Expression sheet and Turnaround

Fish update

I have been keeping myself busy by drawing some more images of the fish, I was keeping in mind the characteristics of the fish but trying to stay fresh at the same time. This allowed me to come up with some different styles and proportions - I have been enjoying my time with this fish so far.

I experimented with different scales - larger belly, large fins, larger eye - just so that I can experiment every possibility.

I drew some more images and tried working in some colour experiments

After a lot of experimentation, I came to the conclusion that the character just has to be black or possibly a ver park purple or blue.

I am now really happy with this character, the next job is to do expression sheets and turnarounds and then move on, there is plenty to do, and it is about time i did some designs for the pond. I pretty much know what it will look like because some of the design work was done in the animatic but I would like to focus in on some areas like the water feature and the plant life.

Fish design process

Research

My research started with looking at common pond fish - the search came up with fish like Goldfish, Koi, Ghost Koi, Common Carp, Sturgeon, Catfish, etc.

I really like the large mouth of the Catfish

The Goldfish is beautiful, but with some subtle added features it could look beautiful yet deadly

I found the spiky fin of the Perch beautifully dangerous.

I then remembered a fish that my brother had in his fish tank a few years back. The Black Moor Goldfish is perfect for the type character I need because it ticks all the boxes. 

There appears to be a slight lid on those massive eyes, which gives me the ability to make an angry frown. I also like how like how the overall shape of the fish is a triangle, yet the body is still very round, giving an evil yet playful character. 

Designing 

This was a very fun character to draw, the large eyes made it fun to watch them come alive, and the agile body helped make a fluid motion in the drawing. 

Here is an initial turnaround which as the character develops, so will the turnaround.

Focusing on Style

I'm not liking where my gnome is right now, so I have decided to redesign him but focusing more on style instead of accessories and colour. I redrew the gnome whilst looking at some of Chuck Jones' tom and Jerry cartoon images, and instantly had something that I liked a lot better than all the other designs. I showed Alan and he helped me push it further and told me some pointers I must keep in mind when drawing in the style of Chuck Jones.

I started by looking at some well know Chuck Jones characters like Wille Coyote, roadrunner, Tom and Jerry and Bugs Bunny (although he didn't create Bugs, he certainly made a big stamp on his character) 

What I like about this style is the clean outlines, the simplicity and the expressive poses that tell the story. I have now tried to use this in my work.

Already my drawings have become more expressive, I thought it best to design whilst in the poses I will use in the animation. for me this was a new way of doing things, because before I would normally design in front or side poses which lead to a flat and boring design. These are way more impressive to me and they really show the character. 

Now that I loosened up in the drawing, I wanted to work on the scale and structure of my character, so that I could then go back to posing but in a more focused way. 

I took one of the old drawings then morphed it into a certain shape that I like, I chose the fourth one as the best one. 

I then worked on skeletal structure and then cleaning up the outside lines. 

This is a drawing pose that I have put through the design process. I ended up putting a faded paint texture on the paint, it doesn't look great but its a start.  

CGAA/ACT Live Commission Speed Paint Challenge 01

Speed Paint Challenge 01 - This is what I saw

Originally I saw the piece opening up to a dead weeping willow on a hillside, as the music progressed I saw a raging file sweep up the hill and engulf the tree. The fire light the rest of the landscape showing a burning structure in the middle and burning castle like structure on the horizon. I also saw large trumpets bursting from the behind the horizon. 

Interim Presentation

Major project Interim Presentation 

Modelling The Male Gnome 01

I have recently moved forward a little by starting to model the Male gnome character, it has been more difficult that expected mainly due to the fact that I didn't think about all the angles in my designs and that I haven't used Maya in awhile, which has lead me to be rather rusty.

The biggest problem I have had so far is attaching the beard to the jacket - The reason for this choice is because I wanted the character to look like it is made from one solid piece of clay. This obviously adds some problems when it comes to rigging and animation but hopefully with some help from Alan, it shouldn't be too much of a problem.

I am having a little problem with the hat and the overall shape of the gnome because I don't think it looks good enough yet, however I hope that is down to the fact that i'm not finished yet. 

These are the things I am looking to change.

The beard is the main focus of the gnome so that must have the most detail and the most work done to it, but it must allocate some room and freedom to the limbs. He looks a little skinny at the moment and I'm not to sure on the outfit, it doesn't give that impression of a one piece gnome discussed earlier, but it does give the legs freedom to move.


I'm really looking forward to the crit on Monday and the next couple of lessons because I need advise on how to make this character and the other characters, the best they can be in 3D form. Also he is not modeled correctly and he will be difficult to animate in this state so I must revise the old Maya lessons.