FrankieSoFar

more big blue legs

2012-02-28T15:45:00.000Z

i was thinking post-apocalyptic mutant, amazonian-ish lady who likes to wear bright white undies.

big blue legs

2012-02-27T16:03:00.000Z

Look Test

2012-02-20T16:02:00.000Z

rough ideas for a web advert.

2012-02-20T15:53:00.000Z

these are a few rough ideas i generated for insurethebox with the intension of explaining there unique services.

-The information in some of the animatics is not entirely accurate, what i wrote was only to give an idea of type placement-

ITB development

2012-01-21T15:44:00.000Z

Monkey Games Room

2012-01-21T15:40:00.003Z

These are some body shapes i put together for the online shopping company, Monkey Games Room The head of the character is part of the companies logo designed by Dominic Trevett. Once I finalize the shape i will get started on a short animation.

sketches

2012-01-21T15:32:00.000Z

thanks

2011-12-23T19:18:00.001Z

i have been a bit surprised with the early response and kind feedback to my student film Passing By
these nice chaps were kind enough to post my film on there video channels and websites:
The peg bar and grill
Animated review
Everything Animated
Animated film makers society
Oanim
Vakukfilms

thanks a lot!

my student film: Passing By

2011-12-17T15:14:00.003Z

Passing By completed at Central Saint Martins college of Art and Design 2011.

At long last i have finally decided to upload my student film! many apologies to those who have waited so long to see what i ended up with (Laurent and Tori especially) i had initially planned to work into it more but i got caught up with other priorities. Then as the months flew by, i returned to the film but i felt i had grown as an animator and if i started to fiddle around with it id just end up re-animating the whole film. however i did tweek a couple of minor things that bugged me in the original version i graduated with. Now its time for me to move on.

i really hope you all enjoy it!

some straight ahead fun

2011-12-17T15:06:00.000Z

random komodo

2011-12-17T14:48:00.002Z

i designed some lizard characters for an education project my sister was working on. i kinda liked this one.

more attempts at drawing

2011-12-17T14:46:00.001Z

oh how i yearn to be a better artist!

continued character development for ITB

2011-11-18T01:29:00.004Z

Breca ver.2

2011-11-16T19:54:00.001Z

finding shape

2011-11-06T12:33:00.000Z

i think i have finally settled on a shape for my character Breca. over the next week i am going to use the red structure to play around with costume and colour. hopefully i will settle on a final design soon then i will get on to doing a character turn around. i have a few animation tests i want to do with him after that, then ideally i will start piecing together a narrative for a short film, roughly one minute long.

feedback would be most appreciated during these stages. thank you!

awesomeness

2011-11-06T12:01:00.002Z

my good friend Oschon kindly shared this video with me, assuming that because of my Anglo indian heritage i might find it appealing. A rather general assumption but nether the less he was was totally right! this dudes got some swagger. -3:53- 4:01, thats my new bar entrance dance.

Animation tests for insurethebox

2011-11-05T20:41:00.002Z

testing out a couple of my character designs. a couple more tests to come next week.

sketcharoos

2011-11-05T14:15:00.000Z

Still trying to improve.

Thanks Anthony!

2011-10-26T23:34:00.000+01:00

I am now a proud owner of one Anthony Holden's sketches! its now my mission to one day be as awesome as he is. more of his work can be seen here

thanks dude!

warming up

2011-10-22T19:09:00.003+01:00

over the past month i have been working with the talented Director Iria Lopez on her animated film Jamon. It will be completed in the new year and it already looks fantastic. i wish her the best of luck with all the final touches and i cant wait to see finished piece on the big screen! it has been an absolute pleasure working with you Iria, i will miss your lovely pig characters as well as your well made coffees.

I am now back to working with the creative team at insurethebox. The first order of business was to create a character from there logo to be included in a bill board campaign in Manchester. Unfortunately the socks didn't make it through but the lucky box that did was box no.8. So he'll be roaming the streets and bus stops of manchester in no time.

ignore the final image i think i was very tired when i did that. More design exploration to come very soon.

As ever your feedback is most welcome.

Continued design exploration

2011-10-17T22:23:00.001+01:00

these are continued explorations from this previous post. I was advised by wes to observe 'larger' members of the public and to look at there posture as well as think about there structure. so i did a bit of 'chubby chasing' during my daily my commute to work and sketched out these designs.

please let me know what you think.

fellow commuters

2011-10-02T22:39:00.001+01:00

over the last couple of weeks i have been assisting Director Iria Lopez on her wonderful graduation film over at the NFTS. Its been a pleasure working with her and it feels great to animate on paper again.

Also the four hour return journey from Mordor aka Morden- Beaconsfield gives me plenty of time to continue my gesture studies. ill continue journeying up to Beaconsfield over the next two weeks, so stop by again to see if my studies improve.

Character Development for Insurethebox

2011-09-17T19:39:00.001+01:00

building from last weeks ideas, trying to simplify the designs and play with shapes.

more from the london tubes

2011-09-17T19:27:00.002+01:00

Initial Character Ideas for InsureTheBox

2011-09-12T23:08:00.004+01:00

Last week i started working on a new commission with the creative department at insurethebox, a car insurance company that offers a unique service to its customers (check their webpage for more details)

These are a selection of characters from my sketchbook covering a range of initial ideas. My aim is to create a family of characters that are appealing, unique and yet simple enough to be animated fairly quickly.

more developments to come soon, so keep visiting and providing your valued feedback!thanks

Keeping Busy

2011-08-25T14:14:00.005+01:00

Monkey Monitor from Frankie Swan on Vimeo.

Client: Monkey Monitor

I was commissioned by Ubiquity Comms to create an animation to explain what the software monkey monitor does, without the luxury of a voice over.

A tight four week project where i had to come up with the concept, design and sfx, also animate composite and direct! but got the job done phew.

Luckily I had help from these lovely and talented people:

music: Rafael Baldwin- rafael.baldwin@rcm.ac.uk

assistant animation:

Hannah Lau-Walker

Chris Wilder

The client received a slightly different version (i preferred the top one):

Character Designs

2011-08-23T22:49:00.000+01:00

(above image by Wesley Louis)

A couple of weeks ago i asked my mentors and friends Kristian and Wes if they wouldn't mind giving me some guidance and pointers on character design (check there blogs they are both unbelievably good artists). I gave them a copy of my Breca design (a couple of posts down) and asked how they would approach developing him further and also how they approach character design in general. I was enlighten by their feedback and below are some rough biro sketches where i tried to apply some of there suggestions.

By allowing them access to my work i learned a lot more about design principles and it also clearly highlighted some the mistakes i was making, mistakes which had me frustrated but ones only a fresh pair of eyes could point out.

Still rough and no way near ideal but hopefully they can see some improvements.

I also got carried away and thumbnailed a short animation idea for Breca:

This isn't the first time the guys have helped me in this way and i hope it wont be the last. thanks again!

more explorations to come!

More Learning

2011-08-05T23:48:00.001+01:00

Only have time to share some more sketches as i am still working away on another project. The top five were done while watching a famous animation (someone please guess what animation, if its not obvious then i still suk!) I pushed myself to draw quickly to try and capture what i saw appear on the screen. I mainly tried to focus on character and expressions. Was a fun task and I think i will make it a rule to watch TV with my pad at the ready. Stanchfield does suggest this in his books, dunno why it took me so long to actually do it- being too lazy i guess.

on another note to myself, i really should break away from making to many/ hairy lines, shows I'm not thinking enough when i draw.

Showreel 2011

2011-07-27T11:31:00.009+01:00

Frankie Swan 2011 Showreel from Frankie Swan on Vimeo.

Forgot to post this! Many thanks to Paul/ Mr Paal for the advice and suggestions.
Music by The Dubliners, Rocky Road to Dublin. Really got into their music during the long sleepless nights of trying to finish my film. It kept my morale up but also kept me singing past 3am annoying some. Their music also influenced the backstory for Fran's wife Mary in my film and listening to it helped me to stay involved with the motivation of my characters. So it seemed appropriate to have one of Luke Kelly's best on my reel.
You gotta love their beards.

miscellanies medley

2011-07-26T19:20:00.001+01:00

I have been kept busy with work which is why i haven't been posting as prolifically as usual. Thought I would just share some of my 'thinking sketches' with you lovely people. My list of things i want to do keeps on getting larger and new ideas keep popping up out of the blue, i just wish there was more time in the day to draw it all down!

better post next time hopefully! gotta get my film up here too, so expect that soon.

The last of LAS 18

2011-07-11T23:46:00.001+01:00

So thats it, the end of a fantastic year immersed in animation at Central Saint Martins. It flew by quickly but i enjoyed every moment of it (even the stressful bits) i just wish i could do it all over again.

I will miss my desk, my wall of inspiration, the common room, the line testers even flipbook but most of all ill miss the fantastic people i met on the course. i wish you all the best of luck for the future! keep in touch and keep animating!

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank a number of heros who have helped me out a lot with my animation, drawing and story telling, especially with my final film. I am privilege to have received feedback, advise and support from such incredibly talented individuals. So Thank You (in no particular order):

Cheers for taking the time to help me but please don't stop coz i still need it!

Farewell to the northern line, Week 27-30 :(

2011-07-11T22:21:00.000+01:00

Sorry for the disappearing act over the last few weeks i have been immensely busy with finishing off work, preparing for my show and basically sorting my life out.

Well this is it my regular journey on the great Northern Line from Morden- Moorgate has now come to an end (i really wish i had done better drawings to commemorate this occasion) but i swear i shall continue my struggles elsewhere and upload as often as possible.

Northern Line it has been emotional.

Last Minute Changes

2011-06-07T07:46:00.002+01:00

On the northern line, Week 25/26

2011-05-30T21:47:00.000+01:00

clean up tests

2011-05-30T21:45:00.004+01:00

Rough Animation CSM Week 25

2011-05-30T14:02:00.002+01:00

This is a really sketchy version of the key frames of my film, at some points i have just cut my animatic.

Feedback from our rough cut crit was on the whole very positive. However It was suggested that I shorten the length of the first kiss as some people in the audience found it a tad 'creepy' that a young women was kissing an old man so passionately. I was initially a bit shocked by this reaction as i felt strongly about the scene and about showing mary as a loving and passionate women. I will try shorten it and see if i get my desired reaction of a small confused shock. Also people disliked the design of 'Mary' and thought that her Disney Princess appearance didn't fit with the feel of the film or the design of her husband 'Fran'. It was suggested that i make her more stylized in the same mode as 'Fran', less sexy and more (forgive the word) domestic. Fair comment i guess, although the rough cut was'nt animated on model. A few of the Scenes arn't timed exactly and rush by a bit too quickly.

Right now i am ploughing through my scene's putting the characters on model and adjusting the animation not long left now!!

On the northern line, Week 23/24

2011-05-16T00:15:00.000+01:00

Back on the great northern line again, bit of shaky return hopefully next week will bring about better drawings. Have been using some awful biro pens that haven't been much fun to draw with so I better change that.

Final Animatics

2011-05-15T22:25:00.003+01:00

Calling all my blogging heros (you know who you are) please share your thoughts with me. Is something not reading well? should i change something? what would make it better or should i just start again? :)
the second animatic gives an idea of how it will work with the layouts. Im not entirely happy with the layouts but i don't really have time to go over them just now as i need to get on with the actual animation.

More Layout Practice

2011-05-15T21:14:00.002+01:00

Tried very hard to keep my layouts as simple as possible yet at the same time very clear to the audience. wish i had more time to do more but then its not really my thing so i doubt they'd get much better than this. Saying that though i did actually go through two whole sketchbooks just to get to this level! better keep practicing.

Character Development pt 3

2011-05-15T21:11:00.000+01:00

some more scrappy sketches from my journal.

Character Development pt 2

2011-04-29T18:28:00.000+01:00

Character Development

2011-04-27T22:26:00.001+01:00

Some early designs of Fran, hes looking more like an obese butcher than fragile oap so its back to work.more to come shortly.

Layout Practice

2011-04-27T21:36:00.000+01:00

Some Sketches

2011-04-27T21:19:00.000+01:00

Inspirations and Research log.

2011-04-21T11:14:00.018+01:00

I thought it would be a good idea to keep a log of all the things that inspire me during the production of my short film. I will continue to add to this post as i stumble upon on more inspiration.
If you have any suggestions of anything that may inspire me please leave a comment.

I will start with some amazing animations that Tim pointed out to me after hearing my new idea and reading my script. They all share a similar theme of loss and passing but deal with it in a very subtle, stylized and sensitive manner. All things i hope to achieve in my film.

Father and Daughter from Max Sombroek on Vimeo.
Written and Directed by Michael Dudok De Wit

Le Papillon - Antoine Antin & Jenny Rakotomamonjy (2002) from O.C. on Vimeo.

The Chestnut Tree Directed by Hyun-Min Lee
A much more familiar source of inspiration is 'Married Life- Carl and Ellie' form Disney Pixar Up by Michael Giacchin. Beautiful character design, i especially adore Carls hands.

While on the subject of UP, Wesley Louis showed me this incredible blog post by
Lou Romano- 'Up Color Script' Not only am i blown away by the his use of colour but i absolutely love his graphic illustration style as well as the textures of his pieces.

For background reference i have been looking at the works of Scott wills i do not expect to create any thing near as amazing as his paintings but they have inspired me to grab some paints a do so some tests as research. I particular enjoy his work on Samurai Jack such as these:

The pace and story telling in Ian Worrel's 'second wind' is great and the visual style is mouth watering!

Second Wind from Ian Worrel on Vimeo.
Another touching graduation film Directed by AIB graduates Laurent Rossi and Tori Davis. I have been fortunate enough to get some really helpful feedback from both of them so THANK YOU guys!

the following two animations really influenced my approach to character design.

i love the finish of this film, to achieve something similar would be ideal. Eliza Ivanova uses flash but animates in the traditionally way, which is something that i have really been pushing over the last few months with my own work.

Piece of Cake from Eliza Ivanova on Vimeo.
more from Eliza and another interesting method of using flash's colours

pope from Eliza Ivanova on Vimeo.

and another good finising technique by Kris Anka

a bear film from kris anka on Vimeo.

'Fran' Animatic ver.3 (alternative ending)

2011-04-19T12:57:00.001+01:00

It looks like she's gushing blood as Fran grabs her but its petals not blood, i just got carried away most plants don't shed petals like that so if i go ahead with that effect ill calm it down some.

'Fran' Animatic ver.2

2011-04-19T11:54:00.000+01:00

New Animatic. 'Fran' (thats the title for now) Ver.1

2011-04-19T11:43:00.001+01:00

Real Reference

2011-04-19T11:35:00.002+01:00

The script below is loosely based on an encounter i had while taking a walk in my local park (Cannon Hill Common). I was actually taking photos of trees- as you do- in a remote part of the common when i notice an elderly chap walk past rather slowly... slow even for a old man. I found it strange but continued snapping away at trees. Some time later in another part of the common i saw the same chap again. He was walking slow still, but suddenly came to a stop. He then raised his head to the sky and fell back hitting the floor flat on his back. I ran to help him- he was broad and heavy- eventually i got him up and walked him to a bench. I sat with him and talked for a while. He and i strangely had a lot in common including our names, he was also named Francis but his friends called him Fran. He has a big family, he's father of eight while I am one of eight members of my immediate family. His wife is one of twelve children and my mum is one thirteen!

Fran is 87 and has metal knee replacements which weighed six pounds each, so walking for long periods is really difficult for him. He fell back because he simply had no more energy left in him to stand up or even walk. He was thankful that i stumbled into him otherwise he could have been left on the cold muddy floor for a long time, until another passer by came along. I was thankful to meet such a nice man.

The images above are taken on the common where i met Fran. I intend to use them as reference for my film.

A different Approach- Writing a Script

2011-04-19T11:12:00.002+01:00

Old Fran.
Dried up flowers lay on a park bench overlooking a wide field of a suburban common. It was a rare mild and sunny winters day. behind the bench was a muddy path leading towards a wooded area of the common. the path is covered by a corridor of trees. within the dim light of the wooded canopy approached an old man holding a small bouquet of flowers.

Fran walked a long the same muddy path leading upwards towards a familiar bench that overlooked a wide open field on the common. He walked slowly along the path beneath the canopy of trees. Fran found journey towards the bench far more egregious than ever before.
He felt the pressure in his knees build up and his muscles begin to strain. he stopped to try and catch his breath. he tried to fill his lungs with air but all he could muster were shallow intakes. He looked up towards the bench and tried to continue walking. fran could not find the strength to lift his legs, his heart raced and his visioned blurred. The sounds of the trees and wildlife muffled. Once more he looked towards the bench. It glowed in the sunlight just beyond the dark canopy of trees. Dropping the bouquet of flowers, Fran clasped his right breast as the beating of his heart sent a Sharpe pain across his chest. Suddenly he was aware that he was alone. He moved his head from side to side frantically looking for a passer by. He then tried reaching for the flowers but the pain was unbearable and his hand retreated back to breast. He raised himself to a full stretch. gasping he tried to take in some air but he could manage nothing. He felt all his strength leave him as he exhaled what was left in his lungs. He fell backwards towards the muddy ground falling still like an tree. He braced himself for the imminent pain he was about to experience as his heavy body slammed on the ground. But Fran felt nothing, no pain or noise.
He lay there starring up at the branches of the canopy helpless. Soon he could make out the sounds of footsteps heading towards him. he was relieved to see that a young woman had found him. She knelt down next to him placing one arm behind his shoulders. She gracefully pulled him to a seated position. Fran tried to utter a thanks to the women but found no voice. Silently the women pulled Frans left arm around her slender shoulders and lifted him to his feet with gentle ease. Only now that he was standing did Fran register that the women showed no sign of strain while lifting his 16 stone body and that while doing so he had not assisted her effort.
She pulled Frans arm down from her shoulders and held his thick hand with her slender fingers. She stood in front of him starring deeply into his eyes. Fran starred back firstly in confusion but there was something familiar about this person, he felt he knew her. Suddenly feeling unease by the gaze of the beautiful women he briefly averted his eyes. He looked once more and was about to utter a thank you but the women suddenly held his face with her hands and kissed him softly on his lips. Fran was in shock as the long kiss continued. She then pulled away stepping back but maintaining her gaze. She gestured to him to follow her then turned around a glided a few more yards up the path towards the bench before gesturing to him again. Fran hesitated for a moment his mind still in shock but his eyes firmly focused on her slender form. He soon found the will to move his legs and head towards her. As he made his way images of his past flashed before him.
It started with a somber image of the last moment he saw his wife, while he stood by her bedside as she passed away. Then came an vision of becoming a father. As these images past he felt the weight of his body being lifted, he could now move with ease. Energy and strength returned to him and he felt fully rejuvenated. The women ahead of him continued to glide along the path until she reached the exit of the canopy which was now lit brightly by the sun. she turned once more towards Fran immediately catching his gaze. As Fran met her gaze an image of the first time he met his wife flashed before him. It was her, she appeared now as she had done when he first laid eyes on her. At this realisation Fran sprinted towards her. he ran with all his might and as he did his faced firmed and eyes glowed as tears fell. As he reached her he lifted her up from the floor in a warm embrace spinning in the light.
*fade to white*
fade in, shot of plaque on bench.
“in memory of Elizabeth Potter 1937-2005, loving mother of six children and wife of Fran.”
end
credits

I am lucky enough to have a little ( a lot) more help on my final project thanks to Tim McCourt , director of 'Drawing Inspiration' who has kindly offered to be my acting producer as well as continued support from my mentor Kim Alexander (12foot6). With there help i shall not fail!!
After my last animatic crit i was a bit down in the dumps and i knew i didn't want to precede any further with my original idea. So I returned to my painting of choice to try rekindle my original inspiration. last time i had been consumed with trying to create a drama between the characters John the Baptist and Saint Jerome and that led me down the path of my last animatic. By completely ignoring that previous idea and the literal characters within the image i saw something else in the painting. I saw the composition of child, sub adult and elderly man as more of a representation of life, of growing old and dying. This new train of thought reminded me of an encounter i had that made a lasting impression on me. It was this combination that sparked off my new idea!
instead of getting stuck in with thumbnailing (like last time) Tim suggested that first write my story down as a script/ a form which makes clear sense to me. I was a tad apprehensive at first because clearly I am not a great writer. However by writing a script as descriptive as my vocabulary would allow, it helped me in developing and visualizing my idea quickly without getting bogged down with picking shots to thumbnail. Turned out to be be a great starting point so cheers Tim. oh and apologies to you poffins for any spelling and punctuation errors.

On the northern line, Week 22

2011-04-10T21:52:00.002+01:00

haven't been feeling the poses lately, think I'm just getting tiered of the northern line.

Good thing I'm on holiday then! I should push myself to draw people in other surroundings.

Rough Animatic

2011-04-10T21:49:00.003+01:00

Rough animatic from Frankie Swan on Vimeo.
This animatic is based on one of the thumbnail ideas below. I didn't have a lot time to get this completed, only a couple of days in fact which is why it starts off promising but gradually becomes more and more crude.
The feedback i got from a animatic crit at the national gallery was mixed. A lot of people didn't get the point of story or understand who/what the boy was and his relationship to the old man. I got asked a lot of questions that i couldn't really answer confidently and i think this was because i hadn't really understood my own idea. My spontaneity got the better of me again. If you look carefully at the thumbnails you'll notice that i was developing one particular idea, then I thumbnailed a completely different idea. it was this spontaneous idea that i chose to pursue further in the animatic. In hindsight it was a bad choice.
So i have now decided to abandon this idea and return to painting for inspiration. You gotta know when quit before you get in too deep.

Initial idea 4

2011-04-09T14:37:00.004+01:00

So here are a bunch of my indecipherable thumbnails exploring ideas for my final film. I don't expect any one to understand them, I just wanted to show how my brain was working. what i often do when i have an idea is write down lists then worry about how it might look some time in the future. But for this project i changed all that and tried to get my ideas out of my head and down on paper in the form of sequential thumbnails. It takes a bit longer but i think you get a better understanding of your idea.

Initial idea 3

2011-04-09T14:17:00.003+01:00

Initial idea 2

2011-04-09T14:02:00.002+01:00

Initial Idea 1

2011-04-09T13:43:00.006+01:00

Final Project!!! Collaboration with the National Gallery

2011-04-09T12:47:00.003+01:00

The brief is to create a short film inspired by any one of the paintings in the National Gallery collection.
After much searching and deliberation I settled on this painting entitled, Madonna and Child With Saints by Parmigianio 1526-7.

Task Project animatic, CSM Week 20

2011-04-09T12:28:00.001+01:00

Task Animatic from Frankie Swan on Vimeo.

Kept changing my ideas for this project (check the storyboard below) which wasn't the best thing to do especially as i only had a couple of weeks to complete it. Also tried to do it all in flash which was extremely challenging as the unforgiving flash brushes take a while to get used to.

So ran out of time on this one but in terms of what i learned it was a great experience, in terms of animation not so great, thats why this is more of an animatic than a complete animation. I need to stick to plan in the future!

On the northern line, Week 20/21

2011-03-26T19:27:00.002Z

Lip Sync 2. Rough again!CSM week 19

2011-03-20T23:21:00.003Z

I tend to bite off more than i can chew with my ideas and so always end up with rough/half finished animations i will have to sort this out and really edit my ideas down to the essentials. the beginning is synced up then its just keys. But you get the idea hopefully. I will inbetween over the next week or so (at least roughly any way) Originally planed to put on a Scottish accent for Breca but my voice kept fading into a weird mix of irish and welsh so i turned it into a cockney instead, think it suits him nicely.

On the northern line, Week 19

2011-03-13T23:31:00.001Z

rough idea

2011-03-06T17:09:00.005Z

On the northern line, Week 18

2011-03-06T15:19:00.003Z

A Remarkable Film

2011-02-27T23:15:00.001Z

Drawing Inspiration from Wesley Louis on Vimeo.

By Directors Wesley Louis and Timothy McCourt
Check out the work in progress on there production Blog, Drawing Inspiration
Enjoy

On the northern line, week 16/17

2011-02-27T21:42:00.004Z

Rough lip sync, CSM week 15

2011-02-27T21:00:00.009Z

rough lip sync from Frankie Swan on Vimeo.

Again very rough and needs a lot of sorting out (mouth shapes esp). I am working on a number of things at once at the moment including a demanding task project but hopefully ill find some time to improve all my previous animations. I will also try and upload an update of my task project some time next week.
i hope you enjoy my Jack Nickelson voice impression.

On the northern line, week 15 plus others

2011-02-13T22:39:00.002Z

Some extracts from my new A6 sketchbook created by my friends at Hato Press, made from recycled test/off prints from various artists.

Facial Expressions Exercise (rough) Week 14 CSM

2011-02-05T13:41:00.001Z

Rough face expressions exercise week 14 CSM from Frankie Swan on Vimeo.

On the northern line, week 14 plus others

2011-02-05T12:11:00.000Z

Body acting exercise. Week 12/13 CSM

2011-01-29T18:06:00.002Z

Untitled from Frankie Swan on Vimeo.

The thought of cleaning this up scares me, esp with my ever increasing list of things to do!

For this exercise we were all given a simple activity to animate and we needed to show a change of mood or reaction through body acting. Mine was 'man see's squirrel'. The man in the animation is a builder spending his lunch break in a park. The grumpy squirrel has just had a bad time searching for nuts all day and tries to take a break on the same park bench. The macho builder becomes increasingly more camp as he sees the cute critter and tries to stroke it. But the squirrel is having none of it.

More Character development

2011-01-29T17:21:00.002Z

On the northern line, week 13 plus others

2011-01-29T17:18:00.002Z

'Be relentless in searching for ways to improve your drawings' (Stanchfield, p311)

I will!!

if you have any tips or suggestions that might help me in my quest for improvement please leave a comment/feedback.

cheers

Ouch

2011-01-23T23:18:00.000Z

Was supposed to be doing work tonight, but instead I started playing around with my new wacom tablet.

On the northern line, week 12 and others

2011-01-22T15:29:00.000Z

Animal Run. Week 11 CSM

2011-01-15T14:49:00.002Z

week 11 CSM from Frankie Swan on Vimeo.

Just finished my first week back to Uni after a glorious christmas holiday, took me a couple of days to adjust my sleeping pattern but i 'm settled in now and glad to back.

Our fist assignment was to animate an animal run. Having already done an animal walk i wanted to try something different and animate a run in two point perspective. It was quite challenging trying to maintain the structure and getting the proportions correct (of near enough correct) but i think it does the job of creating the illusion of the 3rd dimension, which is definitely something i want to get to grips with over this year.

I want to clean this up and color it, but i am not sure what method i should use yet. The tail could use a bit more follow through and face needs movement in the mouth and nose which i will sort out. Do you see any thing else that needs changing?? Or have any clean up suggestions???

please please please leave a comment.

On the northern line, week 11 plus other observations

2011-01-15T14:13:00.001Z

Reading through Walt Stanchfield famous lecture notes in Drawn to Life has totally changed my approach to drawing. Over this term i will be trying hard to put his lessons into practice. It was also highly recommended to me by animators Timothy McCourt and Wesley Louis and so I strongly urge everyone to get this book!

Further Developments

2011-01-10T16:08:00.002Z

Still developing a character for next terms task project, not entirely happy with theses designs so i will continue with some more tonight. Please leave some feedback otherwise i can see myself dragging out this design process for a very long time.

Warming Up

2011-01-03T23:18:00.001Z

I have been way to festive over this holiday and haven't done any life studies!

Fortunately I finally snapped out of the holiday spirit today and produced these.

Scrappy Sketchbook Spreads

2011-01-02T23:25:00.000Z

Happy New year everyone!

Here are some early developments of a character idea that i may animate next term.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

2010-12-25T15:56:00.002Z

10 weeks of Animation training

2010-12-17T13:30:00.002Z

CSM Character animation Term 1 from Frankie Swan on Vimeo.
I thought I'd make a small reel of most of my work from the first term at CSM. Bring on term 2!!

mood change walk, Week 10 CSM

2010-12-14T14:26:00.003Z

Week 10 CSM mood change walk from Frankie Swan on Vimeo.

On the northern line, week 10

2010-12-14T13:57:00.002Z

just a few this week. Sleepless nights of trying to finish up animations for my first assessment affected my attention span on the tubes.

4 legged walk cycles. Week 9 CSM

2010-12-05T22:58:00.006Z

4 legged animals from Frankie Swan on Vimeo.

The start of another character idea- 'Gullin' the Boar- who will of course reside in the Breca universe. Hopefully i will get the chance to develop him with plasticine over the Christmas hols.

Also I visited London Zoo on Monday with the aim to draw lots of animals but unfortunately it was absolutely freezing! I wasn't able to keep my tender hands out of my pockets for more than two minutes and so this is all i have to show from the trip.

On the northern line, week 9

2010-12-05T22:16:00.002Z

Snake. Mood Change part 1. Week 8 CSM

2010-11-27T12:31:00.004Z

Week 8 snake from Frankie Swan on Vimeo.

This will hopefully form part 1 of a bigger mood change animation involving the above character. I tried to go for a more 'Tex avery' approach this time so that i can play with more extreme poses, follow through' and squashes later in part 2. Next week we're onto four legged walks so its going to be a real challenge to realize all my ideas. Fingers crossed ill get it done.

Flash and After Effects Test, Week 8 CSM

2010-11-27T11:15:00.006Z

Flash and AE test from Frankie Swan on Vimeo.
On thursday we were taught the basics of using 3D layers with a 2D animation in AE.
I quickly botched up a bird cycle in Flash as well as some background on 4 layers. I then exported all the layers separately as PNG files then imported them into AE. I could then pull the layers apart from a flat image into a 3D image (well more like 2 and half D) and move them around individually. I scaled the cycle to make it look like it was traveling fast from a distance and played around with camera movements and lighting. Its not exactly studio ghibli but to me it was a very helpful exercise. ill be using AE a lot more in the future me thinks.
Now if I can just find someone with a copy...

On the northern line, week 8

2010-11-27T11:10:00.002Z

Clean Up part1, week 7 CSM

2010-11-22T10:08:00.003Z

Week 7 CSM clean up from Frankie Swan on Vimeo.
irregular posting this week which is down to celebrations of my birth on the weekend. This walk still needs some sorting but I need to leave it for now and continue with a bunch of other animations. Its going to be another busy week!

On the northern line, week 7

2010-11-21T21:42:00.004Z

This week i was lucky enough to get some honest drawing feedback from a former CSM animation student Wesley Louis. He gave me some really helpful pointers as well as advice on my approach to drawing. Over the next few weeks i will be aiming to capture more gesture and character.

Sinusoidal wave and Crotaline movement tests

2010-11-13T13:45:00.006Z

Crotaline movement test from Frankie Swan on Vimeo.

Untitled from Frankie Swan on Vimeo.

Visit to London Aquarium, Week 6 CSM

2010-11-13T13:40:00.002Z

Life Drawing. Week 6 CSM

2010-11-13T13:36:00.002Z

On the northern line, week 6

2010-11-13T12:57:00.005Z

And I thought last week was bad! I need to step up my game.

Walk Cycle, Week 5 CSM

2010-11-06T13:50:00.008Z

week 5 walk cycle from Frankie Swan on Vimeo.

rough walk cycle from Frankie Swan on Vimeo.

When my tutor said that walk cycles are one of the hardest things to do in animation I didn't believe him, now i know better. The small mistakes hurt the most and I see a good few! I hope to do a clean up of this cycle and sort out all the errors whenever i get the chance.
I was inspired by The Lost boys from 'Peter Pan' and create this character who is based on memories of my older brother during our childhood. Playing soldier with rusty metal poles we found in our communal garden was one of our favorite childhood games. Ironically my brother became a soldier when he joined the army years later.

life Drawing. Week 5 CSM

2010-11-06T13:49:00.002Z

On the northern line, week 5

2010-11-06T13:47:00.003Z

lame drawings this week. Ill try harder next week hopefully there wont be another flaming strike!

Catch of the day, Week 4 CSM

2010-10-30T13:10:00.009+01:00

Catch of the day from Frankie Swan on Vimeo.

key frames (catch of the day) from Frankie Swan on Vimeo.

This week was all about pushes, pulls and lifts. Its Breca again! He's been out fishing for grub and he's dragging his catch back to his shack of a home. Breca doesn't like fishing- actually he doesn't like any manual work at all- but when he's forced to go he catches the biggest thing he can find, then lives of it for as long as he can. This time he caught a whale which will probably last him week. He also prefers to get things done quickly just so that he get back to his ale.
I've included a bit of process this time (for oschon esp) showing my different approaches to him moving towards the camera at perspective.
Some sound effects of sea gulls, waves and dragging on a pebbled beach would have gone nicely with this.