year evaluation

 

I transferred over to this course half way through the first module, from graphic design, where the class was trying out different types of animation and styles and techniques. I entered the module close to the deadline and was just able complete a line drawing of a bear balancing on a ball just before the module finished. Although I hardly understood what I was doing I was able to complete it.

I learned how to use a light box to create line tests for animation. This meant that when I scanned my work in or used the dragon kit my animation did not just jump all over the screen and stayed in position.

 

I used the method of a peg bar and light box to basically onion skin over the previous frame and animate the character frame by frame. For the short amount of time that I had I think I done really well in the time frame and managed my time well. I think one of the most impressive things about the animation is that for my first one I was able to loop it so it played on infinitely.

 

One on the first key part to animation that I learned was the 12 principles of animation. This gave me a guideline to animation in what I should aim towards and what would make my work better. I found this very useful as I work to set information well. I used the principle of simplicity on the bear character to make him easier to animate and to make him stand out more. Sometimes less is more.

 

Throughout the year I heave learned a new set of key animation skills that I had never known before. I learned how to storyboard better by knowing what eye frames are better to pay attention to, also that different camera angles are an important choice in my work and I should think more about the mood and setting to better determine which ones I should use. This was useful when I began storyboarding my animatic.

 

I also learned key skills and was newly introduced to the program final cut pro where I was ale to import my hand drawn story board images and cut out pieces and sections to animate them using a rage of effects such as panning, rotating and zooming. It was here that I planned out the movements and sequence for my 3d animation in cinema 4d. 

 

I was first introduced to cinema 4d in this course. When I first tried to use it I had no idea what to do and it seemed too complicated. However throughout several workshops and introductions into the program I was able to create flat 2d planes in a 3d environment and animate my storyboard. I learned in this project that we had to manage our time well because it took a lot of time to make and dedication. We also learned how to rig our 2d characters and give them joints and bones to move around. Key framing was also a key skill we learned using this program and how moving them around can influence to tempo and pace of our animations.

 

After our initial use of cinema 4d I then went on to extend my skills in the program by using the 3d modeling tool to create my character Glick. Glick was again made by keeping in mind the idea of a simple character that stands out. I think that my skill in creating characters is good and that it is one of my main strengths. Although it was my first time ever creating something in 3d I took well to it and was able to do it quite easily and grasped extruding and modeling well.

To help support my character design I created a model sheet that clearly depicts the characters set design and color scheme. This was a good skill learnt and it shows planning and preparation work similar to that an actual animation production studio would use.

 

I then had the opportunity to refresh my drawing skills in several life-drawing sessions. It helped me revise body proportions and lighting and shading and how they work together and interact. Then later we picked an artist of our own choice and worked in their style, this refreshed how we worked and let us break from our old habits and try something new.

 

One new skill, or moreover, habit I developed was blogging. Blogging helped remind me where I was, what I was doing and what I had to do. It also helped me show to people what I had been doing and to  see if they had any feedback it was also interesting to see what other classmates were doing and to see if they were suck or needed any help or if they could help you. It was just a good way to share and keep track.

 

At the end of the year we had the chance to choose a method of animation of our own and make an advert for e4. People could use something they already done and a strength they knew they had. However I decided to go for cutout animation, as I never had the opportunity due to my late arrival in the course. This may have seen like a foolish move but if anything I got to learn something new and develop a new skill. My animation went well and I was very happy with the outcome.

 

I think that throughout the year I have learned a lot and developed new and old skills and it’s been a great insight into the animation course. I hope to be able to extend more on my digital painting skills and this is an area I wish to excel in. I did have a couple of tutorials on digital painting and learned plenty of skills with tools I never understood, one main one was the pen tool, which I had never grasped before. However I wish there was more that we could have done and developed in that area further.