Grouping Fish

Having a big group of fishes swimming was challenging to do as I did forget fishes some of the times. I'm happy that I'm now at 10 seconds but I still have loads to do as I next have to draw a shark, the corals and a turtle.

Making Fish Swim

It took me quite a few attempts to get the swimming right, as I couldn't get the shape right.

I tried it first with a back fin like this but it just looked as though it was waving up and down.

I then redrew the fin again so it was thinner and it works a lot better than the first attempt. It's still not perfect however and doesn't look too natural.

From looking at the videos I took I did realise that most of the fish barely move their tails but I wanted my fish to swim quickly so I added more force.

Trying to Make a Transition!

I found it so hard making a smooth transition: I believe that it'll require a bit more practise to perfect. This is because I had to make layered frames where I would gradually change to opacity of the image until it became a new image. I decided to make this faded in transition rather than the straight cut as I felt that going from one scene to another like that felt very out of place, despite the fact that they relate. I shouldn't need any more transitions in my animation thank goodness but I still need to make it flow throughout. 

Start of Main Animation

To save time from taking my frames to an IT room I've decided to test out Gimp's animation. It's rather different to photoshop as I couldn't have the timeline feature, so whenever I wanted to watch the animation I had to go through different tabs.

For help on animating using Gimp I watched this video. It's a bit long but was useful.

Visiting the Aquarium

I changed my mind about going to the zoo because I felt that I can do much more with sea life. From going to the aquarium, I've managed to come up with loads of ideas with how I'm going to animate my main animation. I found the way the sea life acts with each other and have very different appearances very inspiring. It was interesting how some species would keep in groups and others would swim alone. 

I took many videos which I can refer to when I start animating to understand how they move. I've also managed to take a few pictures (I couldn't really take any of the moving fish as my camera isn't very good) and I've done a couple of sketches from life to help me observe them.

Some of the creatures are very slow movers like this lobster, but I liked how it would just move it's antennae carefully.

These fish were about 10 inches long and swam in groups very quickly. I was unsuccessful taking a picture of them but I managed to get a drawing.

These fish would have their mouth open a lot. I also attempted to draw them.

Also the rays were interesting to see. A lot easier to draw as well because it kept still the longest.

They have such a strange belly as well: it looks like it has a face.

I really liked these piranhas shiny scales. 

I have taken a huge interest in the turtles I saw in the aquarium as I like watching them swim. Also because they stand out amongst the fish due to being a reptile.

The upside down jelly fish were enchanting to watch as they looked so delicate in the way they moved.

The sea horses were hard to record as they were hiding behind the tall plants. However in the video I liked how the sea horse would float up slightly and then move its mouth.

The clown fish were interesting to watch and it reminded me of a scene from Finding Nemo with how they were swimming or brushing in the anemone.

I loved this set up of corals and I'll definitely be creating a back drop of something like this from my animation.

These Lion fish were beautiful to watch and I would love to make an animation of them but I can imagine it taking ages as it is full of detail, especially with its many dorsal spines.

This small strange fish is oddly adorable.

The sharks have their own way of moving which is very recognisable: large flicks with tail and moves in a zig zag. Their body shape is also very different to the other fishes.

Watching this turtle swim over was an incredible moment to experience. I'm completely gutted that the video doesn't give it justice. I think that I'll be focusing on the turtle video a lot for my main animation as I loved how slowly and delicately it swam over me. This has also inspired me to use different view angles in my animation. I could also maybe take screen shots of the video and draw over it on Gimp.

The Sea

If been visiting the beach recently and have taken an interest in how it would move. I'm thinking on focusing my main animation on the sea and sea life. By animating waves I can easily repeat frames, like what I did with my quick animation of a boat. The waves also react differently when they hit objects such as rocks: they crash and splash back quickly.

Walking

I'm still struggling to animate and draw the stages of walking, so I was told maybe I should look at the walking cycle which will show me each stage of the walk.

 This was incredibly useful so I'll definitely be referring to this when I animate the rest of my animation.

I did a practise animation so I can understand it better and it worked a bit but the figure ended up shrinking. This is because I was drawing with a mouse and was rushing so it was gradually shrinking without me noticing.

Gait Cycle from: webneel.com

Quick Practise Animations

From doing this quick animations it's helped me a lot with how things would move and how objects would react with other objects and their surroundings. For instance, how the boat would rock in the light waves and then the heavy waves, how the string of the fishing rod would create rings when it goes in the water, and how the ball would twist when bouncing and flatten when hits a surface.

I've also decided to try out repeating frames to see if it's successful (boat animation) and I feel like it really worked out well - runs smoothly.

Animation so far...

After stressing out on how to make my animation on photoshop, I finally got there!!
It only short and incomplete but I'm glad that what I've done so far works.

Inspiration for Main Animation

I'm thinking of many ideas for my main animation such as including moving water, fans and animals (I'll be visiting the zoo soon). This is all because these are my favourite things to observe for movement. Water and fans for fast repetitive movement, and animals for how they would walk, jump, run and play,

Another type of movement I would love to animate would be moving crowds of people or birds, but I feel like that will be way too much for the little time I have on this project as there would be a lot to draw and redraw over and over.

Progress of First Animation

I've spent three days on just drawing this animation so far and it's taking forever. I need to have it done by tomorrow but I can't see it happening, so I might just animate what I have already on photoshop and upload it tomorrow. I can always try and complete it this weekend.

Here is what some of my drawings look like when I overlapped them. You can see my process of trying to make the figure stand up as natural as possible. I had to work from memory figuring out how a baby would move: stiffly and trying to balance with their arms out.

I'm finding making my character walk rather difficult but from observing people walk yesterday it helped hugely for me to understand it, whereas before I would of struggled.

Animations

There are so many different styles of animation, and over the years they have gotten more and more realistic or/and smoother. From looking at these range of videos I have come to terms that I won't be able to get any better (quality wise) than the old version of The Simpsons as I am limited on time, skill and programmes.




Both Roobarb and Custard and Mr Messy have a similar quality in it being hand drawn and simple. However, they still have different styles of animating: Roobarb and Custard is shaky and never still, where's with the Mr Men cartoons are usually static but would have the mouths move when talking.



Wallace and Gromit is a stop-motion animation and would take a lot of time and carefulness in adjusting each frame. I was particularly impressed with the cogs in the background not failing once.
The more frames it has, the smoother it is



From watching the two Simpsons openings side by side you can really see the improvement of the quality over the years. The characters and setting are much more defined now and won't keep changing shape. Also how the characters have developed with the time: The twins playing on their phones and the Simpson family playing on their Wii.



South Park to begin with didn't have much money so to animate they just used craft paper to move the characters. This means it was kept very simple and very 2 dimensional. This became their style, so when they were able to use computers to animate they made sure they kept to the same quality of stiffness, but changed the quality of image: colour and definition.



Even games have became better with their animation. It is constantly improving and becoming more and more life like over the years. I also find moments in this video where I question if it's all CGI or not. They even managed to get the fine detail in the fabric.

Dane Watkins

Empty Days

Today Dane Watkins showed us his work he has been doing over the years as an animator. He has a linear style and works by mix matching objects that you wouldn't expect together: human torsos with basketball hoops for arms.

Many of his animations are on a continuous loop which smoothly link together playing over and over. Some are short animations, but ones like Empty Days would last quite a while. From watching this animation I've gathered that if I want a successful animation I'll have to think carefully how objects and people work together and how they move: like how the mannequin would go over the fences, how the blow dryer creates heat waves over the mannequin, and how the water being pumped into the mannequin would make it bigger. The objects are interacting with each other.

Another type of work Watkins has done is creating personal questionnaires where people can interact with and have their own outcome, which is made in a form of a drawing. I had a go at the 'arnolfini family audience' one and from answering the questions about my family's personality it generated this drawing. It suggests a visual language as you can roughly understand the links to the answers I gave: five people = five heads, aged between 16-25 = telephone with twisted cord, family interests = tv, outdoor hoobies = walking, what do I use for information = website, what creative thing do I like to do = painting/drawing.



From looking at his work it shows that in animation you can create anything, unlike film which you are limited unless you include animation.




http://www.danewatkins.com/
http://eatmydata.co.uk/

Animation Overview: Disney

It was the 1800s when motion animation began, with magicians creating small parlor tricks to entertain their audience. These devices were given names such as the 'zoetrope' or the 'praxinoscope', which used a series of drawings going around on the inside of a spinning cylindrical drum. It was used to create an illusion of movement, as when it was spun the image would appear to be moving like a film. The Lumiere brothers from France and Thomas Edison from the U.S, later found that if you show a series of single images on motion-picture film and played it at fast speeds, it caused the brain to perceive the still images to be moving. This effect is known as the 'Persistence of Vision'.

Narrative Animation Planning Process

All of Disney's animations are all narrative based, whether it's short or a full animated movie. Like any other story, a narrative animation is divided into three acts: First act introducing characters and their world and then the character gets into a dilemma, it also clearly lays out the rules of the characters' world. For Beauty and the Beast, the first words you hear in the prologue are the rules "You must learn to love another and earn their love in return before the last petal falls. Then the spell will be broken." The second act develops the plot, shows the characters motives and their relationships in much more depth and would usually end with a problem that looks like it can't be fixed. Act three would show their courage despite odds, and usually includes the 'undoing of evil', victory of good and the arrival 'home' which would be different and sometimes better than the 'home' they started off with (unless it's a horror or some sort of thriller). The narrative of the animation has to be decided first to make sure it flows and makes sense before spending a lot of time animating. However the three act structure is only a guideline that is used in most stories/films/plays etc. it can be broken.

Act Structure for Beauty and the Beast:
Act 1: Shows setting of the world and rules, ends with a problem as Belle's father gets lost and captured by the beast and then she comes and rescue him but is then taken in his place.
Act 2: Reveals motives of characters and relationships. At the end of the act hope seems lost. There is a huge character journey in this act, as Belle goes from seeing Beast as a monster to seeing him as a loving friend.
Act 3: Reveals courage despite the odds and 'the undoing of evil'. Beast fights Gaston, when Belle shows up Beast shows mercy to Gaston, but when he turns his back Gaston stabs Beast before losing footing and falls to his death. Beast was dying in Belle's arms until the last rose petal falls, and all seems lost but the spell was broken by Belle and Beast's love and the whole house hold was turned into humans again.

The short ones such as this very famous animation from Disney also have narratives but are less thought out than the long movies in having a complex, meaningful story. However this animation does include showing the setting, relationship with characters and dilemmas,  

Storyboarding

A series of drawings is created showing each main stage of a scene - usually of a cut, change of angle, or dialogue. This is known as a storyboard. They are usually rough sketches but some end up a bit more developed when the idea is finalised, to help show what they want to achieve to be clearer. When the story board is planned out it is then pitched to the director and story crew. The story artist has to stand up in front the storyboard with a pointer and walks through the scene one sketch at a time. I the sequence doesn't work there it means it's not going to work in the film. The old way of presenting the story board was to pin in to a board so the pitch could be shown in a comic-strip fashion, nowadays the artists would work digitally and would either present their drawings one at a time on a screen or put them on a power-point. The typical sequence would go through a lot of corrections, redraws, throw-outs, rethinks and re-dos until it is perfect for the director. Also what works on the written page doesn't always work when it's drawn and then what works on a storyboard might not work on a movie screen with dialogue, so it would all change again when the work gets edited onto a 'story reel'.

When it comes to creating an animation many drawings of frames are involved. The animator would draw a stack of frames that when played as a film is viewed 24 frames per second to help create an illusion of life, and seeing that films would be roughly one and a half hours long there would be a lot of frames. In early days of Walt Disney Studio when personality animation was big, the animators rough drawings was filmed as a 'pencil test'. In a modern studio, the pencil drawing of the animators are scanned onto a computer and played back on the monitor. They can then sync the drawings to the sound track, make adjustments to the scenes timing, then show the director before making corrections the scene needs. When the scene works well in the rough stage, it moves on to be cleaned up for the final line drawing that will appear on the screen. Because there's a team of animators working on one animation, they all have there own style. So to keep the animation to one style there is a supervising animator who draws a series of 'model sheets' for the other animators to work from. Some animators have a loose, sketchy style so it's up to the clean-up artist to make sure that every drawing produced is 'on-model'- meaning that it looks like the model sheets.


Comparing old to new

I've decided to look and compare two of Disney's princess films to see the differences and how the plot and animation style has evolved over the years: Snow White (1937) and Tangled (2010). In both films the princesses represented women of the era it was made in, so Snow White was like women from the thirties in how she acted: helpless and kind, and Rapunzel as the modern day women: ambitious and have there own dreams. However there are similarities in how both the characters act: both of them happen to be caring and rather ditsy.

In these two clips you can tell what differences these characters have though the way they act in dangerous situations: Snow White is easily scared and runs waving her hands in the air, whereas Rapunzel would be quick thinking and not only get herself away from danger but manages to save her friend.



Both scenes are meant to be intense but out of the two Tangled is a lot more light hearted as Flynn would make a lot of jokes - has the audience grown to want more humour?



With climatic endings both these animations have someone who died and then brought back to life with love. However they couldn't be done any more differently.
Snow White dies and it's a prince who comes and kisses her which wakes her up and she then rides away with him into the distance.



In Tangled however, both Rapunzel and Eugene shows bravery and sacrifice: Eugene is hurt by the witch and Rapunzel tells her she'll go quietly if she can go and save him with her magic hair. Eugene then sacrifices himself by cutting Rapunzels hair so the witch will die and she can be free. When Eugene dies its Rapunzels tears and song that brings him back to life. It goes to show how it is changed how women/princesses are presented in Disney's animated films when it comes to hard situations. Also there are differences in the other characters as well, for instance the love interest in Snow White is a prince whereas Eugene is a thief. This suggest how ideologies have changed throughout the years: you don't need to have a prince/rich man, you can fall in love with anybody.



In all of these clips of the two movies you can really see how animation has evolved over the years with how it is done.Snow White is hand drawn and very faded and poor in quality, whereas Tangled is very sharp in detail and computer generated. With Tangled they put the smallest of detail in everything, from the individual hairs of eyebrows to the lace in clothing.

My animations would definitely be closer to snow white rather than Tangled because of the lack of time, skill and programs. I'll still be drawing on the computer but it would be closer to a hand drawn appearance rather than a refined 3D outcome.


Stop Motion
Another way of animating is stop motion. This means the animation uses no drawings but instead uses models and objects that are moved slightly by hand for each picture. This would be both easier and harder compared to drawn animations. Pro's: you don't have to redraw everything as you just have to take pictures, Con's: if you wanted it to something unusual like fly, sew or something it gets fiddly. A well known stop motion done by Disney is The Nightmare Before Christmas.

"There is an energy with stop-motion that you can't even describe. It's got to do with giving things life, and I guess that's why I wanted to get into animation originally." Tim Burton

After the pre-production (design and story development) the first production step is constructing the set. Unlike a live-action set where it can be flimsy and temporary, a stop motion set has to be strong enough to survive abuse from the animators and camera crew. It has to be solid enough to withstand stress of long days and lights. If the set is damaged in anyway such as melting or falling apart then they'll lose many hours of the animators work, as it would then not be smooth because they won't be able to make it perfectly identical to how it was before. The sets have to have access for the animators to work on so hidden trap doors is normal. The sets are also scaled to fit tabletops however the size depends on how much of the set they want to show on film. For instance an for an aerial shot the set would have to quite large. For detail of buildings they'll put a lot of care and time in the places that will be filmed close up but keep the parts where they are only filmed briefly as a long shot simple. Most of the props are custom made and scaled down to fit the set.



For the puppets/characters it is priority to try and bring them to life. Like most things it starts off with design drawings based on the story. The sculptors then create a clay version of the character, which is known as a maquette. In 2D and 3D animation the maquette is used mostly for reference, but in stop motion the maquette is used as a final representation of the character fully in detail. There is also a skeleton made based off the maquette called an 'armature'. They are made of steel or aluminium, along with wire or other materials that are needed to support the puppet. The makers of the armature puppet start off by researching how the character needs to move. It needs to be able to smoothly move its joints and pivot points that will help make it completely flexible to use on the puppet. The armature also has to be able to hold its position without moving or falling over. When the character eyes are built into the armature it also has to be able to blink or move, so they would have screws or control points either in the hair, ears or under the clothes so they are hidden but easy to get to. Multiple armatures are made for each character for the production in case something goes wrong or two animators need the same puppet at the same time. Once the details of the armature is settled the characters sculpture is then cast and a mold is made, typically out of plaster but sometimes made out of fibreglass. When the mold is created the armature is placed in it and sealed. Foam latex is then injected into the mold which would completely cover the armature, creating the exact replica of the character but with a movable skeleton inside.

"Jack's heads were all replaceable. Animators had to select the correct head for the attitude of dialogue and expression."

The casting of the puppet is then taken to get dressed up and groomed. For long hours being under lights and being handled by the animators the puppets require the paints and costumes to be very sturdy. Some clothes are painted on, others require an elaborated wardrobe. For final touches the eye lashes and each strand of hair is put on one at a time. The hair is then styled and then the puppet is ready for action.

Some props are also rigged to move too. The Santa's Naughty or Nice list looks as though it's written on paper when really the list was made with a sheet of aluminium foil between two sheets of thin paper. This was done because they didn't want to have the paper flopping uncontrollably when changing each frame.

Lighting is vital for stop motion as it helps bring the mood together - very much like live action. The cinematographer and help from the electrician that's known as a gaffer, begins by placing lights around the set ready for shooting. These lights would create an ambient lighting for each scene. However when the camera moves for a close up or changes angle, the lighting has to be adjusted so the new angle could work. Much like live action, the lights can be covered with coloured gel or cropped with 'flags', 'gobos', 'snouts' and 'barndoors'. All these tools are used to help focus the light on parts of the set. If the story wants a certain atmosphere like fog or rain, the crew have to plan what effects can be done on the set and what would need the aid of special effects in post-production.

As soon as the puppets and sets are prepared it is then time for the animators to start making the animation. Animators would start with a 'pose test' (or can be known as a 'pop through') of the scene, the the character would be held for 10 or 20 frames for the path of action to be established. After a discussion with the director and thinking and planning, the very long precess of capturing every movement one frame at a time begins. It is typical for the animators to work 12-14 hour days of physical labour to film and only get a few seconds of actual animation. There are also frequent checks on the set to make sure nothing has burnt out or anything that would ruin a scene. To achieve a solid and even camera movement there is a motion-control computer. However, sometimes it may be more ideal for the camera to be moved manually, frame by frame to track the action.

Early stop motion had no preview feature and the animators would usually have to wait a day for the film to be processed and returned. For modern stop motions however, they are shot digitally at a high resolution and during the shot the frames are uploaded to a computer screen so they can see it immediately. Unlike a 2D or 3D animation, if something was wrong with the scene the animator would have to scrap the entire scene and start all over again if there is something that needed improving or corrected. Once all the scenes are done all of the frames are taken to the post-production team, which is basically the same as the finishing process of 2D and 3D animation.

I would love to create a stop motion animation as the final film it creates has such an amazing appearance which you can only just admire, but I have very little time on this animation project. maybe I can still try it out but only have very short ones that aren't a fluid as professional stop motion.


From researching briefly into animation done by Disney and the process it has to go through - old and new - I have now gathered enough inspiration to now come up with with my own animation. I am thinking for my short/first animation to be simple and to be about something growing. For my main animation I would like to focus on animals, as I quite liked the look of the animals in Snow White. For research for this I can visit the zoo and take videos, drawings and notes. Also researching into stop motion has helped me think about lighting and mood and how it would affect the setting.




Zoetrope image from: zoetropic.wordpress.com and boompen.tumblr.com
The Alchemy of Animation: Making an Animated Film in the Modern Age
By Don Hahn

Daffodils

Because I am evolving a flower I drew from to something completely new but still shows relativeness, I've decide to look into daffodils. I remember last Easter being told about hoop petticoat daffodils and saw some my self. Even though they are part of the daffodil family they look very different in appearance compared to the common daffodil. For instance, the bell-shaped part of the flower are much bigger and curved with the petals around it small and thin, whereas on the common daffodils the petals are much fatter and curved. The stem of the hoop petticoat are very thin and are more rounded, they are also very short in height. In general the common daffodil is bigger all round, apart from for the bell which is smaller than the petals. The bell of both daffodils is the main feature and is what makes the flower recognised as a daffodil. I need to remember to consider this when evolving and creating relatives for my flower, to have something that doesn't change too much throughout like possibly the shape of petals.





Pictures from:
www.ausgardener.com.au
www.oxfordeagle.com

Observing Natural Forms

From the new project we have been set for only this week I've decided to look at some artists work for inspiration and how I can go about with presenting my drawings of natural forms.

In Giovanni Civardi's book, Drawing: A Complete Guide, He talks about graduation of tones on leaves and shells. He mentions how leaves show very fragmented chiaroscuro where there would be small light parts contrasting with the small shadowed parts, suggesting the fine textures of the leaf. He also talks about the shell's shiny surfaces and how we have to observe it to work out how the light reflects on smooth and rough surfaces. I found his comments and drawings rather useful and will definitely be thinking back to them in future when I do more observing drawings as shading using very dark and very light tones help with showing the structure of the object - also try out cross hatching as it might make drawing tone quicker.
 

In both of these drawings you can see that both objects include folds and twists creating strong shadows with were the light source can't get to. Even though they aren't heavy in detail it manages to show enough information of the objects appearance and form.

I also found Leonardo da Vinci's observational drawings on plants rather interesting as they held a lot of information. For instance in all three of these drawings I found in the book 'Leonardo da Vinci: The Complete Works' he would include and make clear all the features of each plant in one drawing with accuracy: leaves, fruit, flower, stem, thorns, etc. This is something I had to try and achieve with my own drawings, however I found da Vinci had presented the plant well by only drawing a segment of the whole thing - so instead of drawing the entire plant he only took a section of it which includes all of its features. When I was drawing from a plant I got overwhelmed by how busy it was, whereas if I focused on just a section I would of found it a lot easier- maybe try breaking part of the plant off.

 The two plant drawings done in red are much more fuller studies compared to the study of the pea pods, and also show much more information to the whole plant rather than a section, whereas the pea pods focuses on the appearance of different angles of one object. It also looks at different stages of opening. If I possibly have time I could possibly try observing flowers which close up - compare the differences.