English National Ballet 2015

English National Ballet

27th November 2015

Introduction

This was an optional session where we were able to view a ballet dancers in the Palace Theater as they prepare for the shows that night. This was an extension on our life drawing sessions and a further challenge to observe the motions of the dancers and capture them in our pieces.  

[Palace Theater Lobby]

Session

Creative Drawing Exercise (Introduction)

We started with a warm-up exercise before we went to the dancers. We tried a range of techniques with different mediums to show that there are many way to observe and capture the dancers. New techniques included: using two pens and using only one line with Biro and pencil. The two pen technique means that I had to hold two pens at the same time to draw the line soft the dancer's, this produced two lines on the page which created a ghost of the original line. This is an effective way of capturing motion because the lines represent the motion. Moreover, because I was holding two pens at once, I could not hold them traditionally and had to use the whole of my arm to draw the lines. 

The one line Biro technique meant that I could not remove the pen from the page once they made contact; and I had to draw what I saw. This created a very fluid and 'connected' piece which looked rather organic. However it felt very restrictive because I have to think where I am going to draw next (piece by piece) and because it was a single line, i'd have to stop to think where id go next without pausing. 

[Creative Drawing Introduction - Pencil, Charcoal, Coloured Pencil and Blue Biro] 

Page 1- Warm Up Stage

This was the first series of sketches I did in the session. As I was still 'warming-up' these sketches are not clear and there are a number of clear improvements I would make such as completion, detail etc. I focused on the form of the dancers as they were mostly still using the stands to balance.

 [Page 1 W.U.S - Pencil and Charcoal]

Page 2 - Warm Up Stage Continued

This is the continued page of initial sketches where the dancers were still warming up and using the stands to help them balance.

[Page 2 Warm Up Stage Continued - Pencil]

Page 3 - Exploring Static vs. Motion

 This next page is of an idea I had when observing the dancers. While at the stands i found that the dancers had very static parts of their bodies while maybe a limb or two would be very active. Therefore I decided to draw the head, torso, right arm and right leg first, and then I drew the positions of the left arm and left leg therefore the one sketch would have three or four arms and legs on one side. I found this easier to draw and I found it an easier way to portray motion.

 [Page 3 Exploring Static vs. Motion - Pencil and Charcoal]

Page 4 - Exploring Static vs. Motion Continued

This page is when I experimented with the one line Biro technique. I drew with a single line and very looked at the paper, always observing the dancers. Adopting the same idea as the previous page and applying this new technique produced these strange sketches. 

[Page 4 Exploring Static vs. Motion Continued - Blue Biro]

Page 5 - More Poses; Contrast of Leg Positions

This page was soon after they had moved the bars for the dancers to lean on and now the dancers were moving much more. Therefore this made it much harder to draw them. Therefore these draws are not the best but I tried to capture the dancers positions in a single point in time that would portray movement. In addition I tried to capture the extreme positions of the dancers legs because very quickly they would be outstretched and then brought and folded under their bodies. 

[Page 5 More Poses; Contrast of Leg Positions - Pencil and Charcoal]

Page 6 - Experimenting One Line Biro

This is another page when I tired to use the one lined Biro technique again. This time I chose to use this technique because the dancers were now spinning on the spot; there was no significant time when they were still. So I felt it was most appropriate to use technique which expresses a lot of motion even if the figure is not completely clear. 

[Page 6 - Experimenting One Line Biro - Blue Biro] 

Page 7 - More Poses

This page contains more figurative sketches because the dancers were still moving a lot around the stage but now had very distinctive stages and extremes which I tried to capture very quickly in these sketches. 

[Page 7 - More Poses - Pencil and Charcoal]

Page 8 - Layered Experimentation

This is another page with a wider range of mediums because I wanted to experiment what they may look like all together. Therefore I used pencil to map the initial structure of the dancer, then using blue Biro to portray the motion. This was at a time when the dancers were moving very quickly again. 

[Page 8 Layered Experimentation - Pencil, Charcoal and Blue Biro]

Page 9 - More Poses and Limbs 

This page I found the session very challenging because I found it difficult to concentrate on the dancers as they moved very quickly and I felt I couldn't keep up with them. Therefore I tried to capture one aspect of them as they moved. On this page this shows I tried to follow the arms of the dancers and where they went and what shapes they made. 

 [Page 9 - More Poses and Limbs - Pencil and Charcoal]

Page 10 - Contrast of Mediums

This page shows further experimentation with the mediums and i did this by capturing a single pose of the dancers (because they had different groups performing the same section) and I tried to capture that moment with three different mediums: pencil, Biro and charcoal. 

[Page 10 - Contrast of Mediums - Pencil, Blue Biro and Charcoal] 

Page 11 - Mirrored Leaps

This page I focused on the shape and the single moment of a dance to try and portray movement. This is because the dancers did a very interesting pose where they jumped a certain direction and the limbs would all be delayed and follow the body behind and yet land completely in control. Therefore i wanted to capture this pose and I chose to mirror it. 

 [Page 11 - Mirrored Leaps - Pencil and Charcoal]

Page 12 - More Poses

This was the final page of the session and at this point I found it extremely difficult to concentrate because the dancers were moving too quickly. Therefore this is a collection of very quick pencil and charocal sketches of the dancer's extreme positions. 

 [Page 12 - More Poses - Pencil and Charcoal]

Conclusion

In conclusion this session was very challenging and yet very enjoyable. I also found that the dancers were amazing in how they moved and I now have a greater administration to ballet dancers. I found this session very difficult because of how much the dancers were moving and because I was trying to capture a single pose or extreme of a dancer, I only had seconds to remember a pose and try to capture it for the next pose. Reflecting on this I realise that I need to observe the motion of the dancers rather than the shapes and forms. This is because a motion lasts much longer than a particular pose within that motion. An example of this could be rather than draw the arms in a pose of a jump, I would next time draw the motion of the jump (anticipation, air time, landing).
I feel that if I tried the 'motion tactic' my work will be far more effective than this session. 

Life Drawing 26/11/15

Life Drawing: 26th November 2015

Introduction

Within this session we did a range of exercises that tested our drawing techniques. This included reducing the size of our drawings and how we draw the model.

Initial Poses (Warm-Up Sketches)

These are just sketches that I did at the start of the session where we had to draw the model in a few minutes. These are done just to start the session and get in the mind set of life drawing. As shown there are a number of improvements I would make in proportion and completion because most of these drawings are incorrect and incomplete. However this is only an initial piece to the session; I needed to make those mistakes for me to build from those throughout the rest of the session and get me into the life drawing mind set. 

[Initial Piece- Pencil and Charcoal]

One Minute Poses

This is the second piece I created in the session where we had to draw the pose of the model within a minute. This is a very short amount of time to capture the model; therefore detail was not essential, we had to capture the full model and express the essence of the pose in that short time. As shown there is no detail and are very few lines to capture the model's form and action. I would improve these drawings by trying to capture the proportions of the model first by mapping out and quickly recording the model's pose. I would then spend the short time fixing any problems with what I captured.

[One Minute Poses- Charcoal]

Ice Rink Test

This next piece was an experimental piece where we had to close our eyes, and using a thick pencil or charcoal recreate a path of an ice-skater. This was to improve our understanding of the strength of the line and to use large and confident strokes in our lines rather than broken or 'noisy' lines. As shown my lines and path are rather broken because I focused on the rhythm of the skater as he/she would move his/her feet forward. Therefore one lunge for one foot would be a line then followed by another; then another etc. 

[Ice Rink Test Piece-Charcoal]

Miniature Sketches 

This next piece is of a series of miniature sketches we had to create on an A4 piece of paper and had to fit nine different sketches of the whole model. This was to challenge us to try and just focus on the core features of the model rather than the details such as the pose rather than the detail o the hair of the model. This was a challenge because I am used to drawing large sketches on A3 paper and I try to avoid detail anyway and focus on correcting the proportions. Because of the restricted space to fit other sketches on the same page, you can see that the model is 'squashed' in a number of sketches. 

[Miniature Sketches - Pencil and Charcoal]

Target Piece

This piece was unique because before we drew the model, we had to observe her for a minute and assess key features of the pose and create targets that we would have to meet as we drew the model.

The targets I set myself were:

• Supported Weight - This was to try and show that the model's weight was being supported by the easel. 
• Sense of Helplessness/ Weakness - I felt that was an 'aura' of helplessness and I wanted to show this in my piece.
• Dependence - I wanted to express a sense of dependence of the model and the easel through my drawing. 
• Contrast of Materials (Flesh vs. Wood) - I wanted to express the contrast of the harsh wooden material of the easel and the soft flesh of the model. 

As you can see the piece was not finished as we had a limited time to complete our drawings. I would improve this piece by completing it with charcoal for the body to show the contrast of wood and flesh. 

[Target Piece - Pencil and Charcoal]

Animated Piece ;- Walk Cycle: 2nd Edition

These next pieces are of a collection where the model was posing in the key positions of a walk. We had to capture the model in those poses accurately; that when we compiled these drawings together they would show the model walking. Therefore creating an animated walk cycle of our model.

[Extended Position 1.1]

[Low Position 1.2]

[Passing Position 1.3]

[High Position 1.4]

[Extended Position 2.5]

[Low Position 2.6]

[Passing Position 2.7]

[High Position 2.8]

Conclusion

In conclusion I feel that this challenging session has made me think and observe my drawings and sketches more than before. I feel that I have also learnt about space and confidence in my drawings. 

I will use this in future sessions to portray the model's pose clearly by using confident and strong lines. 

Walk Cycles

Walk Cycles

Introduction

This next post is about how we explored walk cycles and how to create a convincing walk. This is going to be challenging because walk cycles are one of the most difficult things to create in animation. This can be applied to people, creatures and other objects; however the difficult part is to make the walk look convincing. This is done by applying the animation principles to the walk and managing all of the aspects and parts of the walk correctly. 

Research: 1

Initially, I researched how other animators and artists created their walk cycles to anticipate the challenges I would face in the future. One of these animators was Richard Williams in his book: The Animator's Survival Kit. I found this book incredibly useful with helping me understand how walks can be broken down into key stages and how I can develop walks once I had gained an understanding of them. 

Here are some clearer images of those same pages. 

There is a lot more information on these walk cycles within the book which I have read and there is still far more to learn and understand. 

Initial

Firstly, I recorded people walking so that I could analyse their walks. this would help me observe their walks and gain a better understanding on how a walk is put together. 

Here is one video of a man walking with a shopping bag:

--Analysis of walk--
As you can see in the video, it is a man walking with a shopping bag. It looks like he has somewhere to be because of the speed of his walk and he knows where he is going but chooses not to be running. Therefore I feel that there is a steady but progressive motivation to his walk. Distinguishing features of this man's walk include his swinging shopping bag this is because of its bright colour and over lapping action during the walk which makes it stand out even more. Moreover this is further exaggerated by the contrast of his other hand which is firmly in his pocket and the contrast of motion further exaggerates the shopping bag's motion. Within the video there is some signs of the man's head slightly moving up and down following the path of his body as he walks but it is very subtle.
In conclusion the most distinguishing feature of this mans walk is the swinging of his shopping bag and how the rest of the body contrasts with the lack of motion i.e. the other hand stays in his pocket. This is combined with a steady and progressive style of walk shown by the speed and tempo of the walk.  

Now I have broken the video down into the key poses which include: Contact, Low, Passing and High positions.

Extended Pos.1

Low Pos.1

Passing Pos.1

High Pos.1

Extended Pos. 2

Low Pos. 2

Passing Pos. 2

High Pos. 2

These positions are the key positions in a walk cycle which make up a persons walk, then in-betweens are added to make the movement smooth. I have now traced over these key positions to create a simple skeleton structure.

This allows me to see the basic structure of the character and see how he walks without over complicating the movement with excess information i.e. the shopping bag and mass. 

I found this difficult where the arm is hidden by the body due to the perspective of the camera and the man walking. therefore I has to guess where the arm would have been during the walk; this is why the blue arm's movement is not as natural as the others.

This walk is accurate to the man's walk, however I wish to add character to this walk to make the character more interesting to look at and gain the attention of the audience. I will do this by analysing the original video further and exaggerating key positions and aspects of the man's walk. 

This will maintain the man's character because I want it to still be the same person, however I would like to make this person more interesting as well as his walk.

Therefore I analysed the walk further and found that there is movement in the shoulders and exaggerated all of the movements within the walk. From this I made extreme positions on Toon Boom which were very exaggerated compared to the video; however these are originated from the original video.
Here is the video of the exaggerated walk:

Conclusion

Overall I am happy with the walk; however i would have spent more time smoothing the movements and the lines of the extreme walk because I feel some of the lines are rough. This would have taken too much time before the deadline; however I can always return to this project and improve. Moreover, I can apply what i have learnt in this project to future projects. 

Manimation Festival 2015

Manimation Festival:

19th November 2015

(Volunteer Edition)

Introduction

This was another animation festival that was taking place at HOME (in Manchester) on the final day of the Manchester Animation Festival. This was a separate yet similar event because this festival was more business orientated as this festival is aimed at professionals to be able to talk with other professionals.  I chose to volunteer for this event because I thought it would be a great opportunity to gain experience and possibly be able to speak with some professionals within the animation industry.

(Image of Manimation logo)

[http://www.thechildrensmediaconference.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Manimation_001_Col-Blk-pointer.jpg]

Day Plan:

Events:

I started early in the morning for the volunteers to be briefed on what will happen throughout the day and be prepare before the festival(s) start. We had lanyards and t-shirts given to use to wear and the tasks we were assigned were fairly simple because we just mainly had to be friendly and helpful to all guests during the festival.

Firstly I attended a couple of talks where I had to help around the room to clear it up for the next talk and to help any people if they needed it. I would also hand out microphones to anyone who wanted to ask questions at the end of a talk.

After that there were one to ones where people had the opportunity to speak with industry professionals one to one. During this we were given sheets with a particular professional's name and a list of people who wanted to speak with that person. Our job was to rotate the people around so everyone could speak with the professional within the time given; ten minutes. I had the pleasure to help Lucy Pryke (CBBC) with her one to ones where I rotated the people around the list and times.

Within this time I was able to speak with a lady from the CBBC who worked closely with the Scream Street competition and I was lucky enough to speak with her about my entry. Unfortunately I was not a winner of that competition however I gained amazing feedback which I can build from and progress. Despite the negative outcome I feel that I can learn from the negatives and build upon the positives and I have already spoken about my Scream Street entry in other post on this blog.

I was also lucky enough to speak with Marc Silk briefly who is an experienced and talented voice actor. I spoke with him about the Star Wars convention in December in Manchester and he told me about another Star Wars event that was happening in Nottingham. I would have spoken with him longer, however I needed to attend to the jobs I was doing at the time (one to one rotations) but I still enjoyed our small talk. He also gave me a couple of his hand outs.

After that we had finished volunteering and the event was coming to a close, there was one more talk and there was finally a social with drinks. The talk was with Giles Ridge a producer of the new TV series: Thunderbirds Are Go. Within this talk he spoke about the process of creating an episode for Thunderbirds Are GO and how much work is put into it. I found this talk very informative and interesting as I am a fan of the original thunderbirds series and I like the path the new series is taking.

Conclusion

I feel that this again was an amazing experience; however this time it was a busier one because I have duties and responsibilities throughout the day. I feel that this is important experience for both work experience and to attend events such as these to speak with industry professionals to gain a better understanding of the industry by the professionals themselves rather than through a speaker or screen.

 

 

Manchester Animation Festival 2015

Manchester Animation Festival:

17th,18th, 19th November 2015

Introduction

This was a three day festival that took place at HOME, an event centre based in Manchester. This festival showcase a number of different films from blockbusters to animator's own shorts. This also allowed professionals mingle with aspiring artists and animators. I only attended the first two days as I was busy on the final day volunteering for another event on the same day and at the same place; HOME. Within this post I will be discussing about the events I attended but there were many more taking place that I was unfortunately not able to attend.

(Image of HOME, Manchester)

[http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/pictures/606x422fitpad[0]/1/5/8/1438158_HOME62-WEB-Paul-Karalius.jpg]

1st Day: Tuesday 17th November

Events:

Short films Panorama

This was the first event I attended on the first day of the festival and it was a showcase of a series of shorts that studios and animators had created that weren't part of the competition that were taking place but would still be shown. I enjoyed these films as they were diverse, original and clever. They all had their own style and taste which made it a very unique and special viewing. This made it even more entertaining to watch these shorts because they were also shown on a cinema screen which made it a very atmospheric and professional. From this screening I feel that I have gained confidence and was inspired by other people's work at how amazing animation can be.

Master class: Tomm Moore

This was a talk by Tom Moore who is the director for the film: Song of the Sea. I displayed and presented the work that was involved in creating the film Song of the Sea. This was a very interesting talk for both the content and the charismatic nature of Tom Moore. He made the talk very appealing and interesting and the work that he was showing was amazing which included stills from the film; concept art; storyboards and more. I found this very helpful for a director to talk about his film and how it is made because it is very different from watching a video of one at home because of the atmosphere and location. From this talk I felt that I have taken away some knowledge of the work process and a peek into what it might be like to work within that studio and generally the industry.

(Picture of Tom Moore)

[http://www.ecufilmfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/tomm-moore-6.jpg]

Graduation films 2

this was the final event I attended on the first day of the festival. This was a screening of a series of short films that have been entered into the competition for the festival. This screening was similar to the panorama screening because the only difference is that the panorama screenings are not part of the competition. Despite this I still found the films both extremely creative and inspiring. There were a range of stop motion 2d and 3d animations which were all unique in both style and narrative.

2nd Day: Wednesday 18th November

Events:

Master class: Will Becher

This was the first event I attended on the second day. This was a master class by Will Becher who was an animator on the Shaun the Sheep Movie. Specifically there was a part of the film he animated that he mentioned during the talk where it was a corner shot.

(A still from 'Shaun the Sheep The Movie)

[http://www.kaplanvskaplan.com/s/cc_images/teaserbox_944855487.jpg?t=1439242251]

I found this talk very interesting because it enlightened me on the world of stop motion and the amount of work and dedication required to be a part of that industry. The presentation also showed the work process included time lapses of set creation and animation which would last days, weeks and even months. Will Becher also brought a number of puppets to the talk which allowed the audience to look closer at the actual puppets used in the film including Shaun the Sheep himself. From this talk I felt that I will appreciate stop motion films even more because this talk showed the surface of the work required to make a film like 'Shaun the Sheep Movie'.

(Image of Will Becher)

[http://www.manchesteranimationfestival.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/WillANIM01HR-630x336.jpg]

 Shaun the Sheep film

This was simply a screening of the Shaun the Sheep movie. After attending the Will Becher master class I felt I had to watch the movie again to truly appreciate it.  This is because I had already seen the Shaun the Sheep movie and I did not particularly enjoy it because I preferred the original Wallace and Gromit shorts. However seeing the film in a cinema setting and being presented the surface of the process made me look at the movie closer which made the film even better. I do still have fond memories of the originals however this does not mean there is any less work involved with newer productions.

(Image of a poster for the 'Shaun the Sheep Movie')

[http://www.flickeringmyth.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/shaun-the-sheep-movie-poster-2.jpg]

Song of the Sea film

This was simply a screening of the 'Song of the Sea' film. After attending the talk with the director; Tomm Moore, I was particularly excited to see this film. I had never heard about the film before and was amazed by the visuals and art work from the presentation. I really enjoyed the film because of the cinema setting and the talk before made me look at the film deeper and appreciate the work that had gone into it.

(Image of a poster for 'Song of the Sea')

[http://resizing.flixster.com/o7UORRBBmsR-PpOPUYFa0RfPt-s=/800x1157/dkpu1ddg7pbsk.cloudfront.net/movie/11/18/15/11181512_ori.jpg]

Conclusion

This has been both an amazing and educational experience. This is because I have been inspired and enlightened by the talk and other people's work. I would definitely want to attend future events like this one. This has made me appreciate animated films even more and inspired me to work even harder on my own work.