Animation Tests and Compositing

The first update is some animation of Sam as a whale. I should point out that all artwork is being produced digitally, so the backgrounds and pencil tests and full animation are being done in Photoshop, Toon Boom and After Effects.

The next video is a composite of the animated whale in an undersea environment created in After Effects. The character of the girl will also be placed in the shot.

Sam also takes the form of a dinosaur. The first 2 videos are digital pencil tests, followed by a version with some colour, then the animation composited into a background. The colour and background are at a WIP stage, with some refining to be done later.

Finally, the sequence that has the girl turning Sam into a bat. The shot is a little more complex, considering it has 3 animated elements and some VFX. The timing was worked out with the animatic. From that the girl's animation was planned to coincide with the temp VFX. The first pencil test of the girl worked terrifically. Sam as a bat was fully animated in an afternoon. It was a simple wing flapping cycle with a couple of blinks. The rough edit of the sequence included an added closeup of the bat to establish the character. Thanks to Sky Crompton for the suggestion.

At Long Last....

Well, after a huuuuge gap I am updating my blog. The last couple of months have been very hectic. There's been a few changes to the story and my animatic. Things are progressing reasonably well. I've been immersing myself in Toon Boom and loving it. After Effects is working really well for a compositing tool as well as tweaking some animation. All in all, things are good. There's still a huge amount of work to be done, but I'm feeling confident and energised at the moment.

Updated character design for "Imaginary Sam"

Well...I have a name for my short film as well as a revised design for the character. I've pushed him more towards a "Chuck Jones" style, which is also the style of animation I'm going for, mixed with a bit of Disney "Robin Hood". Ambitious......

I've also started doing some tests for the opening title in After Effects as well as a really quick walk cycle that has lots of things that need tweaking , but it's a start.

The first draft of the script is also done and I'm feeling reasonably good about it.

Character Idea For Short Film

Here's a design of the main character for the film drawn and coloured in Photoshop using a Wacom Intuos 3. There's a few earlier pencil sketches that I have to scan and will post them soon. I will sculpt a couple of maquettes in the coming week.
I haven't named him as yet, waiting for that bolt of imaginative lightning.....

An Intro and Background

Hello viewers. The following blog will be a centralised stream of conciousness, art and inspriration as I return to the world of study and produce an animated short film along the way. I finished study in 2004 with a Diploma of Animation from Holmesglen Institute. I since went on to employment on a few feature films in the area of compositing, but my major feat was becoming a Lead Sculptor on Adam Elliot's "Mary & Max".
Since then I have returned to Holmesglen as a sessional lecturer and am now undertaking further study to produce a 2D Animated Short Film........