Folding

I got 2 copies of my book printed yesterday and finished cutting them out this morning. The prints are just over three and a half metres long so I couldn't use a guillotine. Instead I cut the edges by hand with a scalpel and metre ruler. This has had some knock on effects, even though the books edge appears straight to the eye there are small curves throughout the books edge so when it came to folding the book I had trouble lining up the page spacing perfectly. I would normally use the folding machine in the print room but my page size was just too large to fit in the machine. I got some good advice on techniques to use and equipment I needed to help me. I used a set square to check the edges were straight and that the measurements on both sides match up. I bought a bone folding tool from the library shop that I used to create sharp folded edges. I have never had to use these techniques before and the pages would have been much more uneven if I hadn't been shown them. The pages are still not perfect and there is a certain amount of movement from where I originally planned the page edges but due to the design of the book it is not a major problem. If my book had a more rigid layout these shifts would ruin the composition so these processes are something I will have to improve on in the future.

This is one of the worst effected pages. One of the characters is cut in half, which isn't a problem if the book is viewed fully unfolded but if the book is viewed page by page the composition does not work as intended. The pages line up pretty well when the book is fully folded up except the last page.

The last page is noticeably longer than the others, luckily I plan it add a laser cut wooden cover to my book. The wooden cover will be lager then the page size and should disguise the variation in page size. I am happy with the print quality on the book and the matt finish, I had to lower the dpi on the image as Photoshop will not print an image larger than 3000 pixels wide, this is another constraint I have never come across before and something to bare in mind for future projects. This process has taught me to plan ahead more and try to think about all aspects of the processes I will need to undertake. My next process is laser cutting. I will need to check what materials to use to make the book user friendly (no splinters), what glues to use to make the book sturdy and long lasting and what materials to use as a spacer between the wooden cover and the paper. I need to find out when the woodwork inductions are and check on availability of the laser cutter. I will have to see what wood is available in the workshop, it could make or break the aesthetic of the book.

Storyboard workshop

Todays workshop was extremely informative, helping me to understand the variety of uses for storyboards and how to approach animation. Storyboards can be used to test out ideas that could take all day to test in After Effects in a matter of minutes, helping to streamline practice. Keeping a log of discarded ideas could help me to understand what works and doesn't work or keep complex ideas in mind for a time when I have the skills to make them work. I need to keep my storyboards and blog them to show how my ideas progress and how they are constrained by the limits of After effects or my knowledge of it.

I can show changes of pace in the movement on my storyboards by the number of frames it takes an object to move a certain distance. Movement attracts the viewers attention and can be very useful within the composition. Objects placed in the centre of the frame will be interpreted as stationary even if the background is moving. People are often scared to animate objects overlapping the frame which limits the impact of the animation. Everything on the screen will appear small because it is dwarfed by the frame itself. By have objects scaled up so that only part of them is visible I can not only create scale but suggest  objects or a whole world outside of the frame. these techniques can make the viewer fell like they are in the centre of the animation, making it appear more real. in the same way that we can suggest objects outside the frame we can imply actions or movements outside of the timeline by building suspense up to an event without actually showing it, like blowing up a balloon until it is about to burst but not showing the bang itself.

The animations I have made so far have concentrated on demonstrating the movements from my book instead of communicating the tone and emotion of it. One simple movement done well can have much more impact than a complex composition. Movements are not always constant, a balloon being blown up will inflate in stages as the person breathes in and out, a stone dropped into water will change in pace as it hits the water. I need to focus more on the nuances of each individual moment so that they create a connection with the viewer.

lots of animators avoid using walk cycles and having tried to make one this week I can see why. I don't think the chase scene I made is intrinsic to the sting and I could find more emotive elements of my book to use instead. I think I need to change my plan for the animation! I wanted to scroll across the entire book and animate the characters as it scrolled. The idea could look good but would not provide any real incite into the books narrative and could end up being a confused version of the book itself. I am going to work on some storyboards that explore more dynamic compositions and simpler animation that helps to demonstrate the tone of the book and could create intrigue in the story instead of hurriedly trying to tell it.

Plenty to do! Lost some motivation with this project but its back now!

Chris Haughton

I was looking at Chris Haughton's website found that he makes animations of his books. I have got a lot of inspiration from Chris Haughton for this brief and my practice in general. I am almost hesitant to look too much at his work as it feels I am focussed one practitioner but I don't think I should rule out gaining insight from someone who works in a similar way to myself. Looking at his animations I think I have lost some of the character of my illustrations in my test animations so far. I need to concentrate of the movements conveying their character and emotion just as I have with their posture and expressions in my illustrations.

GOODNIGHT EVERYONE trailer from chris haughton on Vimeo.

The way he animates the animals in this trailer is amazing. There are no dynamic movements in the composition and no strong narrative presence but the animals movements and character is captivating. I am going to start an animation of one of my pages that contains fairly simple movements and try to capture lifelike movements. I think even the parts of the character that don't really move much need to have some reaction to the moving parts to show it is one character and there are reactions between the two, making the character seem 'real'. The smallest movements seem to be able to have a powerful impact.

Digi print

Today I have booked a digital print appointment to get my book printed. I am going to try and get 3 different colour variations printed with varying brightness levels and contrasts. I want to see which of them works best when printed. I am trying to figure out how I am going to crop the image given that it is extremely long and won't fit in any of the guillotines in the college, I will ask in the print room to se if they have any advice, I think the best option might be to use a craft knife and a metre ruler. I have decided that I want to make a set of 5 screen prints go accompany my book. I don't feel I have experimented enough with traditional print media during this project so far. I have used elements of print in my design but the only screen print I have tired was in the induction we had. I am going to try other print techniques to create textures that I can apply when making my positives for screen print.

Storyboard task

I have really struggled with this task, I don't know if it is that I already know how I want to make my animation, if it is the composition of my book or if I am unable to look past simple movements in animation. I have made all the roughs based around 2 characters and a landscape. The constraints of vertical and lateral movement and my want to make the movements of the characters make sense within the narrative have meant all my storyboards a very simple. To make the storyboard up to 9 frames I have drawn almost every movement instead of key moments. In my final animation I want the camera to pan across the entire concertina book composition and this story boarding exercise has helped me to understand how that could work. I could try and time the panning background so that the character walking or running will remain in the centre of the frame, making sure the capture the attention of the viewer. I think it can be easy to get lost while animating in after effects and lose sight of the composition in each part of the animation as the movement takes attention. Storyboarding helps to break down each part of the animation and act as template to work to. Because of the panning shot I want to use for my animation timing will be key, characters will be continuously appearing at one side of the composition and disappearing off the other side. I don't want to miss any important parts of the narrative or confuse them by having two going on at the same time at different sides of the screen. I think preparing a storyboard for the animation will help me to keep focus on these key moments, it may mean making some alterations to the original book to make it work so planning will be a necessity to make sure I keep the same emotion and narrative.

These are two of the storyboards I have made. Its easy to see looking back at them now that the simplicity of the movements means they have almost become a flick book taking the animation frame by frame. So in summary, I have not enjoyed struggling with the constraints of this task but I do see the need for storyboarding and will be making a storyboard of key moments for my animation concentrating on composition to help me communicate the narrative of my book. I think the difficult part of this animation may not be when the characters are central in the composition but how to manage them as the pan on and off the screen.

Crying Animation

I animated another page from my book. I then tried to combine this with the first page I already animated. I am not sure how to combine the two compositions and when I tried to use the two already rendered animations The had a border between them that stopped the pan shot from working. I will have to learn if it is possible to combine the two to one image or if I will have to work with the entire book background as one image. I did manage to work on timing the pages so that as image pans across the screen the characters animate at the right time. It was more difficult than I thought and everything I tried made the timings seem unnatural. I think it will be possible to make the timings work but it may mean simplifying some of the movements or missing part of the animation as it disappears off the side of the frame. I will have to make sure any important parts of the narrative take place while the characters are in the centre of the screen. I will find out tomorrow if I can merge the different pages together then either way I will know what I need to do and will be able to start on a my final animation. Because quite a few of the movements in the animation will be simple I want the posture of the characters to be perfect and allow me to show emotion through the animation.

crying for animation from Joe Boon on Vimeo.

Book ready for digi print.

I wanted to start my book with the quote that inspired me to make it, I have titled the book escapism. I am not going to put either of these on the cover of the book, I want to laser cut a wooden cover. The front cover will only have a key hole cut out so that you can see a small segment of the book that I have printed on the first page. I want to try and make a frame to go between the wooden cover and the illustration to make the cover more intriguing. That way the reader can try to look at an angle to see more of the image. I like the idea of an intriguing ambiguous cover that only gives the reader an idea of the style of illustration used in the book. Neil Gaiman describes reading as entering new worlds and I want to cover to symbolise this.

I thought about making hand made type for this page and tried to create a title with lino printing but decided that if I wanted to use the illustrations within the text it would work best with a crisp, clean font. I have tried t space the illustrations so that each letter becomes an interesting image in itself.

I want to print off a few versions of the full book to see how it works in print. I have had trouble before using varying opacity. I want to see if the colours stand out from each other when they are not on a backlit screen. I have made a grayscale version of my book in which I have altered the levels to try and make the tones contrast more. I had to work out the page sizes as during the process of combining the pages I had managed to vary the proportions of my images slightly. The double page spreads are now slightly larger than A4. I will have to double check I have got my measurements right and that I am very precise when folding the book.

First page

I have animated the first page of my book, it is one of the more complicated in terms of movements. I think it needs some tweaking, I could break down the movements into more precise sections moving hands and feet instead of treating the arm as one object. Unfortunately while I was adding textures and extra details to my book I got rid of some of the layers and merged objects together so to complete the animation I am going to have to try and reverse some of these changes or bring some older saved files up to date. I enjoy the animation part of the process but trying to prepare images in this way is taking twice as long as the animation itself. I need to find out if I can join the separate pages together once I have started to animate them so I can create the panning shot I want to use for my final animation. If I cannot I am going to have a lot of work to do.

Page one from Joe Boon on Vimeo.

After Effects 4

For brief use HDTV 1080 25 preset.

Quick way to import a file is to double clock in the project window.

We have set up a composition of a rocket flying but the orientation of the rocket is fixed, it always faces the same way regardless of which way it is flying.

We select the layer and go to the layer menu, then click on the transform menu.

at the bottom of the list is auto orient. select this and change to orient of path.

The spacing of key frames means that the rocket moves at different speeds. We can make the rocket move at a constant speed by selecting all the key frames except the first and last. right click on any of the selected key frames and select rove across time. If you drag the first or last key frame it will maintain the ratio between each key frame.

the shy switch is just to the side of the layers name and looks like a head looking over a wall. For the effect to work we have to click on the master switch with the same symbol at the top of the panel. This will them hide the layers we have selected while they are still visible in the animation.

Illustrator files work the same way as photoshop files.

There is an option that only applies to illustrator files that allows to retain their vector qualities. the symbol is a star next to the shy switch. this will be very helpful for me, for the tests I have done so far i have had to scale my image before importing it.

The next symbol along allows us to change the quality of the of the animation to preview it quicker and smoother. It acts the same way as the quality drop down menu on the bottom of the composition window but applied to single layers.

The next symbol along is the FX. Their is a drop down menu menu at the top of the page that lets us scroll through all the available effects. This can take some time, to speed up finding a specific effect we can use the search feature on the effects and presets panel. To apply the effect to the layer simply drag and drop it onto the layer in the composition panel. adding effects can slow down playback and can be disabled by clicking the symbol FX next to the layer name.

Once you add an effect options will appear in the layers panel in the same way as position etc. You can use this to change the effect over time with key frames in the same way.

The next symbol that looks like 2 frames of film is only available if we are working with film, it allows us to speed up or slow down recorded video.

The next symbol is the motion blur switch and will add motion blur to any layers that have any kind of movement. The symbol is a row of circles.

Create new solid layer to use as an adjustment layer.

Go to layer new solid.

Can use this layer to add effects to layers below it.

The last of the switches will turn transform the layers into a 3D layer.

The next process is similar to layer masks in photoshop.

Click toggle switches and modes at the bottom of the layers panel to show all drop down menus.

The mode menu works the same way as photoshop.

The track matte menu had 4 options that are all to do with using the layer above.

Alpha means it is to do with transparency.

If we chose the alpha matte option it will get rid of everything in the background layer apart from the section that shares a space with the shape from the layer above, effectively making the top layer a widow to view the the bottom layer through. 

We can still apply key layers to the top layer such as changing scale to create a reveal or movement like the old bond intro.

Nesting compositions.

First thing we do is create a new composition in a different way than usual.

We start with our rocket image.

We drag the file down to the third image along at the bottom of the project panel. this is a shortcut to create compositions.

The composition will match the dimensions of the file not our usual composition presets.

We can move compositions into another and it will appear as a single layer.

This way we can work with smaller compositions without having to deal with a huge number of layers.

We could also use nesting to create scenes within one composition and add transitions between them using opacity to blend one into the other. 

To make sure all the needed files are saved in one place we can go to file-dependencies-collect files. After effects will create a new folder containing all the elements of the composition. 

To be able to use projects I have made at home on college computers go to save as- save copy as cc.

Book covers

I found a range of book cover that I think are appealing. I wanted to see fi there were common features that they all shared so that I could focus in on why they appealed to me. All these covers have a limited colour palette which has the effect of making them striking and attention grabbing without being too complex and jarring. Most of the covers use two colours for the majority of the details using different tones of the colours to add shadow, texture and depth to the illustrations. The colours used could be representative of the emotion, tone or context of the book itself, These book covers use the limited colours to create negative space and compositions that alter the viewers perception of the covers dimensions making the cover much more interesting and appealing. The negative space in a book cover is very useful, the illustrator can suggest a character or object with the shape of the space and be able to add text such as the title or authors name without it becoming lost in the details of the illustration. I want the text on my book cover to stand out form the illustrations but still work as part of the design, I don't want it to look like I have just added a font over the top of my work.

These are some more good examples of incorporate text into illustrations and compositions that manipulate the dimensions of the cover. Horizontal lines are of ten used to create space for text and break the cover into sections. I like simplicity and textures in these covers, the texture gives a hand made feel and makes simple shapes more appealing. The use of solid black and white means that when a plash of colour is used for important parts of the illustration it stands out and draws attention to it. It seems that stories with darker subject matter are often illustrated using black, white and red.

No Ogre's

I wanted to try out some of the techniques we learned in the After Effects workshop on one of the pages from my book. I made the image in illustrator so had to convert it to a psd before I could use it in After Effects and retain the layer properties. It took me a few attempts to get the setting right, I am going to have to be very careful when I make my final composition. I think I will make a composition with the background of the book and anything that will not move as one flat layer, then gradually add layers one page at a time as I work on them. I will need to be very carful how I label the layers in the composition as there will be a large number of them and they will correspond to the same character on different pages. I will have to come up with a system to use throughout.

bouncer video- from Joe Boon on Vimeo.

I think my book is perfect for animation as the characters are made up of separate pieces already. I am relatively happy with this quick test but the pace seems slightly off and the posture of the ogre changer a little too much.

Prints

I have been cutting out lino prints over the last few days. I wanted to make some images I could add to the pager of my book to add some more depth and texture. I printed them at home using my hand to burnish the prints. I wouldn't normally try this but the whole point of this process was to create imperfect prints. I wanted rough textures and areas where the ink didn't reach. I was happy with the results, I wanted to create some shapes to contrast with the cut paper I had used for most of the other parts of the composition.

I am having some trouble at the moment with the size of the file that my book has grown into. My computer keeps crashing if I try and export the image as a png to transfer it to After Effects. I am going to have to find a way round this if I am going to be able to animate in the way I have planned to. I have also been struggling to find a way to view my book properly as I can't print it off anywhere near the size it will be when its finished. I can only view it on screen one section at a time. I decided to use one of the techniques we have been shown in the After Effects workshop to create a panning shot of my illustration.

Comp 1 2 from Joe Boon on Vimeo.

this method still doesn't give me an overview of the entire image but it does help me to view the books narrative and the continuous image of the concertina design. When I have exported the image nad printed it out on A4 or A3 the image has been too small and given me very little idea of whether the additions and alterations I am making are working.

Adrian Mole

Over the weekend I drew up a series of roughs for the Adrian Mole book cover. I feel like I'm starting to get somewhere with this brief. I have picked out 3 designs that I would like to work on in more detail. They are 3 ideas with contrasting themes and compositions. The first cover I made is of Adrian mole popping a spot on his face.

I like the composition of this cover with the character disappearing off the side of the frame in different directions. I made this image with cut and torn paper that has then been live traced in Illustrator and made into vector shapes. I don't think this is the best process for this image, the original sketch has over lapping shapes and very loose line work that made the composition more abstract. The more I work on these book covers the more I feel making an instant visual impact is important. I want to make a cover that plays with the format it is used for. There is only so much information I can convey without making an overly complex design. I want my cover to concentrate on one theme, emotion, character or message and illustrate it with a bold, thought provoking image.

I much prefer this image. I think the fact that all the formation is situated in the bottom corner makes the illustration more intriguing. The hair leaves plenty of room for the text I will have to add to the cover but I  would like to find a way to di it without breaking up the area of negative space. I could try and use colours fairly similar to the hair colour but that are still clearly visible. The other thing I want to try that I think might work is to have the text run down the side of the image in quite a small hand drawn font. I also want to see if I can make the text interact with the characters hair, that may help to maintain the form of the and scale of the hair while allowing me to make the text bigger and clearer. I made a couple of colour variations of this piece but neither of them really worked, I need to experiment more colour and texture to see where this composition leads!!!

After Effects 3

We don't have top create a composition, all we have to do is open the file and it will become the composition.

When we open the file we use the option to retain layer sizes. This will allow us to have the most control over each individual element.

Wh need to go to composition settings and check the image size and then set the composition duration.

Hold shift to lock angles when moving objects using position key frames.

Copy and paste key franmes using cntrl C - cntrl V. Just select both key frames and move the time marker to the point that you want to create another movement.

Between the two movements the object returns to its original position. We need to edit this movement to make the animation work.

To do this we need to right click on a keyframe and select toggle hold keyframe. Hold key frame removes the movement between it and the next frame. Once the timeline reaches the next keyframe the movement will continue. It has removed the path between the two frames but the movement itself remains, making the object appear to jump from one position to another.

In this exercise we are animating rain so that we can have the same rain drop falling over and over again without creating a large amount of layers and taking a long time. So of the two frames we make to animate a rain drop falling the second one is the one we need to toggle hold then we can copy and paste as needed.

You can then duplicate the layer using cntrl D or selecting duplicate in the edit menu.

the problem we have now is that the two layers of rain drops are on top of each other. 

We need to select all keyframes by clicking on the word position and then lining up the time marker with any key frame using the arrows in the layers panel. All we have to do now is change the X value 9the first of the two position numbers in the layers panel).

I then alter the key frames on each timeline to make the timing of the rain less uniform. First I moved all the keyframes on each layer all together to offset each layer then altered individual key frames to create individual variations in timings of the drops.

  

We are going to learn how to group objects or layers together

in the layers panel there is a header called parent with a drop down menu for each layer. You can either choose the parent layer from the drop down menu's or use the pick whip and drag the layers to the one you want to make their parent. Now if we change the the scale or position of the parent layer all connected layers will do the same. The only effect it does not work with is transparency.

I was hoping there was a way to do this. I want my animation to scroll sideways across the pages of my book. I was wondering if I would have to try and match up the movement of the other layers to the background. 

I you double click on a layer you view that layer in its own window, this has a variety of uses, in this case it allows us to view the entire image as it is must bigger than the frame.

Audio

We can use 3 file formats

mp3

aiff or aif

wav

We need to chose audio that is royalty free for this project.

We can find royalty free music by simply googling it.

we have sound booths in the college if we want to record our own music or a voice over. We can book these by visiting the computer resource office.

We import audio files the same way we add images. 

The audio appears as a layer in the layers panel but as it is audio it does not matter where it is.

We will need to edit the audio to fit the composition.

Double click on the audio layer, the new window displays a time ruler with the entire duration of the audio file. To edit this we can simply click and drag on the ends until we have the correct size. This allows us to select any section of the file that we want. 

If we click the arrows on the audio layer it will open up the audio properties, this allows us to change the levels or the volume of the soundtrack. 

We can apply keyframes to our audio to fade in or fade out the music. This works in the same way as with the visual elements.

If we are using multiple audio tracks we can use the levels options to make sure one sound isn't too loud or quiet compared to the others.

Adrian Mole Judges

Anna Billson Interview

I found an interview by The Independent with Anna Billson who is one of the judges for the Penguin Books Children's Cover Award. She talks about what she looks for in a cover design. The first things she mentions is "A connection. Something that sparks an emotion – powerfully and appropriately." This statement highlights two very important elements of illustration, the first is creating a dialogue between the viewer and the artist, I want to create images that trigger a thought process rather then just relaying information. the second is the need to create artwork that is appropriate for both for the target audience and the platform it is being for, as the image is for a book cover it needs to serve a purpose and contain information about the book. I want to design a cover that looks like a purpose made piece of artwork not an image with text added afterwards.

Anna Billson also mentions that she also looks for "Beauty and originality". Beauty is a hard thing to define and critique but I think you can try and create a visually stimulating illustration that draws the eye. Good use of colour and crafting can make an image more appealing. I would say that originality is key in this brief as the book has had a number of different covers, I don't want to create an image that is similar to the previous ones. I want to create a new look for the book that holds onto the character and tone of the narrative and celebrates its history.

Two more important aspects to consider are attention to detail and skill in execution. A well thought out design can be let down by poor execution or not enough thought put into each and very aspect. A book cover could be ruined by a badly chosen font or the placement of the text. I need to make sure every aspect of my work is designed and executed to the best possible standard.

Anna Billson is they asked "How do you feel a design can impact a reader – either in a good or bad way?". In her response she talks about the way we make snap judgements and physical appearance has an effect on us. She says "A good cover design is all about kick-starting the imagination of the reader. A good cover will intrigue and inspire, tap into memories or ignite new passions." I always talk about the importance of creating intrigue and sparking conversations with the viewer, this is easier said than done but is definitely what I am aiming to achieve with my cover design.

"tap into memories or ignite new passions". I think this is even more important in this case than when illustrating for a new book as it covers both segments of the target audience, I need to trigger the memories of the adults that remember the book from their childhood while simultaneously igniting the interest of new readers who are not familiar with the story.

In response to how a cover can impact a reader in a bad way she simply says "A bad cover will just stop you picking up the book!"

Roald Dahl

I have decided to enter the Roald Dahl YCN award. This brief fits in with my practice and I think it would provide a good platform to improve certain elements of my practice. The brief is to illustrate "a series of iconic scenes" from Roald dahl's children's stories. This year I have been trying to work more with complete scenes rather then just character design, this brief will help me develop skills in creating full scenes and working with a narrative. the brief states that I can chose to illustrate characters from multiple stories but that they should form "a coherent series".

As with the Adrian Mole brief the subject matter has been illustrated on a number of occasions previously. Roald Dahl's writing will forever be associated with the illustrations of Quentin Blake. I think it is important to try and learn from Quentin Blake's illustration but not to try and emulate them. The brief asks for illustrations that are not "boring, safe, or predictable". The only real constraint on the illustrations are that they should compliment the Roald Dahl logo in some way e.g. colour scheme.

I can chose to illustrate between 1 and 3 scenes but the series must contain 3 characters,"one child character, one villain character and one fantastical creature". This allows a great deal of flexibility for my illustrations, the scenes are not limited to one character per scene if I chose to make 3 scenes. I will need to put a lot of thought and research into what makes a "coherent series", it could mean a continuous narrative, or elements that link the scenes together, or a theme that runs through all three. I will read some of Roald Dahls work to try and find links between books that could help me with this.

the brief talks about introducing young people Roald dahl's work. the core audience for the stories are children between 5 and 11. I will need to keep this in mind when illustrating the stories to try and appeal to the target audience and also to make sure the illustrations are suitable for the age bracket.

As the aim is to introduce new people to Roald dahl's work my main focus will be to try and bring his writing to life, he created amazing worlds in his stories and I want to be able to do them justice and spark the imagination of the target audience.

This brief is for 'The Roald Dahl Literary Estate' who have recently developed a brand identity to tie together the many different interpretations of Roald Dahl's work from the original books to films, musicals and apps. They describe themselves as

"– MASTERS of invention!
– MAKERS of mischief!
– CHAMPIONS of good! "

I think it is important that I keep these three statements in mind as I work on this brief. The idea of the images I create is that they represent the brand and therefore represent these statements.

Added details

I have been adding some extra detail to the pages of my book. I got very caught up trying to add more pages to tell the story and stopped enjoying making it. I think my work suffered because of this, I got into a regimented process of creating the images without taking time on each one. having a break to work on other briefs has allowed me time to reflect on the book and revisit it with a fresh perspective. I have added some very small details of animals in the landscape to add points of interest. I think these help to break up the narrative without being overpowering and detrimental.

Next I want to lino print some trees to use in the book, possibly as replacement for the paper cut trees I have used or as additional background landscape to add more depth and texture. I have tried lots of different ways of adding texture to my cut paper shapes digitally and so far the best process has been to make my own textures and add the only to the lighter colour of the two. I used the texture as a mask to cut out the shapes, When I applied the textures to both colours the composition became too broker up and didn't suite this piece. More experimentation and more printing is needed!

After Effects 2

Following on from last weeks workshop.

change the speed of movements in a composition including multiple layers by clicking and dragging to select all key layers. Press the alt key and click on the first or last key frame. If you click the first that last will stay in the same place but the others will move relative to each other keeping the interactions the same but changing the pace, move further apart slower, move closer together faster.

This allows us to concentrate on the interactions in the composition, making sure we get these right and then experiment with the speed of the animation afterwards. 

We are going to look at how to prepare images in photoshop so they can be transferred to after effects.

instead of paper sizes in photoshop there is an option called 'Film and Video' that has a number of options relevant to film and animation.

colours have to be RGB to work in After Effects.

The document has guide marks on that are recommendations as to where it is safe to animate without fear of it being cropped depending on which device it is used on.

If you want to work with transparency created in Photoshop you need to save the file as a Photoshop file, if not a JPEG is fine.

Consider how large the image will need to be in the animation, prepare the image at the largest size you could need it, if not the image will become pixelated when scaled up.

We can work with images much larger than our composition and pan around them during the animation. To make these images in photoshop we can start with our video preset then alter the canvas size.

After effects works the same way as Indesign in that all the elements of your project need to be saved in the same file and not me moved or modified.

To open files in After Effects go to file-import-file and select the file you want.

You can import an image as 'footage'. this will allow it to occupy its own layer.

if you import more than one file at a time you are not given the import options, they will be opened the same way as the last file you imported.

You can drag them onto your composition window or drag it into your timeline, if you drag it to the timeline it is automatically placed in the centre of the composition, very useful if the image is the same size as the composition size.

Working with layered photoshop files in after effects.

We open the file in the same way as we previously did except we do not use the 'footage' setting.

We can choose 'composition', this will open up a composition and a file in the project section of after effects. to open the composition we double click on it.

We then open composition settings from the composition tab and make sure all our setting are correct like format and duration.

There is only 10 seconds in view at the top of the timeline but we can use the slider to move along the timeline or the handles on the slider to zoom in and out. 

because we opened the file as a composition the anchor points of each layer is the same regardless of the layers size and placement. This could be useful in some circumstances and a problem in others. To open the images with their own individual anchor points we can open the file as 'composition- retain layer sizes'. 

If you have 2 objects on the same layer you will not be able to animate them independently.

You can select all the moving elements and set a final key frame for all of them by selecting them all at the same time and then go earlier in the timeline and work backwards to a finished point.

To export go the the composition menu then add to render queue. this will open a new tab in place of the timeline.

In format options choose h264, this setting is perfect for uploading to the internet, so is ideal for this project uploading to vimeo.

once you click save you need to also click render as well or the composition will not be saved.

Roald Dahl

Roald Dahl Illustrations

I found an article about an exhibition featuring work from a variety of illustrators paying tribute to Roald Dahl. When you think of Roald Dahl you think of the illustrations of Quentin Blake which are amazing but it was good for me to find a more varied group of interpretations of his work. The brief is open and gives me lots of choice of character and landscape which is quite daunting in a way. I want to try and create landscapes that give the impression depth and scale but comprised of simple shapes and fairly limited colours. I have been looking at the work of various illustrators who use sold shapes to create landscapes, particularly Chris Haughton. he manages to use scale and shape to great effect creating immersive landscapes. By using simple block colours he is able to place his scale down his characters in the scene and still ensure they remain a bold focal point when they may well become lost in a more complex backdrop. Roald Dahl created amazing new worlds and played with scale throughout his work, changing the readers perspective. I want to create a scene that draws the viewer into one of his worlds and feel as though they are part of it.

Peer Crit

Today we had a peer review looking the work we have done for responsive so far. The feedback I got was really useful, it helped me to highlight the strengths in my work and identify new possibilities. I will need to consider brand limitations and the purpose of the images I am creating. For example the book covers need show penguin Books branding and showcase import information like the title and the author's name. I want to try and make the text and image work as one. I have been given some books to look at on hand drawn type that will help me with this.

I am aiming to produce multiple outcomes for the Adrian Mole brief which allows me the chance to fully explore different ideas, each of which I will concentrate on key elements of the story. I want to produce one that focuses on the main characters transition from childhood to adulthood. Another that focuses on the way he uses his diary as an escape from his surrounding and a platform to try and make sense of it. These concepts could easily translate into images that are too complex for a book cover, I will need to work more with visual metaphors and try to find new and interesting ways to combine ideas into a single image.

I want to try and have the Roald Dahl brief for YCN and the Adrian Mole brief for Penguin Books both finished by the time we return after the Christmas break. This may be a struggle but I think it is possible and I would then be allowing some leeway in case I encounter some problems along the way. Both of these briefs are based around children's books as that is the area of the industry I want to work in. There is enough variation between these briefs for me to challenge myself in different ways. The Roald Dahl brief will help me practice my character development but more importantly for me I will have to create full scenes. I have only recently started working on backgrounds in any depth. I am really enjoying trying to create immersive landscapes. Working more with landscapes will improve my practice and is a crucial aspect of the work I want to do.
We talked about the celebratory aspect of both of these briefs and that it is as important to celebrate the characters and stories as it is to try and introduce new readers to them. The content of both briefs has previously been illustrated and I think it is important to try something different both in terms of the way I illustrate them and the way I tackle the subject matter.
after today I have plenty to get on with and feel positive about my ideas. I need to draw up a timetable to help me divide my attention between both briefs equally.

Stings and shorts

The first sting I have chosen is very simple but gave me an idea I could use with my project. The animation shows shapes moving in and out of a solid object, I could make the animations from my book leave the page and escape their surroundings. The escape would fit in with the narrative of the book and work well as a sting.This animation has no narrative, fairly simple sequential thinking and composition. The pace of movement in this sting is very fast, I will need to carefully consider the speed of movement of the characters from my book. I want the pace and movements to match the tone and narrative of the scene, I want the characters movements to seem real, I want to try and create a feeling of empathy with my characters situation. I will also need to find music that ties in to the narrative.

Slide'em up Logo Sting After Effects

My second choice is an animated short based on the tv series 'The Wire'. The animation plays with perspective and scale through clever transitions . The pace of movement of the characters changes throughout as the animation switches between different scenes but a constant series of transitions maintain a fast pace throughout. I would like to know how to create transitions in this way with 'camera ' movements, I know that there are camera controls but have no idea how to use them. The narrative sums up 'The Wire' showcasing characters and themes that are the focal points of the series. This short was made as a homage to the series but just as easily be used as an advert for it. The animation contains imagery that fits within the narrative and seems to make sense at face value but many of these are direct references that will be even more appealing to people already familiar with the series. The ever changing scale and perspective makes this animation intriguing and kept my eyes glued to it the entire time. I think these transitions could easily become confusing if not used properly. How do you balance complex animation that keeps the viewers attention as they try to decipher each movement and transition without it becoming a bombardment of confusing information.

The Wire

My third choice combines animation and live action footage, this interests me because the theme of my book is the character escaping between worlds to try and find peace. The animator manages to make the two elements work as one with timing and movement. I could try create interactions between the character in my book and someone reading it. This could be too complex to complete in the time but I would at least like to find out how to do it. The compositions are complex with lots of separate moving parts, if I was to use this technique I would maybe have one character climbing out of the book and some small movements in the book like trees blowing in the wind. because this is a music video there is no strong narrative, the animation embellishes the live action.

Cool Kids

Adrian Mole

I have spent today making some rough designs of book covers for the penguin books brief.  I ma not completely happy with any of my designs but the process has given me some ideas that I think could work. For most of my designs I wanted to keep the cover simple so I tried to illustrate the main character Adrian Mole. I found that the designs didn't seem light enough to be a children's book cover, I think it was a combination of the colours I used and the way I drew the characters face. I tried to make the spot on his face a focal point of the cover as it is a focal point of the book. I also wanted to try and capture his misguided arrogance and distain for his surroundings but don't think I managed it. I want to find a way to show him using his diary as a pedestal that puts him above everyone else. I found out today that drawing spots is quite difficult especially with block shapes, The shape is too simple and I don't think I've made it clear enough that it is a spot.

I like the composition on this image but want to make it clearer. I need to work more on facial expressions to make sure I convey the emotions that I want. I think the colours are too dark for a children's book cover. I really like the bold textured glasses and would like to experiment more with the proportions of the facial features. I have been trying to keep my compositions quite simple recently as I have a tendency to keep making additions until the concept behind the image becomes lost but in this case I don't think I have managed to capture enough of the character of Adrian mole.

The idea behind this image was to play with scale and imagery. The character is sitting on a giant spot, however I haven't done a good job of making it clear in this image. I want to make the oversized spot and skin into a landscape and add some of the other characters from the book with Adrian raised up above them all. I want to show the separation his diary provides for him. I am thinking of drawing him standing up looking deep in thought, observing the chaos that surrounds him. the spot may be entirely unnecessary, I could use a giant oversized diary instead.

I want to try and find ways to illustrate the contrast between his surrounding and his own interpretation of them. I could use mirrors or reflections, or could try and find a way to make is diary into a doorway. I should also explore the idea of the diary being secret and ways to communicate it as top secret or classified.

The first step for me is to go back to roughing and test out each of these ideas in an many ways as possible. I need to be careful to keep a balance and try not to add too much information. I have to remember the image I am creating is a book cover and that it should create intrigue not tell the story. That being said Adrian mole is very popular with people that read in when they were younger and already know the story, it might be a good idea to try and make the cover a celebration of the book or at least a nod to its history.

Print

I have been struggling with how to proceed with my book. I have been worrying if I will have time to print each page of my book individually. I have applied textures to digital illustrations before in Adobe Illustrator and wanted to try something new but workload and limited time scales have put me off certain processes. I have been letting worrying hold me back from experimenting until today. during the crit a couple of the group mentioned they had been they had been making mono prints at home. I went to town and bought a roller, glass chopping board and some ink. The rest of the day I spent making textures for my book and really enjoyed it. I used household items to create a wide range of textures, the only thing that stopped me printing was running out of paper. I have added some textures to a couple of the pages of my book. In some cases I live traced the textures so I could have more control over the scale and shape of them. By doing this I lost some of the detail of the textures I made.

I feel like I was trying to do too much with this process and the textures detract from the composition. I changes tactic and used textures that were not live traced. I did use Photoshop to alter the levels and separate the image into black and white. I tried to apply the textures in ways that would appear more natural. I think this second image looks much better but I have still lost some of the tones of the original prints. I want to try and make lino prints of individual sections of my compositions like a hill or the leaves of a tree and then arrange them digitally afterwards. I think this process could add a new dimension to my work. I will keep experimenting!

I shouldn't have got hung up on how my finished book would look, I should have just continued to experiment and try new processes. That what I am going to do next. I want to find ways to combine traditional and digital media that effectively marries the two. I will need to make sure I don't overcomplicate my work during these processes.

After Effects 1

Today we are having our first After Effects workshop, I haven't used it before so this workshop should be very useful. The images I have made for studio brief 2 should be quite good for animation as they are made up of lots of different shapes that can be adjusted to create movement. 

The workspace is made up of a number of panels. The blue outline indicates which panel we have selected, certain options will only be available if we have the correct panel selected.

The project panel works as a library, select file and import to open projects.

The bottom panel works in a similar way to the layers panel in illustrator or photoshop. The composition panel shows us what we have created in our timeline (bottom panel).

Every after effects project contains at least one composition, can think of it the same way as a new page in illustrator. Go to Composition > new composition.

PAL and NTSC are video standards, PAL is UK and Europe, NTSC is US.

We will be using HDTV 1080 25

1080 is the resolution of the image and 25 is the frame rate per second.

Text in blue means that the number can be changed, you can click and hold on the number then scroll left to decrease the number and right to increase.

We set the duration of the composition in the compositions setting panel as well as the background colour.

we are going to create images within after effects, we started with the layers panel which is only available with the timeline or composition panel selected.

we created a sold layer, a square 100 by 100 pixels. 

When working with layers we can work in two ways. spatially or temporally. We can change where the object is and when the object is.

The red line represents the layer, only where the red line appears in the timeline will the layer be visible. 

each layer we create can only contain one asset, unlike photoshop we cannot have lots of different assets on the same layer. However similarly to photoshop the layer at the top is the layer at the front of the composition. 

If you are using the same shape for multiple layers you can use the edit menu to duplicate layers rather then having to create new layers all the time. You can also use cntrl c and cntrl v to copy and paste leyers.

The info pallet will tell you whether your playback is in real time, this is very useful with more complex projects where aftereffects may not be able to play back. 

At the bottom of the composition window we have drop down list that kets us chose what resolution we want to view our animation in. The resolution is not measured in pixels in this list, we have options such as full, half and third. This is an option to allow us to see our animation in real time. 

The resolution is lowered but we can still se the interactions and movements of the elements on screen.

the blue handles at the top of the timeline are used to determine the work area. The playback will now only show the selected are of the timeline.

to reveal the layer properties click on the triangle next to the layer name on the bottom panel. Next to transform is another triangle, clicking this reveals another drop down menu that gives us information about the layer such as position and scale. The numbers next to of these is highlighted in blue which means they can be changed, we can change them by moving the object in the composition window or by altering these numerical values. 

Changing the scale of an object works the same way as illustrator or Photoshop.

The symbol next to each of these properties that looks like a stop watch is called a time-vary stop watch, it allows us to change to properties based on the time in the animation.

We will be using key frames, key frames are points where a significant change is made. 

The diamond indicates we have set the key frame. we do this by clocking on the stop watch of the property we want to use.

The line shows the motion path that the object will take. a key frame has automatically been made at the finish time I chose. Once we have the key frames set we can alter their position within the timeline. We can add points in the middle of these paths that create curves in the movement of the object. The paths work in the same way as vectors in illustrator with anchor points and handles to alter the paths. 

We can use the pen too. If we hold down on the pen icon on the panel it will bring up a variety of different tools. We can use the convert vertex too to convert the curves to straight lines.

On the left of the timeline panel there are arrows that allow you to scroll between key frames to make adjustments. You can clock the diamond logo between the arrows to add new ket frames without making an adjustment tot he path. 

Shortcuts

P- position property

A- Anchor point

R- Rotation

S- Scale

T- Opacity

B- beginning of work area

N- End of work area

If you want to view two of the properties press one the hold shift and press the second shortcut.

If I select multiple layers then select key frame on one of the them it will be set on all selected layers.

To change an anchor point we can use the pan behind (anchor pint) tool to drag the anchor point to where we want it. 

If you want a movement to pause you can copy and paste a key frame, so you can have a movement that pauses at some stage then continues. 

Mole Research

The majority of the Adrian Mole cover I have looked at have a few things in common. The use had written text for sections of the title or additional information which makes sense given the title and content of the book. Some of the covers make the book look like the diary itself with stains, scribbles or lined paper included in the design. Most of the covers include pencils or pens often tied into the lettering of the title or authors name. I would like to include some of the same items in the cover as many of the people buying the book will have already read the book and have fond memories of the version they had when they were younger. I want the cover to appeal to both new younger readers and adults. I don't want my cover to look like previous versions, I will aim to find new ways to include characters and iconic items from the story that capture the imagination of the target audience. Adrian will be a main part of my cover as the story is told from his perspective but I would like to try and include the other significant characters in some way. It will be difficult as their is a lot of text to incorporate into the design but I am confident I can find a solution that creates a bright bold cover.

Extra Pages

After finding out that 5 double page spreads was a minimum for the book I would like to add a few more pages to make sure the narrative of my concertina book works as well as possible. I am enjoying the processes I am using and like the flowing composition that is pretty much continuous. I don't want to let the book down by making it unclear. I will check again to see if the number of pages I want to use fits the brief. One thing that is troubling me at the moment is whether screen print will work for this piece and whether I am giving my self too much to do in the timescale. One possible alternative that could work would be to create a wide range of textures with a variety of analogue media then apply them to my work digitally. This is not ideally what I would want to do but if I can tailor the textures I make to my work it could produce some very good results. I still want to try laser cutting lino as a process but the cutting itself takes a long time especially with the large areas of blocked out colour that I am using, to produce lino blocks for my entire book may well not be feasible. Looking at my book it dawned on me that the beginning and the end are quite abrupt, I would like to add one page near the beginning and two pages at the end. I am going to try and make mock ups of these images and print of the entire book on separate pages to see how it looks and to try and get some peer feedback about the effectiveness of the narrative and illustrations.

Quotes

I wanted to look through some more interviews with Neil Gaiman where he talks about escapism directly or indirectly. The idea is to get a better idea of the tone of my book and the messages it should contain. Neil Gaimans views are the inspiration for my book and I have enjoyed reading his work and interviews with him. He finds thought provoking ways to put his point across his point of view and I want to use his words as further inspiration to help me find unique ways to communicate through images.

“Everybody has a secret world inside of them. I mean everybody. All of the people in the whole world, I mean everybody — no matter how dull and boring they are on the outside. Inside them they've all got unimaginable, magnificent, wonderful, stupid, amazing worlds... Not just one world. Hundreds of them. Thousands, maybe.”
― Neil Gaiman, The Sandman, Vol. 5: A Game of You   

“May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't forget to make some art -- write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself.”  

“Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”
― Neil Gaiman, Coraline   

“People think dreams aren't real just because they aren't made of matter, of particles. Dreams are real. But they are made of viewpoints, of images, of memories and puns and lost hopes.”  

“Stories may well be lies, but they are good lies that say true things, and which can sometimes pay the rent.”  

“Grown-ups don't look like grown-ups on the inside either. Outside, they're big and thoughtless and they always know what they're doing. Inside, they look just like they always have. Like they did when they were your age. Truth is, there aren't any grown-ups. Not one, in the whole wide world.”  

“Stories you read when you're the right age never quite leave you. You may forget who wrote them or what the story was called. Sometimes you'll forget precisely what happened, but if a story touches you it will stay with you, haunting the places in your mind that you rarely ever visit.”  

Adrian Mole Ideas

I have been trying to generate ideas for the Adrian mole book cover. I started out with a mind map and want to try and list some ideas of the areas I want to concentrate on before I start roughing. I have started listening to an audio book of the original novel to refresh my memory and get a better understanding of the content of the book. I want to try and illustrate the cover in a way that is appealing to new readers and captures the elements of the book that have stayed with people that read the book as children.

Adrian Mole

The main character of the book has lots of negative traits that I will have to careful when illustrating but not ignore. The character has become loved because he reminds us of what we were like at that age or someone we know that is that age. these character traits are a central part of the entire series of books and I think should be at least alluded to on the cover. The diary format of the book showcases Adrian Moles observations of the world around him (that are often wrong), I would like to try and illustrate this, possibly be illustrating the cover as if it is from his perspective.

New Project proposal

I wrote a new project proposal as my aim had changed. I was moving more and more towards creating a set of images that had a narrative running through all of them. I had it set in my mind that I would make a set of prints but it didn't make any sense. Although this form is simple it helped me to take a step back and understand what my aims are for the book. I want the book to tackle the importance of fiction. Not only that it can provide us with a space to escape our own lives but that it can teach us how to deal with issues in the real world. I wanted to make the book appealing to children and fans of fantasy and fiction so using classic fantasy characters to depict the narrative seemed to fit. I liked the idea of reversing the situation and have a fantasy character trying to escape his world by taking part in everyday escapist activities. I think this makes the book more accessible and fun rather than tackling real life troubles like depression or stress. This also makes the book more suitable for children.

Adrian Mole Mind Map

Concertina

I put together the images for my concertina book, I changed the order of a couple of the pages to help the composition flow. I don't think these changes will effect the narrative of the book as the middle pages are made up of failed attempts at escapism by the Ogre character. I now need to start to look at the technical aspects of making the book, there a few options I could try-

-Printing each page separately using screen or lino printing them arranging them digitally and printing them on one sheet of paper.

-Screen printing the book in two parts, this would mean making my page size smaller and creating a hinge in the centre of the book. It would also be difficult to line up the layers of the screen print accurately.

-Printing all the pages separately and making hinges between each page.

At this moment I favour the first approach. My work needs texture as at the moment the images are made up of solid shapes but don't want to add textures to my work digitally. I need a print process that allows me to recreate my designs accurately with a lot of detail. I would usually use screen print but during the lino workshop last week the tutor mentioned that we can laser cut lino, I would like to try this method as a alternate method that could introduce a different range of textures to my work.

I prepared two images the be laser cut which was very strange after preparing positives for screen print, I had to figure out how the overlaps would work and had to black out any areas that I want left as stock. I prepared the images and took them to print at the Vernon street building as I have already had an induction into that workshop. Unfortunately I was told that the rules have changed and I am no longer allowed to use that workshop. I will have to arrange induction at the Blenheim workshop and get my lino cut next week, this gives me time to fine tune the digital designs and research other print methods. I need to look at more concertina books and try to find out how they have been created.