Backgrounds and concept art

Ok youve designed your characters now you need to get your backgrounds designed and some concept art giving a feel for what your animation would look like. to do this choose key scenes from your animation and illustrate them!







The next examples is a really good way to show that you have used reference and thought through your background designs Have a look at it and I suggest maybe trying to put together similiar piece for your own animation ideas.






Below are some very detailed designs from the Halo series of games.






Designs below are for comercials made by some design agencies.

The next two designs are for James Cameron's latest film 'Avatar'

Below are some concept designs from a 3D animation that an artist is producing.

These last two images are concept art from Disney's sleeping beauty. the final film ended up looking very different but the feel was still the same as in these designs.

So while im away you need to get well into producing your art work, so that when i return i can help you out with making your ideas look as great as possible.

Mr R.

Character and concept designs

You should be in a position now to start working towards you final designs for your 3 different ideas for an animation, to complete unit 1 you must have produced art work for each of your ideas. Ive included some designs from a graphic novel im illustrating to give you a idea of what i mean and also some great examples of character design work done for animations and computer games,

I hope you notice how different each of the character designs look to each other. the theme and mood of the animation you plan to make will influence how you present your work, so keep your designs inventive, creative and exciting!

have a look at the examples below and if you need to go look for other examples either on line or in some of the 'making of' or 'the art of' books that get brought out when films are released.

Design sketches from 'the forgotten'

Character designs from Wolfenstein 3D




Characters from the Number 9 film by tim burton



Designs for a web games characters

Designs for a Red riding hood animation.

Designs for a Goldilocks themed cartoon.

So there are just a few examples, its up to you to make sure that yours look just as good and fit the mood of your animation.

Thumbnail sketches

You will soon be finishing off the rest of your project research work, which means we can start on the designing cool animations part of the course.

Your first design task is to produce 2+ pages of thumbnail sketches. these could be quick character designs, ideas of scenes or shots in your film or basically any idea that you have on how you might make your film.

Its important that you arent focusing on one idea too much at the moment, as I want you to produce 3 different ideas or versions of your idea as your final peice for unit 1.

Making your thumbnails look good!

While thumbnailing and the genral roughing out of initial ideas is always going to look a bit scruffy, I still have high expectations of what I want your sketchbooks to look like. I want every page to reflect your creativity and imagination.

To help you make nice looking thumbnails I've sketched out some roughs for a design job I'm currently working on. Ive drawn all the roughs in biro (its my prefered choice for scribbling down ideas) and then taken them into photoshop to add a few greys to them and arrange them in a way so I can add notes next to them.

Ive added the images to this blog for you can have a look see at what I want your thumbnails to look like.

I will run through the process of adding the greys and preparing your sketches in todays lessons.

You task

2+ pages of annotated thumbnail sketches for your initial ideas.

Artist research

Your task now is to research into artists who's work can inspire your design work.

To make sure that you meet the full criteria of the course make sure that you at use the following types of artists;

2D artist
3D artist
and an artist or the art work of another culture.

I want a page for each artist and it must have the following information on it,

• Some examples of their work
• Who they are
• What media/materials they use
• What techniques/technologies used by them
• What makes their work distinctive, what is their style?
• How do they approach their subjects or briefs/ (this might need you to kind of say how you think they do.
• At least one example of you trying to reproduce one of their pictures/ or a section of their pictures
• What you like about their work and how you could use it in your designs.
  
  Try and use the following key visual language words (the exam board want to see you understand them so use them in the right places and when appropriate!)
  
  Form. Shape. Line. Pattern. Texture. Colour. Depth. Tone
  Perspective. Structure. Weight. Mass. Space. Volume
  Proportion. Scale. Balance. Movement

Deadline

By the end of today you need to have completed the following;

Sketchbook research into a similar project using the internet and printed sources.
Your specification in your book
A mind map

And your animation tests;

Squash and stretch
Walk cycle

Mind maps

Your task for this week is to mind map out your ideas for your animation. I expect you to make this look as visually appealing as possible, Ive included so examples below of good mind maps to give you some inspiration.

Remember the mind map is a great way of showing the moderators and me your working process, and that you are full of ideas. Also do not be affreaid of doodling in small sketches to illustrate the way you are thinking, this is your mind map of your project, let us see how creative you are!

Some starting points for your mind map are:

• Target Audience, then make branches off describing who they are and what they like and want to see.
• The Product/event, this should include information on the product/event, what is its message? Does it have an established style already, what are its aims and goals etc..,
• Media, How are you going to make you animation? You already know that we have Toon Boom Studio, but how else could it be animated? List the different ways you could do your project.
• Artists/Designers, Who have you looked at already? What other artists work could you be influenced by, how could you use them to develop your own ideas, how would be the best way to animate work like theirs (link to your media branch) how might changing the context of their work aid your project ( for example taking an illustrators style and using in as a starting point to help you design 3d models for a stop motion animation)
• Style, this will link to a lot of the other branches what feeling do you want your animation to have? How will this link to your target audience. How could you animate the feeling/messages you want to show. Link this to Media etc..
  

Just a reminder!

this friday You must have in: Squash and stretch, Walk cycle, your planning into similiar projects from off the web and in books and your mind map.

Techniques; Squash and stretch and the walk cycle.

Ive been pleased to see how some of the research into similiar projects is coming on. keep up the good work this first project is going to rely heavily on your sketchbook work.

Ok moving on, I want to put up some things to help you guys with learning the basic techniques of animation.
last week we got started on squash and stretch and you should at least be ready to capture your frames onto the computer now. this week I want to start on your next technique,

the walk cycle!

as luck would have it I found a great website that tells you everything im going to show you for these first two animation techniques, take a look and read through the tutorials if you get stuck or need a different explanation of what you need to do.

http://www.angryanimator.com/word/test/

Your task for this week is to make a walkcycle,

here are the requirements

Your character must keep its volume the same, I dont want it slowly shrinking or growing!
Your character must walk across the page, not on the spot!
I want a movie file of the squash and stretch and walk cycle saved on my animation harddrive before the end of next week in a folder with your name on it!

Mr Reynolds

Research into similiar work.

You've decided on your project,now you need to start the research work. to get a distinction you will need to make sure that you get as much information as possible and also explain what you like and dislike about the work that you look at and how it could help you with your ideas.

this is what the exam board are asking for;

2 Research and
investigate a
brief/project and
generate initial ideas
Investigate similar existing projects:
• site visits
• internet
• printed publications
Generate initial ideas, considering:
• mind mapping
• primary sources / direct experience e.g. drawing, visits
• secondary sources e.g. books on artist/designers work, internet
• change of context of work- e.g. scale, style, material, purpose

we are starting this lesson with the part in red text.

• site visits

I would suggest a visit this week to the collection in Lincoln (http://www.thecollection.lincoln.museum/), or the Hub in Sleaford (http://www.thehubcentre.info/). While you are unlikely to find any animation that suits your particular chosen task you will maybe see something that inspires you in some way. Some of the more graphic design style work at the Hub has given me several ideas about composition that ive tried using in my own animated work or illustrations. If your smart about it and can see how you could use something copletely unrelated toyour own work then you can tick the box on site visits. However you might want to go further a field to somewhere like the Bradford moving image museum (Yep thats where we are going in October) and get images there to add to your sketch books.

• internet

this is the part of the research you can start doing now, Ive already found some links that may or may not be useful to you. I want to see information about different animation projects and also who made them, what were they for and what can you learn from them in helping you design your own work.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/video/2009/jan/09/bbc-advertising

An Interesting article that looks at how short animated webisodes could be used to build interest and tell the back story of a soon to be released film, by using the model that musician Trent Reznor used to sell his album online.

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/studios_trent_reznor_distribution.php

This next link is to an article on animated webisodes being used to sell insurance and other mundane products. I cant find any actual examples of the animations as this story is from several years ago.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/business/2005-10-23-webisodes_x.htm


TV show Dexter is using animation to expand the shows back story and interest.

http://www.thrfeed.com/2009/07/dexter-panel-comic-con-.html

Comic book company Marvel have also been working in this area with their iron man animated shorts.

http://www.webtvhub.com/watch-iron-man-web-series-marvel-makes-3d-animated-webisodes/

Here is a good example of animation being used to target a younger age group.

http://www.brandrepublic.com/News/922944/AOL-launches-animated-webisodes-kids/


Comedienne Sarah Silverman is recreated in cartoon form on the comedy central website.

http://www.comedycentral.com/videos/index.jhtml?videoId=188794&title=animated-webisode-magic-purse



Even McDonalds are using animation as a vehicle for appealing to a different type of audience, who do you think this webtoon will appeal to?


http://cep.mcdonalds.com/dollar/

printed publications

there are plenty of books on animation you could use to find examples of similiar projects, I suggest also looking in more general design books as well when looking for ideas and inspiration.

Unit 1: Planning, researching and developing ideas for a specialist brief part 1.

There are 5 parts to Unit 1 the first one we are working on is:

1 Plan how to investigate the requirements of a brief/project.

Here is what the exam board wants;

Brief/project could be:
• set by a real client
• set by a teacher acting as a client
• self-identified, where a need exists and is presented to a client
Establish details with ‘client’:
• specification
• ideas, expectations
• audience
• budget
• deadlines – review, feedback, completion
Plan how time will be organised and managed

TASK 1 : Your first task is to get a sketchbook. you will need a sketchbook for all of your units so start getting your sketchbooks in now!

TASK 2: You now need to find an interesting project to work on for unit 1, remember you will be taking this into unit 3 so choose something that you know you will want to be working on for a long time. your brief needs to require a short animation to be produced for something, this could be something like:

a web advert or online animation to advertise something:

An animated cartoon to tie in with a product like a new book release etc..,

an animated music video etc...,

If you can find a real client then that would be brilliant but if you can't and have a good idea then I can act as the client for you, or if you have identified a need that would require a short animation produced for it then you yourself can be the client! (I hope that makes sense!)

Task 3: Now you have your project you need to write a brief, this needs to go at the front of your sketch book. the more detail you can fit into your brief the better.

below is a pro forma you can copy and paste into word and fill in to make it easy for you.


PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Project Title: (You need to give your project a name)

Project Type: Short Animated film/ A series of short animations

Company: (this will be who ever the job is for. If you want me to act as the client put Norkest media)

Briefing Date: (todays date)

WHERE ARE WE NOW?
Current Situation: (This is the problem that needs solving, this will be something like you have an upcoming event that needs to be advertised or a tv show needs a title sequence etc..)

WHERE DO WE WANT TO BE? (what do we need the animation to do?)

HOW WILL WE KNOW WE'VE ARRIVED? (How will we know if the animation is successfull?, this could be through showing it to the target audience and getting positive reviews from them)

WHAT ARE WE DOING TO GET THERE? (what are you going to do? this is an easy one, your going to reasearch the project, find your target audience and create an animation that appeals to them)


Campaign Strategy

Key Messages: (What is the main message that you are trying to get across?)

Key Media: Toon boom studio

Tonal/Brand Values: (What will the feel of the animation be? fun and appealing to kids, or dark and moody etc)

WHO DO WE NEED TO TALK TO?

Definition of target group: Insights into this target group: (Who is your target audience)

PRACTICALITIES AND APPROVALS

Budgets: (You will need to work out how much the task wil cost you, include stuff like the cost of the animation software you use and also how many hours you will spend on it. Obviously you arent really going to get a budget, however you need to pretend that you actually are working to a budget for the exam board)

Timings: Deadline Nov 20th 2009 (you will also need to arrange a time half way through to have an official meeting with me about how your project is going, I will leave this up to you)

Appendices (to be attached to brief): (this will be any additional information that you might need to include)

Task 4:

Lets get animating!

your last task of the week is a basic animation test, however despite it being simple its probably one of the most important techniques you will ever learn.

Squash and stretch

Your going to animate a simple ball dropping and bouncing several times.

Sounds easy doesnt it, however its also important that you can use squash and stretch, it doesnt just apply to a rubber ball bouncing it can be used when making a character move, facial expressions and in nearly every part of a good animation.

You will learn the following animation skills from doing this task.

make sure you make a note of these and understand them as you will be using them a lot in the next 2 years.

PATH OF ACTION.

TIMING

SQUASHED drawings to create the illusion of weight, contact.

STRETCHED drawings to create the illusion of speed.

KEYDRAWINGS, BREAKDOWNS, INBETWEENS.

SLO-IN (transition drawings)builds momentum.

SLO-OUT (transition drawings)reduces momentum.

The animation course

First of all welldone for choosing to study animation!
Its hard work but if your dedicated and willing to put the time in you are going to learn alot and produce some very cool work.

the first thing you need to know is how your course works, its my belief that if you the student knows what the moderators and im looking for when we mark your work then you can work smarter.

the course your doing is the OCR level 3 Art and Design.
Because the course offers a lot of flexibility in what you do we can run it focusing on animation planning, designing and making.

below is a link to the exam boards website, this has the specification for the exam and also all of the different options that you can choose:

http://www.ocr.org.uk/qualifications/type/nationals/art_design/l3/documents/index.aspx

Luckily you don't have to read it through as Im going to (try to ) explain whats needed in a simple way that lets you get straight on to whats required!

The Level 3 requires that you complete 6 units to pass the course. 4 of these units are mandatory, so you have to do them, if you want to see the unit specification for these ive added a link below from where you can download a pdf file for each of the units.

Unit 01 - Planning, researching and developing ideas for a specialist brief
http://www.ocr.org.uk/download/units/ocr_14829_unit_nationals_01.pdf

Unit 02 - Materials, techniques and processes
http://www.ocr.org.uk/download/units/ocr_14830_unit_nationals_02.pdf

Unit 03 - Realising an outcome to a specialist brief
http://www.ocr.org.uk/download/units/ocr_14831_unit_nationals_03.pdf

Unit 04 - Presenting, displaying, promoting and selling work
http://www.ocr.org.uk/download/units/ocr_14832_unit_nationals_04.pdf

the last two units can be any of a number of choices from a list, since we are doing animation the ones Ive chosen to do are.

Unit 17 - Understanding narrative images
http://www.ocr.org.uk/download/units/ocr_14845_unit_nationals_17.pdf

Unit 18 - Creating cartoons and producing animations
http://www.ocr.org.uk/download/units/ocr_14846_unit_nationals_18.pdf

I suggest you have a look through each of the briefs as they explain what im looking for when I grade your work and also the difference between getting a pass merit or distinction.


So what are we going to actually be doing!

Ive decided to briefly explain what you will be doing for each of the units, as we start actually working on them I will add new posts with more detailed explanations about what you need to do.

Unit1: This unit is all about researching and planning for an animation for a client, this will end up as a sketchbook of rough designs and research. at the end of unit 1 you will need to present 3 final ideas ready to be taken forward in unit 3.

Unit2: This is a research unit where you need to investigate the work on a variety of artists then experiment with different techniques and styles and design a short animated piece inspired by one of your artists.

Unit3: This is the second half of unit 1. after choosing your best idea from unit 1 you storyboard, character design and make the actual animation.

Unit4:This unit is about presenting yourself and your work this will include how to present your portfolio, making buisness cards etc and preparing for an exhibition of your animation and design work at the lincolnshire showground.

Unit5:This will be all about experimenting with narrative imagery and sequential design, so think comic books, graphic novels and animated comic stories.

Unit6: Designing cartoon characters and producing an animation.

So simple really when you think about it!

Mr Reynolds