Wed-Ness-Day

Gah. So tired. Must blog. Why.

Basically just been plodding away with Sushi stuff over the past couple of weeks which is fun, but I feel I've lost my mojo with it a bit. Deadlines tend to drain the inspirational fuel-tanks somewhat. So yes, that's the reason I've not really had anything to blog... And it's no different this week unfortunately. But, I feel kinda content with dropping some Sushi stuff in here. So here. Have some backgroundz (uncoloured):

Sc09

Sc10

Sc28

Sc29

Looking forward to starting to colour these and get the characters onto them. Scenes 28 and 10 both have rough keys so hopefully they'll start to come together as complete scenes by the end of the month (with a little inbetweening/cleaning/colouring help)

If you wanna check out the rest of the production then you can click MY SUPER NIFTY BUTTON AT THE SIDE OF MY BLOG >>>>>>

It took me 3 hours. 1 hour to draw and code, 2 hours to embed.

So worth it.

Ok. I need to sleep now. Was up too late last night working on colourscripts. So let me leave you with some nudity I drew tonight as I got itchy fingers in prep for life drawing tomorrow.

Looseh gooseh.

Needs more line dynamics.

Shameless Back-Posting

Trying to get myself back into work and a routine this week. Hasn't particularly worked... But I figure that any work after a break is good. Now I've just got to take that energy and plant it into something slightly more productive in terms of Sushi.

Got distracted last night doodling this thing. Like I warned you, reminiscent Séjour comics may well appear from time to time.

This is almost definitely exactly how things went.

I realised through this that I really need to get some more life into my drawings. My poses are pretty dead - as is my mark making... Need to make a conversion to a more ruthless medium I think. And source out some more dynamic life-drawing poses.

Speaking of which, did some stuff to get warmed up. Feel pretty apathetic about most of these but, you know. Stuff.

Another Week Missed...

Another midnight deadline missed...

But I had a reason! I was have a peek around the amazing MacKinnon and Saunders puppet and stop mo studio. It was so cool seeing the place in action and the stuff that they've produced over the past years not to mention the wonderful hospitality and invaluable advice I was given. It's just gone and rekindled my love for stop-motion - the thing that got me into the animation biz in the first place. So. Got some life re-assessment to do, but got to focus on my final year first.

I've spent most of my time recently putting together a wee portfolio for some potential business, so because of that I don't really have any work to show you. I only got back up and running on Monday and have started a mishmash of various projects:

1. Some environments for a friend's future comic (s'gonna be huge)

2. Started a new 3D 11 second club (I WILL submit this one)

3. Started painting up my first Sushi background.

So I promise you something from one of these next week.

So to appease you for now, NUDITY!

2 Min Gesture sketches. Trying to improve my accuracy and getting a line down correctly first time, so these were all done with a brush pen on some scrap animation paper I found.

Hmm... I wonder how many times I can continue to use the "nudity" get out to distract you from the fact I'm getting nothing done...

Operation: Upgrade

Yes. I know. I was vacant last week. I understand that I broke many hearts and dreams, but I have a reason.

After 4 years of faithful use, I decided it was time for a new computer. My trusty Vaio has served me well, but Photoshop Elements 7 and a 15" screen were starting to feel a bit restricting...

So, I have squandered away my savings into a shiny new desktop with Maya that works and access to Photoshop CS6, and others I'm yet to delve into... I have so much SPACE now and so many TOOLS, I just don't know what to do with myself...

But I'm more than sure I'll work something out. So here, I introduce you to my new and old computers, sitting comfortably together, like brothers.

Also a sneak peek into my "studio" (desk). Compact.

So not really much to post tonight really as I've just been playing around with stuff as opposed to doing work (except from working on the "stars" 3D lipsync test which I'll hopefully upload next week once finished...) But I couldn't not do something with all this new technology at my disposal...

So what to do?

Why, draw naked people of course!

A selection of 2 minute studies, just getting a feel for stuff. Normally I'd have hidden this away to the dusty depths of my hard drive, but for some reason I feel kinda happy to show this, despite its lack of accuracy. It seems to have more character, which is something I've really been trying to work on.

Just gotta reel it in a tad...

Peut-être...

No More Nudity

Today marked the last life-drawing lesson of my third year here at Duncan of Jordanstone... *sniff*

I make it sound a lot grander than it was. It was a normal day and not really that big a deal.

And this also lies on the presumption that I actually pass this year...

But yes. I've come back to life-draws again. A few scribbles I like from the latter half of our life drawing sessions this semester.

Mrs Green finds it simply preposterous how Madame Orange parades about on a warm summer's day, but Madame Orange could not give a damn.

I really need to start getting some character into the expressions of these drawings. I really struggle to caricature stuff - anything really. I think these last two ladies are a step in the right direction.

We had a really long pose one session, and I got bored and thought I'd try a turnaround. Quick 5 minute continuous line studies that I shaded in and animated into a GIF in photoshop. It's not the greatest, but I think it's certainly not too bad an effort.

In SUSHI related news, buildings, buildings, buildings...

6 Weeks In

... and time for some life drawing.

It always feels like a cop-out using uni work as blog material - but then again, it's all work, and I'm pretty pleased with each of these pieces in their own way.

I don't really feel I've got much to say really... SUSHI peer review went well, and resultantly has put this blog into the shadows... Got a few things to think about - hopefully can start to get some stuff tightened up now. It feels weird... Things are falling into place too quickly. I feel like it should be considerably more difficult than it is. There must be something I'm missing...

But yes. I digress. For the 2 of you that probably actually read these ramblings, I appologise. For those that are here for the pretty pictures, then here you go.

Poses of varying length and medium. Long poses seem to be my downfall. I get less done than in short ones. Why?

Life Drawing: Drawing Life

Just thought I'd drop off a wee bit more life drawing I've been doing over the holidays... The portraits were 10 minutes each, and the rest were 15 minutes each.

Done using a trusty red pencil and a standard ballpoint pen.

I really like the way the ballpoints turned out - definitely going to be making more use of that over the next semester. It also reminds me that I want to take an etching plate into a life drawing class at one point... New Years Resolution #2

Must... Not... Stop...

I tried to do this last Christmas but failed miserably and felt the consequences, but have found it strangely easy this time around. Since it doesn't take long to get rusty, I've been keeping up with my life drawing over the holidays, so I can go back fresh and ready to start next semester. So here's some of what I've done.

All poses are about 2/3 minutes using a brush pen.

I Survived Christmas

A bold statement, but a true one. I made it through, managing to avoid the threatening food coma. Just about. And to celebrate today, I decided I felt like getting back into a wee bit o' animation. Using a life drawing pose as inspiration:

I quickly thought up an action, jotted down some key poses and drew this character over the top. Nice and complicated to suit my over-ambitious nature.

Now it's just to start the animation. I'm hoping that by posting this up here, it will stop me from leaving it by the wayside. I'll post y'all the keys once I've got them jotted down. I'd maybe ask for feedback... If there were anyone watching...

*tumbleweed*

To Grinch Or Not To Grinch?

Well... The world didn't end... So I now have no excuse not to blog. My goal was to post something before Christmas, so here we are. My other goal was for it not to be coursework just yet, as the feels like a cop-out, so coursework, this is not.

In my feedback for this semester, I was told I'm not making enough use of my life drawing. Therefore, I'm using it to create small illustrations which is proving to be rather fun. Unfortunately, they're not quite finished yet, but I feel I need to blog them now, otherwise I'll never blog again. You see? I even put them as GIFS so you can see the progression/I'd never done one before.

So here you go. A slightly underwhelming present from a distant relative if you will.

I'm going to come back and get these backgrounds done, but I've got a turkey to demolish first.