#I mostly look at other art I like and try to replicate technique or shading or anatomy

[kirk-goes-to-gallifrey]

I love your art! (I clicked on your art tag and started scrolling.) What is your process for creating a piece? Do you usually look at a single reference photo which you draw from? Do you somehow incorporate photos into your drawings by drawing over them? (I did that once on a tablet.) Or do you use another method? Thanks!

omg hiiiii thanks so much!!!!!!!!

my process is a bit all over the place (I've tried to describe it before with not much success, maybe now I can do a better job hahaha) but yes I always need reference photos, I can't draw anything from my imagination :( sometimes I use more than one picture, but most times I think I use just one photo that I really like and want to reproduce.

when I'm feeling super inspired and I have a lot of free time, I draw from observation only. And then if I get stuck on a particular spot that I feel I can't get right, I overlay the reference picture and make the necessary adjustments. I've been replicating images for such a long time that nowadays I can usually overlay the original over my drawing and 90% of lines match 😅 And when I draw on paper I do the same thing, I place the paper over my screen to check if the lines are where they should be, but always retroactively, first I draw then I check.

I actually started out drawing everything upside down! I learned that technique with another artist (I took a course when I was in high school 15 years ago), cause apparently if you flip your reference upside down, a house stops being a house, eyes stop being eyes, a mouth stops being a mouth, so you can focus on distances between points, lines, areas and proportions only, without thinking "oh a mouth looks like a little cartoon bird on top of a minimalist boat" or whatever, but rather "this shape is about the same size as that one, and is positioned in relation to that other one and that other line..." So that's sort of how I learned to draw/replicate I what I see (if that made any sense). And replicating a photo is much easier than drawing reality cause a picture is already 2D, when I'm drawing something real I have to convert the 3 dimensions to 2 in my head and I often get a headache by the end of the process lmao

Sometimes I don't have the time or energy (it takes a lot of effort from the brain to do the observation thing) and in those cases I do some lines over the reference pic just to get key areas, then I delete the reference layer (of course I keep a copy in another corner of the screen so I can keep looking at it) and paint over the sketched lines till they mostly disappear.

I think painting is the most fun - either in color or b&w - getting the shades to blend and the painting to look realistic is the part that I like most.

I usually paint on photoshop but I recently got a tablet and I've been trying out new software on it. I mostly require a soft brush with opacity varying with pressure. I start out by doing blocks of color and then I blend blend blend.

I often think that my art is not very good (sometimes I question whether it's art in the first place), cause the only thing I'm good at is copying what I see, and because of that I've been trying to play more with colors and textures, trying to make my paintings a bit more different than their reference photos, a bit more "artistic" idk. I wish I could do more stylized stuff. But the realism can be fun too, it relaxes my brain after a whole day of PhDying.

Thank you so much for the ask!!! And for telling me that you like my stuff (ಥ _ ಥ) means a lot <3

[hexfloog]

Hiya! I was thinking about the remastered animation Cel style evil Conan post you put up recently, and I just wanted to say how amazing and impressive it is! I love love love the look of old animation and you really nailed it. I’ve been trying for ages to mimic that look myself and haven’t been able to crack it, so if you ever wanted to talk about your process on this piece, I’d be all ears! Wonderful work, again!

Waaah hi liv!! Thank you, I'm so glad you like it, and that it comes across so convincingly!! One of my favorite things is to make digital art that can have a second life as a different medium, and I wish I had an easy answer for you as to how I go about doing that, but the truth is that it's mostly the result of a lot of trial and error. And a metric ton of references.

Here's a quick process video of my last piece to try to show off what all my layers are like, but I know it's mostly useless without an explanation!! I can't explain it all because I was kinda winging this one for funsies but I can give you general tips for this particular look.

Clip and words below the break!

As a disclaimer I didn't really go into this one intending for it to come out looking the way it did. So it's more of a hybrid look between my usual "clean" digital rendering and a fake screenshot.

[1] Reference, role models, and inspiration - I'm not kidding when I say I used to tote around an entire, dedicated folder filled with printed reference. These days that usually takes the form of about a million browser tabs (￣▽￣) I stare at early Detco and the first six movies a LOT. And Cowboy Bebop. And Akira. And and [insert your choice of 80s-90s anime film]. Depending on the exact look you're trying to replicate, you can always look to a more era-appropriate movie.

I love pulling inspo from films in particular (both animated and live action) because cinema is a whole other art that employs all kinds of techniques for our usual considerations (like lighting and framing), and looking to them can inspire some pretty poignant imagery, especially when you're trying to create something that's meant to mimic a single-frame capture of exactly that. I don't keep up with movies or anything, but I do have my favorites, and it didn't really occur to me to look to them until some of my favorite artists revealed that they do the same with theirs.

For this particular piece, I also had to establish some consistency with the other piece that bookends the scene, so I actually referenced my own art, too.

[2] BIG canvas! I usually work at two or three times the size I expect to export. Following standard aspect ratios for animated productions can help sell the look. Letterboxes have their own ratio, too, if you choose a widescreen canvas; and subtitle fonts are usually standardized to certain font families and colors since their primary purpose is to help make the media accessible. All this is usually a quick google search away, OR… if you're like me, and you still watch physical media… you can just yoink most of this from a real DVD.

[3] Thin lines!! I still can't quite nail the right line weight for these-- I definitely went too thick here-- but they tend to be very fine. And imperfections are good! Nobody has a perfectly steady hand, especially with traditional cels.

[4] Less is usually more when trying to sell a screenshot look… it's easy to over-ink and over-render and-- in my opinion-- restraint is necessary to sell it. This is the hardest thing to explain… it's design vs. rote emulation, I think. But that said, digital aids (next point) do a lot of the heavy lifting in these - as far as the art is concerned, a little will go a long way! These were some of my easiest lines and shading. So on that note…

[5] …Blending modes, masks, and filters are all your friends o___o I get a lot of mileage out of the default tools already available to me in the art software. There's plenty out there that's available for free, too! I recommend you find a fake anime screenshot tutorial, follow it once, and just go nuts when you get to the part where you can play with these settings. The make-or-break for a convincing screenshot-- in my opinion-- is texture and bloom, and all these digital tools will help you achieve that.

I hope this helps!! Hopefully the video can help you see a bit more of the process since I can only really offer tips. It shows everything at full size so you can see the details, so go nuts!

Thank you for the ask! Beaming plenty of good luck that you can find the look you want!!

ALSO I REALLY HOPE THIS IS THE PIECE YOU MEANT I'M LITERALLY ABOUT TO QUEUE THIS UP AND JUST REALIZED THE ONE THAT CAME BEFORE THIS IS MORE REMASTERED CEL ANIMATION LOOK SKSKSKSK

the same tips apply though so i hope they still help all the same :3c

[chalala-chan]

Hi ! 💜✨

Your drawings are too beautiful! How do you make them? 💜✨

That’s very sweet of you ^^ I use CSP (clip studio paint) on an iPad Air 2 I bought a few years ago

Usually I draw with pencil in my sketchbook first, take a photo with my iPad and then use CSP to line, color, and finish it

I have a hard time drawing digitally from nothing but I’ve been trying to get better at it!

[batsabat]

hiii bestie I’ve got a few questions abt ur art so I might as well send them 2 ur art blog >:3 ok so first off your coloring style is REALLY cool & you’re rly good at finding the right places to put certain colors in the shadows & highlights if that makes sense? I just wanna know more about your coloring technique it’s really good!! also you’re really good with drawing actually natural looking hand poses & I’m kinda curious abt your techniques with drawin those!!

hiii!!!! first of all thank you :3 you're a huge inspiration to me so it's amazing to hear you say that :') (this got long so i'm putting a readmore)

secondly: i've been developing my coloring skills for a long time now!! i'm mostly inspired by @/hoofpeet's colors, and remember a while back when i was making those color studies all the time? that's my practice! really i've just been studying the way other people do colors and what they do that draws me to it so much. what i've found is that usually, the color i *think* will be right for something is nowhere *near* the color that's actually right for it! i don't have a lot of solid universal advice, but i can say this: let your colors be very similar to eachother, and instead of just changing the saturation and value of a color you're trying to shade or add texture to, change the hue by small amounts too!! it works WONDERS and once you're able to make those kind of changes habitual while you're coloring, practice is the key!!!

also that's kind of vague, so: when you practice, it's important not to do the same thing over and over. the goal in practicing art techniques (for me, anyways, this is what helps me improve/develop new skills) is not to have a casual doodling drawing time - you have to be thinking about what you're doing pretty much the entire time. try new things, and keep at it!!! those color studies i did, i took a palette and placed the colors around the canvas, and tried to make them connect with eachother. the big thing to remember is that you don't want just a smooth gradient from one color to another!! giving it variety is what'll help improve and quicken your eye for color!

when it comes to texture, i rely hardcore on my brushes and stroke technique, and i kind of develop the texture with the colors i choose. idk if that makes much sense but that's all i can say to explain it shsjfhsj

as for hands - i have almost absolutely no idea how i draw them. some days i can and some days i can't, and some days it just works out really well for me lmaoo... the only advice i can think of giving is the fact that i study my own hands CONSTANTLY even when i'm not drawing. i am basically OBSESSED with the shape and form of my own hands, and that's the reason i'm so picky about the natural shape and form of the hands i draw. even when i draw cartoony little hands with complete disregard for anatomy, i always try to make sure the gesture or "flow" of the way they're moving/resting looks natural.

sorry this isn't more specific shfjdhf!!! a lot of my art comes through trial and error, and closely studying art i like to figure out why i like it, and trying to replicate it in the best way i can.

[mysticsparklewings]

Ziggy Crossing

Still not quite sure I'm 100% back into the swing of things (posting regularly and being more present) yet, but time will tell. For now I'm testing the waters. Anyway. In the time I've been away, I ended up talking to some friends about (to the surprise of absolutely no one) Animal Crossing, and in that conversation, the idea of drawing my cat, Ziggy, as an Animal Crossing villager came up. I'd toyed with it before after seeing some other people draw their pets as villagers, and that conversation more or less sealed the deal for me to at least try it, even if my attempt didn't pan out and see the light of day. Obviously, things went pretty well because here I am posting this. The first step, as it is 90% of the time for me, was to come up with a sketch and go from there. I primarily used Olivia and Lolly [pre-existing Animal Crossing cat villagers] as my references--Olivia for the pose and eyes, Lolly for the stripes and some details regarding the ears and face--but I also checked certain things across the various cat villager models so that details could be consistent where they needed to be. I think if I missed the mark anywhere, it's probably in the proportions. Namely the size of the head and length of the body. But I think it's close enough that unless you compare it directly to Olivia's model that I referenced for the pose, the proportions aren't so off that it's distracting or off-putting. I did originally have trouble figuring out what pattern to put on her shirt though because the real Ziggy doesn't really have anything I could pull a pattern from. These days she does wear a white and silver collar, but that's not a whole lot to work with. So I left that alone while I pondered how I wanted to go about coloring the whole thing. My plan at the beginning was to use this sketch as a test piece for some acrylic paint markers I recently acquired (which you will be seeing me talk about in the future), but once the sketch was finished and I went back to check the colors I had (you know me; gotta have a swatch chart for everything), it was pretty obvious that if I want this to be my dear Ziggy and not just a random tabby cat, I needed to figure out a different coloring method. I could have just done regular acrylic paint, but that sounded like a chore and thus I was not interested. Same with gouache. Colored pencils were on the table, but the main problem I have with those is that they can be pretty slow and personally I think their texture really lends them better to replicating the 3DS/Animal Crossing: New Leaf style, as opposed to the look of New Horizons, and that's not what I was going for here. That left me with two main options: Watercolor, which was a hard pass for this kind of art (at least for Ziggy herself), and alcohol markers, which I did use quite a bit on the last Animal Crossing artwork I made, and they had worked out fairly well. Alcohol markers it was! Of course, even after that decision was made, there was the issue of how to handle the lines of the drawing. When I was planning on using the paint pens/acrylic markers/whatever, that seemed a lot simpler because, in theory, I could just use the same pen I wanted to color with to do the outlines and then fill them in. And because that would be using mostly opaque paint, if I needed to I could just cover up any overlap with relative ease. Alcohol markers don't play by the same rules though, so I had to re-think all that. In the end, I pulled out a pale warm gray Polychromos pencil close to the main color of alcohol marker that I had picked out that I figured would also be light enough to blend in everywhere else. That way I could have the defining lines that I needed without having to worry too much about them being visible in the final product. [For clarification: I picked a Polychromos because once sharpened they tend to hold a point longer and better than the other colored pencils at my disposal and I really needed to keep a sharp point as long as possible to do the lines here.] In retrospect, I do think it might have been to my benefit to pick out a pink for doing the inner ear lines, but the end result there isn't so awful that it single-handedly (paw-ed-ly?) ruins the drawing for me. It's just something to take note of for next time if there is a "next time." Once I had my lines (including doing the eyelashes and mouth with one of my usual black fineliners), the next challenge was the actual coloring. Mostly because I had to be very careful around the edges so that the marker ink didn't feather out too far (as alcohol markers do on any paper that isn't marketed as "bleed proof" because that's what bleed proof in paper actually means--not that it won't bleed through to the other side, though that is less common with that kind of paper, but that it won't "bleed" across the page), and I also had to be a little careful and choosy about how I did any blending or shading. Again, my blending and shading plan was going to be different had I used the acrylic markers. The main thing I ended up doing here was trying to find areas that needed to be layered so that the one-color shading could act as a line/barrier between sections. Best example: Where the ears meet the head, I shaded the bottom portion of the ears. You can also see this a little bit where Ziggy's tail meets her body and where the legs intersect at a few different points. By no means did this turn out perfectly, considering that I really wanted to stick to use as few colors as possible (which means pretty much all the shading is just layers of one color to darken it) which means there isn't as much distinction or variation as there could be. And I feel it necessary to note here that I was worried when I first finished the lines that the eyes looked wonky, but after coloring pretty much everything else in that concern dissolved because 1. It's harder to tell and 2. Even if they aren't exactly the same, it makes visual sense because it looks like her head is slightly turned, meaning the eyes wouldn't be identical anyway. Never underestimate the power of coloring your work in! Speaking of which, you might be wondering about her shirt by now. Well, after toying around with some ideas I got it in my head that a good way to tackle that problem might be with washi tape, as I've used it in this manner before and worked out pretty nicely. Even though it wasn't a lot to work with, I did like the idea of the base color for her top being white like the real Ziggy's collar, and that narrowed down my tape options considerably. Of the options I had that I thought would be suitable, I ended up having a choice between one with small rainbow-colored polka dots and the decidedly less vibrant small triangles that you see here. The polka dots seemed a little too peppy for Ziggy, so I went with the triangles. And this, I must say, is one of those artistic decisions that I feel even better about the longer that I see the end product.   The main issue I have with using washi tape, and thus why I don't use it in this way that often, is because cutting the washi tape to fit a specific shape is a process that doesn't get much easier even with practice.  And even if it did, that wouldn't eliminate the very real possibility of cutting or indenting the paper underneath while you're cutting the tape. Of which, I have not yet figured out how to totally avoid short of forming the washi tape on a separate piece of paper, cutting it there, and then moving it to the final piece. But that method comes with its own problems too, so... Still, I made the decision to go through with it here and just accept the rough edges/lack of precision and all that. Before I put the tape down though, I did do a little shading with some light gray markers that I was counting on showing through the tape to give it a little more dimension. Seeing it now, I do think I could've stood to go a little darker, but again this isn't something that totally ruins the end result for me. Just something worth noting. After all of the above, I was left with one lingering problem: The background. Which I've noticed seems to normally be a "problem" area for me in that I don't always have a solid idea for what to do with it. I did consider what exactly I wanted to do earlier on in the process, before I started on Ziggy on the final paper, even. Briefly, I thought I might cut her out and put her on a separate background as is sort of a go-to background method for me. Something just didn't feel right about doing that here though and it feels like I've done that a lot lately (you know, when I've not been drowning in mandalas for NaPoWriMo...). So it was at this early stage that I locked in the idea of adding in the background in later, probably doing something kind of loose to give a general idea that hopefully wouldn't take too much time or effort. We've already established that I wasn't super keen on the idea of using acrylic paints or gouache for this drawing, and that remained true for the background too. Although, I don't really like using alcohol markers for backgrounds either because it can be tricky to keep things smooth and consistent. That left me with colored pencils and watercolor. Colored pencils are usually hard pass for backgrounds for me for a number of reasons. So! Watercolor, hmm... I drew Ziggy here on my darling Strathmore 400 series mixed media paper because I love how it handles markers and it has enough weight and texture to it that it handles a lot of my other go-to options with little fuss. Watercolor is really the only thing I have trouble using on it, the main problem being that sometimes (not always) the paint doesn't like to blend out super smoothly and certain watercolor techniques don't work the same on it. This doesn't mean it's useless for watercolor (at least not for me), that just means I have to be more careful about how I choose to work with watercolor on it. In this case, the blending issues lined up with the idea I had of letting the background have more texture since Ziggy came out a lot smoother by the very nature of alcohol markers. Somewhere in all this, the idea struck me to use my Gelatos to leave behind some crayon-like texture. That idea seemed fitting to me since Animal Crossing is a fairly light-hearted and child-friendly game, themes that crayons go along with. The gelatos are water-soluble but not every color dissolves completely when activated with water. This should be pretty evident here because I didn't try to hide it. I wanted quick and easy, and without a doubt just letting the texture do whatever it wants is the quick n' easiest method to use with the gelatos. Once I'd done a bit of back and forth with two greens and two blues to give me the solid suggestions of a sky and ground, it still felt like it was missing something. Ultimately, it seemed like a good idea to me to try and mimic the triangle pattern/texture that New Horizons features. (In past games you could get squares or circles for a grass pattern at random.) And while I as per usual I had to think on how to go about this, in the end, the best solution I could come up with turned out to be drawing the triangles in with alcohol markers. Truly, I'm surprised to be reporting this because I fully expected the creamy nature of the gelatos to make using alcohol markers on top feel disguising and unproductive. But not so! At least not with the limited gelato use here. The creamier areas do soften the color of the marker, but I think that worked to my advantage. Although, I did end up using a little bit of my yellow Moonlight gel pen because I felt like I needed some yellow triangles for balance and I knew transparent yellow markers wouldn't do what I wanted. But that brings us to the final product. I'm happy with it. And I do really like how the grass ties in with Ziggy's green eyes. It's just a nice little touch of visual cohesion in my book. As I always say, I'm sure it's not perfect and there are some missteps here and there or things that could be improved. Nevertheless, it was a fun experiment and serves as good encouragement for me to continue playing with the lineless look, among other things. I do have to note though that it feels super weird to just leave the eyes like this with no indication of shine on them! I made the choice not to since it's not a common trait with the official character models (at least not for eyes in this same style) but part of me still feels like it's incomplete. As I've said before recently and I'll probably say again, I can't promise I'll be getting back to a regular upload schedule now, but it's on my mind. I want to get to that point soon. I do have the acrylic markers I mentioned to talk about and another supply in the mail, and some other art in my backlog. So if you can be patient with me a while longer, there will be more from me to look forward to. In the meantime, please be kind to yourself and others. ____ Artwork © me, MysticSparkleWings ____ Where to find me & my artwork: My Website | Commission Info + Prices | Ko-Fi | dA Print Shop | RedBubble |   Twitter | Tumblr | Instagram 

[crysrambles]

Art Theory

On learning fundamentals and how art skills tend to be transferable.

So, as explanation for this, I decided to pick up acrylic painting again. Something I have not done for a long time, since I mostly work with watercolors and digital art, and only recently got into gouache. But I picked it up and decided to do some tests, I messed around with some ocean scenes, which I don’t usually paint but I’d seen a lot of neat videos of people doing. And I was able to do it fairly effectively, I knew how to build up color and layer and I knew a decent enough amount about brushwork. Despite never really painting properly with acrylic, i was able to get a really good product on my first try. Which on one hand you might think, well yeah, when you know what something looks like of course you can paint it in any medium. Yet mediums can be extremely different and take a lot of learning to get used to. I feel like it does come from having a strong sense of three things, a visual library of what the goal looks like, an understanding of the fundamentals, and knowledge of the medium even theoretically.

Number one, a good visual library, any artist will talk about this, studies, looking at references, watching how other people paint stuff. Looking at a thousand pictures of waves until you can picture in your mind where all the colors and shades go. References references references.

Number two, a good understanding of fundamentals. Color theory, form, light. An understanding of the fundamentals is the building blocks to any knowledge of art, through strong fundamentals and knowledge of materials you can create anything. Once again about the ocean and waves, knowing how light and transparency works, knowing where colors go and how to get the right shades, fully understanding your lights and darks. You understand what you need to do to create the image, you just need to get it onto the canvas. Which comes to

An even theoretical understanding of the medium. I am by nature a theoretical person before I am a practical one. I like to learn by reading and studying, and understanding things through that. But even that is enough. Knowing an idea of how acrylic works, how it’s thick and opaque, how it’s wet but dries fast, how it can be used and layered for thickness. It all adds up to an understanding of how acrylic works in a theoretical sense, which, when knowing other fundamentals, can lead to a basic product that actually replicates the intended image. Brush techniques can also push a long way here, but so can simply watching the way other people move their brush to paint things. Brush techniques could go into a whole discussion on tutorials and how easily Bob Ross teaches painting, but that’s besides my point or for a later discussion.

So it’s, my point being how theoretical understanding of a medium can combine with a practical understanding of fundamentals and images to create a good product even without practice in certain circumstances, but it’s not just restricted to painting. You can notice how a lot of artists might dabble in clay work, or on YouTube, show their first time using it. Often with fairly good results, using the human body as an example, they have a fundamental understanding of the human body, how it looks how the colors and tones work, how the exact forms and muscles are placed. So it becomes just a matter of working the clay until it becomes that image. If they know where all the dips and extensions of the human body go, they simply have to recreate it. The understanding is transferable.

Does it function vice versa? Can a sculptor without much practice in painting or drawing still draw a form effectively? I genuinely don’t know I don’t have any examples to look from but probably. So please tell me if so.

Ultimately the umbrella term of art is involving so many different fields which will all be very similar yet very different, and most skills from one medium to another can tend to be transferable. But I fully believe it requires a good understanding of the fundamentals and visuals.

I had more of a conclusion but in my defense I wrote this as a rant after I just worked on a research essay so I’m losing my brain power fast, but I tried to articulate my point best I could.

[fishsticxz-art]

jfkfkgk can i ask ur art advice on styles? yours is rlly cute and i want something similar bc my style is too complex now and i just kfkgkgllhlhl love your style and your art and aaaaaaaöääääääääää

developing a style you’re comfortable with can take time!

art is mostly about recycling ideas and techniques, and mixing them in your own way. that’s why the most effective way to develop your style is to look at a lot of other people’s art and copy little bits you like into your own art style, making your style a mix and match of your own ideas and ideas from other people!

don’t trace over the pictures or anything, but if you for example like how someone draws eyes or how someone shades their pieces, try to incorporate those things into your own artstyle! if asked, i could probably name a few artists ive picked up stuff from over the years.

since you feel like your style is too complex, maybe you should try a completely different approach then? try to draw very minimalistic, thinking how you could portray a specific thing in the least lines possible, or maybe try and replicate some cartoons or comics style for practice. it will still have your own look to it since you’re the one drawing it, but trying out very different styles can be an eye-opening experience!

also thank you so much !!! im glad people are digging what im doing ! good luck with finding a style you like !

[laikaanimationtamara]

Tamara Blackette - BAW03.1 Project Proposal

Group Proposal

Veronika - The Story, Purpose & Projected Outcome

Our project centres around the Soviet Space dog, Laika, and our artistic interpretation of what she might have experienced -- or how she might have seen her experience -- those hours while she was in space, in an environment she had never been before. We intend for this to be a stylised 3D animation with 2D elements of roughly 3-3:30 minutes in length, with a strong musical score and followable plot. We are aiming for a well-blended, impactful final product that will allow people to connect more emotionally with the history around them and perhaps challenge at least our own ideas of what animation, especially 3D animation, can look like.

Holly - Art Direction

Star Sailor-1 uses a mix of 2D and 3D assets to create a unique art style. Lighting, colour, and texture play an important role in the animation. High contrast lighting creates a powerful and serious mood and helps elements stand out when using painterly effects. We use painterly effects to create a dream-like feeling and communicate with the viewer whether Laika feels grounded in reality or not. Space Sailor-1 uses colour to show the change in Laika’s condition; when Laika goes into space the colours are cool blues, purples and greens, these colours slowly grow warmer to reflect the heating up of Laika’s capsule. Keeping styles consistent between all team members has been achieved by setting guidelines to follow. For example, with 2D paintovers, we all use the same brushes and keep constant communication with each other to make sure we’re on track.

Levi - Sound Design 

Within the piece, the team hope to have a strong sense of Sound Design that plays a major role with the narratives storytelling. To achieve this Team Laika have partnered with a composer to create an original composition that encompasses exactly what they want in terms of feel and flow. Working with a composer means budgeting in a commission fee. Neo Te Aika (composer) agreed to be paid $100, however as a group we have decided to pay him $150. This includes a tip and is to reflect the short notice. This piece will work in conjunction alongside other sound design elements E.g Russian radio segments to help convey the story in place of dialogue. 

Scarlett - Roles & Teamwork 

As a group, we are split into roles, with Veronika and Levi focusing on story and character and Scarlett, Tamara and Holly focusing on worldbuilding and VFX. Story and character team members have created a fleshed-out story, storyboards, animatics and other 2D, 3D elements. Worldbuilding and VFX team members have been creating 2D, 3D assets such as rocket models, building models and shadow dog models. We are also working on VFX within animation such as water, clouds and starscapes. Communication will ensure the team is working in a cohesive style throughout the animation. We are using programs such as Discord, HacknPlan and a shared Google Docs to communicate.

Tamara - Production Schedule & Pipeline

In terms of the Production Schedule and Pipeline, we are currently slated for the Final Cut of the animation to be completed on Friday 13th November. We will then have the 16th-20th of November to finish our Graduation Exhibition resources. All Assets and VFX are slated for completion on Friday 25th September to allow most of October for the remainder of Rendering and the 2D Paintovers. As scenes are assembled they will be rendered so as to not slow down progressing them forward into painting. The Compositing, Compiling, Final Sound Design and Editing are slated for October to be developed as we complete sections of the animation. During October we plan to design an Exhibition display for our Graduation 

Our Pipeline has changed several times throughout Pre-Production and Previsualisation as we have developed and tested the concepts. We have predominantly used Maya and Blender for the creation of the 3D Assets which will then be taken into the Adobe Suite and Procreate to create the stylisation outlined by the Art Direction. From there it will be compiled and edited together using predominantly After Effects and/or Premiere Pro. 

Individual Project Plan

For the second semester I will be modelling, animating and rendering any remaining assets and visual effects needed to complete the water wave sequence of our Star Sailor-1 animation using Maya by the end of September. The Water Wave sequence consists of four main sections: Laika looking through the capsule at the particle waves, her running alongside the waves, the waves crashing into her and then the wave rolling over the capsule with her looking at it. As I complete assets and sections, I will then be using the Adobe Creative Cloud Suite to digitally paint over the frames in 2D to achieve the desired Oil Paint texture effect. My personal goal during the Production of the animation is to continue improving my knowledge and skills in creating VFX and 3D assets. As a result of digitally painting over the frames in a 2D Oil Paint style I will also be able to grow my digital art skill alongside my 3D skills. 

In the 2D paintover I wish to retain the Noir lighting style I did research into last term and was trying to replicate in the 3D assets I was making. As a group, we decided early on during Pre-Production that we wished to have high contrast High Key lighting and so far in the Previsualisation stage I was using Maya & Arnold lights to start this in the 3D scenes. I will still add the lights to the scenes the way I want them and then manually further emphasize the lighting in the paintover by increasing the contrast between the lights and shadows. This way I can see what the lighting will generally look like and I can increase the intensity/effect without adding further lights. This mini-pipeline for the lighting was what I did in Term One when I painted over my render of the Sparrow sequence. So far I have the 3D elements and constructed scenes for all the sections except the waves crashing into Laika. I constructed those scenes during the Previsualisation stage using Scarlett’s Rocket Exterior with my Internal Frame and Veronika’s Animatic model. Currently, I am waiting on the final Laika model to do final VFX adjustments and camera placements for the first two sections and create the wave crash section. In the meantime, I have conducted a Brush Test as I am going to be using Photoshop where the rest of my team will be using mainly Procreate and I’ve begun painting the final section’s background as I created the full 3D scene and effect for it during Previs last term. I have been using another Photoshop layer in the Colour Burn/Multiply mode over the top to help me see where to place the base shades with higher contrast to enhance the shadows and highlights.

As a group, the deadline for creating scenes and assets has been set for the end of September to allow most of October for Rendering. Once scenes are rendered we will be painting. I would like to complete the four main painted backgrounds/static element pieces one per week each Saturday across August, leaving the wave crash for last to give Veronika more time to complete the Laika model without hindering my progress. This should leave me September for making the wave crash scene, rendering and painting the moving VFX that changes with the frames which will mainly consist of the particles in the waves. This way I hope to remain at a consistent pace and if I need to step in and paint Laika in any of my sections to assist Veronika’s workload, then this will allow for slight leeway or delays. From the end of September onwards, I will also be assisting with the final compositing and editing of the animation as we complete scenes. This will likely mostly consist of Colour Grading and Lighting assistance/touch-ups and any final adjustments. I have offered to help Levi in creating the final Exhibition presentation we hope to do and I wish to create a Trailer for the animation.

(https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Vh2wZKjnzU1mzH-sq329uWStwmSnln7lcvxYt9NiETE/edit?usp=sharing)

Additionally towards my Worldbuilding and VFX Major, I will be writing my Investigative Project essay on “Advancements in Special Effects”. I’m planning to cover older and modern practical effects, digital effects and programs used to create them. Through this, I hope to educate the rest of the class through the Seminar on my learnings about how both Practical and Digital Effects have evolved through time and the best programs to use to achieve our specific stylisation for Star Sailor-1. I hope to apply any techniques and deeper program understanding that I learn from this additional research into my sequence as I create it.

[jillmckenzie1]

Squirrels

I ponied up for a glass of wine at the concession stand at the Aurora Fox Arts Center because I was there to see Squirrels, and the billing for it made me wonder if I was about to see an interation of CATS, but with more incest and a political agenda. It seemed like wine might be the drop of social lubricant needed to help me appreciate the experience. Here’s how it went.

The setting of Robert Askins’ play is a drey (a squirrels nest) and it’s a time of inequality and distress. The fox squirrels, hailing originally from “the other side of the 7/11,” have encroached on the territory of the grey squirrels. The old king of the greys, Scurius (played by Josh Levy, who should be cast as Tevye the Dairyman by whomever is producing that play next), is sort of trying to be fair to the newcomers mostly because he has a soft spot for his adopted daughter who is a fox squirrel. The leader of the foxes is Carolinensis, a jaunty and sexy squirrel played by a jaunty and sexy Hossein Forouzandeh. He wants Scurius to share enough of his vast and grossly surplus wealth to feed the starving foxes over the winter. There are lady squirrels, of course, in the characters of Mammalia (the matriarch, played by Kelly Uhlenhopp), Chordata (her daughter, played by Leiney Rigg), and Rodentia (the adopted fox with major daddy issues, played by Rachel Turner). The other character is Sciuridae (Andrew Uhlenhopp), an old grey who lives in a dumpster and is generally a repulsive entity, even if he looks natty in his urban leather togs. Also, how charming is it to name the characters these Latin appellations?

The costuming for all the characters was delightful fun. This is not the uncanny valley of the CATS costumes, where the players are eerily and uncomfortably decked out in full-body cat outfits that reduce their humanity, but not far enough to sit comfortably with the sober mind. The Squirrels folks were dressed in regular human clothes, tights and vests and such, with accents of fuzzy gloves and arm warmers that represent the subtle color shading of their grey or fox heritage. Each player had a magnificent tail–the higher status the squirrel, the more luxurious the tail. The tails were the source of much personal expression for the squirrels–in fact, they were near-perfect reenactments of the thrashing, waving, and twitching of tails that I see through my window every day while watching the randy squirrels in my backyard. It reminded me of my own graceless seduction techniques and made me wish I had a literal tail to throw in the face of my romantic targets in hopes of increasing my success rate, which is notably poor. The tails were the equivalent of human’s Rolex watches or Louboutin stilettos–superfluous signals of sexual prowess. Frankly, they got me a little excited, especially Carolinensis’s with his Che Guevara energy (perhaps an intentional parallel?), and then I felt weird about treading the line of bestiality. I drank more wine and that feeling went away.

The squirreliness was not limited to just the shaggy tails. The players deliver the lines with a chattery, buzzy, rodentian energy and a great deal of clicking and chattering. I’ve tried to replicate some of those sounds sitting at my desk and…it makes my mouth really dry. I’m sure they had glasses of water backstage, but I prefer to think of them lapping sips of water off of human-sized hamster water bottles.

It’s fun to talk about the weirdness and its accompanying zany energy of the squirrel costumes and play, but let’s not get too far off track. The point of staging this story within a world of squirrels (“the squirrold,” as the characters charmingly say) is to give us enough distance to discuss some real and pressing issues in society.  As humans sitting outside the story, it’s perfectly clear to us that the grey and fox squirrels are completely interchangeable. There should be no issue with them mingling or moving about; and yet there is an issue, albeit one entirely manufactured by those in power who feel that resources are their rightly-earned due and the “others” need to earn their own. Meanwhile, the “others” struggle to accrue enough of those depleted resources to survive. The viewpoints of each are understandable–the old ones *did* work hard to gather their nuts. But the young and new ones *are* struggling against an impossible situation created by their predecessors. There’s an evocative scene where Scurius laments the demands made on him that pulls me to a song from Hadestown, where the singer asks the same question about his followers,

 Have I made myself their lord

Just to fall upon the sword

Of some pauper’s minor chord?

Who will lead them?

It’s a worthwhile question, but must be framed against the image of the questioner sitting surrounded by an unconsumable pile of wealth and power. Is he really concerned about his followers or about his own image of self? Even more importantly, what’s the solution to this situation? Remove and redistribute all the wealth? Banish those who didn’t get enough soon enough? If either is actually done, how do we keep things from drifting back to polarized extremes? The play concludes with Chordata commanding her compatriots to enact what she sees as the solution. I won’t spoil it here, except to say that I’m not quite sure that her solution in the fantasy “squirrold” that neatly concludes the play is something that can be scaled up to fix the problems of the real world. The play also includes references to myriad other modern social issues that would take far too long to mention and unpack here, but are worth considering as you watch the production.

I also won’t spoil the very last bit, except to say that I found the final reveal to be an utterly delightful denouement that prepares the audience for our return to reality. The whole piece was beautifully written and the last note didn’t disappoint.

Squirrels runs through February 9 and you should definitely make time to see it.

from Blog https://ondenver.com/squirrels/