Catch Up Time post Part 2 - Apologies

Apologies for the lateness of these posts but my time management with posting is off the wall.

Anyway.. short one for the minute as i have no half way through screenshots.

Now getting on the with flying books animation and its quite enjoyable if a labour of love to get done and I'll probably have an irrational fear of paper by the end of this but it's going well.

I've had to do a lot of planning with directional arrows in order to track each piece of paper as it flies from up in to the air and account for the weight of the paper at the same time so now that I'm looking at it.

It looks like a mad mess of arrows that no one but me can understand so that's something. Now onto actually drawing 100 frames or paper.

Our group seems to be getting on fine, though we do butt heads a little with all three of us particularly my self and Mr character animator having very direct, strong personalities but i think that Ross is a lot more relaxed which balances us out and keeps everything working the way it should.

Right now Joe is working on the character animation of the angry detective while Ross works on the end scene when the book hits the floor and the logo is shown.

Until next time (catch up)

Catch Up Time post 1 of ?

OK this is the first of a few entries I'm making, catching up on how the work on final sting has been going - I know all posted on the same day but they are back tracking.

I finished the background layouts and there looking very nice now, the lighting on them fits well with style of the whole sting. Ross has now finished

the furniture for the background though some will have to be pulled back so as not to over crowd the image.

The image below is the general furniture layout without shadows at the moment and eventually they will fit nicely into the background.

This background also has a reverse with a book case and the door to the room, that particular layout that is displayed below is completely finished now.

I'm happy with the way things are going right now but the stress is starting to wear on my nerves a little, having to juggle everything between three people instead of one, but that is as i would expect the way the industry works and therefore its a case of put up and get on with it. Find a way to make it work even if the general feeling is break your laptop.

Now moving on to the most important part of all, the animation of the books flying off the table. Though while doing this i would prefer not to be spoken like I'm an idiot in the process!

That's all for the minute (until the next instalment of back log Journal updates anyway..)

Ironing Out ( Week 1 of 6 )

Today in my opinion was very satisfying in terms of work flow and ironing out the kinks in who's doing what. It is settled that I am now doing the backgrounds for the room, the basic fundamentals of the room e.g. the wallpaper, wainscot, floor, doors, lights. I am also animating the shot of paperwork and books flying through the air after the initial Rage scene.

Ross is working on the furniture and details of the room, coat stand, fire place etc, looking into s

ound As well as animating the closing shot of the magnifying glass falling onto the book.

Finally my worries regarding Jo Spink has been quelled and everything is running smoothly within the team and fears have been proved wrong and as i knew before he's very hard working and has been planning the animation of the character, getting the movement tied down in rough before proceeding with the next stage.

As i said Jo will be doing the character animation as it is his strength, i understand that animating in the style that i drew the animatic is hard work so Myself and Ross will help in anyway we can with anything on the side.

In betweens etc or as Neil put it 'Donkey work' haha!

At the moment i'm working with the layout of the room in the far background, colour palette, wainscot and wallpaper using sources images as research material but then designing the pattern myself, as it should be done.

The image of the wallpaper motif is below, however on the final layout will be faded into the background to the avoid the layout looking to busy.

Right now I'm working on the lighting (see Top of the Blog) and planning out the other background shot such as this one, reversed with the door to the room in full view as the camera flips from one side of the desk to the other, in order to express the character's emotions more clearly.

When drawing this up for the animatic i was a little worried about crossing the Line and it not making sense but we'll Cross THAT line when we reach it. Anyway i think that's all for now.

Things are going well, i'm really excited about this, ITS GOING TO BE GOOOD!

~Peace Out.

WEEK 1 OF 6 - meeting of the minds

Right where to start, this the first post of my Lincoln Asylum blog that is going to follow the exploits and post the work of My 3 years on the BA Animation Course at Lincoln University.

I've been working on a 20 second Ident for Lincoln University about a detective that has lost his magnifying glass, i started with a very rough storyboard and then character design.

First day of group work, my animatic 'Lost Equipment' <--- (link to the video) was chosen to be made out of the three of us in the group. Myself, Jo and Ross.

We've divided the work up between us with Jo aka Spinky (animator) doing the animation because of his talent and smooth style, me working on background layout and generally being 'director' while Ross (Art Dec) is working on the more intricate elements of the layout and seeing what he can do about sound. He's very musical.

I'm looking forward to working as part of a team but I'm quite apprehensive at the same time, I've worked in teams before and ended up doing everything but i guess in this case i trust the guys I'm working with to pull their weight. lets hope I'm right....

Art Dec seems perfectly fine with everything and will voice an opinion if theres problem, we work in very similar ways with similar styles so that's OK.

I'm a little more worried about animator because i know he would of preferred to work on his own animatic, our styles are very different, he's very independent and quite happy to get on with it. I like to keep everyone together and discussing so i think i need to make the effort to keep an eye on what he's doing so that we're all collaborating well and consulting each other on decisions we make within the Ident, especially if it is going to affect the ascetics of the final outcome.

So apart from a few first day jitters, we've talked and everything seems to of got of to a good start. I need to work on my backgrounds over the weekend while I'm at home and watch some more Sherlock Holmes (The Granada television with Jeremy Brett)so i can look at the sets of the rooms. Finally my Kubrick collection needs a re-watch.

think thats me done for today.

~Peace Out.