2011, Making a better animator out of myself..

The last few days have been significantly productive; constructing new showreel and new material for it etc. However, when choosing material for my showreel I wished I had more classic exercises to show that I could use character models and could animate a classic sequence. Ive done alot of my own animations which are based on my model sheets but being your own boss and creator has its massive disadvantages.

When animating my final film for Uni, I found I improved on my characters all the time which meant that updating my model sheets was a regular occurrence and a pain in the arse. Being my own boss also meant that I could get away with things..because I wasn't about to call myself into an office and punish myself! So...this is why Ive finally decided to sit my keester down and animate a few movements from an Oswald Rabbit dance sequence which Jon K posted up, what seems like years ago.

Whilst drawing out the roughs of the Oswald Keys I took it upon myself to be a massive hard-ass perfectionist. If I was going to do this I had to do it properly.

Oswald Frames

 'Simple',I hear you say. 'Shouldnt take you long', you exclaim! Well actually NO. 

I challenge any animator or artist to get this little bugger down to a T on their first attempt, it wont happen unless you are an animation genius!

Drawing Oswald is made all the harder by the darkness of his surroundings and the quality of the print. As its in black and white, the black tones of Oswald's fur even hides the details of his fingers unless they are silhouetted. This also makes it doubly hard to see the negative spaces between his limbs and his body not to mention the complication behind the white detail on his face and the black of his head! All in all this character comes across sweet and innocent (when it comes to drawing him) but really its a fine lesson to be learnt; even with its seemingly basic construction Jon K asks young animators to start here because if you can master this you can master almost anything.

My attempt

 Yesterday I was all over these drawings. I felt confident with what I was about to set out and do and I spent alot of time correcting and going back into my drawings. The 1st attempt (above) is clearly the worst. It takes some getting used to to get the proportions right, shapes and the pose.

 Alas, my little joi was short-lived when I moved onto the next step of my development exercise:

 

As you can see, my version of Oswald was slightly...oky ALOT different to the original. Ive broken it down to label my mistakes:

 As I start with the head for most of my drawings, I failed at the 1st hurdle with this attempt. The head is too small but the body was almost spot on, minus the shorts. The legs were way off, possibly because I measured the right leg along the right arm's placement, which was also wrong. As I had drawn the arm and right leg, I then measured the space between the right and left leg and proceeded to draw the left side. The left arm isn't such a disaster but was a little too large and slightly the wrong angle, as with the ear.

Oswald Frame 2

 This was slightly less of a disaster. This time I drew with alot more confidence and pace and completed the drawing in little under half an hour.  However, I still miscalculated the size of the head and placement of the legs. I did however hit the mark alot more than on my 1st attempt. The body was more or less spot on, in shape and placement as with the arms. The problem with the darkness of the shot and the blackness of the body hindered me succeeding with the arms but I feel I did the best I could here. The Left leg is also spot on but went a bit South with the foot's position, size and angle. The right leg is a complete fail in general possibly because I modelled it on the distance and angle I has drawn the right ear.

I will be making another attempt at these drawings and I will certainly be checking them this way again because I think theres alot to be learnt and gained from this type of self criticism. Had I not checked my drawings against the originals I probably would have been quite happy with what I had drawn and not given it any more attention. I think Ive become a little lazy in some respects especially with things like this. Its so important to have good structural skills so I will be making a conscious effort to make myself be good at it.

Final colours for Kay's Cartoon

I thought I would create a separate page which clearly shows which colours I think best for the composition and to give Kay a place to choose which she likes best. I could spend a while fiddling with colours of different shades and tones but I feel Ive hit the nerve with a few of these trials and don't want to divert any further or I will end up ruining it!:P

In no particular order:

My top 3:

I feel these choices best suit the colour and composition for their pastel tones and their winter/ frosty feeling. It frames the characters, brings out the hot tones and gives a bit of a classic feeling.

The Reds, in order of preference:

#1

This is the darkest version and feel it swallows the characters and I cant see the writing being decipherable under this rich and heavy colour either. It is however very Christmassy and Kay's Mam's fave colour.

#2

Slightly lighter version of the above, more grey and whiter tones but I'm really not a fan.

#3

Not a fan. 

Once Kay chooses the colour she likes I will then add the text 'Merry Kissmas' and can proceed to printing on either a high gloss or water-colour paper.

Caricature

Ive been asked by a friend to do a cartoon caricature for her Mam for Xmas which I thought was a fab gift and a good drawing exercise for me! Kay is an art Grad, she does Photography mainly but we used to go to Art together back in school so she will be good to work for as she'll be able to point out weaknesses for me to improve on.

The photograph she sent me was quite small but it was of her mum pulling a silly, toothy smile that she often does when she's done something 'wrong' or around things she loves; in this case her favourite horse.

As a double joke Kay wanted me to do quite a harsh caricature to make her look more horse-like and for comic value when she finally hands her the drawing for Xmas. As there was only 1 photograph to work from I scoured Facebook for a picture of Kay as they are extremely similar looking, hence producing the above cartoon of Kay.  Both have massively cartooney, almond-shaped eyes but are quite sleepy when not pulling a daft face etc. I figured this small study would be a springboard to not only loosen myself up but to get an idea of the similarity in features between her and her mam.

Attempt 1 from the photograph. I didn't put too much detail in the face but sketched the basics. I wanted to make the teeth large enough to be funny but not so large as to offend.

Attempt 2 went alot better. I spent alot of time on the eyes, drawing and correcting as I went along and added some nice curves to the cheeks and facial muscles. I also bowed the teeth a little and made the mouth area generally larger.

Attempt 3 was for my own enjoyment focusing on the teeth/ mouth even more and reducing the cranium. I can see where I could push this drawing even further. I do love the contrast between this and the 1st attempt I made, it shows development and my trail of thought in the process. The more I look at this version the more I want to convince Kay that I should use it instead of the 2nd Attempt which she prefer!

Next was the horse design! I made an attempt at a rough few sketches to get used to drawing horses, which I find really difficult usually but today I guess my love for drawing came back after weeks of not being able to! The 1st drawing was definitely what I wanted to go for in regards to structure and relative size of the cranium to the mouth area.

Attempt 1 of the horse was difficult getting the mouth at the sides even and right. He looks a little worried which I didn't intend. I do like the way I'm drawing teeth at the moment, I guess those Anatomy exercises sunk in! :) (Just to point out: the detail on the snout and forehead are patterns that her horse has).

Attempt 2 is slightly more rounded and I played with a longer cranium and knocked the iris off his eyes to make him look less doe-eyed. I like the angle of the white fur on his snout this time and the angle of the teeth.

Composition attempt 1 was more or less a trace I did before work to put the two characters together on the same page. There really isn't any sort of composition in this scene and I dislike it for that. I love the entire bottom-half of the horse's face but hate the eyes. I also think the more I trace Kay's mum I lose more of the details that make the cartoon look like her so I think I'll have to be careful of this and stick to referencing the photo and that 2nd caricature.

Composition attempt 2 went alot better its a bit more together but again I have issues with the mum looking less like herself. I prefer the mouth and her teeth in this cartoon but after Kay mentioned she wanted her mam on the left side I think my drawing went to shit as the photograph is looking to her left. Here I had to improvise and make her look to the right. This works for composition I feel but I am regarding this attempt as an extreme rough*. The horse is also not what I wanted facially; I think I need to thin his cranium, lose the thick eyebrows or stick to the 2nd design.  His body is my usual Bugs Bunny/ Jon K style I know! But I liked how I handled the hoof holding Kay's mam and his thrusty chest and butt-cheeks!

 2/12/2010

 I got annoyed that the more I drew Kay's mam the less it looked like her so I went back to the photo and had one last go reducing the size of the cheeks and more of a softer look for the teeth.

6/12/2010

My Internet attempted to foil my plans today and it did so by procrastinating its connection causing me to put back me applying for a job as well as sending the 1st inked draft of Kay's cartoon for approval. Suffering from a stinking chest infection and runny nostrils, the problem was finally rectified after 6hours of sulking, 3 cups of tea, 6 biscuits, a mug'O'pasta and some kicking of the modem and whining and pointing at the router..

Behold!

Its definitely not the best ink-job of my life, this was a particularly nasty task as I had some major problems with Toonboom today (more things to add to the nest of circuitry hell!

8/12/2010

1st draft of the coloured version:

I think I will change the following: The Hooves are too much of a greeny sick colour, the tail/tone, possibly add some more brown and yellower tones to her face and add more of the horses brown tones to her hair. I also need to erase the bottom of the drawing to make it less 'straight-edge' or simply move the composition up and erase this. I think I like her coloured top best and the hoof texture, just not the colour.

 10/12/2010

I really am crap with colour especially when choosing a background colour to frame my characters. Im not even entirely convinced by my choice of vector brushes for the stars and strings but here goes anyway:

Colour choices:

 If I had to choose I'd probably say I liked this one the best or the last but I honestly think someone else could do a much better job! :P

 I didnt want to go for typical blue, green or red or anything garish but something a little more pastel and subtle but I will have to see what Kay suggests!

13/12/10

Red Background and more cow-printage:)

Really not too sure on the richness of the red but if I went a bit more pastel with the colour it would be pink instead of red, her mam's fave colour. I think I might experiment with some grey-tones instead of the orange/ yellow glow framing the characters. I think I find this background too consuming and the characters have become a little lost in vibrance.

Less richness on the red and some subtle greyer tones. Still not happy!

This green is a little cold and doesnt pick up the very warm tones in Kay's Mam's face at all. The browns even seem colder than what they are with this background. Not a fan.

 This turquise is alot nicer to look at. It blends with the composition but doesnt dwarf the characters or under-tone them.

Red really wouldnt be my ideal choice for this comp. Its too rich and the lighter I go the pinker it seems to be but will have to see what Kay thinks!

More to come soon!