Author: weng-c1

Week 9 – Workshop: Animatic

weng-c1 / / Animation Studio

This week I focused on creating a short animatic using the storyboard that I drew last week. Before moving on to do the animatic I completed a simple exercise for this week’s workshop. It was a practice run of how we would create an animatic on Krita using a file that was provided.

Plane.gif

There were few difficulties I had to overcome while making the animatic. They were that I was attempting to fit too many scenes into seven seconds. I removed a few scenes to solve the issue, which improved the appearance a little but didn’t slow it down. Another challenge was that there were too many shots, which made the scenes jump relating to as the animatic played and made it seem like there was less of a connection between scenes. I kept what I had for help and feedback later because I wasn’t sure how I would solve the issue.

Dream 1.mp4

Dream 1 2.mp4

Dream 1 3.mp4

I used Procreate Dream for creating the animatic and I also planned to use it for my final animation.

Week 8 – Workshop: Character Blocking Homework: Further Development on Charac-ter Design

weng-c1 / / 3D Digital Literacy

The workshop this week focused on using basic shapes to block out characters. It had started with a video instruction demonstrating how to block out a monster. I began making the monster after watching the video. When the moment at which I made a mistake that I was unable to correct. I made the decision to watch the entire video before moving forward to work on my character’s development. Based on the three drawings I made last week, I’ve drawn another one with additional concepts and features.

I got a few suggestions from Rachel, one of our lecturers, according to the design I had created. Rachel’s feedback, which I received after looking at more sketches Genndy Tartakovsky had done for Ashi, was that I could be more dramatic with the body shapes. Specifically, I could make the shoulder wider, the waist thinner in the middle and then wider, reaching out to the chest and lower body, the neck thinner in the middle and wider, reaching out to the top and bottom, the legs and arms longer and skinnier, etc. As part of my homework, I finished the character design and gave it a side view and turnaround. Furthermore, I began blocking my character.

Week 8 – Workshop: Storyboarding

weng-c1 / / Animation Studio

We began the workshop this week with a presentation that covered effective storyboard creation and a variety of approaches that we may use to add interest to our storyboards. placing the subject in the right position so that viewers can more clearly understand the situation and feel comfortable while viewing the animation. The first exercise we had to finish was a storyboard of a flour sack jump. I started the work through studying the example, then gradually changing it after a few attempts at drawing the storyboard because I was having some trouble figuring out where to put the flour sack and what its form was in various poses. Following the description to complete the storyboard was the second task. This work was easier for me than the first one since I was able to draw whatever I wanted, experiment with different styles, and incorporate more of my own elements.

In our group project this week, we talked about the number of rooms in the haunted house and the sequence of scenes. We agreed to have an end scene and an open scene, with Gio conducting the end scene and Hannah working on the open scene. The scenes in the next rooms will be Arwen for room 1, Katie for room 2, Jamayne for room 3, and myself the last room. The assignment required us to create a storyboard for our own section of the animation. I finished drawing my section in rough form.

My rough description for my storyboard was that there is a blind hiding the door; the blind moves to the sides, and the door automatically opens. The girl races into the dark space. A point of view reveals a dusty, web-filled room. I had the impression that the room was set out like a banded circus, with a doll hanging from the ceiling. After taking a step back out of fear, she stepped on a toy. The girl was frightened by the broken crack. and stared at her foot before being pushed to the ground by one of the dolls that were hanging from the ceiling. She screamed as she saw the joker’s head and hurried to stand up and escape for her life. All the dolls began to unhitch from the ceiling and chase after the girl as she ran towards the door.

Week 7 – Workshop: Intro to Sculpting Homework: Character Design

weng-c1 / / 3D Digital Literacy

This week’s workshop focused on Blender sculpting. To start the workshop, we were given a brief overview of how sculpt mode operates and how we can experiment with the tools and brushes. We began by sculpting a basic rock to introduce us to applying brushes in the process of creation. After watching an alien sculpting demonstration, we started using sculpting to make our own alien. I had no idea. what the alien would appear to be like when I was sculpting it. It ended up looking like a hybrid of a cow, pig, elephant, and reindeer since I kind of just played about with all the brush tools and preserved the areas that attracted my attention.

In our character design lecture, we were given a general overview of our second assignment, which focused on what we need and shouldn’t have. The lecturer also discussed the style he wanted us to maintain in our character designs. Genndy Tartakovsky’s work presented the inspiration for the suggested style, his most recent film; Hotel Transylvania, worked as an example. This week’s homework required researching Genndy Tartakovsky’s style and coming up with some character concepts.

Something resembling an army mermaid was the idea I had in mind for my character. I then used my character concept with a round face and eyes focused on Mavis Dracula, the character from Hotel Transylvania. Regarding the body shape, I’ve focused on Ashi, a character from Samurai Jack Season 5 that was also designed by Genndy Tartakovsky. Investigating several of Genndy’s Tartakovsky’s designs of different characters also inspired other ideas. As I’ve seen more of his character, I’ve come to an understanding that his style in Hotel Transylvania contrasts slightly from his style in other television series and animated films. The reason, in my opinion, is that Hotel Transylvania is more of a 3D animation than the others, which are 2D; without its sharp edges and straight lines, it has conveyed a completely different impression of his style. His other work included simple forms and lines and was blockier. I changed my character’s design from an army mermaid to a broken, cute, and eerie doll as I was making progress on it. This concept was inspired by another project I’m working on according to the Animation Studio module. After changing my idea, I have concentrated more on Genny Tartakovsky’s 2D characters to develop my own character employing his methods of applying basic forms and edges.

This few simple designs that I’ve thought of when creating the character.

Week 7 – Workshop: Animation Fundamentals

weng-c1 / / Animation Studio

This week’s workshop started with a lecture covering the 12 principles of animation, timing, and spacing. In animation, timing decides speed; the more drawings I have, the slower the animation will be; therefore, the fewer drawings I have, the faster the animation will be. I think this is an important aspect to keep in mind when doing an animation because it is an easy thing to forget. The audience’s impression of the animation can be influenced by the moving object’s placement and spacing.

The 12 principles of animation are:

  1. Squash and Stretch
  2. Anticipation
  3. Staging
  4. Straight Ahead and Pose to Pose
  5. Follow Through and Overlapping Action
  6. Slow In and Slow Out [Ease in and Ease Out]
  7. Arcs
  8. Secondary Action
  9. Timing
  10. Exaggeration
  11. Solid Drawing
  12. Appeal

Following the presentation, we were given exercises using the sketching software Krita to make bouncing balls. Out of the 12 principles of animation, it seems we mainly focus on the Squash and Stretch concept as we create the bouncing ball. A simple ball that plainly bounced up and down was the first bouncing ball task.

Bouncing Ball.gif

The second bouncing ball task included more movement in bouncing to different place. To complete the task, I did have to draw a guid line to help so I will know where the ball will bounce to.

Bouncing Ball 1.gif

The third bouncing ball task, I completed it as homework. I played about of different types of balls such as the basketball and a yoga ball. How will they form in different weight and the amount bounce they will have when been thrown.

 

Bouncing Ball 2.gif

For this week’s group work, we discussed the different shots that we could use in the animation and had started a rough planning of the animation. We also had a new member joining us.

Week 6 – Homework: Character Design

weng-c1 / / Animation Studio

This week, we had to decide which world we would like to pick and stay in for future development. I’ve decided to go back to the Haunted House Storybook World, the original group. The task for this week was to simply decide on a world group and keep working on the world animation and character design. Each member was required to create two characters for the Haunted House Storybook World: the main teenage girl and individual dolls from each of our rooms in the haunted house. The results of our group’s discussion: a teenage girl’s basic outfit would consist of a hoodie, skirt, boots, and a ponytail. I simply drew a basic sketch of it according to the description. Further character development was completed on some more research.

Week 6 – Assignments + Self Reflection

weng-c1 / / 3D Digital Literacy

As a first-year animation student, the first few weeks of the 3D digital literacy module were challenging, but they were also very enjoyable and entertaining. Learning new Blender and Substance Painter skills and techniques from the beginning up to the point where I can use what I’ve learned from completing workshop exercises and assignments to produce simple models and apply textures. Although I can’t claim to know everything about the blender just yet, I gradually got familiar with using it. I do need guidance to continue working on the projects because I make a lot of mistakes throughout workshop and assignment practices. I had difficulties modelling the skateboard in week two, which is when this issue occurred. I received help and considered ways to fix the mistakes. I tried building the skateboard myself a second time to make sure I remembered this and encountered the identical mistake again. I believe the pull kart is comparable to the skateboard, which I built quite successfully.

The third week’s tasks were when I began to feel more comfortable and inspired to include small details of my concept and changed the assignment rather than making the same model as the demonstration. The flower vase exercise and the milkshake straw presented the success.

The next two assignments I was able to construct models on my own using reference images. I did a great job on the 3D modelling, but as a result, my Blender skills are still inadequate. I found errors that I should have avoided. For instance, making an extremely detailed piece on a single object or having too many triangles and Ngons are examples of aspects that I really need to be careful not to employ again and be more focused on the next time to improve my work.

Week 5 – Workshop: Character Design

weng-c1 / / Animation Studio

This week started with a lecture that covered the fundamentals of character development and what characteristics characters must have to demonstrate whether they are good or bad people. understanding how to start with basic shapes and work your way up to a character. Making simple figures with the basic shapes sheet was the first task for this week’s workshop. I completed drawing on this sheet using a variety of colors. In order to complete this sheet, I simply drew whatever came to me, but as I went along, some of the drawings were really difficult because some of the shapes were very much strange to employ in character development.

   

Analysing three of the presentation’s images and developing three characters based on them was the second workshop task. We had carefully examined the characteristics’ image because the characters we created still needed to have similarities with them.

We must create our own characters for the world as an aspect of our homework. The protagonist and antagonist of Rootin Tootin’: Macabre Gothic Western World were two ladies. One of the characters is a vampire, and in my mind, she needs to be tall, pale, and have icy skin tones, as well as sharp edges in her body. A cowboy girl is another character; she should, in my view, be energetic, wealthy, and clever. Before creating the final character design, I drew a rough drawing and did some picture research to find a style that would work for my concept.

Week 5 – Substance Painter Workshop: Warhammer Homework: Helmet

weng-c1 / / 3D Digital Literacy

To apply texture to 3D objects, Substance Painter was introduced. As part of the workshop, I had to use Substance Painter to add texture to a Warhammer that had already been built in Blender. The only difficulty I encountered was adjusting to the mouse control, as it was slightly different from Blender. Other than that, it’s simple to follow the tutorial video.

I built a level 3 helmet from Pubg for the assignment. Although I think it’s an appealing modern battle helmet with a few unique details, I kind of regret picking the original skin over other designed skins because it would have made the creation process a little more enjoyable.

I switched between selecting seams and unwrapping the helmet as UV mapping it, making sure every unwrapped face was flat so that textures could be applied. I watched the tutorial video again to refresh my memory on how to make the blood effect and export the helmet from Blender to Substance Painter, also exporting it from the Substance Painter to Blender.

When I was checking the helmet, making sure everything was right, I realized that I made the same mistake as creating the sword, which was having some Ngons and triangles, but just a little I could see.

Week 4 – Workshop: Colour

weng-c1 / / Animation Studio

Beginning of this week’s workshop, we started with a group shift as Gio, and I got swapped into the Rootin Tootin’. Macabre Gothic Western World. Afterward we had a lecture about the meanings of colours and the purpose of using a colour in scenes. Then we got a short exercise. to complete, which was making our own colour palette and colouring in the image that was provided. I made a warm and cold colour palette in blue and pink. I just blocked in the different tones of blue and pink in the first two pictures. I did a third version in blue with more of the colours blended.

To complete the group activity, we discussed about and created a colour scheme that we all felt would work well.

For homework we also had to either employ our previous thumbnail drawings from weeks ago and add colour to them or make another sketch and add colour to it. I made a new drawing of what I thought the world may look like, and I coloured the world roughly. I developed the idea of the world having the vampires living above the mountain and the cowboys just on the ground surface instead of having them both on the ground and the world separated in half straight. I researched some image references and combined them with the idea that I’ve thought, then developed this image.