This Page is made for Walking

More walk cycles, the 3D piece from last week and both 3D and 2D from this week. The first 3D one uses a rig ('Burt') which was simply for legs, while the other is a modified 'Andy' rig edited by 3D chief George. The Andy rig walk is rather scrappy, and I think I need to practice a bit on using humanoids in 3D more. It was fun to work with, but a little tricky, especially given time constraints.

In order; Burt, Andy, Mr Walker

Walk it off

Latest 2D project completed;

Work has also been carrying on with regards to The Pack. The Grapic Novel has, finally, been put into the long and slightly clogged pipeline that is my production process.

Page 1, Page 2/Title Page

Long time, no post

A slight break in work has meant no update. I hereby remedy that with a slightly late pixelation animation, with the idea in part coming from Scott Wiley and Stacey Remnant, animated by myself, and photographed and sound-edited by Nigel Kitts. (Yes, he sounds that goofy.)

Personal work time is going on more up to date designs for characters, story settings and other things that, hopefully, will find themselves animated in the not too distant future. The one I would really like to set to work on is a story called The Pack.

The Pack is set in a world where the people are what are known as anthromorphs, or simply anthros. Another name people tend to know this style of character by is 'Furry'. While technically true, the word itself is more often than not used in the context of an insult to those who draw or follow that style of art and character. As such, I refer to my art of that style as Anthro art, and always will do.

The Pack is based in England, in and around London. The year is around about 2030, a not too distant future, but the country as a whole is starkly different. The Government, complete with capital letter, is almost a police-controlled state, headed by the Anti-Anarchy-Strike-Force, or AASF, following a year long eruption into pure anarchy. Peace is now maintained by iron-fisted rule and the AASF. London was the worst hit, whole districs reduced to rubble, some areas of the city actually crumbling and sinking into the subway beneath. Overhead hangs the Smog, a congealing mass of cloud and fumes that never truly dissapitates, covering the city in perpetual gloom.

Against all these odds hope endures, namely in the form of the Track Runners, musicians and artists outlawed for not complying to the Governments strict censorship laws, who use the miles and miles of train tracks to keep one step ahead of the law, hosting gigs and shows for those brave enough to travel to them.

The Pack was the very first major story I started work on, and the one that brought forth the most ideas, including Winterwolf Arts itslef, which features heavily as a figurehead for the Track Runners of London. I would definitely like to work on The Pack as a major project while at university. Only time will tell, I suppose.

Of Jumping Cubey's, and other things

More animation for ye, and me. The light-box is proving to outshine my expectations, and is producing some very good results. The latest 2D assignment was to make a bouncing ball, and then to make a little 'Cubey' character jump up and down. Both of which are shown here;

The 'BB' Project:

The Jumping Cubey:

Now I need to try out Maya 3D software, for the 3D assigment. Once again the subject matter is B-Bs, and hopefully the process won't be quite as complex as it looked in the lecture. Mostly it will just be a case of getting to grips with the software and interface. After that the principles are identical.

-RW

Begin the Begin

Finished the first project with no problems. After drawing out the starting frame (a basic circle), I actually went to the end and drew the final frame (The snow-star, a symbol I use a lot). I then worked from the #12 frame all the way back to the first frame. This ensured that the morph remained smooth throughout.

The actual technique of lightbox-animation, drawing a drawing effectively on top of the last one using the lightboxes, is much easier than it sounds. Although it would definitely take longer to actually move than 3D animation (Once you have the rigs, scene etc.) it is surprisingly fluid. Although that does depend on how many inbetween stages you want to do. I think I'll definitely be looking at this more when I drop into the studio.

Currently working on digitising a picture of Optimus Prime, designed for my UK Transformers story line. More of a personal project, but it's a good example of how Uni is helping to improve the way I work.

And So it Begins

6/10/09

So. How do you begin on something like this?

University proper began today. First lectures in 2D and 3D principles, along with the first assignment from Andy in 2D. A simple circle morph animation. I already have a fairly good idea of what I might do, the question is wether the morph is feasible in 11/12 frames. If not, then I can always simplify the idea somewhat. Given tommorow is our studio day, I would hazard a guess at being able to get on with it fairly fast.

Art History and Theory was the second part. Some interesting and downright useful points from that, a couple of which I need to have a look at when I start working into my stories again. Also a few examples of animation, and other useful bits and pieces.

That about wraps up the first post, at any rate. Winterwolf Arts is officially open.
More likely to have a fuller post tommorow.

-R.W