Late Night Logo Design

Bit tired, admittedly, but I have finished what is probably going to be the last set of logos! Here they are!

Enlarge to see detail!

Smitten - Sword spin finished?

Hey folks!

Yup it's me again!

I have lots of vids to show, but it really depends on whether I can upload them to Blogger. I'm gonna try anyway!

This is a new line test I have done. I changed the angle of the spin because Matt asked for it to be at a different angle, so that it could disappear behind the pillar a bit more.

Things I found hard with this shot in general was the handle. The drawings Matt had done of it weren't in extreme detail, so I had to kind of imagine what it would look like at certain angles as it span. I think I made it look 3D and believeable, but I expect it could do with a little improvement.

Making it come to rest was fun though. Making the fast part was probably more difficult, because I didn't want it to zoom too quickly.

Here's the vid of the sword in colour and in the scene. It only requires shading if it is properly finished

Tweening in Toon Boom

Toon Boom is a fantastic program, but I have yet to learn all the animation techniques, one of which includes tweening. Using the help of this tutorial, I will be learning how to do it properly. That way in future I can easily move things around without worrying about redrawing things needlessly.



I will also be doing a Livestream later of some animation in progress, so I'll have that uploaded too, fingers crossed!

Fonts for Degree Show Logo

http://mawns.blogspot.com/

Above is a rather tasty link to a blog, containing several fonts that I'd like to use or try and use as reference for my logos.

My favourites include:

 

EDIT:

After close inspection the guy's work and his opinions of how his work should be used, I have found out that his free fonts are only for personal use. I will not use these fonts. However, looking at these fonts have given me a good idea of how I'd like my logo to appear.

New logo designs for Degree Show

Above are the fave logos that everyone on Facebook and Twitter voted for!

I have now made a fresh batch of designs for people to vote for, based on their votes. Here they are below:

Shot 27 The Deep - Progress

Well, I've started to get somewhere with this shot. It's about half done now. Here are some thumbs I drew to help me with the poses and expressions

Critique from Matt

E-mail from Matt Vadis about recent updates. Important bits are highlighted:-

Hey Em

Sorry I'm not into today, gonna try and crack on at home, but i'll be in tomorrow and thurs.

Guardian reaction shot - looks good, the ears don't distract me anymore so I think it's done, nice one.

Don wrist shot - there's still something that's sticks out with this one. I think the animation is okay, but again it might be the consistency of style. I know it's a very short bit of animation so i think it will work. I'm having a bit of trouble playing it through blogger, lol, so maybe on wed or thurs I can take a look at the toon boom file and give you better feedback.

Sword spin - coming along nicely, the aerial shot is great - you've got the weight and centre of gravity really nicely. As for the appearance of the sword, use the circular handle one that you've drawn in one of your sketches, that's how i've drawn it in another scene so we can match up the style. As for the direction of the sword I've attached an edit to a screenshot of your animation in white. I always envisioned the sword going into the darkness heading behind the pillar, but having said that, if it is difficult to change keep going with what you've done, cos it looks good so far.

I'll take a better look at the toon boom files in person, but for now keep going with it. Thanks

Matt

 

Pretty happy with the feedback I got. I agree with pretty much everything he said. There are bits that need adjusting, and I wanna make sure they look good.

 

Here's the image he's talking about for the sword spin

 

Ravensbourne Degree Show Logo designs

This is a kinda side project I've started for our end of year show. I really wanted to get involved with helping make this year something really memorable, and so I figured it'd be fun trying to help design the logo. This logo will be put up on posters and T-shirts. I had a little doodle sesh brainstorming ideas. Some are very rough and a little uninspired, but I wanted to try different fonts and stuff. I experimented with altering the Ravensbourne logo, and bringing in classic animation knowledge like the ball bounce and walk cycle, so they can help show the public exactly what we're about. I thought about incorporating pencils and stuff into the design, but I felt that Ravensbourne really likes pushing it's technological side of things, and pencils might seem a little old fashioned.

Sword Spin in scene test 1

Seems to be going fairly smoothly at the moment. I think the perspective of the sword may need some work later on, but I just want to place the action for now with the simple kite shape. Still a little more to do, then I can adjust and add detail

Sword science! episode 2 - Aerial shot

Here we have an above version of the spin test I am working on. I think it was a really wise decision, working simply like this first. I have a clear idea of how the sword spins now. Critically, I think the sword spins too quickly at the beginning of this test, so I should make sure I don't over do it in the real test. I really like the way the sword slows down though. Works really nicely!

Sword science! New shot

Okay this is a little complicated but I have basically been given a new shot to work on, which is a sword that has been disarmed, and skids across the floor spinning at the same time. The complicated part is working out the physics of how this will work. Matt gave me some sketches of the sword, and the kinda action he wanted it to take. Here are some Photoshop sketches loosely based on those drawings he gave me. They also show some perspective doodles with lots of circles. These represent the circumference of the sword spin. I also worked out that the circles will get closer and closer together the further away the sword goes and the slower it moves.

Below you can see the scene which Michelle has beautifully illustrated for the final film. I should try and use the vanishing point in this picture, otherwise the sword spin will look very odd.

Above is a slightly boring but important pic I did in ToonBoom depicting the circulations the sword will undergo, from a bird's eye view. I might animate this first so I can perfect the spinning simply first, with some simple copy and paste.

Then I will do the real thing.

Updated Smitten reaction shot

Now with smaller and less flappy ears!

Might need to adjust this guys mouth at some point, but felt the ears were the priority to change for now

Tower shot revisited again AGAIN

Yes it's back again! Another test. Improved it drastically, though it still feels too robotic. I've included the bone, and I've exchanged the hand that slings the bone out the window. This is because he is eating the bone with his right hand in the previous scene. I was silly enough to forget that rather crucial point. Thanks Matt!

Here's a little screenshot showing my layout on toonboom

And here's the playblast

Tower shot revisited again

I'm sort of determined to nail this scene, which is something I have had to redo so many times before.

Here's another test, trying to simplify things more. After showing my previous test to Dan and Matt again, I realized I had put in FAR too much detail, for a shot that only appears for roughly 5 frames. So here's a copy and paste jobby, with a bit of rough arm animation.

I personally think it is a bit crap. The knight looks silly floating up in that same pose. However, animating him seems a bit pointless, espesh considering the camera pans up the tower. The face he is frozen may not be visible when panning at the same time.

Knight mmm test 02 with colour

Here's my more finished shot, with colour. The colours aren't exactly accurate to the model sheet, but they can easily be fixed.

EDIT - Matt isn't happy with how I've drawn this chappy unfortunately. Have given him the files so that he can update the look to match his style better. Can't help feeling a little frustrated with myself, espesh since I was quite pleased with the outcome, but Matt's boss, and I'm sure he'll make it a lot better.

Knight mmm test 01

I've given the group guard shot a rest for now, as there's other shots Matt wants me to work on. This here is a beat where the knight is sliding along the dining table towards the group of guards, and is thinking of what to do to defeat them.

It's not too overly exaggerated, but I'm thinking that I can adjust the angles and squash and stretch on the frames to give more exaggeration if necessary.

Will send this Matt's way for critique. Just need to add the left arm now, and then colour I guess.

Here's some doodles I did, to try and work out the best way to tackle the expressions

Smitten - Update

And now on to Smitten

As you have already seen in one of my previous posts, I completed the Guard reaction shot. I am now doing another similar shot, except it includes 4 big brutes. They are reacting to a chicken being thrown at them.

This one has been tricky, because I have had to animate 4 characters. I've blocked out one already, and am moving on to the next one.

Matt said that these guys have different facial appearances, and come in varying sizes. Here's a expression sheet, with circles around the faces I chose for these 4 petrified pests!

Below you can see the sketch out of the poses, and the 1st guard drawn out.

The Deep - Update

Just a quick update!

I had a little trouble lately, because I realized that the scene I was given had some cameras and other things missing. I thought I was meant to put one in myself. I probs should have enquired more about whether the scene was going to have this stuff put in.

Anyway, I have the updated scenes I need to continue with my shots. I had to import Kid and his animation into the new scene, so that I could have it on there properly

Thankfully, the photo camera the boy carries now has proper animateable handles on it, so I can do more stuff with it without it falling apart and doing weird things.

Am going to finalize my shots I have done more, and also start shot 15, where he swims towards the sleeping Eel

Smitten - Guard reaction shot WITH COLOUR + EARS I KID YOU NOT

Matt's reaction to this was much better then I thought! I loved it! I think the only critical thing he said was for me to add spikes to his hat, and to ensure that his ears are rounded in the animation.

Anyway here is an updated clip of the guard with his ears flapping away!

I didn't want to do too much overlapping here, because I felt that it might be too distracting.


EDIT - Talked to Matt about this clip, and he wants the ears to be less pointy and flappy. I kinda thought I'd need to do this. Oh well, will probs upload an update on this later on

The Deep - Shot 14 blockout

Here's a blockout of my next shot. Kid has just discovered the Eel, and is now swimming towards it. This is to show the Boy's reaction and determination to continue. I am also doing the next shot, which is a wide shot of him and the eel, the Kid still approaching with caution.

You can see that I have started to animate the feet already. I feel that this is always a good way to start refining a swimming shot, since the way he kicks and his body moves is key to making his swimming look believable. He surges forward a lot quicker, so I have to ensure his feet look as if they're doing more work.

ANOTHER PLAYBLAST!

Here you can see that the flippers are more animated, and I have had a go at altering his shoulders to flow with his movement. I have placed a box in there as the camera, again. I've decided I will do this for every scene I do to start with, since I'm not sure how I should scale it down yet. Basically, everyone in my group has the camera, but it isn't the right size, so we'll all be scaling it down. However, I want mine to be the same size as everybody else.

This shot seems to run too quickly at the moment, Kid seems to be rushing too much. He needs to be a little more cautious! Will slow him down a smidge

Smitten - Guard reaction shot WITH COLOUR I KID YOU NOT

Chuffed, I am!

I feel much better about my 2D animation after conquering this!

Here's a guard pulling a shocked expression after having his sword disarmed from him. I did a little playing around with squash and stretch, and anticipation here. I still need to do a bit of secondary animation with his ears, which should be fun!

Matt's verdict to come.