Ellie Row, Computer Animation Arts, UCA Rochester: May 2017

15 May 2017

CG Artist's Toolkit: Animation and Character - Showreel + Links + Reflective Statement

Links:

Lesson 1
Lesson 2
Lesson 3
Lesson 4
Lesson 5
Lesson 6
Lesson 7
Lesson 8
Lesson 9
Lesson 10
Lesson 11
Lesson 12
Lesson 15&16
Lesson 17

12 Principles
Don Hertzfeldt
Lotte Reiniger
Bill Plympton
Richard Williams

Reflective Statement:
I enjoy animating very much, it still amazes me when I've been drawing frames for a bit and I hit play and the thing I have drawn is moving. Getting character into the animations is deceptively tricky and I can see that learning the skills to do this successfully is going to take a lot of time and effort. I hope to see myself improving in this when I put more work in.

I found myself underestimating the tasks, more work could always be done and I found the quality of my work slipping as I rushed to get things done on time. I intend to practice in Animate over the summer and complete the tasks that I have not done, so that I am more used to using the software and planning and drawing frames for animation.

Animation and Character: Lesson 15 & 16 - X-Sheet

X-Sheet

11SecClub_September_Competition from Eleanor Row on Vimeo.

11SecClub_September_Competition_1 from Eleanor Row on Vimeo.

CG Artist's Toolkit: Drawing - Final Submission

Reflective Statement:

I have always been interested in drawing the human form, but have never had the chance to draw it from life. I feel that having a model in front of me and seeing them move from pose to pose has really helped me to improve my drawing.

Being asked to experiment with different length poses, body shapes, materials, lighting and drawing techniques has been very informative and has helped me work on my weaknesses and solidify my strengths.

Also, drawing in a group environment with regular feedback from peers has helped me to relax around showing people my work. I used to be very shy about showing people my art, especially when it was unfinished, but now I enjoy comparing things with classmates and taking pride in my work. My confidence has definitely improved, in my art skills as well as more generally, as a result of the drawing sessions.

I found the sessions very physically demanding, but did my best to attend as many as possible. I found them very enjoyable and understand the importance of regular practice and making the most of the time with the models and tutor. The quicker poses where definitely my favourite, as I have a tendency to overthink things if I'm given the time. There were longer poses that I really enjoyed, too. I found that slowing down and trying not to overthink was difficult, but when I managed it the results were much better.

12 May 2017

Fantastic Voyage: Reflective Statement

This project has been one of the most challenging, but enjoyable, things I have ever done. Managing a project of this size, with this many different elements has been very tricky. I know that I could have planned my time better, and that I have let parts of the greater project slip in order to get a film finished by the deadline. There are things that I didn't feel able to get from my head onto the screen just yet, particularly with bolder and more characterful animating, and I am excited to keep learning so that I can overcome this in future.

I am really interested in the feedback I received surrounding ways that I could take my idea and make it more fit for purpose. Taking the steps of a dance as the steps of mitosis in a more literal, instructional, way to make a better teaching tool hadn't occurred to me. I think that I was too focussed on getting my first idea out the way I saw it in my head and keeping with my art direction. I didn't take the time to check that I was making the best, most appropriate version of that idea, and I will continue to think about pushing an idea all the way through to its best point.

I wish that I had been able to make better use of the mistakes I made in earlier projects in time for this brief. However, I know that reflecting on the wider lessons learned this year some more over the summer will be as good a use of my time as keeping up with skills I have gained in Maya, so I will make time for this.

I am pleased with the work I have made this year, I couldn't have imagined achieving this much when I started in September. I can't wait to see what next year brings - and what I can bring to next year.

Fantastic Voyage: Art Of

Fantastic Voyage: Mitosis - Final Animation

9 May 2017

Fantastic Voyage: Models

Here are some renders of my models. I think I will edit the colours of the cells in post-production.

5 May 2017

Drawing 19 & 20

20-03-17

24-04-17

Fantastic Voyage: Animation Progress

Here is a playblast of an early scene in my animation. I need to add text, but I will do this later at home so that I can install the font I would like to use.

Fantastic Voyage: Intro Progress

Here is a playblast of my progress on the first 22 seconds of my animation. I need to add text to the cell, then I will rotate it as the camera moves towards it.

Here rendered stills of this scene.

Without BG

With BG as a textured plane in Maya

With BG added in Photoshop

I will probably add the background to the final animation in After Effects, but keep the plane in at the moment for reference.

4 May 2017

Fantastic Voyage: Animatic and Script

Here is the first version of my animatic that I presented at the pitch and an updated version to include the changes I have made.