Week Five 28th Mar 07

Well Well Well, I didn't take any notes today. I hope my memory is sharp. Today was really just watching how it was all done. Mainly did a lot of work on my thumbnails for my storyboard. I've almost finished it, but I need to make sure I haven't broken the 180 degree rule. I'll need to check it again.

Using the black plastic card to view the storyboard is really good. It's so much easier to visualise the action, and imagine it animated/filmed when you can see it by itself. I just need to photocopy heaps of storyboard panels now. I'm using two panels per page for the storyboard because I'll be able to scan and edit much easier in flash for the animatic.

Week Four 21st Mar 07

This lesson covered most of the layout processes. It was a refresher course of what I had learnt from last year, but also what I had forgotten. I don't really like field guides, but I guess I've gotta learn to love them. I need to make them my friend. CONVERGING LINES - a big NO. Never draw background or foreground lines that intersect the eyeline or the mouthline. But use lines instead to lead the eye towards the focal point. I also learnt a really great way of doing linework, looking ahead and letting the pencil follow the eye. It's so simple, but it's great!

Anyways, as promised here is the concept sketch I did for the CGI assessment.

Week Three 14th Mar 07

Where do I begin.Overall the week was good. The storyboarding section was re-emphasised to me. I've seen so many things on composition and layout etc. , but it always helps when it is revisited. I want those techniques and unwritten laws to be second nature to me. So when i'm designing a layout or even drawing concept art I've got the rules in my head. I think this can only be achieved by me revisiting it.

I really want to see Deep Rising (the film formely known as 'tentacle'). I think it would be good to see how the storyboard and film was actually done and see if it matches up with my storyboard. Also giant squids amuse me, they're so cool.

I've done some concept artwork for the CGI modelling subject. I'll be sure to scan it up soon! May put it in my next post.

Week Two 7th Mar 07

Well the Inn concept drawings were good. I found it a little difficult finding interiors of inns. What helped a bit was a videogame of mine called ‘Oblivion’. It is a medieval fantasy style game so a lot of the architecture and décor of the rooms helped me visualise inns. I think that’s a process too, learning and researching so that your knowledge increases and you observe much more of your surroundings and how things look and work. The colour coding system seems like a good idea to organise the elements to design. I think I’m going to do that soon to the script. So I will be going now to do that!

Below are some of the concepts for the inn. I chose the largest one for clarity.

Week One 28th Feb 07

Well, it’s another year. Pre-production seems like a fun course, particularly the concept art. I find some of the concept or ‘inspirational’ art so amazing. Some of the basic ideas are artworks in themselves. One thing that stuck in my mind from the first lecture was that when doing concept art, you have to make it believable. The mechanics actually have to work, the entire universe of the world in which the story is set in has to be created and understood. Maybe this is why Lord of the Rings was such a huge success, because Tolkien had constructed such an amazingly well-thought-out world, in which believable characters existed. I think a great concept design adds a whole new level of depth to an artwork, and creates a world and story that is never ‘flat’.