We were introduced to Glenda Martin when it comes resilience on criticism and feedback from others on our work. As well as coping with it in our lives so we may adapt and grow to these comments while following adversity but not take in rude people who think what they say is always right where it is actually wrong. Stress was also talked about which is always with me 24/7 but comes with the bad and good success in our lives with animation.
There was also talk about our placements and our future on what we would want to do next year. For me placement year with others. We also given the Handshake website which comes with many job roles and professions for any individual.Β
For this lesson this week we were presented to lighting in Unreal Engine. Henry had shown us the process of lighting within the kitchen model by using different types of light, optimising the colour of the objects with the walls and indirect illumination. Compared to last week with the colouring and effects of models this wasn’t too complicated at all this week and gives us ideas what to add within our project which is still a work in progress.Β
Here is the kitchen from last week’s exercise with lighting added and has been optimised to the lighting to appear naturally.Β
Four people had appeared into our course last Friday and introduced themselves as Denis, Rachel, Matthrew and Rheanna who are animators, concept artists, 3D modellers and Directors. They had told us about their work and companies that have helped in their process to create characters and be able to animate their short films. They give us tips on what companies would want from us and want to see from our portfolios for the future as it is relevant to who we are and what can we do.Β
We asked them questions about their work, experience, what had motivated them to keep going with this work. Like for e.g. “It is vital to have hobbies or do something with someone that doesn’t involve work, for if you keep working on your computer every day your hands will only know the keypad and nothing else you have enjoyed in life”. It is important not to burn out on work as must relax, exercise and stay hydrated. It was a very interesting meeting with these graduates as it does give us time to think about what we want to do and what we should aim for our CV’s.Β
We were introduced to Unreal texturing on models while using mixed media and understanding how to colour scheme the props using different materials within the starter content.Β
During class we had watched Henry demonstrate on selecting a prop and deciding the colour and material it is. Henry recorded himself and uploaded his lessons on blackboard so the videos can guide us along. For our exercise we followed our lessons to use on the models and try out a kitchen model with many props.Β
It was a fun lesson, and it gives a clear view on what to do when importing materials nad colours.
Absorbing new information this week for Professional Practice had taught us about people’s portfolios with Showreels which are a collaboration of videos and their best art, which is then edited together which presents their work overall or what they have done within the year. Also, that we would have to show our work in there showreels whether it be 3D, 2D. hybrid live action or concepts but never Work in Progress.Β
For our homework, we had to create a 30 second short film with Alec’s old videos and use his audio that had selected into one showreel, so I picked the best ones to showcase.Β
Our group had prepared a presentation for our Faerie Dungeon concepts, art styles and layout of the building. It ended with us having tips and improvements for concept ideas and our layout for the levels.Β
We were given an exercise on a tree style we would pick and choose what kind of art style I would go for. For my tree I wanted to look cute and calm for the person to have that emotional response when they first looked at it. I wanted to go for two tone colours with gradient with soft pastel colours and a selected texture for the leaves of the tree using substance painter.Β
I also did an asset for fun and try to fit the theme for group project in the Faerie dungeon.Β
The activity overall was interesting a good way to recap what we had done back in first year of animation. As well as having blackboard videos from our lecturers and using YouTube related to substance painter to aid us when we are stuck on a problem that we cannot fix.Β
Interesting this week with job role seminar and CV designs. This week is the continuation of job roles and going straight into our CVs for our assignments in December. Here we looked at examples on blackboard on what we should be aiming for our CVs in terms of colour, logos/names, layout and what is exactly written to make it intriguing to read when to get hired.
Showreels with good editing
Maelene Naftzger – Animation DEMO REEL (2020) – YouTube
ArtStation – Daniele Di Nezio
Animation | Janelle Feng
Fascinating this week with the continuation of unreal engine and adding certain assets into the software for modelling. It’s a start for recognizing unreal engine and how it is quite similar to blender and maya in this situation and how it will be used for our final assignment.Β
For this week we were set into our groups and went into it on assets, levels and colour schemes within our projects. We were set a task to complete a presentation on our planning, concept work and how’s doing what for each asset. For my progress I have done a few concepts and working on maya for early drafts of these assets and rendered them.
This week we were introduced to our course this semester, Professional Practice which covers job roles included in animation such as Director, Concept Artist, Producer and etc. For our homework we had to research and answer some questions on job sites and find a junior artist working in a role we like to do for the future.
For me there is a few options I would consider but for now I would say Animator, Character Designer/Concept Artist and Storyboard artist. I have searched job roles and here is a few I found on different websites.Β
Indeed, Job Role Animator
Monster, Job Role AnimatorΒ
People who have this role:Β
Pollovy (Birgit Uhlig) Animator/Storyboard Artist
Website – Birgit Uhlig – About Me (pollovy.art)
Twitter – β°Birgit “Pollo” Uhlig (@pollovy) / Twitter
Instragram – Birgit Uhlig (@vupol) β’ Instagram photos and videos
YouTube – pollovy – YouTube
Pollo is a senior at Laguna College of Art and Design, graduating in May 2023. She is natively Australian but was raised in Germany and is currently working in USA taking part in various art projects over the years.Β
Here is her Portfolio from her website – Birgit Uhlig – Portfolio (pollovy.art)
As well as her own Animation ReelΒ
Looking at her art such as her sketch’s, storyboards and animation and how she was able to do such tasks inspires me that with this sort of level of animation, anything is possible with tons of planning, sketching and storyboards. But what’s most important is how any other animator can have fun with their animation when it comes to their creativity and storytelling.Β It can also influence a lot of companies looking for someone of this level with animation and that’s what I want for my future.
Starting my 2nd year at animation is a big step with new experiences and techniques to learn for the future. For my first day I was feeling sick so I couldn’t go into Uni but still looked out for any updates or information on blackboard/Discord. For this semester we will be using unreal engine for our assignment 1’s while being part of different groups with different ideas.
We had been set into groups for our first semester assignment on making an environment of our choosing. Here we have been gathering references for our faerie dungeon and what can be included by using Pinterest for references.Β
For our first class we learnt about art style and pipelines while finding our art styles with shapes, colour and composition. For our 1st exercise we had to select our 3D puzzles and remember the basics of topology either by Maya or Blender, for me I chose Maya to complete these exercises.Β The exercises were good enough and really made me reflect on my second semester in first year. For exercise 7 I would say the aspect which differs the two spheres are smooth or bevel tool.
