Framed

I recently finished writing the actual story for Episode 1 of my cartoon stories. In that I am estatic. The problem is I wrote it in two forms: half script, half sketch. To bring the story into one format for easy viewing, I made my own storyboard template and have been redrawing the whole thing. This might sound like a lot of effort, and it kind of is, but once I start drawing all sense of time goes out the window and it's really not so bad.

This is the original sketch of a sequence where a dragonfly swoops past Beth's head and lands on a shop awning. As you can see, it was drawn in a spare notebook. Nothing fancy. No borders. I'm pretty sure I was making it up as I went along too. Still, it got the point across.

I drew that one, maybe two, semesters ago. This semester I'm taking 3D Animation II, which is really more "Cinematography Using Maya Instead of Cameras" class. It's got me thinking more about the visual side of the storytelling. Camera angles, timing, hints at what a character's thinking without having them say anything. When I make a second draft of a story, stuff gets tweeked just based on what I've learned since the first draft.

Surprisingly, the thing that really makes a storyboard (or rather the sketches in the story board) pop is the border. Just like paint is only as bright as its contrast with the canvas underneath, a drawing is only as dynamic as its interaction with the boring rectangle that houses it. A rectangle gives you a point of reference, something to base the diagonals off of, something to give you the feeling of distance from the subject.

So here's the same sequence in storyboard.

Amazing what a tweek in timing, camera angle, and framing can do.

(insert gourd joke)

School is a lot like working at County Market. You have your rush hours, those days when 24 hours just doesn't seem like enough for a day. Times when you're rushing here there and everywhere and social life and fun stuff gets pushed off to the side. Work (or homework) demands your full and undivided attention.

And then there's times, like right now for instance, when there's absolutely nothing to do but pull those last three carts from the parking lot. You can kick back and chit-chat or whatever. At times you are so bored out of your....well.... gourd.... that you just can't wait to hit the next rush hour.

I'm at that point. I'm up to date on all my homework, including my first Animation II project (shown above). I've been in a lull for long enough that I'm actually excited for the critique on Monday. Excited for a critique? What is wrong with me!? I'll tell you what's wrong: Animation (and possibly County Market) has made my brain look like an acorn squash; nut-shaped with a soft interior. But if this is what it's like to go crazy, I'll take it.

Now if only I can think of another gourd joke.........

Piggerton Walk Cycle

Having fun with Piggerton and Anime Studio 6. The walk cycle can be the most important part of a character's movement, and one of the most complicated. It's so much more than moving the legs. When Piggerton walks, his whole body moves up and down with his hips. His tail moves counter to his hips to maintain balance, his head and neck move to keep his eyes steadily on wherever he's going, and finally his ears bob through passive movement.

At least Piggerton doesn't have any arms. I would've had to animate those too!

Wish I had something to say

I wish I had a clever picture to post this week, but I got nothing. Not to say that I haven't been creating. In animation class I made a gourd in a garden. In drawing class I've been drawing a still life. It is amazing how the position of three different gourds in a still life from one day to the next can wreak havoc with the composition drawn around it. In programming the other day I had fun making an application reminiscent of Mad-Libs. Hmm... a Mad-Lib application might not be such a bad idea...