31st May Update

Shot 2 has been finished, so Im waiting for the appropriate time to have our next meeting for the Mayfly. I've been given the crying shot of the nymph on megauploads, but im currently having technical issues - I cant seem to get onto MU or download direct links from it for some reason. So I'll wait a day or better, I'll go over to a relatives house to download it. So I hope its not a MU problem.

Smitten's Opening shot ( the last background im going to be working on) just needs lighting touched up. And thats about it =D

If things dont go accroding to plan, I shall be practicing animating for my animation folder.

At the moment, I have 3 head turns, one leaf fall, nymphs parody of cyclops from xmen, and a colour change ( just a blob of colour)

I will be working on a slower leaf fall to possibly put into the MAYFLY film. And a shot where the nymph lifts his head up, for a cut in shot, which should technically fit in between two of Iredias main shots!^^

Times running out so dont know if theres going to be much to blog, but i'll try to update this as much as possible!

Le Opening Shot Progress...

This pretty much counts as my last full day in UK, before leaving for HK that is. I've blocked out the opening shot, and im trying to get it done by tonight,plus finish an animated shot for Iredia. I'll be having meetings with my leaders today to discuss what I need to get done whilst in HK.

Iredia has giveen me the option of animating in my time in HK, but I personally dont see that possible since I wont have much reference, or would I be in the right environment for me to purely concentrate on thinking up fresh keyframes for animating. Frame Painting seems like the best choice. The same goes for SMITTEN's backgrounds. Everything but this shot has been finished. I made sure this was done so that Matt has the backgrounds ready to animate over =D

I shall Upload my timetable for the next 10 days later on today.

This Opening shot alone needs more shadings and detail like bushes and flowers. The tree branch in the foreground will be on a seperate layer for matt to play with overlapping movements in that layer. So yeah. shall update on the progress soon...

Weekly Update:

Its seems like ages since I've been stuck into "painting" and working, but here goes!!
After the group session with Dan, Its now clear what we are expected out of by the end of this term. Although its been a long struggle, It seems to have gone very well! And at the same time, ignoring how our personal lives have distracted us from project work, on the side units such as IPP and dissertation, everything for both my films have been planned out so detailed, there doesn't seem to be a worry anymore.

I have in fact come across a few technical issues such as the aspect ratio of shots, like the opening shot in smitten. Since its a 2D film, we've had to make the tower much bigger then what its expected to look like on screen. Manipulating a complicated camera movement with various layers moving differently. This shot is a collaboration between me and Michelle.
I will be dealing with the exterior shots again. And Michelle will be/ HAVE drawn the tower and the inside of the princesses room.

I originally thought my exterior backgrounds would have to be the same, or not BIGGER then the towers measurements which was something ridiculously stupid like 5000 x 11XXX =S This was the impression I got from our last meeting. My digital painting software's could not go above 10,ooo. I guess I misunderstood the technical complications of this shot.

I messaged our leader - Matt. and have now confirmed, I am drawing the layout of the shot 1024x 576 but extending it to the right a bit for the camera to do its thing. From going going the animatic with Matt, I figured i would have to extend it by around 300? So that shouldn't be too much of a problem.

SooooOOOO...

An update on my status as a member of SMITTEN.
All my backgrounds have been given the green light!!^^
wooooOOO!!^^
However, there are still a few tweaks to fix. Like adding the missing chains in the drawbridge shot. colour tweaking, and making the path a bit smaller in one 2 other shots. All jobs can be done under an hour all together, so I guess thats still a weight lifted from my shoulders.

Main job to do:
-2 layers for the Opening Shot at 1024 x856
-Bridge Chains
-Path tweaks

MayFly:
For the Mayfly, I've been working on another swim shot.
I JUST came across a major problem last night in fact. Whilst frame painting I found 2 empty frames withing the "Body layer". (While frame painting I switch the Antennas and leg layers off to avoid confusion.) Since there were two empty layers, I gave Iredia a call to check what was going on. And was told it was fine to just delete them. So I did.
After going over the body frames. I switched the other two layers on. (so the Antennas and Legs)
But then in the middle of frame painting I found the missing drawn body frames on the LEG layers. APPARENTLY - Iredia drew these two inbetweens on the wrong layer. Which was why, after I went over the frames the legs seemed to be left behind in the middle xD

Its taken me 30mins to realise and fix this issue. I also just had a meeting with Iredia over our other shots. So i hope this problem doesn't happen again. But I dont blame him, we're all just so tired!!

On a side note.
I will be going HongKong this coming Thursday for personal reasons.
I'll be gone for 10 days. 10 days of which I wont be needed in TEAM SMITTEN.
However, to keep to schedule I will be taking my gear (laptop, wacom, HD's) with me. I dont want this trip to interfere with my films. Nor do i want to let down my teams, reason why I got the backgrounds for smitten over and done with, ready for Matt to animate over. Preparing for this trip makes me feel a bit more professional .. especially dealing with my responsibilities as working for TEAMS. I've discussed this multiple times with my team leaders in order for this trip to not get in the way of our films. And I have generally worked alot harder and tighter to schedules as planned.

Iredia's got and is still working on shots for me to get done while I'm over broad so its ok. I'll have meetings with him over skype when needed since theres Internet at the Hotel.
My plan is to do the official things I have to get done. Then go back to the hotel to do work. I'm obviously going to do a bit of shopping too, but it shouldn't get in the way of work time. We've calculated, I should be able to get 4 shots done by the time I come back. When I do, I will have the Mayfly fly shots to go over. So schedule wise I'm sorted. I will create an updated Gant chart just for them 10 days.

If Im needed urgently, I've told my tgeam members to contact me through email or facebook. Facebook being the best since I get updates straight to my iPhone. This trip to HK does not count as a Holiday, nor for play. I have official business to deal with. And even though I dont want to go in the middle of term. Its something I cant avoid and still feel REALLY REALLY bad about >< So.. I've taken these 10 days a business trip.. PURE WORK .. and..eat.. =P

But yeah.

On a plus side, I can do more research and find cheaper products to develop my E&E project which is going PRETTY WELL right now =D estimated to make £700? out of.. £50 of investment? Not bad at all! If things go well, it may also be a side company I carry on with after graduating. I've even found licensing and manufacturers in HongKong and China^^ But I will try focus more on Frame painting for the Mayfly film as much as I can! T_T

Finished the last PAN^___^

Theyre waiting to get the green light but heres what the shots look like in order of appearance anyways =D The shot with the bridge is missing chains... but thats a minor thing to add =D

I just wanted to upload the shots in order, so that we can get a look of how the atmosphere would be like. From looking at these images, then going back to Michelle's entrance backgrounds, its a really nice contrast! As a team we've discussed the possibilities of making an artwork for our degree show, as in leaving it on our desk as an open MAKING OF type book =DD Ive worked out its around £18 for 22 pages for a HARDBACK book =DD Nice investment indeed, after 10 years.. we coluld look back n prob go, hey, I was kind of rubbish then! =P But it seemed like the best back then xD Its da same type of feeling we have for all our past work now so.. =P nostalgic yet.. hmMMM

Forest Pan finished?

Heres the finalised shot of the forest pan for the start of the film! Im proud of this piece the most, only because its shown my improvements as a digital artist, IT IS BECAUSE of this background, and matt forcing me to push boundaries, I have learnt more in terms of colour and perspectives. The composition is so powerful in comparison to my past work, i've improved creatively. As shown, the layers in the foreground has been kept, for the detail and beauty to shine through the shot. Where as the grass has been cutout, as well as the bushes. Anything with leafy detail basically.

I decided not to cutout the castle, since the filter would look overused. The castle itself has its own brushed our style, which I've I've planned to keep. It also corresponds to Michelle's tower painting which was originally based on my basic castles colour and painted technique. So I left the tower as it was.

I've also extended the trees down the background for a more 3 dimensional feel. or the forest would cut very hasrshly as seen in the past images. After having a meeting with Matt, we decided. the cloud sitting on the hills at a distant seems a bit odd since the space was so empty. So I came up with the idea of extending the forest ROUND the "hill" then bring the perspectives in - closer and BIGGER to the castle, pretty much touching from the view of the camera. Its brought the overall scene together so that fix up went better then expected =D

Shot 4 the reject

Shot 4 the reject has finally been fixed! and the simplified bricks too! colour contrast isn't blinding so im happy overall!

The Drawbridge

Im not very sure where the chains for the drw bridge shound bend. So i'll be waiting for instructions for that, but here it is without the chans =D

Development of shot 3

This shot has really been a pain, but Its now almost done! Waiting to get the brick work OK'd. At the same time, I'll be finishing the forest in this shot. I think I've finally got the bricks as Matt requested. Its looking very bold as a shot. So im proud of the hours put into this shot.

As mentioned in the past posts. I've extended and changed this shot multiple times. Even though it got annoying, the scenes composition is much stronger then the initial plan from the storyboard.^^ Looking forward to the end!! So I'll try my best to get these backgrounds as "smexy" as I can! =D

nymph head turns!

Short test on the nymphs head turn, the right eye seems to be going a bit crazy.. probably because theres no inbetweens.. and i looped the frames..so..yeah =)

This shot was drawn as a test, working around a normal head turn. I must admit, its very robotic. However, I have never animated in TVP, only frame painting and actully going over iredia's frames. Even though in the process i go over every single frames outline.. and colour.. This process apparently doesnt count as my own animation. Since I wasnt the one who works out the timing.

Keeping in mind I havent animated for 2 terms now... This was a nice start! TVPaint proved to be much easier to work with. Overall the feeling of animating was very nostalgic, as if i was animating on paper the traditional way in first year. I would definitely recommend this software to fellow 2D animation students! Its a nice jump from photoshop. However, I have heard of rumours of Adobe updating CS5 to be able to actually animate in. I'm a bit stuck with time. Since im working on so many programs already, I don't have the time to check this out really, I dont want to get all obsessive over a software I already know. Since I spend so many hours on these digital painting softwares, you tend to get attached. As I've discuss with Michelle in the past. =)


Heres a more improved version that was more challenging!


Im still not used to this, but the result was more organic then the last! so I guess the talent is still there in the of drawings, Timing wise, I have alot to work on, But it doesnt seem so bad anyways, Heres the progress of a fast head turn,. switching from two different emotions.



I followed a tutorial on head tilts, given the advise for lowering the head a bit for a more organic feel. It proved to work. However, the timing is a bit off, I kind of want to extend the progression of the character turning his head a slower at the start of the sequence. Iredia is planning to give me feedback tonight on this shot, and share some advise on improving =D As you can see, the quality is pretty good, so who knows, If I get this timing issue sorted I may be able to put some initial input to our movie!^^ Cant wait, our film is getting pretty exciting since we're churning more shots out!^^

a balance

Heres the forest pan, although the overall composition was planned and followed according to the original storyboard. There seems to be an empty space between the castle and forest. I was thinking of adding/ extending the forest a bit. Matt did mention adding a few more bushes, but it just doesnt seem very attracting with dull bushes. The right hand side of the picture is where the sun is supposedly around... so I was thinking of something a little lighter then the ground... something I shall play around with after finishing my shot for the mayfly.

Red Tones, Brown Tones, I just Dont know anymore!!

The Outcome

This took around 6 hours to do >< VERY proud with the results!! Hope you like =DD

I think I followed the instructions this time VERY well! It proves this method of workflow works! This system we've developed makes things very direct, as a team, its easier to understand and when I go off track theres something to reference back to.

THANK YOUU!!!!

I feel I've improved so much!!^^

We wanted a contemporary high contrasted feel, - similar to the same atmosphere and feeling lomography gives a person. Its nostagic yet fresh in the face, since its not widely seen anymore. With technology improving so much, our world visually becomes a High Definition perspective. Where as going back to 2D. No matter how clear, how crisp a 2D image is, it would never be as crisp as the sort of technology used in photography in this century. From this concept. I decided to play more with colours and lighting. I've had to pay close attention to the lighting and colour to give it a more 3D touch, as if the character was alive.

Swim Shot!!

Before starting on the next swim shot I was given instructions through our skype meeting, then posted on our blog - on how Iredia felt it should look like. From the descriptions and reference I then went on experimenting on TVPAINT's tools and digital painting methods to try manipulate then work on the overall style of the shot to then compromise with the traditional Chinese colour palette.

Heres the instructions I was given::





Here are images from a really nice reference animation short I found a while back called Spilled oil. I love the experimental style of the underwater shots and feel like we should aim for something similar in the film.

*So i want the nymph body transparent- smooth white outlines

*The bubble effects i would play around with, either sketchy white lines or shaded in like in the following shot:

I quite like the idea of shading them in though because as you cn see in this shot it separtes them from the creature

The underwater lighting i want quite experimental, so do a test with either different shades of the green ore green faded in with blue colours- preferable both since this is just one water texture you're just going to dump in the background like in the 'spilled oil clip'.

Think about underwater lighting. Here's a nice reference

I like the way the light is reflecting to clearly show a surface and add depth- think of this but within our colour palettes

*Do not change the shape of the nymphs body- strictly stick to shapes i have drawn in this shot please- the nymph was distorted on purpose to create a nice flowing motion of swimming in the shot.

Good luck, can't wait to see more awesomeness from you Yuki! xD

Being Polite

Since I posted the opacity problem onto the TVPaint forum.. there beens many suggestions. However, they're all very long and time consuming.. time we cant afford.

Even so I thanked everyone and posted how we resolved the issue through exporting the different sequences (layers) into tiffs, then importing them into aftereffects. then using the LumaKey to get rid of the white balance. Heres the post


http://forum.tvpaint.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=4713&p=40195#p40195

Its nice to have other creative people from round the world share their knowledge and advise =D

Its been a while!

But heres a finished shot for the Mayfly project im working on in TVPAINT.

Because this program is bitmap based it takes alot longer to work with. Its pretty much a digital version of traditional anaimation of paper, this is exactly how me and Iredia are working. Which is why this film is taking so long to do! Overall, I must admit i prefer it to toonboom n flash which are both flash based. Having completed a scene. I can honestly say. Its gives off that magical feeling of traditonal animation, and we hope this atmosphere created will also stun viewers! In comparision to all the 3D projects going on, its gives off a fresh feeling! Not polished but creative and arty. The traditional way =D

The only thing missing from this scene is the eyes being filled in...

The rendering issue has also been sorted. through the use of Aftereffects which I will also document soon.

PAGES to look forward to:

-Process of The MayFly
-Process of SMITTEN

I feel its best i create these pages for my tutors to evaluate how my groups generally work. Since its working alot of successfully in comparison to other groups atm.

But after all the back/shoulder pains from this shot, It all feels worth it!

Enterprise is also coming along very well! I shall link the official website and learning blog. Mind you the learning blog will be taken off after the end of term.. =D