#and became very fond of Gollum

[roxannepolice]

Simm!Master being the first Master to make a LOTR reference makes me wonder if he's the first to have read or watched it.

And if he's the author of every single one of all four Gandalf x Saruman works on fanfiction.net.

[eucalyptgem]

some notes about the production of macbeth i saw tonight, because it was wonderful!

- The performance was set in the early 1920s, and whilst this didn’t seem to have any effect on the story interpretation, it made for some wonderful costumes and set pieces (I was particularly fond of Lady Macbeth’s pantsuit)

- Banquo was played by a non-binary person, who absolutely killed it! They brought such a tenderness to Banquo’s relationship with Fleance and a genuine, joyful care for Macbeth that was slowly tainted by concern as time went on.

- Speaking of performances, Lady Macbeth was incredible. Also, Lady Macbeth top rights for the win. Straddled Macbeth and pinned him down as soon as he got home and then when he got excited, slapped him in the face (“Your face, my Thane, is a book where men / may read strange matters”) and then just got up and left him on the floor lmaoooo

- Jumping ahead a little but after the Macbeths’ argument post-murder, Macbeth flinching away from Lady Macbeth when she goes to hold his blood covered hands.

- For almost the entire show, the entire cast was on stage. Instead of leaving they would all stand at the edges facing away from the audience. Instead of having the audio cues like screams and knocking in some of the scenes, the cast would simultaneous make these jerky movements to draw the attention. This also made the few times the stage was genuinely empty stand out.

- The whole banquet sequence was incredible, but particularly Macbeth’s manic giggles upon seeing Banquo. Banquo standing stock still for the first half before rushing to grab Macbeth’s face, and then standing right up against him in his second appearance. Macbeth’s actor was absolutely fantastic and when he started scuttling around the stage backwards on all fours whilst yelling like the girl from The Ring i was Very Unnerved.

- Macbeth just… curled in the foetal position for a solid 5 minutes. Same.

- Lady Macbeth KILLED it with the sleepwalking sequence. Love love loved that on the last “come, come, come, come, give me your hand” bit she became considerably gentler and crouched down, beckoning as though to a toddler learning to walk.

- Macduffs gasps and sobs when hearing his family was killed :( really made the “I will feel it like a man” line hit harder

- Macbeth just became entirely, manically insane for the last section. His whole breakdown, including wearing his jacket incredibly weirdly and crawling all over a chair like gollum, was emphasised through the very stark lighting casting his face in shadows.

- When brought the news of the moving forest he FULLY tackled the messenger to the ground and just sort of… enveloped the poor dude? Lying right on top of him

- Also at this point all of the chairs and tables from around the stage were haphazardly stacked in a mess in the corner. Something something the stage physically representing the breakdown of Macbeth’s mind.

- The final duel being with bayonets was a nice touch

overall i had a great time! while i think there could’ve been more done re: interpretation of some of the character dynamics (macbeth and banquo, macduff and malcolm), and some of the musical scoring and fight choreography came off as a bit cheesy, the actors pulled off a wonderful performance

[cameron-ashurst22]

Sketchbook Weekly Summaries and Page by Page Analysis

Ba1B weekly summaries- Sketchbook Weekly summaries / Page by Page reflection

Week 12 

Day 1 -sketchbook project

Today I had a workshop on the sketchbook project, this introduced me to the brief through a series of exercises to show examples of how I could fill a sketchbook.The main impetus of this lecture was to draw from life and then develop further using observations possibly turning a real person into a character or an animal into a character. The first exercise was to create drawings from a series of ink blots from the page , I liked this exercise due to the endless possibilities I could create through the way the shades of the colours were on the page.The next exercise was to create a four stage scene with a clear beginning, middle and end about the morning I had before arriving into university.The first scene was of me still dreaming and being prepared for the today , the next scene was me waking up in a panic and rushing to get ready and the final scene was me spilling milk all over the kitchen counter as I was rushing.This exercise shows how you can clearly derive stories from life and twist them to best fit an audience or outcome. The next exercise was to draw from memory a series of objects and animals the most important of this was the bear ads initially my bear looked quite cartoon like as I had no understanding of the form and anatomy of the bear itself. It was not until I watched and studied the motion of the bear I understood the anatomy of it and the further drawings of the bear became more and more refined for the final character I produced.I found that drawing the motion of the animal or object gives the best understanding of the animal or object itself as all angles are seen.This had more weight and value than that of a still image as you can only see what is present and not the inner workings or how muscles react and move with each other .For instance in the bears case its back legs were at first problematic as they are much larger than the front legs.

Week 13 

Day 1- sketchbook project

Today I had a workshop revolving around a trip to norwich castle to create some on sight observational sketches of some of the exhibits and the people within the castle itself. I found that instead of focusing on the individual aspects of each exhibit like one single bird I should look at the entire composition in relation to where I was standing. I was intrigued by the bird section of the museum as after watching videos of how parrots movie in the wild I had a theory of how although birds look differently they have the same anatomical structure. For this I drew multiple angles of a wide range of birds and distinguished they all have similar breast parts were the neck links the body to the head this was especially evident in the pelican and ostrich part of the exhibition.

Day 3- Sketchbook project 

Today I had feedback on my sketchbook so far I found that the best work in my sketchbook is the development from observational drawing to character. Robert said that I should continue doing this especially with the parrot design. Also I should look at using this for further character development so I decided to look at wolves as I feel like I could subvert preconceived views on what a wolf character should look like.

Page by Page reflection

Sketchbook analysis 

Pages 1-3

These pages of my sketchbook show observational drawing form the first week of the project brief. Two of the drawings were observational sketches of people when I was on the train home for Christmas. I used the initial pages to warm myself up for the sketchbook caring more about filling the page with quick sketches than more detailed studies. The first page is a quick sketch of an old man waiting for the train I feel like I captured the emotion the man was depicting through him waiting patiently, however the proportions of the figure are exaggerated as. I tried to turn the man into a cartoon characters. The second page of the sketchbook was the best sketches from the bear exercise which was completed in a workshop. The workshop focused on the movement if bears through watching a video of bears in the wild. The third page is a sketch of my friend Ben on the train it focuses heavily on the routines of his face and with the use of limited lines it creates a simplistic style however there is certain rigidity especially around the hands.

Pages 4-5 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xYpn8HNYEg

These two pages focus on the wild birds of the outback in Australia. I watched a national geographic film on the birds of the outback and  decided for the first page to focus on the movement of the birds and quickly sketch how they move to fully understand the form.The later page shows more detailed sketches of the parrots. I found that the different breeds of birds had very similar features around their beaks as they split into two parts, an upper and lower part which has a glossy surface.

I used coloured pencil to show the wide array of colours of these birds however found it extremely difficult to judge what tone to use and shading technique to best display the feathers of the birds.

Pages 6-7

Pages 6 and 7 focus on Belgian artist Dzia uses geometric shapes and lines to create unique decisions of animals. Theses animal include Birds , foxes , octopi and rhinos.

Dzia uses a variety of different media in his works from stencils ,paint and sculptures to street art and graffiti. Dzia's murals are seen across wide ranges of European cities as he is well known in the urban art scene.

His work inspires me as by splitting the body parts of animals into geometric shapes but never truly distorting the form shows the careful selection and urge to show details of the animal itself.

 His use of colour also inspires me as it appears as a washed out palette most likely achieved by water colour however as it is spray paint the tones of the birds for instance are highlighted to greater effect giving larger visual impact making them stand out against the medium of the wall.

New ideas come very easily to me, so my work is very spontaneous – I paint quickly and in-situ to make sure the original idea stays true to its form.” - Dzia - 

https://dzia.be/WHO-IS-DZIA

I feel like I can use this type in my work for future animations and artwork as by splitting the characters up into these geometric shapes I could use the lines of the shape to morph and bend the character in new ways. Furthermore , this style could be used for backgrounds of scenes and could be used as lines of focus to direct the viewer to the most important images or actions in the shot.

Page 7 uses the sketches of the outback birds and incorporates Dzia’s style in them this inspired me for future animations as the lines and geometric shapes could move and morph to either create backgrounds or enhance the characters aesthetic onscreen. 

I used acrylic paint to create similar colours to Dzia’s work but also maintained the same colours which are present in the national geographic video wild birds to show continuity within the sketchbook. I found that the first test worked better than the second piece as I incorporated fine-liner to create the geometric shapes instead of the black paint I used in the second design.By using fine-liner the line of the shapes was thiner and created more of a contrast on the page rather than the thicker lines in the second iteration.The thicker lines overpowered the simplicity o the design an detracted the viewer from the piece as the other colours become bare visible on the page. 

Pages 8-9 

These pages show the development from the looking at real life parrots in previous pages and converting them into cartoon characters. I decide to try different styles and form when generating the characters. I found that I wanted to portray a proud parrot with a messy hair styles as parrots are synonymous with repeating what humans say so I wanted to incorporate this personality in my design.I chose a proud stance and gave the appearance that the parrot was singing with wings spread wide. I looked at the film rio for inspiration in characters design due to this film being the only film that has portrayed animated parrots in a variety of stances and emotions.

I found  a character I was particularly fond of and decided to explore this parrot further by adding acrylic paint and distinguishing a clear colour palette for the character. I wanted the colour of this parrot to resemble the parrots from the Australian outback so went with a vivid green colour scheme , with yellow beak and red accents to draw the eye. I find that this design can be explored further with series of posing and emotions shown on a character design sheet which is explored later in the sketchbook.

Pages 10-11

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASc-RFofxgM

These pages focus on mountain baboons as I watched another national geographic film and focus on both sides of the baboons personality.The baboons has two main personality traits the dominating territorial baboon and the family orientated baboon. I wanted to understand how the baboon moves so decided to draw images of how they stand and attack when they are territorial.This led me to look further into the movement of apes and ultimately Andy Serkis.

Page 12-13

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpRLTfVEhMk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qMmPSSN2-Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPcwa78JcKY

Andy Serkis is an English actor and film director. Best know for roles as Gollum from the lord of the rings trilogy, king kong and Caesar from the planet of the apes. His work is mainly involves motion capture techniques and cg and for the roles he plays he studies a great deal of animal movements and their forms.

Serkis places large amounts of thought into the way his characters move for instance while playing the role of Caesar and kong he studied the movements of gorillas and other primates in the wild establishing a walk that is synonymous with the character.This also helped influence the movement of Gollum as with him being a highly corrupted figure who walks on all fours studying how a primate would move establishes the animalistic qualities that Gollum posses.

I feel that Serkis influences me in the way to look deeper into how the movements of the animals may help 

influence the future characters and walk cycles that I create. This broadens my thought process with developing characters because it establishes a grounding for how the muscles would move in the body of an animal for instance and would lead me to create a more realistic walk or movement cycle.

I also looked at Serkis’s role as Gollum and did a movement study on how he moves in the hobbit and the lord of the rings. Gollum has ape like movement as he walks on all fours and grovels and squabbles like an ape when they are angry and territorial especially like a baboon.

Page 14-19

These pages focus on the castle and museum trip and workshop with quick studies on exhibits and people within the museum. I tried for the majority of these pages to quickly draw the people moving within the exhibitions as well as making sure that perspective within the drawing is created.I also became fascinated with the bird exhibit and found that instead of focusing on the individual aspects of each exhibit like one single bird I should look at the entire composition in relation to where I was standing. I was intrigued by the bird section of the museum as after watching videos of how parrots movie in the wild I had a theory of how although birds look differently they have the same anatomical structure. For this I drew multiple angles of a wide range of birds and distinguished they all have similar breast parts were the neck links the body to the head this was especially evident in the pelican and ostrich part of the exhibition.

I also looked at the tiger and lion exhibition in the museum and focused on the teeth and facial features of these cats and found that there is a black lip which runs along the bottom of the gums. Tigers also have a different sized head to lions as there is more of a slope to the nose of the tiger the there is to the lion.

Page 20-21

This double page spread focuses on the paint doodle exercise were a series of watercolour paint is placed on a page and I have drawn a series of characters or doodle over the top using the shape of the paint when it has dried.I find this exercise to be ye opening to new character concepts and I found a new dinosaur character that I would like to explore further in future pages of the sketchbook.

Page 22-25

These pages spread focuses on Vince Okerman also known as the youtube illustrator and doodle artist Vexx uses colourful compositions of cartoon characters and objects blended with realistic observational drawings to draw the eye of his audience.

Vexx’s style uses comic markers and fine liners to enhance his unique style.There are no gaps in his work when creating the composition giving the effect of an explosion or cluster of his characters on the page.Each character seems to be reacting to one another and the environment around them with the wide array of facial expressions and actions taking place.

Vexx’s characters and doodles build up the rest of the form of the observational sketch. For instance with the tiger piece the characters build up the rest of the shape of the neck anyhow how there is a clear metamorphosis between the contrasting art styles.

 This has inspired the way I work through the use of colour and the actual art style he uses due to the simplicity of his doodles.This gives me inspiration through by having a character so smile It make them easier to animate as I struggle with consistency from frame to frame. This art style would also appeal greatly to children due to the bright and bold colours used with contrasts being created through the composition and placement of all the characters on the page.

I decided to create a series of doodles inspired by Vexx’s style I found this quite liberating as I was able to incorporate multiple elements into one drawing .I especially enjoyed the lion drawing as I had studied lions from the norwich museum trip. This trip then gave me the grounding to fully focus photographs of the Lions to fully develop their  form. The blend between pencil and fine-liner contradict each other but add a cohesive uniformity to the piece itself.This piece blends the natural life of a lion to the cartoon imagination this helped me understands how the boundary between life and imagination can be bridged both in animation and in art.

Pages 26-27 

The next page revisits the parrot character from the studies from the national geographic film and develops the character further as I received feedback from Robert to create another double page spread on the character. I heavily took inspiration from rio the film on this page trying to incorporate some of the posing from the film in my character . I found that my character would embrace the repeating tone a parrot and give the character a fun personality as he is outgoing and over the top.

Pages 28-32 

The next pages uses the study of Yellowstone’s wolves to develop a character revolving around the nature of the wolf. Initially I took the same approach as the parrot and baboon studies creating quick sketches around the movement and form of the wolves.The next pages adapts the structure of the wolves to incorporate larger eyes to give a cartoon style.I realised that I wanted my wolf to stand up and be sophisticated so I veered away from the traditional form of the wolf.As the character is sophisticated I gave the character a robe and a cigarette to emphasise an aristocratic nature of the wolf.

Personal sketchbook

These drawings are found in a separate sketchbook where I try to explore a variety of different characters concepts swell as recreating the styles of famous characters like the drawing of Hank from finding Dory. I tried to draw as much as possible so these drawings are completed after work was completed for the day and I had free time. I looked at a wide range of animals like lemurs, sloths and monkeys as I want to develop characters in that area. In addition I found myself wanting to come up with interesting concepts such as the robot on the rubber dingy this directly contrasts what a robot does as if he fell in the water he would short circuit.

The next pages are improvement pages revolving around figure drawing. I watched youtube videos to give me the poses and tried a series of quick sketches lasting one to two minutes and longer sketches which were five minutes. I tried a new medium when doing this as I used ink and a calligraphy pen as this eliminated the use of a rubber. I am trying to move away from using the rubber as I become fixated on the perfect drawing. By doing this I create an imperfect drawing but as each drawing is completed I will improve with practice. The last drawing was inspired by Ben Su a Pixar animator who uses figure drawing in all aspects of his work.

[kpssmithwrites]

So these charts have been floating around (made by @trashwarden), and I really wanted to fill some out for Braliden. She goes through a lot of stress during the Blight, and thus goes through quite a mixture of emotions regarding those she comes across.

Read more in-depth descriptions below the cut! Bralinden’s DA:O Awakening chart should follow in the next few days, because I’ve found that I really like talking about my Warden. I don’t know why. I just love her.

Alistair

Her friend, confidant, and a “what-could-have-been-but-didn’t-due-to-politics.” They became friends rather quickly after the battle of Ostagar. Bralinden, for the second time in a short span of weeks, had the rug ripped out from underneath her, but since Alistair was struggling with the same issue she quickly bucked up and the two became very close. At one point, there was love there, until Bralinden realized she and Alistair had several differences that wouldn’t let the relationship work. Nevertheless, the two remained close friends, especially when Bralinden became Ferelden’s new Chancellor after Alistair became king. She had the political know-how to guide him in his earliest decisions, and helped ensure that he was adequately prepared when she had to go be the (albeit temporary) Warden Commander. His happiness is extremely important to her.

Wynne

Bralinden’s first proper introduction to a circle mage. Originally Bralinden was hesitant to get to know her, but she soon found out that Wynne had a lot of wisdom to share, she soon became intrigued by the elderly woman. Eventually, Bralinden began to see her as a matronly figure, and slowly Wynne’s image began to replace Braliden’s few memories of her mother and grandmother, as both died when she was young. While Bralinden did bring up griffons in their conversations, most of Bralinden’s knowledge on the Circle came from Wynne.

Ogren

A drunken nuisance turned good friend. Bralinden, at first, did not like Ogren. His drunken antics and behavior embarrassed her on behalf of whatever dignity she might have had left after traversing through Orzammar for the first time after her exile. Nevertheless, Ogren grew on her, and the two ended up bonding over both serious and silly things. She managed to try and get Ogren back together with Felsi, and was extremely embarrassed (and proud) that Ogren and Felsi named their kid after her. The two still tried to keep in contact after Bralinden became Chancellor, but that faded quickly.

Leliana

A good, fond friend, after they got over the hurtle of very little in common at the start. Bralinden had very little experience with surface-dweller religion, and Leliana enjoyed trying to tell her about it. However, the two bonded over Leliana’s stories, and shoes. Bralinden wasn’t a good story teller, but she was good at finding things that Leliana liked (including Leliana’s pet nug). After the Fifth Blight, Bralinden offered to go with Leliana to track down Marjolaine, as Leliana spared her the first time around. Leliana declined, but promised to keep in contact with her dear friend during her journeys.

Sten

Kadan--a word Bralinden never could translate, but somehow understood. Bralinden found Sten to be a competent warrior, though they were off to a rocky start. Originally, they saw very little eye to eye, until Bralinden took charge and began to lead. In turn, Sten began to respect Bralinden, and the two became close after battles and travels. When Sten returned home, Bralinden was sorry to see him go, and the two occasionally send letters and care packages to one another. She’d like to see him again some day.

Loghain Mac Tir

A fallen warrior, not worthy of Braliden’s respect. Bralinden understands that some people still respect Loghain on some levels, and she can see why, after learning about his history. However, from Bralinden’s experience, she found Loghain to be untrustworthy, and didn’t feel safe without him dead in the ground. She killed him herself. This whole mess was extremely personal for her. 

Anora Mac Tir

Possible political rival. Bralinden never trusted Anora, but that was through Anora’s actions, and not Anora’s fathers. Bralinden is well aware that just because you’re related to someone, that doesn’t mean that you’re just like them. Still, the never truly got along, especially after Loghain’s execution, and Alistair becoming king.

Shale

Originally disliked, but eventually good friends. After it was revealed that the gollum was indeed a dwarf, Bralinden tried even harder to be on the good side of the dangerous, huge stone individual. They bonded over the silliness of other cultures, and the ability to enjoy smashing stuff together. When Shale goes to figure out mortality again, Bralinden makes them promise to come back to her, so she can hear all about it.

Zevran

Love of her life. While their relationship had a rocky start, Bralinden quickly grew attached to Zevran due to his candid attitude. She fell in love before he did, and their relationship was originally physical until it hit Zevran that Bralinden loved him, and wanted to remain just with him. They moved past the crisis and remained together after the Fifth Blight. She likes hearing stories of his homeland, and eventually, trusted him with her life, and her heart. The biggest thing they argue about after the blight is that the dog sometimes sleeps in their tent, and can interrupt quiet time.

Morrigan

Bralinden’s best friend. The two hit it off quite quickly, even thuogh Morrigan and Alistair bickered quite a bit. Afterwards, the two bonded over shared experiences, stories of their childhood, and their mutual distaste for Morrigan’s mother. For a time, Bralinden harbored a crush on Morrigan until it was made evident that Morrigan was not interested. Then, when Morrigan partakes in the ritual to save the Wardens with Alistair, Bralinden tries to get her to promise to stay. When Morrigan sneaks off after the final battle, Bralinden searches for her desperately. 

Partha (Dog)

Bralinden’s favorite companion. The Mabari’s loyalty was something that Bralinden treasured, and did not expect. The two share a tent despite the Mabari’s smell, and in any disagreement over her dog, Bralinden will always take Partha’s side. She named him after the dwarvish word for peace, which was what she hoped to achieve.

Gloin

A good friend. After she finds him in Denerim, Bralinden was besides herself with relief--and even happier when she finds out that he’s married and is expecting a child. The two never served in battle again, but kept in contact.