Something quick I did while taking a break in Graphic Design class. I used Flash to place the drawings in a frame-by-frame timeline. This is another example of an animatic.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Kids and their pets
It's occurred to me recently - perhaps in the thought of adopting a kitten - that the emotional bond that forms between a human and an animal companion is something so precious, delicate, and so unbelievably strong. I remember watching the film Marley and Me on an airplane without headphones one time, and the comical relationship I saw within the young couple and their untrained golden retriever was the one you love to hate, but you know you can't ever replace. In the end, that animal becomes a witness to the best and worst moments of your life, and probably gives you wisdom and encouragement to grow without even speaking to you.
This is what I love about seeing an animal interact with a human in animation - especially when they cannot speak to one another - because you know there's another sort of 'emotional' communication that keeps them close. I felt that way while watching Ratatouille some time ago, how Linguini and Remy worked together as puppet and puppet-master to get out of a tough situation, and even in Avatar: the Last Airbender with Aang as he puts 'saving the world' on hold to search for his giant fluffy bison Appa when he goes missing. It's those types of relationships that make a cartoon or animated film so much more intriguing to watch.
Yesterday, I went to see this film on an impulse, because I had a feeling that this kid and his new 'pet' would be the same classic story:
Let me just say, Dreamworks did not hold back in that childish curiosity for animals with this one. When you have a kid who's obligated to kill a creature for the sake of his village and his honor, and still hesitates to do so, you gotta wonder why. The main character, Hiccup, finally gets his chance to take down the most fearful of all dragons, but then makes the choice in setting it free. Once the level of trust is made, helps him out of an injury in order to fly again, and in doing so he becomes the first person in his village to fly on a dragon. He gives the dragon a name, and accepts the fact that he can't kill dragons. The cool part is, Hiccup no longer worries about the honor or the glory, because as the film goes on, you realize he's found something even more precious in this friendship with the dragon.
By the end of the film, you can't help but feel soft about it, too.
This is what I love about seeing an animal interact with a human in animation - especially when they cannot speak to one another - because you know there's another sort of 'emotional' communication that keeps them close. I felt that way while watching Ratatouille some time ago, how Linguini and Remy worked together as puppet and puppet-master to get out of a tough situation, and even in Avatar: the Last Airbender with Aang as he puts 'saving the world' on hold to search for his giant fluffy bison Appa when he goes missing. It's those types of relationships that make a cartoon or animated film so much more intriguing to watch.
Yesterday, I went to see this film on an impulse, because I had a feeling that this kid and his new 'pet' would be the same classic story:
Let me just say, Dreamworks did not hold back in that childish curiosity for animals with this one. When you have a kid who's obligated to kill a creature for the sake of his village and his honor, and still hesitates to do so, you gotta wonder why. The main character, Hiccup, finally gets his chance to take down the most fearful of all dragons, but then makes the choice in setting it free. Once the level of trust is made, helps him out of an injury in order to fly again, and in doing so he becomes the first person in his village to fly on a dragon. He gives the dragon a name, and accepts the fact that he can't kill dragons. The cool part is, Hiccup no longer worries about the honor or the glory, because as the film goes on, you realize he's found something even more precious in this friendship with the dragon.
By the end of the film, you can't help but feel soft about it, too.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
my first Animatic!
I took this four-week class on drawing and story-boarding, and absolutely loved it! You'd be surprised how many drawings it takes to get a decent storyboard going for an animation project. When you take thumbnail drawings and place them on a frame-by-frame timeline, you get a very basic rough idea of what the actual animation is supposed to look like.
Here's what I did in the span of an hour's worth of drawing 20 different frames:
It's really cool when you see the motion happening between drawings! In terms of my skills, I learned that I take up a lot of time worrying about the details of an figure or object, rather than focusing on the movement and the supposed 'action' of a character. It's a perfectionist's problem I guess, but I am working out of that habit. Right now I'm getting really into drawing with ink again, as it helps me learn to work around mistakes and just look at the overall concept of an image.
Here's an apple study I did with ink:
This week I'm going to San Francisco to look at an animation program. I'm hoping I can visit Pixar while I'm over there! =P
Here's what I did in the span of an hour's worth of drawing 20 different frames:
It's really cool when you see the motion happening between drawings! In terms of my skills, I learned that I take up a lot of time worrying about the details of an figure or object, rather than focusing on the movement and the supposed 'action' of a character. It's a perfectionist's problem I guess, but I am working out of that habit. Right now I'm getting really into drawing with ink again, as it helps me learn to work around mistakes and just look at the overall concept of an image.
Here's an apple study I did with ink:
This week I'm going to San Francisco to look at an animation program. I'm hoping I can visit Pixar while I'm over there! =P
Monday, March 8, 2010
UP!
I watched the Academy Awards last night, and I was so happy by the amount of praise that was given for UP!, among the many other great animated films mentioned. I can't remember who presented the nominees for best animated film - let's just say it was Samuel L. Jackson - but it really impressed me that he talked about how sometimes the best stories don't have to involve real people or live action. There was even a short bit before the nominees were announced, when they had a fake 'interview' sequence with the animated characters of the movies, and even though you knew it was all make-believe and scripted, I loved that these characters had the depth, mannerisms, and personalities of any real person being interviewed.
I'm pretty sure that if I could specialize in any area of animation, it would be in character animation. I love the idea of putting together a story, a background, and a personality in a character through movements and mannerisms. Maybe this is from watching too many Disney movies growing up, but you really get attached to the characters that show so much vulnerability and heart, even when you know they aren't real!
Another couple great moments I really got out from the Academy Awards was when Pete Doctor won for Best Animated Film for UP!, and he said "it's amazing what making a flip-book out of your 3rd grade Math textbook will do to you." When Micheal Giacchino accepted his award for Best Original Score for UP!, he said "as a kid, I would take my dad's old film camera and go around making short films, and he never once told me that I was wasting my time," and he kept going on, telling everyone watching to never stop being creative, and to never think of anything as a waste of time. I agree with both of these guys, because it just goes to show that creativity can start in the simplest of things, but it really takes a lot of courage and perserverance to make something great out of that creativity.
It was a wonderful, inspiring night for me.
I'm pretty sure that if I could specialize in any area of animation, it would be in character animation. I love the idea of putting together a story, a background, and a personality in a character through movements and mannerisms. Maybe this is from watching too many Disney movies growing up, but you really get attached to the characters that show so much vulnerability and heart, even when you know they aren't real!
Another couple great moments I really got out from the Academy Awards was when Pete Doctor won for Best Animated Film for UP!, and he said "it's amazing what making a flip-book out of your 3rd grade Math textbook will do to you." When Micheal Giacchino accepted his award for Best Original Score for UP!, he said "as a kid, I would take my dad's old film camera and go around making short films, and he never once told me that I was wasting my time," and he kept going on, telling everyone watching to never stop being creative, and to never think of anything as a waste of time. I agree with both of these guys, because it just goes to show that creativity can start in the simplest of things, but it really takes a lot of courage and perserverance to make something great out of that creativity.
It was a wonderful, inspiring night for me.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Ponyo contest
About a month ago, I entered this poster contest on DeviantArt that asked us to design a poster for the DVD/Blu-Ray release of Hayao Miyazaki's Ponyo. They said we needed to use any medium we wanted for the poster, and they gave us still-images of the film that we could work off of as inspiration. At the time, I was just getting a hand on coloring and layering in Photoshop, so I decided to paint and illustrate my poster through a hand-drawn image I'd made of Ponyo.
This was the entry I turned in:
(I ended up not winning, but personally, I think this is one of the best works I've done in multimedia as of right now. Things can only progress from here!)
This was the entry I turned in:
(I ended up not winning, but personally, I think this is one of the best works I've done in multimedia as of right now. Things can only progress from here!)
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