LightNight 2016

We had a light projecting brief for light night that everyone could produce a 1second clip and add up to a montage for the show. 

There were not much limitation. We have to base our ideas on 5 elements, earth, wind, fire, air or astronomical. I choose earth, nothing in particular, I want to experiment with new techniques. I always want to try 3D in aftereffect so I did!

My idea is to show the unity of human, we live in groups and work in groups pretty much do everything in groups and that resemble to bees therefore I use cube (same cell symbol) to relate how human is still living closely with the nature.

I tested out how it could done in photoshop first by drawing out cube. It is more difficult than I thought to draw a precise cube, I do not have the eyes to see things in 3D and it took me quite a while have a perfect cube done. The colours help telling which face is the top and the bottom.

But I end up not using this idea because I could not figure out how to include 2D image in a 2D cube... It was so confusing at that point and I decided to go straight to use 3D in aftereffect rather than stucking in 2D photoshop. I also would not be able to make the cube spin if it is in 2D, i would have to draw it so many times in order to achieve a turn around of it.

I looked up tutorial on youtube, learning how to make a 3D cube in Aftereffect. It is very easy surprisingly! Simply make the layer 3D and use shapes to build up like making a present box.

I use flowers and seeds and fruit to symbolise life cycle and they are going to morph into different stages. I want to use simple colours only. We only have a second, so powerful, bold colours and images are used in order to catch attention.

It is also my first time to create pattern animation! I always want to try it, repeating patterns not only safe time, the patterns form interesting visuals and the impact of showing patterns in such a short time might be more unique unlike everyone else.

I think the morphing can be improved. The shapes are not as pretty as it can be but I think audience would not pay attention to details like that in 1 second. I like the result, this is a happy experiment. It makes me want to try more styles especially mixing 3D and 2D. 

MAF2016 day1

Manchester Animation Festival Trailer 2016 from Manchester Animation Festival on Vimeo.

Amazing!

This was my first time in MAF and I was so really to see all the brilliant films and shorts. I expected it would be very much similar to BAF so i schedule my three days a day before! waking up at 5:30 a.m was a real struggle haha!

my schedule!

day1 tickets

Inside the cinema

So I watched 6 different things on Tuesday, and saw a lot of amazing things and here are the highlights:

Jonas And The Sea - Trailer from SND FILMS on Vimeo.

Jonas and the Sea, Dir Marlies van der Wel/ Netherlands 2015

Cut Out, Digital 2D

The animation is about a man who has been dreaming about living in the ocean since he was small. He keeps trying until aged and eventually achieved his dream to live under the sea. The story is simple and the aesthetic is supporting the innocent thoughts of the man. Cut out allows more fairytales impression that adds a lot of flavour to the visual. The use of colour also amazing, I can feel the sadness and loneliness through the colours at night. I think it would also work as stop motion since they have a similar output on the story, some of the cut out looks very 3D which gives the story more textures and depth.

BIRDZ-TRAILER from Mikhal Bak on Vimeo.

Dir Emilien Davaud/France 2016

CGI

Birdz is my favourite animation on Tuesday. The humour and innovation within the story is incredible. In many stories, we tends to anthropomorphise animals into human but this twists our mind by reversing the theory. It is extremely fascinating to figure out what are these creatures at the being by studying their habits and movement. That period of discovering is the most well-done part I have ever seen, especially the use of sounds and the precisely captured birds movement. The use of 3D allows more realistic appearance and more difficult actions that birds have for instance dancing in air, flying as swarm etc. It might be intentionally not to give the birds any colours to prevent audience noticing their identity at the first place but I think they could reveal some colours as the story goes but it would not make huge difference. Absolutely brilliant and definitely worth watching it again!

TRAILER " LOS AERONAUTAS" from OUTIK ANIMATION on Vimeo.

Los Aeronautas from OUTIK ANIMATION on Vimeo.

LOS AERONAUTAS, Dir Leon Fernandez/Mexico 2016

Digital 2D

Amazing puppet model and animation. The story is exciting and certainly is a silver screen quality. I wish to see more! The puppets have great details like wrinkles and glossy eyes and the customs are realistic as well. But i was scared by the look of them at first but soon feel a lot less intimidated after seeing their tough life and bravery. The message behind is kind of political personally. Do not blindly follow the rules, we should always have curiosity and fight for justice. 

  

Fox and the Whale Trailer from robin joseph on Vimeo.

Fox and the Whale, Dir Robin Joseph/Canada 2016

CGI, Digital 2D

Fox and the whale has a lot of beautiful backgrounds that shout the beauty of natural. All of us were attracted by the breath-taking visuals which are realistic and magical at the same time. The simple design of the fox does not feel odd together with the realistic backgrounds and the whole animation emphasises mainly on the backgrounds. However in story wise, I do not understand the story at all and even a bit boring. The story does not explain much about the characters and it ends quite uncanny.  Nevertheless, the backgrounds resemble to Studio Gibli's and I think they have a huge influence from them which is also good to see how people want to raise the awareness of protecting the nature.

Under The Apple Tree (2015) - Official trailer from Erik van Schaaik on Vimeo.

Under The Apple Tree, Dir Erik van Schaaik/ Netherlands 2015

Stop Motion

It is in the highlights because the animation is outrageous. I did not expect the story would end up the way it did and the idea is very crazy. It is hard to say whether I like it or not. Technical wise, I admire the use of puppet and the movements are smooth and in very high standard like Aardman but the script is a bit too crazy, it is a bit cheesy. I would love to see more animation from this artist but maybe with a less explosive content and have the main characters that are not worms.

  

Fantompojken trailer from Folkets Bio on Vimeo.

Rough Animation PhantomBoy from Dave B on Vimeo.

Masterclass by Folimage's leading sound designer, Loic Burhardt, explaining the use of sounds in movie.

Phantom Boy, Dir Jean-Loup Felicioli, Alain Gagnol/ France, Belgium 2016

Digital 2D

We had a masterclass by Mr Loic Burhardt, leading sound designer from Folimage, to talk about how sounds in Phantom Boy work with the animation. He said sounds do most of the narrative work which could even allow less animation while the sound should be telling a story on their own as well. It is all about hearing and listening more in daily life, pay more attention to the surroundings and that is what inspires Burhardt. Some people asked about suggestions of sounds in horror movies, Burhardt said it might be good to use real sound track like live action film sounds in order to increase the impact and try smashing up vegetables sounds for cruel scenes. He said it is the most realistic sound we could get without really abusing a real person. Other question about easing out tension, he said that it depends on whether you want audience to be surprised or not. If you want to make them jump because of a sudden event, do not use preparing sound, like easing into a bigger sound effect. The talk is useful that mention about how important sound is to a complete story. I seldom have sound in my animation and it is time to consider about including some in, definitely more interesting and audience would be engaging more to the story.

The movie itself is very good as well. Interesting idea and very nicely drawn. I pay more attention to the sounds after the talk and really see the effect it has on the story. It adds more emotion to each scene and make the scenario cohesive. I love the way the police and the boy communicate when the boy is out of his body as a phantom, so many clever plots and actions to make the story even more fascinating. I think the story could include more depth with a little more details on the characters, the evil plan could be more evil and better performed ending but rather than that it is still an awesome movie!

Floyd Norman - An Animated Life - Teaser 1 from Michael Fiore Films on Vimeo.

Dirs Michael Fiore, Erik Sharkey/US 2016

Last but not least, end my day1 with a documentary of Floyd Norman who is the first African-American animator at Disney, documenting his life as an animator and the dedication to his job. He could not stop doing what he loves even after retired and have stood up for his race and difficult situation he encountered in his life. I leant that never stop drawing and animation is about the real life. He uses animation and comics to express himself many times and the sense of truth behind the work creates empathy. In spite of the skilful technique, truly loving the job you like is the key to have a fruitful life.

Mike Mignola 3/11/2016

Sitting in the Lecture Theatre with a glass of white wine

I have to be honest that I have never heard of Mike and Hellboy before because I do not read comics. However, after some research done on Mike before I go to the talk, he is an america comic book artist whose original work is Hellboy and have worked for DC and Marvel comics and animation projects as well. His style is very solid, no fade lines, no hesitation. He uses a lot of solid black colour in his illustrations and inside the comic. The colours are simple but powerful. If this style is originated from Mike, I have seen a lot of style influenced by his work.

In the interview, he said he started his career as an inker in DC, inking others work and decide to create his own work when he had a chance. He loves drawing monsters and reference a lot of European fables. He has a very positive attitude towards his work and his career. Some quotes from his I found inspiring:

'If you are serious about something, do it again'

'Your style finds you and Time creates style. It is evolutionary'

He also said that there are always story in his head. He seldom have no thoughts, constantly have three to four plots in his head so that he could sit down and work immediately. Mike also suggests thumbnails the story down and try different version of dialogue to test out the most suitable ones.

'Silent generate Romance' The content of the page does not have to complicated when expressing a message. Simple also does the job.

He is also influenced by everything. From daily life to specific painters or writers and he mention reading is as important as thinking ideas.

PPP2 Evaluation

I have changed quite a lot during Second year.  This year, I have a lot of opportunities to work in groups, experiment and develop further and discover more about myself and I have different results from those. At the beginning of the year, we had the MAF festival but I did not go because I thought the maya brief is more important at that moment which I regret it so much now. Nevertheless, we had a lot of presentations this year, the Animation studio research allows me to look deeply into the real Ghibli studio, their history, what it is like inside the studio and the main people. I learnt that the even the most successful studio struggles and it makes me feel more motivated as an animator and feeling more engage with this career. The pitch perfect brief also provides an opportunities for us to research about the costs, the tax and other odds and ends that we need to set up a business which I figured out that I would like to work for somebody instead. I found out a lot more about myself and my future through researching and I found it importantly useful.

I enjoyed drawing traditionally so much in applied animation and in COP. I drew traditionally both on paper and in flash which was another new animating programme learnt this year! I learnt that is vital to have precise timing and spacing planned out before hand in order to make a good looking animation and my weakness is in easing and timing. During the two briefs, making backgrounds and using watercolours are as enjoyable as animating itself and I think I am quite talented at colouring but still, want to improve the quality of drawing as I was not satisfied by the frames I did. The large amount of group work also push me to talk to people more often and keep asking for feedback and exchange information within group. I have more vocabularies to describe my work, explaining ideas and to comment on other’s work constructively which is the biggest improvement from having all the group work this year.

I also met a lot of professionals this year, like Dave Alex from Aardman, Zane Whittingham from Fettle animation and contact couples of animators that I like or found on internet. I feel like talking to them is a big improvement to myself as I have been so shy. The professionals have great experience and they explained the real situation in the animation industry clearly to me and I had a better overview of it. I would not say I have learnt much from them but they are all very nice and friendly with passion and happiness on their faces. I wonder if I could keep animating after graduated since I have been so lost through the year, worrying about the future, the career and my own style.

I think my current aim is to improve the quality of my drawings, less sketchy lines and more accurate move. Animation wise, good quality of drawings would definitely help and also I want to learn making motion graphic. Exploring different mix media animation like scanned in textures and 3D & 2D. I also want to find my unique style because at this stage, my style is constantly changing without a distinct element and I do not like it. I hope to find my special feature while drawing more and more during this summer and set up some drawing tasks daily, push myself more and hope this could break the boundaries. I am not hardworking enough which I regretted it now therefore I need to push myself very hard next year to achieve what I want. For the future, I still have not decided whether I would like to stay in the UK or go back to Hong Kong or go to dreamland Japan. I quite like the working environment in the UK, everyone is nice, the studio usual full of creative and fun people but I would miss home a lot and I hate living alone. On the other hand, Hong Kong has so little opportunities as an animator, creative worker usually end up doing commercial job like advertising but do not really have a chance to develop own work while Japan is more in between but have to be really skilled and hardworking. After this year, I can surely say that I do not want to set up a business because I do not want to be the boss but still hoping that I could have a certain authority in the studio. Over the Summer, I would focus on practising drawing skills, hopefully I would get the job which is animating a background environment for a musical on screen and I am very looking forward to it. Also start researching COP3 essay topic and hope I could find something interesting that will influence my perspective of seeing animation or the world.

Moth Collection and other artists

I was introduced to Moth Collection by Oscar and I ABSOULTELY love their work! The first video I watched at their home page was stunning (scroll down!) The animation combines illustrations, graphics and 3D with a style that I love so much. The characters is beautiful with graphically designed environment that is just dreamy and amazing. I really want to know what they make it so delicately and I wish I could have this sense. It is very important to practice drawing skills daily and I should push myself more to achieve that.

They still make a lot of illustrations and little gif which are also super cool. I love how they included textures in their illustrations (which I have been trying to do so this year) and the choice of colour is perfect. 

The Last Job on Earth - The Guardian from Moth on Vimeo.

The Moth Collection reminds me of this Hong Kong based artist

Little Thunder 門小雷
Unlike Moth, Little Thunder never use digital materials but ink and other water-based colour instead. Her style is so authentic and comfortable to look at and she is really good at painting light and shadow. It is important to leave blank when drawing so the picture could be more realistic.

Other similar artist like USA based Tomer Hanuka. I found him on BoooooooooM!. Amzing use of colours, layout of the characters, information within the illustration and the drawing skills. Perfect!

 

Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress

Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress is an anime series by Wit Studio. The series is directed by Tetsurō Araki and written by Ichirō Ōkouchi and original character designs by Haruhiko Mikimoto. This is one of the most popular anime started in this spring with a vintage style of character design and beautiful storyline and exquisite storyboard which has make a boom in the ACG world. I only watched the first episode because it is too amazing and I should watch the whole story when it is finished at once for some respect haha. The style as I said is like styles before 2000, it is because the character designer is old and worked at many famous anime before like Macross and his distinct style is still loved by many people now a days. It also bring some fresh element to the ACG world when many of the new anime just emphasis on girls, love and fans services. People love good story and plot with beautiful art and Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress satisfies them.

I obsessed with the storyboards they display in Japan. The level of detail and each panel is useful to the story, no wasted scenes at all.

I know some director could not draw but Araki definitely can! His drawing in the storyboard is already fascinating and tell the story interestingly with different creative camera angles. The colouring also help a lot when distinguishing characters or movements.

These panels below are so powerful!

The steampunk-style design mix with traditional Japanese cultures remains me of Princess Mononoke. The tone of the whole animation is so beautiful and make the environment more realistic.

Let's enjoy the Opening animation!

Anime production in brief

To understand more about the real local Japanese animation firm's, I have been looking for informations and references online. The animation companies in Japan do not usually let strangers in or to film but luckily there are still some videos on youtube demonstrating the working process of normal animation company. I think it would be good looking at studios in different places, comparing their working process and equipment and I found that the Japanese studio do not use updated computers and softwares even in 2010. I was not surprised since it is a pretty low pay job and maybe they want to save money for better use but this also differ in the studios as well.

Basically all the anime are hand-drawn and most anime has been including CG recently as it does save time. The main animators will do the key frames and set the basic look of the characters and moves, other animators are filling the in betweens then all the frames would be drawn again twice for the high quality outline with other informations like indicating the colours. The frames will then scanned into computers and painted digitally by other animators. After that the coloured frames are sent to the programmers who edit the frames together and add any filters or change in camera angle by editing software. This is basically the work a animation studio would do, they hire other sound studio and Voice actors for the sounds instead. It sounds quite the same the the UK studios but I would say anime studio is definitely more intense and longer working hours since they have to produce a 20 minutes anime episode every week with more than 300 camera shots.

Creative CV

Anime Drawings

so I have done quite a lot of anime drawing this year. I have been uploading them on Pixiv, a famous Japanese Illustration website where illustrations or animations could be uploaded and could be rated and commented by anyone. I did not show any anime drawings to the class because I feel like drawing anime is not appreciated in the UK... so I have been practising silently. This year, mainly I practise a lot of different style of drawings, painting on one layer; a lot of layers; different brushes; lighting and colour. I think I have build up a good sense of colour and lighting than before. I have been watching the working environment of Japan animation studios like Production I.G, Sunrise and Kyoto animation, because I really want to be an animator inside or any job possible I could do in Japan animation industry. But before that, I know they have an incredible high standard of requirement neither in drawing skills or Japanese skills, and I really want to try out life being animator in Japan. However, this kind of confused me since my style is very flexible.. I do not know which is the real style deep inside me. I started feeling worried about the future whether I should stay in the UK or go back to Hong Kong. The anime drawings has only little future, though it is what I like to do, unless I was master level of anime artists, there would be quite little opportunities to develop it as a career, at least not in the UK.