IN CLASS-WORKSHOP:

This week was the start of our sculpting journey with blender, we were introduced to the concept of sculpting with this software, and how to go about it in an understandable way. We were shown many methods by our lecturer, following an in-class workshop. Although we were given this exercise, this week was more of a chance to play around with the software, get a feel for the tools, which to me was a great opportunity. I’m still quite new to blender, so to have this chance to get a start with no pressure was perfect, considering I will be building a full character.

Throughout the class workshop, I started by building a simple rock, seeing if I could work the controls in the right way in order to carve in the correct detail. In my honest opinion, it wasn’t tricky at all, but then once I went onto building an alien head, it started to get trickier. I didn’t manage to finish the alien head, but it was a good chance to see where my skills lie with sculpting. Although I couldn’t quite make a perfect alien head, it was still fun to use all the different tools such as the inflate tool, the flatten tool and the draw tool to add even more details.

HOMEWORK:

This week was an especially exciting week as we were given the brief to our 2nd 3D task. Our lecturer has asked us to stat researching Genndy Tartakovsky, a very well-known Soviet-American animator, who has produced many amazing movies and TV programs, such as Hotel Transylvania, Samurai Jack and the famous Power Puff Girls. Tartakovsky was heavily influenced by both Western cartoons and Japanese anime. He was especially inspired by the works of legendary animator Tex Avery and the action-packed anime series like Akira and Astro Boy. This is going to be a very exciting task as Genndy produces a very unique and individual art style, his animation style is often characterized by minimalist, dynamic visuals and a blend of humor and action.

I’ve also noticed that Genndy uses a lot of primitive shapes in his work to create different body heights and types, therefore creating different personalities to each character. I’ve started looking at this use of shapes, and researching different characters resembling the best examples of this method.

 

As you can see, the use of big circles and ovals presents to us that the character is a very hunched over, unhappy figure, yet the shorter, more triangular chapes on the second character resembles a younger, happier and even comedic look ton the figure.

After looking into Genndy’s work and his many art styles, I’m quite attracted to the Hotel Transylvania movies he has helped design and produce, especially the monster aspect of the universe. I love the style Genndy has used. By using a certain type of geometry and color tones, he manages to deliver quite a comedic and soft atmosphere compared to other works he has done.

Although Tartakovsky is widely known for his hotel Transylvania animation, He has also designed characters for  further 2D animations, that although not as widely recognized, are still visibly impressive between his style and the color he integrates into the designs.

Tartakovsky has had a significant influence on modern animation, known for blending Western and Eastern animation styles, influencing other animators and animation companies to approach with the same style.

Overall you can see that throughout his different works, he still carries on with the same techniques, such as thick colored lines around the character, usually ranging from black to any color, and his use of shapes, like we see in Samurai Jack’s head and body, which adds depth to each character, specifically in the three power puff girls.