DONE Fmp production experiments
- 1. FMP Production Experiments Will Anderson
- 2. Experiment 1 • This animation was made via the Timeline tool in Photoshop. This allows me to order layers to play after one-another. Additionally, it lets me control the delay between each frame, meaning that I can create smoother animations by creating extra layers and lowering the delay between them. For this experiment, I decided not to refine the image using a thicker brush afterwards as the main focus of these experiments is the smoothness and movements of the animations. This experiment in particular involves a hand crushing a heart. This allowed me to practice with moving body parts in more intricate ways whilst also showing their effect on the environment around them. Additionally, the crushing and explosion of the heart allowed me to experiment with velocity. I learned that if I wanted an animation to appear extremely quick, as I do in an explosion, I could either use less frames or create more frames and speed them up in Adobe Premiere. The first option would save time, whilst the latter would make the animation smoother. I decided to experiment with using less frames, as if the quality was still good I would be able to spend more time on more prominent frames and animations. I believe that this method works, as the explosion in this experiment looks relatively smooth and realistic whilst not taking a ridiculous amount of time to create. However, if I had more time in my main project I would definitely improve this animation by adding extra frames, as if someone looks closely they might be able to see the lack of frames. • I plan to have a shot in my final project that involves crushing a ball. Whilst the object is different, as well as the perspective and meaning of the animation, this experiment will allow me to create a more aesthetically pleasing animation come the time to make my production. • Additionally, the Timeline tool proved an efficient and understandable way to create my animation, and so I will use it for the rest of my experiments and my actual production should a better option not come up. The technique of creating a sketch before properly inking my images works well to set the look for each frame and allows me to check to see if the frames will run smoothly without having to dedicate too much time beforehand.
- 3. Experiment 2 • The main intent of this experiment was to practice with grittier and more blurred animations. Whilst the content of the scenes will be different, I intend to utilise these techniques in my final project in multiple sequences. Again using the Timeline tool in Photoshop, I was able to practice animating with different numbers of frames. This allowed me to see how many frames would be required to make animations of different durations smooth whilst ensuring I wouldn’t spend too much of my time on one bit. • To create the grittier aesthetic, I used smaller brushes with lower opacities. This allowed me to go over the same spot multiple times, creating different lines of varying thicknesses and darkness over the area, thus creating a more hatched look. This makes the motion of the animation more clear. This technique has a variety of possible uses, and I plan to use it in a variety of situations. • To create the blur effect, I used the Blur Gallery in the Filter section of Photoshop. This allowed me to choose how blurry an entire layer would be. This would work well for creating separate body parts (e.g. fists) on separate layers to give each a different amount of blur, thus showing different speeds and directions. • To improve on this experiment I would add colour, as being able to give the colour of an animation a similar effect would ensure that the momentum and grittiness of the animation is properly displayed.
- 4. Experiment 3 • For this experiment, I wanted to practice animating one of my characters. Whilst I don’t plan to use this movement in my actual animation, the act of animating one of my own characters and the type of motion will be great help when I come to animating my project. The art-style of general human design of the character will transfer to all my others, so being able to practice with one will help me with animating all of them. Additionally, the rotating motion is one that I plan to use in my final project, although in a different circumstance. This animation required combining the blur and hatches in my previous experimentation with the new rotation movement. These allow the motion of the animation to carry more weight. However, I used these very lightly as the rotation in this instance is slow. Learning from the mistake of my last experiment, I made sure to include colour in this animation. This allowed me to also experiment with shading techniques and how the shadows would move in regards to the body. • To improve on this experiment I would recreate it at different speeds so that I could practice more with rotations of different amounts, and how I would use blurring and hatching to represent this. Additionally, I would experiment with blurring different parts of the drawing differently. This could work by adding more blur to the outside of the rotation to show its greater motion than the inside.
- 5. Experiment 4 • This experiment is a still drawing of a city. The reason I did this experiment was to practice both perspective drawing as well as trying out the look of the setting. This will allow me to maintain the look of the backgrounds of the animation, adding to the authenticity. • I wanted to ensure that my backgrounds fit in with the artstyle of the characters. To ensure this, I used the same style of shading as I did for my character designs. • An important factor of these backgrounds was that the colours provide contrast with the colours of the characters. This will prevent the characters from being hard to make out from the background. To ensure this, I planned a colour pallet out for my setting which utilised different colours from my cast. However, I made sure that these backgrounds were still influenced by the Japanese architecture in my research. I did this by including features such as billboards and signs that utilised the brighter colours popular in Japan. • I made sure to include details such as people and vehicles in this drawing so that I could establish a real life feel to the setting. The people are undergoing tasks specific to each one of them, making the world feel more fleshed out. • To add the blotches to the building in the right, I used a faded brush with weak edges. This allowed me to repeatedly go over different areas to different extents to make the colour more or less prominent depending on what I wanted. Additionally, the weak edges make the shading less jarring, allowing me to create smoother toning should I want to. For the more harsh shading found in the foreground and on the mountain in the background, I used solid brushes. This made the shadows appear much harsher than the blotches, showing how much the sun is being blocked from these areas. • To improve on this experiment, I would include writing in the environment to make the images more authentic. This could be located on buildings, billboard etc.
- 6. Experiment 5 • Similar to the last experiment, this drawing is a still piece of the setting that I plan to use in my production. This time around, the shot is a closer look in the midst of the setting. This will help to establish a more detailed look of what the city is like. The shops and objects by the side of the road flesh out the look of the world, which I can incorporate into my animation to make the setting feel more real. The colour scheme is the same as the one in the last experiment, ensuring consistency between shots. This will make it easier to tell that the area is the same in my animation should I include different shots of the setting. • An improvement on this experiment would be to include characters in the setting. This could be random people or members of my main cast. By doing this, I could get more experience with drawing characters in shots of differing perspectives.
- 7. Experiments Analysis • I overall feel that my experiments will be helpful in creating my animation. Each experiment relates to what I plan to create in my production whilst covering enough area so that the techniques that I practiced will have multiple and variable uses. I feel confident that I will be able to animate to good quality whilst maintaining good look art. The inclusion of still art of setting shots will allow me to ensure my backgrounds have consistent colour schemes and architecture in my production. • To improve on my experiments, I would include more covering a wider variety of areas, as the more experiments I have the more experienced I will become at animating before beginning my production.