How not to do a Pendulum Animation - Example 1

Space and Timing - Animation 2

Space and Timing - Animation 1

Photoshop Tutorial - Perspective Exercises 1,2 and 3

Life Drawing Exercises - Lesson 2

Here are my life drawing exercises:

At first we started drawing Sharon with a time limit of 20 minutes, this was so we could get used to drawing again. After I had stepped back from my drawing I suddenly realised how disproportionate I had made Shannon. I needed to elongate the arms and legs, and perhaps make her head smaller! 

The next time round we only had five minutes to draw and observe each position. I slowly began to come out of my comfort zone, of "neat" and "tidy" drawings. Rather than focusing on small details I kept my charcoal on the paper and studied the body with my eyes. By the third set of sketches I could see a dramatic improvement with my proportions and I only had two minutes to complete each pose!  

The last drawing of Sharon's face was my favourite, as faces are something that i'm used to. Even so, I still think there is room for improvement on this one!

Interior Influence Map for the city Sophronia

Making this map was very difficult, as I'm still learning the wonderful ways of Photoshop!     Eventually I understood exactly how to place and crop the images the way I wanted to on the template. This map only portrays images from an interior perspective, which will help me gain some inspiration for my key thumbnails.

Exterior Influence Map for the city Sophronia

This map is slightly different to the other influence map as it only gives you an exterior perspective. This will help me gain some ideas for my key thumbnails for the city Sophronia. 

Beatnik Monster, for Monsters University - Adobe Illustrator Tutorial

My task was to create a Beatnik monster with six eyes, two arms and no legs. For the much loved Pixar film, Monsters University. Not knowing what a "beatnik" was and how my character would move was beyond me! But after some research, I managed to develop what I hope to be a believable character, which could be seen on the set of Monsters University.  Once I had finished my character design on paper, the image was scanned and uploaded onto the software Adobe Illustrator. I traced over the image using the pen tool, this gave my character a more refined and tidy look. I look forward to our next Tutorial when we start to add colour!

More quick thumbnails for the cities Despina, Phyllis, Ersilla, Isaura and Thekla

Life Drawing Exercises Image 3

Here is a 20 minute drawing using only pencil. Next time I aim to use charcoal so I can add some tone and depth to my drawing. Giving it that three dimensional look.

Life Drawing Exercises Image 2

I really struggled with my proportions and found it difficult to draw each pose with a short time amount of time for each pose. However, I felt I was able to capture each gesture with character!

Life Drawing Exercises Image 1

Here is my first life drawing. I managed to observe the lines very accurately but you could argue that his arm looks a bit out of proportion. Drawing the body from this angle was difficult as I often only draw a person "face on." However, as an inexperienced animator I need to learn how to focus on the body as a whole!

CG Artist tool kit: Animation and Character - Lesson 1

My first animation on the software Adobe Animator! My face morphs into an apple, then into a bird and back to my face again.

Quick thumb nail sketches: concept drawings 4 (Argia)

Quick thumb nail sketches: concept drawings 4 (Anastasia)

Quick thumb nail sketches: concept drawings 3 (Anastasia)

Quick thumb nail sketches: concept drawings 2 (Baucis)

"You Climb them with ladders" Italio Calvino 

Using the same description from the previous post. I used the paint brush tool, but this time I experimented with different colours. I've tried to convey tall ladders, which people can climb to reach the city. As you go higher into the atmosphere the ladders fade away into the clouds.

Quick thumb nail sketches: Concept drawings (Baucis)

Using line art and the brush tool on Photoshop, I quickly drew my ideas onto each thumbnail:

Image 1: "Lost above the clouds support the city"
Image 2 + 3: "When the days are sunny, a pierced, angular shadow that falls on the foliage."
Image 4: Shows image 3, but from a distance resting on the clouds.

Italio Calvino, describing the city Baucis.

Film Review: Das Cabinet des Dr.Caligari - Robert Wiene, 1920

This 1920 silent movie was the template for Horror Films.

Dr Calligari, a hypnotist,  comes to town with his coffin sized cabinet containing the corpse like figure Cesare.  Panic and terror is caused as a series of murders appear to coincide with his visit.

Using crooked and uneven shapes and a range of different minimal, small sets the director creates a spooky, and eerie setting.

Within Jane's environment the shapes of furniture and soft furnishings are rounded and curved and appeared even feminine. Elsewhere the sets were angular and stark which added to the horror and madness of the movie.

The use of shadow and light extends the set. The light at times appears harsh and creates tension. On other occasions it is softer, creating shadows on the wall.

The scenes were often empty, with large expanses of floor space and even then a single chair placed strategically.

The wooden floors and the angular, slanted, tilted shapes suggested the film was set in an attic environment. Due to the angle, furniture often appeared deformed.

Throughout the film different scenes would emerge as if the viewer was looking through a lens building the sense of curiosity and drawing the viewer into the environment.     Although the film jumped to various, different locations this kept the viewers attention but you could also argue that this made the film difficult to follow.

Each room had its own style and mood, which seemed to be expressing each of the characters personality. For example: Dr. Caligari's room was small and concealed, completely
contained. This could have been a portrayal of  his devious and secretive character.

The  Asylum stood out because it was more refined and real looking.  This  created a juxtaposition for the audience because it could be argued that the Asylum should have looked the least ordinary. The Asylum consisted of a more familiar structure, with simple  arch shapes and perfect rectangular walls.  This reinforced the message that in fact the world outside of the Asylum was the more complicated one!

My very first attempt at Photoshop (using shapes)

Using shapes, I created an abstract image to show my ideas of what Esmeralda may look like:

"In Esmeralda, city of water, a network of canals and a network of streets span and intersect each other. To go from one place to another you have always the choice between land and boat: and since the shortest distance between two points in Esmeralda is not a straight line but a zigzag that ramifies in tortuous optional routes." Italo Calvino

My very first attempt at Photoshop (unfinished) 2

Thumb nail exercises based on the following text, using the "brush tool": 

'The slender stilts that rise from the ground at a great distance from one another and are lost above the clouds support the city.  You climb them with ladders...Nothing of the city touches the ground except those long flamingo legs on which it rests and, when the days are sunny, a pierced, angular shadow that falls on the foliage'  Italo Calvino

My very first attempt at Photoshop (unfinished)

    Digitally painted still life drawing

Previous Invisible cities work!

Hi everyone! A link for examples of previous Invisible cities project work:

http://ucarochester-cgartsandanimation.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/fao-caa-yr-1-invisible-cities-2016.html

My first embedded video!

The Present from Jacob Frey on Vimeo.

Just learnt to embed a video on here. Thought I'd post a short animation called "The Present". Enjoy!

My Final Designs!

Here it goes! These are my final designs split into three categories: structures, lifeforms and machines. It was good to spend more time on these concept drawings and being able to finalise my own ideas. The tricky part was showing my drawings from the front, back and side!  I had never done this before with images that I had created.

Structures
This is a light bulb which powers a certain emotion to the brain. I struggled with the connection wires in these drawings as it was difficult to visualise how they would be from the various view points.

 Life Forms
This Object has become an orange octopus, which swims in the deep depths of the ocean.  For some reason the suckers are more visible from the front than they are from the side and the back!  Not sure why -  Oooops!

Machines
This drawing portrays a drone, which can fly and carry objects such as parcels to different destinations.  This was the easiest to do front and back as it was virtually the same!  I'm not sure the perspective is right, i.e: size of the parcel versus size of drone!