycle in perspective but this was confusing, and it was so
simple to use Maya instead.
I havnt really done any painting on glass this week, i wanted to get
away from the oils for a bit, so sketching the key poses has been
a nice change. Im getting more confident with the wacom too, which
makes a difference.
:)

Oil paints

Last of all there are the oil paints.

These paints are fun to work with and are easily controlled, without drying out

to quickly. The colours are really rich and i really like the

look of oil on glass. It gives a nice texture to the wheat.

Ink

Ink is an expensive medium to work with and has a really organic look to it.

It did create an interesting sky but it was far to moody and ominous for my

production.

Ink and acrylic

Next, Ink and acrylic mixed together, with water added also.

Once again to messy and difficult to control. This medium also reminds me alot of an underwater background.

Acrylic paint on glass

Here is a my wheat phase.

Firstly, Acrylic paint on glass mixed with alot of water.
This technique dries far to quickly and is really difficult to control.

Hello everybody, this is my blog about NIGHTLIGHTS, the animation im currently in the process of creating.

During the holidays i tested out a few different types of mediums on glass. Firstly i tried acrylic paint, i mixed it with alot of water and got a really nice effect but it didnt really create the look i was after. It reminded me more of under water than of a wheat field.

After the acrylics, i played around with ink, this was really messy and way to runny, but still an interesting look.

Sometimes i mixed acrylic with ink and this to was a very watery style.

Finally after getting fed up, i switched to oil paint and havnt looked back since. The oils are great because they dont dry out to quickly, the texture is easily controlled with thining agents and the colour is really nice. I had a problem with lighting but i can bring the colour back out in after effects. I will also be using AE to extract the wheat from the light box back ground. Then i can layer up the wheat as Jack demonstrated to me in class. I will also place a background of the sky behind the wheat layers.

I had quite a few issues with this, but trial and error has been the best way. Im quite happy with the end result and with filters etc the wheat should look really nice.

By week 7 i hope to have:

• Animation/layout tests
• All key poses for each scene completed
• Rough sound design finished, and majority of final sound design finished
• Backgrounds finished