Photoshop Painting-a-Go!

So. I have always wanted to learn how to paint in Photoshop. Something like Gordon Bukvic's three pieces off his website http://www.crazybrush.com/
They are all so beautiful and when I look at these and other Photoshop paintings, I am at a loss for where he would even start (other than a sketch of course). There is no lighting in PS. After having to light in Maya in my current class, I have become accustomed to placing lights where I want them. The idea of creating light from mere color or even choosing a different color to display a highlight is baffling to me. I cannot exactly wrap my head around it but I aim to try.

I was pointed in the direction of the tutorials at ctrlpaint.com and I have started using the lessons involved with actually painting. I skipped the pressure sensitivity and keyboard shortcut tutorials.
The top layer was an example by the teacher, and below are my attempts at color mixing. We could only sample from the colors on the far ends of each color swatch to create the color in the middle, then we can only sample from one end and the middle to create the 2nd and 4th colors. So for example, with the blue I could only sample from the darkest and lightest blue to create the middle blue. After I feel I have gotten the middle blue pretty close, I try to create the 2nd darkest blue by sampling only from the darkest blue and middle blue. I think I did pretty alright, my colors may not be that solid but it is merely a learning exercise and I'm super excited to continue with this in my free time.

Argh, so good.

Progress on Screen Design

Have a new test. I need to reshoot it because I have just been editing the same file to save time. Therefore some of the camera is off and it makes it look like garbage, haha.




The camera movement after the character jumps out the window is...eh. Eh is really the only way I can describe it. I think it needs to be smoother. The frames in the beginning are more spread out and account for faster movement and then I slowed down toward the end. I must have thought when I was looking at my key frames (Key Frames are important frames that help move your animation along) that it was too big a jump, so I put the first 2 key frames 10 frames apart, and the second and third key frame 20 frames apart which accounts for the slower movement.

My professor told me that as it was now, the fence at the end would be enormous the way I drew it, accounting for perspective. I thought that was funny because i didn't really think about it until he pointed it out, and he is absolutely right. The other thing he pointed out was that the carrot should get smaller as it goes out the window and I agree.

Overall that is what I have at the moment.

Practice is important...school is important...

Everything is important. I enjoy the things that aren't important. Take, for example, playing video games or board games. Of course, that is all relative. A game design major would say that those things are extremely important.

Regardless...

I am back at school and have been for two weeks. Subsequently, the keyboard I am typing on is poor quality and the keys stick causing me to typo and abuse the backspace key.

My classes this quarter are

Principles of Screen Design
History of Animation
Introduction to Mass Communication

I like two out of those three. Intro to Mass Comm I find to be a class that has potential to be extremely interesting, but falls short due to the teacher and her methods. Carolyn Babcock assigns readings for class and if she gets the 'deer in headlights' look from her students, when asking a question about the reading, she immediately busts out the pop quizzes as a cruel punishment for our insignificant long term memories.

I tend to have an issue with the way she wants her responses done. She assigns us to answer questions from the 'critical thinking' section of the textbook and then claims she wants to know 'what we think'. Unfortunately, what she really means is she wants to know what we think within the context of the questions being asked in the book.

For example, if I was a librarian, what books would I pull from the library in an act of censorship? If she asked me straight what I thought about censorship I would never even mention if I was a librarian. So it is not really how I feel about censorship, but how I feel about the questions the book asks.

History of Animation is an interesting class. Learning about dead animators. (More fun than you might think!)

Principles of Screen Design is tough. The teacher is strict and seems to have an idea in his head of what the concept you come up with should look like. It results in a constant struggle between who's ideas should be carried out. It is hard to tell whether he dislikes my concept, or whether he is just a perfectionist and wants it done right. I like the guy, but it is somewhat frustrating.

Anyway, here is a test for my project in Screen Design.




I think the movement looks alright. Clearly I need to animate the carrot more, and add the leafy part in the beginning. I tend to find those little details, like the leafy part missing at the beginning, are the ones I always put off until the end because I am focusing more on the movement and timing.

I had to give a lot of time for when he is lying on the ground, and when he is about to jump out the window. I still feel like there needs more anticipation before the jump. It still seems too rabbit like, but it is a work in progress and nowhere close to being done.

Speaking of which, the assignment is to create a loop with camera movement and object movement and sound effects! (I forgot about the sound effects until now. That's not good!) Luckily it is not due tomorrow or anything.

Anyway, that's school, I keep working and pulling through and it keeps getting done. I will be more consistent with my posting now that I am back at school and have things to post.

See ya later!

SCAD Work

April 10th was the last post?

Well hey, that was a long time ago! That was one...two...a thousand months ago? (Translates into so many years).

Somehow I managed to not post on here for a while. (It HAS been a thousand months). Although this is the ketchup post. (Catch up?) Get it? Never mind.

Here are some of the things I did toward the end of my first year at SCAD.

[Blogspot is taking too long to upload the videos so they will be in a separate post. Hopefully that will solve the problem.]

This is the beanbag animation I had to do. I recall posting an incomplete version. Well, here is the finished one. I was told by a friend to add that little squish at the beginning when the beanbag is turning around. Personally, I feel like it takes away from the movement. It doesn't make sense in context why he'd squish like that; although it could have just been the way I carried out the motion that made it look like that. Regardless, the fall was good, although his impact was too far forward for where he was falling from. Overall, I think it looks pretty okay!

My walk cycle. Thank god it's over. Walk cycles are really very difficult to do. The feet had to move on increments and if the increments were off, the walk would look fake. In mine, there is a bit of a kick back (This is when the foot comes off the ground in the back you can see it looks like he is trying to kick someone behind him with his heel) The up and down movement is a little too much and looks like he is limping a bit. Also, the head isn't locked down very well. We had our little taste of cleanup with this project and I have to say that taste was both bitter and sour at the same time. Unfortunately that is what they call 'paying your dues'. The things I would have done differently had I a second try. Of course, the walk cycle doesn't take long to do. It is only 6-12 (maybe more) frames for the legs and then an equal amount for the head and arms.

Ah my final. The assignment was to have 10 seconds of animation that plays out a scene. In mine, a six year old boy cautiously walks toward the camera in a dark room. He looks at the floor with his hands to his face to get a better look. He realizes what he is looking at are the feet or the bottom of some horrific thing, so he slowly raises his head up. Once he realizes what he's looking at, he reacts in fear (freezing for a sec), then he turns around and runs the other way.

Okay, the critique in this final is that there is too much critique to be had, but a scene is never perfect now is it? The run at the end is laughable (as it should be, it's comedy even though it wasn't supposed to be) When the little boy gets scared, I think that movement is great, and the walking up is pretty good too. It is just the run at the end that killed it. I knew that when I handed it in and the professor knew too. It was 7 in the morning the morning before the assignment was due.

I know I am making it out to sound like I procrastinated. This is not the case at all. I think what really happened was that I spent way too much time on the walk up and not the run. I know that if I fix it up, it could be a portfolio piece. That's good to know.


As for what is going on with me currently...

I got my wisdom teeth out, which was painful. Now I am fighting a battle with an army under the command of General Blood and Lieutenant Sore. I am enjoying my summer vacation. I wish the word 'temporary' was not included in the definition of vacation, but how many times have you heard that?

Well in any case, I will try to get those videos up but until then, this post is almost for naught! (Well not really)

9-5 is not what the future holds.

I have been very busy at the animation building lately. Plugging in around 8 hours of work on assignments i care a great deal about, and then coming home and studying for tests i care nothing about (the curse of an art student). Of course, it is extremely interesting to see the progression of art in my Art History class, I just don't care for tests. (Does anyone?)

Anyway, this past weekend I have been having to animate a waving flag, and a bean bag who goes through all sorts of various animations.


This is my waving flag. I really enjoy it. It was very difficult to get the length of the animation up to the 4 second mark due to the nature of my flag. The wind seems to be a gentle breeze strong enough to pick it up as it does in the beginning of the animation. Then it falls back due to gravity, and the follow through happens. 96 frames (48 Drawings) is how long 4 seconds is, and because my flag has minimal movement it was difficult to get it to last that long, but I did.

Edit: Blogger compresses those files so that they are very hard to see. I'm sorry. Try your best. I will try darkening in my lines but in the meantime try to make do.




The bean bag animation is not even close to being done. It goes a bit fast and the fall is not very noticeable. I need to add a frame before the anticipation of the fall, and the splat itself. I have also been mulling over whether he should flail his little tassels, or hold a pose and slowly tilt towards the ground until he falls over. Regardless, tomorrow will be another long day, but each day is a learning process and that is something to keep in mind.

Edit 2: I forgot to mention I received a 94 on the bouncing and bowling balls, and then i submitted the redo for a grade of 100. I wonder if my picture is listen in the dictionary under over achiever.

4 AM=No title.

Note from the Author: I ask that you keep this on as you read this post.


************From the Journal of Jake Mittleman, B.F.A************

April 01, 2010.......Animation is tough. On the one hand,
you spend a lot of time. On the other hand, you
get the satisfaction of something being completed....
Everything should be this way.


(You can close that youtube video now if you like)






Anyway, This is the 'final' test for my bouncing ball projects. Technically it's not my FINAL, because my professor offers a redo for people who handed it in on time. We'll see how I do and if it is worth it to spend more time on it. Did I forget to mention that right now it's 3:58...scratch that, 3:59 AM? I started working last night around 8:30 and now it's 4 AM. Well that is how the cookie crumbles I suppose.

Anyway, that's all I really have to say because I am pretty exhausted.

Oh two more things. I have been reading my favorite book: Catcher in the Rye. It is starting to have some sort of effect on me, where I feel the need to say things like 'that knocked me out' and 'shooting the crap with old '. Holden Caulfield is awesome. The other thing, is that I watched the last episode in the Doogie Howser M.D. series and I'm sad that it's over. I want to be friends with Vinnie Delpino.