as far as i got...

So I didn't get the scene completely finished, but I got most of the little dog character finished, and i think it is long enough to see how it is working and what it could look like. Unfortunately I wont be able to work on project much over Christmas due to lack of software at home...so I'm going to focus on my dissertation for the next few weeks. Hopefully I will get straight back into the project when we get back and begin production...

animated shot with the background changed...

Below I have changed the background of the animation I was working on so it now has the most up to date version of the background. I wanted to see how this worked, and I think it really does make the piece a lot bolder and works better. I am aiming to get this piece of animation finished by the end of this week so that I have a scene in complete colour as a final shot. I have started to work out every shot and break down the animation into sections so that the layouts can start to be drawn out and the animation can begin as soon as possible.

The test shot below is using the changed background that is a little stronger and shady and the characters have the textured line I chose when working through the animation. It was also put together in Toon Boom the way it would be during production. I think it works quite well...but I'd still like to develop the backgrounds a little more...

test animation

Below are some test animation shots I did to try out the animation and see what it looks like when all put together. I have changed the background a little since I did this animation and intend to make it better still, however it is nice to see it working.

First I did quite a few versions of this small section to check the movement and the best method. I was most happy with the version below which I did in Toon Boom and I think this is probably the best method to use in production.




I then started to colour the scenes as I really wanted to have at least a small section of coloured animation finished by the end of term so that I could really see what it could end up looking like.I began to do this by exporting the frames out and lining and colouring them in photoshop.



However the characters were coming out with quite a thick line and not looking quite as hand drawn as the example character designs do. Andy then showed me how in Toon Boom you can add textures to the line you use, and this would save time exporting out frames and make the drawings look more hand drawn and textured, generally a bit nicer than having heavy black outlines. So I worked through these and roughly drew out the dog character using a few different textured lines to see which worked nicely.




Using one of these I then continued to clean up and colour the characters in toon boom and straight away I could see a difference in the result from the beginning frames where I used photoshop. I think it will take time to get used to working in this way as I find it much harder to colour in toon boom as I think its main purpose is for animating, however it gives nicer results if the time is taken to get used to how it works and I think the animation will generally look better with this technique.

playing with the colour...

Having got some feedback from Kathy about the background designs, I have worked on them a little further today in between animating and other bits and bobs. As they were looking a little pale, I first very quickly just tried to use similar colours, just bolder and slightly stronger however I think this came out a little garish. But I could see what Kathy meant about it being a little pale, and needing a bit more.




I then looked at a lot of background designs on animation backgrounds blog, and there are some really lovely pieces and really stylised ones. I then worked over the piece again and I think I'm definitely improving...



I used much more shading and lighting techniques on this one, but made the colours stronger and bolder as well. I also took some shades out of the grass and made it a bit simpler in the tones I used. I think it is starting to look a little better, however I really want them to look professional and working perfectly for the final piece, so I need to keep working on them and developing my style and skills after the hand in on Friday.

animation tests...

Below I have done a few different animation tests to get back into it and also to test out the way I can best animate the characters. I started a trial in TVPaint which went quite well, but there are lots of things that need smoothing out, but from this I worked out the movement I wanted. I felt I wasn't getting the movement quite right possibly as I was more used to working by hand. So I went back to basics and started to hand draw the movement, or at least the key frames I was aiming for.
I then had another go on the computer using toon boom, which I feel went quite well in the end. It isn't finished yet and some of the movement still needs tweaking and a lot of clean up. I would like to do a full test by hand, just to see if I can get a smoother and more natural animation...

Project developments...

After having a production meeting this morning with the tutors a I can see more clearly areas that still need to be worked on.

I really want to get the backgrounds working well and make them look much more artistic and stylised. I think I have made improvements since my first designs and they are really getting there, but they definitely need some work and developing.

As we are now getting close to the pre-production hand in, I really want to focus on doing a bit of animation so that we have a test shot to hand in and an idea of what we need to work on and how it will look. The animation of the piece will also be my main focus next term when we start production. Harriet is focusing on the characters for now, but next term, when I am organising and doing the animation, she will be focusing on the background design and the style of the piece, so that hopefully we can bring it all together. In the next week, after talking again with tutors about the storyboard, we will go through it and discuss the final shots and layouts of the scenes, and breaking the scenes down into sections for background and animation purposes.

We also discussed the idea of the characters having eyes. This has been mentioned a few times now, and although the characters were being kept simple as they were not the main focus of the animation, the tree is the main character, it will be hard towards the end of the film where it becomes more personal to do close up shots, or to show expressions. It will also open up the option of having different shots rather then having most of them with the characters only distant. So we are going to test what it looks like to have the characters with eyes, and see if it will work.

The different props we need to design was also discussed, along with the characters names. As the surname of the characters has to be quite a key factor at the end of the animation it needs to be simple, clear, but also a traditional Celtic name that dates back. After doing research and finding possible names, we decided on Davie. I think this will work well and the name of the poet that inspired me to call the animation beneath the bows is Davies, so it links in there as well.

I feel I got a lot of things sorted and organised for where the project will go and how it will continue after the hand in, but there's lots to get on with...

animation tests...

I have started to test some animation so that we can see what a very small part of the animation will look like. So far I am just trying to get back into it as it has been quite some time since I did any animation, and also getting used to using different programs. I did this very rough test in TVP and I quite like the way it works and how quick it is to do a test like this. However I have a feeling the movement would be better if I were hand drawing it on paper. This is how it is working at the moment. It looks a little strange anyway as it is not complete -imagine the guy has a dog on a lead and is being pulled around, then hopefully it makes more sense.

another background..

I wanted to get another test shot/landscape idea done to see how it would look so I have sketched this one up and will draw out a more finalised version, colour it and try it with both the drawn and model tree to see what could look best.

The model test...

Animatic..changed a little...again





Tests...

Below I have tried out some tests to see whether or not to use the styled hand drawn tree or the model of the tree. I'm not sure at the moment, with different lighting and better compositing I think the model one could work quite well, however I'm not sure if it looks too different from the background and rest of the piece or whether it might work. I also like the style the hand drawn one has now as it makes it quite bold...I think more test need to be done and see what the others think before making a final decision.

Tree turn arounds...

To get a better idea of the tree and how it will look in the various scenes when hand drawn, I drew out a turn around of the tree. Leki then did the colourwork on it using a colour palette I made.






The colour palette...
looking a bit neater now so its easier for others to use..

background...

So things are well underway now with the design work and pre-production of the project. Over the past few days I have focused on the background designs of the animation. I looked at various styles, making a kind of mood/style board for what I wanted to achieve and I think I'm nearly there. After creating a landscape layout of the area the piece is set in I have created some backgrounds and I think its all coming together. I think the style is working well and the colours, after talking to Kathy, are much better and more thought through. I have also made colour palettes for each object/part of the scenes and will make more finalised versions of these before going into production and colour so that there is continuity throughout.

To see how the style is looking I made this background/concept design using the right style and colouring. I then added in a character to see how they would look together. I think it has the potential to work quite nicely. For the hand in we need a test shot, and I am planning on animating that over the next few days as I would really like a moving image piece to really show how the animation will look.

In terms of getting everything ready for the hand in and finalising the pre-production before Christmas, I think we are on track. The script, storyboard and animatic are complete and working well for now, however obviously these will be tweaked throughout and I'm sure changes will be made. Harriet has the huge job of sorting out the characters. There are quite a lot throughout the animation as the main focus is on the tree which means lots of character designs to think about and finalise. Already she has done a lot of them, and I think they are a much needed improvement on my original designs and will work well with the style and background.
The concept artwork and background designs have been ongoing between Leki and myself, and I think we could do with maybe one other background to really focus on getting the right style and colouring.