The real class began and we were show to out assignments and groups we would be part of for our assignment 1 which involves an presentation on our chosen article and summarise it down into parts and end it with references.
I’m in Group 7 with Charlie Blair, Charley Flint and Alex savage Miller and have started planning our presentation together.
For our morning session, Henry had went back to the character design principles and talked about the structures of characters/creatures and how to meet the requirements of the design. There was also the 9 tips on how to make a successful character; which areΒ
β’ Characters are composed of familiar elements
β’ The character must meet the requirements of the script
β’ The character must visually reflects a backstory
β’ The character must be coherent with the presented world
β’ The characters features an emblematic silhouette
β’ The character must be developed according to the initial approved design.
Β β’ If the character is translated to a new medium then it must be updated but not changed
β’ A character must be produced in the appropriate quality for its role
β’ A character must have a convincing overall shape
β’ It must be impactful!
The anatomy of the skull was explained with the topography along with the head including eyes, the margins and the gender difference between them. Then moved onto the last which involved the facial expressions or simply the FACS (Facial Action Coding System) which displays the eyes, eyebrows and mouth.
We later went onto our zbrush’s and practiced with the structure of our models that we have downloaded from our blackboards. We had each chosen a face to mimic from it’s portraitΒ
In the afternoon for our presentations we had shown our updated versions of planning, gameplay, props, inspirations, mood boards and art styles, There had been some pros and cons for our presentation. For game designers have to agree on their narrative and animation people to finalize their art style and have a few animations done.Β
Here is my following models and animation bit I did for an warm up.
For week 2 from creative industries we were introduced to Zbrush a digital sculpting tool that combines 3D and 2D modelling with texturing and painting. Henry had navigated his way through Zbrush show us the robes on the tools, shortcuts, demonstrations on models and setting controls.Β
In some ways it is simply like Blender, but has more functions and tools for our projects which would benefit us for our final assignments at the end of semester 2. We had fun with it even though it’s new to my experience I would have to watch a lot of videos to get the gest of it for the upcoming weeks even during other assignments coming up soon, including working on animations for April.
Afterwards we had introduced our pitch presentations to the other two groups which involves an investigator under cover to solve a mystery within a telephone office and collect clues and listen over phone calls to connect the dots to find the murderer. We had shown off our work with game designers showing the levels and mechanics and the animation students displaying concept art of the characters and concept models of props with the theme of 1970’s with a chosen colour scheme and art style. However, we had to fix some stuff within the PowerPoint and do it again for the pre-production week. It’s simple enough to make amendments to the PowerPoint with everyone on board and with me making more models but didn’t have to texture them immediately but only show concept art for it.Β
Also Ciara in our Group G set up the art style guidelines on her documents to show what’s there on what the environment will look like, the lighting, colours and characters.Β
Our group name is Knives out (yes from the movie knives out since it’s a murder mystery trope were following for this project).
Due to the ongoing strike for this Wednesday’s class, it was cancelled even if it was for a half a day. But next week’s class will be open again and get a proper introduction to Animation Discourse and know our lecturer will be Yuan for this semester. I quickly read our assignment’s for this course and had seen a presentation due for this month in February which will involve the theory of animation with the methods of researching and writing with the animation discipline. Also involving each members team peer assessment on how well the others had done for the project.
For our other assignment we have the choice of choosing an essay or an industry report that we must write out from our own research interests or animation practices. With the essay being 2000 words and the report being 1000 words with supporting evidence and surveys and interviews on the topic we choose.
Starting our Semester 2, we were quickly introduced to our course Animation for the CreativeΒ Industries. There our lecturers introduced us to our work for the 12 weeks, lessons we’ll learn, our assignments and finally what groups we’ll be in with the game designers to create our own game. For our assignments there are due April 28th and May 12th which involves the game and our individual animations whether it be 2D or 3D.Β
So for our first week we back we immediately went to our groups, for me being in group G I met the following members of group G which included 11 other members including me making 12.Β
For my main role in this group project is prop modelling and textures with minorΒ roles such as animation, visual effects and character sculpting/modelling.
Once we re-located into our groups we then went into our sub groups of 4 people so we would then come up with our 10 ideas with the main theme being Isolation and Connection and make it into one where we share amongst ourselves and turn it to three ideas. In my sub group I was joined up with Alex, Nicole and Dominik. We had interesting ideas involving family, friends, robots, war, animals, puzzles and Wi-Fi. For our sub group we narrowed it down to our first person perspective lighthouse with the goal on trying to keep the light lit.
Once our time was up we were all back into one big group again and heard each others main idea. The other two were a vampire trying to survive and become human within the end of the game and the other is the telephone idea where the person collects calls and tries to figure out the mystery.Β
We quickly moved onto Miro and get our ideas. For being part of animation and artists here is the concept art and inspiration for each of our tasks.
MiroΒ Β
Overall it was a fun activity to be apart of and helped with giving us ideas on the game before our pitch presentation.Β
At the first 6 weeks of semester 1 we were all focusing on our group projects for our assignment 1 as well as our professional practise assignments. It was until at week 7 we were introduced to our assignment 2 in animation strategies. Our lecturer informed us that will be three parts to the assignment which will involve a run cycle, a walk cycle and a mechanics cycle and of our choosing of style, type of walk/run and whether it can be 2D being hand drawn or completely 3D using Maya, if we wanted it that way it was entirely our choice to choose for this assignment.
Seeing that three of our assignments would be due in the same week before Christmas and this one would be after the holiday would give us enough time to complete it in between the other assignment and go ahead with the planning and choosing of the cycles. For me I found myself divided between the 2D and the 3D style of the assignment so I waited to see the full lectures of the cycles during class so I may decide what I am doing for this assignment.Β
Continuing week 7’s class we had done exercise’s during class with Alec’s 2D run cycles and 3D rigs with both missing a frame in their sequence that we had to complete. That’s when he presented us the frame count and poses for run sequence and that there is always a contact, up, down and passing pose for each sequence for the character.
The Run Cycle
Analysing the run cycle and understanding the poses of contact, passing, up and down for the character running. As well as the arms and legs going opposite to fit for the front view in the lighter side and the back view in the darker side. Especially the body movements and height when running in the one direction. 
Week 8 we had moved onto walk cycles, which like the run cycles but much slower and has more poses to fill out. Same like week 7 we had to complete the exercise’s by filling the blank space of the sequence. We then viewed different types of walk cycles especially the 16 different walk cycles which includes a skip, zombie and robot walk and etc. Here are some examples I found and some blackboard for assistance.Β
Walk Cycles Compilation – YouTube
100 Different Ways to Walk by Kevin Parry (Animation Reference with Music) – YouTube
The Walk Cycle
Here is the key poses of the walk cycles below. Looking at them like and comparing them to the run cycle with the contact, passing, up and down pose. However, they have less poses and less movement with the arms and legs as they don’t need a wider space to separate themselves from the body. The head still goes up and down and the movement is still slower with the tips of the feet’s still making contact with the ground.Β
Then for weeks 9 and 10 we finally moved onto to the body mechanics animation which the cycle is from blocking to the polish with smooth animation, which can be a specific action then just walking or running. It can be jumping over an obstacle or just the jump in general, boxing between two characters and finally moving or lifting a heavy object all across the way. It can be anything as long as everyone can have the right references for these actions. We also did six exercises with Alec and were introduced to tweenmachine script, a tool we used to help with our exercises for in-between frames and break the poses down as is it quick to make animations down faster.Β
Here is the six exercise’s I’ve done in class with using tween machine to help support me through these class tasks. As well as the Jill jump which came in handy for one of my upcoming assignments as it served as a extra bit to do.
For the last two weeks of the semester classes leading up to Christmas, I had mainly focused onto the other assignments since they were approaching very fast ahead before the end of the year. But in these weeks I had still picked, planned and researched ways for my animated walk/run/ body animation during the group project and our CV in our class professional practice. Through my classes I had planned on what I was doing for my assignment to see what I can do efficiently and what path and style I would go. I decided to do two of the cycles (Walk and Run) in 2D style on Krita and have the mechanics in 3D using Maya, as I’m doing a bit of both since I enjoy both 3D and 2D animation from this year in ulster university.Β
The Mechanics Cycle – JumpΒ
For the mechanics animation cycle I chose the jack. Rig for it to be completely 3D animation for this assignment and selected the action which the jack. Rig would then perform of my choosing which would be a simple jump, but mostly a jumping over an obstacle in it’s sequence.Β I used one specific reference for my jump and the other as a back up sequence which can be found here.
Here I used this reference for my Maya character to jump over an obstacle (a cuboid block), matching the arms and legs of the person from getting into position to jump (anticipation) and then lifting himself up from the ground from his feet with his boost (jump contact) from his feet and jumping over to the other side of the floor (mid-air) landing and positioning himself quickly up again for his contact pose which is after the last pose (recovery pose) then just like his pose in the beginning shot. It was a good idea to go for the jump and to use this video reference as well as going for the 3D route for this part of the assignment.
My Walk Cycle – The skip
For my walk cycle, I looked at the ’16 types of walk cycles’ with different attitudes and personality even if it’s entirely 3D or 2D these where my references and inspirations that came from this video. Watching the video and every walk type, I chose the skip cycle part for my character to be a kid (a little girl) and for her to travel and to be happy and cheerful while skipping to demonstrate her personality as a child. As well as the other below as it is completely in 2D for reference.
I also found a tutorial website to breakdown the skip cycle frame by frame. It also give me quick tips on the skip and the poses I should focus on and what to do and not to do so the arms and legs are following the movement and I’m able to identify the contact, passing, up and down poses. Using this website and the animation breakdown by Amid Amidi from Cartoon brew had been a great help to my decision for the skip cycle and is what I should be aiming for in my animated walk/skip cycle for this assignment or any other animations I will be doing for the future whether be 2D or 3D.Β
TUTORIAL: How to Animate A Skip Cycle (cartoonbrew.com)
My Run CycleΒ
Then finally my run cycle, which I got inspired by other animations and references for my character who is an cat-adult running and used these videos to help support me through the Run cycle animation on Krita. I also looked at the videos on blackboard from Alec’s videos from the class sessions to aid me for my animation cycle and what I am looking for to complete it in no-time. For my character I wanted them to run a serious manner as they are reaching for a goal in the end or chasing someone else to match their personality and character.
I quickly went to work on my animations which was the 2D animatics first for the run and walk/skip cycle. To get the hang of the bodies and to quickly see any improvements that needed done before moving onto the rough, eyes, clothes effect and finally the clean-up. For the 2D we didn’t have to colour them in completely or have detailed backgrounds for each animation as they gave us the choice since it might be time-consuming for us to get everything done in time for the assignment submission. Then done the mechanic jump afterwards using the references and doing the animation timing on Maya. Here are my first WIPs of the animation assignments.
Reflection
Throughout this course I really enjoyed this semester 1 with the animation cycles whether it was 2D or 3D related exercises or just lessons during our lectures given by our lecturers Alec or Henry. I liked going back to the roots of frames/poses and experimenting the animations on Maya or Krita as I enjoy both versions of software which I know my way about. I’m also glad that there were people coming in some days to show of their animation guides for pipelines and what they had worked with as it gives me ideas and opportunities I may be looking forward to in the future.
However, there had been some hiccups within the course this semester one. When it came to the other assignments like the 3D environment, CV and showreel it had been time consuming and I had little time to focus on the animation cycles. As well as getting references and deciding what I was going to do for the cycles while thinking of character designs. Well I was relieved that assignment 2 was due for after Christmas and new years for January as it given me more time to focus on the other assignments and more time to complete the assignment 2 after Christmas.Β
Walk Cycle – SkipΒ
Run cycle
Mechanics – Jump
OneDrive link for mechanic jump – https://ulster-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personal/maxwell-l5_ulster_ac_uk/EvSeZGvsMgtDpYmGlDZU_XUBYmN6xgnKb-Ih-nbz8rhc6w?e=mnUtzB
Syncsketch for better view of animations –Β https://syncsketch.com/sketch/YjI1NWUwMDg1/
CV
Cover E-mail
Showreel
Sketchfab From the two models shown onto my showreel –Β
3D models by LaurenMaxwell3 – Sketchfab
3D models by LaurenMaxwell3 – Sketchfab
Reflective research for myself and others when looking for my future job and how to prepare myself with a CV, Showreel and a cover – email to meet their requirements.
What’s makes a good/clear CV and makes it stand out?
To have a good CV is too have a clear, concise and to make every point necessary without waffling about other stuff in my life on one page which should only include what is relevant and not include things that are not related to my future job career. It is beneficial for any individual if they have listed their past responsibilities on different work experiences they had gone through as well as any volunteer work they have worked in for the past few years. The CV should include our most important part’s of our lives which is contact information that are the following: home address of where we currently live and our postcode, mobile and home telephone number so we can receive calls andΒ email address which should be a professional account, so we can receive messages from the company.
The CV should be clear with our typed writing with no grammar mistakes present as we should always proof-read our work and look out for any punctuation mistakes as well as to avoid any repetition of the same words, so we don’t repeat ourselves over and over again. It is practical to remove any outdated information which is no longer needed for our CV as it would not be relevant for our future and remove information which is incorrect or entirely false for anyone who is lying about their qualifications or experience. Everyone must write down in full honesty on what we are familiar with, what we can do and where we have worked before and accurate dates in which these accomplishments have taken place. The CV should not be long or be many pages to fill in relevant information for the selected company, it should only be 1 or 2 pages but mostly 1 for our CV is not a novel or essay just a piece of paper which identify the whole area about ourselves.Β
Cover Email
Before moving onto the cover email I would have to list more stuff onto our CV, apart from just detailing my responsibilities as the organisation would be more interested in the skills and the software I have knowledge of doing. The form should have at least 3/4 quarters long of text to fit the one page and should not be completely filled as the organisation will get tired of it while reading it from top to bottom. I would have toΒ add in my achieving results from my school years such as their grades I had passed and accomplishments in each of my classes from the past few years. The CV itself should have clean and simple spacing for text, a consistent layout and font size for the employer to read off text with no problem of the size and the highlight of the job I am applying for.
When applying for any future job, I should talk a little about myself and tell them why I would want to work for that one particular studio as I would want to know why I chose them and where have I heard of them before or which of any of the advertisements have caught my eye e.g., commercial, interviews or from a friend. I would then explain why they think they are suitable for this job and the role I have chosen for myself can be beneficial to this studio, as well as meeting their requirements e.g., 3d animator, 2d animator or a professional at rigging.Β
When checking the studio for the specific job I want, I must check over the job’s description for the type of recruitment for what they are looking for and if they don’t have any openings for my specific job role, I would simply move onto the next job career when searching for a similar job that will suit my chosen role. I should also mention the work I have seen from their organisation like games, short films or any commercials they have to promote a specific product. Then I must tell them why I liked them that made anyone and me want to apply this studio.
In the middle or at the very end of the Cover email everyone should most importantly input their links to the CV which will then directly take them to their showreel/portfolio to present their work from the past year and how it has evolved. It should tell the their specific company what they are working with in terms of animation whether it be 2D or 3D and their work in progress (WIPS) to their final stage of the project. The showreel should be nicely edited with background music which would give the video an upbeat to it, for the viewers to watch and not turn away from it with sound doesn’t fit in or completely unmuted.Β
At the opening of the email I should avoid putting in ‘dear sir or dear madam’ as the post for the job could be sent anonymously so instead the individual should open with ‘dear hiring manager’ and to use a professional email account so any individual can see only my and their work from a specific website e.g., Artstation or Syncsketch. Which then showcases our work is on what we think is our massively best to present our work to this selected company and has what they are looking for within ourselves.
InterviewΒ
If the company had seen the person’s, CV, showreel/artwork/animation and cover email and responded back to the individual saying they want to arrange an interview for any day with the individual for their final task to getting into the company and getting their assigned job role. First, I must arrange with the responder on what day I am free or change it if something had come up during the week. Once the date and time is sorted out, the I must figure out what I must wear to the interview that should be neat and tidy and nothing to flashy. For I must wear professional clothing like suits, dark jeans and flat shoes or small heels, mostly clothes up to date which do not look out of date and are comfortable to wear. For everyone must avoid low cut tops, anything revealing or too short which is not acceptable to wear and flip fops with hats with brands on them.
For any particular interview, any individual should make sure to know what they are bringing with them to their interview so they can prepare beforehand and not leave anything to the last minute. So everyone must be able to bring their current and a copy of their resume incase the interviewer would want to review it during the interview or there being two interviewers for the session. Body language is very vital for face-to-face discussions as when the two are communicating with each other the person getting interviewed should have a good posture and stance are straight but relaxed and not to cross your arms or legs as they will think the individual is closed off or being a defensive state. But we must be entirely focused on the person face to face or online zoom as they will be looking at your facial expressions as they will see if were making non-verbal gestures during the interview.Β
I must always remember to research the company beforehand as they will ask myself significant questions relating to the company. I might have to research the origin of company, who is currently running it and any current or past employees who had left a while back along with any announcements they have recently posted. Then I will be asked why I want to work here, where have I seen or heard about their company from and what role am I looking for to work here? I must give reasonable answers for these questions, answer truthfully and give answers on what my knowledge carries for specific technology and it’s limit.
When I have arranged an interview with the employer they will either meet me at random or a he or she will be instructed from the letter, telephone call or by email message as they will meet me at that specific time. It can be beneficial to know about that person before the interview like their role in the company and what makes them stand out, as any person an I being interviewed can prep questions of their own to the interviewer about their position. That way the interviewer can talk about their experience with their position, give an insight to current events to the field or bring up a common interest outside the workplace but only one thing so you don’t go off speaking about something else for the entire interview and waste time.
When talking face to face with the interviewer and getting the achievements, work experience and answering their questions about the workplace, they will ask about myself about in person then reading off from the CV. It is also good to research the total salary in which the company makes because I or anyone will get asked about our salary expectations as it will be a trick question so anyone will be caught off guard if I haven’t researched their salaries.Β It’s always good to go for the average pay with everyone else within the company itself.Β
Another great way for everyone to prep themselves before their interview is too do a mock interview. It’s great way to ask for a family member, a friend or a partner to play the interviewer which then they would ask serious questions which at a high rate would likely come up during the interview, which the person including I will come up with the most appropriate answers and be easy for us to remember ahead of time when practising.Β Β
References from websites
(βHttps://Animatedjobs.com/Jobs/Animator/β)
The Muse Editor. βThe Ultimate Interview Guide: 30 Prep Tips for Job Interview Success.β Themuse.com, The Muse, 5 Feb. 2018, www.themuse.com/advice/the-ultimate-interview-guide-30-prep-tips-for-job-interview-success.
Network, Creative Boom and Katy Cowan, part of the Guardian Culture Professionals. β10 Tips on Writing a Successful CV.β The Guardian, 15 Mar. 2012, www.theguardian.com/culture-professionals-network/culture-professionals-blog/2012/mar/15/cv-tips-first-arts-job#:~:text=A%20good%20CV%20is%20clear.
βTop CV Tips for 2022 Β· PPR New.β Www.ppronline.co.uk, 16 Dec. 2021, www.ppronline.co.uk/blog/2021/12/top-cv-tips-for-2022?source=google.co.uk. Accessed 21 Dec. 2022.
Through my course of Animation Strategies, with the last 12 weeks of working with animation and introducing us to unreal engine, while I played a part within a group project that was simply marvellous this semester. At first it seemed much of what we had done within our first year with animation group projects with 2D and 3D especially with the software Maya we have used from last semester. But it was the start with Unreal Engine and how it can be used for such stunning environments with 3DΒ along with 2D walk, run and mechanic animation cycles.Β
There was difficulty with group members not coming in the University for the course or being absent from the group project thinking they’ve abandoned it as well as having issues with software such as storage related items and only able to do the dungeon part. But the UV, modelling and texturing on substance painter was not too bad since I have been through them before and used Alec’s and Henry’s videos on blackboard to assist me through this project. The only issues I faced was trying to apply the models and textures into unreal and apply my video into my blog, but I soon overcame this obstacle on my own and with others.Β