Week 3

History and Theory

This weeks lesson was about early animation history. It was interesting finding out what influenced early animation such as slap stick, clowning, magic acts, song and dance acts and lightning cartoonists whose work i thought was really clever as you would try to guess what they were drawing but it turns out to be something different. We also looked at the industrialisation of animation and when studios started and how they competed with each other. We were also shown Duck Amuck by Chuck Jones which i really enjoyed as i found it really funny and i liked how Daffy Duck was telling the animator off.

In Screening we watched The Sandman and Peter and the Wolf. I liked both but felt they were a little frightening though i was more scared of the boy in peter and the wolf than the wolf (still can't believe the wolf ate the goose!!!! *tears well up*) I prefered the style of the sandman because i liked the camera angles used and how the rooms were crooked, and the colours used.

2D Animation

This week we had to make our cube character jump from one place to another across the page and add overlap.

This is my first atempt



This didn't work very well as i didn't add the overlap also when the character lands it should lean forwards first then lean backwards. The character looks very mechanical because it is very square so i need to add more curves to the characters movements so then it should flow better.



This is my second attempt and i think it worked better as the movement is more fluid and i added the overlap however i needed to add more anticipation to the beginning of the movement as he jumped to quickly. I think i needed to have added more to the landing and the character leaning forward as that is very quick as well. Also when the character leans back i think i should have made his arms spin more and he leaned back longer. I think the leaning back part worked better in the first attempt.

3D Animation

For this lesson we had to make a ball bounce across the screen again but this time we had to add squash and stretch.



I think the squash and stretch on this ball worked well however i dont think the path the ball bounces along is flowing enough as it looks more zig zagged than curved. I think the ball should slow down a bit more at the top of the bounces as well.

Life Drawing

In this lesson I found that i need to be a bit more experimental with the materials i use as i keep relying on pencil =/ I think that this will also make my drawings more interesting as well.

Week 2

History and Theory

This lesson we learned about film form and genre it was interesting learning about all the different styles of film such as German Expressionist and French impressionism and their characteristics. I also found it interesting talking about genre and how some films have more than one such as Star Wars. I wouldn't have thought of it being a western before this lecture I just thought it was Sci-Fi.

I really enjoyed Screening as we watched the The Iron Giant which i never saw before but had wanted to for ages. I loved the film and felt really sad when the iron giant sacrificed himself for the village but he lived!! yay. I loved all the characters in the film especially the guy who lives in the scrape yard i found him very funny. The characters in the film really connect with you which makes it a lot more emotional.

2D Animation

We started off by learning about squash and stretch and we had to draw a ball bouncing up and down. I learnt that i need to make sure that the volume of the ball stays the same throughout the animation. I am pleased with my outcome however it could have been better as the ball looks like it is being pushed down instead of it falling naturally.




We then moved on to learn about anticipation and we had to draw a cube shaped character jumping from a ledge and show the character building up to jumping so that it shows anticipation. For my animation i added the character to flap his arms a little so there was a pause before he fell. I think i needed to add more of a build up to the jump.





Life Drawing

From this lesson i found that i need to work on my proportions. As the lesson went on i found it easier to draw and they looked more acurate. I need to practise drawing faces as i find them difficult and at the moment they are not very detailed. I also need to work on hands and feet as with some of my sketches i leave the toes out and they look like flippers, opps!!!

Week 1

First week on the animation course and i am really excited about what is coming next.

Monday was our first day of lectures on history and representation. I had already done a little bit on signs, signifier and signified but understood it a lot better this time. I found it really interesting how the change in colour, shape etc can change how you see an object or character and how they are represented. I also really enjoyed the cartoons that were shown especially the Felix the cat cartoon with the army of sausages which i found very funny and i like how they animated something that you wouldn't normally see fighting. We also watched "Coonskins" which was a very different animation than what i usually watch. The style was very urban and at points there were some random things that happened that left me confused like how there was a green clown like character in the mafia.

Tuesday we started to learn how to animate and used maya for the first time. I enjoyed learning how to use maya and seeing what did what as now i feel more confident to experiment with it myself. I enjoyed the drawn animation as well with the Zoetrope though i thought mine could have been more effective as i drew an eye blinking but should have made it open up wider as you couldn't see it very clearly. The circle animation i think i could have done better as i found mine a little dull and could have added colour to it to make it more exciting.

Thursday was the first lesson on motion studies and as i started drawing i found that i was out of practise. But as i drew more i found it easier and saw that i need to draw more regularly to improve.