[PERSONAL] Character Pages in my Book

Although unfinished, these are my work in progress snippets of the character pages in my "Art and Making of" book, below you can see examples for Max the Cat and May the Cat, I will be creating pages like this for all four of the characters however. I want to split the character design ages in the 3 sections; Information about creating the character, information about the character, and inspiration for the character. 

I want these pages to be the most important pages, as these will be filled with information, drawings and concept art. I want to show the design process and how I have developed these characters from the initial sketches. I also want to show how I have been inspired to create these characters using the inspiration section. 

I want these pages to follow a pattern and have a similar style, this shows a somewhat resemblance to some of the Disney Art books I used as inspiration for these pages. I am hoping to be able to fill these pages with a good amount of inspiration, to do this I will go back through my blog and retype up some of my initial thoughts about the character during the beginning of the project, and now that I have sectioned my blog up with tags, it'll make it easier to find what I am looking for.

[INSPIRATION] Model Sheets

As I am about to start animating Max the Cat, I have been reading that it is useful when animating using a light-box to have a reference at sight at all times. Most animators use a model sheet and pin it to the wall so they constantly have a reference to look at. I want to be able to create a model sheet for Max the Cat which is true to the old style of model sheets, as well as informative and will aid me when animating the traditional character.

Model sheets consist of a few elements, the character in various positions, different limb moments, information about the drawing and the do's and don'ts of drawing the character. Some model sheets have size comparisons, however as Max will be the only character that will appear traditionally, I don't need to worry about his size compared to the young animator and the old animator.

One of the model sheets I will be creating however will be for his hands and feet. I find these the hardest to draw and animate, so I am hoping that if I can have a reference available at all times I will be able to draw them without making mistakes. I also want to try and draw a full character rotation of Max the Cat, as this is something I have neglected for the other characters. However, now that the other characters scenes are finished, I don't believe it is necessary for the animation, however I could do it for personal gain. I feel that doing a character rotation for Max the Cat will help me understand the dynamics of his character, what could work and what wont work when animating him.

Overall, I am going to focus on creating a model sheet for Max to aid the animation process, these model sheets will constitute a model sheet of Max the Cat, a hand reference sheet, a foot reference sheet and a character spin. I would have drawn a character size chart, however like I stated before I don't think it will be necessary for what I am wanting to do.

[PRODUCTION] Week 16 - Break from the Animation

After getting the animation fully timed, I've taken the week out of actually animating the video in order to catch up on my job. This has been a good time to reflect on my animation, as I have had a lot of time to not pay too much attention to it, then going back to it today has really opened my eyes to the flaws it has. These flaws have mostly been addressed in the changes list, however it is more evident now that I have taken time away from it. 

This week, I want to be able to get the final scene animated fully, get rid of any continuity errors, and hopefully get all the drawings on the back walls. I don't anticipate getting everything done this week, as a lot of the flaws involve adding shading to the characters, as the only scenes that are fully shaded are scenes 1 and 2. Overall, I will spend as much time as possible trying to get as much done for the animation as I can, I have now finished the work I was behind on with my job so I don't have that tying me back.

[INSPIRATION] Bimbo Character Study

Fleischer Studios is a huge inspiration to my work, especially with this project. Over the past few weeks I have been studying how Fleischer Studios animated their characters, I have previously wrote a post about the Betty Boop shorts and how they have influenced my animation. However I feel I should talk about the company as a whole in terms of their animation styles. One particular aspect I am going to focus on is how Fleischer Studios animate their walk cycles.

Fleischer Studio are unique, in a sense that their animation isn't realistic, it created it's own brand of movement; rubber-hose. I have recently been studying the movements of one of Fleischer's main cast, Bimbo the Dog. Bimbo, out of all the Fleischer cast is a very similar build to Max the Cat, as Bimbo was where I gathered a large amount of inspiration from for Max. Studying Bimbo, to me, will be the best way to help me animate Max as he will walk, jump and move almost exactly like Max will, as they have the same structure. 

I feel that looking deeply into the design and animation of Bimbo, I will be able to get a much better feeling for Max and I will be able to animate him much easier than previously. I am going to continue to study Bimbo and collect reference images and model sheets.

[BOOK] Animation; The Global History

Animation: The Global History is a fantastic and comprehensive look into the history of international animation. It focuses on both the artistic achievements and the technical achievements from around the world. It delves into a variety of different areas, from the development of animation, animation in World War II, experimental animation, television animation, international animation and modernist animation plus many many more.

The book is written by Maureen Furniss, a program director of experimental animation. She teaches a range of animation history courses at CalArts and is the founding editor of Animation Journal and is also author to many other books about animation.

One of the main reasons that this book is a huge influence on my work is that it delves deeply into many major studios, particularly the Fleischer studio, a huge influence for When Dreams Became Data. It talks about the animation process the studio use, their character development over the years of animating and the entire timeline and history of the studio.

Overall I found this book to be a fantastic read, it is insightful and very informative, easily one of the best books I have read. I highly recommend this book to any animation enthusiast who is at all interested in the history of animation.

[PERSONAL] Writing the Story for the Book

I am currently working on the book which will be handed in along side my Practice 3, I have just finished the rough for the Story section of my book, which I explain; the log-line, synopsis and the overall plot. These pages will be at the very beginning of the book, as I want the audience who read this book to understand the overall plot of the story before reading onward and looking at the pre-production, production and post-production.

One of the aesthetics I wanted to get across was simplicity at first, as these are the first few pages of the book I wanted a few initial sketches during the opening of the book. So many of the original concept drawings will be spread around the first few pages. Because of this, I want to keep the colour scheme black and white, to give the feeling that it is the early stages. I feel that this will be a nice preparation for the rest of the book which I want to be bright and colourful.

I will probably end up changing the designs at some point in the future, I want to add figure references to each of the drawing so the audience can understand when the drawing was created and for what purpose, however, for the time being I am very happy with the overall design of the first few pages.

[TELEVISION] The Walt Disney Story

The Walt Disney Story has a very similar premise to the BBC 2 documentary Walt Disney, a biography into the life of Walt Disney himself. However there was one major upsize to this documentary compared to the BBC 2 one, this one is presented by Diane Disney Miller, Walt’s daughter, and is filled with interviews and has never-before-seen colour home movies shot by Walt himself.

Unlike the BBC 2 documentary, it starts right at his childhood and we find out what he was like as a young boy. We are then met with an array of interviews from his friends, family and ex-employees, each interview giving us a better insight than the next. Rather than focusing solely on the work Walt had done, this focused on his entire life, it showed us there was more to Walt than an entrepreneur and an animation pioneer, he was a husband and a friend to many.

This was an incredibly insightful program, and I would recommend any fans of Walt and his work to watch it. It can be viewed here until the 17th of May. 

[INSPIRATION] Animated American

Animated American is an amazing animation which combines live-action with 2D animation, and does it flawlessly. James Baker creates an animation which rivals Space Jam (1996), Cool World (1992) and even Who framed Roger Rabbit (1988). The story revolves around the transition from traditional to CGI and the toon's views on the matter and the toll it takes on their lives. Cartoons are forced to find other work outside of the entertainment industry; dog walkers, manual labor, retail jobs, and if they can't find work then they are forced onto the streets.

This is a similar concept to When Dreams Became Data, focusing on the shift between traditional animation and CGI animation. Although my video is focusing on the animation industry directly, this short animation uses symbolism to represent the animation industry nowadays. I found this animation brilliant and fantastically made, and with such an amazing reception with all the awards and nominees it received it is surprising that I only came across this gem only recently.

[PRODUCTION] Week 15 - A fully timed Animation

After 15 weeks I have my animation fully timed, aside from the end credits and the post credits scene that is. I wanted to get to this stage, because as I have mentioned in a previous post I can now focus on any changes that need to be made. This week I had all of scene 6 to get through, and although there isn't a completed shot in this scene so far, everything is where I want it to be.

Now that everything is timed, I can come back to each shot without the worry that everything wont be done in time, as I still have another 15 weeks left until I hit the end of my schedule, plus an extra few weeks on top of that. I may seem confident, but I am aware of all the shots and changes I still need to do, especially in the post production. One factor I need to start considering is the audio, unfortunately the sound designer I originally wanted can't do the audio for me anymore, so I need to either find somebody else, or do it myself.

This week I hope to get most of the changes done, maybe even start on the traditional animated shots, however I still need to focus on my career as I have put that on the back-burner this week. Once I am up to date with my career, I can jump right back into the production and hopefully get something fantastic at the end of the month!

On a side note - I am using this video as an experiment as well. I have used YouTube's suggested "Lighting Enhancers" to see if it makes a difference to the finished animation. As lighting is a big part of my animation, I wanted to see if these enhancers could add anything to the animation.

[PERSONAL] Poster Designs #2

After creating the original posters, I wanted to create a different set, which are much more eye catching and tell a little bit about what the story might be about. So in the end, I came up with the idea to use the same background as I have been using for both my Blurb and for the opening scenes. These shots are the most predominant shots throughout the entire animation. I personally think these posters are much better, and I think they seem fairly professional.

At somepoint in the future I may create some new posters which feature both the Young Animator and the Old Animator, or perhaps maybe even all 4 characters.

[PRACTICE] My Personal Changes List

I have just about finished every shot in the animation now, aside from the credits and the post credits shot which I am still toying with dropping. I decided that before I start finishing up the last few shots I would go back through my entire animation, watch each shot carefully and write down anything I feel I should change. Here is the list I created:

Scene 01 Shot 01 – OK (Maybe different font for “ANIMATORS STUDIO” and “1930”) Shot 02 – OK Shot 03 – OK Shot 04 – OK Shot 05 – OK Shot 06 – OK Shot 07 – OK Shot 08 – OK Shot 09 – Need to add Max the Cat (TRAD) Shot 10 – OK Shot 11 – OK 

Scene 02 Shot 01 – Need to add Max the Cat (TRAD) Shot 02 – Need to add Max the Cat (TRAD) 

Scene 03 Shot 01 – Fade into the shot. Add Dust Particles. “Add 80 years later”. Shot 02 – Add Dust Particles. Add drawings on the wall. Shot 03 – Add Dust Particles. Add drawings on the wall. Add mouth to Young Animator. Shading to Young Animator. Shot 04.1 – Add drawings to left and right side of the room. Shot 04.2 – Shading to Young Animator. Shot 05 – OK Shot 06 – Smooth Young Animators head bounce slightly. Shot 07 – Sort the lift out. Shading to Young Animator. Shot 08 – Need to add Max the Cat (TRAD) Shot 09 – Shading to Young Animator. Shot 10 – Add drawings on the wall. Shot 11 – Thicken the Outline. Shot 12 – Need to add Max the Cat (TRAD) Shot 13 – Shading to Young Animator. 

Scene 04 Shot 01 – Need to add Max the Cat (TRAD) Shot 02 – Need to add Max the Cat (TRAD) Shot 03 – Need to add Max the Cat (TRAD) Shot 04 – OK Shot 05 – Need to add Max the Cat (TRAD) Shot 06 – Need to add Max the Cat (TRAD) Shot 07 – Need to add Max the Cat (TRAD) Shot 08 – OK Shot 09 – Need to add Max the Cat (TRAD) Shot 10 – OK Shot 11 – Need to add Max the Cat (TRAD) Shot 12 – OK Shot 13 – Need to add Max the Cat (TRAD) Shot 14 – Need to add Max the Cat (TRAD). Add May the Cat to the back computer. 

Scene 05 Shot 01 – Need to draw the Young Animator entering the room. Shot 02 – Need to animate May the Cat looking shocked. Need to add Max the Cat (TRAD) Shot 03 – Need to add Max the Cat (TRAD) Shot 04 – Shading to Young Animator. Shot 05 – Make the computer look nicer. Shot 06 – Actually animate the Young Animator Shot 07 – AFTER EFFECTS – PROJECTOR LIGHT Shot 08 – AFTER EFFECTS – CLAY ANIMATION Shot 09 – AFTER EFFECTS – PROJECTOR LIGHT. Shading to Young Animator. Shot 10 – AFTER EFFECTS – PROJECTOR LIGHT. Shading to Young Animator. Shot 11 – AFTER EFFECTS – CLAY ANIMATION 

Scene 06Shot 01 – Need to add Max the Cat (TRAD) Shot 02 – Need to add Max the Cat (TRAD) Shot 03 – Need to add Max the Cat (TRAD). Add drawings on the wall. Shot 04 – Need to add Max the Cat (TRAD). Shot 05 – Need to add Max the Cat (TRAD). Shot 06 – Need to add Max the Cat (TRAD). Finishing May the Cat animation. Shot 07 – Need to add Max the Cat (TRAD). Finishing May the Cat animation. Shot 08 – Finishing May the Cat animation. Shot 09 – Need to add Max the Cat (TRAD). Shot 10 – Finishing May the Cat animation. Shot 11 – Need to add Max the Cat (TRAD). Finishing May the Cat animation. 

Fortunately most of the shots I listed are either about creating the traditional animated shots, which I have planned for. There are a few shots which I can't do yet, these are shots like the After Effects shots. Some of them are just nitpicks from myself, such as "Make the computer look nicer" and "Maybe different font". Most of them I should be able to get done fairly quickly, and the more I get done the quicker I'll be able to get the animation wrapped up. This will allow me to focus on cleaning up the overall animation, such as shading, changing any shots that I am unhappy with or anything else that could go wrong.

[INSIRATION] Are You Lost in the World Like Me?

Are you Lost in the World Like Me by Steve Cutts is a modern take on a classic Fleischer style while blending it with a hard hitting message of out world. The animation is animated using After Effects, and Manga Studio, which is fairly evident with the excessive use of the bone tool, however there are elements of ink on paper throughout.

This animation is very similar to the Betty Boop x Mac crossover that was animated by Titmouse studio earlier this year, when studios try to recreate the Fleischer style however it always seems to fall flat in my personal opinion. Similar with the Betty Boop remake, these animations which clearly pay homage to the pioneering studio rely too much on computer technology to create the style that it loses what was so fantastic about the original animation in the first place.

I think animation like this is brilliant and out of the ordinary, however I do feel like the use of a light-box and pen and ink wouldn't go amiss with it. If you are paying tribute to Fleischer, you need to capture what was magical about the studio, and I personally don't think it can be created using digital methods.

[PRACTICE] Comic Book Design

After some experimenting with the Young Animator, I decided to have him read a comic book during scene 5 shot 9. I originally wanted him to drink a can of cola, however after attempting to animate this, it didn't look right as he was staring at the screen while blindly drinking his drink. I decided to scrap this and go with my original instinct, which is to read a book. The book (pictured above) is a parody of the already existing Batman comic book "Hush" (Pictured Below), I wanted to add an Easter Egg, the characters featured on the comic book are myself, my girlfriend and my friends.

Below you can see how the comic book was used:

[PERSONAL] Poster Designs #1

As I am nearly wrapped up with my animation, I wanted to try and create a poster advertising my animation. I decided to do two separate posters with the same theme, these posters consist of the main animated characters being drawn, but not yet fully complete. I feel that these are good posters, however I still want to create a poster which is much more eye catching, I feel that these were good to get the base down, but I may experiment a few more to get something that isn't just so black and white.

[PRODUCTION] Week 14 - Slowly getting through Scene 5

One of the main things I focused on this week was experimentation with clay, so I only got half way through scene 5 this week. I originally wanted to at least get the animation timed out this week, however I feel that I should be able to get everything timed out this week as most of scene 6 is traditional animation. The main thing I'll need to do is to work with the camera, and perhaps some minimal animation with May the Cat.

I have hit a somewhat wall with this scene now however, once the Young Animator sits down and puts the film on, I wanted to have him watch the film and then fall asleep. However I don't think I can get away with having the Young Animator stare at the camera for 5 seconds or so. I may have to rethink what I have the young animator doing at that moment in time. However, for the time being I need to focus on what I want the rest of the shots to look like, I might incorporate him reading a book of some kind, and have that drift him to sleep.

[PRACTICE] Clay Animation - The Melting Clay

I have been experimenting with Clay Animation this week, I have been able to get hold of the Animate It kit featuring a "Morph" mold, 2 blocks of clay and a green screen. However, The kit is fairly old, and the clay hadn't been sealed properly, so I wasn't able to use the clay right away. So instead, I decided to use something I received for Christmas, "The Original Miracle Melting Snowman" by RED5.

This present had no real purpose to me, so it has been gathering dust in the cupboard since Christmas. I decided that I could use this to make a small stop frame animation, so I decided to experiment using the green screen, and the "snowman".

The Snowman is made using a rubber like substance, which can be molded and over time will turn gooey and melt, giving the effects of melting snow, a clever idea. I placed my make-shift snowman onto the green screen, and every 5 seconds I took a photo until I got 240 frames. I then took the video and edited it, adding a snowy background. I wanted to video to seem strange and out of the ordinary, so I decided to add a royalty free fire to the foreground, then super imposed some text onto the screen "The End". Below is the final result:

As you can see, the video looks cheaply made, because it is. This is my first ever attempt at any form of stop-frame animation, I have never used clay before nor have I really worked with green screen. I wanted to give an effect of cheapness, and add things that seem strange and out of the ordinary to contrast the digital animation. Stop-frame animation to me, has always got this feel of strangeness and weirdness, digital animation to me, always has this sort of "perfection" look to it, while traditional animation to me, seems magical and special to see moving images on a piece of paper. I wanted to get this across with this animation, a weird but wonderful stop-frame animation, a realistic look at the world with the digital animation, and a magical and fun traditional animation.

[INSPIRATION] Upcoming Hand-Drawn Trailers

In Bordeaux there is an event where animation producers can pitch their ideas to speed up financing, find co-producers and gain interest from international distributors. This event is known as Cartoon Movie, I wanted to share some trailers and teasers which were announced at this event which I find either inspiring or beautifully crafted, these include; Calamity, The Nazis, My Father and Me and Wolfwalkers. Some animations have been announced but haven't released their trailers and teasers, these include; The Treasure of Morgaa, Organic Panic, Flee, Awakening Beauty and My Sunny Maad. 

Below are a collection of the trailers for your viewing:

[PRACTICE] Annoyed or Surprised Entrance?

While working on scene 4, I ran into a continuity issue. When we see May the Cat for the first time, she needs to notice Max the Cat, I had been unsure on how she should react when she sees him. I know that I want her to be somewhat 'disgusted' by his appearance, so she turns away, but I have been unsure about how she reacts to seeing him for the first time. I played with two emotions; annoyed and surprised:

Out of the two, I decided to go with surprised as it is the most believable one. I don't want May to come across as a cold character, I wanted her to be shocked by his appearance, rather than annoyed at his waving. I feel like Surprised will have an overall better effect as it shows that she isn't instantaneously cold towards Max. 

[PRODUCTION] Week 13 - Plowing through Scene 4

This week I have been very busy with the production, I ended up finishing most of scene 4 and working on 24 individual Shots. I finished 4 new shorts complete with shading, 4 need shading which I will hopefully get done in due time, and 16 have just started and need completing. I believe that this is the most work I have done in a week and has bumped me back ahead of the production schedule.

Working on these shots have made me realize that I am in need of traditional animation soon, I currently have only 1 shot of traditional animation, and soon i'll have to focus all of my energy onto it. Next week I will have a 2 weeks off work, and I will be able to focus much more onto the animation side, as my research assignment will be handed in on the 9th of April.

[BOOK] Cartoon Animation

Cartoon Animation is a fantastic book written by the legendary Preston Blair. Preston Blair was a character animator who worked for the Walt Disney Company, the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer animation department and Hanna-Barbera. This book is a sort of "how to draw" book with information about how to animate and draw using classic methods.

The book is incredibly useful to me as it has many areas where it discusses how to draw classic hands, faces and expressions. This is something that will be very useful when I begin animating Max the Cat, who uses these classic examples. 

This book is interesting compared to other books like this as it focuses specifically on work from around the 50s to the 70s. Although Max is to be set around the 30s, the principles would still apply to Max. Overall this book is very interesting and a great read, I believe that it will be very useful to me when I begin the production of the Max the Cat frames of animation and will help me even after I finish my MA.