Subject: Year 1 – Page 2 – John's Learning Journal

The Archetype Project.

Our new project in Subject is creating characters. I’m pretty excited about this.

Our first assignment was to look at Jung and the concept of Archetypes. Then how they have been used in both animation and art history. That done we were given a list of 12 archetypes

1.The Innocent.

2.The Orphan.

3.The Hero.

4.The Caregiver.

5.The Explorer.

6.The Rebel.

7.The Lover.

8.The Creator.

9.The Jester.

10.The Sage.

11.The Magician.

12.The Ruler.

and a series of exercises on how we might think about them and how we might use them in our animations.

Here is what I did with the given exercises.

12 Archetypes. What are their goals and what do they fear?

A simple enough question. I tried to give answers that were universal. That would apply across all iterations. Including if the iteration of the archetype was good or evil.

1.The Innocent. Has no real goals. Life seems perfect, or at least sufficient. His goal is to return to normal once on his quest. He fears losing his loved ones.

2.The Orphan. Wants something better. A life they might not believe in but dream about. They will fight for that dream or to keep others from feeling their own pain. They fear being trapped and helpless.

3.The Hero. Fights for a higher ideal. Something he believes is worth more than his own life, and for love. The hero fears his own weaknesses and his darkside.

4.The Caregiver. Lives for others. Knowing others are happy and safe. Even if they are a put though trouble. The Caregiver fears others suffering and pain.

5.The Explorer. Wants to see far off lands and discover lost treasures. To be free and to see all that is new and unknown. The Explorer fears for those on his Journal with him. That he want be able to save his friends

6.The Rebel. Wants to escape from or break the world he’s come from. No matter who is hurt. He fears Loosing his individuality and forgetting why he is rebelling.

7.The Lover. Wants to conquer the world. To know the world and live life to it’s fullest. The Lover fear a cage. To be ground down until life is joyless.

8.The Creator. Wants to push boundaries. To make something of value even if it kills them. Wants to give something to others. The Creator fears using their power for evil. Whether intentionally or by accident.

9.The Jester. Wants to make other laugh. But also to be daring. To jab and poke at the world and to make it rethink itself. The Jester fears others getting too close. Of feeling others pain.

10.The Sage. Also has no goals. He or she has made peace with the world. The sage will act when they are needed. The Sage fears failure. Not of doing the wrong thing. But of just not having the power to help and seeing everyone he loves die.

11.The Magician. Wants to know everything. Wants to understand the secrets of the universe. He sees knowledge as its own good. The Magician fears loss of control. Whether through others burning his books or his own mind deteriorating

12.The Ruler. Wants want he deems good to be done. Whether he is selfish or selfless he or she wants to see the what they deem right put into action. The Ruler fears those who threaten what they rule. Those who have no concern for their will at all.

We also had to imagine what shapes we might use to make a character of each archetype. We were given three shapes to chose from, Circle, Square, and Triangle. And had to pick primary, secondary and tertiary roles for them. Though we didn’t need to use all three in each one. Here are the shape selections I felt were most appropriate.

Shapes by Hawkbittern

That done we had to do the same thing for colours. Say which ones suited which archetypes in an order of three. Here’s what I felt was right (This took me a surprisingly long time)

Colours by Hawkbittern

And finally We had to assign materials and textures to them. This really doesn’t make sense to me. As far as I understand It’s about what we might associate to be on or around them, or maybe what signifies their personality. I decided to let instinct guide me and here’s what I got.

1.The Innocent. Cotton, Cloth, Soap

2.The Orphan. Flannel, Leather, Tarmac

3.The Hero. Steel, Fire, Fur

4.The Caregiver. Linen, Wood, Candle Wax

5.The Explorer. Grass, Salt Water, Sand

6.The Rebel. Glass, Stone, Paint

7.The Lover. Velvet, Lotion, Leaves

8.The Creator. Sawdust, Wool, Stone

9.The Jester. Cloth, Tin, Paper

10.The Sage. Sackcloth, Tobacco, Moss

11.The Magician. Wood, Tar, Damp

12.The Ruler. Gold, Iron, Earth

And that was the Archetypes project. I’ll be honest. I don’t understand what the point of this was. But I did it. I hope it didn’t waste too much time. I put my all into this.

Return to Subject: First week

I’m not sure if I’m relieved or not. But I think this week went well?

I came in on Monday with my agoraphobia flaring up hard. I really didn’t want to move. But I made it. When I arrived we were learning about walk cycles and the 12 Principles of Animation. Both things you can’t interalise enough (At least that’s what I’m told).

We would have to design a character and make him or her take two steps (The minimum needed for a cycle). Morgan was quite firm with me in that he wanted me to do this using digital drawing. I felt pretty damn nervous about this. But he made it clear he’d be there to help me whenever he could. That was a relief.

I started out doodling an anthro rabbit, keen to have something interesting to look at. To say my skills with the digipen were poor would be an understatement. I had trouble making it do anything I wanted. But I did get a rabbit done eventually.

After that things got worse. Trying to make stick figure keyframes on different layer, backgrounds, and frames produced an epic mess. But Morgan came to my aid. And got me to a point where I was able to work with the software even if I didn’t understand it.

I had trouble figuring out how to do the poses. But drawing them out on paper first helped me get to grips with it.

Despite my lack of skill with the stylus (Digipen) I was able to get the requisite 5 key poses needed to start a walk cycle, and left for the day (I even needed help figuring out how to save in and turn off the program).

On Tuesday my Agoraphobia was still strong. But I got in again. With my keys done I now had to do my inbetweening. Hard work, dull too, but very rewarding. I soon had a full step. Now I had to make the keys for the second step. Same job, new challenges. Because now the arms and legs were backwards from where they started. Even if I don’t go into every detail I need to say what a huge help Morgan was through out all this week.

I did my keys and I started inbetweening them again.

Wednesday was great. We had a guest speaker. Michael Collins a film story boarder and comic book artist of thirty years experience as a pro.

He was huge fun to listen to. And very humble considering how many famous people in film and comics he’s worked with. The lecture was short but the Q&A was very long. He had a lot a great tips about storyboarding. But I couldn’t resist asking him about the inside stories of life in comics, or just asking silly stuff. And I wasn’t alone. He took it all well. When I found out he worked on Transformers UK (My favourite comic of all time) I could not resist getting out of my chair and hugging him. He took it well. I don’t think it was the first time something like this had happened to him.

If there’s one thing I really took away from him it was that the hardest things to draw are the quiet things. The scenes that are just people talking in a dull room. He mentioned the time he’d been given a Batman comic. He was looking forward to drawing Batman swinging on ropes and punching people. Instead the comic was mostly a scene of Commissioner Gordon interrogating a witness. Michael had to get creative to keep the scene interesting to read and to keep his own interest up. But he pulled through. I will probably face a similar challenge some day.

I also learned from Michael that you really have to hold your nose and work. He’d had to work on hundreds of unglamorous, poorly managed, or just shitty projects (My words, not his) but had given them his all each time because having a reputation for being reliable is what gets you ahead in the industry and what keeps you afloat. He said the only things he would not do on moral grounds were gambling adverts and had only heard of a storyboarder quitting a film due to the script being terrible once (It was Tomb Raider 2: The Cradle of Light). I know I’m going to have to remember this sobering advice too one day.

In the afternoon I finished my inbetweening. Morgan told me to now redraw the scene with my rabbit character instead of a stick man. I kept at it a while But fell asleep. And by the time I woke up I had to go home.

I was had trouble with sleeping on Monday and Tuesday too. But At least they were short bursts, as opposed to last week when it was always over 2 hours.

Thursday was Constellation. This one wasn’t too bad. Looking at how city planning tries to inform our behaviour and maybe even our values. It went a bit in the conspiracy theory direction. But it at least got me thinking. Also. The old hippy lady behind me seems to be enjoying this as much as I am hating it. Said it was the only thing keeping her on the course. I am genuinely nervous around her as she seems to be one of those people who sees emotional distress and physical harm as the same thing. And she gets very distressed if anyone disagrees with her. I fear if I argue with her she will try to send me to jail.

My lecturer on the other hand cannot get enough of my disputing his ideas. Being contradicted seems to get physical pleasure from my debating him. I feel bad about the fact I’m not enjoying his stuff because he seems to adore me.

After that I came in and did a bit more redrawing. Even if I was tracing over my stick figures animating an actual character was proving very hard. And I soon ran out of energy. But I resolved to try to get more work done in future Thursdays. In the past I would go straight home after Constellation, but I’m going to try to change that. I can get a lot of work done in that 2:30 to 6:00 slot. If I only try.

On Friday I came in with one goal. Do more animation. I had been suffering from very low energy all week. I didn’t expect to get much done. But I would try.

I worked sporadically throughout the day. Often drifting away or checking the internet. But somehow. Against logic. I finished it!

It’s not much. My pieres could probably have done the whole thing in a day. But here it is.

I like it. Probably more than I should. But Morgan also liked it. So I probably did something right. Try using the loop function on YouTube to get the full effect.

Morgan says he’ll help me clean it up and fix the ears next week. So that’s awesome.

It feels good to be back.

My strange photos of light

I’m a bit late to this part of the Field module. I started it when I got the brief. I had some good photos too. But then I lost my camera. I thought I’d just forget about it. But it has since been made clear to me that this is a mandatory part of the course. So i borrowed an Ipad and took some photos. Let’s get this over with.

The brief was to take photographs of light and shadow interacting in interesting ways. I decided to approach this by trying to take the strangest photos I could. Playing tricks with the camera to see create illusions or even abstract pictures, and a couple that just look cool. I hope they impress.

This is not the moon, or a photo of the sun from space. It’s a disc-shaped fluorescent light up close. You can see it again in the photo below. And yes, the light is on.

For some reason up close the camera can’t show the lit area around the light when the photograph is up close to the light. It will only show the light itself and cast the wall behind it in a darkness that isn’t there. Creating the illusion that the light is just floating in space. I love it!

Also score one for humans. I can see light where the camera can’t.

Here’s one where light and shadow zig-zag. This is an open room that turns into a corridor. The room is well lit, but the corridor is only partially lit. Casting shadow into the centre of the picture. Almost sucking you in. The only thing keeping the darkness at bay is the disc light from the above photo. Surrounded by shadow, it seems to shine in the darkness.

There’s also darkness at the top the photo. Where the downwards-facing room light does not reach. And a little dark near the bottom of frame as well.

A room may seem well lit. but it is covered in darkness and shadows.

Here’s another example of the up-close light illusion. This time using a square ceiling light. The camera is further away this time. Meaning the ceiling can be seen. But it still looks like it’s in darkness. Once again, I assure you. The room is fully lit up. The camera just can’t show it at this distance. I don’t know how it works. But I love the atmosphere it has. Moody but also chill and relaxed and kinda playful. Like an album cover. I could see in on an indie or Prog rock album.

Here’s another neat gimmick I came across. What do you think that green light is? Is it coming off the lamp? Maybe it’s a lense flare? Actually it’s light being reflected off the very Ipad I’m using. But perfectly angled to look like the ceiling light is directly causing it, Plus it just looks cool

I don’t even know what’s going on here. Not only does this light seem to be shining way brighter than it actually is. But there seems to be a semi-solid halo coming out of it.

I took multiple versions of most these and just showing the best ones. But If you see one the variants I took of this one

You’ll see the “halo” isn’t there. But the light is shining even brighter than before.

It must have been something about that specific angle and distance that caused the halo effect.

Speaking of variants. My friend MacCory was very keep to help out we did a lot of shadow work using either his hands or wire mesh projected onto a wall. Here are some of the best examples,

I don’t know why white light turns blue so easily. But the effect here is downright sinister, And the distortion on the shadow causes it to not even look like a hand at all. More like some sort of alien creature.

Showing the power of manipulation again. The hand is now in view. But the shadow it casts looks more like the Tower of Sauron from The Lord of the Rings. You would never know a hand was creating this ominous silhouette.

And now we have gone back into abstraction. Not only would you not guess that this is the shadow of an arm without me telling you or context. I bet most people would not even guess this is a shadow.

And shadows don’t just come in cold blue. I really don’t know how we got so many colours in here. Orange, red, pink, blue and little touches of green and purple. It seems more like a gentle watercolour painting than a photograph.

As I said earlier. MacCory also helped me do photos with wire mesh shadows projected onto a wall. Out of all of them, I think this one is the best.

Once more, totally abstract and I love it. It looks like another album cover. But this time more like something from an industrial rock band or an experimental musician.

There’s a rhythm and an elegance to these harsh shadows that I find quite haunting.

But I did do more figurative work as well.

There is no illusion with this one. Beyond maybe getting a good angle. Avias was working late after everyone else had gone home (Apart from me). She hadn’t turned the lights on, so she was illuminated by the glow from her monitor, Her deep black hair blended in nicely with the shadows. Making it look like her face is floating in the darkness. It gives her an oddly calm and angelic look. I like it.

Light is a very tricky thing. Here is a corner that divides two corridors. One lit, the other not the difference is almost literally night and day. All I had to do was zoom in and this plaster structure starts looking like painting or even some kind of flag. So precise is the divide of light from dark. Of black from white.

This might be my favourite illusion. It seems to be a view of nature at night fenced off from a street. But in the top left corner there is a row of computers in a well lit room. How can this be? Is it a collage? Did I edit this in photoshop? No! I never learned how to use photoshop! All my pictures are unedited and taken in the moment.

This photo is taken from window next to my desk, looking down onto the park. The row of computers is in the room behind me The bright lights turn the window into a semi-effective mirror. But I am blocking out most of the light Allowing the camera to see the view bellow. In fact you can see my rather distorted hand near the bottom left corner. It’s a neat trick and just a cool looking image over all.

Here a good example of how light can take a away an objects definition. Look at this radiator. The top half of it is in shade and the lines of the grill are in sharp relief. But down below where lit is lit up the lines just fade away. I like how the shadows zig-zags with wall. It’s not what you’d think. But that’s life. I always has cool surprises for you

And finally this is my favourite pic I made. It’s of the two overhead lights in the Heart space (a sort of breakroom/common room in the animation block) at night. Even when all the lights are turned off there’s a small green light that glows in one of the overhead fixtures I don’t know why it does. Maybe as a safety precaution? But it looks beautiful. It casts an eerie, mystical glow onto the other fixture and the wall behind it. It’s like nothing-else I’ve seen. So faint but so peaceful. It’s this magical little secret that people pass by everyday and never know is there.

By rendering of it here has reduced it to its simplest components A light, a disk, and faintly illenmened wall somewhere behind it. I has a nostalgic quality to me. Like the first time you see a real full moon. It reminds me of music of REM. Sad, but fun and a little exciting and comforting.

This one makes me genuinely glad I did this exercise. It has enriched me both artistically and personally. So for that it has to be my favourite one here.

And there you go. I put a lot of effort into this journal. I hope it was worth it.

My feelings about my first weeks back

This has been crazy. Both the pacing and the work has been all over the place.

I missed my first day back due to circumstances beyond my control. The second day

I was allowed to make drawn on film animation. I talked about this extensively in my Journal ‘Holy Relics’, linked here.

https://johnhawk.art.blog/2019/01/17/holy-relics/

And then for the rest of the week I had nothing to do. The only part of note was getting some minimal feedback on my final Constellation essay and a writing task to give feedback to myself, linked here

https://johnhawk.art.blog/2019/01/22/a-reflection-on-my-constellation-essay-and-my-future-in-constellation-or-i-have-no-idea-what-im-writing/

I covered the second week’s field exercise in detail in this journal

https://johnhawk.art.blog/2019/01/29/my-first-real-week-back/

The next day I came in to try out the workshops that have been so vigorously advertised in our emails. But when I arrived I found the class postponed indefinitely due to our room being taken by someone-else. Instead I found myself given online reading material I could have just looked at at home and no practical work at all.

On Thursday I had my first day of my new constellation class. And I found I hated it. I can see constellation is going to be even more of a drag this year than it was before.

Now moving on to the third week of The new term.

After two weeks were field seemed to involve no collaboration The third week hit me like a tidal wave. I suddenly found myself in a group of people I knew nothing about and tasked to make a film with them?

I felt no urge to try to get my voice heard over the short-haired six-foot tall woman who designated herself our leader, I think without even knowing she was doing it. I merely sat on the sidelines, offering glib remarks while wearing a paint bucket on my head to try to weird them out. It didn’t work. But somehow I ended up in the as the only human in the film. Playing the aforementioned paint bucket like a bongo. I emulated Ringo Starr and just went with the flow while playing the drums. I don’t think the other students liked our film. But the good thing about having no standards is it means you can’t fail. But that was just Monday.

On Tuesday we we put back into the same groups and told to make an installation that used elements of 2D, 3D and 4D art. This project was supposed to last the whole week. But things didn’t go to plan. I had enough time on Tuesday to make a pretty terrible painting (It was A1 paper and it had to be done in an hour. What did you expect?) Then I had to go home.

I had two workshops to attend on Wednesday. And it felt nice to be doing real work relating to animation. But two workshops in one day was a lot to take on. I promised I’d meet up with the rest of group at midday. But when I got there I found only one other member had turned up. And she didn’t think it was worth doing anything so nothing happened that day.

Nearly all of Thursday was given over to Constellation. Again, it sucked. I was hoping to get something done after constellation. But Owen was insistent I come to a lecture he was giving to explain how constellation is valuable to our animation. So I got no work on this installation done then either. And on top of that the lecture didn’t make the self-indulgent academic misfire that is Constellation any more justified. Or even put forward an argument as to why it could be. Owen is still a better lecturer than the actual constellation tutors. But he only gave his own thoughts on modernist art rather than show why I need to be studying anthropology when I should be working on Field.

And on Friday campus was closed due to non-existent snow. (At least I didn’t see any)

So on Monday I have to go in and present and talk about then write an essay on an installation piece that I had barely anything to do with and might not even exist!

This is not good enough. I’m being pulled in multiple different directions by different college departments who all think I can dedicate all my time to them. It’s not that it’s the highest workload, I’ve had worse. But it’s totally unbalanced and uncoordinated. In a good course if I needed a full week to make a big project the rest of the week would be cleared so I could do it. But as is I have to make the time. This crammed balancing act actually feels like more work than a busier but simpler schedule would.

I have some other complaints.

This “collaboration” exercise is a joke. For two reasons.

Firstly. Being left to direct ourselves sounds good until you realise most of us are never free at the same time. We’re usually not even in the same building. And if our leader isn’t in (like on Wednesday) then we can’t do anything. We’re lost. This would be less likely to happen if we were all doing the same module, or given space in our timetable but we got neither.

The other complaint is the though this is meant to be a collaboration between the Animation and

Fine Art students, the exercises are purely Fine Art focused. Turning me into a third wheel at best and someone-else’s slave at worst. I don’t even like modern “Fine Art”. Why am I being conscripted into someone-else’s vision at the expense of my own? I’d be angrier about this if I had time to do the the drudge work I was given. But in this instance one bad idea got in the way of another. But seriously. This is not a teamwork exercise. It’s an unpaid internship to the “Real” artists. And next week I have to write a critical essay on this disaster.

Which brings me to my final complaint with the term so far. In Field I’m stuck “Collaborating” with the Fine artists. And in constellation I’m listening to pseudo-science about how smell is more important than sight. I’m not doing any animation here. I’m not even studying things related to animation. This is not what I signed up for. WHY AM I HERE!?!?!?!

The only things related to animation going on right now are the voluntary workshops. I feel like I’m back at school again. Doing subjects I didn’t ask for. Stuck interacting with people I don’t know and have nothing in common with. And trying to fight for my own path.

I’m really worried about my future. If my will to work collapses I don’t know what will happen. I’ve flunked out over less. I don’t want to drop out again.

Help.

My Presentation

1: Here are my animations

2: I did not do the gestalt theory animation group work. I was told it was not mandatory and I judged that I need the time it would take to start my looping animation. Given how much trouble that gave me I feel vindicated in that choice

My Bouncing Balls

My looping Animaton

My Unfinished Film

3: During my first brief I was very ridged. A total perfectionist only concerned with doing a small amount of “correct” work.

Over time, I have gotten freer and more creative with my animation. At first I was scared to work pose-to-pose or do anything other than ones. But necessity is the mother of invention. And I have found I can not only do them but do them well!

One area where I’ve HAD to learn new technology is in using Dragonframe and a camera to film my work. It’s hard. But I am getting better at it. Each project shows less and less mistakes in this area.

When it comes to learning new things, if I am not overwhelmed with love for the new thing, I find learning to do one thing over and over and slowly building on it is easier and more lasting than trying to learn everything at once.

For the second brief I had to jump from just doing drawn animation to multimedia. And I feel I did all the different types of animation well

I’ve found my mental work plays out very well. I’m good enough at figuring how things will look in my head that I barely need to test my work (Which is good as I don’t normally have time to do that). The fact I can figure out how to make an animation just by thinking it through in my head has been a life saver. The end result was as I imagined it and it is beautiful. The same is true with my bouncing balls and my metamorphosis film.

I tried Stop-motion. That I love doing. But not as much as hand-drawn. Cut-outs I can do and they look nice. But they’re boring. I pray I never have to do digital 2D again. It took me and hour to make 12 frames. I’m not cut out for it. I can see why for most people it is so much quicker and simpler. But I am not most people. I do at least like the bright and clear colours a scanned in drawing has over one that has been photographed. I hope to use this to my advantage someday.

Doing hand-drawn animation is hard as hell and takes an infinite amount of time. But even though it drives me crazy, I enjoy doing it more than any other. And seeing the results pleases me a million times more than all the other types of animation do.

Sadly. I’ve found I love using colour in my classical animation. Which makes my workload ever harder.

Working on the third film nearly sent me insane. I can now understand why the animators who worked on ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ had to go to hospital after making it.

One reason I remain confident this is the right choice for me is I’ve shown I can make really smooth hand-drawn animation. Even on threes! It’s a joy for me to look at. And I wish I had time to make it even smoother.

I’ve learned I work best in silence. With no people, books or the internet to distract me. Because those don’t just distract me. They sap my energy.

I’ve learned I can make good animation using threes and pose-to-pose.

I now know that an adrenaline rush from some sudden exercise can really bring my creativity back when it’s flagging.

I’ve learned that I am not good at drawing faces or expressions at all. Hence why I made my characters faceless.

But I’ve also learned I can get better at them. Of the two facial animations I did the second one is miles better than the first one.

I just need to lean to draw faster and better.

There were times when I wanted to give up. That I felt that I’d picked the wrong subject and that I should pack it in. But when I saw my drawings move, and just how well they move. I have no doubts. This is what I love doing move than anything-else.

4: I find my timing is very solid. Sometimes it even comes out better than I had hoped. Though I struggle to keep my work long or slow, and keeping the smooth look I like. And I like to have both.

Spacing does give me trouble. I had assumed that it was less important than timing. I was wrong. I don’t know how I can improve beyond practising. Though I do now understand if you need a pose seen you have to draw it. Before and Afters don’t always cut it, or can even show the wrong thing.

5: I am no master of gestalt. But I was able to give my faceless characters a strong amount of expression just using hair and posing. I hope in time this means I will get better at drawing expressions.

I think I also did well conveying the idea of movement in my animatic without animation.

And using movement to connect all my different balls in my marble run despite looking so different. I think I’m getting there.

6 : I was only able to try transformation from 2D to 3D space during my marble run animation. I would switch from 2D to 3D balls and did so convincingly. I also had to make 3D balls look like they were running down a 2D marble run. Again. I think I pulled that illusion off pretty well.

7: When it comes to digital vs analogue, I have to say I suck at both. But in very different ways.

Analogue is my passion. It fills me with joy. But I draw quite slowly and not very well. And I get caught up in making each drawing perfect. It wastes a lot of time and sucks a lot of energy out of me. I can step back and work more roughshod sometimes. But it takes a conscious effect.

Digital anything on the other hand sends me into panic mode. Just looking at Adobe Premier makes me want to cry. It feels like someone has asked me to translate an ancient Greek text in mere hours.

I’ve needed help with all the computer elements on the course so far, and I don’t think that will change. Even if I had the brain for it (Which I don’t I do) It gives me no joy. I sometimes long for the ’90s. Back when handing in work didn’t require half an hour’s computer work!

8: I think I am good enough with the idea of metamorphosis. Granted my transformation was mostly spiritual. But My woman’s change from executioner to angel looks good to me. The change works and you could never mistake either for the same character.

9: I already knew all the great artists and animators who would inspire me. I’ve been prepping for this course for 7 years. I know who my influences are. But it was very nice watching that documentary about Norman MacLaren.

10: Despite all the pain it gives me there is no doubt in my heart I want to continue making hand-drawn animation next year. So, I might get better at it. It is the greatest art form in the world.

In particular I’d like to start adding in colour and backgrounds to my work. But we’ll just have to see what happens.

Final thoughts: I know this is not what the people here want to hear. But I find time and again the things I have loved since childhood are my greatest influence. And I find I work best by trusting myself that I know what to do. I often leave timing and spacing notes for myself that puzzle me later. But I follow them, and they turn out to be exactly the right thing to do.

Art teachers tend to want to reinvent you. To remake you in their own image. Saying that you know what you’re doing is the biggest way to annoy them. But the more I work the more I find I know what I need to do. I just need to learn how to do it. And that is a lot harder.

My unfinished animated film

This brief was if possible even harder.

I’d been told I’d have to make an animation about metamorphosis in advance. That sounded simple enough. Just draw one thing changing into another.

But, when I, and I’m sure I’m not the only one. heard that we were supposed to make a film with a status quo, cause and effect, character and, themes, it because clear to me something with an actual story was needed.

It took me a while to find something that hit all the right notes for me. But in the end I settled for a story of spiritual as well as physical transformation. One from sadness to happiness. I was heavily inspired by the piece of My Little Pony fan music “Lunar Nocturnality ~ Celestial Diurnality”

One of favourite pieces of music, and influenced by the fairy-tale films of Lotte Reiniger.

Once I started I found myself challenged to come up with ways of making my work faster to fit within the 3 and a half week deadline. I animated on threes. I tried poses-to-pose animation. I used my lightbox as creatively as I could. And the bits that were actually animated I think came out very well, my first ever walk-cycle is surprisingly good if I may praise myself.

This was also a big learning experience for me in terms of yearning how I best work.

I work best in silence. With no people or books or the internet to distract me. Because those don’t just distract me. They sap my energy. I’ve learned I can make good animation using threes and pose-to-pose. I know that an adrenaline rush from some sudden exercise can really bring my creativity back when it’s flagging. I’ve learned that I am not good at drawing faces or expressions at all. Hence why I made my characters faceless.

But I’ve also learned I can get better at them. Of the two facial animations I did the second one is miles better than the first one.

I just need to lean to draw faster and better,

Looping Multi-media Animation

This has been the hardest piece of coursework of my life.

I loved the idea of working in multi-media animation. The idea set my mind alight with possibilities.

In the end I settled on making a marble run animation. I could use one background and make the balls out of plasticine, card, paint, and other materials. And that’s what I did!.

I now have a fifteen second marble run which when looped shows a ball changing colour and size as it moves down the run before vanishing into a hole and reappearing again endlessly.

I found some mediums easier than others. Stop motion came as naturally to me as a duck takes to water.

Cut-out animation gave me a super-smooth movement that is a joy to watch. My first attempt with paint used like cel animation was a nightmare. But the second attempt where I painted, scrubbed out and repainted the ball was not only really easy but really fun! I must do it again. My one piece of digital 2D was hell. It came out alright. But I stand firm in saying my brain does not handle computers well. I can only learn programs mechanically like a bird in a Skinner-box. The bird does not know how the food button works. Only that it works sometimes.

My greatest hell and greatest joy was doing 12 frames of classical animation. Drawing not only the ball but the whole background over every time. I Had to pull overtime twice. Once working until midnight the result is not very good. The spacing is all wrong and the colours on ball are not consistent enough.

https://youtu.be/c1j6z1Rk8K0

Here it is again slowed down

https://youtu.be/DnjHe_6Fy9g

But instead of discouraging me it just makes me want to try harder. I’ve put more effort into this half second of animation than I have anything else in my life.

Over these past two weeks I’ve learn that spacing is just as important as timing. That I love animating but hate filming my work. And that hand drawn animation lights a fire in me to create that nothing else in the world does. Even if it’s harder than Far Cry 1 on nightmare mode.

I Shall return!

My bouncing balls project

When I was given the brief to make four bouncing balls and upload them onto the internet it sounded simple enough. Famous last words.

We had to choose from Stop-motion, Digital 2D, and Hand Drawn 2D. I like hand drawn the most, so I went for that.

I decided to do a generic bouncing ball first. This was both a good idea and a mistake. It took up lots time I could have spent on other things but helped get me into get to grips with my limitations.

I did my animation mostly on ‘ones’. Partly out of vanity. And partly because I felt scared of trying to do all the maths to do twos properly.

That done I made my bowling ball animation. I think this was the best one out of the four “normal” balls I made. It had the correct weight and feel to it.

My Ping pong ball just seems to appear from nowhere and has a random-ish arc.

My Tennis Ball did not go well. Its bounces were too hard and its arc didn’t have enough spring in I now see the spongy nature of the ball would have given it a smooth final landing.

For my ball with a mind of its own. I wanted to do something special. I wanted to convey not just will but also thinking. I planned a series of motions that would show the ball bouncing around with increasing energy. I really liked this one. The animation was smooth and well timed, and it felt as alive as I hoped.

But it took too long time to do. I underestimated how hard I would find uploading this onto the Internet. So I went over time by 30 minutes. It was very distressing.

I regret not being able to do the optional exercises thanks to not having any spare time.

Even if I didn’t pull this off completely, I can at least be sure I gave this my all.

Bouncing Balls

My first Ever Bouncing Ball

My Ping Pong Ball

My Tennis Ball

Bowling Ball

My Ball with a mind of it’s own

There you go.

My First Learning Journal.

Today I had a talk with Rachel. A tutor who is helping me understand the web and technology side of my course here in Cardiff Met. She helped me set up a new Youtube account and helped me figure out how to download Ebooks from the university library. I hope this information will come in handy in the future.

For now. I have borrowed out a short book by Immanuel Kant. I hope someday to be able to understand his writings.

I also did a little more work on my ball with a mind of it’s own. But I wish I could work faster. I seem to be lagging behind.

God Bless.