Eseld- updated version

I had a few extra days so I worked a bit more on Eseld

I added a bit of shading and fixed some of the monster.

Unfortunately my TvPaint file corrupted beyond repair so it isn’t all redrawn, but I feel like I have finished with working on this film for now. Maybe I’ll update it for the ten year anniversary.

I’m considering entering this for a few film festival. I may wait a little later in the year so the snow theme feels more appropriate- or maybe entering it in the summer would be an advantage. I need to think on it but will make a decision soon.

This project has been hard, but when pasting together clips to make a show reel I realised there were some decent pieces of animation in here. I think my feelings are overall positive.

Eseld- Finished film

Here is the finished version of my film “Eseld”

I’m really happy with it.

I put a lot of time and work into the piece and I think it shows. I tried a lot of new things with this film- run cycles, animating quadrupeds, multiple characters, a piece longer that 40 seconds etc… There’s a lot of trial and error in this film but it represents me well.

The film has a few rough bits of animation, but I don’t feel as if I’ve taken the easy route or handed in an unfinished piece of work. Every scene was a challenge from the first draft, and some have been overcome much easier than others.

I’d like to again thank my voice actors and composer. Working with other people helped me feel more involved in the world of my project, as well as having really skilled people bring their abilities to the film.

I included a lot of things I’m a personal fan of in this film- dogs, snow, forests, adventures, suspense, and it was fun to create a personal film without having to tell an autobiographical story.

My personal highlights were painting the backgrounds and seeing my improvement, recording my puppy for reference and working with actors and composers for the first time.

 

 

Eseld Production blog posts

List of links for the second half of the project. Although some of these are listed by weeks it’s not 100% correct.

Sketch animations-

First week of animation

Second week of animation

Third week of animation- change to non-chronological animating

Fourth week of animation

Fifth week of animation

Sixth week– sketch finished and trial music in

Clean animation-

Seventh week – Start of neat animation

Eighth week- music and first 1/3 complete

Pre- Easter update

Post-Easter update Backgrounds added and short animation review

Completed Lineart

Colouring-

Colouring Started

Dog colouring done and character mostly done

Final Product-

Final Film

Eseld update- colouring

I added more colouring to the character and painted a couple more backgrounds. I was also able to colour the entire dog on Saturday which I was very happy with. I also was able to give it eyebrows and a painted muzzle to make it look a bit more finished. If I finish colouring the rest by Thursday I might texture it a bit more on Friday.

My current priority is finishing colouring the monster and Eseld, creating credits and then thinking about shading. I also need to write the PDF summary of the project, but I’m feeling like I will be satisfied with what I hand in.

Eseld update- colouring started

I’ve managed to colour about 1 minute of the animation in flat colours. It’s going reasonably well so far, I’m using colour layers for the first time and this is massively speeding up the process.

My main priority for this weekend is to paint as many backgrounds as possible

Eseld animation- Line art finished!

I’ve finished all the animation and half of the backgrounds-

I also lip synced.

I did the end and start first, so when I was finishing up the middle I started to see parts of the film that I could improve by animating again, but I doubt I have time for that.

I’m glad to of finished because now I have enough time to complete the colouring to a high level

Post-Easter update

During the break (lol) I worked a lot on backgrounds and pushing through the final third. I found the creature animation particularly challenging but I’m glad I’m tackling it now and will have the easiest part (the middle third) to complete nearer the deadline.

There’s a little bit of sound adjustment since last time, but I feel like it’s pretty much done now. This means I need to lip sync the parts I’ve been avoiding and make sure the footsteps foley all line up well.

Although some challenging parts came out really well (the creature stalking and Eseld swinging the bat for example) I also feel like there’s a couple of really weak bits of animation.

In all honesty I probably won’t redraw those scenes- changing the timing has helped a bit and I don’t really have the time to do it anyway. I think the main issue is how in so many scenes the floor isn’t visible when characters are running so it makes the movement look a lot weaker.

Also a lot of these parts are only on screen for 1-2 seconds so I feel like I should get over it and move on to actually finishing the film.

Pre-Easter update

I’ve been working hard this week to complate the first act and move onto the final third. I have achieved this and have done about 50% of the final act, animation wise. Below is my work so far, one with the sketch animation and one without-

Without sketch

With Sketch

Eseld update

Update!

I’ve completed 1.15 of animation; the first act of the film is now complete (apart from some lightening effects) and I’ve now moved onto animating the final third.

The sound student helping me edited the music piece a lot and I feel like it’s now complete and exactly as I imagined.

My goals now are to finish and draw more backgrounds.

Work in Progress

I’ve moved on quite a bit since my last blog update. I’ve shifted the focus of my in class time to starting the neat animation, and have been working chronologically for the first time.

It’s been fun to be able to start working on “final” animation, even though it’s annoying how long it is taking. Here’s what I have so far-

And here is it with the rest of the sketch animation-

 

After (mostly) fixing a cintiq issue, I’ve started to add hatch lines to some of the frames for effect. I think it’s working (along with thicker lines for some areas) so I’m going to continue doing it.

My other focus for now will be catching up with the person doing the sound for me and working on getting the last few Foley sounds that I have missed.