practice drawings

Some more secondary drawings of a few friends of mine. I did these really just to keep up the drawing practice. I felt that if i drew some of my friends id easily be able to tell if i was drawing accurately. However not quite there yet, still a few issues with shading and facial details.        

'Use ur Egg' test animation

I managed to do this animation in just one day! so i must be getting better with the process. 
It is a response to a Cartoon Network brief published in the recent YCN annual. The briefs aim is to encourage children to put their imaginations to good use by doing something creative with it.
I was intending to develop this concept further by doing a series of egg animations where they transform into a number of different things, but i then saw the recent cadbury cream eggs advertisements. The adverts are to strong too compete with by using the same object so i decided to drop the concept. I will however finish this one just for the fun of it! 

My first few sessions in life drawing

Examples of pastel and charcoal drawings i did at the drop-in life drawing sessions at the Candid Arts Trust in Angel. 

Up to date i have done about six sessions of life drawing and although its surprisingly fun, i have got a huge amount to learn. I had previously just assumed that i had a good understanding of how to draw the human body but during my first session i was shocked at just how bad i really was!

I plan to continue classes and upload photos on this blog, hopefully ill then see a gradual improvement from these drawings.   

Getting back to basics of life drawing after long time. These are some secondary drawings i completed in preparation for life drawing classes.  

'Grow with Rugby' animation

I used the same technique as in my previous animations but this time i drew over 350 frames, each of them then scanned, textured and adjusted on photoshop before editing on flash! Its a long process but in my opinion it really pays off. 
There are a few things i want change and edit out when i get the chance. I am not happy with the the whole 'up in smoke' ending, but it was something i resorted to as i had ran out of time. The slogan is very cheesy but i've never been good with slogans, so it can stay. At least i have added some sound this time!!i still need to get my head around applying sound effects when i do ill post it again.
overall i am quite impressed with being able to complete almost a minute of a hand drawn animation without any animation tuition. I am now keen to continue my exploration into animation, to get my head around the fundamentals and hopefully get a lot better! 
-music extract from Transformers:The soundtrack, Steve Jablonsky.

Character development

After my failed stop motion attempt (below) i returned back to 2D animation. my concept changed from a boy against monsters to grass vs mud. i wanted to represent an organic battle between grass and mud which would appeal to children and encourage them to play Rugby. looking at a rugby pitch after a game (during awful conditions) you sometimes cant tell wether the pitch is made up of more mud than grass or vise versa, almost as if the elements had be battling each other for territory.

Mud monster sculptures

These are some plasticine models i made. originally i created these with the intention of producing a stop motion animation about a battle/rugby match between monsters made of mud. However these are some great examples of jumping into a project without fully researching into the techniques of production. I had read a few books about making a plasticine animation with a few household materials and soon jumped into producing my first models. I had read that i could use a coat hanger to make the skeleton of the model so that it could be moved without falling apart, but the one i used was too rigid and the metal contained too much memory. The result was that i couldn't move the models with it returning to its original position. I also didn't round off the ends of the metal, so every time i moved it the metal would pierce through the plasticine. 

So the stop motion idea ended. oh well you really learn through experience so i guess next time ill spend more time researching!!

They do make nice sculptures mind you.         

Rugby advertisement

Another university brief yet again and for the second time i approached this project with the intention of making another animation.

In this project i wanted to combine my two of favorite interests, Art and Rugby. Here are a couple of my initial images. These were created with plant soil and good old PVA glue on plain paper.     

Nick ident 2

And heres my second animation! This was made using the same method as before, but as i refined my technique slightly, it was completed in half of the time.
again no sound yet...sorry...  

my 1st animation!!Nick Ident 1

this is my 1st exploration into animation which i completed while in my 3rd year at uni. I had always wanted to do my own animation but just didn't seem to get the chance or tuition throughout my time at uni. i finally managed to take the plunge into various animation texts when i was able to conduct a self initiated project last year. 

After reading a few books i managed to gain a really basic understanding of how to make a hand drawn animation. So with the help of a lightbox i hand drew all the frames (around 40 in total). The only other problem was my complete lack of software knowledge- enter professor Youtube- a few flash tutorials later and my 1st animation was complete :) 

no sound yet but i reckon ill add it later when i get the chance, ill then upload the vid again.    

Nickelodeon storyboards

These are some storyboards for a couple more idents based on the same concept as the animations above. The two characters are loosely based on my relationship with my older brother. The little grouchy looking character represents me and the big slow witted character is my brother (a very accurate depiction in my view ;) ). The stories are based on how my brother always seems to unintentionally, stress me out to the point of explosion but seemingly appears none the wiser, as if he were doing nothing at all. The little grouch (me) is cocky and critical and as a result is the victim of bad karma.

In the first storyboard the two brothers are on a beach, doing what every boy does when on a pebbled beached, needlessly throwing rocks until their shoulders dislocate. The grouch throws a pebble and is quite cocky about the distance of his throw. His dim wit brother (btw Ryan i am only joking) then reaches down for a rock but as a result of not paying attention, grabs the grouch and launches him far into the sea (further than the pebble), then turns to the screen with an idiotic expression on his face.


The second story board is an introduction to the Dinosaur animation above. 
My brother is happy painting an orange object until I come along and start criticizing his work. Believing myself to be a better artist than my brother i demand the brush and begin to alter his work. Only then does the object start to move and reveal the sharp teeth of a theropod dinosaur. Again i pay for being cocky and critical. The moral of the story is quite clear.            

Design Museum Breif

These are some examples of illustrations i created for a competition brief at uni. The aim of this project was to create an alternative city guide of London that could be used by any one. It had to be made cheaply while also being robust enough to be used on the streets. most importantly it had to take the user on a unique journey through the city. 

University Client Brief (BFI Southbank) images to promote a season of Stanley Kubrick films.

i moved away from the earlier illustrations as i felt that they were not reflective of the content of Kubrick's films. The images needed to be a lot more darker and gritty, not bold and colorful. these are examples of working with some of the iconic quotes from 'Full Metal Jacket', 'The Shinning' and 'A Clockwork Orange'.    

BFI illustrations

Some illustrations of the man himself (Kubrick)