80 words and 40 images

For this assignment we had to come up with 40 words relating to our topic and then 40 words contrasting those. Then we had to pick a total of 40 words and come up with visual sketches. I think I misunderstood this be assuming that the sketches had to be from the 80 words. On top of that I assumed that if you picked one word from say the related word list then you had topick the corresponding antonym. My overall theme that I got these words from was the idea of nostalgia and looking at it from an adult and kid's perspective. Also I just tried to thinkabstractly of as many words that quickly came to mind when considering this relationship.

Project 4

For this assignment we had to take our characters we created (project 3) and animate them in an environment in After Effects. We had to utilize the null tool and expressions. I decided for this project since after looking at my baby doll character (and her slightly disturbing gaze) that any environment would have to have some sort of creepy factor. I decided to look at some old 2-D side scrolling video games from when I was a kid. I looked to Ahh! Real Monsters and Toy Story for the SuperNES and Nightmare Ned for Windows 95. I really think the artwork by Nick Jennings for Ned inspired me for this project. Its as if he mixed Chuck Jones and Tim Burton to create his artwork. I found that unfortunately it was very difficult to animate my character in After Effects mostly because I'm still such a novice. I also had a rough time figuring out composition hierarchy and the best way to order compositions. I'm planning on going back at some point and probably redoing the entire thing from After Effects. I think I just wanted more than I could handle at this point. Also I accidentally knocked one of my files offline and had to find and replace it which wasn't fun at all. When I do this project over I'll remember to be more organized. If this project helped me learn anything, it was the real amount of planning involved to make these projects (especially animating them).

Project 3 articulating a character

For this assignment we had to design a character to use in class to introduce parenting, expression and null techniques in After Effects. I was (and still am) having problems designing a character that would keep in line with my theme about rediscovering childhood from an adult standpoint. I finally decided to go for a paper doll baby-doll aesthetic. I realize now that it doesn't have any sort of textures applied but just flat color. On top of it not looking connected to my theme, it really doesn't have enough of a meaning behind it that isn't short of stretch in relation to my overall concept. This weekend I need to do more brainstorming and come up or improve upon this character design. Also for project 3 we are going to have these characters doing some sort of task in a animation so thinking or certain tasks will probably help in the overall design department at the beginning.

Project 2 follow up on After Effects and my Process

This wasn't the first time I had to change my idea for a project because I realized quickly it was way too complicated when learning a new program. Unfortunately it probably won't be my last. My original idea had the camera (viewer) moving back in Z space between different scenes. For some reason at the time, I didn't even consider the depth movement and how we're only working in the X and Y axis; that was completely stupid. So I took the same content and just put it on a horizontal X axis movement. So my idea turned into an idea of almost a scrolling scrapbook in the mind of a child. There is a foreground, mid-ground and background (sky) all moving at different speeds. It starts off with a scene of a sketchy city in the distance and then scrolls along a "stitched" countryside into a forest area where a tea party is set. For this project we only had to have the first 10 seconds animated. At the bottom of the screen in a "dirt" layer is a rabbit who moves along the bottom to the end of the scroll where there is a hole for him to exit unto the tea-set.

Some problems I encountered early was this project I made for myself allowed for me to get really comfortable again with Photoshop since it had been awhile since I had done more than a little cutting out. I found it hard not to just make the project but to order it in a way that when I import it into After Effects it would work. It was 10x harder to figure out than I originally thought it was going to be and required a lot of backtracking a tweaking. Once I finally had the files built and structured in After Effects I learned that for it work that I shouldn't ever have grouped folders in Photoshop. For some reason it just makes things go a little crazy; a least my experience told me. What I ended up having problems with for some reason is editing the position points along the timeline. When I edited the position of one asset and then decided to edit a second asset, for some reason when I played it back it was if the original asset was never touched even though I was sure I didn't highlight both of them. This lead to a lot of tedious backtracking that in the end left one of my assets extremely jerky and off balance. It seemed like every time I'd try to edit the position points or start the asset over it either didn't change or made things worse. I wonder if I have some sort of mode checked that is making the program do this, but because I'm such a novice I've have no understanding of what's going on. I found that it was extremely difficult to even get my assets open and in the correct camera view when it should have been relatively easy. I almost wonder if I should just start over from the beginning with the After Effects file and see if it works better a second time instead of trying to edit in possibly questionable preference settings of this current file.

Funneling Concepts for 2-D Animation Fall 2010

So I had a hard time racking my brain to come up with some ideas for this semester's Animation class. I decided to start listing things that visual stimulate me to want to animate in the first place and see where that would take me. In terms of picking an overall style I decided that I'm interested in flat geometric shapes representing characters and landscapes like in the video vimeo.com/6327556 by Lois van Baarle or vimeo.com/13776542 by Eran Hilleli. In Between Bears just shapes are understood to represent ideas and things which I find fascinating. Alsotheir chromatic muted like color palettes are superb and I'd definitely on some level want to utilize them. In a very brief unfinished summary of my idea I'd like to have the story involving a girl (of course) who lives in a city but finds that she doesn't fit in (quite literally in terms of color). The city would be very geometric and derivefrom an Art Deco feel like those in Geogia O'Keefe's City Night (1926). I was wanting the city to be mostly black, blue, and touches of red. The main girl would be done in a retro like aesthetic like but her palette would be mostlybrown, opaque, and beige. She finds a flower blowing through the city that is a pink salmon color that she's never seen before. She decided to follow it which takes her on an adventure through a strange forest. The forest would be designed similar to the Sundance Old Fangs(winner cartoonbrew.com/shorts/animation-block-party-2010-winners.html ).The color palette here would be more purples ,yellows and oranges. Finally I would want her to end in a sort of neither-world where everything is a very muted beige with pools of water. The last seen would be her finally catching the flower. When she opens her hands to see it it changes to the color of dark blue with a miniature version of the city inside and she closes her hans. Again she opens them to reveal a purple flower with the forest insidewhich she closes. Finally she opens them to reveal a beautiful light blue color and decides to put it in her pocket and walk off screen.

picture ideas for Project 1

textures for trees:
tea set on table:
fox running through forest:
textures for ground:

Beginnings of Project 1

In the last exercise we were asked to play in a creative sense to start developing themes and concepts for the semester. My experiences from last week left me with thoughts of searching for the joy of childhood and innocence in everyday experiences and an idea of trying to return to a time of innocence. For this project we have to utilize the x,y, and some aspect of the z axis. Also we have to use a multi-layered set for our stories. My idea is basically the viewer seeing a tea party of sorts in a deserted forest and suddenly the camera is pulled back as the scenery zooms by to tall grasses with the viewers "hands" touching them as if to push them aside. The video is like its being played backwards. I was hoping for it to represent visually an idea of moving out of the realm of imagination and discovery (unknown) and into what is closer to the familiar with implications of exploring again. By having it fill as if the movie is being played backwards it fills as if it could happen in a forward motion, that some part of wonder can be revisited. I want the shapes for the trees to be just cut-outs of wood textures and the ground will be different layers of fabric-like textures. As the camera zooms back into space, animals like a fox or deer will dart across the screen to show a sort of playfulness, nostalgia (I loved just about every sort of animal growing up) and to slowly give a sense of normalcy. You expect animals to be wondering around in a forest but not so much a tea party set up in the middle. The camera is the viewer up until the end when you actually see hands on the screen but remains nameless and focuses more on traveling through the space. Its about escapism that (through manipulation of space and time) can be revisited over and over regardless of what goes on outside the forest.