Toolkit 2 - Reflective Statement

During the drawing section of toolkit two I feel that I developed my skills somewhat drastically. The life classes were valuable, even though the main bulk of the sessions happed at the end of term due to covid, I developed my drawing skills as well as trying out some different styles. I also found the process of drawing everyday for a week therapeutic as I was able to draw similar poses in lots of different ways. However, it is a shame that these sessions were not all throughout the term as I feel that the figure drawing side would have helped me in my other projects. Overall, I think that I could have been more adventurous with my style but I have defiantly developed my drawing ability. During the character design project I was defiantly apprehensive at first. As we were all given characters and scenarios at random it was a good opportunity to get in the mindset of a commissioned concepts. I don't have a huge amount of practice with creature and animal concepts and especially not in a chibi art style so it was a bit daunting but once I created a few concepts it developed quickly. I think that if I was to redo the character design project now I would be able to produce more work and to a better quality but I am pleased overall with the outcomes. 

For the animation section of toolkit I feel like I learnt a lot in a small amount of time but there is lots I can improve on. My animation comes across as floaty often, and I think in general this takes me a bit longer to grasp. I know there is lots to improve on but I feel that I have improved immensely since the beginning of the year. I found the texturing classes insightful and I also feel like I managed to understand all of the content in such a short amount of time. These classes will be extremely useful for year three. For Jet Pack Jones time keeping was a major issue. I found it difficult to complete the tutorials in the time I had planned because I was became too critical about the head modelling. I hoped to have more of the tutorials done and I am pretty frustrated that I didn't complete more but I plan to complete it all in the next few weeks so I am prepared for my final film. I did, however, find this process informative as I have improved my problem solving in maya and I now know that I need to give myself much more time to complete the modelling process. 

Overall, I am pleased with how my drawing ability has improved over this year and even though my maya based work is more or less unfinished I have learnt a lot of skills that I will be able to transfer into third  year. I do think that being at home for a large amount of the year in person lowered my work ethic somewhat as I am usually really motivated. The substance painter classes were a great asset to the term, as I will be able to apply everything in those classes to my upcoming projects. Although there are unfinished elements to this toolkit, I am happy with what I've learnt and produced. 

Toolkit 2 - Submission Post

 

Animation 

Acting Poses:

 https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2020/10/week-1-action-arcs-moom-poses.html

 https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2020/10/week-2-dramatic-arcs-moom-poses.html

Weightlifting Task:

 https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2020/11/week-56-force-trajectory-loosening-up.html

Lip Syncing Task:

https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2021/05/toolkit-2-in-class-expression-changes.html

Drawing 

Character Design:

Week 1: https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2020/10/toolkit-2-character-design-week-1.html

Week 2: https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2020/11/character-design-week-2-kaiju-sketches.html

Week 3: https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2020/11/character-design-week-3.html

Week 4: https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2020/11/character-design-week-4.html

Week5: https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2020/11/character-design-week-5.html

Week 6/7: https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2021/01/character-design-week-67.html

Character Bible: https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2021/02/character-design-bible-toolkit-2.html

Life Drawing:

Term 1: https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2020/10/toolkit-2-life-drawing-week-1.html

https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2020/11/life-drawing-week-2.html

Term 2: https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2021/06/life-drawing-catch-up-sessions.html

Maya and Associated Software 

Lighting and Rendering:

Part 14: https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2020/10/toolkit-2-maya-arnold-lighting-and.html

Part 16: https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2020/10/toolkit-2-maya-arnold-lighting-and_29.html

Part 17: https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2020/10/toolkit-2-maya-lighting-and-rendering.html

Part 18: https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2020/11/maya-lighting-and-rendering-photometric.html

Part 19: https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2020/11/maya-lighting-and-rendering-depth-of.html

Part 20: https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2020/11/maya-lighting-and-rendering-2-fog.html

Part 22: https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2020/11/maya-lighting-and-rendering-2-sub.html

Part 23: https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2020/11/maya-lighting-and-rendering-2-aovs.html

Part 24: https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2020/11/maya-lighting-and-rendering-2-stand-ins.html

Jet Pack Jones:

Pipeline 1 (Jet Pack Jones) - Body Modelling Part 6: https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2021/06/jet-pack-jones-part-414-head-and-16-body.html

Texturing:

Book Texturing (Maya): https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2021/02/maya-tutorial-book-texturing.html

Book Texturing (Substance Painter): https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2021/03/substance-painter.html

Oil Can Texturing (Substance Painter): https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2021/03/substance-painter-oil-can.html

Dumpster Texturing (Substance Painter): https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2021/03/substance-painter-dumpster.html

Additional:

Art Jam:

https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2020/11/art-jam-monster-mash.html

https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2020/11/art-jam-ink-blots.html

https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2020/12/art-jam-character-mash-up.html

Jet Pack Jones - Part 4/14 Head and 1/6 Body

During this Jet Pack Jones project I have struggled with time keeping somewhat. I underestimated how long it would take me to model the head, and I realised a bit to late that I was being too picky on my modelling. Unfortunately, to save time I have not modelled the skull cap, and moved onto the body modelling so I had most of the character completed. Over the summer I plan to complete the pipeline process for Jet Pack Jones as my premise project contains two characters. 

 

Life Drawing - Catch Up Sessions

Last week consisted of all day life drawing sessions, in which I was able to practice figure drawing and facial structure. The first few images are digital sketches from throughout the week. The first few days, I produced a mixture of 30/10 minute drawings and some quick 1 minute sketches, all in pencil. 

On Paper Sketches

As the days continued I started to use pen and ink, as well as some colour paint pens for experimentation, and to be a bit more creative. As we haven't been able to do life drawing for some time I found that during the first two days I spent practising and getting back into drawing on paper. 

The next two pages are one line drawings, not lifting the pen from the paper, and outline drawings, not filling in any of the gaps, but following the outline of the model. 

 The last few drawings have lots of colour as I started to draw more abstract shapes and change my approach from detail to shape. I found these sessions really useful as I haven't drawn on paper for a while as I have been mostly sticking to digital work for projects, however, I also found that by drawing similar poses in lots of different ways I started to be a bit less of a perfectionist and started to create some interesting drawings. 

Premise - Reflective State

During this premise project I really enjoyed the design process. I found that I was able work on a story that I was really invested in, which in turn improved my work. 

When I first started the project I found the idea of coming up with a narrative entirely on my own a little daunting . I had lots of visual ideas, but no story to go with. In the end I knew that I wanted to look into character design as it is the area I not only enjoy the most, but I feel I have improved on the most recently. 

Once I came up with the idea surrounding anxiety, I think that my work ethic picked up as it is an area I am interested in. The subject matter feels topical for the current climate, as well as something that I can draw on personal experience from. After lots of refining and the added music, I feel that my characters and story are in a really strong place for 3rd year. Overall, I am really happy with how the project turned out. I know hat there is lots of work to be done yet but I think I produced some good outcomes, and I feel that my message came across well. 

To improve, the narrative needs some work still, as well as some minor changes to the animatic. I want to make sure that the story is as readable as possible for an audience. I did suffer from some burn put half way through the project and I think that was just down to the design process, being stuck with my ideas, so for year three I know what I need to do and what to focus on. Looking forward to year three I think that I am a little nervous about the modelling/ rigging faze as well as the animation. As I like the design process so much some of the maya work is somewhat daunting, but I am excited to see my characters in 3D. I plan to get lots of this done as soon as possible to leave time for errors and the general length of the process. 

I found the careers pack valuable, it was a good insight into the working world and the things I need to work on. It has given me a lot to think about in terms of asperations and goals. 

Premise - Submission Post

 

Premise - Update

 As I am towards the end of this premise project I am beginning to sort through work that I have in preparation for crit. Below are some extra drawing and developmental designs not included in my OGR. The environment needs to be developed further which I plan to have progressed through by the deadline as well as some minor orthographic drawings. I have also been testing some designs in maya to give an idea of what this world will look like in 3d. I am currently reworking my animatic, one of the major problems I am facing is making sure that the narrative is as readable as possible to an audience that knows nothing about the project, as there is an underlying message I don't want it to get lost and make no sense. I also have the first version of music which I plan to use for the crit, and after some feedback I will make some changes. I like the design work I have overall but it is really just a case of finalising everything and getting as much done as possible by the deadline as well as making sure it's of a high standard. 

Toolkit 2 - In Class (Expression Changes and Head Movements)

 This week we looked at adding expression changes and head movements. For the expressions, each change is based around a word that stands out in the speech so that there is a reason for the movement. The same with the head movement, leaning in and out for dramatic effect but not alternating so much that it looks too simulated. 

Toolkit 2 - In Class (Phoneme, Visemes and Tongue)

 This week we looked at developing the lip sync further by adding a stretch and pull motion as well as lip curl to create the right shapes for each sound. We started by looking as the muscle structure around the mouth and then moved onto how each letter and sound forms a generic mouth shape. I then added in the appropriate phoneme and visemes shapes to each major sound as well as tongue movement for the L sounds. 

Toolkit 2 - In Class (Jaw Bounce)

This week we looked at facial animation and syncing audio with basic mouth movements. The jaw bounce accounts for the overall look of the animation and serves as a base for more detail. Essentially, opening and closing the mouth where the sounding out of words would cause you to do so. The jaw bounce also sets the rhythm for speech and makes the final product smoother. The next step would be to add more details like lip curl. 

Premise - Animatic (no sound)

The narrative starts with a young girl reading outside of her house, moving on to a school environment. The events show an example of social anxiety and the build up of emotions before and after. The colour are design all relates to emotion and distortion. 

Above is my first draft animatic. I am in the process of sourcing a suitable backing score. I think that the story is nearly there however there is some timing issues and a few tweaks need to be made which I will finish over this week. At this point in the project I am aiming to get as much done as possible to give myself a comfortable amount of time to complete the next few stages, Maya based work still takes me longer than I would like it to and I want to make sure that by the end of this project I am happy with what I have produced. I think that my main concern is making sure the narrative gets across, so after adjusting the timing I will also go back over my script and make some adjustments to make the story more accessible for an audience. 

Premise - Violet Orthographs

 I response to my OGR I have begun to plan out what I intend to have finished by the end of this premise project. Below are some initial orthographic drawings for my main character. I also plan to have an animatic with sound as well as all my major design work finished so that I am able to begin the modelling process of sets and characters.

Premise - OGR

 

Premise - Character Development

For my premise I have developed some background character designs so that I can get my overall style for this project more refined. I really like how the colours work against the black background however I still need to develop an environment design that interacts well with the harsh colours. However, as far as the characters go, I like the style, colour choices, and the overall designs just need to be developed further as they are a bit rough at this point. 

Character Line Up 

Background characters, before and after warping

Premise - Location Ideas and Designs

 After developing the narrative for this project further I have started some rough designs for a location. The main characters colour choices are based around emotion, so I wanted to see what the environment would like like if it also reflected that. I like how the more vibrant colour pallets look and it could be interesting to develop this idea further, however, considering that much and the surrounding characters are also high contrast, it might be a bit to confusing for the eye. I will continue to design more spaces as well as adapting the characters design until I get something that is cohesive and feels right.