[paulavu]

Week 10

Student’s Choice: Software

Last month, I used an animation software called Storyboarder Pro by Toon Boom for the first time, and honestly, I really liked it.

Despite being rusty at digital drawing (even with a tablet), I had so much fun with it. It was a fairly easy, clean, smooth software to use. There was a 4-hour tutorial video that I followed to help me figure out the basic features. 

This is the start of me getting familiar with computer animation software during college. I hope I’ll be able to be proficient in 3-D animation software like Blender and Maya.

[paulavu]

Week 9 (and week 8)

I forgot to make a post last week for marketing in gaming and animation, so I’ll make a post for last week’s topic along with week 9 this week because I don’t want a gap

. . . So here I go.

Week 8 - Marketing:

I barely know how the marketing and business behind gaming and animation industries work. I do however, observe, how freelance artists market themselves. Advertising online is probably the best way to get many people to notice you. From what I can tell, Twitter is a common social media platform for freelance artists to use for communication, and some artists that I know have expressed their liking for Twitter compared to other social medias. It is easier for artists to gain exposure on Twitter, and clients would reach out to them to commission a work. I’ve even seen Twitter accounts from animation/gaming industries that actually communicate through that platform to offer jobs.

Week 9 - Landscape:

Landscape is the type of art that I’ve been wanting to be skilled at. Landscape art helps create the settings and environment in video games and animation, and it give animators/modelers something to reference off of. I follow artists who make landscape art for animation industries, and it’s interesting to see how they construct their portfolios.

One landscape artist I look up to is Weston T. Jones: 

https://www.artstation.com/westontjones

He’s one of the newer environment concept artists in an industry called Rooster Teeth, and because of his amazing works, the setting designs in RT’s animated shows have greatly improved.

[paulavu]

Week 9

For me, it’s pretty hard to handle criticism and critiques. I know that they provide constructive feedback, but after hearing them, I dwell too much on what feels like a “mistake” or “imperfection”, and it can be bothering. I need to remind myself not to take them personally. I hope college can help me grow a thicker skin.

https://youtu.be/i9QEurc2hS8

Last year, this video gave me a new perspective on criticism.

[paulavu]

Week 8

Something that can make animation feel more real and immersive is the audio. In interesting animations and games that I’ve seen, they really captured every aspect of sound effects, like footsteps (being in sync w/ the character’s movement), wind, background conversations, music, etc. 

I hope I’ll be able to explore more in the use of audio as I get further into my college education.

[paulavu]

Week 7

Light and shadow are going to be some of my biggest challenges when creating an artwork. It’s hard to tell whether I’m using the right amount. If I don’t use enough, the art will look plain and inadequate. If I use too much, the art will look overwhelming and ugly. So I gotta study and pay attention to all of the light sources and what directions the shadows should go.

*taken from Unity’s manual.

[paulavu]

Week 6: 3-D Animation

As I’m taking the Art major at UTA, I want to focus on 3-D animation over 2-D animation. 3-D animation does not have as much hand-drawing as 2-D animation, and most video games I’m interested in uses 3-D animation. 

One example of video games that I’m inspired to have my animations look like is the Fire Emblem franchise. Below are the 3-D character models of the protagonists in Fire Emblem: Three houses.

My favorite thing about these styles is the real-time outlines around the 3D models that gives them a more “2-D anime look.”

[paulavu]

Week 5

Quality animation, to me, is essential to catching my interest in a video game, whether it is 2-D or 3-D. Growing up with video games as a child and now as an adult, I noticed the evolution of animation and graphics in many video games by using advanced technology.

For example, The Last of Us (2013) used motion capture to achieve the realistic & smooth animations while keeping the accurate proportions in the 3-D models. Because of the softwares and engines they had used to make the game, along with great storytelling, the The Last of Us became a best-selling cinematic video game.

[paulavu]

Concept Art

I’ve always been intrigued by concept art from my favorite video games, film, graphic novels and animation, since it gives me some varieties of ideas that could’ve happened in the production. Of course, I wish to collect art books from my favorite works, though they’re pretty expensive (I have about 2 books so far). And another thing, my older brother is someone who is pursuing concept art. 

https://www.instagram.com/luxarianart/

https://www.artstation.com/luxarian

He does a lot of Sci-Fi fantasy, and I’ve watched him improve in art over the years. Maybe someday, he will work in an industry.

[megaceros]

[paulavu]

My PAX South 2019 Convention trip + Layers of Fear 2 panel

[liquidsnvke]

Cyberpunk 2077 | E3 2019 

[einsbern]

A small Gehrman animation that took way more time than it should have.

Edit: changed to non-transparent version because this way the preview looks slightly less shit 

[paulavu]

Hi there! My name is Paula Vu, and I’m in the Art major and animation/gaming section at UT Arlington. I like video games, and I’m overall just a typical dork.