Blu style animation

To create my Blu style animation, I started drawing out the different sections of my character loop on paper. I needed about 20 different pictures so I could scan in and develop my animation with a smooth motion, without jolting. I drew all my images and frames in pencil, then went over them in a black fine line pen when they were finished up. I had to draw the first image, then trace over it to make the necessary changes for each frame and build the movement and motion of the animation. The next stage was to scan in all the fames I had drawn out and order them. After I had scanned all my images in to the laptop I started placing them all into photoshop where I could resize, order and put them together using the animation option. I needed to make sure there was a clear background on the animation so I could add a picture for a setting behind the animation.

After putting the animation together, I had to loop the video so it continued for more than a couple of seconds. The image could be moved around an image or location between loops so I could show it moving from place to place. I could also resize it to make it look like it had gone into the distance or closer to the camera. I exported the movie to quicktime. The video had sped up through being exported, so I had to upload it into Final Cut and slow it down by 50% so it wasn't so quick that you couldn't get a full, clear view of the character itself.

Limerick Animation task

We were divided into groups of 4/5 then given a limerick to create and animation for using iStopMotion.
My group was given the limerick;

“There once was a man from Peru,

Who wanted to live in a shoe,

A size 6 was too small,

So he went to the mall,

And found a size 12 with a view”

The first task was to develop a storyboard, then create background scenes and props/items we could be using in the animation. Ben and Jacob set to work on the storyboard while Nathan and I started creating the scenes and characters out of card. 

When we had developed our storyboard and created all of our scenes, characters and props, we started to create the animation using iStopMotion. We had to place everything carefully and move the card at a consistent rate between slides. While this was been created, Jacob went out with Steve briefly to record himself saying the limerick, which would add to the video later. The video was soon completed, so we then had to add in the recording of Jacob and record some other sound effects for the animation. 

After the animation, limerick and sound effects had all been recorded, it was put together in Final Cut. The video was timed properly with the audio and exported as the final piece. During the process of creating the video, we forgot to create credits. As we realised late in the process of creating our video, we did not have time to create animated credits, so they have been added digitally. Here is the final video-

http://vimeo.com/32621585

Initial Character Loop ideas

For my initial ideas, I started thinking about an interesting but simple character which would be easy to manipulate. As I created my first couple of ideas, I realised that I would have to think about how each character will be animated, and how I will make the character move across an image and the screen. If I created a character with too many complicated features, then I could make several mistakes, (this was my first character loop) which would make the final piece a lot less effective. I decided that I will go for simplicity, rather than something too complicated. I could look to build on my first animation and improve on the next few. I continued to create a few ideas, as I planned to create a final character from looking at the positive and negative points from my previous characters.

I drew out a few initial ideas of characters that could roll or slide, as this would be easier to animate. The initial character ideas for this kind of movement were not very interesting, as the they were all either round or long characters with little movement. I then decided that I could make a character move and come in and out the the frame by creating exit/entrance holes for the character to be able move about the frame in a simple way. I thought that a worm would be the best character for this kind of animation; I could make the worm come out of one hole and go into another after making a simple turning movement.

Blu

Blu is an anonymous street artist from Argentina. He lives in Bologna, and has been doing visual/street art since 1999. His work is displayed on buildings all around the world, after becoming famous through his initial street art around Bologna. In 2001 he started to do his work on a bigger scale, and complete bigger pieces of artwork. This made his work stand out much more and people started to recognise this, eventually making him better known globally.

Blu then went on to start creating short animated films with other artists, with work now displayed in countries such as Poland, Greece, Spain and Italy. The video below is about the consequences of evolution. Lots of Blu's videos have some kind of meaning within the animations.




http://vimeo.com/13085676


In 2008 Blu was asked to complete a piece of artwork for the Tate Modern building, in celebration of street art and Blu as an artist. Blu's work is done at a consistent fast pace, and is influences through the area or building he is working on. Blu still creates street art animation and uses iStopMotion to paint his work on walls and pavements, after covering each frame in grey to keep up a consistent flow to the finished piece. Blu's most famous animation was done in Buenos Aires and Baden, and is why he is so well known and popular.

Bouncing Ball Exercise

The bouncing ball exercise was the first of the animation module. The first task in completing this exercise was to plan the first 32 slides, which was done by numbering the frames from 1-32 and then creating a base line (this was the ground for the animation) and tracing it from each page onto all of the others. The next stage was to trace from the original frame, where I'd draw a ball at the high point stage. On each frame I would trace over the ball, but slightly alter the position to create a falling motion. I would also have to take into consideration that the ball will slightly change shape as it falls and bounces (It will be slightly squashed when it hits the ground and will stretch slightly when it bounces up). The initial traces were done in pencil so I could plan out where each frame would go and make any changes to make sure the overall piece will work fluidly without any odd frames or noticeable errors. I then went over the frames in a black fine-liner pen. Tracing over previous frames was key to doing this exercise effectively because I could see where the ball was, and then plan where I'd create the next frame.

Once I had finished all of the frames, I stuck down the book which I had drawn all the frames in so it wouldn't move when I captured the each of the images. I then set up an overhead camera and connected it to a mac; I opened iStopMotion and started to capture the frames in order from 1-32. I took a different amounts of shots for each frame as the speed of the ball bouncing would change during the sequence. After capturing all of the images, I exported them into final cut, where I put the sequence together in order. I then copied the sequence and repeated it 5 times so the animation wouldn't be short, and so I could get a clear view of how well I had created the animation. I also got to see the flow of the animation when watching it in a continuous video.