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