responsive: war horse initial sketchbook development

At this point I'm not sure where I'm going with this brief but I know I need to figure it out soon and get on with it as the final illustrations are due mid January!

I began by practicing drawing horses as, whilst I don't want to make an obvious outcome, horses are a pretty integral part of the story that can't be missed out! This was the first time for a while I had to do such visual practice and research for a project and I think it would be useful for other projects too.

I began drawing my responses to the plot of the book but soon found that due to time constraints that it isn't really feasible to draw the whole book before going back into it again.

I started to think vaguely about book covers as a starting point but am definitely struggling. I don't want to create a lazy outcome but I find that War Horse is quite a literal book and it's hard to not just illustrate what is physically happening in the book. I'm questioning whether it's enough to just illustrate the plot line but in an aesthetically interesting way. It's a definite contrast to my Murakami project.

about the author: two colour lino print practice

This series of lino print practice was not successful, but did teach me a lot!

• The first image was one of my most successful prints, despite the faded print and slight mark (although I think the fade could look quite nice if it managed to be consistent throughout the prints). By this point I had learnt that it was best to make the red print into stamps to avoid marks from the rest of the lino, so this gave it a cleaner print.

• The second image was my most successful umbrella print but that does not make it good! Because I hadn't considered stamp making on the first (blue) layer, there are lots of marks from the rest of the lino plate which make it look very untidy, and do not suit the nature of Murakami's balance and clean edges.

• The next two images were before I had cut out the red layer as separate shapes and again, had those messy lines left on the plate, which has been described as "looking like someone has been massacred over them", which is not very much in the Murakami mood! However, having the whole plate available did help with aligning the layers. 

• There needs to be a lot of consideration into how I will physically print these images if I choose to create separate stamps. I think a float made of the original design but reversed would be best as I could accurately place each stamp on to the float. The egg yolk and face were ok as they had right angles corresponding with the edges of the print but as the umbrella floats in the middle of its image it took many many tries before I got it into a place which was vaguely right! Lino has taught me that it needs lots of planning.

• The final image is a complete mess, from two of the wrong plates being put together. Take care when printing!

about the author: sting inspiration

I saw this animation on the Guardian and admired its simplicty and effectiveness. It appears to be made from paper and I think this probably makes a huge difference- if this was straight up digital I think it could look a little bland- the textures and slightly odd edges give it an authenticity and interestingness. Still, the piece is probably composed digitally, perhaps even in After Effects, showing that you can have that traditional animation feel even when working with AE. After seeing this I am considering using traditional methods to create my animation, perhaps even lino printing the assets. This shouldn't be too hard, considering there is little animation actually planned for my sting, but depends on how much time I have!

about the author: small linoprint test/ more print considerations

 

I started to get tired of my previous print ideas. The shape driven work was visually interesting enough but I couldn't find a way for it to work in a more complex image than a pouty woman's face so started to look for something new.

I made some small lino prints at home based on the idea of rearranging a character's body through lino stamps. I suppose it fits with the idea of feeling disconnected and the surreal but it turned out seemed much better as an idea rather than in reality. Visually, I think they're interesting enough, but do little to convey anything much about Murakami. The repetitiveness may also appear to be a 'cop-out' too.

As a print these are not good either! I used cheap block printing ink that left odd textures and uneven printing. They are also printed with a wooden spoon rather than a press which I think could possibly work, but with better quality ink.

I started to think about the balance and harmonies in Murakami's work, and wanted to capture something effective but simple. And simplicity works well with lino print (hopefully).

Below are some digital sketches I did of potential compositions. I'm concerned about things being too simple, and although I know a piece's merit isn't just in its complexity I don't want all of this research work to culminate in something visually disappointing. I think it is quite a challenge however to do something simply and well, so it will be something to get my head around.

My favourites of the compositions are the umbrella and the eggs. I think they feel quieter than the other compositions, which are quite busy, and maybe too busy for this series.

about the author: storyboard/ sting ideas

Inspired by the BBC4 idents mentioned before I began planning animations based on screens split up into sections. I wanted to create something surreal and dream like.

< scan of animation proposal >

The animation itself will be quite simple to make, based on moving and panning shots and whilst I think it is good to be ambitious I think this suits my current skill level with After Effects whilst also suiting the brief.

I also forgot that the sting was meant to be an advertisement for a documentary based on the author! But I think having his name float in like the other assets would fit nicely. For this I am considering something type based rather than hand drawn as I think this would most suit the minimal look of the piece.

about the author: screen print

This year I am still struggling with screen print! This time there were problems with the pressure applied and the ink drying on the screen, though my alignments were quite good. 

I like the clean feel that screen prints can give but all of mine came out textured! And I'm not yet sure if this suits the image. There would also be an issue that if I did decide that I wanted all of my editions to be textured as I'm not really sure how this came out this way.

It was suggested that there may have been a problem with the screen or emulsion coating, and that I'd have a better chance with hand drawn positives on acetate which I think I would enjoy making. What I liked about lino was the physical process in it and it would be nice to get this in screen print.

  

I struggled with pressure particularly on one side but it also seemed that the ink was starting to dry on the screen as the same corner was not coming through on multiple prints.

I sprayed some water on to the print to try and counteract the drying but when I pulled it these marks came up! In hindsight I should have pulled the black through on newsprint/ scrap paper until it worked ok as I think the water did improve the quality of the pull despite the marks. It's a shame this was my last print, and last chance to do it well!

responsive: made you look

I liked: how they discussed both the good and bad sides of working in the digital age, although this is such a frequent conversation nowadays I don't think there's that much to add to the conversation. Still, it's very relevant!

I disliked:

It wasn't a dislike so much, but watching documentaries like this sometimes feels a bit odd, and inward gazing on the part of the illustration/ design community. But I suppose there is a place for it, and I did find it mostly interesting. I read something vague the other day about the 'idealisation of studio culture/ the artist' and it's something I've found myself a little aware of since.

I will take away: 

I'm feeling a bit inspired to make now! 

After Effects workshop notes

part one:

part two:

part three:

Importing files with layers

Importing as footage leads to this

but we want to import it as a composition

double click the composition to open it into the composition screen, the layers are already designed as assets

and now we can double check the size and change the duration through composition > composition settings

After Effects will crop the Photoshop file to size, so say if there is a long background layer that is to be panned it could instead just be imported separately.

all of the layers have the same bounding box and anchor point

but we if import it like this

they become separate! (this is probably going to be more helpful)

IMPORTANT

like InDesign, save all of your files together in a folder so After effects doesn't get confused. If a file goes missing, it will be replaced with a series of coloured bars on screen, though the animation and keyframes would still be in place. To get it back, right click it in the project tab and click replace footage

This may also come in handy if you want to work on the animation but are yet to have finished the assets

and After Effects can collect everything into a nice neat folder too

1. shy switch: hide layers that don't need to be seen (but needs to click that (below) first for it to work)

2. for comp layer, collapse transformations: useful for Illustrator files, will retain smooth vector edges (continuously rasterises) even when scaled up. might be useful for text. INFINITE SCALE

3. quality and sampling: affect quality of individual assets. diagonal straight line is fullest resolution. speeds up RAM preview

4. FX: to be used with the adjustment layer (7)

5. frame blending: only applies to video layers

6. motion blur: simulate reality a bit more (this, below, has to be checked too. the master switch) works better with faster moving items

7. adjustment layer: applying effects (brightness, contrast, hue, saturation)

you can search for the effect you want. drag and drop what you want to change on to the composition

and you can control the effect in the layers palettes like any other keyframe. the FX box is now available! the Hue tool could be good to use for a changing sky or something, but I think it could probably look quite tacky quite easily

if you want to apply an effect to the whole composition: 

make a layer the size of the composition, drag and drop the desired effect again, click the adjustment layer box and then play around as before! useful for tweaks right at the end, e.g. in contrast or brightness, little changes!

8. 3D layer

---

mode: blend modes (e.g. multiply, overlay, lighten etc)

trkmat: (track matte) sometimes referred to as masking

without track matte

track matte set to alpha

part 4:

repeating keyframes

create your sequence you want to repeat. highlight the keyframes by dragging the mouse over them

copy the sequence

drag the time position to where you want the next set of the sequence to begin and click edit > paste

BUT if you play this sequence the raindrop will go back up to the cloud to get to the next keyframe as a loop! which is not what you want!

right click the last keyframe in the sequence and select toggle hold keyframe 

this will make the sequence stop at the point you selected, i.e. a raindrop at the bottom of the frame will not go back up to the top again to start the next set of the sequence

the icon will look like this

toggle keyframe acts as an on and off button. you can click it again to turn it off!

duplicate the layer, i.e. if you want more raindrops

to move this layer easily as one, select all of the keyframes you want to move (hint: press "position" or other property you want to change and it will highlight all keyframes)

make sure the time marker is exactly on one of these keyframes

clicking one of these arrows will take you to a keyframe

they should all be able to be moved together by dragging! hurray

SOUNDS

sounds.bl.uk -> sound archive from the british library

you can borrow digital recorders from the AV resource (in Photography)

you can use .mp3, .wav and .aiff files in After Effects

if you need to convert a file format, do it in quicktime 7. file > export

import the files as normal

add to the layers panels

to edit the sound length:

double click the layer and just drag the bar at the bottom where the timings are to where you want! 

audio layers can be edited too! audio levels is the volume. the default is 0.00dB and you can drag it to make it louder or quieter. good for fades

you can also view the waveform for a more accurate clipping of audio

you must use RAM preview to listen to the music! and you can layer multiple audio layers together just like you would visually

GROUPING LAYERS

example: making the raindrops' parent the cloud it will move with it

the layers will lock to the one you select as a parent, i.e. you can move them together

any property you change on the parent layer will affect the child layers, except opacity!