603 Weekly Update (Week Commencing: 22/02/21)

Unresolved Issues from Last Week:

At the start of the week, the monster shot was animated fully. I was going to suggest to the director that we just reuse this scene twice, as there were quite a few inconsistencies between mine and Alisha's shot, and the other. It appeared that before I had a chance, the director came to this conclusion naturally on his own however, this was just miscommunication. So, I needed to bring it up anyway. 

The Solution:

I explained that the two shots were too inconsistent, not only in design however the walk cycle itself, as my version has the monster on it's hands, whilst the other has it walking on it's knuckles. The director was conflicted, as he didn't want to remove a scene that the team had worked so hard on. It was only when more animators spoke up, including the two responsible for the other shot, that the director decided to axe it and go with mine and Alisha's.

This Week:

At the start of the week, I worked on 'The Care I Give My Hair'.

I had similar issues on this shot with that of a previous shot, as the character turn-around was only designed with her first hairstyle in mind. While I could search for reference images, or try to use the sketchy designs from the animatic, I didn't feel confident at all attempting to animate this shot.

Fortunately, my other teammate had already started on another shot where this hairstyle was featured. So, using their drawing alongside the storyboard art, I had a better idea of what the linework should look like.

Link to Shot 10 (Key Frames Only)

I wasn't originally down to key frame this shot however, due to the team all working in different software, and the capabilities of each software, I needed to rearrange a couple of the final scenes. I still had the same amount of work to do however this way, we didn't need to convert the file back and forth.

Link to Shot 10 (Character Animation Only)

So, seeing as I was down to both inbetween, and colour this shot at a later date, I decided to get this scene over and done with at once, as colouring in TVPaint doesn't take very long at all. The reason her hair is green is because the director wanted the hair to be textured, so this layer will act as a green screen and the texture will be applied in post.

I then moved onto 'The Last Riders' project.

I was down to animate a scene that was incredibly similar to one Rhys had already animated which resulted in a conflict of interest. As while I consciously make an effort to stay on model as accurately as possible, it was obvious my character reference sheet and Rhys' shot had inconsistencies. So I had to make a decision: do I stay on model and sacrifice the consistency of the final animation or, do I purposefully go off model to match Rhys' interpretation of the design.

Link to Scene 19 (Key Frames Only)

Once again, this was another scene that I was down to also inbetween and colour so, I decided to put these jobs together.

I'm slightly worried about the line thickness as while I followed the character reference sheet, I have a feeling the shots that have been animated so far have thinner linework. This is an issue that has arisen due to two factors. Firstly, I'm working on three projects simultaneously and each have very different art styles. Secondly, it's been about a month since I've animated a scene for Rhys' project as the other projects have taken precedence, meaning the line width had escaped my mind.

Link to Scene 19 (Character Animation Only)

Now the colour has been added, I feel the difference in weight of the line is obvious. However, due to time restraints, I won't make any adjustments now. If the director hasn't got any issues then I can continue as planned, and so far he hasn't said anything.

Link to Personal Gantt Chart (22/02)

At the end of the week, I was given a commission. So, I began to plan some ideas for what I could do and how I could approach it, given how busy my schedule already is. 

I also tried to catch up on some of the visiting professionals lectures I had missed, including: Bianca Ansems, Matthew Cooper and Maryam Mohajer. 

I no longer have any scenes to key frame for both the 'Kingdom of Masks', or 'The Care I Give My Hair' which means I can focus solely on 'The Last Riders' for a while. However, I do need to learn a new software in order to colour on these projects so this may slow my practice down. I will also be travelling back to Leeds at the beginning of March so, I can imagine my mental health will naturally decline, as it usually does, so this may also be an issue in regards to my workflow.