Category: 2-D Animation

Work Experience: Assisting Second Year Students

I was really excited to be able to work with another student after doing so many animation sole exercises. It’s a great opportunity to learn to work in a collaborative environment and as part of a team.
I’m working with Amber who’s folktale inspired film is an ideal project for my interests to work on. I’ve been assigned to focus on character designs and the colour pallets which are really suited to my illustration and print background. It’s really nice to have been given a lot of freedom style wise- Amber is keen for a collaborative approach to the film, citing Mary Blair and Over the Garden Wall as jumping off points for the general vibe of the project. Otherwise I just need to bring my ideas to her and see what works for the film.
The project is in the early stages so at the moment I’m mostly experimenting with different ideas and learning how to put together comprehensive character sheets and designs. I’m hoping to gain knowledge and experience of not only collaborating with another artist, but also gaining some insight in how to direct and produce a film in preparation for my own upcoming projects.
I’m really looking forward to seeing what this project will bring as I continue to work with Amber over the next few weeks.

Character design sketches

One of the major things I’ve been really struggling with is learning how to translate my drawings into animations. I’m used to drawing in a fairly rough style but with a fair amount of detail (particularly with hair) which at the moment feels quite difficult to master, particularly in a digital format.
I’m really trying to learn how to simplify my sketches whilst maintaining life and energy in the sketches. Going forward I want to work more with pen and pencil using the light boxes and experimenting more with traditional mediums but using the skills I’ve learnt over the last term.

Facial Acting

This is a prime example of where I need to learn to simplify my designs- I get too carried away with drawing hair.
I need to learn to exaggerate expressions and movement more, but I really enjoyed this exercise even if I did find myself struggling with it quite a bit at times. I happy with how the movement came out, just need to work on making things look less rough.