Arcus

So as i said in my last post im working as a character animator and artist at arcus studios.

www.arcusstudios.co.uk

^^^

Check us out!

Were a digital city fellowship company which means weve been giving money for bread and peas and milkshakes and stuff while we put together an animation studio. Quite the opportunity eh?

After a bit of a turbulent start we are now a team of three all pulling in the same direction, as such things are finally moving. Over the last few months weve made some animations for cbbc, got an esting showing on e4 for the rest of the year and are working on lots of little original bits and bobs. Just to tease heres a bit of artwork from our latest.

Venturing forth...

Today is 21st of April, i just got my ass handed to me on Halo 3, and iv decided to make use of this blog again. Out of the three i started during my time as a student this has the least sucky name so there.

Im now a Masters graduate of animation from Teesside! Hurrah!
On top of that moments before finishing my dissertation i was offered a place in a digital city fellowship. As such Lord of the rings jokes are plentiful and i now find myself inexperienced yet eager. Its like being 15 all over again.

Im now James Taylor, art director and lead animator at a small start up studio, funded by the digital city fellowship scheme and based in my housemates bedroom. Ignore that last bit, we're professional to the last.

More to come soon.

These are two character animations i created last year, the models were provided by Chris Wyatt.

This first animation was viewed by Ed hooks and a free lance character animator, James Finley.

The main feedback i got was that his gestures at the start werent easily readable. My intent was that the woman was using the crystal ball before her, and then began speaking. Throughout this animation i 'over gesticulate' as Ed Hooks put it. People dont constantly move when they talk, and it was suggested that i think about holding poses a little more.


In this second animation, poses are held, but there still too many too varied to make it appear convinsing. These are both things i wish to tackle in my upcoming animations

Ed Hooks..

I attended Ed Hooks 'acting for animators' workshop at last years animex festival.
After the blocking out stage of the animations i wish to produce i will again touch on Ed hooks, for his advice on facial expression and eye movement.

In preparation for animating however i will take a brief look at Power centres.

Ed Hooks spoke of using power centers as a means of expressing character. A simple example would be a sporty masculine type. Full of testosterone, this characters power center would likely be in his chest. Most comic book superheroes have their power center in their chest.



In the above picture the power center would appear to be right infront of supermans chest pulling him upright and straight.

Characters emotions can be portrayed through the pulling or pushing of the power centers. The dont always have to remain in one place and can shift to reflect loses in confidence or sudden resolve simply by changing the position, thus changing the focus of the characters posture.

These power centers can be used to lead movement, and define personality, is a character being lead by their head or their heart? Standing tall or sinking with depression? Power centers can create more variation in characters and contrasts.

Examples could include the nose of a dog, his movements literally being led by smell (this could also work with a waiter, for a pompous, contemtous look), or the feet of a burguler as he cautiously makes his way around a house, his feet stretching before him as far as he dares, the rest of his body bein dragged along.

Definetly seems like somthing worth experimenting with...

Where I am now.

Ok so here it is, for this project i will be animating a number of short ten second acting peices. I have a number of models available to me and i have been getting to grips with them during the course of other modules. Im hoping to aquire another rig off Chris Wyatt as well as a number of sound clips from various films This would mean i can get to the animating far sooner, avoiding having to pick suitable clips.

So pending meeting with Chris i have gotten my Ed Hooks notes out from animex last year, as well as the acting peices i animated in his character animation module in my final year of my undergraduate degree. I will attempting to critisize these clips myself, as well as make note of critism offered to me by Ed Hooks and James Finly (a local freelance animator) last year.

I may then be able to make a list of does and donts for these new animations.

Observation

Heres a few of the observational drawings i made over the christmas break sitting in my loacal, making some quick sketches, i tried to pay attention to the general mood of peoples conversations. And then see what their body language communicated.

Just a quick update, iv got my queen of the flowers character sorted, and iv drawn most of the panels for it in my sketch book, they just need to be scanned edited then they can be animaticafied. Yes i just made that word up.

Heres a few pics of the queen of the flowers as a tomboy, wellie-boot wearing brat.