1004: Lighting

In production design we learnt about lighting in storyboards. The first task was to reproduce the lighting of a shot in only 3 tones-

(click through)

We then were given a blank sketch and had to create 3 unique lighting set ups for it-

I really enjoyed this one.

The final task was to create 3 images on the themes of “Picnic”, “Journey”, and “Giving a gift. The pieces had to have two characters.

Here are the reference images I used-

Giving a Gift–

For this one I wanted to work with backlighting and highlighting a character who has completly in the dark.

Picnic

I wanted the lighting to be broken up so the first idea I had for this piece was the light through the trees. i also really wanted to draw a dog.

Going on a Journey

I’d seen a youtube video of a dog driving a car so that formed the basis of this idea. Originally I struggled with placing characters in an environment so i then thought about putting them in a vehicle. I decided on a plane as I could show the place they were travelling to in the distance.

1003: Storyboard version 3

I added more frames to the storyboard and added a different ending. When I create and animatic with timing I’ll know if this version is feasible.

Click through to read

1003: Walk cycles

In fridays lesson we learnt how to animate a walk cycle in maya and gained a bigger understanding of rigs and key framing.

I used these two images for reference-

I downloaded a rig from the internet for my first trial and animated the key frames. I realized once I’d rendered it that the rig is broken and dips down too much-

So I did it again with the rig supplied in class. These are just play blasts so the quality is not super good-

This rig is much better and h=even has secondary movements in the eyes and head.

1003: Design update

Amphitrite design evolution-

The design turned more controlled the more I worked into it. It also became more influenced by Pakistani/Muslim fashion as this clothing flows a lot and I want Amphitrite to be waterlike when moving. I also had issues when practice modelling the original purple design which is why I changed it into a hat with an attached veil. These two images are my final designs at the moment-

And I need to create a design sheet for the design but I’ve worked into a lot so I’m going to move onto other areas of pre-production.

Modelling practice that I had issues with-

In the review last week it was mentioned I could use coloured light to show the descent into the sea and how much murkier it becomes as Icarus realizes they’re not safe.

I created a quick gradient of how I wanted the colours to be and how the creatures get less cute as Icarus gets lower-

 

I also created a quick sketch of the temporary Icarus design I’m using in my storyboards.

I’m also halfway through improving the storyboards by adding more frames to show the animation and story progression, as well as tightening the story and making it simpler to animate.

1003: VFX Tracking

In todays VFX lesson we learnt how to use corner pins to track a part of an image and replace it with something else.

Steps-

-Read in both files

We had a jpeg sequence of a laptop for the base and I chose a piglet for the background-

Create a tracker node and add to a corner. then go through every 20 frames and move the box to make sure it’s hitting the same spot throughout the sequence

1001: Sound update

In the sound lesson today we went to the studios and learnt new editing software.

I managed to remove the wind from one of my recordings so overall the sound is much crisper.

When I was first designing the sound I thought of the April showers scene from Bambi

In terms of both scene design and the way the music is used. I did a quick study of the scene-

I like it’s depth and I think it has interesting framing which could allow me to quickly establish a lot of context.

I also did some quick cave and canyon drawings to continue with drawing how I’m picturing the sound-

1004: Life drawing part 2

I chose another video from the new masters series and created another collection of dynamic life drawings. This time I picked a model wearing underwear to make sure I was drawing the actual body and not just the clothes.

Video-

Life drawings- (click through)

The unlabeled images were all one to two minute studies

1003: Character designs

I took a break from storyboarding and thought about my actual character designs. i wanted to start again with my Amphitrite pieces so I looked at hijab fashion for reference as I know I want the character to have a sculpted headpiece and flowing clothes.

Reference images-

This is the current outfit design I like the most-

Inks- (with one Icarus)

I really didn’t like the bottom left one so when I transferred to digital I didn’t redraw it.

Normal colours and glow in the dark sea version-

I think I’m going to work into the top 3 designs more.

Icarus ideas

I also drew 8 different Icarus faces so I could see how I wanted him to look at get him to look as unique as I can-

I like 1,2,4 and 8 at the moment but I might leave these designs for now and see what i feel about them in a bit.

1004: Dynamic Life Drawing

Following Thursday’s lesson we had to draw dynamic poses from a youtube life model series.

So far I’ve done one video and the drawings I’ve made are below along with the video

 

As the video went on I found my drawings getter better and better so it was a really useful exercise.

 

1001: Graphic Soundscape

In the lesson we looked at graphic soundscapes and then were told to look at starting to design our own. From the different types we looked at (grids, spheres, shapes) the 3D grid style was the type I liked the most.

I am using a canyon for the basis of my sound and in making the soundscape I imagined it as a cube that I would place myself  in the centre off and draw in where I wanted the sounds to “hit” from this.

The yellow triangles are the bird sounds which I wanted to sound very high up and change in height. The triangle represents this and also the change in volume.

The blue and red marks are footstep/crunch sounds I’ve made to create a tempo. In the centre it changes to splashing so i changed the colour to show that.

The purple is some sort of one off loud sound. At the moment I’m using a drill but that might change. I wanted something to break up the start.

The blurry blue is the rain and wind in the background, and the shiny base represents the echo I gave the sounds.