Study Task 3 - Puppet Master

This is the quick design that I came up with for this study task. My idea is to make him dance a little bit and scratch his head in order for me to understand how to use the puppet tool in after effects.

Here I coloured the image using Photoshop and saved it as a png file. I then opened it in after effects and used the puppet pin tool to animated.

I added a banging tune and a sick background. You're welcome.

Study Task 5 - Strike a pose

I decided to use the emotions sadness, shame, confusion, tiredness and pain because I felt as though I could convey those emotions easily. I am fully aware of how ridiculous I look.

Pain

Sadness

Shame

Tiredness

I feel like overall this was a fun study task to do as I hadn't really used maya properly before. It was fun to use moom and I will hopefully use the skills I learned in this study task and apply them in future projects. I would like to get to know and experiment with maya further in my own time. I think I achieved the emotions pretty well, obviously not amazing, but for my first time using moom in this way I feel like I have learned a lot.

Study Task 4 DUIK

This is my finished response to this studio task. I decided to use the town hall as the background because any other image I tried to put into after effects just did not work for me. I feel like this task helped me improve my after effects skills because I had never really used it before but now I feel comfortable in using the puppet tool as well as adding sound to an animation in after effects. DUIK was quite easy to use once I got the hang of it and set up the bones and the key frames. I think I could have created a better animation in itself that was coherent and actually made sense. But as per, I decided to mash together things that have no relation.

Potential and limitations - 5 - Aesthetic

The overall Aesthetic that I attempted to achieve in my response to the studio brief is that of a traditional, sketchy aesthetic with the juxtaposition of water colour and abstract backgrounds. The limitation with this sort of aesthetic is that it's hard to get right in the sense that I've never really used practical mediums for backgrounds in animations before. I also feel like the limitation of the aesthetic that I'm aiming for is that there is a lot of animations already out there that have that sketchy sort of style that I enjoy. Animators such as Bill Plympton have the aesthetic that I enjoy completely achieved. I also feel limited in the sense that I'm not 100% comfortable with drawing digitally, and also that I don't have my own aesthetic yet. I like drawing in whatever style I feel and I also like pushing myself to achieve different aesthetics using different mediums.

Process and Limitations - 4 - Technique

I decided to use various techniques throughout my module response. I always have enjoyed using different media when creating things, whether it be character designs or concept art. I find that it's easier for me personally to get my visuals down on paper. Because I only started using a tablet for the first time about a year ago, I'm still not using to drawing digitally, however I decided to animation digitally in order to force myself to get used to drawing digitally. Animating digitally often causes me to lose interest and inspiration because I feel like because it's on a screen which makes it not feel right for me. It's strange that I feel this way. But I think it's because I feel quite limited with the technique of animating digitally.

Potential and Limitations - 3 - Process

The process that I chose was hand - drawn animation with water colour backgrounds. I feel as though using the traditional hand - drawn technique using photoshop does have it's limitations. It's obviously time consuming and repetitive so it's quite easy to lose interest easily. however, with software such as After Effects, the process can be made less time consuming by using software such as this to add camera zooms and certain effects. When animating using paper, colours can often lose vividness and lines can become faded from scanning them in which can be quite time consuming to alter as well. Hand - drawn animation is traditional and can be quite nostalgic which is why I feel some animaton studios such as Cartoon Saloon are what I strive to achieve aesthetically. Their animated features have amazing colours that is often achieved by using practical mediums like water colour. However, it can be quite limiting in the sense that the colours can often fade when translating them into digital.

Potential and Limitations - 2 - Sustainability

I chose to do my animation using traditional hand-drawn animation using photoshop. I also planned on using key frames in my animating process in order to keep continuity in the movements. I feel as though the limitations of this process is that the animation industry itself is quite 3D driven which is great because I can appreciate 3D animation and feel as though I am okay at using maya. I do want to explore 3D animation further in my own time, however I want to focus on developing my hand drawn skills. Hand drawn animation is slowly dying out in the sense that a lot of animated feature films use 3D software, which is a great process. However, there are still a few animation studios which use traditional themes and techniques in the animation industry which is what I hope to achieve when I eventually leave the course.

Potential and Limitations - 1 - Backgrounds

The medium I chose was to use water colour backgrounds as well as hand-drawn, digital animation. I feel as though the potential of using water colour backgrounds is that the textures are aesthetically pleasing, as well as being visually different to what I have created in the past. Of course I'm aware of other animations that use water colours for background and stuff, but I feel as though because this is my first time using water colour backgrounds in a narrative sense, it's quite different and new to me. I personally don't feel that limited when using practical materials as it's what I'm mostly comfortable in. I tend to hand draw a lot of things and then draw over them digitally, so I'm quite comfortable with this process. However, I do feel like my limitation with this medium is that I'm never 100% sure how well the colours will translate into digital, as scanners and computer screens can change certain hues, however I would prefer to take the risk in order to achieve my vision.