Tuesday 24 June 2008

Getting into the Illustration!

I am going to kill this Blog as soon as I have received my grades, one that doesn't have to do with college work but my work. But, until then I am going to write some more. I was a lazy butt last week, I worked everyday but all I did was in slow motion and not very good so I realized that after these 4 years maybe I should take some days off and watch films and get out of the house - so I did and took some pictures of texture wile I was at it;









Not going to write much more - this week I am making my portfolio, my website and I am going to help Aminata with some compositing for her film so I am busy!

peace n luv,
asa

Wednesday 18 June 2008

Life after college - week 1

Today its Wednesday on my first week off college and I have decided to rest from Monsters Spa for a week. I am happy about that I did it in the amount of time that I had cos it was not just animating ( as I am veyr bad at doing) it was developing environments and most of the characters. I am not happy with the end result though- the Spa section still looks shit and the massage scene as well so I will rip it up and change it, probably have a Monster with a face mask and hair rolls looking in to the spa room and animate Ruth better. The flickering of the text at a section in the end has to be sorted as well and some other details. But right now I need a short break from it and is planning my showreel instead. Jared is right. I should show that I can build stuff in 3D, cos I can, I am not brilliant but thats a choice that I made, 3D doesn't interest me, drawing and art work does. What changed my mind was two things, 1) i know that Jared is right and working with 3D is definitely better then working at Tesco, 2) I saw Kung Fu panda and screamed loud! Dreamworks has after years of shit films pulled off something that is, together with Finding Nemo and The Incredibles, the best CGI film I have ever seen! No desperate jokes, really cool character designs and the animation is brilliant and the environments and the story as well. It made me want to build an environment in 3D again. I have five already- but I have developed a lot and don't want to have them in my showreel.



My old fish designs from 2006



While taking a rest from Monsters Spa I finally know what to do with my fish designs that I wanted to animate for my showreel last year but never really knew what to do with, now I know. I think I might change them do,either I go for my cartoonish fish or I go for fish that actually exists and turn them cartoonish. I think I am going for the second option.




I want to create a coral reef but in 2D, with the help of the 3D space in after effects, depth of field, shadows and caustics I want to follow some of my fish fora couple of seconds. As always I like my work to be colorful but I have learned from most 2d films now that props don't have black outlines. The water is missing and seashells and details but I like what I see so far.



I choose to do a reef and salt water fish cos they are more color ful and crazy then other fish,



I wish I could draw fish like this..



I worked a bit on Superintendent Claude and the mad painter and I kind of knew it already- Claude's police car is to long and narrow while claude and his dog are so short and squarish...i do love that car..but if they are going to be in it then the car has to change..buhuuu buuuu..

Now I am going to make coffe and learn more about how to use the camera in After Effects,

peace n luv
asa

Monday 9 June 2008

THE LAST WEEK!!

Yes, I actually cant wait to finish college now!!

Anyway, I have been struggling with the Spa scene for a while, re -drawn the environment about 6-10 times and tried to give it depth by adding plants in the foreground- which just looked mad - and the monsters in there didn't fit together so I made two new ones and then i changed the action of the scene and tried different kind of animation etc etc. Today I am ready to give up, I just want to hand something in on friday and then I will improve this and add other work and make I show reel when college is done.



different characters in the spa



and decided to go for these two characters and changed his hair to brown,



making fonts for my "film",





Now after effects crashed. Fun, Gat to go.

The teachers has said that they will read our blogs and that that will help them to mark us, I don't believe that they will read our blogs, I just can't see them having the time. Maybe they scroll through and see how much we gat on here, anyway. I was not chosen for the second exhibition but I don't have a film so that fair enough, the fact that industry people asked for me last year is good enough for me :)

A shame our course missed out on Computer Arts graduate issue- they are showing showreels from people they consider the best graduated this year- Jessica Do, Adam and jessica S should have sent their stuff in and they would have been mentioned, but we missed out on that.

My film is rendered. Could still do some small changes but I really just want to add sound and render it out so I know that I have a version for friday - then I can do more after that, still have to finish the cafe idea and Superintendent Claude. Right now I am adding and editing sound to a ruff version while i tried o fix mistakes and improve the film on another computer to see if i can render and stick in changes in time - if not, then atleast i gat a ruff version to hand in.



Editing and adding sound effects, had to look for a long time for a sound that would fit the animated star. New ideas on how to improve this piece appears all the time but I will do that later. I think the green snail in the spa pool should be there alone floating on a bath-ring ( or what they are called in english? ). Would be more fun I think. My housemates loves the octopuss but I hate him, to simple and random, no fun. The postcard is some problems, was going to do it in maya from the start but my version of maya is a little cunt so I ended up doing it in After effects instead so sometimes it flickers- need to fix that.
Still confused about the rendering cos last year when I, Jessica Do and Aminata sat down together and followed Sean's out put instructions we where the ones who had handed in films with wrong settings so this year I am sticking to DV PAl and is trying to change and render it out widescreen afterwards. When it comes to the soundeffects they are all from www.soundsnap.com - briliant site- I don't know this new version Premier Pro very well so I cant figure out how to edit the sound that good but as an old musician I know how to cut soundwaves, change their volume and put on delay and so on - but it would be cool if the sounds could grow higher and bigger the closer we came to the object that make them but i dont know if premier is that good for sound editing? Will ask some friends later. Like the sound in the office in the begging- would like the schoolyard sound to only come on the right spaker so that we'd imagine the schoolyard is somewhere on the right..but I don't know how to do that in premier- maybe i have to edit the sound in Logic or Cubase first and then import it?



Today its friday and I am going to hand in my little film and my folders. I should be happy today, a part of me is, its been a long time but another part is disappointed and sad and can't help thinking about what I could have done if the teachers would have let me go term 2 instead of in the end of term three. I have payed a lot of money and time to be here - I should have been more stubborn term 2 - or maybe I should have taken the Westminister offer cos they would have let me do my own films and I wouldn't have to give up what I want to do for some group work and for being in a class and year where everyone wants to do 3D - and I don't. I don't give a shit about that the industry wants 3D work- I don't enjoy it and I don't find it creative but technical. I like Ravensbourne but did not fit in there - I don't want to work with Maya and I thought everyone wouldn't have to cos thats what I was told every time I had doubts about the course and was thinking about changing. Anyway, it doesn't matter if I am angry, sad, disappointed or happy. I can't change anything now, its to late and I can't do another degree so this is it. I'm not going to think more about it cos there is nothing I can do about it. The only thing I can do is shape this monster Spa short up and sit down and do more shorts! :)

Thats it! Four years at Ravensbourne and now I am done!!

peace n luv,
asa

Monday 2 June 2008

Week 23 - only two weeks left to go!

Today its Monday and I am very slow. Did a new environment and some new characters this weekend though and improved the shower scene- changed the environment so that shower curtains don't cover their heads, improved and added more animation to some of the characters and etc - still the scene doesn't want to render and Alex hasn't gat back to me since friday so I am going to mail him again, I am also asking friends that work with After Effects but no one seems to know what is cosing this fault, ofcourse it makes me nervous but there must be a solution!!

Here are some pics that I am very happy about - my illustrations being sold on a gallery in Munchen :)





Today was the last day that people could vote for the Skillset exhibition - it's obvious that people has voted for their friends instead of thinking about who could make an nice exhibition- Aminata only gat two votes and she is one of the most talented students in the class and Jessica Do who also is brilliant wasn't even on the list!! I gat three votes so I am happy that someone voted for me, I had two industry people interested in my work last year - but now I don't know if I will exhibit, anyway, I just hope that chosen students don't stick A4 and A3 prints up on the walls with blue tag as on our fist year "exhibition" cos that is so lame.

Yes, its Monday and I a grumpy cos my files aren't rendering..and cos it doesn't look the way i want.



anyway, I am changing environments and details back n forth as I am trying to get the style and look i want and as i am not happy with how things look- there's a difference having stuff looking funnily drawn or looking shit drawn.. I am now changing massage Ruth's animation for the 25 th time and I DO HATE HER and the spa is re drawn- again. But its worth it, its small small improvements every time so atleast its improving so its going to right direction but a little bit to slow for my liking.

I have done lots of new monsters as i would like to have s gym in there as well but i am leaving them and is trying to get the spa and the massage scene better first. I can't wait to finish college now, I am really tired of it.



this monster looks like i feel


peace n luv,
asa