Good day Bad day: the pace is picking up... at last...

At the minute, touch wood, things seem to be going ok...

Ive been using the media lab, which I never knew exisited, but has cintiqs set up ready to go, so Ive basically set up camp there, a little home from home. This week, after spending so long on the first bedroom scene, and starting the second one, I thought Id move away from them for a bit, have a clean start on the cintiqs and start another scene. And the change in pace has surprised me. Ive nanaged not only to pretty much rough out the bathroom scene, but also the kitchen scene aswell. They still take time obviously, and still need alot of work, but using the cintiqs I have found to be alot more freeing and ive become more loose with my drawings, which is hopefully adding more life and movment and exaggeration to the piece, which is what I am going for.

Plus the pace and energy of the film means that it doesnt need as many inbetweens as first thought, as it needs to keep up the quick pace of the characters throughout.

So at the minute, Im enjoying it. Its alot more relaxing and enjoyable than working on paper, and I feel that its looking nice and coming together well. The characters and their designs are working and are easy to draw and manipulate for exaggerated poses and expressions. the only problem now is, I want a cintiq... spare £750 anyone?...

Good day Bad day: spoke too soon...

As much as Im loving the use of the Cintiq, it unfortunatly has come with its downsides- it seems that since using it with my laptop, my version of Flash no longer opens... great timing...

this means long nights in uni, but Im sure Ill get used to it- i can go without daylight for the next few months, its fine...

Good day Bad day: the Miracle of Wacom Cintiqs...

This week, I was still struggling to get to grips with using Flash- trying to keep in mind the fundamentals of animation, while drawign from the tablet to the screen. It taking along time to get through even the first scene, which is worrying.

But I got told about Wacom Cintiqs. I had no idea what they were, or what they did, but I got one to use on my computer, and its basically a computer screen you draw straight on to. It makes things so much easier, as it gives you the freedom and feeling of drawing on paper, but the organisation and benefits of working on Flash. Now I need to really pick up the pace, and start being more free and loose with my drawings, roughing the animation out first before thinking about finalysing  or colouring, and hopefully using these shoudl help. fingers crossed...

Good day Bad day: Starting on Flash

This week, we had a presentation to the music department, to see if we could gather from them about creating original music for our work. I cleaned up the animatic a little for it, but again it was another daunting moment thinking will people like it, will anyone be interested, if not, where do I get music from?

Luckilly, people seemed to take to it again, and really liked it- well they laughed anyway which is more than I could have asked for. And after it all, I got 2 people that were interested in doing something for it, which is amazing, to think that someone else likes the film so much that they want to be a part of it. So now im motivated even more to get this film together and looking right- no pressure...

But the animation is going slowly. I started the first scene in the bedroom this week, using flash, but Im finding it hard to take to. Im finding it difficult to somehow draw on the tablet and get it looking right. It feels like Im not thinking about the animation, but more the line quality and trying to get it done as quickly as possible and as clean as possible, even adding colour. But hopefully I'll get used to it, and hopefully soon...

Good day Bad day: Let the animation commence...

Now the work begins... its time to begin the animation...

After deciding not to work in paper, I want to create the film in Adobe Flash. It was daunting at first thinking about drawing straight into flash and getting used to the software, but I think that hopefully in the long run it should be a quicker and easier way of working, as the backgrounds will be able to instantly be there, and the drawings are easy to manipulate and eventually colour.

I began with the initial house scene, getting the background split up so that I could zoom intothe house a little before the bird flies in. Its about 2 seconds, but its a start...

Good day Bad day: final finalised backgrounds

The backgrounds have had a few more little tweaks, but for now I cant spend anymore time on them- I need to start animation, and quickly... but here they are anyway...

Good day Bad day: People actually like it?!..

After the sweatbox, and having the first opportunity to show other people the film and the animatic, I was quite worried at first that they wouldnt get it, or wouldnt find it funny. I thought it would just be something they quite like but wouldn't really stand out much to them.

But I was really surprised when they watched it... and laughed. People seemed to really like it! They liked its look and style, and really seemed to get its humour and story. I was totally surprised, but it left me feeling confident and excited, motivated to get on with actually making the film now and making it the best that it can be so that when they see it again, it creates the same reaction.

On to animation...

Good day Bad day: Finished Backgrounds...

This week, we had a sweatbox- showing our designs and ideas so far infront of the class. For it, I managed to get my backgrounds finsihed, which I was happy about...

I also wanted to show the characters in the environments, and see if fitted nicely into the world or not, so they were quickly Photoshopped into the backgrounds to quickly test how they looked...

Adding all of the props and detials was fun, and brought the images to life, without overcomplicating them...

...and the characters are still the main focus of the piece, fitting in yet standing out...

Also, just through a mistake of moving a colour layer too far, I really like the style of having the colour seperated from the lines and sitting slightly outside them- it looks more cut out, linking back to the style of 101 Dalmations, and adds to their quirky style and keeping them soft, simplified whilst adding movement and life...

I am so please with how these have turned out. I have toned down the colours, and kpet a limited palette, but also gave each character slightly different pallettes- blue for the good day, more of a green tone for the bad, and also a little darker in place, just to shwo a bit of a difference. I am happy that I have managed to achieve a level of detail that brings the scenes to life, without overcomplicating them, and the characters also seem to fit well with them, which I am happy with.