50 Hour Skill

If the figure drawing, studies and my participation in Inktober wasn't enough, I have also tried to fill out numerous sketchbooks during my free time, so whenever possible, I tried my best to fill out at least one page before turning in for the day. Below are some sketches from observation and original concepts and designs that I did as well, and of course fart fanart. 

I believe I have went way past 50 hours worth of drawing during my free time, but I still hope to do, much, much more, especially during my summer break.

Learning Journey Presentation

I was initially planning to create a silly video presentation that was made to look like credits from Lord of the Rings (Or The Hobbit, whichever), seeing that it suited the 'end of the journey' that this presentation gave off to me. While I thought that it would have been funny and might have looked appealing for my peers to watch (With detailed pencil sketches and all), I slowly started to realise that the content would be too difficult to visualise in the way I wanted it to, and there was no way I could get out dozens of pencil sketches within the time I had left. (I suppose I was just so excited about using that "Directed by Peter Jackson" joke that I didn't realise these issues until much later)

Instead, I decided to go for something more Kate Beaton inspired (A style that would also be easier in creating a funny atmosphere to my presentation). I had initially wanted to draw everything by hand, but once again knew that I wouldn't have enough time to do so (And let's not forget that time would also be required to scan them all in and clean them up as well). I immediately started drawing everything straight into Photoshop.

It took me awhile to decide on what content to present, but aside from the new skills that I had picked up this year, I figured that I should most definitely include how I had enjoyed such things as working with others, trying out the recording studio for the first time and finally working with others studying in different areas to my own. Hopefully I didn't make this into too much of a timeline... I did try to focus on the things that absolutely stood out to me, and that was most definitely my experience with the Applied Animation 2 module.

Showreel Examples

Below are a few showreel examples that I referred to as I was putting mine together (Aside from the advice/guide videos that were provided on the eStudio that is).

Madhura Keiji decided to include most if not all of his works for his first year showreel, while some works are indeed impressive, it seems a little unnecessary for him to include everything that he has. Still, a lot of thought was definitely put into how this showreel was presented (Especially for the opening and closing) and in some of the stills that were shown. As suggested in the comment section, if he simply focused more on the absolute best works he had, it would be a near perfect showreel.

All of his contact details are provided at the very end, including his emails and phone number, as well as what software he used for the examples that were shown in the showreel.

Tony Moore's incredibly impressive reel lasts only around a minute, but is still able to create a strong enough impression on the audience. Clearly, he has only picked out the very best bits and if possible, tries to give some variety in that one area the showreel is focusing on (Some live action was actually shown in there. 

Helpful and precise information was also shown throughout, such as his contact details at the beginning and end, and briefly what each animation was actually about (And what it was exactly that he had worked on in that scene).

Gemma Robert's showreel focuses on a wide variety of 2D hand drawn character animations, clips are split up and spread out throughout instead of being shown as one entire thing (Something that I myself have also done while editting). Animation tests are also included alongside more finished products (Something which I was afraid about including in my own showreel). It is a tiny bit lengthy, but the amazing variety and quality works clearly make up for that and will most definitely impress anyone that views it.

Despite how I would place all my still works in my portfolio, I was curious about how they would be presented in a showreel. And so I decided to look up examples on those two aside form animation showreels. 

Soumyadip Sarkar's showreel focuses on character design, concept art, storyboards, comics and  strangely enough clay sculptures(And even shows both coloured and uncoloured versions for some of his works). It was a little too lengthy and a lot of examples were given, but it is understandable to include more content for a showreel focusing on still images as compared to one focusing on animation. It looks to me as if he is including every area he specialises in for this showreel instead of just one.

Gareth Jones seems to take his storyboard showreel a step further and makes use of some camera animation for single frames and simply makes everything else into animatics. He seems to also show only some of the more outstanding scenes from these storyboards instead of simply showing the entire thing. Even a single frame from a storyboard can be presented if there are some interesting shooting details placed alongside it.

Social Media Presence

In my earlier years, I use to show most of my works through Deviantart, but after struggling and coming face to face with nothing but unhelpful comments from a very childish population, I simply started using my account to watch other artists that I admired for inspiration. I seem to be doing better on Tumblr, though I believe that I might have to create another account someday that focuses solely on original and more professionally done works instead of just fanart.

My friend has done the same recently, cleaning up her blog and changing her username to her real name. It almost feels... surreal really, but I feel that I should take after her example in some way and set up a portfolio focused Tumblr account for myself in due time. In the meantime, my present (More personal) Tumblr account still allows me to share my works with others, and if they happen to like my works enough, perhaps they will follow my professional one too.

I believe that Wix still remains the most professional looking out of all the sites I set up, while I have been planning to possibly close it down in the future, I also wondered if there was perhaps a way to simply fix things up so that I could still make use of it in someways. We will just have to see if there are any other sites that are better and easier to use than it (And I got my eyes on Carbonmade) first.

I am still honestly trying to figure out how to effectively share my art through Twitter, especially after hearing about how a storyboard artist was hired to work for the Regular Show through there. I am however glad that I have managed to reach out to one of my heroes, LeSean Thomas, who, along with Carl Jones (Creator of Black Dynamite the Animation Series) have followed me in the past months, I really do hope to catch their attention somehow with my own works one day... and maybe someday I will get a chance to work for either of them!

SWOT 2

With Year 2 coming to an end, what will be the challenges and opportunities I will face next year?

Strengths:

• Decent Research Skills
• Speed and Efficiency, only for Emergencies however
• Good Communication Skills
• Dedication to seeing Projects through no matter what
• Hold a large variety of interests (Which helps a lot for brainstorming)
• Eagerness to develop new technical skills for new projects
• Follows an orderly step by step process for nearly all projects

Weaknesses:

• Networking (Still trying though)
• Time Management (Could be better)
• Pretty low self esteem
• Overworks and stresses self incredibly easily(Have yet to miss a deadline, but it's still not good for health)
• Adding to that, pretty unhealthy
• A bit of a perfectionist
• Constantly worries about upsetting others

Opportunities:

• Working again with Music Students
• Creating some of the best darn final year projects for own portfolio
• Almost ready to set up a proper portfolio site (Wix will still have to do for now)
• Designing some products for Redbubble and Society6 to promote self further
• Also commissions
• To develop and improve Flash and 3D skills
• Submit narrative works to publishers here in attempt to get better known
• Continue connecting with others through Twitter
• Just keep producing work

Threats:

• Competing with others in the industry
• Art theft
• Not being able to handle workload
• Time
• Health
• Conflicting with own Teammates

Show and Tell

I was (And still am) focusing mainly on improving my drawing skills during whatever free time I had, and that was one of the main things I had to show for my Show and Tell on the 21st of April. I had the opportunity to attend one of the college's last few figure drawing sessions (Thanks to Fiona), and so had the chance to see just how bad I actually was when it came to poses and perspectives...

I also did speed paint studies whenever I could, which allowed me to focus more on shadows, and aside from the usual study into anatomy and poses, it also gave me the opportunity to see just how incredibly differently structured human facial features can be to one another (Which definitely helps for my character designing).

While this was done for COP2, I felt that it was the first time where I had the opportunity to do some proper character designing (With what should be focused on, how they should be presented on each sheet and so on), and that this would later on aid me for when I require to do any sort of character design for myself or for anyone else. I was glad I took the time to properly research into my practical response, despite how it was not marked as heavily as the essay itself and the little time I had left.

One more thing I did share with my peers and tutor was my first ever collaboration, and with a music student to boot. I wanted to share the rather amazing experience I had of finally working with someone here as well as the exciting experience of getting original music composed for my own works (Not to say that I don't enjoy making my own silly sound effects and what not). I also believe that he will be able to help me with the musical aspect for one of my final year projects next year.

Below you will see a rather familiar piece of work (If you have been following my Studio Practice blog or have seen it on my Youtube Channel or on my Tumblr), but now with some really lovely music playing over it to give it a much more whimsical feel as compared to the original... I believe this music lessens the belief that he dies at the end.

Celles et Ceux des Cimes et Cieux

Celles et Ceux des Cimes et Cieux from Gwenn GERMAIN on Vimeo.

Celles et Ceux des Cimes et Cieux, or Girls and Guys from Summits and Skies, is a two and a half minute short that pays homage to the works of Miyazaki films, such as The Secret World of Arietty, Laputa Castle in the Sky, My Neighbor Totoro and Princess Mononoke. Creator Gwenn Germain spent 5 months working on this senior animation project at French art school Creapole, with the pitch for this short being "A young boy who lives in a village that's perched on a giant tree falls into the depths of the forest one day, where he meets two forest dwelling strangers who help him return him."

This was truly one of the most inspirational things that I have seen in the past weeks, it's absolutely unbelievable just how incredibly gorgeous this student short is (The designs, lighting, animation, camera works, just... everything!) It has helped me in better figuring out what it is that I wish to do for my extended practice as well. Seeing how that was also no need for excessive voice acting or sound effects, that also gave me ideas on how to go about that issue for my own final year project.

I can only hope something to create something that is half as gorgeous as this... and so I will definitely have to start planning now and over my summer break!

Jon Turner

Kilogramme Showreel from Kilogramme on Vimeo.

Jon Turner is the director of Kilogramme animation studios, an award winning animation design company based in Northern Quarter, Manchester. Needless to say, I was really impressed by the diversity of their works, and I especially enjoyed their 2D/3D animations (One of those shorts made me think of a Paperman version of a Fantasia short). This studio covers all aspects of production, from initial concept and design right through to final post production. Clearly, this studio has always aimed to provide the utmost of quality services.

As the two founders both came from 3d backgrounds,a team of 2D animators was put together so that that area could be expanded upon during the formation of the studio. Various college students were found and where then made to work for them, these students just knew how to stand out, and showed their absolute passion for animation... and that is just what will catch the attention of this studio when you are sending in your showreel. After students graduate, they continue sending in stuff to Kilo that appealed and impressed them, as well as showed their dedication to animate.

The work process goes as such for this studio, that being scriptwriting, concepts, storyboarding, voice recording, animatic and finally the animation itself. Try to get it in that order for an efficient enough process. An animatic shows if a shot works and if the sequence flows. Scripts are definitely harder to visualise, hence why storyboards are so important,
you have to be open to other people's interpretations, so to see how well that script flows.

But bad luck can still occur when a client tries to make really last minute changes to a project... that was never agreed upon during payment. Still however, you should try to work things out with them if possible. Do try to accommodate, but do not be desperate.

Chris Sasaki

I will admit that I squealed an awful lot during this talk... on the inside (By the way, I'm still waiting on that photo, Ms Beth~). Chris Sasaki is a character designer from Oakland, California. He has done work for Monsters University and more recently, Inside Out and The Dam Keeper (That was nominated for an Oscar not too long ago). His primary mediums when working on concepts are digital, ink and pencil, though it really depends on how much time he is given to work on them.

Coincidentally, Monsters Inc. was the very film that inspired him onto the road of becoming an artist, while he had attempted to enrol in CalArts at least three times, Chris instead ended up attended Woodbury University, since then he believed that he was glad that things went the way they did, that the pedigree of a school did not matter as much as the quality of the teachers and one's own effort.

During his senior year, Chris was given the opportunity to work as a production intern for DreamWorks Art Department, where he met with many other inspirational artists that worked there, particularly the character designers. As he did his work, Chris also brought in his work in hopes of getting some form of aid, and it was from there he met his mentor, Tony Siruno, and it was from there that he knew what he wanted to do in life...

Finding a job after that however proved difficult seeing that people never ever thought that he had enough experience, but the thing was, how could you gain the experience needed if you weren't given a shot at any job? Still however, the smaller jobs that Chris managed to get soon became bigger jobs...

Character design is very research driven, in fact it possibly takes up 80% if not more of the time given to them when working on concepts, humorously and somehow unsurprisingly, even those working in the industry tend to rush out physical works during the last few days before the deadline. Research however is required in figuring out the worlds of these characters (Something that would be believable to the audience), that 'something' that is needed to make these characters unique and overall what simply drives their designs. Research is needed to make these designs appropriate and not generic, hence why good designs are always built around them.

Chris meets with his production designer for critique sessions almost every week and frankly prefers his directors to be straight forward about what it is they want so that he could actually get their vision right. It is logically better than wasting time beating around the bush and trying to be nice, especially when both parties desire to get it right.

When presenting a pitch, walk them through your thought process. You obviously have to discuss the story, characters, and of course the selling points. It would make sense to include the personal influences that have been gathered from your research. To show your findings and what you believe that others can possibly relate to.

While Chris does enjoy using traditional mediums for his work, it really does depend on the timeline he is given to work on these designs, and clearly digital tends to be the way to go during those tight deadlines. Once these designs get approved, this is where you have to follow through and work closely with the technical team, to draft out proper blue prints that they could use when building the models.

There is something that especially stuck with me during Chris' talk, and that was his advice on making sure that you have passion projects that you can work on during your free time. As he was so focused on following orders throughout most of his school years, he was not able to take the opportunity to find what he himself liked. Every person should find a true idea and story that they can really attach themselves to, instead of simply creating something merely because it looks cool... 

As for whatever art college you attend, it is honestly up to you and what you get out from it, it only makes sense to learn everything before figuring out what your focus is. Get your foundation down for everything before you start focusing on something. And when you finally start working for others, do remember to always have that one thing for yourself that will push you as an artist.

Applied Animation 2

I was not too sure on how to feel about the screening of our animation, I felt strangely excited but also a tad embarrassed... but in a good way. A lot of our classmates are hoping to see it finished and... I am unsure of what the future holds for this short...

I have a lot of mixed feelings about how this project turned out in the end, but then again I believe that that is just the perfectionist side of me. I felt that my group and I were incredibly enthusiastic throughout the majority of this project, that is until the production process began. While we had initially planned to start work during Easter break, another badly planned module got in the way, and so we ended up rushing and stressing the meet the deadline for this one... though I do believe we were still able to do an amazing amount of work in an insanely short period of time.

Communication was a little difficult despite the fact that we had set up several sites (Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, etc.), and it wasn't until much later did my message reach one of them, when it was a little too late to make the needed changes.

It already seems to me that this experience might have stressed out my teammates so much that there probably will not even be a continuation to this short, if we ever get the chance to properly finish up the one we already have that is. Still, I have already decided to do most of the fix ups on my own which are:

1. Repainting the desserts so they would have a more detailed look
2. Fixing up the shadows
3. Fixing up the sound effects (Definitely need to adjust the recordings too seeing that it didn't actually sync very well for the final animation due to us rushing)
4. Probably get in touch with Luke to compose some original music
5. Touch up on the expressions and perhaps some movements (Seeing that the clean ups took a way a lot of the fluidity and exaggeration)

Despite how I was able to finish animating all the key scenes (After making a huge amount of adjustments to the storyboards that is), a lot of the animation sketches I did were not used in the end product that had been screened, and I really, really would like to see them finished for others to see in the future...

While I am most likely to work on my own next year (Though this is mostly due to the fact that I have a very personal vision for my passion projects), I do hope to help out in some way with other projects.

Collaborating with Luke Tingle

Despite how I barely have any time to keep up with my own work, this year I thought I would try and work with other students on their own projects. Dating all the way back to the beginning of February, I decided to give it a shot and so responded to a couple of music students that were looking to collaborate with us Animation students for their final year projects, and the one I had ended up working with for the rest of the year was Luke Tingle.

Obviously there was no way that I could create anything new for him to use, but I did my best in expanding or fixing up any present works I had and passed them all onto him. It was a really interesting process to say the least, but not as stressful as I thought it would be. I enjoyed discussing things with Luke when possible, to see what he needed and when. And I was absolutely excited to finally get some original music composed for my own works.

I believe that it was absolute luck that I had decided to give this opportunity a shot, especially since it was through Luke where I was able to find my voice actor for my Applied Animation 2 project, I still cannot get over that fact to be honest...

It is just an amazing feeling to know that I can finally turn to someone to help me out with the music (And maybe even voice acting) aspect of my works in the future. And seeing that Luke actually enjoyed the horror short that I had done for last year's PPP, I just might turn to him again to compose some new pieces for when I begin expanding on it for next year's extended practice.

Speaking of all the pieces he had composed for me, I definitely need to insert them into my animations one day and post them up on my Youtube channel for all to see!

NekoShowguN

I first found NekoShowguN's works when searching through the developmental works of Grasshopper Manufacture's Lollipop Chainsaw, and illustrator that hails from Japan, the young artist first made her debut as part of the Osake art collective Digemout and has done art for music games such as GuitarFreaks and DrumMania. Before that, Neko normally did rather dark and/or sexualised fan art of Nintendo characters that had its own unique appeal in its own way...

But her highest profile work to date is as lead character and weapon designer for Goichi Suda's Lollipop Chainsaw, the very thing that I discovered her through. There is something absolutely gorgeous about Neko's art style that I still can't get over to this day (And numerous times, I have tried to draw in a similar manner to the way she does, and of course failing as I do). I have always wondered how she was able to make all her characters look so good while at the same time so wonderfully expressive (As seen below).

Expression sheet for Lollipop Chainsaw's heroine, Juliet Starling.

Juliet's iconic weapon.

As a certain article said, Neko's art always had this uniquely glossy if not pulpy look to it, which just seems to unique to me and while I feel allows her works to stand out all the more, especially among all the other concept artists we see these days. As tiny as the Lollipop Chainsaw art book turned out to be when I first ordered it, it was still a worthwhile buy just to see her gorgeous concepts (But darn it, they really could have printed these books out bigger!)... Looks like I might end up get Suda51's next art book.

*squints*

Name Card Design

I decided to simply reuse an old business card design that I had used for my graduation show back in my previous art academy, and simply updated some information (Such as my email) as well as did a few tiny tweaks to the overall design.

The card was originally just black and white, and so I decided to add a little colour this time round... I really like the somewhat 3D-ish look it had once the green and brown was added (Which was pretty much just by toggling with the hue and saturation settings). 

I started playing with the colours again about a week or so later, this time, I played with several texture overlays before I came across this.

I actually really like the fact that it seems to go with both my showreel (Which has a somewhat moody feeling considering the music I used) and portfolio (Which has a much warmer and more colourful look) now! I still do wish to set up a better portfolio site however, but in the meantime, Wix will have to do.

Portfolio

For my portfolio, I decided to put in the background designs that I have done for my Applied Animation 2 project, as well as some of the background concepts I did for my Character and Narrative. I especially wanted to show how focused I was on both Narrative works (Animation and Storyboards) as well as Visual Development (Background and Character Designs). A few stills from some of my animation projects are included too, as well as a few concepts and development images inserted alongside them.

Showreel

Showreel from Rebecca Wong on Vimeo.

I started putting together my showreel over the last few days and I was thankful to learn that I did have a few decent works to pick from to put in there (It really pays to give it your all for every single assignment you do, despite the chest pains that is). As I started putting it altogether, I kept reminding myself about two important things, to show only my best possible works and not to make it too long, a piece of advice that has practically been given in all the talks I attended and the advice videos I watched.

While I was initially going to insert my Pixilation and Maya animations in there, they just did not seem to fit with the rest of the 2D animations that were already in there. And unfortunately, it did not seem right to insert the animation sketches that I have done for my Applied Animation 2 project in there either (Seeing that they were both unfinished and did not seem to fit with the rest of the pieces I had already put in, and if I was to show off the lip syncing, it would probably be better to put it into another showreel), I would however later on insert other works from that module into my portfolio.

Despite the fact that nearly everything was done only in Photoshop and After Effects, I did wish to show more of my drawing skills and how I could work on all sorts of genres (Children, horror, humour etc.). And so my Pixilation and Maya animations just would not belong in any part of this showreel.

I ended up using "Sleep Scape" by Aura Distorter, a song that I found through SampleSwap, I immediately contacted the artist in hopes of getting his permission. I am still waiting on a response, but I am sure that I can use it since it will be for non-profitable purposes.

I started splitting the animations into several clips and started spreading them about when editing, in hopes of getting my works to sync better with the music that played. There were also some weaker parts that definitely had to be cut out, and seeing that it would be weird to put the cut up animations side by side, it was better to separate and spread them apart.

This is my first showreel and I hope it will catch the interests of some folks... I definitely do have to start working on some new material.