Recent Sketchbook pages...

Some pages from my sketchbook, I felt guilty that I had no animation to show... I draw to chill out in the evenings, it's one of my favourite past times. Even if they do turn out a little....iffy.

These are taken direct from my sketchbook... they are a bit of a jumble.

A week of excuses...

Right, this week, after promising myself I would have a great and productive week... sort of went to pot. Due to lots of different reasons, none of which are really excusable, I have only completed one day of work. One!! In a whole week. Sort of dissapointed in myself really. There may be many hours in a day but boy do they go fast!
Anyway, back in the rhythm tomorrow and in uni doing some animation. I have one to show from tuesday but it's still at uni so I'll post tomorrow.
Back on the horse people!!!!

Challenge

Myself and Niomi have set ourselves a challenge (with help from John ofcourse). Seeing as we are animation students we felt like animating. But with a purpose its more fun.

So each day a new word is given from a random word generator which we use to animate. At the end of the day we have to swap our last frames over which we then use to start the next day with. At the end two overlapping films will be made. It's an infinate project and has already proved to be alot of fun.

Our first word was Garbage (given to us by Mary)

It took a while to get back into the swing of animating. The thing I struggled most with during doing this one was having something not move or pause for long enough. But I perseveared and I'm happy with how this turned out.

Today's word was Rapid. I had to start with Niomi's last frame and vis versa, so yeah:

Really happy with this one, alot of fun to do!!!

8:30

Thats my hour earlier, I did try for 8 but my body said no. Will try again tomorrow.

But this what I've done this morning,

Now off to animate. Our word is Rapid.

Penny and Alf

Inspiration

I was on the web, as usual. And I stumbled on this lady. She has a fantastic blog, mostly due to how much life and love she puts into her drawing. I want to put more into my work, and this is a good start.
Kadi

jump

Playing...

Her work here

I saw this and couldn't resist having a go...

I was bored and wanted to make something cute and frivolous. So this is Penny, she is childish and sweet. And a centaur.

Also, I got a fringe cut in yesterday. One of the first things I've done without agonising over it. The hairdresser was sort of shocked when I said I'd only decided to get one the day before.

Anyway, I like it so yay!

If anyone's interested...

Here is some art to look through, stuff that I love and has inspired me...

Devaint Art favs

Some things that I enjoy looking at...

I spend a lot of time looking through other people's art work online. I find it both therapeutic and inspiring.
Anyway, I feel these are pretty relevant.

Artist's DA

I really like all her work, she does characters with huge and indeoth backstories that all interlink. But I especially like these 'Brainspews' because not only does she put loads of lovely pictures in there but she adds little funny comments. It sort of makes it more engaging, and that fact that it makes you smile is a really good thing.

Fall on me comic

This comic is really sweet and simple. Consisting of only four panals, the artist has cleverly positioned and worded her art so it communicates the gag. I wanted to show this because the art isn't particularly considered but this doens't matter as the gags carry it.

All change please....

OK, so I've reached my edge. The feeling of wanting to jump but being to darn scared is nauseating. I have this problem with letting go, doing things for the sake of doing them. And this project is got to that point. I'm looking over the edge but all I can see is fog, not the best feeling in the world.
So, in a radical attempt to bring a bit of enthusiasm and enjoyment back for myself I have decided to simplify my project right down. (I have this horrible personality disorder where I overthink everything so much that I never actually do them... I'm just left with a hirrble panic feeling and sense of dissapointment. In short, I need to say yes more!)

I have come to realise the key thing that is missing from my work is an engaging narrative. I'm sure when it comes down to it I could produce a good painting or drawing. But these are just tools with which to make a bigger picture, the key ingrediant is the story.
So I propose to make a series of short comic/gag strips which focus on delivering an idea rather than their shiny appearance.

I have learned;

I over think to the point where I become completely useless
I have alot of fear

Time to change

Acrylics!!!!

I started on doing a painting in acrylic then got scared an stopped. So instead I did these as a test:

Landscape

Here is the view from the castle's back window. He has a sea in his garden!! (I want one)
It was painted using this colour scheme:

Here it is:

work in progress

Idea for my banner, and the back garden of the castle. Using the colours from the photograph in the previous post.

Blog trawling

I quite enjoy through the blogoshpere. It means I get to see some new things that I maybe wouldn't have otherwise. Such as this guy: David St George
Now, I have done a bit of photography so I can appreciate it. But I've never really been that much of a fan. However, his photographs are rather beautiful. I thought he was worth mentioning on here as the colours he manages to capture/manipulate are stunning.

digital painting

Both drawn straight into photoshop, using predominantly the smudge tool.
The second one is a test for the misty hands of the Ala in my first panel.

Walk Cycle

This week I'm concentrating on the walk cycle... something I'm a bit scared of I have to say. But I've made a start and will use this as a basis for any others that I do. Next time I think I'll try to give it a bit more character.

The rest

Last week I did some bouncing ball tests, but our internet connection at home isn't so good. Anyway, I've managed to get them online :)

Wren

A painting!!

So I wanted to draw my main guy character for once. I had a really strong vision of what he would look like when he made his bargain with the Ala.
I drew him out and painted him in watercolour first, then just played around with some colours in photoshop.

Before I did this I did a very quick sketch of what I want the panel to look like. Its very rough.



light

In my story the girl is given over to the daemon as a sacrifice. I invisioned a procession escorting her to the gates of his castle, all holding candles to light her way. So I wanted to practice light being cast on her face from random angles. This is what I came up with.

Digital painting

I had a go at doing some digital painting (finally bit the bullet). I'm glad I did, even though it's not come out as well as I'd hoped it's a good start. It can only get better... right?

Sharp Shotz

I am lucky enough to be involved in a project called Sharp Shotz this year. Where I, and 3 other uwe students, will be providing creative and techincal support to 2 groups of secondary students. We have so far had two meetings and it's been really exciting.
I have written up detailed reports of these meetings, as I believe we are going to graded on this, but I'm not sure what I can say online. So, for now, here's the main site - Sharp Shotz

.... we were being filmed for the second meeting... it was very bizaar.

A bit of background information...

My male character started off as an vampire, but I felt that it was a bit ...lame. He needed to be a bad guy, but with sympathetic qualities and a reason for being bad.
So I looked up mythological creatures, monsters and shapeshifters. And I came across this creature, Ala. It is said to be a weather daemon that causes havoc to crops.
Ala info

I am not very good at drawing the weather so I though this would be a great challenge, and I will be looking at Turner for inspiration.

Anyway, I decided that something that cause shapeshift and control the weather would make a really good bad guy. I have written a brief back story for him, but need to flesh out his character much more.

Storywise...

So before I said that my story is set around the early 19th century. I have been thinking it through and I've decided it would be better if had a fairytale time rather than an actual one. It makes it easier for me to shape my characters how I want them, and gives me free reign on their scenes too. I havn't done any painting yet because I am trying to cement my characters first. The story is fleshing out and evolving.
This is the first outline of the story that I came up with. It's very rough around the edges. My main male character has changed pretty dramatically.

Basically the main theme of this story can be summed up in one picture...

Some Animation

On Monday I dragged my lazy bones into uni to actually do some animation! I know, crazy right. It was quite alot of fun, may not have done much drawing though as I got carried away with using a 5 pence piece to work out a path. I think the instant result was pretty gradifying.
Anyway, I've done a few little test, unfortunatly youtube is taking about a day and a half to upload one so I'll add more as I get them up onto the interwebs.

This test I wanted to give the ball a bit of character, so its more of a bouncy creature than a bouncing ball. I may have uploaded these in slightly the wrong order... Oh well.

Something to aim for...

A while ago I wrote the outlines for a story and I wanted to make it into a comic. I then decided that I wanted to make a series of illustrative paintings.
Later on I found these --->

click for more...
She has basically done what I want to do, only better. Anyway, this is what I want to aim for. Using old painting techniques, but in my own drawing style.