My Website is Now Live!

Please visit my website and tell me what you think!

http://www.magicalsheepproductions.com

Life Drawing

While I'm working on my website I thought I would add a little life drawing I managed to squeeze in during my spare time!

Life Drawing at Chester Zoo

Today was the worst day ever to pick to go life Drawing at Chester Zoo. It was a really nice day but because it was a bank holiday it was heaving. Unfortunately it was the only day I could go and I didn't manage to get much done...

Sony Pictures Animation

For a long time I wasn’t a fan of CG animation. I thought it lacked emotion, the movement was wooden, the graphics terrible and unfortunately every few years the films looked tired and out of date with exception to very few. The storylines were fantastic but unfortunately many CG films weren’t standing up to the level of quality we had come to expect from Disney/Pixar. In recent years this has all changed and I’m happy to say that I enjoy CG films; and after 5 years films such as Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs are still withstanding the test of time. Although graphics are still significantly improving Sony has found a way to create consistently great films. One of the problems with CG had been the need to create characters that look exactly like humans, and this is where the graphics and animation suffered immensely. By creating more cartoony and stylized characters Sony have been able to remedy this problem and create memorable characters that the audience like and can relate to. 

I have always liked Sony’s feature animations from their very first film Open Season, up to their latest film Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 and I am very excited about their upcoming films including Popeye, Hotel Transylvania 2 and Kazorn & The Unicorn (although the idea behind this of a barbarian and a unicorn on a quest to save the world sounds very bizarre). The studio boasts top directors, animators and artists with lots of previous experience form companies such as Hanna-Barbera, Warner Bros and Cartoon Network. Perhaps the combined talents of artists from a 2D animation background, mixed in with CG artists could be the reason why Sony Pictures Animation has become so successful. The animation within the films now resembles a lot of the squash and stretch techniques used within 2D animation, along with quick over the top movements and in places boneless flailing ligaments. These 2D techniques are used expertly and make the film more fun and comedic because of the over the top action. This is something that I definitely need to start exploiting in my own animations to try and really bring my characters to life.

Not only has the animation and design of CG features been significantly improved by Sony’s, they have also managed to produce numerous family comedies that appeal to all ages. The storylines and scripting behind many of Sony’s animations has lead them to create numerous successful films with genuinely funny scenes. Comedy is a very hard element to create and whether it’s the way they exploit the subject matter so well (such as Wayne the werewolf’s hunger for sheep in Hotel Transylvania), or the way they so often fulfill the audiences circle of expectation in such unexpected ways (such as how Flint has to puff up his cheeks to kiss Sam Sparks in Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs), Sony are definitely doing something right. To read more about Sony Pictures Animation and have a look at some of their work visit http://www.sonypicturesanimation.com.

Sun and Moon Studios

Earlier this year I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to visit Sun and Moon in Bristol. They are a small animation company with a wide variety of skills and clients ranging from TV animation to app development, handeling work in house from initial development right through to the finished article. The team is a small but effective one hiring in talent when there are big projects on and keeping only a few full time staff for day to day work. While I was their they were working on several projects at once and said now after being established several years they are finally able to produce their own intellectual property in their spare time such as their short animation Aunt Fanny. I really enjoyed this short and I love the simplistic and stylised design of Aunt Fanny with her cylindrical body and long bendy arms, something I definitely struggle to do in my own work.

Dylan and Louis, the two co-founders of the studio, were very welcoming and spoke openly about their time in the animation industry and what it was like to own their own company. Before founding Sun and Moon both had worked in the industry for other companies. They said one of the major benefits of owning their own company was they now can chose how long they work, what they work on (especially now they are more established) and if they get a large project in they can hire in help just for that project. In many animation jobs when deadlines are approaching you are expected to work longer hours to get the job done. Both Louis and Dylan expressed a great interest in keeping overtime to a minimum, which I thought was a great work ethic as it lets you keep your social life while earning a living doing something that you love.

They also mentioned that at first it was harder to get work and sometimes they had to take what ever work was available, but now if they really don’t want to work on a project they don’t have to as they have a lot of work coming in due to the reputation they have built up. The whole team was really welcoming and friendly, happy to answer any questions I had on the software they were using or the general company. Speaking to the team first hand was a great opportunity for me to see what it was like to work there and as a student about to graduate a great learning experience of what level of work is expected in the industry. I would recommend them to anyone and if you want to learn more about Sun and Moon check out their website at http://sunandmoonstudios.co.uk and I want to say a massive thank you to Sun and Moon for letting me and a few of my class mates come and visit!

Kilogramme Animation Studio

Kilogramme is a 2D and 3D animation studio based in Manchester. I have been following kilogramme for sometime now, and I am a huge fan of their work, particularly their 2D animation and design.

Many companies now predominantly work in flash (or similar programs) using symbols to tween the characters rather than hand animation. Kilogramme has a wide skillset both within 2D and 3D animation and they choose whatever form of animation is necessary depending on the job and the customer. The wide variety of styles and techniques displayed in their portfolio really shows off their knowledge of software and the range of skills the staff have.

Kilogramme was established in 2005 and has worked for a number of notable companies including BBC2, 3, 4 and Learning, CBeebies, CBBC, Granada and Channel 4, alongside other charitable causes. They have won many awards over the last few years including the ‘Big Chip’ award and the ‘Roses Creative Award’. One of my major downfalls has always been character creation. I feel I struggle to design a character and therefore my animation suffers, but Kilogrammes characters are always different and unique, created to a high standard and animated excellently regardless of the medium. Looking at the companies character model sheets, storyboards etc. gives you an insight into how the companies creative process works and it is interesting to see the standard of work that is maintained even at the preproduction stage. 

If you want to see more of their work you can visit their website at http://kilogramme.co.uk and make sure you look at their showreel on the home page to get a good idea of the wide expanse of styles and techniques within their animation.

Moose Colours

I'm trying to decide what colours best suit my moose. So far I'm thinking the one in the middle is the best but he seems a little too red, so maybe he needs a little tweaking. Another thing I need to think about before I can start creating the character model pack is what style do I want the characters to be in which is going to mean I need to decide what style the backgrounds are going to be as well. Therefore the next couple of days I'm going to be working on my backgrounds and finishing my SketchUp model of the manor and it's interior.

Don Carson

Don Carson is one of my favourite artist and a major inspiration to my work. Carson studied Illustration at The Academy of the Art University of San Francisco in California. Coming to the end of his time at University he realised that he didn’t like creating finished works of art but instead the ideas behind them. After six years he finally managed to get a formal interview with Disney and was offered a job as a show designer. The show design and concept artists are the people responsible for the initial ideas behind an attraction. Carson worked as a full time imagineer form 1989-1995 and now works as a freelance artist for Disney. He was the show designer for Splash Mountain in Walt Disney World and Toontown at Disneyland California and during his time as an imagineer produced over 700 concept drawings and paintings. He says that one of the best parts of working for WDI was that ‘they bend over backwards to make the final product as close to your design as possible'. 

Carson has not only worked in theme park design but also concepting for other projects, character design, virtual worlds, stage/set design etc, working in a variety of industries with the skillset he has developed. I admire Don Carson because when he realised he didn’t want to do what he had trained for instead of carrying on doing something he didn’t enjoy he adapted his skillset and started working towards what he wanted to do. Over the years he has worked in different areas depending on what was available and what he enjoyed, and because of his persistence eventually he managed to land his dream job and many other jobs since. I find the way he works inspirational, especially his sketchbook designs, and his blog and website contain handy insights into the areas he has worked in that have helped me a lot in my recent projects and upcoming ride design work. You can visit his website at http://www.doncarsoncreative.com and blog at http://themedenvironments.blogspot.co.uk. I hope you enjoy his work as much as I have and if your interested make sure you check out his tutorials and talks as they can provide some great tips.

Forgot the Ears!

I don't know why I keep forgetting the ears on the moose, but there on now...

Moose Model

I had to make a few adjustments to my moose model in Zbrush. I was really unhappy with the antlers and parts of the face so I made adjustments to the face and chopped the antlers off and started again.

Singing Fish

I've been working on some initial sketches for my singing fish today as I don't have my tablet. I'm liking the Bobby Pope fish but I think his face needs to be bigger. I really don't like the other fish with the arm and tattoo, he's definitely upsetting and not child friendly!

My First Finished Model!

This is my first finished model. It's not perfect but as I only had a day and a half to create it in I'm quite pleased. I definitely have a lot left to learn especially when it comes to 3D but I'm starting to get the hang of Zbrush and I've been enjoying playing around in it. I'm not too happy with the antlers, and after I had created the model I figured out a way of creating them a lot quicker. Unfortunately I will have to go with them for now but if I get time I definitely want to tidy them up and make them simpler and more cartoony.

More Moose

So I'm back onto working on my main project Rascalé. I'm trying to sort my characters out and finish off my final character model packs.  Here's a few sketches of the moose that I'm working on at the moment.

Creating my Ultimate Image

Below is my original drawing. I cleaned it up a bit in Photoshop before I started painting and overlaid a grid so I knew where everything was and if the composition was eve. I tried to get everything leading into the mansion at the back so that the two main focal points would be the little bot and then hopefully his gaze and the rest of the composition would lead the viewer up to the mansion.

Next I blocked out the colour for each area and checked the composition was working. It was at this point it became clear that the positioning of the top of the window was wrong and therefore I had to manipulate the painting that I had into a better layout, as seen on the next image.

 Now with the composition changed I could begin painting in the detail all in black and white so I could get the values right before adding colour and texture. I used a combination of custom brushes set to different opacities and the smudge tool to create the highlights and shadows, particularly in the clouds where I used a very soft textured brush.

 I finally added the colour and texture to the image using overlay and multiplied layers, and added a mystical effect to the boy by changing his opacity and adding a red/orange glow. I tried to stick to a colour pallet of orange, purple and blue as these are the colours I have been using in my logo and throughout my brand, but also because they are complementary colours that work well together and don't overwhelm the image.

Finally I added a few finishing touches to the image and changed the value of the bedroom wall as it looked too far away and wasn't contrasting well with the background.

Ultimate Image

This is my ultimate image I created to advertise my brand. It includes the idea of the sheep in the clouds leading the young boy asleep in his bed into the dream world. Unfortunately I only had a couple of days to come up with the idea and paint it up, and as I am quite slow at digital painting that took up most of the time. I was going to add more detail into the background, but overall I fairly happy with how it turned out and I'm going to keep trying to produce digital paintings in the hope that  i will get quicker and easier.