Dog Walk and Run Cyles

These are just a couple of walk and run cycles I found an the internet for research purposes so I can get the movement for Oscar. I didnt need to use these but it was good reference to have. I do want to do a quick walk cycle of Oscar hopefully I will have time to do a quick one before my assesment. I have done a walk cycle of Bob and have used it in my animation. If i can I will upload a preview of it in my blog it would be easier to view this way. I would also like to make a showreel with the walk cycle in it too if I have time at the end.

I would like to do a run cyle of Oscar too and try to do one of bob. Ill use Flash to animate them in.

Toonboom

This is just a little preview or screenshot of what I drew on Toonboom. I havnt had much time to animate the rest of the dog yet since Im doing my Uni animation this was just an experiment working with Toonboom. It is an easy software to learn probably easier than Flash but since Ive been working with Flash a lot Toonboom just seems strange to use. I havnt worked out what all the tools are yet but in the future would like to do an animation using this. The drawing tools seem to be better than Flash but we will see how it goes. If i have time when Ive finished my animation ill try to do more on this. The little dog was based on the attitudes of my boyfriends dog Holly. She looks so cute when she lays on her back and her ears are all floppy on the floor with her paws in the air. I want to animate her rolling over onto her stomach just something really simple to get me started with working in Toonboom.

Models

This is just a quick small scale model of Bob and Oscar made from wire and air dry modeling clay. It isnt finished yet I have to go over it and smoothe the clay out and finish detailing it but i just wanted to try and capture the relationship between them and see what they look like using a different media. I just wanted to experiment using different techniques. I have recently downloaded a trial of Maya and Im going to experiment modeling Oscar in it to see what they would look like in 3D.i I am also experimenting with Toonboom. So this quick model is so i can draw the characters easier as I can see all around the model.

This model to the left was the first model I did of Oscar when he had spots and was really fat. I used the same materials as the other model and then i painted him using acrylics and then varnished him over. he looks a bit too shinny though. I made these models as I was debating weather to animate them using stop motion, hand drawn or just use Flash. I am happy that i chose Flash as its easy to use and quick to animate. If i did it in stop motion i would have had to build all the sets and characters. though stop motion does interest me because i enjoy the modeling stages, I want to learn more about computer generated animation like Maya. I did learn abit of Maya in the 2nd year but i needed more time learning it, which is why I decided to just use flash as I found that easier to learn.

Drawing of Bob and Oscar together. This was the first drawing i did of them so its not brilliant and since i drew this oscar has changed in colour aas you can tell from the storyboard he doesnt have any spots because they would have been a pain to animate so i left him a plain light browny colour, Bob hasnt changed well except his head is probably slightly bigger but apart from that his clothes have stayed the same colour. I have enjoyed animating these together. I based the character Bob from my Dad and the dog from my dog even though they are nothing alike in breed they are in personality with his loyalty to Bob. I cant tell you what breed Oscar is at the beginning Oscar was actually a cat, a fat lazy cat. Then i decided to make him into a dog so he still is round and fat with longish ears. I made him like this as it was easier to animate him withought all the hastle with drawing complicated fur. I have two dogs one a terrior and the other a westie. I did some observational drawings of them but still went back to the simplicity of my original cat design, abit lazy of me really as i wanted to show different styles.

Bob and Oscar Storyboard

A few example pieces taken from my storyboard just to get the idea of what the story is about. Bob goes to the shop while Oscar is left in the car with the windows closed and no water. It gets hotter in the car and Oscar is feeling de-hydrated and starts to get heatstroke. Will Bob finish his shopping quick and get to Oscar in time before its too late?

Ive used water colours on my final storyboard but not in my animation. Originally I would have done the backgrounds in water colour but they were taking too long to colour and then scan in.

Bob and Oscar

Bob and Oscar is my final year animation about a middle aged man called Bob and his dog, Oscar. In the 2nd year I came up with a simple story about a man and his dog from being influenced by 'Simons Cat' and of course ‘Family guy’. At the time I was writing my dissertation on the average family and I did a lot of research on Family guy. I liked the idea of it being simple and easy to animate, as I didn’t want anything really complicated.

My 2^nd year animation of Bob and Oscar wasn’t what I wanted it to be like. It was the first time ever that I had used Flash so the animating aspect was disappointing but the story was easily read and you can see the close relationship between Bob and Oscar which is what I wanted to achieve.

I decided to then continue with the idea of Bob and Oscar into my 3^rd year and still using Flash to animate. The story is a campaigne against dogs been left in cars on a hot sunny day while their owners go off to shop or to do whatever while the dogs are left roasting in the cars. Since I have dogs of my own and I am an animal lover and see a lot of dogs left in their cars I thought it would be a prefect story for me to do. I researched into what happens if dogs are left in cars, they can get heatstroke or even die and the owners could be prosecuted or even sent to jail for animal cruelty. One thing I saw in the newspaper was that a police officer had left his two dogs in the back of his car, forgetting about them for hours in the sun they ended up getting heatstroke and tradgedly died. I have a copy of the article so I shall try and post it on my blog.

I hope that my animation will make people more aware that it’s very serious and cruel to leave dogs in the cars. It would feel like you’re in a greenhouse the temperatures can increase massively within seconds. Even if it’s not a sunny day out it can still get hot in cars. So I shall put up some drawings of my characters and some shots of my animation so far.

London Industrial Trip

Tuesday 9th March 2010

The Illuminated Film Company

The Illuminated film company are mostly freelance. They are currently working on the TV series 'The little Princess'. They have worked on animations such as 'The Snowman, Father Christmas and The very hungry caterpillar'. The director of 'The little Princess', Ed Foster showed us around the studio and talked to us about their company and gave us some great advice. He told us that storyboard artists get paid up to £1000 per storyboard sheet. Some of them work from home to finish their work on time. The animators have to produce around 1000 frames in a week. The scripts for the animations have to be approved by channel 5 before they begin production.

The animators have to stick to the same style as everyone else. You're animating cant stand out from the rest, it has to stay the same.

Ed Foster explained to us that for a good portfolio take out work which is not relevant to the company you are applying for. Adapt you're style to match the companies style as you have more of a chance getting a job with them. Make a blog of you're portfolio, its the best way to send you're work to companies. DVD's can sometimes get lost or ignored. Learning software packages is a great way to get into the industry. Good timing is important in animation and being able to adapt you're styles. Its good to have experience already on you're CV. keep it brief and include personality its a great way to be remembered.

i enjoyed visiting this company and found the advice Ed Foster gave us very useful. He spent a lot of time with us going threw our portfolios and did not rush threw them he gave us all individual advice. He like my designs and the color i use. He said that i should include different styles in my portfolio and show were these designs came from like including some sketches. Overall we spent about 2 hours or more in this studio and i would deffinitly consider this company in the future.

Blue Zoo Productions

Back in 2008 this was a small company just starting out, were they did adverting and tried to pitch a 3D animation and were interested in 2D animators. Its amazing to see how much this company has changed from visiting them again. They are now interested in working in the software Maya were they have learnt to develop a 2D animated look using a cut out technique. So instead of looking for 2D animators they are now looking for 3D animators.

They said the best way to show you're work instead of mailing it in the post is to email a link of you're work. This is easier for them to quickly look at it. They look for flexible artists which can draw different styles. You are likely to have more work and stay in the industry for longer if you do. they do take on work experience but don't take on runners because the studio is only small and they have no need in them.

This company has progressed a lot since i last visited them. My impressions this time was not so enthusiastic. They didn't seem overly keen to have us there. I understand that they are busy but they were also busy the last time we saw them and they were very keen on seeing us. I think it would have been better if we had a lecture company us.

Wednesday 10th March 2010

Prime Focus

Prime Focus is one of the largest post production companies in the UK. Specialising in special effects. The company began in India. They worked on music videos and Hollywood movies such as 'Avatar, Harry Potter and stardust'. They use CGI as it is cost effective and great for situations that are hard to shoot. they use software such as Kratatoa Render for particle effects, Fluid Simulation, Crystal Managment System, Spore Manipulation, Camera re-projection and the new Stereo Depth extraction.

They told us the best way to get into special effects is to start editing and focusing on what you're into . Using different 3D packages is important. They also gave us advice that you need to no what's coming next or next year involving animation or special effects just so you are up to date with what's going on. How to react to customers and push the boundaries with you're work.

We went to Prime Focus instead of going to 3 Mills studio. They gave us some good advice and showed us some brilliant visual effects they have done. It was worth going to this company even if you are not interested in visual effects it gives you an idea of how they do it and what software they are currently using.

Collingwood O'Hare Entertainment Ltd

Animated TV series such as 'Yoko! Jamamoko! Toto! Dennis the menace and Oscars Orchestra'. They are currently working on the American TV series 'The cat in the hat'. They produce all the sound editing, storyboard and all the post production work in house. They have a Tree house company in Canada where animation is sent. The latest animations have been produced in Flash and cell-action. The scripts are produced before the animation. They mainly produce animations for pre school children and are currently are pitching an idea to Disney for a children's TV series called 'Ribbit Rabbit Robbot'.

The advise they gave us is that Drawing keeps you in work and if you have strong skills you will always be wanted within the industry. Teamwork is important in animation and the ability to multitask. Artists also need to be able to critisize themselves to improve. Its also good to specialize in you're prefered area within animation, then you can focus on developing you're skills. The best way to get a good final year animation is to keep it short and focus on animating it well.

I enjoyed visiting Collingwood. I like the simple designs they use for their animations especially for the one they are currently working on. He gave us lots of advice which will help during my animation process.