Merry Christmas Everyone!

Phhhewwww, was the last week manic or what, in total from Monday to Friday 10 hours sleep 3+3+4+0 what a manic week. Still everything out of the way and on to the next bout of assignments things seems to be going according to plan shame Xmas is there to disrupt the flow.
Just spent half an hour designing Xmas cards which will be too late for the last post but never mind, something a bit creative always goes down well. Obviously fairy tales have had a major influence this year.
Right now thats out of the way, 'Drip, splating and boinging', which i've set myself one week for.
As usual will probably make it too complicated but in for a penny in for pound!!!

Facial expressions

Well an interesting night of gurning in front of the mirror, have given myself a complete facial workout. Really useful evening as these sort of expressions will come in handy and will put them in a people library of my own. Just wish my eyebrows were a bit more expressive.

Sketchbook work

I don't seem to be very organised this term and have been busy drawing people at any opportunity, two main places either at work I know naughty, naughty, or on the trains /at the stations have posted a few your purusal. I seem to be drawn to character studies. I should have more dogs, skinny dogs would be better would be able to see how everything is working, perhaps I should feed mine less. I am in need of more life model lessons am going to look into extra ones in the area, can't believe that we have been at uni 11 weeks and had a life model 3 times.

Imagination cubed

Found this nifty little program, the administrator on Skwigly was forwarding, so if you don't want to post a comment draw me one instead have a look the link is at the side you can play it back and it animates it back as if you were drawing it. also if we all give each others msn we can animate at the same time nifty eh!

Modern Comedy

After lessons today, and my inability to find Tom and Jerry and Bugs Bunny funny, had a bit of think about it and have come to the conclusion that the problem I have with these two is
1. the violence
2. and this is probably the main reason is that one character is always the victim.
3. With Tom and Jerry the format is replicated for every show, Tom and Jerry was a staple of my childhood growing up in the seventies and I used to wish for Tom the cat to just eat the mouse......and be done with it.
Also a major part of my youth was on the side of the underdog and I think this is a very common female trait. So in this case sensitivities ruling my head.

Im going to put links to the offensive but satirical, 'Monkeydust' shown on BBC 3 and also 'Drawn Together', a spoof of Big Brother by American animation company Rough Draft Studios, Inc.
Like to hear your views on how you think comic taste has changed.Parody is the word.

John Williams masterclass

This was a real privelege. I have been in awe of the Coldplay Trouble video for years. A stunning masterclass. Thankyou very much.
He is also a lovely chap, an 'Ethical animator'!
I also found out the term for what I do '3d stop motion' and I had plenty of information about compositing very worthwhile.
Key things to remember
1. Keep It Simple Stupid( KISS)
2. Try to have 4 layers your working on at one time
3. Easy to get pidgeonholed, so keep the style of work varied.
4. Decide what you want to do for a bread and butter job and make sure your showreel shows this.
Link to trouble video at the side

Fairytales

Boy are there some truely weird and wonderful stories out there I thoroughly recommend the website SurLaLune fairytales.com, Bluebeard one scene reminds me of Hellraiser is thoroughly gory, The girl without hands was suitably strange aswell. Who needs horror movies when we have wealth of flippant dismembering, no wonder I was so strange as a child, my alltime favourite was the story of 'Little-suck-a-thumb' in the book Der Struwwelpeter by Heinrich Hoffman which did make me think twice.
Things seemed to be getting chopped off left, right and centre.

Am I the only one that feels like this!

oh dear, oh dear,
The blues got me big time the last couple of weeks its almost as if my brain had gone on strike.
Please tell me that I am not the only one, I think it must be bio-rythyms what a lull and very badly timed. Still the worst is over and I have read about 10 thesis papers in the last two days so onwards and upwards. Am contemplating doing my paper for Caroline on something like propaganda techniques used in advertising. Think thats quite a meaty subject. Plenty of CGI stuff out there. if you go to 'google' you can do research paper search very handy, been working throught the animation reader book Caroline suggested aswell although I am a bit miffed that there is about 5 papers dedicated to Disney.
Films watched this week - Brothers Quay Gilgamesh
Peter Greenaway - The early films of Peter Greenaway Vol1
(including H is for House)

Painting with twigs

How good was that lesson, I just want to do more and more, I feel that it has freed my line up, and can't wait to give my dogs sequence a go. Those dogs are like mini "Aliens" when they get going.
On another note have been given an overhead projector so am going to try and make it in to a lightbox of some sort apparently it has a fan inside so in theory it will not overheat, will keep you posted on its success or failure.

Dog bites Man!

Using abstract shapes to convey character!
just though I would post link up for exercise we did in class last week, have a look at Dog bites man! Nat's handiwork is the dog and mine is the juddery old geezer! Excellent exercise which will definately be looked into more closely, think that video is too big so will have a little experiment in to resizing.

Audio is the key!

After seeing Paul Bush's Masterclass on Monday, I big thumbs up for Independant filmmakers, it has only confirmed my feelings that audio is key to what makes a great animation. There is a lot of discussion or at least there was at my old college about wether you make the audio first and then the animation to fit or the other way round, personally my preference is audio first, which brings me on to my next topic. As an trainee animator wouldn't it be good if Uni actually put on some classes in this, as personallyI think it is the foundation stone that your animation is built on.
As it is I shall have to teach myself again which eats in to my scheduled timetable, alas more time taken away from animation, oh well guess what i will be doing this weekend.

Hurrah its working!

The 50 images link is up and running!

So many flipping programs

Right after that hiccup with Flickr have now decided to use Picasa for online slideshow as all of this is run by Google so streamlining is the word, enough said Picasa will do for me easier navigation aswell. Easier all round ......

flickr update

Sorry Peeps,
Have just double checked the Assignments/50 images link and unless you are logged on to Flickr you cannot see them, to set up an account is free, and may come in useful in the future. The perks of this program is that you can make a slide show and vary the degree of speed for play back minimum 1 second ( i know I know not fantastic for animators but there seems to be loads of animation groups using this program), think it would be quite good for the flip book effect.
http://www.flickr.com

50 images continued...

Have put a link to images that I am working through, I have put them up on Flickr so will take you to the slideshow. The link is under Assignments any feed back would be interesting.

50 images continued

well after a chat with Caroline have changed direction again and am using this assignment as an analysis of my work, and also an introduction into the feel of work that I will eventually make for my major project animation. Currently on image 20 although the general feel is very dark, but am also looking into textures, structure, line quality, type of medium, and aspects of voyeurism. To get the most from this assignment I think you have to go this way as you have to decide why you like particular images, getting down to the crux of what appeals to you aethestically - this of course either physically or pschologically will lead into your own work at some point. At the moment my images tend to be rather monochrome although a wide amount of image have been covered, from Expressionism to Dada to Post-Modernism, from print-making, painters, photography and graphics. Thirty images to go.....its not actually hard to get find images that I like the problem relates to keeping on one track of thought throughout the process.

50 images

After numerous days of scratching my head on this one, initially just putting in a folder of images that I like, I have now decided to dig out all my photographs I have taken and choose ones that appeal to me in either colour, form or texture the ones that I am choosing arent necessarily the most attractive - beauty is in the eye of the beholder- there is something about them that appeals to me aesthetically.
Am also experimenting with two websites that can perform slideshow rituals,
Smilebox( hoping this one works because I like the name, silly reason but there you go!- download times seem to be rubbish but I think that is my connection so much for 8MB Broadband the last two days have been awful have just done a broadband test and its coming out at 124Mbits per sec how bad it that, cant watch any films at Atom..... really bad.
Flickr( have looked at this slideshow very black, minimal oh so....arty definately for the photographers amongst you)
Just remember we don't get marked for this, to carry on with the course we have to do it......
Am still having problems with finding when exactly this assignment is due in.... ok found it Wk 5
week beginning 30th October 2005, hope that helps......

Life drawing is wonderful!

Do you know how wonderful it is to do life drawing again, for four years I have been trying to get it made part of the Media Prduction course, but to no avail. I was lucky in that I had done some before, how they expect students to do storyboards with no lifedrawing I will never know, but my word is it good to be doing it again. Last friday waiting for the train in Swansea I got out my pocket sketchbook and started drawing people, very hard doing it without them noticing you though and once they do, they move. I can thoroughly recommend The Natural Way to Draw by Nicolaides am going to continue drawing people in natural poses out and about and hopefully get over my shyness in doing this.
Is it me or is that first part of Assignment 1 very hard to pin down???????, I would really appreciate some examples of what may be expected, from that at least I could choose a direction, Is it me or did I see in the hand book see example!!!! Taxonomies project is much more interesting. That could make an excellent final animation!!!!
mmmm Friday shall be known from this day forth as "The Day of the Essays", mind boggling!!!
On a good note I have order my zouped up computer as this poor little one bless has only 256 RAM Ahhhh she has served me well and in return I am going to gut her and put most of her parts back in to new machine and call it Frankenstein.

Week 1Teething Week

Ok so we all know we got to do one of these, and I have finally bitten the bullet and got this sorted . Well not that sorted 'cos we all know that we could waste alot of time on here tweaking to get the look of it just right well if my myspace is anything to go by...... anyway. Ideally would ahve done this in the Summer but I suppose it will be an ongoing project.
This is the second time Ive written this one as I unfortunatley wiped it before I saved it, its all a learning curve.
Its a been my first week back at work this week and think the work load is going to get too much, so am contemplating reducing my hours have been sitting through loads of lectures on Advanced Java, Networking Administration and Database Development wondering what I was doing there am so desperate to chat to people that are on the same wavelength, last Monday started reading the book by Betty Edwards that was on the reading list, so to all intents and purposes not surprising that my student is not interested because we use different sides of the brain......
During a quiet spell on Tuesday morning started to enter in a little notebook all my likes and dislikes for the Taxonomies Assignment reading them back i was wondering wether some of them would be offensive, variety is the spice of life though.

have also signed up for the Swansea Animation Festival on the Saturday 10th November £10.00 for the day, for the "independant film making day" lots of speakers including Joanna Quinn who i feel Ive got to meet as I was having some great chats with her on Squigly before Chatty Tuesdays became defunct, it was actuallly through the forum at Big Animation that Tom suggested that I try Newport so have Squigly to thank for a few things.

Films Ive watched this week include "Spirit of the Beehive" Spanish Film( since my last animation I have a fascination with films that portray a loss of childhood innocence, rites of passage etc) and Tim Burton's Corpse Bride. Tim Burton is the second person I would like to meet after Jeunet have sent away for a couple of films by Peter Greenaway including The Pillow Book and also The collection of shorts that we were supposed to see on Monday that included H is for House, the one that Caroline didnt have.
Am still waiting for Caroline to send me the plans for the lightbox. With my practical head on have decided to try and make my old scanner in to one, as for about three years it has been sitting under my desk with the light permanently on so I know its not really likely to blow up. Even if I attach gaffer tape to a piece of perspex it might work got to be better than selling at at a car boot sale for £5.00 worth a try anyway.
Miranda the technician suggested today that I get in contact with a couple of students that will be working on a project with Mr Peter Greenaway himself at Aberglasney will find out more about that one.

Now have to go to bed early as have got that nice early 5.45 rise in the morning to catch the train, for those of you interested got back at 8.00Pm something positive in that my friend who I havent seen for ages rang me and we will arrange to meet probably next week as she lives 10 minutes from Swansea station.
There are a few good things about using the train:-
1. I have abit more time to actually read some of those books, had the first one from America today..... nearly 4 hours of time I wouldn't of had.
2. Its more enviromentallly friendly than driving the car.
3. Its actually cheaper than driving
4. Now that ive done it Cardiff doesnt seem that far way.

An introduction

OK, this is a brief summise of my history - HND Design Crafts, HNC Computing and HND Media Production and now studying MA in Animation. I live in West Wales with my partner and 5 border collie cross's and this is my blog about my journey through the MA course and beyond.