For the last couple of weeks I've been helping the Level 2 animation students in Dundee with their Flour Sack Exercise. Here are some drawings I made in the process. Some of the poses are mine, and some are from the Illusion of Life and other sources.
Here are some quick thumbnail sketches I made, with rough inbetween charts, to demonstrate how a basic jump could be approached.
Sharon White, the Animation Module Leader, and I were very impressed by the standard of animations this year. Well done everyone!
Back in July this year Framestore employees were asked to put forward ideas for an ident for Framestore's new logo. The designer, Javier Mariscal, saw the letters as characters and I decided to try and make the letters' different personalities apparent in the way they move.
I then created and put forward the following ideas and the first one here, Lemmings, was selected as the winner. I decided to try and make it stand out by having the letters die in the process of forming the logo. I was really surprised when they liked it.
I also decided to do some more generic versions which ended up looking very similar to Framestore's final one. Since the bottom of the letters aren't aligned, I decided to change their size and then use perspective to create the illusion they are at different heights while still have them sit on the ground. I then applied a moving camera that arrives at the only position the logo can be read from. At the same time the letters make their way into their positions.
However, soon after 'Lemmings' was chosen as the design for Framestore's new ident, it was decided that perhaps mass suicide wasn't a suitable theme with which to represent the company. We tried a few variations on it but sadly eventually the idea was abandoned in favour of something much simpler. Then, as my workload for The Tale of Despereaux increased, I had to hand over the project to my good friend, and animator extraordinaire, Craig Bardsley to finish. Although I was disappointed not to finish the project, it was good fun creating the ideas, and Craig has done a great job with the final version.
I'm chuffed that one of my shots made the cut. It's very short, but just about readable - The shot of three mice looking shocked, when Despereaux says "The rats have taken the princess".
I've written up my first lecture at Dundee on the boucing ball. I've put it online for those who missed it or for anyone who wants to refresh their memory.
It's on blogger so people can make comments and ask questions.
It's my take on a lecture shown to me by my animation supervisor, Michael Eames, when I first arrived at Framestore. He recieved it from Phil Nibbelink when working on the film Balto, who in turn, was taught this by Disney's Frank Thomas.
I've recently finished building a website for the singer/songwriter Georgie Nicholson.
The Tale of Despereaux crew, earlier today. I'm on the right, about half way up, wearing a green top.
