It's a quick little story about a boy and a cloud who both want to soak up the sun, but neither want to give way! The moral of the story is to not mess about with storm clouds. All the frames were drawn in Photoshop, and composited in AfterEffects. This was an 8 week project, and I am glad I got it finished in time.
Looking back I can see things I would like to tweak, but there is not enough time right now. The strange thing about using audio is that it changes the perception of time, so there are scenes that could have been a frame longer or shorter. It also made me rethink the moods of scenes. For the most part though, I have realised that perhaps the story is not as clear to the public as it is to me and I am already thinking of little fillers here and there which would help carry the story a lot better.
However, for now, it is quite a polished animation (for a newbie student). It's only my third I've ever done, and I am improving. I'm going to tackle it a bit more, because I always did want to work in the animation field.
Here's the video here, but to see it in a much better quality: http://youtu.be/Ka5opgIiyEA
This is a poem about Claire, a girl who doesn't know she's been murdered. All she recalls is before it happened, when she basked and played in the sunshine, and afterwards when she 'wakes', cold and alone. It's been years since she died and though she's come to terms with it, she's still a wandering soul.
We had this assignment 5 weeks ago - to come up with a 32 paged children's picture book. What we need is a finished dummy book, and 4 double spreads (mounted and in situ). 1 week left on this now, zipping through it quite nicely.
Flat textures for the first spread.
Flat textures for the first spread.
Second spread process.
I'm laying down flat textures first, such is the way of cutouts. When they're all done, I'll be going back to see if shadows look decent. I've been looking at a lot of cutout artwork, but very few have tonal variety. I'll play around once I'm confident these look decent without.
Flat textures done for the second spread.
Figured out how to drop a simple shadow, so onwards with flat textures!
Third spread done.
Fourth spread done.
All I need now is text, and I should be good to go and print.
Here are all 5 finished pieces; the first 2 make a single spread.
Text has been added, and I'm off to the printer's tomorrow!
27th June 2011 Biro, sharpie, white ink, colour pencils, black paper and cartridge cutouts on brown paper
Ben Martin (benemart.tumblr.com) commissioned me for an ebook cover, for a story he's publishing soon. Here's the final design: a gothic setting, with the main character Billy looking over his grave.
