Norwich nightime

One late evening during the week I took my A5 note pad and a fine liner walking  around some streets in the area of NR3, finding old building that interested me. The drawings were quick ones, but I tried to capture the shapes, and small quick details of windows and brick shapes/stones. 

This building was rather unique, like a hexagon shape, its beauty hidden begin trees and scaffolding, which I tried to include in the drawing.  

Although I did not finish this drawing, I drew the simple yet charming side of the very old looking building. I would like to return and draw a full street of this building during the day time. 

I decided to only focus on one part of this church, the tower. I feel I lost a little bit of perceptive, yet I feel I represented what this building is and made out of well. 

Overall, I like using ink pens to capture unique and old street building, I feel the details highlighted in this way adds to the charm that the buildings have. 

Rubber Ducks

 Rubber Ducks
Once again, I used fine liner and copiic markers.

As rubber ducks have a a different surface and texture, I wanted to attempt colouring them in with copic markers, I think blending and shadowing worked well, however the thatching with the finer liner not so much. 

I think with this duck drawing, the generic shape and qwerkyness of rubber ducks would have been better with much more bold and vibrant colours. It tends to go slightly opaque and patchy, which shows I should have also gone over some areas and re covered them. 

This rubber duck has more coverage but still has some patchy areas; also it does not have very effective blending of colour nor strong shadowing/highlighting. 

Even though I did not follow the correct colour of the duck I was drawing from, I found this rubber duck most successful in its shading and colouring. It has blended tones which subtly show shading much more effectively and emphasise the round shape of the head much better. 

Overall, I enjoy using copiic markers and will continue to experiment with them. I am repeatedly shown that I need to add more coverage to my drawings, however I am very pleased with the tones and blending opportunities shown with this product. I would like to experiment these with a range of materials so what they work well with.

Flowers

Today I decided to draw a house plant pamper, using fine liner and copic markers. 

When blending the colours, the leaves begin to look more smooth and realistic, however I few of these have white patches which I should have avoided. I can begin to see improvement with these pens. I would like to try drawing outside plans in their habitat, and also more flowers- trying to get new textures with the markers. 

'THE FUNDAMNETALS OF ANIMATION' second edition, Paul Wells and Samatha Moore - Narrative/Essay Research

'THE FUNDAMNETALS OF ANIMATION' second edition, Paul Wells and Samatha Moore

Wells P & Moore S, (2016) THE FUNDAMNETALS OF ANIMATION, 2nd Edition, London, Fairchild Books, Bloomsbury Publishing PLC.


(Wells & Moore, 2016, P. )


'Animation is the most dynamic form of expression available to creative people' PG:7

'[Animation] can service works from the most outlandish of cartoons to the most abstract of avant-garde films, and all else in-between' pg: 7

'Animation has remained the most consistently experimental art form even as it has entered the mass popularity of mainstream visual culture.' 7

'Animation continually offers new possibilities narratively, aesthetically and technically, encouraging new animators, artists and practitioners to explore new kinds of storytelling, to create new graphic and illustrative styles, and to use both traditional and new tools in the execution of their work.' 7

'The concept and the appearance  of reality can bind even the most non-linear set of drawings and  unconventional narrative together.' 38

'While sound design, music and animation can be thought as separate practices with independent techniques and discourses, it is with in the establishment of relationships  between these art forms that we begin to recognise contemporary animated film' 63

'Metamorphosis:  The ability to facilitate the change from one form to anther with out edit' 82

'Condensation; The maximum degree of suggestion in the minimum amount of imagery' 82

'Anthromorphism: The imposition of human traits on animals, objects and environments' 82

'Fabrication: The physical and material creation of imaginary figures and spaces'  82

'Penetration; The visualation  of unimaginable psychological /physical/ technical 'interiors' 82

'Symbolic association; The use of abstract visual signs and their related meanings' 82

Alan Gibey of Peafur Productions as quoted
'The tough truth is that if you wish to make movies an audience will watch to the end you must win, hold and deserve their attention. Your holy creative duties are;
- To intrigue your audience;
- To take them on a journey that exceeds their expectations;
- To leave them somewhere that made their trip worthwhile' 82

'Any rule of writing can be broken with great success,.. but if you break the rules without understanding them first,  you stand a very good chance of  screwing up' 83

'Orthodox theories of film structure' 83

-'The need to create a specific 'world' defined and limited by its own terms and conditions;
-' The considerations of the relationship between narrative and aesthetic requirements, and the economy of the chosen technique;
- The relationship between character and story events and the specific elements that will be animated;
-  The imperative of the soundtrack in the determination of imagery and timing of the animated elements;
- The realization of the performance of the character action implied in the script and meditated through voice actors and animators' 85

''An audience loves characters who intrigue or enchant them.. if the viewer feels a degree of empathy for them, they will stay the course because they like the things that happen when that character is around' 85

'Often the best new characters are a blend of something a little familiar' 85

'Three act structure;
- situation:
Welcome to my world, i'm going to make you wonder what happens next.
- Complication;
Ooh! I bet you didn't see that coming, my character is set on a journey and no one where it will lead them.
Resolution;
Blimey, I didn't expect them to end up here!' 86


'B-plots, miniature three act tales that weave around your major story and may concern a supporting character.' 86

'Gag structures;
-Misdirection and Juxtaposition
- Illogical logic
- Dramatic Irony
- Puns and Parody
-Exaggeration and understatement
- Repetition' 89

Ed Hooks;
'Thinking tends to lead to conclusions; emotions tends to lead to action'
-'Audiences only empathises with emotion, not thinking.'
- Sometimes gestures can speak the inner truth' 96

'It is very hard to recover a piece of work that is narratively, aesthetically, or conceptually flawed'.

Over the weekend I purchased some Copic  markers, like felt pens with an alcohol base. They have a great smooth texture and are  easy to blend with, a new material I am excited to experiment with in my sketch book. I have been playing with my new pens for a couple of days, enjoying the effects that I can create with these (so far I only have skin tone ones). Today I decided to research how to use these type of pens most effectively.
Jazza shows how to blend two tones of colour to make a smoother tone change; how to use a netural pen, and how to use light and shadowing.

What I have learnt is with Copic Markers blending/shadowing works well together. The technique that Jazza shows is: first use highlight, the lightest colour. Then use the next shade. then re use the first shade over the line between the two different shades. then move on to the third shade, and use the second shade between the two new colours. keep the pattern onwards, for example use shade 4 after shade 3 and then go over between them with shade 3 again. After doing this, you can go over the tones again with shade one to smooth and  blend.

I practiced with more drawings;

Visit to the castle musuem

Today, the class visited the castle museum. Our objective to draw the environment and life of exhibitions; the displays and the people who observe them. Which proved to be an interesting day, trying to draw life in a museum...

(My first attempt: Wild life scene)

Settling down in the wild life section, I began drawing the display, which I realised it was so busy the more I began to look, I would constantly see new things. This enabled me to layer my drawing. I drew straight into my A3 sketchbook, using a Sharpe marker, and then adding water colour ontop. I created a scene in which I hoped to capture people looking at- however, looking bold with such a large sketchbook, I found that many avoided this display and me.
The sketchbook enabled me much more space to play with, however it faulted that it made others comfortable so I could not draw them.

I decided to look else where for life, even though it was other students drawing displays.

Even though I was not able to capture the nature of life exhibiting the museum displays, I was able to capture the atmosphere of students drawing displays; the relationship with the body pose and the display they are drawing. The way they choose to stand/sit. 

I did some drawings in my A5 sketchbook, that enabled me to draw a lot more subtly with out upsetting the scene that I am drawing; the only problem was that I needed to move the drawings to my main sketchbook, which lead to pages having to be split into two, or accidently having parts ripped off. 

 I also found it interesting to draw the displays, the way that there is a focus on one thing, yet through the structure you can spot other things through the glass.
Or how busy one display maybe.

Inked facial

I decided to go back to my drawn self-portraits and add ink. I wanted to add a smother texture and experiment, and make the drawings more expressionistic. 

I enjoyed using the medium ink, it's very a free material yet enables control with a paintbrush. I think the ink worked well creating texture for the hair and wrinkled texture when it began to dry; however I think outlining the face and shadows were made to bold. I think may have also needed more control when doing the eyes/ 

Narrative Research #session2

In todays narrative research session, we looked at the  narrative structures of 'Freytag's Pyramid',
where the order of the narrative is;

1.-Initial situation/ exposition: Meeting characters/initial set up.
2.- Trigger: identification of a conflict
3.- Complications: A sense of things getting worse
4.- Crisis: leading to a turning point/change
5.-Climax:
6.- Resolution:


We attempted to apply this to Sainsbury's Christmas ad (2016);




The exposition: Busy family man in his kitchen heads off to work, dashes off to get on a train.

Trigger: His trains delayed, he's late to work, work is chaotic, his boss wastes time.

Complications: There's shopping queues just to get into the shops, his trains delayed once again, making him miss out on family time (they're all asleep.)

Crisis/climax: he's missing out on his family, seeing the cookie he realises his family needs him. He's inspired to make clones of himself using toys.

Resolution: The toys enables him to be at different places at once, doing his jobs for him and shopping; allowing him to be with his family. 


Aristos Four Cs;
- Self contained
- Connected
- Complete
- Some one changes.

Structuralism
Formulism 
Archetype theory
Mechanic v.s Organic form

Animaters sketch book - Drawing self

In this session we drew ourselves.


Given an mirror, we had to draw ourselves In pencil.

I found this challenging, as the mirror was small, and at awkward angles. Other than my own reflection being unflattering, as you try to focus your face moves. Creating this very challenging relationship between you and attempting to draw ur reflection. Despite this, I feel the drawing came out okay, I see that I need to do a lot of improvement on my drawing technique however it was an attempt.

The second drawing we were given an emotion, mine given was 'disgust'. This drawing came out much less like me, because some aspects I  changed with out reference. Because I had to move my face to see different parts, due to the small size of the mirror I ended up drawing two parts of my face from different angles combined, which I was advised to changed to make the face more clearly show disgust.

We then had to do a third drawing of ourselves based off memory.

I feel this came out better than the second drawing, however the eyes look incorrect on the left. This is something I will need to further practice. But the few things I was able to pick up: bigish eyes, the shadows  under and around the nose, under eye bags.  That were features I held that day.

In todays life drawing we used black and white paint, using only this for shadows, highlights and neutrals. 

Animated sketch book; lesson 2- Bears and drawing people.

In todays lesson we did a task of drawing bears, at first we drew a bear with no reference, but how we thought bears looked based off our memory. We were given ten minutes.

In my memory I strongly remember bears having long snouts, tall in height, claws and a little tail. (outcome of drawing above). This drawing of course was not accurate, and looked cartoon like. But I think it could represent a bear, with some of the features I included.

we were then shown a reference image of a bear, which we were given three minutes to draw.

From this drawing, the face became much more real than the previous, yet there is still a sense of cartoon like to this. However, the face massively improved along with the back and spine, being able to see how the arms and legs worked on the body. The back legs didn't quite work out, but I was able to note they were shorter then the front. the tail tends to be incredibly small and dangly, less puffy then I had previously drawn.

We then drew from a second reference image, of a mother bear and her cub. This time two minutes.

Despite still looking sketchy, I feel this drawing was much more realistic compared to others. This is because the more imagery I saw, the more I began to understand how to draw the bear and they way bears look; the bones that stick out, the fur that hangs.

We then watched video, that was recorded of the bear, we had to draw and record the bear- which was very challenging, as the shots soon changed, the editing was quick paced.

I found it massively challenging as each frame continuously changed, but it enabled me to see the way the bear moved, ate and used his paws- despite seeing each action very briefly.

When I got home I decided to edit my drawings by adding pen and water to add more effect of texture and shadowing. I feel this was effective and making each drawing more bold and extensive.   

Narratory- Lesson One

In this lesson we were introduced to the new brief, Narratology. Our essay that we will later on produce will be 1500 words, and we shall be given our essay questions, instead of writing our own.

We where told about different types of analyst we could focus on;
- Moral story telling
- The unique vocabulary of animated narrative
-Visual storytelling
- Structural Analyses

We also watched the film 'Frozen'- (2013), to note down and analyses the narrative qualities.

In the beginning sequence, 'Frozen heart' is sung by the ice men. The lyrics are metaphors for the character Elsa, and the stories theme with lyrics such as 'beware the frozen heart', 'love v.s fear'.




The next sequence focuses on Anna and Elsa's relationship, Anna is shown as the most active character, and acts 'cute'.  She is seen to be the more likeable character because of this. Which makes it suggestable Anna is the main character.

After Elsa accidently freezes Anna's head, the family head to see Grand Papi, the Troll King. He acts as an adviser and giver to the family, amending what's happened to Anna, and advising the family how to manage Elsa's powers. Which I presume he is the mentor. He acts as a teacher, represents the better self. I also think he is a blend of the herald. He issues the warnings of Elsa's power.

The sequence of "Do you want to build a snowman?" shows Anna and Elsa growing up, the distancing between their relationship and Elsa drifting from her family overall. Elsa's powers, becoming uncontrollable. Once again we are shown Anna being the main character, as she is focused on in this song, and Elsa is only shown when Anna or their parents attempts to interact with her.

This song shows the overall damaged state of the equilibrium. 'for the first time in forever' song shows Anna's desperation for a new equilibrium. She expresses her want for love, and companionship. It also shows the two sisters different perceptive on the situation, for Anna its a chance to get what she wants, for Elsa its fear.
The song also reveals Elsa's coping mechanism, the gloves, that become a metaphor and symbolism of control.

I think the character role for Hans is a shape shifter.

The awkward sister interaction between Anna and Elsa represents them like strangers, showing the distance that has  become between them. Even though the soon become comfortable, it is brutally comes to an end.
"I wish we could do this all the time!"
"Me too,.. But we can't."
The change in mood shows Elsa's wants v.s the responsibility she has, to protect Anna from herself.

When Elsa Runs away after the argument and exposing her powers, the town so learns that Elsa has cursed the land in never ending snow. Which calls Anna to action, to find Elsa and bring back summer.
Which Anna, similar to the heros journey, is taken to a new world- a frozen winter wonderland. She meets Kristoff, who is an ally to Anna and helps her along the Journey.
They continuously meet obstacles. Including Marshmallow, who's Elsa's threshold guardian.








 

Morph research- 'Fun with Morphing'

straight ahead animation- creating key frames first, then going back to add in-betweens (using onion skin) to help smooth the movement.
In his process, he goes back and adds one in-between every key frame, he then re watches and then adds more in-betweens where more empathises needed to be used. To slow animation down, you can also drag one frame for longer.

Concept of ideas/ objects drawn

ideas for morpth task

As an pre-introduction to our brief, we began one of the first tasks, morphing. For this task we have been challenged to pick two objects from a film and morph one into the other, using 2d paint. We are only allowed to use three colours for the whole piece.

In my roughs ideas, I have though about fairy tales.

In tangled, the objects I choose were the lantern and the crown- my reasoning for this is that both of these objects are in the beginning, and ending, and the desire of two main characters, connect to each other and have much important information. For example, the crown has much importance because Its what Eugene has stolen from the kingdom, making him a criminal, causing many conflicts later on- Rapunzel uses this to force Eugene to take her to see the lanterns, the crown is an hidden clue to Rapunzel's true self, the princess of corona. The lanterns are important, because they are  used to celebrate the missing princess- who is Rapunzel, which also helps her come to realize who she is. Its also her desire, to find out what they are-calling the hero to Journey.

For Cinderella I choose the glass slipper and mop bucket. The mop bucket represents the part where she is almost a slave to her step-sisters and step-mother. The slipper represents the magical part, where she gets to go to the ball, meets the prince- looses the shoe, the only thing that doesn't transform back after the clock struck twelve, and enables the prince to find her.

For Sleeping beauty, I choose the spinning wheel and rose. The spinning wheel is what causes her fate, a sleep like death. created from a cure that she will prick from a spinning wheel and never awake. The rose presents, her name  'Rose', represents beauty, the thorns that cover the castle and the rose  is also seen in the scene of her laying asleep with the rose in her hands waiting for true loves kiss.
Lastly snow white, I have chosen the poisonous apple that causes snow-white to 'die', and the mirror what causes the attack- by telling the evil queen that snow white is more beautiful than her.