Train adventures..not doing as many I would have liked
A real fashionable girly girl with flowing silky hair so I had to draw her several times!
I struggled to find something feasible to draw. Stop moving so much hoo-mins!
*Shock!!* Unexpectedly and luckily, we had Jeff Pratt a former Pixar animator and character developer (now a teacher) teach us about animation during the afternoon and also tomorrow! I made a little fool of myself when I was wondering who he was at first as he was the mysterious new person in the room. (As I had thought we were going to continue our character projects in class.) Three Pixar artists teaching within the span of one month! Is this real?!
Workshop-wise, we delved into animation as a whole, tips and actual 3D techniques in doing effective walk cycles. I had to choose on the spot whether I should attend his workshop or Brendan‘s ZBrush workshop into sculpting anatomy…if I could I would do both but I really wanted to know who Jeff was, especially knowing that his workshop won’t happen again as he’s going back to the US.
In hindsight, I probably should have done the anatomy one instead (and Brendan as told me so too). But the decision to do Jeff’s workshop and its experience highlighted to me many things. I insist I do enjoy sculpting characters to 3D form but not as much as telling a story and making characters pose in an emotionally engaging manner (though I’m stressing I don’t mean animation itself). Though I’m not interested in establishing myself as a 3D character animator nor a character modeler/sculptor at the moment, I enjoy learning about them, as both worlds are related to character development!
The intricacies in the art of movement, acting and character is fascinating to see while seeing your 2D designs transform into the next dimension is amazing also. Jeff’s workshop so far reminded me how I enjoyed and got so engaged into 2D animation of the past as it brought characters to life to an emotional level so well. My focus is visual development, character design and storytelling so all of these areas are wonderful bonuses and relevant to learn.
Rex concepting: Did some rough thumbnails in the morning and more in the night; may not actually use any of them at all for the project as we seek approval. Trying to go for the angular and angry eye look. Though I don’t get to do any character modeling or sculpting for the CwTR project, I’d be able to take charge of environments and do the modeling of plant life! Very excited to do organic hand painted elements rather than man made photo realistic environment pieces!! Which of the following do you think was the chosen final design?
Playing with silhouettes and lines. Nothing stands out though.
3rd one looks so weird! Really thin tails I realised.
4th, 5th and 7th perhaps?
1st, 2nd, 3rd and maaaybe 5th? Which do you think was chosen? Which are your favourites?
18th Thurs
Train adventures
Faces and sleepy people galore. And I sneaked in a drawing of Jeff saying “silly walks” haha
Out of proportion ladies.
Animation class: Jeff delved into walks, rigging and more animation goodies for most of the day and since it was an area I was not delving into, I did not take notes this time.
Guessed which Rex concept was chosen yet? Well results are in. Got feedback from Victor and Will for the above Rex concepts. Then I got feedback from Director Heath. He ultimately chose the 3rd page, number 4 due to how it has character. Was very sneaky as I got feedback from Brendan too and got a generous brief anatomy overview. Interestingly he chose the same concept as Heath–for the same reasons!
Rex Orthogonal sheet: Strived to complete the basic orthogonals and figure out costume variations by the next day by sacrificing sleep
19th Fri
Train adventures
I draw and hone into drawing the faces. Everything else are bonuses. I guess that shows I like drawing portraits above all else, especially the eyes.
Rex Design & Orthogonal Sheet: Really glad that classmates liked the final lined design in orthogonal form though the arms needed redoing at the front view (will do so in the polished version)! Will and Victor chose their favourite combination of clothing and off Will went to 3D model Rex’s body. Heath also approved it. I busied myself with blocking in shapes for the orthogonal sheet.
Costume variation 1 featuring: muffin or broccoli hat and chef suit with flap!
Costume variation 2 featuring: Tie scarf, chef uniform and cake chef hat
Costume variation 3 and chosen design: Pastry hat, tied around scarf and chef apron.
Colours for CwTR: Did a colour palette derived from the wonderous colours of Burning Safari
Took a while but I got there. I liked how they did their palette too so I did my take on it.
Busy with the Nuke Rotoscoping Assessment task, the Nuke + Maya render Pass tutorial and assessment for most of the day and roughly put together the Production Packet for the alien invasion project for my group (for some reason)
Troubles: I couldn’t finish the Render pass assessment task during class and on top of that, my brain-dead-ness made me forget and leave my hard drive with my assessment files, colours and developed orthogonals in class for the weekend. The assessment is due on Wednesday as well! Well, this day could be better but at least I am still able to work on most of the allocated tasks for the CwTR project. Not the end of the world.
20th Sat
More developed orthogonals with more clearer construction of the arms and legs
Rex orthogonals polishing: did some front & side Rex orthogonals with his mouth open & looked at some inspiring colour scripts. I also worked more on the orthogonals, fixed his arms and hat
21st Sun
spent most of the day painting in the forms for Rex and figuring out how his scales worked
Just doing values. I might actually put the finished version as part of my first portfolio piece. (: I’m pretty happy with my progress so far. Will need to work out colours & patterns later on.
did a stylised reptilian scale moodboard to help me out too and also collect many chocolate mud cakes and modern oven reference images
22nd Mon
train adventures!
I did a cartoony head up there as he was too far away to see details. It now looks like the two leftmost guys are chatting secrets to each other!
I wanted to draw *something* so I drew some old fanart from memory and from walls outside my classrooms. Then I got a train adventure drawing in somehow.
Got my hard drive back! Had 20 of my frames took 4 hours to render for my render passes assessment task; but managed to submit my Nuke assessment before Wednesday today
Poses & Expressions for Rex: started drawing the model sheet for Rex while listening to w1 PD1 (finally!!) and while watching the reality show by Penny Arcade, StripSearch as recommended to me by Victor. Painting still gave me a sore arm though…whoops; I need to be more careful!! Took me a long time to figure out how to draw the poses convincingly and consistently as best I could with the time I had. It was hard!
Why was this sheet making me struggle? I guess it means I’m learning! (:
23rd Tues
pose and expression sheet number 2
My bro said he acted like a granny but my bro gave me good feedback on what didn’t make sense and I’ve fixed it now. The proportions aren’t terribly consistent throughout as I strive for the right display of expression for Rex. I guess that’s why I struggled!
Rex Final Concept at a Perspective: drew out a pose and blocked in shapes only. I am leaving colours till later until I get the overall elements designed first (props and environment). Again, my bro gave me good feedback on the placement of the leg going forward.
He’s running for you, not ice skating! How dare ye!!
Reflection for the week
Overall, it was pretty crazy with concepting Rex over here (no, not the Toy Story T-Rex). I really wanted to get onto BAL and PD1 (I guess it’s always going to haunt me over these weeks that I’m not able to do it without spreading myself too thin) but the CwTR project was more urgent, now with only 3 or 4 more weeks to go and I’ve only got give or take 2 weeks left for all this pre-production and most of the production done. Excited and also on pressure!! It turns out that Rex is the star of this post! (:
Thanks for looking! (: Until next time, Leonie (UUUinfinity/TripleUinfinity)
