[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.

[PERSONAL] Website Finished, ready to add Domain.

Every page is now finished, each page has a good amount of detail and information which I was wanting to get. I currently have a page with information and links to all of my animated videos; From finished videos, to animatics. I have a page dedicated to a variety of drawings; From character drawings. to background artwork. I also have a page dedicated to the commission work I have undertaken, animation and drawings alike. I have pages with information about my experiences, my videography as well as an about page which gives a short biography about me and my work. I have also added a shop page for when I finish the "The Making of When Dreams Became Data" book.

I will keep this website updated even after my Masters is finished, and I am hoping that once I have the money spare, I can create and add a domain name for the website.

[INSPIRATION] Hilda: The Animated Series

An adaptation of Luke Pearson’s graphic novel series Hilda, Hilda is an upcoming Netflix series which is set to be released in 2018. There is a lot of hype for this animation as the visualistics of the shows look beautiful. Mercury Filmworks are the ones who are in charge of the production and I feel they have a very similar style to myself with the think outlines and how they draw their eyes. 

The series will be animated using Toonboom Harmony and will be animated frame-by-frame with a combination of rigged puppets. The show is incredibly visually pleasing, it reminds me of Gravity Falls to some extent. Mercury Filmworks also animated the upcoming Tangled: The Series and the Mickey Mouse shorts, so they work closely with Disney.

[DRAWINGS] Drawings of the quartet

I have neglected to update my sketch book with drawings recently, I feel that I need to begin drawing in it as it is also part of my reflection. I wanted to try drawing all four of my characters again, as I never really draw Max and May too much as I am not animating them currently, however I am still happy with how I draw them very much so. I still feel like I struggle to draw the Young Animator, I need to keep practicing his design and perhaps make slight changes if I need to.

[PRODUCTION] Week 12 - Adding the drawings to the wall

Now we are in week 12 of the animation process, and I was finally able to get all the shading complete and got most of the pictures uploaded for the drawings on the wall. This means from week 13 on wards I can focus on scenes 3 on wards too. Hopefully I can get most of the animation complete in these scenes by the 09/04/2017 as this is when I start my fortnight off work and I can focus on traditional animation.

During this week, I made a few changes all around, I made the opening to the short slightly longer to add the text super imposed onto the screen, as well as fixed the error in the title. I also extended the time lapse by adding a few more frames of animation at the end, so it makes it seem like more time has passed, as well as added animation paper to his desk, to show the progression of time.

I may still need to come back to these scenes, as I still need to add traditional drawings to these scenes, however as long as I can get the majority of scene 3 finished by the 9th of April I will be happy with the progress I have made thus far. 

[PERSONAL] Feedback from my Lecturer and Candy Guard (24/03/2017)

After the lecture, we were given time slots with Sarah where we would present the work we have currently done to her and her close friend Candy Guard, a writer, director and animator who has worked on many different channel 4 projects, including Pond Life (1996). I presented my work to the two and the feedback was interesting, you never know what somebody is going to say about your work when you have never met them, but the feedback was both constructive and criticizing. One thing that stood out was the quote, "I don't understand what happened", I asked what she meant by the comment and she explained that she didn't understand what was happening in the opening and it should be much more clearer, so to do this we agreed that perhaps I should have some text on screen in the opening to explain where they are and when it is set.

Another comment was on the old animator, she wanted to make him look like he gets older throughout the animation, this is something I have previously discussed with Sarah, I will be making the old animator seem younger int he earlier shots by giving him a browner beard and maybe some strands of hair. 

The last thing she said was in regards to the soundtrack, she explained that she could visualize how it would sound, with old fashioned music in the opening with many different sound effects, then "grunge" music when the young animator emerges. This is interesting as I haven't really thought about the sound at all yet, which is something I need to delve into more at some point soon.

Overall, I feel that I needed this talk with Candy, as the animation is being seen from someone who hasn't seen the progression of the film and hasn't had me explain it first. If she didn't understand it, then my audience wouldn't understand it. It is something I need to address and will address in the future.

[BOOK] Animation 101

Animation 101 is a fantastic insight into the world of animation. Written by Ernest Pintoff, an Oscar winning filmmaker who has taught animation throughout the world, he is an animation innovator who has influenced many and will continue to for years to come. His book introduce us into the industry of animation with insights from animation legends, such as; Noel Blanc, Bill Hanna, John Lasseter, Nick Park and many more.

The book talks about Ernest's life through animation, the animation he has worked on previously and stories about his experiences. He also discusses how animation has evolved through the ages and where it is now.

Animation 101 was cheap, I bought it for 1p with £2.80 postage, however the book has inspired me greatly. Ernest talks about his remarkable journey and celebrates animation throughout. Ernest has won The Winsor McCay award for lifetime achievement in the field of animation, in  his book he talks about his experiences from that award. The Winsor McCay award is something that one day I hope to get, a sort of dream if you will. To hear Ernest's view point for recieving this sparks my dream even more than it ever had been. 

This book is a great read, and it is dirt cheap. I would recommend this book to anybody who is interested at all in animation, it's entertaining and enlightening.