"Window Pain" completed sequence

After a brief period of no blog updates, here's a bit of a bombshell: I've finished the animation!

I really should have continued updating with posts during the process showing what I'd been doing but I got so wrapped up in the essay and Animation Principles that I didn't really have any brain cells to spare. Working has, these past two weeks, become like a primary bodily function; I sleep, eat, breathe and work with very little room left in my brain to process much beyond that. To be honest though, making it was just repeating bits of what I've already been doing with different pictures.

The one big thing to note is that I ended up cutting the third "window scene" (the fairground) from the animation. I'd been working on the graphics for the roller coaster for about a week and was really struggling to animate it convincingly. I was still concerned about staying within the timescale, so I decided instead to leave it until the rest of the animation was finished to see whether I had enough screen time left to accommodate the scene. As it turns out I had already hit the max 40 seconds without it, so it worked out quite nicely and saved me a lot of stress!

I'm disappointed at having to cut the scene as I quite liked the flow of it but I don't think the animation suffers too much for it. I'm not entirely pleased with certain parts — mostly the typing sequences. He kinda looks like he's karate chopping the keyboard but it has a certain quirkyness to it I suppose. I could have done more with it but to be honest I'm feeling completely burned out — there are certainly things with it I could fix but I think there comes a point at which you have to take a step back and say "I'm done with this." When I've recovered a little more (and Animation Principles is done) I may return to it and make some minor tweaks, but for now, I'm relatively satisfied. Feels good to have it complete at any rate ;]

Next I think I'm going to produce an amended storyboard and animatic to show the cut down sequence. But first, back to Flash...

After Effects 'Window Pain' scene test 1

 

Had a bit of fun and threw together a quick mockup of one of the scenes. It's very rough and by no means the final draft but it gave me a good idea of how the puppets and backdrops will work together.

The scene was very simply created by nesting the composition containing the walk cycle within the composition containing the backdrop. I then added keyframes on the position element of the walk cycle to have him walk across the screen. I need to figure out how to get the puppet to to stop moving once he reaches the end of the window!

Though the walk cycle is very rough and needs a lot of fixing, I actually quite like the sort of stomping effect it has as he leaves the room! It has its own charm to it.

It was a good, quick test to have done as it's really given me an idea of how After Effects works in terms of scene building. Once the pieces are all there, it's surprisingly easy to put something together!

Inspiration in windmills

I found a couple of pictures of some silhouetted windmills on Google and they rather strongly reminded me of Lotte Reiniger's work — the striking contrast of a pitch black shape against a simple backdrop. It would be quite interesting to do all the background elements in this style, with the backdrops themselves in very soft focus with just a few colours but all large objects and set pieces silhouetted.

I'd like to with incorporating the idea of colour and silhouettes into the animation itself. I'm not entirely sure how yet — perhaps having the character interacting with the environment in some way and manipulating colours and shadows?

Factual research: Arthur Rackham

Arthur Rackham, the 4th of 12 children, was born in London on 19 September 1867. From 1879 he attended the City of London school. Popular amongst his peers and teachers, Arthur was otherwise academically unremarkable — he demonstrated something of a talent for drawing and won a number of prizes from Herbett Dicksee, the school drawing master.

During 1884 Arthur spent 4 months in Australia where he became inspired by his surroundings, producing many watercolour paintings and sketches of the landscapes. Upon returning to England, he enrolled at the Lambeth School of Art as an evening student. He sought work during the day to help fund his education and in 1885 began a job clerking at the Westminster Fire Office.

Fig A: 'A Fact,' Scraps Magazine, 1884

During his time at the office, Rackham continued to produce many drawings and watercolours, one of which was publicly exhibited in 1888 at the Royal Academe. He frequently contributed drawings to local magazines and newspapers, the first of which was published in Scraps magazine in 1884 (Fig A). Though this (admittedly rather crude) drawing lacked anything of the charm for which Rackham's later illustrations would become renowned, he was already beginning to demonstrate a keen eye for line and form.

Fig B: 'How a Bank was Robbed,' Westminster Budget, 1893

Fig C: 'The Dolly Dialogues,' 1894

Through Rackham's regular contributions to local magazines, he was able leave the fire office in 1892 after securing a position as graphic journalist for the Westminster Budget. Rackham provided many illustrations for articles and ran a frequent column in which he would caricature public figures. The demand for photorealistic and 'straight line' technical drawings was high, given the nature of the position, but Rackham was granted opportunities to deviate and work in a far looser, more whimsical manner for which he would later become renowned.

Rackham received a large number of commercial commissions during the last decade of the century, with many drawings published in travel brochures, newspapers and even several books — including an illustrated edition of The Dolly Dialogues (a feature previously run in the Westminster Gazette) in 1894.

Aside from his distaste of the field in general (he found the paper's deadlines too constraining for the sort of meticulous detail his work often demanded), Rackham's eventual departure from journalism was forced by means of practical necessity. The role of the artist in journalism was threatened to become obsolete with the impending introduction of the camera.

He hit the height of his fame at the turn of the new century — shortly following his marriage to fellow artist Edyth Starkie in 1903, 99 of his illustrations were published in Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm to great success. The final revised edition, published in 1909, contained an astonishing 40 coloured illustrations and 55 line drawings. By the time of his death in 1939, Rackham had illustrated more than 60 children's books, including Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Aesop's Fables, The Night Before Christmas, Cinderella and American classic Rip van Winkle. Rackham's final book, the Wind in the Willows, was published posthumously in 1940.

Sources:

Gettings, F., 1975. Arthur Rackham. London: Macmillan.
Hudson, D., 1960. Arthur Rackham: His Life and Work. 2nd ed. London: William Heinemann Ltd.
Arthur Rackham. 2011. Arthur Rackham. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.bpib.com/illustrat/rackham.htm. [Accessed 25 September 2011].
Arthur Rackham Biography. 2011. Arthur Rackham Biography. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.fairyworx.net/Arthur_Rackham.html. [Accessed 25 September 2011].

Alice & Martin Provensen

Found myself a bit of a dynamic duo whilst looking through one of the books I got from the library — Alice & Martin Provensen, a huband-wife team that illustrated children's books in the mid-'40s. Martin also designed Tony the tiger!

Image source

Image source

Image source

I love the contrast created between the detailed scenery and the colourful cutout characters. The bold and simplistic shapes against relatively detailed backdrops really brings the character into focus.

Initial project thoughts — Digital Animation

In response to some of the things Craig told me, I went straight to the library and got a load of books on fairytale/children's book illustrators. He mentioned that he favours Disney films and children's fairytales (notably Beauty & the Beast and Peter Pan) so I've started by looking mainly at classic illustrations from those particular stories.

Craig initially struck me as a very warm-hearted person with strong connections to his childhood, so I'd like to try to represent that by somehow combining the charm and appeal of Disney's popular renditions of fairytale characters with the sentimentality and intricacy of classic fairytale illustrations.

One of the things I love about these old illustrations is the attention to detail. The very soft watercolors and delicate lines would make excellent stop-motion puppets if I was able to faithfully replicate the style (perhaps using modified photographs?)

I've put together a very quick 'influence map' in my sketchbook of just a few images that caught my attention to give me a visual starting point (and something to refer back to in case I get stuck).

Digital Animation — partner notes

Just quickly adding the notes I took from my 'partner interview' (for want of a better term)

Craig Smitherman

21, Sittingbourne, currently living with brother in Guildford

Favourite place: Holland because of the scenery and night sky, stars
Most used phrases: "Hi," "You alright?" "How are you?"
Hobbies: Drawing, mostly people, listening to music.
Favourite music: Jazz, bluegrass, easy listening, country and folk. Melody Gardot, Dolly Parton, Alison Crowe

Has always wanted to visit Paris because of the architecture, sculpture and lifestyle. Would also like to go to Disneyland! Favourite time of day is night. Definitely more of an owl than a lark.

Interested in animation to tell stories. Has always drawn and written ideas, but never pieced them together. Previously attended UCA Canterbury

Interested mainly in 2D and stop motion animation — favourite film is Beauty & The Beast. Favourite animators are Glen Keane and Lotte Reiniger.

Favourite cartoons: Tom & Jerry, Loony Tunes, Spongebob

Favourite stories: The Night Before Christmas, Peter Pan. Loves children's stories and fairytales.

Favourite colour: Everything (mostly festive colours — red, gold, green).

Interested in Victorian era — dress style, decorative art. 

Who would play him in a film: Twin brother

Five words to describe himself: Funny, caring, polite, banter, creative

Would most like to see himself in a fairytale-type story