CA4 | Through

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Concept

The first few ideas when I received the brief was to just take anything around my house as I still did not have a strong grasp on the assignment and what it meant. The week went by and I started testing out some sequences and then it helped me find what I wanted to make.

Since my life revolves around lots of playing games and the evolution of its technology, why not show the process of how I found the trigger that inspired me to become a game artist and how I can grow from there.

Also because design and motion graphics is something I have not dared to explore into as it is very intimidating but attractive to me, I decided to use this chance and give it a go. My design sense is very bad so I need to research and try it out a lot!


Process

Artifacts

A list of items thought of

  • Hopscotch
  • Monopoly
  • Gameboy
  • Nintendo DS
  • PS3/PS4
  • PSP
  • Uno cards
  • Lego
  • Wacom tablet
  • Desktop
  • Game engines
  • 3D softwares

Artist References | Style, tone, rhythm etc…

Movement/speed/rhythm

Design/patterns

Art Style

Sound

For the sound, I wanted something upbeat and fast and to let it flow with the idea, I decided on using 8-bit ish songs. Also, sound effects will accompany parts of the video at certain parts to give a “game” feel that I am looking back into the past.


Execution

Assets

Started off with drawing the assets but they did not look as if they were supposed to be animated and hence I kept redrawing the same object but in different styles. The streaks that Ruyi taught us in after effects helped a lot in forming the static sequences of the assets.

Although some of the assets weren’t used in the end, it was fun to think of ideas in ways of how I can interpret my chosen artifact.

While drawing these objects, because I did not have a clear art style that I wanted to go for yet, the colors were hard to settle on. I first wanted to go with a pastel tone because of one of the reference videos I saw, but I tweaked it, increased the saturation and it clicked with my brain.

I addition to the main asset, I added in smaller details which were the broken down meaning behind my artifacts

and of course the elements which can help bring in movement to the piece

Sequencing | Editing

Was kind of hard to start and find where or how I can start creating the sequences. The previous test videos that I did not really make it to my final idea so I spent a lot of time working on just one sequence. But I realized that if I laid everything out in the order I wanted to in the editor, it makes things much easier and faster instead of just staying and working on one composition.

Effects

With this assignment, it gave me the chance to explore more on what after effects has to give. I played a lot with the motion tile and scatterize effect as it was more or less the base of my concept.

Then there was also the transition,  stylize, distort, color correction effects.

It was mainly just me adding and deleting the effects to see which one goes well and best fits my idea of how I wanted it to be.

Initially I wanted to use the morphing technique between artifacts because it looked cool but it was removed in the end as it had no significant meaning other than looking cool.

Lots and lots of layering of the effects, adjustment layers and tweaking the keyframes.

Sound

Combined the background music with some sound effects that were sourced from freesound.org and also by creating my own sounds with guitarpro5 (to get the midi file) and converting it using a free 8-bit converter software that uses the midi file.

The sound effects comes in when there’s a change of tone or artifact.

I also used the background music to help tell the story which shows the ups and downs that occurred in my past to get to the present.


Intention

The work

To show the process of my life and how I decided to venture into becoming a game artist, the thoughts in my head and what would it be like in the future. If I will be able to find a place in this industry of game development.

In addition to that, I want to also show the rising technology and its glitches that are happening and might happen in the future, to ask the question if this life is sustainable.

Artifacts Short Explanation


Reflection

What did I learn?

I learnt that not everything needs to have a direct representation of something.

Although I did make the assets of the chosen artifacts, with the usage of after effects and its tools, it gives so much way for me to explore and choose how I want to show my interpretation.

Color code the layers!

Using some design principles to aid my compositions and movements of some of the objects.

Difficulties faced

  • Being too fixated on one sequence.
  • Too much effects layered over each other that it lagged a lot even with a quarter quality.
  • Song choice led me to keep redoing the intro sequences as I was not happy with the songs.
  • Creating 8-bit sound effects. It sounds simple but executing it was kind of complicated.
  • Trying to nOt mAKe iT cHEeeeSy

What could have been done better

  • Doing much more tests
  • Settling on a style earlier
  • Making a storyboard!
    • so that I won’t be lost and stuck on what to do next
    • If I don’t know what to after effects can do to be able to draw it in a storyboard, explore after effects more!!!

      Final Video

      *WARNING* FLASHING LIGHTS & IMAGES

Early Weeks Sketches | Prof. Jesse

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Here are the sketches done in the order of weeks that we did in Jesse’s class!


Week 1


Week 2


Week 3


Week 4


Week 5

Drawing our classmates with the redraws included.


Week 13

Final Class | WEEK 14

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What we did in the final class for Drawing for animation with Jesse! My goal after the few weeks of drawing and in this last class was to try adding shading to my sketches while trying to fully draw out the entire pose. Reason was that my shading is not very strong and hence I wanted to try and focus on it more as I was told to not focus on any shading in the previous weeks. The drawings done from wk 1 – wk 5, and wk 13 can be viewed here.


2 Minutes

The first few sketches were really unsure but with more time, my hand warmed up and hopefully it got more stable!


5 Minutes

Started observing the lighting and shading more here when Jesse added lights.


10 Minutes

10 minutes gave me more time to observe the forms of the model and the shadows that formed on her.


20 Minutes

I decided to try and do like a 3 tone shading but it was not very successful to me in the second image as I felt that the tones of the human skin and the dress was too very similar to each other.

From this class, I felt that it really helped me to strengthen my mind in looking at the proportions of the human body and putting it down onto paper. While taking this class, I was also taking a class on 2d traditional animation (Basic principles of Motion) and it really helped my mind to understand forms in space when trying to animate them. Thank you to Prof. Jesse and Prof. Hannes for the class!

A3 | Animatics

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Initial Ideas

Technology: A device installed into the wrist where the user will be able to control their mood/emotions, what they wear to aid them in their daily life.

General Story Idea: when the user decides to speed up his life, the device goes over the speed limit and malfunctioned, perhaps causing him to warp and travel through time into the future.

^ These were the first storyboards but changes have been here and there!.

Some challenges faced while creating the animatics was the story and finding a conclusion for it in a way that it can make sense. I still find it hard to get a solid story but talking and brainstorming to friends and profs. helped a lot! and also taking the time to develop and not rush the story is important!

Also, as it was a repetitive looping-ish story, editing it was kinda confusing as I have to take note of how many times the scene has been repeated and how much I have to cut from that repeated scene. Moving on and adding some simple sounds to the first loop helped to stabilize the editing.

Instead of using arrows and camera notes like in the storyboard, I used premiere pro and after effects to move the characters.

Things that went well was I felt that the sound fit the video properly and it was also fun to edit them! Reduced some volumes here and there after the feedback from presentation day as well.


New storyboards with some color tests!


Animatic

It was a fun module!!

 

Week 12 Portfolio

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Here are the chosen drawings that were done in Prof. Hannes’ class while Prof. Jesse was away! It is in the order of weeks and what was drawn in class to show the progress that I had perhaps made while in class and in the long term period! 


Prof. Hannes’ Time (Part 2)

WEEK 06 – Weight
While sketching, I had some troubles trying to show off the weight of where the model left his weight on. From Jesse’s class, I then tried to remember what he said in addition to Hannes’ on how we should observe and think more while looking at the model before sketching it down.

Also, as I did not have the habit of making the full body gauge before going into detailed drawing, I had to be constantly reminded :’) to draw the feet first so that I can estimate better and make better proportions.


WEEK 07 – Weight, Key Framing

I think during this lesson, I was drilling and reminding my brain while sketching that I had to focus on the weight and I thought that it was much more expressed in this week’s sketches than the previous one. The exercise we did in week 5 really helped to make me search and pinpoint where I think the weight should be.

Hannes was also constantly reminding us about the line of action while drawing and along with the printed notes, it really helped me to sketch down the direction of everything first.


WEEK 08 – Key Framing, Line of Action

This week’s class was very useful in making me draw quicker, and penciling down the full length of the pose first, including the line of action. I felt that with the practice of drawing hands and feet, hopefully the progress can be seen here compared to the previous weeks! Also, remembering how Jesse taught us to use straight lines while making the main points, it really helped me to draw better heads I think!


WEEK 09 – Dynamic, Key Framing, Characterization, Shots

This class was really funny and we had a good time laughing together with the model as he had to do some “acting”. We also referenced some drawings that Hannes showed on screen which the model followed to make some key frames.

Many many action poses were done!


WEEK 10 – ZOO TRIP

Memorize, speed, observe, observe properly, study beforehand. I learnt all these while sketching at the zoo. This was my second trip to the zoo after the first one a few weeks ago for another class. I had not visited the zoo in years! Observing was something that I learnt a lot while sketching as it helps to fill your mind with the anatomy of the animal and makes you think of how this bone structure would work or is that how they move and such.

Also, having a set goal of what I wanted to draw helped to maximize my time at the zoo to draw and explore the variety of different structures these animals have. Hannes would be walking around the zoo and guide us when we meet at certain points. Many things were pointed out!

I decided to include most of the sketches I did as I wanted to show my process of drawing the animals in.


WEEK 11 – Exaggeration, Perspective, Characterization

Hannes started off the class showing the different styles and ways of drawing exaggeration with perspective. It started out challenging but with more time into the class, I managed to get the hang of it and also practice my foreshortening.


Reflection

I think that what I was trying to work towards to in this second part of the syllabus was to strengthen my drawing of the hands and legs, forms and poses. Using what I learnt from Jesse’s first part and applying my knowledge of how to see things and making the basic constructions to drawing these intricate parts boosted my confidence more in the second part where I was able to combine it with Hannes’ teaching on line of actions and animated poses.

Anatomy really plays a big role in building the foundation to being able to draw faster and sketching out the poses from head to toe for construction points so that I will know what to add in between before just drawing with details/shadings right at the start.

Through both teachings from Jesse and Hannes, I also learnt that a sketch is not all about rendering things to look pretty and nice to the eyes. Even if it looks so beautiful but the anatomy and pose is wrong, then it does not really serve any purpose in practicing to become a better drawer.This class taught and shaped my influence in looking at references while drawing live models and to follow some master artists that will better our thinking and understanding of the shapes and forms of the model we are drawing.

Also, one very important thing is that I felt that I was somehow able to get closer to finding my own drawing style and I am very happy that I was able to practice with drawing and getting a lot of feedback from this class. Transitioning into the third part of this course, I hope that I will be able to try explore into the shading forms of the model and uncover even more of what is the best and most comfortable way for me to be even more confident in drawing even though my style is still not there yet.

CA3 | Film Remake

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The film I chose was Slumdog Millionaire and the scene can be viewed here

I chose this film as I really like the cinematography and how they made the shots to express and make us think of the emotions with minimal conversations

Also, I decided that I wanted to try and take a risk in making an animation instead as I have an interest in it and why not try and make one.

To start off, I thought that a remake was just to make it seem as close as possible to the film and hence the first storyboard I made was extremely similar to the film. I then had consultations and realized that it did not have to be that way. So I made another round of storyboarding tweaking somethings here and there while keeping some shots that I really liked.

I tried playing around more with the camera angles and how long they would be held there in Premier Pro so as to give time to the viewer to think and hopefully immerse themselves into the mind of the character, maybe wonder what is the character thinking about now and such.

It turned out kinnnnda similar and so with more research on Singapore, localizing it, I got the idea of recreating a scene that happened in the past of Singapore.

Instead of having the boys travelling and working in the film, why not show a day in the life of two local boys exploring the streets of Singapore. It somehow sticks to the film’s story flow but the idea is somewhat different. Also I was hoping to add in feelings of nostalgia in this short scene.

 

Drawing Style

Initially I wanted to create a black an white animation but it looked too incomplete and had totally no feeling and emotion to it. I then tried doing different kinds of effects which then led to wanting to use a watercolor effect to create the animation.

Something like these few pieces of paintings. Maybe try to digitalise them into my style! Also, while creating the assets, not everything was 100% fully referenced from the old photographs, I added some hints of what I thought Singapore might have looked like as well.

 

Some referenced short films

For feelings/genres/emotions

Maybe the art style

Animation on live action

Initially for the audio, I wanted to try make some actual life recordings/foley but there was no time 🙁 I might try it in the following week while completing the animation!

Problems faced

This current submission is incomplete and it’ll be done soon! More planning of time and goal should have been done and it is something that I have learnt to focus on more. Although it was a risk but since it’s something I’m interested in, i thought why not just try and go for it

  • Time
  • Coloring takes awhile in the beginning but hands got steadier through the night as I got used to it
  • Drawing the characters, takes a while to get familiarized with them as well
  • Tools: Magic wand won’t let me fill in even tho the gaps are closed
  • Maybe not the best time to try something out for the first time but it also helped to make me learn a lot as well with a time constraint but if i didnt take on to try it. I wouldnt know when i would get the motivation to make a 2d animation in my own time

 

Currently, it is at about 85%-90% done and a little audio added in.


Audio has been added! 4/04/2019

A2 | K-LAND

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Final outcome:

Pixilation on the theme of Sleepwalking.

Some initial ideas:

  • Comedic acts while doing house chores
  • Reactions of a nightmare while sleepwalking
  • The whole nation is sleepwalking on the streets
  • Empty streets while character sleepwalking

And I got an idea that I like while thinking of the topic of sleepwalking, a song called “Sleepwalking” originally by Bring me the Horizon, covered by This Wild Life started playing. It reminded me of the meaning behind the song where the original singer made this song because of a period when he was a addicted to this drug called ketamine.

It then led me to researching more into the uses and effects of being addicted to ketamine. One of the main effects was that it “disengages users from reality, causing hallucinations and distorted perception”

Maybe, this is another way that I can use the theme of sleepwalking, being in a dream like state.

Process

While I had a storyboard, there were many many issues with the story flow, I didn’t really have a story or ending. It was just some character overdosing on ketamine.

So I just decided to just go ahead and shoot the shots. Brought them back to class for edits and consults and realised that there could be much more to be done but I still could not pinpoint what was the one good thing that would give this story a goal. While preparing for the second shoot, it gave me time to think of how I wanted to do it and while doing so, many ideas came, I saw sunlight shining in the window “oh nice! I can use that as a backdrop” etc… and tried many many different shots instead of sticking to only one like in the storyboard above.

Which was when I finally formed my story!

A girl stressed from the reality of life, school work and everything. So taking ketamine is a way for her to temporarily escape this harsh reality to be happy for a little while.

I tried to put in some messages in the background like the sign which says “decision” and “submissions”, using the song with lyrics of happy birthday, breaking of a stick(her breaking point back to reality), fading away to darkness while smiling at the end, reversing the painting action and more. And also adding really obvious sound effects for the viewers to literally hear the things going on instead of it just being normal sound effects blended in with the instrumental.

From this assignment, I learnt that I should try something out instead of pondering over whether I should do it or not. I also became more familiar with the shortcuts and ways of premier pro.

 

Cylindrical & Rectilinear Forms | Process & Final

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Content

  • More Research
  • Process
  • Final Outcome

Here is a link to my first round of research for this assignment! https://oss.adm.ntu.edu.sg/a170054/cylindrical-rectilinear-forms/

As I wanted to make the theme about the fusion of time and space, I searched for more historical periods that go all the way back to the extreme ends.


More research…

The city of Babylon.

References of this city can only be found in literature texts and tablets describing the beginning of their King’s reign. Also, there were both biblical and non-biblical evidence that it did exist.

I was really fascinated by their architecture and stories from what online sources provided and felt that while it gave off some ancient feelings, it also had a futuristic feeling to it. There was a group of people involved who were also known to be the “bookman”s of that era that passed down history. So I thought, why not use this as a base for forming my interiors.

I also found some Babylonian textiles and texts (Hammurabi Law, one of the oldest deciphered writings) which could be infused with the whole idea.


Process – Conversion

Here’s how I re-imagined the forms I researched on to become part of my interior spaces.

 


Process – Sketches

I did a few more sketches and instead of strictly separating the cylindrical and rectilinear interiors, I decided to combine both and play with the majority ratio.

The area/space I was thinking of while sketching was either a house, abandoned lab/experiment room, a worship space or a back entrance inside a cave like environment.

More or less, I settled with the laboratory and worship space!

The lab would be more cylindrical while the worship space would contain more rectilinear forms.

I hope to make some unusual perspective so that I can play and explore more into environment drawing.


Process – Final Design and Drawing

Abandoned Laboratory

Sketching and cleaning up, adding some simple shading. While drawing, I thought I could add some colors as well to aid in the atmosphere of the interiors which will be shown in the final outcome.

Place of Worship

Some difficulties face while sketching this one out was the overall perspective and especially on the circular structure in the middle. I had to erase and redraw that part quite a few times and in the end used a coin for reference on how the circle warps. 

Also, as it was a worship space, I added some Babylonian text along the walls and floors to give it a more depth and meaning as the texts were referenced from the Hammurabi Law.

I think this piece really helped with my thinking process of how to form lines in perspective and drawing the same thing at a different angle. 


FINAL OUTCOME – Coloured

Abandoned Laboratory

More cylindrical forms

Place of Worship

More rectilinear forms

I lowered the saturation so that the forms could be seen more easily while maintaining the atmosphere of the place.

CA2 | Book Cover | The Book of Lost Things

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Chosen Book

The book “The Book of Lost Things” by John Connelly. It is about a young boy named David who has just lost his mother. He gets mixed between reality and fantasy when the books around him starts whispering to him. He embarks on a journey to look for his mother and the Book of Lost Things by the King of that world to uncover the truth.

I decided to choose this book as I felt that they could use more colors. Maybe the limited colors were to show David’s mourning for his mother, but it doesn’t really have much of the fantasy elements that takes up majority of the story.

Also, this book seemed to be portrayed as fairy tale like but it’s kinda dark and isn’t meant for kids.


Artist References

Yu Fukagawa – Style

 

The line work is simple and easy to look at

Over the Garden Wall – Colors

I really like this animation along with it’s colors as it portrays some elements of the show to be very dark but at the same time, kids are able to watch it and not understand a single thing.


Process

I wanted the cover to be in black an white as it was about David mourning for his mother and these were the main colors used when mourning for someone.

However, I wanted some variation between the two covers I was going to make and so, with more research, I found that while purple meant creativity and imagination, it could also give off the meaning of mourning.

Although in the final colored image, not much purple is seen, the whole cover’s color was balanced on the magenta/blue/red side to give it a tint of hint of purple.

Along the way, I felt that the structure of the cover was too boring and plain which did not seem to be enough to portray an imaginary world. So by working on it more, editing and adding more elemental elements that can be seen in the book as well, it really helped a lot.


Final Outcome

Overall, the elements in both books are the things David had encountered in his fantasy world.

I tried to make the first one as a lost and found corner where the drawings are placed in a more orderly manner as David is mourning among these elements for his mother. With the title cancelled, I hoped to let the reader question the reason for it and perhaps, after they have finished the book, they might look at the cover again and understand why.

For the second one which was my chosen one out of the two, as I felt that it helped to portray what I wanted to show the setting of the book in a fantasy world as imagined by a child. Hence the glow and simple drawings as a whole. As for why it is so messy with many guiding lines going everywhere, it was to show the labyrinth that David was in. I also hoped to have been able to engage the reader to look closely at the details of the book which has a “find Wally” kind of feel what David was feeling throughout his journey.

At the bottom, is a door which signifies the final door that David sees at the end of the book which helped to give the story a lot more depth and emotions.

 

Comments/edits on what could be done:

  • Font sizes
  • Font colours could be more obvious
  • Placement of the words
  • Elements of the book could be used to draw out the title