Here is my first project with a 3D puppet. This is just a tester to play around with the basic balancing and movment techniques for straight ahead, 3D puppet animation. This video is a compilation of the 3 experiments I did.
I had a really difficult time with this one. The structure of my puppet was extremely basic and therefore ripped and fell apart as I moved it. Expect more material experiments to come!
The internal structure is simply pipe cleaners and stuffing.
I then covered the structure by wrapping orange tissue paper over it and topped it off with some purple felt hair and underwear!
In order to animate the scene I set him against a tilted glass set so that gravity could be on my side as I moved his body. I also used basic scotch tape to hold his feet down and upper body up in certain positions.
Here is a few pictures of the studio I used:
I think because of how fragile these basic puppets can be, I would make multiple puppets of a character rigged for specific movements in the future, rather than try to contort one puppet into tons of positions and breaking down the rig.
I found this project the most challenging so far, but also
the most intriguing. Puppet animation is so impressive and inspiring
and I can't wait to take my puppet animation further.
Summer Days Spent at my cottage in Ontario, Canada are the most wonderful days. I have grown up excited to relax and be with the family at my cottage whenever we could fit a trip into our busy schedules. It is definitely my favourite place on earth.
For this project, I decided to recreate a "snapshot" of my family in the great North, where we are all our happiest!
Here's the rough Sketch the scene was inspired by:
To make the puppets, I used watercolour paper and gouache to create a traditional puppet animation feel. I used bright vibrant neon colours, which unfortunately didn't scan as brightly as I intended, but I managed to alter the images in after effects enough to bring it back to their original colours.
I then used photoshop to animate my dog's mustache, my mom's hair and my own hair.
After that I composited and animated the entire scene in After Effects.
I really enjoyed working with puppets and will be exploring with them further in the near future (hopefully with some tigers and circus awesomeness) I had a ton of trouble when I first attempted to traditionally animate the puppets under a camera because there was so much action to keep track of and it was super difficult to keep the layers in place. That's why I went digital, but I think I want to try and go completely traditional again with a simpler idea.
Here are some pics of my family and I having fun at our cottage!
My Brother wake surfing (in case you didn't know of this sport and were confused why he isnt holding onto a rope in my piece)
I just began my Experimental Animation class and it's time to (as the great philosopher Frizzle once said) "take chances, make mistakes, and GET MESSY!"
And messy I indeed became. In fact, our first project in this class was to create an "animation messy" wherein we had been assigned to animate in a "straight ahead method" of our choosing. We could animate with sand, wet paint on glass, or even chalk.
"I'm not an intelligent, talented animator like you Ms. Rochon!" you say, "What on earth is the 'straight ahead' method and furthermore an 'animation messy'!!!!???" you ask.
Intelligent? who me? TALENTED? awe shucks how nice of you to say so.
So, the 'straight ahead method' is basically another way of saying animating without much pre-planning. Usually, animators have to plan ahead every single drawing so that the animation can be timed and executed perfectly. Key moments and character positions will be drawn in first to get a rough idea of the scene and slowly more drawings are added in between those key drawings to smooth the action out.
For this project I animated without a ton of pre-planning. I had my basic idea but I did one drawing after another rather than locking down key moments and filling drawings in between them.
Figure Skating is a big part of my life. I began skating at the age of 8 after I found ballet too boring and continued to skate and compete until grade 11. Although I quit it awhile ago, Figure Skating is not completely out of my life! I have my coaching license and coach here in Vancouver.
Skating really influences my animation because it taught me how to analyze and control my body movement (a helpful tool when animating). I had to create graceful arcs with every part of my body: my arms, to my wrists, my fingers etc.
Those arcs are going to be my focus for this project.
Here are some skating sketches I did to try and lock down some key poses before I went to paint and create them with sand.
Here is what the sand art looks like before editing . In the video I inversed (swapped black and white) this image in order to a create consistency in my piece.
more poses...
I used paint, chalk, sand and paper cut outs to create "Skate". I thoroughly enjoyed using such tactile and traditional mediums. At first I was intimidated but as an animator I really enjoyed having an element of chance and freedom in my art making process. I really loved being able to use my muscle memory to create the animation rather than looking at specific reference footage. I felt like I was animating straight from the heart. Animators tend to plan and control their work down to every line. It was wonderful to let loose and let the medium tell a story.
Today was awesome. I spent the day at a Blue Jays game with my brother, Dylan. I am so grateful to have a brother that I get along with. He is amazing and although we are separated by distance during the year, (He studies in Ontario and I in Vancouver) it always feels just like the good ol' days when we are reunited.
It was one of those days that I knew I would reflect on later when I missed my brother in Vancouver.
Today, on our way back from one of our usual work nights at school, we spotted something unusual. A baby stroller just sitting there, abandoned on Granville Island.
So naturally, we shoved my friend Dora into it and posed for a few pictures.
Ma'am, isn't that baby a little big for that stroller?
So I have returned to Vancouver... awhile ago actually...
I just have been favouring my time towards schoolwork and partying. Also, I usually write on this blog during boring lectures, but thankfully this semester's lectures aren't as boring as the last's. :) which is good for my mental health, but bad for my blog.. it also gives me less to complain about, which makes me sad as I enjoy complaining very much.
So what's been happening? Well I am doing well lately, thank you!
I am taking 3 classes that I thoroughly enjoy (digital imaging aka photoshop class- i will show u a couple examples of stuff I have been doing, animation-FINALLY!!!, and video essentials) They are all design-based courses so I feel a lot better now that I don't have to deal with people stripping down naked for their projects or slapping a ball of string on the table and calling it art (yes this all happened in my sculpture class last semester!). My courses are more "commercial" now and I feel a much better sense of belonging to this school then before.
Well thats all for now! sorry if that was boring. I will keep you posted with more exciting things later.
