Divine Inspiration! A.K.A LOL U KNO WAT WULD BE LIEK WELL FUNNY?!?!

Indeed, an appropriate title for the mental stages I went through in gathering together this list of ideas and little tit-bits of inspiration…

I’m currently full of wine and home-made stew…om nom nom nom…

____________________________________________________________

• BEAR-SCAK’S FIRST DAY AT WORK:
• Inspired by the events of today (25.10.2011) in particular, here we see a rare insight into the more personal aspects of the life of the anti-Xmas bear. We see Bear-scak toddle along to work at a call centre, completely uninterested by the prospect, and generally taking out his dismays on the unsuspecting customers (and of course the bell-ends who deserve it…ruuuuuuuuuuude!). Well, as you can imagine, his potential employers are a bit shocked to find that the person that they have invited along to the interview: Is in fact a giant, nasty bear with a completely bitter and unaccommodating personality. I’m thinking for the most part of it, there should be a regular shift in background I.E. water cooler, desk, cafeteria etc, whereas Bear-scak himself stays stationary (a humour device, really). As far as I’ve thought up to this point (only got the idea about half an hour ago: not too shabby so far!), I think that it should end vaguely with him walking out of the office – so you don’t see the outcome as to whether he has been hired or not – walking along for a bit away from the complex, and the “camera” pans down to see that he is dragging a head behind him in his bear claws.

• F*@K YOU:
• I had a quick idea earlier this morning for a quick and generally practice based flip-book animation. So far, up to now, I’ve reached about 50 individual pages for this little project. I decided to do a very quick animated sequence based on Bear-scak’s personality and mannerisms, so readers / viewers / tutors will get more of an insight into the way the angry man-bear acts and lives out his life. Essentially, it’s a rough sequence of him flipping his middle finger, saying “F*@K YOU” and lighting a cigarette. Hopefully it will turn out mildly successful! FINGERS CROSSED!

Good + Bad Character Concept # 03

SIMON TOFIELD

Simon Tofield is a British animator, famous for his web series:
Simon’s Cat.
Tofield had a fascination in animation since childhood – having reguarly made flipbooks again and again, trying to mimic to techniques of his favorite animated programmes.
He went on to study animation and graphic design at De Montford university – learning the ways of traditional hand drawn animation, and going into a career of animation once he graduated.
Some favorite subjects to put into movement are wildlife, the great outdoors, animals, and of course: Cats.

Tofield went on to create Simon’s Cat, not intending for it to become the mass success that it has today.
Being a traditional animator, Tofield wanted to broaden his horizons and start to use other means of creating moving images – so he invested in Adobe Flash and taught himself how to create animated features on it.
Unable to think of a subject, divine inspiration hit him when his kitten, Hugh, decided to misbehave and paw at him so he would get fed.

Thus, Simon’s Cat was created – and he was reluctant at first to put it on Youtube, but relenting and putting it up anyway was probably the best choice he had ever made!

Since creating Simon’s cat, he has gone on to create multiple episodes, books, merchandise, and a short strip that appears in The Daily Mirror.
He even now runs a small animation company, of which he is the Director: Tandem Films.
The success of Simon’s Cat is mostly down to the parallels it holds with pet cats in general – the mannerisms, behaviors, and habits of an everyday cat (something people can relate to!).

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Peek a Boo! Animation

This is my first animated short – developed from a flipbook project that we were set during one of the seminars recently!
It took a lot of work, and despite the short duration of the finished product, I’m incredibly proud of it!

• Frames: 53
• Length of Production: 6 Days (Intermittent)
• Duration: 5 Seconds (Not including blank space at the end)
• Characters: Clare and Aoi
• Editing Program: Jasc Paintshop Pro 8
• Animated Using: Windows Movie Maker

Here are both versions: Black and white and in colour.

Art Supplies!

This week, I decided to invest in some new art materials and stuff to make pretty pictures and animations with!
So, with any luck, I’ll be able to churn out some quick and half decent work over the next few weeks / months.

What I’ve found out because of this little investment venture?

1. Pound shops are a veritable GOLDMINE!
2. Comic Book shops are incredibly useful places for specialist items.
3. Goldsmith’s is expensive as Hell…
4. I have an affinity for shiny things.
5. My willpower where money is concerned, is shameful — PIGGIES!!!!