Haha...Shape Tween

I decided to try out a different method- shape tweening and this created a really interesting trippy effect haha...

Epiphany

Since my tester on After Effects was an epic fail, i thought i might use a programme a slightly more comfortable with... Flash! i had a brilliant idea of drawings my finished picture, and then painting over it in flash, and erasing the path bit by bit whilst keyframing, to reveal the picture underneath-- this gave the illusion that the image was drawing itself :)

This gave a much more convincing animation than the previous one i did. Although, it did take a while to do... and only really worked easily with a simple shape.

I'm going to carry on looking for more time effective methods of doing this..

Note:- i noticed there's a lovely bald patch in my animation in the bottom right corner, this wasn't there in the file so i assume Flash wants to joke around with me today :(

Trying to Teach Myself...

Today i've been trying to teach myself how to get something to draw itself on After Effects (this is for my Time Project).. and it's proving quite difficult, especially as i'm getting zero guidance on how to do this, besides watching "masking" tutorials on youtube, and even these aren't telling me EXACTLY what i want...

I've decided to try and work out how to do it myself.. and below is a video of a the tester i did today.

Yes, i know it sucks and doesn't work at all, but im quite proud of it considering i'm having to teach myself at the moment until i find some proper advice.

Oh, and by the way, it's a chair :)

Embarrassing by Christina Yip (age 20)

Walk Cycles on Flash

Some background research for my Time Project:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qOuvtgAkyQ&feature=related

I can't embed it so you'll have to be okay with the link!!

Confectionery Research

Our new Digital Animation project involves us collaborating with other students from other sectors- graphics/illustration and advertising. I'm quite looking forward to getting our teeth stuck in as it'll give me a taste of what's to come in the industry when you regularly work in a team.

Anyway, the project requires us to choose a confectionery product and make a advert for it, allowing the benefits of the sweet to shine through and make it tempting etc and be attractive to kids.

I've done some research on well-known, old and odd sweet adverts and looking at why they are and have been so successful:

Everyone's familiar with this gorilla, drumming for Cadbury's... it's crazy and fun- and makes the viewers laugh. Through this humour, the audience is easily able to remember the brand and probably try to mimic it!

This advert is very old, im not sure how old but you can probably tell quite old (haha) because these days, 2-D animation isn't usually shown on adverts, however, with the hand involved when it's drawing, it seems to be mixed with live action also... Anyway, i thought this was a very cute advert as they're implying that Rolos are so tasty that you'd only share your last one with someone you reaaaallyyyy love- and with their famous slogan "Do you love anyone enough to give them your last Rolo" makes people particularly remember them.

Fruit Pastilles have got a new, upcoming star to perform on their advert to attract the young people, especially with a beat-box star- it attracts everyone's attention! The cheeky young kid at the end adds a little light-hearted humour, and the advert emphasises the irresistable chewiness of the sweet.

This is a more recent Chewits advert. The Chewits dinosaur stood for a well-known story of when monsters attack a city, however, the monster is soothed when he finds Chewits! They've also introduced an alternative to a well-known song to get it stuck in the viewers heads. (How annoying).

I've always loved M&M's adverts, they're very funny and sometimes relatable. And the clever use of mixing live action with CG animation, almost makes the viewer live it too (even if it's just an advert). I love how throughout their massive series of different adverts, they've even been able to give each M&M their own personality :)

Succchhh an old advert, and they use the old grandpa for all the Werther's Original adverts, and throughout my research of this sweet, the same script aswell! even in different languages!!... I guess the advert is trying to get the idea across that the sweet has never changed, and it's a sentimental sweet that adults should share with their loved ones.

These adverts i really never get, but i have friends that find them highly amusing. The random dialogue and the light-hearted humour highlights the "natural fruit" quality of the sweets. I like how they use the actual sweets as characters aswell.

Noone will forget the sexy Cadbury's Caramel Bunny- she takes it eassssyyy like the gooey caramel center. After discussing with many of my male friends, i don't think any of them would say no to the alluring fictional rabbit. I guess that's how people remember her!

One of our groups ideas was to advertise Jawbreakers or Gobstoppers... Although there aren't any adverts for this very well-known sweet (apparently they sell themselves!) It always reminded me of this cartoon i watched when i was younger- Ed Edd n Eddy! When they would always get up to mischief and earn money to buy Jawbreakers- and their cheeks would grow ridiculously big when they had them in- haha! I loved it!

What i learnt from looking at all these examples is that the characters (if any) personality, would literally be the sweet personified e.g. laid-back sexy bunny- gooey melty caramel, cheeky m&ms are soft on the inside but hard on the outside... And all the adverts try to sell the single benefit their sweet has compared to the others on the market. Also, humour plays a massive part in the commercial business so i need to get my funny owwwwnnn!

Amazing Tips on Expressions

http://lackadaisy.foxprints.com/exhibit.php?exhibitid=333

Life Drawing

I was actually quite happy with what i achieved in this week's life drawing session :)
we were focusing on hand studies for the first part of the lesson, (before the model arrived) and i thought this would be an excellent chance to put into practice, all the thing's i studied up on about drawing hands (see previous blog post)... but i have to do 20 more of those puppies for my homework! wa-hey! so, im going to be very unhappy if i can't draw a very realistic hand after all this practice...

In order of creation ;) :

1. I drew out construction lines, looking at the simple shapes of all the parts of the hands, before working out certain measurements and proportions for the detail.

2. Continuous line technique- i've always loved using this technique, it's so free and really makes you focus on the form. The curve and flow of lines also have to demonstrate the 3-D shape. This is probably my favourite sheet out of the lesson :)

3. The model arrived and we had 10 minutes to sketch out her position. Again, i divided up her body into shapes, such as the oval for her hips to accentuate and exaggerate her features.

4. Pretty much the same activity as the previous sketch... I'm quite happy with her top half and especially the awkward hand that points behind her... However, i wish i polished up her visible ankle and the foot... looking back, i should have shaped up the foot- similar to how i draw hands...

5. 30 second sketch positions- Please, please, please just ignore the horrific starter on the top left (and top right)!! everything was just lopsided and looks like her center of gravity was all off :(... but otherwise, i'm quite happy with these- particularly the top middle, i like the strong confident lines- and i wish to carry this through in the future when i do quick sketches.

6. 10 to 5 second sketches- The top right, is my least favourite (what is going out with her inside out legs?!!)... Anyway, besides that one, the rest im happy with- im glad you can actually figure out what position the model's in. I even asked my (not-an-artistic-bone-in-his-body) boyfriend, whether he could tell and he did!! Woop!!... From the top down, the time got shorter and shorter so this was when the strength and shape of line counted the most.

As for blogging about my brief project, i've been doing some research in my sketchbook relating to clocks, and animations on time etc etc... Unfortunately, i'm yet to find a stable idea to continue forward. Some serious idea develop in need right here!!