Update.

A realisation:

It's almost the New Year and I've realised that working for another group, as well as trying to do a film solely on my own, is near enough impossible. I had faith and determination at the beginning of the year, but the work load has just proven to be a bit too much. As a result, I will unfortunately have to drop Kelly's group in order to get myself up to speed with my animation.

More painted environments.

Outside 'Street View' - Unfinished.

Boy in shop.

Having shown my tutor, the artwork with the boy in the shop, she pointed out to me that the red and browns were just a bit too harsh to be mixed with the glowing purples in the shop and advised me to alter the colours I used for the boy. I have taken this into consideration and will be changing the colours I use for this character.

Walk cycle. 'Boy'

A quick line test of the walk cycle. A bit jittery with the head movement, but this can be fixed

The art of posing.

Life drawing sketches and character posing. To get a better idea on how to animate my boy, especially during the dance sequence, I employed the help of my friend's younger brother. I've used this as direct research. As he played around in the garden, I did a few quick sketches of key poses that I will be working from in my animation, this also gave me a better feel of how a young child would move so that I could bring my character to life more.

The work of other animators.

Lizzi Akana and her 'Marvelous, Keen Loony Bin'

I'm sure I have mentioned Akana a few times before now in my previous blogs, but I just can't seem to get enough of her. Her work is compelling, surreal and just all together intriguing, it's no wonder I can't get enough of her work, she's a role model for all wannabe female 2D animators.

Looking here at this animated short, it's interesting to say the least. ‘Marvelous, Keen Loony Bin’ shows a weird world of foods and balloons where something is always missing and much is to be desired. It portrays a day in the life of the limbless, headless, faceless and brainless and paints a surrealistic picture that is strangely addicting to me. This brilliantly made animated short was just one of few that truly held my attention from beginning to end. The story itself oozes creativity but with the quirky characters and beautifully animated scenes it is with no surprise to me that this runway hit won multiple awards. Produced as Akana’s senior project, each frame was hand drawn, scanned individually, painted in Photoshop, then composited in After Effects, an example of dedication and hard work.

A repeat watch, I find the audio to fit nicely with the scenes and the whole feel of the film to exempt a sort of humorous yet endearing edge. It’s quirky nature whirlwinds us into a bizarre world that lacks one’s crucial element to living yet life goes on. And it is with its dreamlike style of drawing that really gets me going, I want to take note of how something so simplistic can translate so well. I tend to find myself sketching characters that lack originality and life and thinking up stories that make too much sense. Perhaps its time to dig a bit deeper and think a little more out of the box.