*D* Storyboards - Epic Beefeater Shot

Yiggity Yooo Ya Yay!

Well, these are some little shots I've worked on for the Raven Project. Sophie wanted some pics drawn of the Raven master silhouetted nicely, his action being taking his hat off and holding in front of him in a regal pose. This is the first pic I did.

A few problems with this pic is that he is standing with his arms beside him, which makes him look a little awkward in my opinion. Also, Sophie checked it out and said she preferred it if he were inside and infront of a window.

Here's the result of this new criteria that Sophie set me:

I feel much happier about these shots. I think the wall is slightly out of perspective, but I think the shape the sky forms around the Beefeater's head works really nicely. Having his arms behind him like thata strikes the right pose for his character, too.

I have a feeling that the bg may need changing again, but I will see what Sophie says. :D

EDIT:  The shots weren't quite there. Explained in more recent post showing redrawn panels

*D* Animation Tests - refining keys

I've been having trouble getting Toonboom to behave itself as I get futher with this animation. Whenever I try to drag the pointer through the timeline to review my work, it jumps frames. It's very frustrating! Hopefully it will cease its irritating ways for when I continue tomorrow.

So here's what I've got done despite the issues I've had. I'm fairly happy with it, though I keep seeing more and more glaring issues.

I'm not sure whether you noticed, but I took out the spin, because I realized he was spinning in the opposite direction the the way he is crouching on one knee, and I could see that this didn't flow too well. So I have him doing this sweeping motion instead. I'm not sure whether this is much of an improvement, because it looks a little unnatural. *sigh*

Oh well, I'll continue or start a new practice test. This has been fun, I have to say!

EDIT: TOO MC HAMMER!

*M* Ed Reference Sheet EDIT Old Ref sheet

Expression sheets to come!

EDIT: Revised red sheet can be seen in more recent post

*D* Don Juanova animation test

Hurrah a rather unfinished test that will hopefully be finished soon!

Here we see Don Juanova doing a little dance. Yeh he isn't really waltzing, but I just wanted to get used to drawing him some more. Plus I've always wanted to see a knight do a little knee shuffle thrust dance move.

Okay maybe I'm exaggerating

Right well there's certainly a lot of room for improvement. Some of the perspective is a little off, and he looks a bit too big at the end. I find it kinda hard to keep the size of things the same size throughout when animatiing. Also, the animation goes off the top of the screen, which is irritating. I'll need to check the dimensions and make sure the whole animation is seen. The part where he spins around is giving me a right headache. Gonna have to look at reference material for that. I think my line quality could be better.

Other then those things and a few other glitches, I think this is going down the right path. The keyframes are fairly good, and there is a good flow in general. The timing is okay, though I could edit it a bit, so that there is more of a rhythm. The cleanup looks pretty cool as well.

*D* Toby Shelton is totally boss

Oh hey look another random link to an awe-inspiring blog!

http://tobyshelton.blogspot.com/

Again, looky and likey! He is such a prodigy, when it comes to storyboarding!

Dissertation Research class today!

Right, I had an epic discussion with my tutor (Ian, I believe his name is) about my dissertation question, and how I can continue with it. Man, let me just say that Ian is like one of the most intelligent, knowledgeable guys I've ever met. I thought my Aunt knew a lot, but apparently she has a rival when it comes to brain functionality.

I digress. I'll put all the info in bullet points and expand on what I noted down if I can. I had to take a lot in from that discussion, so I might not remember everything as clearly as I like.

• Tuppy Owens (sp?) - Ian knows this lady very well. Helps support charity called "Outsiders club". Helps people with special needs match-make. Exhibitions in connection with this
• "See Hear" - to do with blind and deafness
• Mick (Nick?) Scarlet - Wheelchair bound individual
• Thalidomide birth defects (sp?) - People born with hunched arms and legs, due to drug of same name effecting growth during pregnancy
• Maybe stick to view of Britain because looking worldwide will be a little too broad.
• Talk to Leonard in LRC.

All a bit vague, I know, but this is stuff i can look into more, absopositively!

*D* Don Juanova Rehearsals!

And now on to drawing the knight in shining armour! Here is the original ref sheet that Matt drew up.

... And here are my sketches!

I'm pretty happy with them, to be honest. I even had a try at some dynamic poses. I've tried hard to make him look like a handsome chap in love, though I'm worried some of the shots look a bit gay haha!

He's a joy to draw though. He reminds me of Linguini from Ratatouille, gorky and lanky. I can see great potential for some really fun animation with this guy!

EDIT: Feedback from Matt:-


Great stuff Emma, really nice poses and expressions! All i'd say is that he won't have his eyes open until the very last scene when he becomes disillusioned, so he's not going to have a very readable face, maybe an eyebrow raise here and there or a self-content half smile, but apart from that his character will come across through his movement rather than face. Maybe not as goofy. That's just knit picking so apart from that you're doing a good job of fleshing this guy out. Keep it up.

Thanks

Matt

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