Animation blog

The Tongue Cut Sparrow is an old Japanese fairy story that I have chosen to adapt for my graduation film at Leeds Metropolitan University. This blog contains a selection of my work in progress leading up to the final film. I will also be including a selection of works from animators and artist that have influenced me during this time.

[thetonguecutsparrow]

[thetonguecutsparrow]

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Poster design for an old animation I made. It can be found here:

http://vimeo.com/42738520

[thetonguecutsparrow]

I always wondered how the title sequence for juno was made. It turns out this is how

[post-impressionisms]

Ten Artists —> 2. Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851)

Turner is one of the most celebrated English and Romantic landscape painters of all time. Although he was at first known for his landscape painting, Turner became famous for his rich depictions of the sea. Fascinated by the ever changing moods, Turner loved to paint seascapes in a wide range of settings—mighty British man-o’-wars returning from triumphant battles, tempestuous seas that swallowed up slaves from cargo ships, gentle, calming waters that provided life and sustenance for fishermen, and mighty waves that threatened to engulf any sailor foolish enough to dare to explore them. He particularly enjoyed juxtaposing the two and exploring the different roles that the sea played in the lives of humans. He painted in both watercolor and oil with masterful, painterly strokes, so that many of his oil paintings have the transient, delicate appearance of watercolors.

Of important note is his Sun Rising Through the Vapour (top left)  because, at the time, many painters considered vapour and fog unworthy of their notice, as it obscured their lighting. Turner, however, was enamored with all aspects of light—moonlight, sunlight, sun shining through clouds, all of it. His seascapes and landscapes both reflect the high importance he placed on the treatment of light.

“No other artist could match Turner as a painter of the sea in all its moods, although it was its tempestuous side that struck the deepest chord in him; for storm and shipwreck appealed to the strain of pessimistic sectionalism in his nature” (The Sun Rises Through the Vapour: Turner’s Early Seascapes, Paul Spencer-Longhurst, p. 10).

[animationtidbits]

Monsters University - Concept Art

[thetonguecutsparrow]

I've been thinking a lot about what I can do with my animation degree and how to get a job now that I have finally finished it. A show reel is a good to have when applying for jobs, and a particularly good idea if you are good at networking and advertising yourself. Collecting all the work I have done over the past 3 years made me realise the gaps I would have in my show reel. For instance I really enjoy stop motion but there is only 1 film that I have made in this style. Also I really enjoy hand drawn animation but I have nothing to show my ability in this that I could put in my show reel. Another thing that I really wanted show my proficiency in is 2d computer animation. There are considerably more jobs in this field of animation compared to the more traditional side of animation,therefore I have set myself a challenge of improving my show reel over the next couple of weeks by creating a set of 15-30 second animations that will make my show reel more attractive to future employers.

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Animator Island is a really interested website packed with information and advice for budding animators. Here is a list of animation exercisers that I will be following over the summer to help improve my hand drawn animation skills.. 

[thetonguecutsparrow]

[thetonguecutsparrow]

Trying my hand at making background art for animation

[explore-blog]

In this lovely animated short from Blank on Blank – who have previously given us David Foster Wallace on ambition and perfectionism – beloved children’s author Maurice Sendak, born on June 10, 1928, reflects on being a kid and the lifelong grip of anxiety. 

Pair with this beautiful letter to Sendak from his legendary editor, the great Ursula Nordstrom, and his posthumous love letter to the world.

[thetonguecutsparrow]

[thetonguecutsparrow]

Disney's Up.

This is my favourite 3D animation by Disney. It is unlike any story that Disney has ever animated, touching on subjects such as death and even miscarriage. It is the story of an old man who manages to fulfil his life ambition that he had put off for various reasons throughout his marriage with his wife, and finally achieves it after her death. A good story breaks your heart and this is exactly what this does. 

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Lighting

Whilst working with Rhys on the lighting of the film, we decided to go for a theatrical look due to it being a fairy tale. The light can seem quite unnatural and over the top but  in the forest scenes this allowed us to emphasize the creepiness of the animation. I think it really suits the mood of the film.

[thetonguecutsparrow]

The old lady puppet design. 

The problem I faced with the design of the puppets was the facial movement. This was a particular problem for the character for the old lady because it was important to convey the cruelty and evilness of the character and considering that there was no dialogue in the film, it was important to do this through facial expressions. I hadn't done a stop motion animation before so I had to improvise ways in which to make the heads of the character. I used beads that were set in the head of the character so i could make the eyes change direction with a pin. I used plasticine for the eyebrows so they could be moved around easily. The biggest problem that I had was the mouth. I couldn't think of a way to make a selection of different mouth pieces that i could easily change without wrecking the look of the character. For this reason, again I resorted to using plasticine, this worked quite well because i could just re sculpt it onto the face when needed. 

[thetonguecutsparrow]

I've finally handed in my completed animation in uni and finished my degree. While I am happy with the animation and the overall look of it, I think the story still needs some clarity and I am going to rectify this in the next few weeks. Also a major problem is with the music and sound of the film. I was extremely let down by the person who was supposed to be doing this for me, the music is really poor and there are no sound effects at all to accompany it. This is really distracting to the animation and as a result I will be getting someone else to do this for me from scratch.