Personal Typography

This new year I decided to start a drawing a day type journal!

However instead of a drawing a day I started with a typography design a day based on quotes or information or anything I find inspirational or interesting basically!

Here are some examples of the days so far...

Long Way Down Update - Animatic

The comedy short Long Way Down is moving fast!

Due to Bottle being cut I've moved to working on Long Way Down more hours a week, including clean up & colouring! Our team now consists of 8 predominant team members & the key frames are well under way currently & being passed on to myself to be cleaned up.

We should be completing at least 12 key frames a week to have finished just the keyframes by Easter - though the process of inbetweening needs to be sped up currently!

Here is an updated animatic with some shots thrown in....

The Reel - Mirror Designs & Interior Hell Scene

 In addition to the exterior of the Hell scene I've also created rough concept pieces for the interior areas of the Hell scene in which the Devil character stands in front of the mirror talking to himself & then walks out onto the balcony to shout into the depths of hell.

Above are some examples of possible layouts & wall details incorporating some gothic style elements such as pillars & skulls, with other contemporary details.

The original mirror concept incorporated melting candles as a way to light up the mirror & character, bringing in details of skulls & bones to add a hell-ish element. I received feedback from one member of the team that he had envisioned it like a giant make up mirror with light bulbs around the edges of the mirror wish I tried to incorporate below.

The Reel - Hell Scene Concept!

I'm also working on the Hell scene for the Reel, so I created this outline concept for the exterior background of the Hell scene, trying to incorporate details that they required for their design including the balcony - which I realise is at a bit of a wrong angle currently...

I received feedback that more lava would be desired! To create a dripping effect from the stalactites & also over the sides of rock islands.

The Reel - Hell Scene References/Inspiration

I'm working on the Reel for a second time working on & creating concepts from a different scene - the Hell scene featuring the devil interacting with an interior & exterior layout.

The initial part of the scene takes place within an interior with the character standing in front of a gothic style mirror & he then moves into the exterior, hell.

I collected some images to use an initial reference & as inspiration for both the gothic style mirror & the cave like hell exterior.

Winter Showreel 2014...

Pre Christmas holidays we were asked to create a showreel of all the work we have done so far toward out Final Major Projects in our third year of University.

Now I have predominantly worked as a Producer and a script writer - with some concept art and texturing thrown in here and there!

So I took this challenge quite literally...

I made a rather exciting showreel of my many pages of production schedules, scripts, shot lists, background lists, weekly breakdowns... You get the jist!

So enjoy...

The Long Way Down - Animatic

As well producing in my third year, I've also been taking on roles within the projects as well as others.

Carl - the director of The Long Way Down - created the first draft of the animatic & asked me if I would add some sounds effects...  I'd found many a sound clip previously to use for the animatic & now it was time to put them to use! Which would also help when pitching for sound designers! (Something we require & are rather interested in for all you sound designers who may be reading this!)

So my first attempt at sound on the Long Way Down animatic - one thing I definitely need to do is think out of the box when trying to find the sound effects! Things that create the sounds required may not initially be the things you'd think!

Bottle - Layouts

Examples of background layouts for Bottle - each element is on a separate layer so it is able to be moved around in the scene. Especially if it is an element to be interacted with.

Some of the shots are not regular 1080/920 format due to the changing screen size in bottle & also to be able to move the frame around the layout if required.

The Director will later make animation notes on this, sketching key positions & details within the frame to aid animators in understanding what is required.

The Reel - Shark Character Design

Some basic character designs I had done previously for the project The Reel for one of their scenes which has now been cut, but I'll be doing further design work on other scenes.

Inspiration & reference for the designs on my Pinterest!

Personal Design Work...

I recently did some design work for local personal training company Defined Fitness - creating designs according their brief & clientele. In addition to creating the logo I've also created shaker & t-shirt designs (which have been made) as well as business cards.

Christmas Cards! - Tis the Season to be Squatting...

Personalised christmas card designed by myself!

Mechanical pencil, white, red, yellow, gold & green prismacolour pencils & white gel pen on brown paper.

The Reel - Character Colour.

As previously mentioned there were some concerns that the skin tones of the characters would get lost in the background due to the neutral/brown tones of the rocks & stones. So I was asked to experiment with bold colours in keeping with the character details & designs of the masks. So these are examples of the colours on the characters, I personally feel like the colours are too bold & will contrast the backgrounds too much & will appear out of place - so it's been decided that the skin colour will be revisited once the scenes have been completed with colour & texture, as then the characters comped into the scenes can be assessed more easily & therefore changed to fit the scene more effectively.

The Reel - Jewellery Textures.

Jewellery experiments & texturing for the characters of the Reel - created from the original designs I created with some amendments to make them more texture friendly & so as not to cause too much distortion.

I used the same wood textures used for the masks & the same brush for consistency in through the model. Hopefully these details will also mean that the characters will be less lost when moving through the backgrounds.

The Reel - Mask Texturing.

Texturing is a very new thing to me & working on the Reel is the first time I've tried it since texturing & modelling a rock in first year...

I was given the UV unwrapped mask which Oly had modelled to add colour to as well as a wood like texture. Due to slight differences in the models & my original design the colours didn't match up exactly as they did previously. However I used the same colour schemes & basic design.

I also used a simple wood texture background to work on top of in a chalk like Photoshop brush to create a painterly wood texture type appearance.

The Reel - Character Skin Colours.

I also added the skin colour to the 3D characters on the UV unwrapped designs in Photoshop.

Initially I experimented with adding some details and muscle tone to the characters, however due to the character shapes the team felt it was unnecessary as the lighting and body shapes created enough detail, highlights and low lights.

The Reel - Jewellery Designs

In addition to mask designs, I've also designed tribal jewellery with details from each mask designs to coincide with which character each piece will go on.

These will later be modelled & I will be experimenting with texturing these on the characters to see how the models look with extra detail.

I will also be texturing the masks model in addition to the jewellery.

The Reel - Further Concept Art

Examples of mask designs for the characters in the jungle scene for the reel.

I researched a variety of tribal masks & body art/face paint for references, which are all on my Pinterest, which I then combined & developed in different shaped masks.

I received some feedback that some of the colours need to be less rich & bold - less primary - & therefore more pastel tones of colour.

I also experimented with skin colour for them to choose from repeating for each colour, allowing them to choose skin tone for each character.

Producing!

I'm predominantly producing this year, so here are some examples of production schedules for the project 'Bottle' including Gantt charts & task breakdowns etc. 

I'm also producing on Illusion of Chaos - which is a massive challenge for me as it's a 3D project & therefore I have less understanding of the process so it's a learning curve for myself as well as being very interesting - & co-producing on The Long Way Down, another 2D short film.

The Reel - Concept Art

For the third year projects I'm predominantly working as a producer & co-producer on projects, as well as currently working as a writer on a selection of projects.

But I've also begun to explore concept art for different projects, mainly 3D in these first few weeks.

The designs below are concept pieces for The Reel's jungle scene, based predominantly of references from Cambodian jungles & ruins, which may be used as reference for some for the assets in the jungle scene.

Desire Me, Desire Me Not.

I was originally going to pitch the short animated film Desire Me, Desire Me Not an adaptation of a Brighton student's (Emma Harrison) short live action film. But after deciding I'd rather not focus on creating a short film & instead concentrate on producing & the possible production bible, I decided not to pitch the short film.

But it was the story of the girl who is rescued by her prince when she falls off her bike, as a thank you she gives him her flower & smudges her whiskers.

Their life ensues. Moving in, marriage & she three whiskers become two, her ears slip & tail loses it's life.

She's putting her bun in the oven when her tail gets caught in the door.

Ripping it off.

Devastated she goes to find a sewing kit to reattach her tail. & finds something.

Porn.

Upset, rejected - she doesn't look like them anymore.

Devastated she attacks herself attempting to sew on her tail, blood seeping, tears flowing.

A heap on the floor, he comes in.

Disgusted & repulsed at her - tail off, ears damaged & whiskers barely there, he leaves her.

So she wipes away her cat. Revealing herself.

Bare.