#I really want to practise animation more its just so. SO tedious

[new-wave-worm]

extremely spur-of-the-moment anim

[tannedtomatoes]

Ok but like just imagine Damian getting into animation, like that would be so cool.

When he's first exposed to animation, its through cartoons and he's not at all that impressed yknow? "This looks childish" "Uh.. " "Think your next words carefully if you plan on keeping your fingers intact"

Even later on, he's still not that into it despite the many attempts from his siblings and friends. "C'mon D! Phineas and Ferb is basically a right of passage for kids" "I have no interest in watching a show about anthropomorphic polygons, also dont call me a kid " "My bad, I meant angsty emo teenager."

As a last resort, they blackmail convince him to give Avatar the Last Airbender a try. " If you dont like this, you really are the spawn of Satan"

And obviously, he does like it (not out loud though). While he admits the story is adequate what really gripped him was the animation because he hadn't realised that you could draw movement like fighting so beautifully and fluid like that.

That's probably when he starts gaining interest in animation as a medium. He's still not into western cartoons that much but starts delving more into anime. ( Jon is thrilled when he finds out Damian got into Naruto, he totally drags him into conventions and makes him join in on cosplays cuz "You literally wear a bird costume every night, how is this any different?")

But again, he's less invested in the story or plot and more interested in the animation, which is when he decides that this is a skill that he wants to develop himself.

Turns out, animating is hard, especially when you're a perfectionist like Damian who literally has no chill whatsoever. (Cue Bruce peeking worriedly into Damian's room where he's been cursing and snarling for hours, surrounded by crumpled peices of paper thrown haphazardly on the ground)

Because Damian mostly draws portraits and realism, which usually takes a long while for him to draw because he's so focused on all the tiny details. This does not translate well into animation as he figures out the hard way.

So he learns to simplify his drawings to a very basic shapes, (They are not cartoons though) and learns more quicker. He practises the basics and foundations. It's not easy work, and quite tedious but he finds himself enjoying it all the same.

Now just imagine him animating Titus, like making him roll around or playing, he captures the movement down to the last detail. He would definitely love trying to capture the movement of all his pets.

Also, Damian MAKING FLIPBOOKS is something I really really need. And ofc it's all about his family doing stupid things. " I dont know whether to be impressed or offended by the fact that you made an entire flipbook of Red Robin crashing into a wall" "Tt, you should be grateful I even bothered." "Gee, thanks gremlin"

He gives them out as gifts only to the people he's closest to though. In the family, getting a flipbook from him is sorta like a personal accomplishment.

Just.. Damian as an animator. The concept.

[selfship-uncharted]

The Fugitive part XIII

part I - part II - part III - part IV - part V - part VI - part VII - part VIII - part IX - part X - part XI - part XII - part XIII - part XIV

A/N: Thank you so much as always for your support! A/N2: English is not my first language. A/N3: No color this time, I had the chapter long written and didn’t want to take longer to post it...  Pairing: Arthur Morgan x OC (Claire Russell) Warnings: they go hunting so dead animals?  Words: 3,079 Tags: @asiramhera @missdictatorme @zoilalove213   @avast-you-dirty-dog @lowkeyofsassguard

Special thanks to @asiramhera for being my beta-reader. Tons of love for you!

Days passed and Claire was getting used to her new life in the camp, even if she didn't like getting orders from Miss Grimshaw and working on the chores who demonstrate she was quite unable to do. For the embroidery it was okay, but when it came to washing the clothes, to help Pearson prepare the stew, or clean the whole camp what can she say? She had never done that kind of jobs before, it was all given her already done. She actually had to learn to dress on her own.

She felt so clumsy every time she failed a task that she was getting impatient. This was not what she wanted for her, she didn't leave her house for this.

Claire was carrying a basket of recently cleaned clothes when she tripped and all the white sheets fell on the mud turning brown. Miss Grimshaw, like she had a radar, didn't take long to appear to scold her while she was putting them again in the basket to take them to wash again.

“I'm tired of all this shit!” Claire let her frustration speak for her. “I didn't come here to be your servant!” She kicked the basket and went away.

“You better come back here, girl!” Miss Grimshaw threatened her but she was way gone.

“What is this all about?” Arthur got close at hearing the women's voices so loud.

“Your lady, Mr Morgan, doesn't want to do her work! That's what happens!” Miss Grimshaw was furious and enraged at the sight of all those sheets completely covered in mud. “So, you better speak to her to get her back to work or she can forget to have another meal!”

Arthur raised his hands in defence since he felt himself attacked. “Calm down, Susan. I'm going to talk to her.”

“Oh, yes, you will! Slap her if it’s necessary!”

Arthur sighed resigned and went to look for Claire. He hoped he didn’t have to come to that...

He found the ginger-headed woman standing near the swamp staring at the water with her arms wrapping herself.

“Does that wicked witch send you?” She spat out at hearing his footstep getting closer.

Arthur exhaled deeply, he knew it would be a difficult conversation.

“Listen, Claire, everyone has to put of himself in this gang to make it work.” Arthur explained trying to not sound like he was scolding her.

“Yes, I understand that.” She turned around to face him. “But, do I really have to do that kind of work? It's tedious! I hate every part of it! And I’m not even good at it”

“And what do you want to do?” Arthur raised his hands in desperation.

“I don't know! Anything but away from here! And her! That lady is crazy!” Claire felt frustrated. “it's not like I don't want to help… I just… why… why don't you take me with you?”

“What? No way!” Arthur pitched voice showed her it wouldn't be easy to convince him. “You… you don't know how to defend yourself, to begin with!”

“Well, you showed me how to properly throw a punch I don't see why you can't teach me how to shoot.” She insisted.

“Out of the question!” He raised his hand to stopped her go any further.

Claire sighed not willing to give up, she then saw Charles not too far from them getting his bow ready.

“Or I can go hunting with Charles, I know how to use a bow.”

“I don't mind, I can teach her some things.” Charles at hearing his name turned to them.

Arthur threw a disapproving glance at Charles who felt it was better to continue with his work.

“That's not fair, Arthur!” Claire protested starting to feel really pissed off.

“Arthur!” Dutch called him from afar.

He turned around in less than a second breaking the visual competition with Claire he had been holding.

Dutch motioned him to come to him and didn't take time to obey.

“We’ll continue later.” He said to Claire before leaving her alone.

Claire puffed her cheeks unable to hide her anger. Dutch always was a top priority for Arthur. Not that she cared but, Arthur didn't let her do anything on her own and they spend so little time together because he always was doing Dutch's errands. She actually saw him more when she lived with Theodore.

When Arthur reached Dutch they both went away inside the manor, Claire then feeling no one was looking at her went next to Charles.

“Are you going hunting?” She asked as nothing happened.

“If I take you with me, Arthur will kill me.” Charles excused himself in a warm .

“He will if he knows, but I am not the one to tell him, will you?” she said with a mischievous smirk.

“You are a dangerous woman…” He said with a kind smile.

“Wait for me next to the horses. I'll be right back!” She bit her bottom lip excited and ran away looking for Mrs Adler.

Sadie Adler was sitting under the shadow of a tree cleaning her repeater. Claire crouched in front of her.

“Can I ask you something, Mrs Adler?” Sadie slightly rose her eyes to see Claire, she nodded for her to continue. “Do you happen to have another pair of pants to lend me?”

Mrs Adler looked at her surprised but chuckled. “Of course, darling.” She said getting up. “Follow me.”

And so did Claire. They went to her tent, there Sadie looked in her belongings and fetch a pair of pants and suspenders for Claire.

“Thank you!” She took them enthusiastically. “Can't wait to get rid of that skirt.”

“What is your plan?” Sadie crossed her arms observing how she was changing her clothes making the redheaded woman feeling uneasy.

“What do you mean?” Claire asked fearing she just got caught.

“Don't think you are asking for pants to do the camp chores.” So yes, she caught her.

“I'm going hunting with Charles.” Claire bit her bottom lip a little scared of Mrs Adler's reaction.

“Does Arthur know?”

“Of course not!” She replied without thinking. “I mean… come on… I don't want to spend my days sewing and cleaning… and he doesn't let me do anything!”

“I'm coming with you.” Claire was going to protest but Sadie stopped her. “That's my condition to not tell Arthur.”

Claire sighed defeated but she agreed.

***

Charles was waiting for them by the horses. Thankfully Arthur's horse wasn't there which meant he couldn't see them leaving the camp.

“So, you comin’ too?” Charles was surprised at seeing Sadie with Claire.

“Yeah, someone has to keep an eye on her.” She got her horse ready while she signalled Claire with a subtle movement of her head.

“I can hear you…. I'm not a child, ok?” Claire protested. “By the way, I need a horse and no, Charles, I'm not sharing yours.” She pointed at him seeing his intentions. “Dammit, you all act like Arthur! I just want a little freedom! Is that asking too much?”

“We don't want him to kill us… if something happens to you.” Charles shrugged his shoulders excusing himself.

“We are going hunting rabbits and deers not bears or wolves! For God's sake!”

Sadie chuckled at her and gave her the reins of her horse. “I like you.” She gave her a smile that made Claire blush.

***

“Those are fresh traces.” Charles showed to Claire the tracks he found. The grass was slightly deformed and by the shape, in the wet mud, it was easy to tell it were deer’s footsteps. “They went that way.”

“You guys go. I stay here with the horses.” Sadie stepped down her horse to hitch it near a tree and went for Charles’ and Claire’s.

“You sure?” Claire’s asked while dismounting.

“Yeah, the bow is not my kind of thing.” She took her repeater from her saddle in case she needed it. “And this will make runaway any animal around here.”

Charles gave a bow and some arrows to Claire she gladly took. “Then, let’s go. We don’t want to lose them.”

Claire followed Charles who crouched down following the traces of the animals. She did the same.

They didn’t have to go any further to find them. There were two of them.

“Okay, I’ll take the one on the left, you take the one on the right.” Claire nodded. “Try to shoot them on the head or on the neck, that will kill them quickly and won’t damage the meat.”

Claire nodded again and prepared an arrow on her bow aiming at the deer. Her hands were sweating, she felt nervous. She used to practise archery quite often before arriving in Saint-Denis but, she had never shot a living being. She exhaled trying to calm herself, and at Charles signal, she shot the arrow. At the same time, Charles did it too, hitting on the head to his prey falling dead. Claire’s deer wasn’t that lucky, it got shot and run away until it fell badly injured.

The poor creature cried in pain. Charles and Claire went near it.

“What should I do?” Claire was concerned about inflicting so much pain to the innocent animal.

“Calm down.” Charles took off from his holster a hunter’s knife. “Do you want to do it, or you prefer if I do it?”

Claire stared at the knife unsure. She gulped and nodded. “I will do it if you show me.” She wanted to learn to do it.

Charles gave her his knife and told her how to end with the suffering of the poor deer. She breathed deeply and stab the dying animal with it, right in its heart. The creature stopped immediately its laments and fell dead on the ground.

“Good.” Charles praised her recovering his knife. “Do you think you can carry them to your horse?”  

“I will try.” Charles helped her carry the deer on her shoulder. “Jesus… it’s heavy…”

“Yeah, they can go to 45kg to 68kg, you are lucky this is a female and they use to be lighter.” Claire tried to walk to her horse followed by Charles who was carrying his deer.

When Sadie saw them she quickly stood up and help them to stow the animals on the horses.

“We will try to find some rabbits then go home.” Charles announced.

***

They get back to the camp before the sun was setting. They were quite satisfied, they ended up hunting three deers and six rabbits. Claire was happy about it since she got two of the six rabbits apart from the deer.

But her happiness disappeared when she saw Arthur waiting next to the horses with his arms crossed over his chest and a cigar between his fingers. His face showed her he was in total disapproval.

Charles and Sadie stopped their horses a little further for fear of Arthur’s anger but Claire didn’t care and stopped it in front of him.

“Oh, Arthur, just in time to help us to carry all we have hunted to Mr Pearson.” Claire got down the horse, took her rabbits and walked past by Arthur.

Arthur threw his cigar on the floor and grabbed Claire by her arm making her stop. She turned to look at him like nothing happened.

“What do you think you are doing?” He asked with an audible annoyance in his voice.

“Taking the rabbits I hunt to Mr Pearson, I thought I already told you.” Claire wasn’t intimidated one bit.

“That’s not what I’m asking.” Arthur was losing his patience. “I told you to stay in the camp, for God’s sake!”

“And I told you I couldn’t do that anymore!” She tried to get rid of his grip but it was too strong. “Now, let me go, you are hurting me!”

“Come on, Arthur.” Charles put his hand on his shoulder. “It went well, nothing happened. Actually, she did great...”

“I’ll talk to you later, Charles!”  Arthur pushed him freeing himself from his grip in not a very friendly way. “I thought I told you that in no way she was going to hunt with you!”

“It’s not his fault!” Claire protested. “It’s me who asked him to do so because you are too coward to bring me with you!” She slapped his chest with the rabbits she was holding letting them fall to his feet. Arthur loosened his grip giving her a chance the free herself. She then went away frustrated.

“Arthur,” Sadie stopped him from following her. “Give her a break. You are too protective over her, she can manage to take care of herself perfectly fine.”

***

Javier was telling a story from his time in Mexico while they were sat around the bonfire eating the stew Mr Pearson prepared for all of them.

Mr Pearson was so grateful of Charles and Claire’s work bringing him so many food. And Claire was so satisfied with her achievement. She learned to track animals and shoot them. She fell useful for the first time in her life and Arthur had to destroy the moment. She aggressively took a spoonful of stew to her mouth. That grumpy cowboy...

“Oh hey, Arthur, sit down!” Uncle showed him a wooden box he could use as a chair.

Arthur sat down bringing with him a dish of stew, staring at Claire.

“I’m finished. Good night all.” Claire stung with the spoon on the plate, replying to his stare. She stood up and went away visibly annoyed. She didn’t want to see his face right now.

Everybody’s eyes looked at Arthur.

“What?” He asked with his mouth full of stew, feeling excessively observed.

“I think someone is going to sleep alone tonight.” John mocked him making everyone there burst into a laugh. Of course, they all saw and heard their discussion earlier but Claire didn’t care. She was pissed off with Arthur. He was too protective over her, it’s not like she didn’t like feeling protected but it was too much when he didn’t let her do anything outside the camp.

She walked away from the group lost in her thoughts.

“Claire!” She turned around to see Hosea calling her, he was sitting alone eating his dinner and motioned her to come to sit by his side. “I heard you went hunting with Charles and Sadie. How was it?”

“Pretty nice!” She answered enthusiastically. “Even if a certain someone didn’t approve of it….” She added with bitterness.

“Our dear poor Arthur…” Hosea sighed. “Don’t mind him, he…. He had a difficult time with women in the past.”

“I’m not surprised!” Hosea chuckled at the girl reaction.

“He doesn’t do it on purpose,” he continued. Claire could tell Hosea appreciate the grumpy cowboy by how he talked of him, and how his eyes sparkled. “I’m sure he is sweet on you. It’s just, he is not very good of showing it.” He kept a couple of seconds in silent then turned to her to look straight into her eyes. “Do you love him?”

Claire’s cheek turned completely red at being asked such a thing so earnestly. Hosea laughed at her, it was all written in her face. She bit her lips and looked down.

“I do… very much…” She confessed embarrassed. “It’s just… I’m so afraid to tell him. I have the feeling, that if I do… he will push me away...”

“You might be right…” The old man deeply breathed staring into the starry sky without finishing his sentence. Hosea noticed Arthur approaching doubtful but Claire didn’t see him. “Just, don’t break his heart, would you?” Hosea stood up and patted Claire’s shoulder. “I don’t think his old poor heart would bear it.” That last sentence he said it more to Arthur than Claire, that’s when she saw him standing there rubbing the back of his neck unsure.

“Don’t make her any angrier.” Hosea teased him before going away leaving the both of them some space to talk.

Arthur sighed and went close to Claire.

“May I?” He asked pointing to the free chair beside her. She shrugged her shoulders telling him to do what he pleased.

They spent some seconds in silence. Claire looking in the sky, Arthur trying to find the words playing with his fingers nervously. He hated that kind of situation, he wasn’t good with words.

“You are too dramatic.” She said with her eyes fixed in the stars.

“Too dramatic?? It could have happened anything to you!” His shrieky tone wasn’t a good beginning. Not that she cared at that moment, she was so pissed off and it was him who had to apologize not her.

“You see?” She pointed. “Seriously, Arthur, we went hunting deers and rabbits, not fucking bears!” The cowboy didn’t say anything, he didn’t have a counterattack for that. “Besides, I was with Charles and Sadie, they took good care of me and they showed me how to hunt. For the first time in my life, I felt useful! I brought food for everyone! Didn’t you want me to collaborate with the gang? So did I! And that felt great!”

“Yes, but!” Arthur groaned trying to find the words. “Is there any other thing that can make you happy but not attempts to your life?” Arthur asked in a defeated sigh.

“Do you think that Miss Grimshaw shouting doesn’t attempt to my life?” She replied rolling her eyes.

“Jesus, kid….” He whispered shaking his head trying to hide a smile that was fighting to appear in his lips. “Okay… but next time, you come to me. Nor Charles or Sadie. Straight to me. Do you understand?”

“Why? Are you jealous I had so much fun with them?” She teased him with a wide smirk.

“What? No!” He nervously fixed his hat. “Jealous, me? No way…” He mumbled. “It’s just… I’m a better gun… in case you need protection...”

“If you say so….” She let her head fall on his shoulder with a wide satisfied smile on her face. “Will you teach me to shoot?”

“Don’t push your luck…”

Back on Arthur’s room, before going to bed Claire noticed that the picture of that mysterious young woman was in its place again, in front of it a folded letter. She felt a feeling she couldn’t describe piercing her heart. She tried not to think too much about it but next morning Arthur was already gone before she woke up and the letter too.

[obwcmp]

Tris, Quads, and N-Gons

Many things have happened since my last post here a month ago, and i’ve only just started writing on the day which this is posted so i have heaps to cover. 

First, some updates before I dive into 3D modelling. The VFX course has changed again. Taylor mentioned something that I had suspected would be the case. Our summative no longer has to be a match move if we don’t want it to, and can instead be a simple fracturing and destruction simulation along with the use of daemons, and make it look compelling. In all honesty, I want to go ahead with attempting a match move as it is something I have tried multiple times in the past. An example of this is from the start of this year where I placed a ball and a cube on my desk back in Auckland. It wasn’t exactly fantastic, my shadows were off and it is a super basic scene which I did nothing interesting with, but none the less I have a feeling that I have what it takes to complete the original task.

I didn’t make the due date for the Weta Digital summer internship positions. I’m pretty bummed as a result but it has been a good lesson in what I need to learn for 3D modelling and animation. and also in time management. I’ve been visiting the Polycount forums recently and found their subforum of digital sketchbooks, which seem cool so i’ll probably create one of my own some time soon. Having a collection of professional social media accounts is something I also need and have needed to do for a long time now. 

Just this past weekend I was at a game jam called Pxl Jam with 3 friends Luca, Marie, and Hunter. We made a game called Freezing Point which won a prize for its sound which was a pleasant surprise. Unlike Souper Kingdom Adventure from semester 1, this game was actually complete.  I got a box of those Lindor chocolates with the soft centre as a result, so I did the most responsible thing possible and sat on my bed stuffing them all down my gob. Needless to say I felt a little gross after that. 

Lastly for these updates, we had our formative hand-ins last week. I thought that they were fine and only just met the criteria, which is something I don’t really want to continue on with into the future. For sound, I felt that I needed to get the recorder out myself more, as I only ended up doing it once over the duration of the assessment. I also ended up cheating by using Logic which just felt so cheap, especially when I had so much time to complete it before but left it until the day before. 3D modelling was the same story, I left it until the very end just before the due date and actually ended up handing it in late which was just so stupid. VFX was the only exception, but even then I felt it could’ve been done better. All three were handed in, all three have 0% weighting on if I pass or not, and they filled their purpose as a learning opportunity, and damn if it has ever been one. I’ve found that i’m at an interesting point with my knowledge of 3D, sound, and VFX in that I know a lot about them, but haven’t actually put in the effort and time into practising them. 

Interesting to note here is that I’ve also been looking at the TIGforums (which are fantastic too) and have been reading through some devlogs and looking at peoples feedback as they go. Something interesting which came up on the Return of the Obra Din devlog is on page 12 where where someone mentions the Polycount Wiki with its great examples of shoulder topology and just topology in general. Things I wish I had read earlier, especially for the formative. Not only that but the course coordinators pointed us in the direction of the Polycount wiki as a resource. All the more to learn for the summative!

The 3D Modelling and Texturing course has been a really interesting and revealing course into the world and practise of making 3D models, mainly for games and movies (and any media closely linked to those two). It hasn’t been all that easy to meet the tasks assigned by the tutors either. Taylor joked with the VFX class about how they have it way easier than the modelling course, and i’m inclined to agree. As practise, we had a couple of weeks to model our own robot models from reference images. Everyone, to my knowledge, stood up to the challenge and made a solid effort out of a fairly difficult situation. Our formatives were no where near as bad, as we had free reign over what we modelled. In the end I chose to attempt creating an organic character which set the bar a little high in retrospect. I left it until really late, and ended up handing it in late. I’m lucky in that I had no N-gons on my model save for a cone which I had placed in right at the end. As it turns out, maya doesn’t subdivide the bottom face of a cone like it does with a cylinder! By that point it was Thursday morning at 7:30 and I was felling tired and slightly down about how my almost 1 night model had come out. I realise now the error in my ways and multiple times over it has taught me what not to do for the summative.

Our summative is to do a very similar thing. We are to model something of our choosing, only now we are allowed to use a variety of new techniques which we are learning in this latter half of semester 2, and we have to texture it. Luckily all of the groundwork of what we are allowed to do has been set down so i can start way earlier (pretty much now) which I intend on doing. Texturing is more fun than tedious, though as I write that all I can think of is that video of Gray Horsfield so i’m proceeding with caution! That post seems to become more and more relevant by the day.

As a final note, i’ll try to post smaller WIP posts for each of these summatives coming up. All going well I’ll be recording audio this weekend so there will be some photos from that and i’ll finally write about the audio course. With both modelling and vfx i’ll try to put my thoughts on here with what i’m doing for both courses. I want the summatives to be something far more than what the formatives turned out to be, which I think is completely doable.

I’ve made a second blog, obwcmp-dg for Dumping Grounds, where i’ll post more lax content similar to rhinctus and rhinctus2.