Bruno Mayor - Haribo.

Haribo.





"Haribo," is another animation created by Bruno Mayor. This style of animation is something I've never seen before, neither has it crossed my mind that animation could be created this way.The video depicts a strange man sitting on a bed or chair, discussing his vast addiction to caffeine, there isn't much sense to this animation, as another strange man bursts through the door, exclaiming that he must wake up, and then proceeds to blow fire out of his mouth and everything then blows up......
  There are a few ways I think this animation could have been created, either digitally or physically; Digitally this would be created probably through the means of something similar, if not, cinema 4D, where the shapes and colours would be put together on a computer, with camera angles being added . Physically, this could have been made using stop motion, where the fluorescent lights have been altered and created just for this purpose, then using photography, a field that mayor seems to specialise in, the images would be put together using animation software. Stop motion would also explain the slightly blurred lines, created when the characters are speaking and moving rather fast. I like this animation mainly for its lack of sense, there isn't really much of a storyline, and the length of the video means that it has ended pretty much before the viewer has any chance to take in what has happened. This is a very clever idea when it comes to things such as animations, as views are what makes it successful, so multiple viewers clicking the animation over and over again to try and make some sort of sense of it is a great way to achieve exposure and a video almost "Viral."

Project 3: Week 6 Reflections. - END FOR CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS.

Week 6 Reflections.

Days:	Monday 9th	Tuesday  10th	Wednesday 11th	Thursday 12th	Friday  13th	Saturday 14th	Sunday 15th
Work to Complete	Continue drawing up all character assets for SCENE 2	Begin drawing up scenery images and background pieces for SCENE 2	Mess with After Effects. Layering and puppet pins	Colour up digitally all character assets for SCENE 2	CAD session  - keep blog up to date.	HOLIDAY till the 7th of Jan CONTINUE WORK.	Reflection

This week I began the process of drawing out all of the assets I needed for my second scene of my animated short. I went through the process of doing simple sketches and then cleaning them up digitally to look more professional.

Monday 9th December: I finished off my main assets and then started uploading images and their alpha channels to Cinema 4D! I don't plan on  animation just yet, as I can do that once I have come back from Christmas. 

Tuesday 10th December: I continued uploading pieces to Cinema 4D and started making an actual scene to film in. 

Wednesday 11th December: Had a look into After Effects to see if it was worth working with as well/ instead of Cinema 4D. 

Thursday 12th December: Completed more assets to be put into my scene in Cinema 4D - Rocks. 

Friday 13th December: CAD session and filled in blog!

Northumberland National Park Competition/ Evaluation.

Northumberland National Park. 

Whilst getting on with my animated short, I was also brought the opportunity to work on a character which would be used in signs and adverts for the Northumberland National Park. This competition was soon ending so I chose to take a few days off the animated short and concentrate on creating this piece ready for the deadline. 

The rules of this competition were that the character has to be a young child, possibly between the ages 5 - 10. I went for around the age of about 7 or 8, as the character would most likely be more independent at that age. 

The character also had to look confident and trust-worthy, as well as outdoors-y and rather adventurous. And I took these rules and put them into characteristics of the drawing. One example of this is her stance, she doesn't have too much of a stereotypically feminine posture, other than her feet turning inwards slightly.

Evaluation.

Creating this piece was a small challenge for me, as well as being something I really enjoyed doing! I took into account my last piece and how airbrushed I thought it was, and decided to go against that completely in this piece. I played around with brushes until I found a thick and contrasting brush setting which allowed me to blend and mould colours together rather than blurring them and taking away any texture. I also really enjoyed the fact I was drawing a little girl rather than a grown woman for a change, as this lead me onto research how a child’s bone structure is on their face, as a lot of children’s faces simply LOOK round and actually aren’t. I also feel as though I chose a rather contrasting colour scheme this time, as opposed to my last piece of personal work, and I think, especially on her face, those colours work really well. I'm rather pleased with how this character turned out, as I don't really focus on drawing children and had to take into account almost everything when I was drawing her. Everything from eye shape, to face shape, to teeth, hair ... everything! But I'm pleased she doesn't look too feminine, and hasn't really been assigned a strong gender role, as this makes her approachable by all ages and genders, and won't appeal to one side more than the other. 

When evaluating this piece, I found a few strengths and weaknesses in my work that I should bring to attention: One of my main strengths in this piece was most definitely my colour and shading, as I felt those aspects were a lot stronger this time around, and they worked well together as both an all-round image and in their individual pieces.  One weakness I found with this image is that although it was to be submitted with just a simple white background, I feel as though I could have done more to this version to make her fit in slightly better with the background, either by just adding a shadow around her feet or back just to make her feel a part of the piece. In the future I think I’ll take this point into consideration when thinking that my image is finished when it may well not be! Even if just adding a shadow, or a source of light could make a big difference to the whole outcome. 

Paul Insect; Who to Believe (2007.)

Another one of Insect’s pieces that stood out to me was his 2007 piece, entitled “Who to Believe,” which was a twist on the lovable Disney character, Pinocchio.

This piece, I feel, would be very successful because of it’s association with Disney. It would reach out to a wide variety of ages ranging from ages 5+, which makes it a social hive. That, combined with the state that the image is in will make it a very successful piece for both good and bad reasons.

The concept of the piece, I feel, is showing possible correspondences between children’s entertainment and secret government forces and facilities. There has been a tone of speculation about whether or not Disney was fueling fascist projects and societies, and this piece clearly indicates some form of injustice, with the character’s nose morphed into a missile, cigarettes and cards poking out from his hat (indication of gambling and drugs.) along with blood dripping from his hands which indicates the possible loss of lives that America is responsible for.

The style of this piece is very simple, it is in the style of the Disney Studios which consists of thick lines and simple, non-blended shading. However, Insect has made this his own with adding a number of pieces to the image to make it much less child friendly. The splatters of blood and dripping paint give the image a much darker and street art feel about it, making the image much more serious and diabolical.

The techniques used in this piece are very subtle until closer inspection. They revolve around drips of paint falling either by accident or on purpose, giving the image an eerie effect and the splashes of paint coming off his fingertips adds to that effect, which I think is a fantastic looking effect.

I think this image would inspire me to create pieces of work on a larger scale, and not just use paper and pens. It makes me want to use large backdrops and use a range of materials to create an image just as serious as this. I also feel that Disney is a great and patriotic style of art, particularly in America and the UK. And drawing something now that I used to draw as a four year old and looking at the difference is an experience I would like to happen.

Paul Insect: Butterfly Face Hoodie (2012.)

One of Paul Insect’s pieces that stood out to me straight away was the “Butterfly Face Hoodie.” This piece is extremely eye-catching in terms of colour, and I feel that is also something to do with the purpose of the piece.

The purpose of this piece, I think, is a spoof/mockup of contemporary fashion illustrations, mixed in with a street art style. I feel as though this is a rebellious piece, aimed to humiliate the rather eccentric styles usually found in the fashion (recently turned “Grunge,”) culture. I feel as though the purpose of this piece of art would influence my work highly, as far as ideas go, I’ve very much kept within the lines of controversy and have never even thought to make something in protest before. And I also feel that expressing anger visually is much better than what I usually see, where “Artists,” take stereotypically pretty pictures and write vulgar language over them.

The style of the piece is very peculiar, the medium seems to be spray paint/ acrylic paint on a piece of wooden grain. This gives a very independent vibe and a resourceful/thoughtful process when it comes to use of materials, which I think is a very inspiring aspect. The use of spray paint (reminding me of Banksy,) also implies an almost propaganda fueled piece.

The techniques used in this piece are rather simple, even upon first glance. This is because of the simple black and white, photograph type print that has taken the form of a hoodie, showing an immense amount of texture on the piece. Another technique used in this piece is detailed acrylic painting; this technique is very effective because it is such a contrast to the other technique. This way is colourful, bright and detailed, where the other is stark, bold and simple.

I think the style and technique of this piece could influence me a lot, as when I am doing art by hand I tend to be rather detailed, and this is not so apparent when I am doing digital work, and I feel I could combine this kind of technique to my style of both kinds of art to create a truly great effect.

Bruno Mayor - Infinito +3

Bruno Mayor.

Infinito+3.



This video was created as part of a show, by Bruno Mayor. It is a clever and accurately timed animation, which depicts various landscapes, coming in a range of shapes, sizes, destinations, and formats.  The animation itself starts off as normal, viewing the various landscapes, which alone are beautiful to look at, and then the screen simply blows up with a mash of colour and vibrancy as the song continues.
The timing in this animation is the key to it's success, as the sequences of images seem to change slightly when the beats emit from the music. The video is also clever when it comes to timing, as when the style of music changes, so does the specific landscape that's in shot at that time. This reminds me of previous search I have done where the animator has scratched or inked an impression of the music onto film and timed it out to the very second, making the illustrations show up on the film with the same exact timing of the music. I think I could learn from this kind of animation, because it would help me incredibly with my timing, if I ever decided to use music with my animations, I would use key parts of the music, or drastic changes to signify the importance or change in something to do with the animation. A change/improvement I would make on this animation would be to maybe add some sort of illustration in it, to mess things up or enhance the viewers attention to other things on the images.

Project 3: Week 6 Plan - 09/12/13

Project 3: Digital Skills Application.

For this project I have been given the task of showcasing my digital skills by making an animated short, along with any other digital work that I feel shows my skills to their full potential. 

Monday, 9th of December:

This week I will be beginning stages of creating the artwork for my animation. I will begin by doing this scene by scene, creating the characters, walk cycles and scenery that's needed. 

Days:	Monday 9th	Tuesday  10th	Wednesday 11th	Thursday 12th	Friday  13th	Saturday 14th	Sunday 15th
Work to Complete	Continue drawing up all character assets for SCENE 2	Begin drawing up scenery images and background pieces for SCENE 2	Mess with After Effects. Layering and puppet pins	Colour up digitally all character assets for SCENE 2	CAD session  - keep blog up to date.	HOLIDAY till the 7th of Jan CONTINUE WORK.	Reflection

Project 3: Week 5 Reflections.

Week 5 Reflections.

Days:	Monday 2nd	Tuesday  3rd	Wednesday 4th	Thursday 5th	Friday  6th	Saturday 7th	Sunday 8th
Work to Complete	Make alpha channels for pieces of work going on Cinema 4D SCENE 1	Start drawing up character movements and walk cycles SCENE 2	SORT FILES IN ORDER!! IMPORTANT	Colour up digitally all character assets for SCENE 2	CAD session  - keep blog up to date.	Documentation.   + Hand in to LoopDeLoop	Reflection

This week I began the process of drawing out all of the assets I needed for my second scene of my animated short. I went through the process of doing simple sketches and then cleaning them up digitally to look more professional.

Monday 2nd December: I finished off remaining artwork for my first scene and then went on to create alpha channels for the assets, as this scene is going to be shot in Cinema 4D.

Tuesday 3rd December: I began to sketch out the starting assets for the second scene of my animation, starting with the characters and walk cycles. 

Wednesday 4th December: Managed to re-arrange and sort out all of my folders, as everything was becoming a mess. 

Thursday 5th December: Began to colour up the digital images for scene 2 on SAI. 

Friday 6th December: CAD session and filled in blog!

Saiman Chow - Whiskey.

Whiskey.

This is another GIF image or loop that Chow has created named Whiskey. I was drawn to this image immediately because of is relevance  and association to Disney.The image is rather quick, as if is only a GIF image there isn't a lot to it, but it seems to depict a Disney character at a bar, receiving multiple glasses of whiskey.

 The traditional white glove gives the subtle impassion of Mickey/Minnie Mouse, or Goofy, who are all very distinguished Disney characters. This relates to be project I am undertaking now, as I am planning on producing a Disney "spoof" as my animation. The fact that the Disney glove is on the receiving end of a bartender, pouring whiskey into a shot glass, which makes the theme much more adult, the same idea I have with my animation. The image itself is rather smooth and subtle, which differs to Chow's other pieces of work, such as "Art," because they are usually rather sketchy and blurred, not so defined. I believe this animation could be produced in a wide variety of programs used to make vector images. Either in photoshop, After Effects, an other similar programs  I have nothing to add to this loop animation, as it gives off enough of the statement that it's trying to make, rather well. And it serves a purpose as well as gaining interest because of the character that's used in the loop.

Project 3: Creating my Characters and assets for Scene 2.

Drawing Out Characters.

I started out in this part of the project by sketching out ways in which I thought my character would look when he was sitting and walking, particularly from multiple views. 

I soon realised, as you can see from this image, that drawing something coming at you head on isn't as easy as one would think, and I took a good four or five attempts at it before I got anywhere near what I was looking for. 

I also had a crack at drawing my little raccoon character in a sitting position and see if I could draw him, stage by stage, getting up and into a walk cycle. 

I found this task rather daunting, as there was no denying it would take a long time, and instead made his legs a lot smaller and decided that sitting could well be just standing if drawn right. 

Once I had his sideways poses sorted, I then went on to try and tackle his front walk cycle. I looked through a few sources on the internet designed to help with walk cycles from al perspectives, and I eventually found one which helped!

 This tutorial stated that from a front walk cycle, if one wanted to, they could keep the characters body at a stand still and only move their legs, and when crouches and lunges were made, just lower the height of the body.

I tried this out and was over the moon when it worked! not only was it so much more simple to do, but it looked so much smoother as well! And as with all the walk cycles I'm doing, I have created them using multiple frames on Photoshop's animation timeline. 

I also realised that I could simply re-use assets that I had made in scene 1, such as the trees, rocks and skulls, so that it would appear to be the same forest! 

Project 3: Week 5 Plan - 02/12/13

Project 3: Digital Skills Application.

For this project I have been given the task of showcasing my digital skills by making an animated short, along with any other digital work that I feel shows my skills to their full potential. 

Monday, 2nd of December:

This week I will be beginning stages of creating the artwork for my animation. I will begin by doing this scene by scene, creating the characters, walk cycles and scenery that's needed. 

Days:	Monday 2nd	Tuesday  3rd	Wednesday 4th	Thursday 5th	Friday  6th	Saturday 7th	Sunday 8th
Work to Complete	Make alpha channels for pieces of work going on Cinema 4D SCENE 1	Start drawing up character movements and walk cycles SCENE 2	SORT FILES IN ORDER!! IMPORTANT	Colour up digitally all character assets for SCENE 2	CAD session  - keep blog up to date.	Documentation.   + Hand in to LoopDeLoop	Reflection

Project 3: Week 4 Reflections.

Week 4 Reflections. 

Days:	Monday 25th	Tuesday  26th	Wednesday 27th	Thursday 28th	Friday  29th	Saturday 30th	Sunday 1st
Work to Complete	Start sketches of characters in new walk cycles, and frames. SCENE 1	Continue with drawing up characters and put them into digital format. SCENE 1	Finish off digital images and walk cycles of characters SCENE 1	Start drawing up scenery in sketches  SCENE 1	CAD session  - keep blog up to date.	Documentation.   + Hand in to LoopDeLoop	Reflection

This week I began the process of drawing out all of the assets I needed for my first scene of my animated short. I went through the process of doing simple sketches and then cleaning them up digitally to look more professional.

Monday 25th November: I started to sketch out rough drawings of my character and the walk cycles and movements he would be doing throughout this scene. 

Tuesday 26th November: I finished off the sketches and put them all into a digital format. I also was able to re-use one of my walk cycles that i created in an earlier project. 

Wednesday 27th November: Finished my walk cycles for my character and saved with alpha channels. 

Thursday 28th November: began having a look at drawing scenery. 

Friday 29thNovember: CAD session and filled in blog!

Project 3: Creating my characters and assets for Scene 1.

Creating assets for Scene 1.

I started off this part of the project by creating the most prominent part of the scene: The forest. I knew that I wanted a black background to give off the full potential of the colour scheme that i have applied to this animation, so the trees I have chosen to do are all rather vibrant against a black background. I've also taken into account the fact that these trees themselves need to show depth of the scene and so I have made them slightly darker, the further back they go. 

From my initial plans you can see I have still kept as much detail in the trees as I can, this is to ensure that the animation looks the highest quality I can make it, and gives off a rather professional look to it. 

I have also added spiky looking flicks at the end of these trees, and the reason for this is because I'm aware that these trees wouldn't look at good if they we

I also made some little bits and pieces to go in my forest, as I felt it would just be a bit boring and repetitive if there were JUST trees. 

Game of Thrones - Gallery Piece.

Last week I got asked if I wanted to put a piece of my work in a local gallery, I was both happy and anxious about this, as I'd never really put on of my pieces up in front of a lot of other people before, that and I had about half a week to do this. 
I decided to go with something that I was really enjoying at the moment and went for something Game of Thrones related.
Daenerys is my favourite character from it so, naturally, I went on to do this piece of her. Although I've seen a lot of artwork simply depicting her naked, I wanted to do something actually relevant to her story so I drew her as her title, "The Mother of Dragons."
The Piece stayed up for about 3 weeks and I had someone contact me asking if they could have it, and although I had already promised this piece to someone else. I was able to print off another and give out that one instead!




 UPDATE: 10th April 2014                               







I went back to this piece last week and made some small changes to the text and her shading, as I felt that towards the end of this piece, I rushed it in order to meet a deadline . This final piece puts my mind to rest and I'm now fully happy with the outcome!

Project 3: Week 4 Plan - 25/11/13

Project 3: Digital Skills Application.

For this project I have been given the task of showcasing my digital skills by making an animated short, along with any other digital work that I feel shows my skills to their full potential. 

Monday, 25th of November:

This week I will be going back to my main project and to the beginning stages of creating the artwork for my animation. I will begin by doing this scene by scene, creating the characters, walk cycles and scenery that's needed. 

Days:	Monday 25th	Tuesday  26th	Wednesday 27th	Thursday 28th	Friday  29th	Saturday 30th	Sunday 1st
Work to Complete	Start sketches of characters in new walk cycles, and frames. SCENE 1	Continue with drawing up characters and put them into digital format. SCENE 1	Finish off digital images and walk cycles of characters SCENE 1	Start drawing up scenery in sketches  SCENE 1	CAD session  - keep blog up to date.	Documentation.   + Hand in to LoopDeLoop	Reflection

Siaman Chow - Art.

Art.























This GIF, or loop cycle animation has been created by Saiman Chow. I was drawn to this piece in particular because of the style it was done in, It differs from the rest of the animations I have researched because of the fact it looks thoroughly sketchy and hand drawn.This image only lasts for a few seconds, but it is very clear to make out what happens during those few seconds. The face of a man, presumed to be Siaman himself? slowly starts to deteriorate and eventually turns into a skull, and for some reason I get a glimpse of the diamond skull associated with Damien Hirst.
 It also focuses on the aspect of deterioration, an aspect which is highly relevant to my project at the moment. There is constant movement in the loop, so t is easy to pass off any irregularities as part of the animation, which is a simple but effective aspect to use. I love how the film is rather gritty, but still moves in a flowing motion and doesn't have any particular jump or skips in the sequence. Chow also manages to cross realism with fantasy, as he is able to make parts of the face vanish, instead of dropping off or crumbling away, this applies mostly to the glasses on his and ears, which i think works rather well. However, if I were to criticize the animation in anyway, the only change i would make, personally, would be to make the image have more gore like features as the face slowly vanishes into the skull, particularly from the nose and eyes.

Gaining Recognition!

Through the summer and autumn I found a number of opportunities and chances to get my Artwork seen more around the area, as well as promote the more untraditional element found in my Art; 

June 20th 2013;
I was approached, online, by a local journalist Mel Miller, who was creating a piece of online written work, concerning the local Artist work in Berwick and the surrounding area, "Berwick and District Art Space," or BADAS as it has come to be known.
I felt rather shocked that someone was interested in my work, as I consider myself to be on the lower end of the scale when it comes to talent in my local area. However when I spoke to Mel she was very interested in how I create my work and the processes and tool that I use to complete them. As digital art isn't something that I consider to be widely known about or appreciated in a fairly isolated town in the Borders. She described the work that goes into digital art really well, and made it very clear for readers who may not have a single clue about  what digital art is. 
The link to the online article is Here, where she has featured two wonderful local artists who use a more traditional, but altogether unique means of practice, who I was honoured to have shared a space with on her article.
Two of my pieces that were featured in the article were ;

"Nebula Elf."                                                                               "Arwen Undomiel."

Although I consider these pieces to be old, and I have improved on my actual digital painting skills since then, at the time I was most proud of these two, and relieved very kind words from a collection of people.

Project 3: Week 3 Reflections.

Week 3 Reflections. 

Days:	Monday 18th	Tuesday  19th	Wednesday 20th	Thursday 21st	Friday  22nd	Saturday 23rd	Sunday 24th
Work to Complete	Listen to the music provided by LoopDe Loop.	Begin drawing up a character in college and digitally at home.	Finish digital drawing of character.	Begin animating character  on After Effects.  Look into puppet pins!	CAD session  - keep blog up to date.	Documentation.   + Hand in to LoopDeLoop	Reflection

This week I took part in a smaller project, separate to my main project, and created a small looped animation for a competition. 

Monday 18th November: I listened to and chose which piece of music I wanted to use for my animation. 

Tuesday 19th November: Drew up a character straight away which was a little cat with headphones on. A pretty simple character which will be easy enough to animate.

Wednesday 20th November: Finished up a digital drawing of my character with separate body parts that I could track to the body and move with the music.

Thursday 21st November: Began animating my character in separate pieces, with the body first, and was also able to make the character blink and smile at certain points.

Friday 22nd November: CAD session and filled in blog!

LoopDeLoop Competition Entry/ Evaluation.

During the week we had a small surprise live brief;
We were asked to take part in a competition, based in Australia, named LoopDeLoop! Which consists of entries from all over the world which are all examples of looped animations. 
We were given the week-long task of designing, creating and animating a small animation Loop to go with a subject, and a sample of chosen music.
There were a set of rules we had to follow in order for our loops to be considered for the competition, and these rules were;

• The animation loop must be 24 frames per second.
• It must be designed and animated to the beats of one of four samples of music chosen by you.
• It must be made and rendered on a green screen-like background (#00FF00.)
• No shadows and the character must have a crisp and clean silhouette.
• All loops must be submitted under the appropriate formats.
• Can be as long as you like, as long at it loops!

The track I chose was very up-beat and quirky, and was my favourite out of all of the songs, and it made the think of a very cute and lovable atmosphere.
 The character that I created to go with this song was a little cat with rather large headphones on. I made the cat look rather techno-like, to match the song choice I made, as well as keeping the colours rather light and "cute" in order to keep up this cheerful appearance.
I made this animation using Adobe AfterEffects, where the character was drawn in a digital program (Paint Tool Sai) and I then put all of the separate drawn pieces into AfterEffects and animated the cat manually through grabbing and moving parts of her body.
Before I did any of this, I had put the track into After Effects first, and then worked out the beats and timings on After Effects' timeline and was able to map out specific parts that my animation would need to move.

Here is my finished, small animation loop;

Evaluation.
I was pleased to have a small break from the big project we were undergoing and doing something small and fresh was a big break for us. I found this project both fun and rather challenging at the same time, as it was my first time using After Effects. I chose something cute and small because I have a lot of experience with that kind of subject, and I chose a very simple design which for me is rather unusual, but I did feel it would help with making the movements of my character a lot smoother and work better all round. If I had to have done anything differently, I would have taken a bit more time ensure that puppet pins and pieces of her body were more intact and running smoothly than on what she looks like. But overall I'm quite pleased with how my animation turned out, I think had I known more about After Effects and also taking to account that the project was only a week long, I could have done slightly more to enhance my animation and make the character do a little bit more with regards to movement.

Project 3: Week 3 Plan - 18/11/13

Project 3: Digital Skills Application.

For this project I have been given the task of showcasing my digital skills by making an animated short, along with any other digital work that I feel shows my skills to their full potential. 

Monday, 18th of November:

This week I will be taking a short break from my current project, and taking part in a short live brief with the class. The live brief is that of an Australian competition called LoopDeLoop.

Days:	Monday 18th	Tuesday  19th	Wednesday 20th	Thursday 21st	Friday  22nd	Saturday 23rd	Sunday 24th
Work to Complete	Listen to the music provided by LoopDe Loop.	Begin drawing up a character in college and digitally at home.	Finish digital drawing of character.	Begin animating character  on After Effects.  Look into puppet pins!	CAD session  - keep blog up to date.	Documentation.   + Hand in to LoopDeLoop	Reflection