Glow

Isn't it frustrating when things don't turn out the way you thought it would be? Lighting and rendering really pisses me off. I wanted it to look like the night scene from "Theme Planet" by Michael Sormann:

Instead I get this:

BLUE GLOW! Somehow the texture glow has become blue. Though it still kinda looks cool, somewhat like underwater city. Then I managed to fix it by placing ambient light among them, and here's the result:

Doesn't look bad, but It sucks compared to Michael Sormann's scene. I need more practice, but I suspect many post processing steps were taken to produce the exact result, and I've completely clueless as how to achieve that. If someone could shed some light it'd nice.

Forget it Jake, it's noir....

Yeah I've always been fan of the noir genre. Say Chinatown and Casablanca. Though some argue Casa is not exactly noir-like. It looks pretty noirish to me, the black and white visuals that is. I guess that makes Sin City a noir film. I like how Sin City combined live action and 3D to make an unique style. I'm in awe.

I've been trying to replicate that extreme silhouette look. So far it isn't bad, but I still think it lacks something. I'm guessing the model which I gotta be more detail about. Here's the image I made:

There's also another video that inspired me to try this silhouette look. That's Crystal Method + Matiyashu music video. It's just badass...

2.5D animations

Tweens do not make animations bad. It is the person doing it that is. The whole traditional 2d look is transformed into what people call as "2.5D" style. Usually backgrounds or complex objects are done in 3D while the characters are done in 2D using tween. The result is quite beautiful, it has its own charm compared to classic 2D. So computer animators don't be afraid to use tweens, but be sure to learn how to use it really well or it'll look like crap.

Animations that do this:

Notice all these awesomeness are from France. I really wanna go there now...

Drawing infos

Just a few reminders for myself concerning drawing tips.

Ron Lemen:
http://studio2ndstreet.com/tutorials/s2s_HeadDrwgChrctrDesign.pdf
Bridgeman's anatomy drawings:
http://www.archive.org/stream/constructiveanat00briduoft#page/209/mode/thumb

Recommended books:
Andrew Loomis
Burne Hogharth - dynamic drawing series
Deborah Rockman
James Gurney - Imaginative Realism
Lee and Buscema - How to draw comics the marvel way
Chelsea - Perspective for comic book artists
Vilppu - Drawing Manual

Some inspiring animations

It's been a busy week, with multiple assignments due before easter break... I'm surprised I'm still alive. Anyway, to revive the blog I'll put some outstanding animations for inspiration.

First one is of course, from my 2 favourite artists, Sylvain Chomet and Evgeni Tomov, titled "The Illusionist". I haven't watch the film yet, but just by watching the trailer I already love it. Hand-drawn oldies nostalgic feel, what's not to like?

Second is a Russian animation titled "Only for Dogs". Again I'm in love with the quirky characters and the color-pencil background. The story is just a simple life of a dog who goes to a club only for dogs. I found the mood very easygoing, plus the jazz music is good too.

Third one is a bit dark. The animation is again about dogs, but with a more realistic feel. Watercolor background gives a very melancholy feel, which is appropriate as the story is sad. Somehow I'm fascinated with the Russian language, the way they speak is depressingly romantic. It's quite long so it has to split into 2 parts

Concept sketches

It's hard to decide between 2d and 3d. In 2d it's extremely hard to draw at extreme angles, while in 3d the camera can be positioned whenever I want. But in 2d I can create my personal visual style the way I want it.

Some concept sketches of the interior and the exterior:

Try listening to this while looking at the pictures http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EokKk3xWZ-s

It really enhances the mood.

Change of concept

The story of current concept is uninteresting in my opinion. I'll change the concept to something more dark and gloomy. Not all life are the birds the bees and all that jazz I guess. Something more original, something more vague, something that nobody has ever done before, for final project. Then yes, I will have to change my previous concept about Damien and his life. The new concept features some crazy environments. All the things in the story is going to be symbolical, nothing is real.

The story:
It is about a character who lives in a small dinky industrial house high above the sky supported by steel structure. There is only a house and a long platform nothing else. Everyday, the character takes out a radio, walks to the end of the platform, and place the radio there, adjusting the tune. The radio then connected to a wire to generate electricity for the house.

Sometimes the weather will be bad, sometimes good. The electricity then fluctuates between on and off. Until one day, the character fall sleep on the couch and the weather is stormy. He got woken up by thunder and realizes the radio is still outside. With great difficulty he managed to get it back, but it has smashed into pieces by lightning. The scene then ends with him trying to repair the radio back and eventually working again.

The concept:
So the house in the middle of nowhere represents the character's inner worlds. The radio act as the communication between the character and the outer worlds, and they generate electricity to fulfil the character's social life. The weather symbolize the relationship status, whether it's good(sunny) or bad(stormy). When the radio is smashed, it expresses miscommunication that ends up with him being withdrawn into his own world sulking(no electricity). The ending conveys a message that it is always possible to patch things up between a relationship.

The style:
2d animation with sketchy style with some ambience music and a few still backgrounds.