Something I'd love to learn

Something I'd love to learn is to make realistic animals/creatures talk in a realistic way like they do in films such as The Golden Compass and Narnia. Here are a few videos showing this.

Long time no see!

Well, its been a while but I have been busy. I started a different blog that was made just for my final year project and dissertation. You can find it at http://emmas-research.blogspot.com/

As I want a little break from my cat animation I am going to work on my portfolio, website and demo reel so look forward to updates about what I want to try and do/learn and how my work is going.

Helpful sites

http://sarahmensinga.blogspot.com/2007/11/kittens.html

http://spinner.cofc.edu/~farrells/Farrell/Mickey%20Mouse%20Analysis/MickeyMouseAnalysis.html

Duoh! logo design process

I found this website that I thought was good to see how an illustrator comes up with the final design for a logo.

http://veerle.duoh.com/blog/comments/the_new_duoh_logo_identity/

Background

Here is a picture i found with a similar sort of idea to what I want the background to be like.
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Or something similar to the one on the right, that I made quickly in photoshop.

chronology of space race timeline

This is a website showing the chronology of the space race timeline between America and Russia.

http://www.russianspaceweb.com/chronology_moon_race.html

Characters - America Vs Russia

My favourite idea is probably 'America Vs Russia'. I have done a few character designs, which are shown here. They are very stereotypical as I wanted it very clear that ones Russian and the other is American.
I made the American a cowboy because Houston, Texas is where NASA is and Texas is known for its cowboys so it made sense, when you thought about it.
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I'm not very keen on the bottom left Russian. It just doesn't look right.
So far I like the the top right American and the top left Russian. I think that I will have to change them slightly as I would like them to have the same sort of animation style. This could possibly be done by giving the American more of a curvy shape and eyebrows like the Russian.

The Space Race - Utopia/Dystopia

My response to Flight / The Space Race and it's affect upon art, design and life. Is going to be an animation. This is the 2nd task associated with Utopia Dystopia and I'm quite enjoying it. Below are some ideas for the animation.

Space Race Ideas

1. The story of Laika.

Showing her point of view and how she was grabbed off the streets, trained and made to be the first dog in space. Also, the only knowingly living thing sent to space to die. She could look out the window towards the end and see bones floating around the stars as a fun little extra. I would set this to be a rather sad animation with the possibility of a car parade of her picture at the end to end with a bit of a cheer.

2. America Vs Russia

This is set in a desert, space station or field. There is an American and a Russian. They both have big buttons. The American presses his and an empty rocket goes up in the air in the background. Then the Russian presses his and an empty rocket goes up on his side of the background. The American sends one up franticly now. So the Russian looks nervous and presses his button and a dog is thrown into a rocket and sent up. He does a little dance and a medal appears on his chest with 1st dog on it. The American looks shocked so sends something else up and gets a medal too. This continues through the timeline of the famous launches including 1^st man in space and 1^st man on the moon. A French man could also appear at one point and kick a cat up as they did send a tomcat sometime after Laika, the first dog.

The background could be curved with the field, then the sky, then space and the moon so you can also see how high their rockets got. At the end the moon could get sick of them all going for him that he turns round and squashes them with a big foot. Or an alien could appear with a flag and put it between them. Or it goes black and you come back on them both really old and aged still sending rockets up. I’m still thinking of a good ending for this one but I like the idea of something sudden and funny.

To go along with the whole - affect upon art, design and life, The characters or background art could change with the effect of what the space race did such as there clothes changing fashion with what was inspired.

3. The tortoise and hare theme

This idea is a twist on the famous moral story, the tortoise and the hare. It is set on a track but its set out like the earth, sky, space and the moon has been flattened into a windy track. Either people or rockets will be running the track. The winner will be the tortoise which is America as it reaches the moon.

Dolbadarn Castle and Tutorial

The castle that Im going to use as reference is Dolbadarn Castle as it was built by Prince Llywelyn. It is also not that far a drive from my home in Chester so I can go there over the weekend and take some photos and do some reference drawings.
I found this website that has some good photos of it and a good description of what it may have looked like before the walls and towers fell because of age.
http://www.walesdirectory.co.uk/Castles/Dolbadarn_Castle.htm

TUTORIAL
I found this tutorial for building a castle in 3d Max so Im going to use that to help me.
http://www.enjoycg.com/forums/member-content/2101-castle-modeling-textures-render.html

Wolfhound drawings

Here are some wolfhound drawings I found. I think its always good to research what other people think characters look like, hence why i did this.

Celtic Character Design Idea

I've been doing a lot of research into the character designs for my Gelert piece. I like the idea of a disneyish style mixed with a more sinister anime type thing.
One of my favourite ideas is making it very welsh and very Celtic by even putting Celtic knots and patterns onto my characters. I found a wooden dog puppet with a similar idea, which is shown here.

Dark animation references

I want to turn the story into a dark type of animation so below are some videos of the kind of darkness I would like to do.

Hounds of Flesh (Pica Tower Series) by Marc Craste and Studio AKA


The Pearce Sisters by Aardman Animations and directed by Luis Cook

AtomFilms.com: Funny Videos Funny Cartoons Comedy Central

Insight by Salvador Simo
I really like the style of animation. How the characters and cats look.


Live Life by Jonathan Pasternak
I like the titles for this and I think it would really suit my story so I may use that.


Space Alone by Ilias Sounas
I love the music. character design and the sort of static over the top.

The Hound Gelert

This is an old Welsh legend that I've known and remembered since I was young. I've even visited the supposed grave under a tree in Wales. I love this story. It has a lot of emotion and makes you think that you shouldnt just act on your emotions.

The Hound Gelert
Prince Llewellyn, Prince of Wales, was a great huntsman and had a beautiful hound. The dog’s name was Gelert and he was a fine hunting-dog as well as a good-natured animal who endeared himself to Llewellyn and his family.One day, the Prince decided to go hunting and gathered dogs and huntsmen together. The hunting-horn was blown, but Gelert was missing and didn’t appear. As time was getting on, the Prince gave the permission to lead the hunt away and left Gelert behind.Now Gelert was actually inside the castle, lying at the side of Llewellyn’s son who was asleep in the cradle. Although he heard the hunting horn, he decided to stay and watch the baby. It was perhaps half an hour later that Gelert heard an unfamiliar sound. He rose to his feet and placed himself protectively in front of the cradle. Suddenly the half-shut door moved a little and a ugly and brutal-looking wolf appeared. The wolf was twice as big as Gelert and obviously hungry because it had been a hard winter.He leapt towards the cradle, deciding that the baby indeed was a tasty meal for him. But Gelert leapt too, and a long and bloody struggle began between the good dog and the dangerous Wolf. The cradle was overturned but the baby lay under it and therefore was protected for the present. At last, it seemed that Gelert had no more strength left, he made one final effort to kill the wolf and actually succeeded before he might have been killed himself.The wolf’s dead and huge body now lay behind the cradle and Gelert collapsed, lying weakly in pools of blood. At that moment Prince Llewellyn, who had returned from the hunt, entered the room and saw in a horror that his child’s cradle was overturned and that there was blood everywhere - even his hound Gelert was covered with blood.‘Wicked and evil animal’, he thundered, ‘you have killed and devoured my only Child.’ Prince Llewellyn drew his sword in vain and plunged it straight through the dog’s heart. Gelert died instantly and then, for the first time, the baby began to cry.Llewellyn rushed to the cradle and turned it right side up. There lay his son, screaming heartily, and behind the cradle he discovered the dead body of the biggest wolf he had ever seen.Eventually the Prince realised that he had drawn a wrong conclusion and that the excellent and innocent hound had saved the life of his only son. After that he was full of guilt and remorse and gave an appropriate burial to his faithful grey hound Gelert.

I also found this version of the story that misses out the fight between Gelert and the wolf. It has illustrations as well.
http://www.valleystream.co.uk/gelert.htm

Studio Zeds and Design Flavr

Some pretty cool designs from two different companys, Studio Zeds and Design Flavr.
Most are in the style of illustration I like.

http://www.studiozeds.com/work/

http://www.designflavr.com/browse.php?category=illustration&page=1

MTV Virus

I found this website which is actually very similar to my idea. Its very funny but immature.

http://www.immaturity.tv/

UTOPIA / DYSTOPIA ART

For my Virtual Enviroments Module we are making a book based on Utopia and Dystopis so below are images I have found on my travels that I may use.

Back at Uni

Well I'm back again for my second year. I was quite happy with my marks for my first year. I got B's and 1 C.
My summer was fun except for my car being broken into and everything being stolen.

Been a While

WOW its been a while since my last post!!! Oops
Errr what have I been up to.

Well, I went to Edinburgh for the Pixar Exhibition, which was brilliant... I loved it. When I've finished some stuff I will write about it on here.

I will do this in numbers as it will be easier for you to understand... or at least i think it will be :p

1. I've been getting people to do voices for my autobiography animatic.

2. Finishing my designs and ideas for my Redux Cat... it is now a series called 'The Fish Shop Cat'. After the cute cat that lives at the fish shop in huddersfield but its basically the same idea except its in a fish shop and the owner gets distracted by customers.etc.

3. I've been working on my objects for my Sprite and what they would do, if I knew how to make them do what I want LOL

4. I've been working on my Place to Play stuff the most as I have been modeling my final idea. Below is an old version of where I was up to and an up to date version. Its a bit different I know but I thought it was cool :)

I can't really think of anything else I've been up to other than helping to organise the Smelly Duck Rally page for the HUMCC site. You can see it at www.humcc.co.uk
Please let me know what you think :D

Place to Play Idea Presentation

Place to Play Research - Thin Film Display

You've finished working on your computer and you're ready to call it a day. Instead of logging off and folding the screen down over a laptop keyboard, imagine rolling up the computer screen and stashing it in your bag. Roll-up computer screens and other flexible light-emitting displays that conform to almost any shape or surface may one day be realities thanks to a team of scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

The researchers have developed two key technologies--the Flexible Glass^TM engineered substrate that provides a flexible surface on which to build a display and the Barix^TM thin film coating that protects a display from harmful air and moisture. These technologies offer the display industry the design flexibility of plastic and the barrier protection of glass.

Because it prevents moisture vapor or air from passing through, glass--durable but rigid--has been the substrate used in both traditional liquid crystal displays (LCDs), such as cell phones and digital watches, and next- generation displays such as organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), which offer wider viewing angles, quicker response times and more ruggedness.

One challenge to manufacturing thin, flexible, and lightweight OLEDs was finding a way to make a flexible surface, such as plastic, also impermeable to air and moisture vapor, which quickly destroy an OLED display. The Barix^TM coating provides this protection. It also enables the manufacture of thinner displays with fewer potential failures at seams and joints by eliminating the bulky packaging required when using a glass substrate.

The Barix^TM coating is made of extremely thin layers of transparent ceramic barrier material deposited with alternating thin polymer (plastic) layers. The layering is repeated until the desired resistance to water vapor and oxygen permeability is achieved. The nanoscale inorganic layers (of less than 50 nanometers) sandwiched between the polymer layers (of less than one micron) produce composite structures that are flexible enough to be rolled yet still prevent air and moisture vapor from passing through. The Barix^TM coating is typically less than two microns thick. A human hair, on average, is 100 microns thick.

The Flexible Glass^TM engineered substrate is a transparent, flexible plastic sheet that blocks air and moisture but allows light to be transmitted, making it extremely useful in manufacturing sensitive organic electronic devices. Vacuum deposition techniques are used to deposit thin-film layers of nanoscale organic and inorganic materials in multi-layer stacks directly onto a substrate such as polyester film. Each stack is typically less than two microns thick. Display manufacturers can use the Flexible Glass^TM product as the substrate on which to build either OLED or plastic LCD displays. After the device is fabricated on the barrier substrate it can be hermetically sealed using Barix^TMencapsulation or another sheet of Flexible Glass^TM barrier material.

Both Flexible Glass^TM and Barix^TM technologies have been licensed to the Battelle spin-off company, Vitex Systems Incorporated, for commercialization.