I know last post seemed like a complaint, and ever since then I haven't made any posts or updates.
Well that is simple. I have been really busy, and haven't been working on any animation or drawing projects at all.
Well I am desperately trying now to get back into my creative mode at full force now. About 2 weeks ago, I started picking up the guitar. I have actually been learning to play both the classic acoustic guitar, and the electric bass guitar. Since both work on a similar principal, I have slowly been teaching myself both. I have also decided to start learning how to sight-read music, a skill that is most useful in the music world, and something which far too many people lack. While many accomplished musicians never learned to read or write music, I find it is not that hard to do if you let your hands do the learning before your mind. By that, I mean let your fingers figure out the muscle movements before you memorize what all the note names are. Sure, knowing the names of the notes is important, but it comes second, in my opinion, to your ability to play the music you see. Once you can play it, you can better understand the technical side as well, such as the note names.
So WHY am I talking about music in an animation blog?
Simple. Music, just like drawing and animation, is an expressive art form that takes practice and determination, as well as skill, to master. While I will never be a master guitarist, I find that getting my creative juices flowing again is a very good habit. By thinking in a creative, and eager to learn way, I am readying myself for the next step in what I am trying to do. Drawing.
My drawing skills have very much been a roller coaster. At times, I can barely draw a person, even if they are standing in front of me. At other times, I am able to draw very well, especially from a model. I admit my weakness if drawing without a model, so I am constantly looking for reference shots to help aid my drawing. But that only works so well. Lately, being mainly out of practice for a long time, I find my skills are lacking, and I need to get them back to where they belong. Drawing is not like riding a bike. It takes constant practice, otherwise your skills decrease and you find yourself at square one again.
I am looking into a few books to help me out, as well as a few tutorials. However, most importantly, I am back to drawing again. The animation right now, "Weak 1", will be put on a temporary hold so I can work on the prologue to a web comic my brother and I have been working on. It isn't up yet (obviously), and we want to have the first 8 or so pages finished before we go any further, but I am using this opportunity to get back in the habit of drawing. I need to do a lot of drawing, in practice and study, as well as in real-world applications. Here, I am going to using this project for both. I am going to be setting up a deadline to finish so many pages a month, I am shooting for 1 entire drawn, inked, and colored image every week. This is to allow for a timely and regular schedule on a web comic, something most people rely on if they like to read web comics.
So why web comics? Again, it is part of my attempt to get myself back into my creative mode, and the best way is to do creative things. Writing stories, playing music, drawing, all these are important creative processes, and all of them can help with animation. The better you are at drawing, the better you will be at animation of any kind. So I must start from the basics, and improve from there! Besides, most of my readers enjoy web comics, and probably have found this site, if not directly through me, than through Tangent Artists, a web comic site that I am a part of. In fact, this very comic, when it is ready to be uploaded, will be featured there, but I will be updating more on that in the future.
Now most comics will update at the very least once a week, but many update far more often. I have seen ones from 1 or 2 a month, to one or 2 a day. Sometimes they keep no schedule and update when they are ready, other times they have a regular update at a specific time which they stick to. I find that those comics that update regularly have a better readership, and a lot more content to play with. The artists also improve the most in their drawing style. While many start simple and crude, some eventually become truly impressive as time goes on. I am hoping that, by spending a week per page, I give myself plenty of time to practice, draw, ink, color, and finalize one page, while still leaving time for everything else I need to do. I hope that this will help me improve draw better and faster fairly quickly. Without a set deadline, I will slack off and not follow through.
For now, I am still in the process of drawing the first few pages. I have been experimenting with inking and scanning techniques, and will be moving onto color soon after. I have a few ideas on what I want to do, but this is really meant to be a learning experience for me, as well as a tool to help me practice and get better at drawing.
Of course this means the beginning will look rough, stiff, awkward, and even bad at times. I am always hard on my own work, but every good artist is. I hope that by using a few books, models, and (someday) classes, I will get significantly better. This comic will help with that, and I hope that by the time the entire comic is complete, anyone who compares the first chapter and the last chapter will see a world of improvement in the art style and drawing.
Most comic artists improve their style of drawing, but they use a very stylized form, and often encourage that in their art as they develop. Sometimes this works out wonderfully for them, other times they find they can only draw that style of character, and nothing else. I plan to use characters that, while inspired by Japanese manga (comics), is clearly not mimicking them, and trying to use fairly accurate depictions of people, in such a way that I can apply the principals of figure drawing to this comic, despite the awkwardness and time consuming process this will create. It may start hard, and I may never be as masterful an artist as many of my artist heroes, but with this knowledge, I plan to take a new look at my short animations, and start making quality work at a fast pace.
So, for now, my animations are on a short hold, while I work on this comic. It will be called "A Twist of Feyt", which is a play on the Celtic inspired fey-realms and fairy creatures. Once this comic is completed, I have plans to work on a sci-fi comic next. I am hoping to write a story where I can combine cyber-punk and steam-punk, but that is still a long way off. So for next time, I will be posting some drawings of my latest comic pages, with some of the techniques I will be using and some of the things I have learned.
Look forward to it!
Showing posts with label weak 1. Show all posts
Showing posts with label weak 1. Show all posts
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Orlando trip
I am going to be going on a trip this weekend to Orlando, Florida. I am planning to check out this aforementioned DAVE school (digital animation and visual effects) for myself.
I should be able to work on some more drawings when i get back. I plan to have a big update next week. I want to have all the backgrounds finished, and start work on the main character animation.
This will be the most time consuming part, but I plan to use a few tricks, such as recycled animation and cut-out animation, to get it done quickly.
I also plan to get some help this weekend and this week on coloring some of these backgrounds so that I can continue to work on the main drawings while the rest of finished. Multi-tasking so to speak. I suppose I'll have to ask someone to help with that.
So The next big update should be next weekend. I will also let people know how my trip to the DAVE school turns out.
I should be able to work on some more drawings when i get back. I plan to have a big update next week. I want to have all the backgrounds finished, and start work on the main character animation.
This will be the most time consuming part, but I plan to use a few tricks, such as recycled animation and cut-out animation, to get it done quickly.
I also plan to get some help this weekend and this week on coloring some of these backgrounds so that I can continue to work on the main drawings while the rest of finished. Multi-tasking so to speak. I suppose I'll have to ask someone to help with that.
So The next big update should be next weekend. I will also let people know how my trip to the DAVE school turns out.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Weak 1 update, with pictures
Greetings!
It's about time I did another update on my progress relating to my Weak 1 animation. So far, I have given you all a glimpse at the animation through a storyboard, which took enough time, but was well worth it.
Now, I would like to show some of the original sketches I have done. These sketches are intended to be used in the final animation itself, and are merely elements of the scenes, but not all of them are up to par and will need to be re-worked, some from scratch, before they are ready to be put in the final animation.
I realize that these are very sketchy, and they don't have color and are probably not very accurate, but this wouldn't be "weakly animated" if everything was drawn really well now would it?
The first ones I will show are ones that will need the most reworking done, and the last one is a final image that is ready to be put into the production for coloring and masking, although it may need a better scan first.
It's about time I did another update on my progress relating to my Weak 1 animation. So far, I have given you all a glimpse at the animation through a storyboard, which took enough time, but was well worth it.
Now, I would like to show some of the original sketches I have done. These sketches are intended to be used in the final animation itself, and are merely elements of the scenes, but not all of them are up to par and will need to be re-worked, some from scratch, before they are ready to be put in the final animation.
I realize that these are very sketchy, and they don't have color and are probably not very accurate, but this wouldn't be "weakly animated" if everything was drawn really well now would it?
The first ones I will show are ones that will need the most reworking done, and the last one is a final image that is ready to be put into the production for coloring and masking, although it may need a better scan first.
Now these are intentionally kept in pencil with a sketchy feel to them. I particularly like the last image, it has worked out the best so far and probably doesn't really need much more work, if any, to be ready for the rest of the production. I will probably scan these all again at a later time, but for now these are good to get opinions and suggestions.
The hardest one of these will be the 4th one, as it will need to have animating wheels. Since I have already drawn this, I will probably have to go back and draw the wheels again separately, in sequence to show the animation. The traffic light will also need more done to it, to make sure the light sways back and forth as the little car flies past it. I will be adding the bird, Adam, Marge (the little lady), and the cop at a later date, once the backgrounds and other elements are mostly completed. Once I have these in place, figuring out how to get the characters in place should be easier since I will have a lot of reference to work with.
So, enjoy these images, and please please PLEASE give me your feedback and opinions. I look forward to hearing from you about what you think of these images. I am always striving to better myself and my art and animations.
Later this week, besides working on more of these images, I will probably write a review for the movie 9, a movie that really inspires me, since it is really the director's first major motion picture, based off his college thesis. I want to achieve that kind of success, and that is what I am striving to do with the DAVE school, and my Weakly Animations.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Weak 1 Animatic
Exciting news everyone!
I have finally finished the animatic for the Weak 1 project. While it is currently under the working title, "Red light, Green light", it will have a final name before too long, but no rush.
This animatic is still a work in progress, and some tweaking will be needed, but I have uploaded what I have done so far to show you. Most of this is black and white, poorly scanned, with very sketchy drawings. It might be a little hard to understand right off, so please give me your feedback and tell me what you think. The most important this here is timing and layout.
Does it go by to fast? Is it too slow? Is the scene confusing?
Do you like it? Do you hate it?
Please let me know, and be helpful too. I am always looking for ways to improve things, so please let me know what you think and how you think it could be better.
Well, without further ado, here it is!
I have finally finished the animatic for the Weak 1 project. While it is currently under the working title, "Red light, Green light", it will have a final name before too long, but no rush.
This animatic is still a work in progress, and some tweaking will be needed, but I have uploaded what I have done so far to show you. Most of this is black and white, poorly scanned, with very sketchy drawings. It might be a little hard to understand right off, so please give me your feedback and tell me what you think. The most important this here is timing and layout.
Does it go by to fast? Is it too slow? Is the scene confusing?
Do you like it? Do you hate it?
Please let me know, and be helpful too. I am always looking for ways to improve things, so please let me know what you think and how you think it could be better.
Well, without further ado, here it is!
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Weak 1 Update part 2
Here I am with part 2 of this simple update.
If you haven't guessed by now, I am planning to call each project a "weak", so this is week 2 for weak 1.
I have finished scanning in all the cards for the storyboard, and I am starting the next phase or 2. The next 2 phases involve drawing the actual images and scanning them in, and compiling all these storyboard cards into an animatic.
An animatic, for those who don't know, is a simple and dirty animation that uses the storyboard cards to show a basic idea of what the final scene should look like. Often, there are many tests between the first animatic and the final product, and these are also sometimes called animatics, and sometimes just called test scenes. I am not going to be doing any test scenes for this short, since it is very simple. However, I will probably explore tis idea later for a future project.
For now, I am going to draw more of the images I know I am going to use, as well as putting together this animatic.
I will try to make the animatic by the weekend, so I have something animated to show. This will let me feel better about myself, get a better sense of the timing and length, and also set up videos on this site (probably through youtube).
So now I am off to pick up my sketchbook, which was accidentally picked up by a friend and is still at her house. I have a lot to do, and little time to do it in, but what else is new?
Next, I will post a review of Monsters Inc. on Blu-ray.
If you haven't guessed by now, I am planning to call each project a "weak", so this is week 2 for weak 1.
I have finished scanning in all the cards for the storyboard, and I am starting the next phase or 2. The next 2 phases involve drawing the actual images and scanning them in, and compiling all these storyboard cards into an animatic.
An animatic, for those who don't know, is a simple and dirty animation that uses the storyboard cards to show a basic idea of what the final scene should look like. Often, there are many tests between the first animatic and the final product, and these are also sometimes called animatics, and sometimes just called test scenes. I am not going to be doing any test scenes for this short, since it is very simple. However, I will probably explore tis idea later for a future project.
For now, I am going to draw more of the images I know I am going to use, as well as putting together this animatic.
I will try to make the animatic by the weekend, so I have something animated to show. This will let me feel better about myself, get a better sense of the timing and length, and also set up videos on this site (probably through youtube).
So now I am off to pick up my sketchbook, which was accidentally picked up by a friend and is still at her house. I have a lot to do, and little time to do it in, but what else is new?
Next, I will post a review of Monsters Inc. on Blu-ray.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Weakly Update
This week's update is indeed weak.
Needless to say, with Christmas and Holiday festivities looming, I had very little time to start working on my animation. While I did make some headway, I think it would be best to use the rest of this year to complete the one animation, and work out any bugs I find in the process.
So starting next year, I will officially begin (again) the weakly animation. This time with a new animation (assuming the current one is finished) and with the 1 week time limit. I will, however, be preparing and updating my college applications and (god-willing) be sending them off during the first week or so of January.
Here is what has happened so far:
I have started the site.
I have brainstormed a good story with my brother on an animation.
I have story boarded the project, and made a few extra sketches.
I researched reference photographs and took a few of my own.
I have drawn the first half dozen or so images for use in the animation, mainly backgrounds.
That is where the constructive work has ended, and here is what I learned:
I learned that brainstorming with my brother, while fun, often goes in direction no one should ever follow.
I learned that there are few things in life as fun as creating something your own, nor are they as time consuming.
I learned that procrastination is like that buddy that is coming around to your place and hanging out, drinking your beer, and wasting your time, making sure you get nothing done, and he's hard to kick out.
I learned that I need to practice my drawings more.
I learned that we need to get a snow shovel (more on that later).
Well I have no images to show as of yet, since my scanner is still not hooked up to my computer. However, I did do a lot of cleaning around my apartment so with any luck I will actually be able to find the scanner, and find room to fit it next to the computer. I have also cleared off a table (mostly) to help with drawing, when we aren't eating off it.
But Christmas and the like is a big issue that takes a lot of time. Combining that with about 2 feet of snow in one day, and snow plow workers who (apparently) don't work on weekends, makes this weekend very... slippery. It took at least half an hour to dig the car out of the parking space, it was enough snow that having a snow shovel actually would be useful for parking in a parking lot. So as you can imagine, we went out as little as we had to, never leaving the house all day on Saturday. You'd think being stuck indoors all day with no guests or meetings or game nights, just you and your wife, would mean lots of time to work on things. Well... it isn't often I get to spend the entire day with just my wife, and me, alone, all day, snowed in.... lets just say we didn't waste that time.
*Ahem*
Well that being said, I will continue to work on the animation this week... Yes, yes, I know it is Christmas. I will not be able to spend long on it, at least not before Christmas. But I will do what I can! My goal is to get most of this done before new years weekend. I want to have something to show you all this year. So I will be spending another week on this weakly project.
I don't know when I will post next, but just in case, let me wish you all Happy Holidays, and a Happy New Year too.
Needless to say, with Christmas and Holiday festivities looming, I had very little time to start working on my animation. While I did make some headway, I think it would be best to use the rest of this year to complete the one animation, and work out any bugs I find in the process.
So starting next year, I will officially begin (again) the weakly animation. This time with a new animation (assuming the current one is finished) and with the 1 week time limit. I will, however, be preparing and updating my college applications and (god-willing) be sending them off during the first week or so of January.
Here is what has happened so far:
I have started the site.
I have brainstormed a good story with my brother on an animation.
I have story boarded the project, and made a few extra sketches.
I researched reference photographs and took a few of my own.
I have drawn the first half dozen or so images for use in the animation, mainly backgrounds.
That is where the constructive work has ended, and here is what I learned:
I learned that brainstorming with my brother, while fun, often goes in direction no one should ever follow.
I learned that there are few things in life as fun as creating something your own, nor are they as time consuming.
I learned that procrastination is like that buddy that is coming around to your place and hanging out, drinking your beer, and wasting your time, making sure you get nothing done, and he's hard to kick out.
I learned that I need to practice my drawings more.
I learned that we need to get a snow shovel (more on that later).
Well I have no images to show as of yet, since my scanner is still not hooked up to my computer. However, I did do a lot of cleaning around my apartment so with any luck I will actually be able to find the scanner, and find room to fit it next to the computer. I have also cleared off a table (mostly) to help with drawing, when we aren't eating off it.
But Christmas and the like is a big issue that takes a lot of time. Combining that with about 2 feet of snow in one day, and snow plow workers who (apparently) don't work on weekends, makes this weekend very... slippery. It took at least half an hour to dig the car out of the parking space, it was enough snow that having a snow shovel actually would be useful for parking in a parking lot. So as you can imagine, we went out as little as we had to, never leaving the house all day on Saturday. You'd think being stuck indoors all day with no guests or meetings or game nights, just you and your wife, would mean lots of time to work on things. Well... it isn't often I get to spend the entire day with just my wife, and me, alone, all day, snowed in.... lets just say we didn't waste that time.
*Ahem*
Well that being said, I will continue to work on the animation this week... Yes, yes, I know it is Christmas. I will not be able to spend long on it, at least not before Christmas. But I will do what I can! My goal is to get most of this done before new years weekend. I want to have something to show you all this year. So I will be spending another week on this weakly project.
I don't know when I will post next, but just in case, let me wish you all Happy Holidays, and a Happy New Year too.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Project Update: Day 1
Well I am busy at work on the second day already, which is mostly going to comprise of drawing the various scenes and elements of the animation. I will focus on getting the easiest parts done first, so I can finish the majority of the animation before I get to the more complicated animation (frame-by-frame) which will take longer. Luckily there is not much of that in this animation, which is the point of making it a short film, and by short, I mean SHORT... like 30 seconds, which is about average for a commercial.
So here is a recap of what happened yesterday.
Alas, I did not get as far as I wanted yesterday, but that is mainly due to my own inherit laziness. I have been focusing on chores and other activities (like my 60+ and growing unread emails) rather than focusing on the animation. What I DID do was still very helpful to get a head start today and tomorrow with the drawings.
Essentially, I drew out the entire story board on a series of 3x5 index cards, which I will be scanning in later this week (when I start scanning the actual drawings, since my scanner is not hooked up at the moment), and I will post online as soon as I can. It took about 40 cards, but a lot of those scenes will actually just use re-cycled animation to save on time.
I also researched the various elements in the animation that I will need to draw, to give me a good reference for a starting point. I needed lots of pictures of cars, cop cars, old cars, insides of cars... In all, I have collected the best ones (about a dozen) that best suits my needs (plus one really awesome concept car design just to look at :p) and will be using these (printed out) to get a start on these drawings with fairly accurate, or at least decent, depictions of what they are suppose to be.
I also started some of the drawings, but spent too much time on other tasks, that I didn't even finish the first one yet, so i am going to buckle down and spend the rest of the day today and tomorrow working on finishing up these drawings.
Onward I go, to victory!
So here is a recap of what happened yesterday.
Alas, I did not get as far as I wanted yesterday, but that is mainly due to my own inherit laziness. I have been focusing on chores and other activities (like my 60+ and growing unread emails) rather than focusing on the animation. What I DID do was still very helpful to get a head start today and tomorrow with the drawings.
Essentially, I drew out the entire story board on a series of 3x5 index cards, which I will be scanning in later this week (when I start scanning the actual drawings, since my scanner is not hooked up at the moment), and I will post online as soon as I can. It took about 40 cards, but a lot of those scenes will actually just use re-cycled animation to save on time.
I also researched the various elements in the animation that I will need to draw, to give me a good reference for a starting point. I needed lots of pictures of cars, cop cars, old cars, insides of cars... In all, I have collected the best ones (about a dozen) that best suits my needs (plus one really awesome concept car design just to look at :p) and will be using these (printed out) to get a start on these drawings with fairly accurate, or at least decent, depictions of what they are suppose to be.
I also started some of the drawings, but spent too much time on other tasks, that I didn't even finish the first one yet, so i am going to buckle down and spend the rest of the day today and tomorrow working on finishing up these drawings.
Onward I go, to victory!
Monday, December 14, 2009
It begins...
Well the first brainstorming session is complete. We have fleshed out details, added some great new content, and gone over the details for every shot and animation styles. I am even playing with how music and sound effects will be done.
I will start in the morning with story boards, simple and quick, which will be very sketchy but should be enough to get the idea. I will probably post a few of them online, in low quality, by the end of the day.
I also planned out my week with a bit of a buffer in case it (inevitably) takes longer to complete than planned.
So far, this is how things for my week look:
Monday: Story boards, character designs, drawing.
Tuesday: Drawing.
Wednesday: Drawing, scanning, coloring, animating.
Thursday: Coloring, Animating.
Friday: Animating, Sound effects.
Saturday: Music, Sound effects, Graphics (titles, etc)
Sunday: Final tweaks, rendering, posting online, brainstorming for next week.
Granted, this is a LOOSE timeline, I hope to take LESS time per topic than I listed here to give me a better buffer at the end of the week. Music also will probably only be a placeholder until actual music is created by the members of Tangent Artists, which may take a few weeks. But until the animation is the important part, sound is merely a detail that can be dealt with at a later date if need be.
So expect some updates tomorrow, and perhaps some pictures as well.
Wish me luck!
I will start in the morning with story boards, simple and quick, which will be very sketchy but should be enough to get the idea. I will probably post a few of them online, in low quality, by the end of the day.
I also planned out my week with a bit of a buffer in case it (inevitably) takes longer to complete than planned.
So far, this is how things for my week look:
Monday: Story boards, character designs, drawing.
Tuesday: Drawing.
Wednesday: Drawing, scanning, coloring, animating.
Thursday: Coloring, Animating.
Friday: Animating, Sound effects.
Saturday: Music, Sound effects, Graphics (titles, etc)
Sunday: Final tweaks, rendering, posting online, brainstorming for next week.
Granted, this is a LOOSE timeline, I hope to take LESS time per topic than I listed here to give me a better buffer at the end of the week. Music also will probably only be a placeholder until actual music is created by the members of Tangent Artists, which may take a few weeks. But until the animation is the important part, sound is merely a detail that can be dealt with at a later date if need be.
So expect some updates tomorrow, and perhaps some pictures as well.
Wish me luck!
Friday, December 11, 2009
Getting a head start
While my project goal is to complete an animation a week, that does not mean it will take only 1 week to make every animation. While most of the work will take place during that week, I will probably brainstorm and layout ideas beforehand, to help get an idea of what to do before I dive into it. Considering the amount of work that will be involved with a single animation in a week, along with keeping up my workload with my clients and working on web comics and preparing to submit applications to various colleges (not to mention the ever-present distraction of video games), I will have my hands full every week. However, I do have time to work on brain storming, which for me works best when i can throw ideas off of someone else and get ideas back.
This is exactly what my brother and I do. We have done this for his comic idea, which I have started to draw and (with any luck) will be ready to post the beginning of the new year. Well we are also going to be doing this for the weekly project. In fact, this works out really well for both of us. With all these ideas going around in our heads, not to mention the ideas from both my sisters and my wife and friends, we need to brain storm these and attack each one we like the most. In the past, we considered making blogs or podcasts (titled "Hixonitis, have you caught it yet"... not that catchy actually), but they always fell through when real life took over. Well I am tired of these things never happening. SO, I am taking the initiative to just start it. And for my family, this works very well to brain storm off each other. My sister is full of clever and witty ideas, my other sister has notebooks full of her own ideas (usually in drawing and comic form), and me and my brother... well you see he is the writer, and I am the visual artist. He can put any story into a writer's perspective, and I can visually layout the series of events and such (like camera angles and layout). I am a very visual person, and he is very verbal, so combining the two works really well for us.
And this is what we did last night. Since we are no longer living close together, we have to chat via AIM, which works well since my iPhone is almost always logged in. Before our brain storming session devolved into penis jokes and wise cracks (don't think I'm kidding on this), we did come up with some good ideas. Usually our sessions end in a chaotic mess of jokes and off-topic explorations, but while we are still focused on the project at hand, we can come up with a lot in a short time.
What did we come up with? Well I'm not going to just say them all. But I will say that we have several ideas for an ongoing theme, with existing characters from the Tangent Artist web comic group we are part of. That is not to say all of these animations will be directly related to Tangent Artists, but we are planning to use some of these existing characters (which are caricatures of us) to better visualize the events and jokes of some of these ideas. There will be many that will not involves these characters at all, but we will be featuring a series of them as well. We also worked on future ideas, and fleshing out some more details on the first project.
As it stands right now, we have a little more fleshing out to do, such as story boarding, which will be the first step here since we know what all the characters will look like already.
I will be posting all the details once they are worked out later this weekend, or at least by Monday. I will also be posting some of the story boards, character designs, animation tests, and maybe even photographs as well as I work on them. Look forward to all the crazy happenings and insane deadlines I will put myself through, and please enjoy the animations and posts. See you all at the start, in only 3 days!
And wish me luck! ;)
This is exactly what my brother and I do. We have done this for his comic idea, which I have started to draw and (with any luck) will be ready to post the beginning of the new year. Well we are also going to be doing this for the weekly project. In fact, this works out really well for both of us. With all these ideas going around in our heads, not to mention the ideas from both my sisters and my wife and friends, we need to brain storm these and attack each one we like the most. In the past, we considered making blogs or podcasts (titled "Hixonitis, have you caught it yet"... not that catchy actually), but they always fell through when real life took over. Well I am tired of these things never happening. SO, I am taking the initiative to just start it. And for my family, this works very well to brain storm off each other. My sister is full of clever and witty ideas, my other sister has notebooks full of her own ideas (usually in drawing and comic form), and me and my brother... well you see he is the writer, and I am the visual artist. He can put any story into a writer's perspective, and I can visually layout the series of events and such (like camera angles and layout). I am a very visual person, and he is very verbal, so combining the two works really well for us.
And this is what we did last night. Since we are no longer living close together, we have to chat via AIM, which works well since my iPhone is almost always logged in. Before our brain storming session devolved into penis jokes and wise cracks (don't think I'm kidding on this), we did come up with some good ideas. Usually our sessions end in a chaotic mess of jokes and off-topic explorations, but while we are still focused on the project at hand, we can come up with a lot in a short time.
What did we come up with? Well I'm not going to just say them all. But I will say that we have several ideas for an ongoing theme, with existing characters from the Tangent Artist web comic group we are part of. That is not to say all of these animations will be directly related to Tangent Artists, but we are planning to use some of these existing characters (which are caricatures of us) to better visualize the events and jokes of some of these ideas. There will be many that will not involves these characters at all, but we will be featuring a series of them as well. We also worked on future ideas, and fleshing out some more details on the first project.
As it stands right now, we have a little more fleshing out to do, such as story boarding, which will be the first step here since we know what all the characters will look like already.
I will be posting all the details once they are worked out later this weekend, or at least by Monday. I will also be posting some of the story boards, character designs, animation tests, and maybe even photographs as well as I work on them. Look forward to all the crazy happenings and insane deadlines I will put myself through, and please enjoy the animations and posts. See you all at the start, in only 3 days!
And wish me luck! ;)
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