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Showing posts from October, 2016

Animator Review: Richard Williams

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Richard Williams Richard Williams is a Canadian-British animator, writer and voice actor who was born in 1933. He is well known for his work in progress feature film The Thief and the Cobbler as well as being the animation director for Who Framed Roger Rabbit which he won two Oscars for. He is the author of the well known book The Animator's Survival Kit. Image from The Animator's Survival Kit  Richard Williams has over 250 International Awards for his different animations and writings. He is currently working on a series of animations which bring to life the lessons and teachings from his book The Animator's Survival Kit.

Animator Review: Bill Plympton

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Bill Plympton Bill Plympton was born in 1946 and he is an American animator, cartoonist, filmmaker and graphic designer. In 1987 he was nominated for an Academy Award for a short animation that he created called Your Face .  Film Still from Your Face Your Face features a man sitting in front of the audience as he sings about another persons face. As he sings his face contorts to move along with the music in many different ways. It was later aired on TV which helped to spread it and gain popularity. The song was by Maureen McElheron but after it was recorded it was slowed down by one-third to give the sound the desired effect which also ended up making the vocals sound more masculine. The song was also made just for the short animation and the lyrics describe the beauty of someones face which works along with the visual changes that are happening to the man on screen.

Film Review: :La Belle et la Bete (1946)

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La Belle et la Bete was made in 1946 and it is a film adaptation of the novel Beauty and the Beast. It was directed by Jean Cocteau who was a French filmmaker and poet. The main stars of the film are Jean Marais as the Beast and Avenant, and Josette Day as Belle. The film suggests an underlying theme of sexual desire "b efore she has even seen him, she is aroused to her very depths, and a few seconds later, as she tells him she cannot marry--a Beast!--she toys with a knife that is more than a knife" (Ebert, 1999) and throughout the film there are many other moments where sexual desire is accentuated through costume or dialog. The themes of sexual desire explored within the film could also be linked to the fact that Jean Cocteau was a poet and he used this skill to add a new depth and to tell the story. Figure 1. Film Poster La Belle et la Bete shows Belle to be drawn to the Beast and she almost seems to have no control over herself or her own desi res "As Belle firs

Life Drawing: Halloween Special!

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Film Review: Alien

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Alien is a science fiction-horror film made in 1979 and directed by Ridley Scott. The film follows the story of a crew on a commercial spaceship that is heading back to Earth, only to come across other lifeforms. The crew lands on the new alien planet and discover a nest of alien eggs, shown in figure 1, one of which gets on board, hatches and causes the ultimate destruction of all the crew accept one, Ellen Ripley who is the main character and sole survivor.  Figure 1. Alien Egg Ellen Ripley is portrayed by Sigourney Weaver and her role in the film is a part of why the film is so memorable and celebrated even today. She is a female character who is not shown as the damsel in distress or as sex appeal and she dominates the screen by taking control of the dangerous situation and the threats to herself and crew members and she survives.Ripley has a responsibility and takes her work and j ob seriously "she also appears to have no romantic interest whatsoever. Instead, she furrow

Film Review: 2001 A Space Odyssey

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2001 A Space Odyssey is a Science Fiction film that was directed by Stanley Kubrick in 1968. Stanley Kubrick's films famously have a cold almost disconnection to the characters and their emotions as he never uses close ups to the faces of the characters meaning that audiences never get to experience those raw emotions up close which can be seen in figure 1. He also often uses symmetry in his camera directing which can give off the impression of a almost clinical and controlled effect. "Maybe only rocket science and deep space could absorb Kubrick’s famous coldness and control and tendency to visionary gigantism." (Bradshaw, 2014) This also relates to the dialog used in the film which is minimal and is manly used to tell small parts of the story. Figure 1: Video Call The visuals of the film are the most important and me morable as Stanley Kubrick uses camera tricks and big composition shots to create the innovative look of the film. Kubrick himself has said “Do it rig

Invisible Cities - Reflective Statement

During my Invisible Cities project I gained a lot of new knowledge. Prior to this course I had never used Photoshop or really drawn digitally much before and so looking back now I am surprised and happy about how far I have come, producing three final paintings which I am quite happy with. So far it has been a really interesting experience and I have really enjoyed learning the new programs and trying different techniques. Concerning my three final paintings, I can see now that there are many things that I can work on for future projects, such as trying out different perspectives, and doing many more thumbnails to really narrow down the best perspective and look for my final work. In my exterior low-angle shot I should have shown more of the world around the cart and so having a different perspective would have really strengthened my final piece. Looking at my exterior shot I should have worked more on the background to really add depth and to try and make my city feel like it is reall

Invisible Cities - Crit Day Presentation

Final 3 Paintings of Baucis - Invisible Cities

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Final Exterior Establishing Shot Final Exterior Low-Angle Shot Final Interior Establishing Shot

Research of Source Material for Baucis

Photoshop Lessons

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'Art of' Baucis - Invisible Cities

One, two and three Point Perspecitive

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Today's Life Drawing

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Bouncing Objects

Maya Animated Balls

Animators Reveiw: Don Hertzfeld and Lotte Reiniger

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Don Hertzfeld Figure 1: Billy's Balloon, 1998 Don Hertzfeld is an American animator, writer, independent filmmaker and artist who was born in 1976. He attended film school and whist there he used animation as a way to tell his stories due to the high cost of film equipment. All of his work has been showcased at different film festivals and he has over the years produced many different films.  He first started animating at the age of 15 were he taught himself to animate using a VHS camera. Figure 1 is a shot taken from one of Don Hertzfeld's short animations called 'Billy's Balloon' which he made in 1998. The animation is about a toddler who is attacked repeatedly by his red balloon which gets increasingly more violent as the animation goes on. It has won two awards and Hertzfeld has stated that he believes it to be popular due to it being silent which means that it can be enjoyed all around without the limitations of translating and language.  'Wor

Maya Tutorial - Retro Rocket Rotation

Maya Lighting Tutorial

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Volume Light 2 Point Lighting 3 Point Lighting

Bouncing Balls - Animation

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Animated GIF practise

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Cartoon Bouncing Ball

Maya Tutorial - Toy Blocks

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The 12 Principles of Animation

The 12 Principles of Animation were developed in the 1930’s and they were a result of Disney’s dream to create a new way of animating that would conform to a more truthful way of how things moved in real life and how movement can be used to express different personalities and characters. The 12 principles of animation are: 1) Squash and Stretch – Relating to the illusion of a character having weight and volume as it moves. 2) Anticipation – Preparation for a major action or movement that a character is about to make. 3) Staging – Communicating to the audience the appropriate mood, emotion or attitude, in relation to the current story, background and animation should work together. 4) Straight ahead and pose to pose animation – Working from the first drawing and onwards until the end of a scene. 5) Follow through and overlapping action – When a movement brings a characters main body to a stop and then other parts catch up a moment later ( such as arms, legs, clothes), the

King Kong (1933) - Film Review

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King Kong was made in 1933 and it was directed and produced by Merian C. Cooper as well as Ernest B. Schoedsack. The film follows the story of a group of American film makers who travel to a distant island where they discover a giant gorilla who becomes infatuated with the blonde actress in the group. The team capture the gorilla and take him back for public exhibition in America. King Kong includes worldly views from the time period that it was made, meaning that often it is very sexist and racist with the African tribesmen being shown as primitive and savage-like and the white American film crew shown as heroic, daring and brave. Repeatedly the female lead character Ann Darrow is put down and considered below the rest of the sailors and film crew due to her gender. She is said to be frail and to get in the way just like all woman. This really reflects the views towards woman and people of a none white race for the time period. King Kong can also be repeatedly linked into slavery &q

Maya - Common Shaders Activity

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Ceramic Chrome Glass Glow With Object Glow Without Object Gold Plastic Silver

Invisible Cities - Green Light Review

Invisible Cities - Thumbnails

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