Once again, I got into contact with Dave at Wrongkey Designs (http://www.wrongkeydesign.co.uk/) and he designed me some rather fantastic little business cards. I asked for several designs so that I could pick and choose from them, and show a sense of development and decision making during the design process. Plus, for the purposes of presentation, having them on a display sheet for the End of Year Degree Show will certainly look quite professional, I think! I also think that the more plain designs will appeal to those of a more professional industry standing, as opposed to the more ‘busier’ designs. The latter will no doubt appeal much more to clients and collaborators. There will no doubt be more designs along these lines in the future – possibly cards themed around certain holidays and events, etc.
These will be used at any future art-themed functions or general social gatherings, at which I may be able to drum up potential interest in my designs. It was strongly encouraged to us in the portfolio aspect of our Professional Practice seminars to get a set of business cards designed, as it shows professionalism and willingness to network with other commissioners and creatives. I will also be having these cards on hand at any possible convention scenarios that I attend / take part in during the months and years to come. I will be getting htem printed out i the next week so that I have some on hand during the End of Year Degree Show on the 6th / 7th and so on.
It has now all come down to this point – this final compilation before the hand in date for the Final Major Project (F.M.P.). I put together each animated sequence into one full compilation, to see how they would all run together as one singular animation. The good thing about the format that I have gone for with these alphabet animations, is that they can either be viewed individually by letter, or watched as one complete sequence. Having at least 45 seconds of animation altogether is such a relief – I did not honestly believe that I would get as much as this completed by this point.
Now, as for future developments on this project after the deadline has been reached: I am allowed to carry on with this project in the regards of gaining marks by presenting it for the Professional Practice hand-in. This gives me an extra week in which I can colour the frames I already have, and even possibly generate another sequence, this time for the letter ‘F’. As soon as that second deadline is reached, I will then go on to complete the full alphabet in my own time, out of the realms of Higher Education. It will be published online, and hopefully viewed by a good number of young children and their families – I already have one or two willing parents with young children, who are friends of mine.
The sequence for ‘A is for APPLE’ I feel could’ve been better laid out where positioning is concerned. The figures of the sequence seem to veer off towards the top of the screen as it goes on. Were I given the chance to do this sequence over, I would definitely use better judgement of placing. The apple itself is my favourite aspect of the scene, as it maintains a consistent shape. The Kittypillar, however, I feel could’ve been ‘doing’ more. Peeking out from behind the apple and having a few nibbles seemed a bit short-lived. Maybe if I were to have added a licking of the lips or a few more flicks of the tail, it would’ve given it that little more character that would’ve suited it.
The only observations that I can make on the sequence for ‘B is for BALLOON’, is that I could’ve added some more frames in between each ready existing frame (this would’ve slowed the animation down a bit, giving me more chance to add some characterizations in), and I would’ve also added a bit more personality to the Kittypillar featured in the sequence. Having it just smiling as it lifts up into the air, holding onto the balloon string, seems a bit too simple in hindsight. It works though, despite this seemingly over-simple format.
‘C is for CUDDLE’ was done using a standard, simplistic process of repeating frames in a loop to give the effect of repeated action. Whilst one Kittypillars head movement seems a lot more frantic than the others, I feel it gives each of the two characters on-screen a sense of individual personality. Somewhat of a happy accident, in retrospect, I originally intended them to display a simultaneous, slow motion of head movement. Differing the speeds between the two certainly gives it a quaint sense of endearment.
I chose to go for a more abstract sequence with ‘D is for DAISY’, as having a Kittypillar crawl up the side of a daisy would prove to be too ‘fiddly’ and time consuming, given the restricted amount of time I had to create this rebooted concept. I thought that I may as well utilize what was already there with the daisy itself, and make use of what I could, fashioning a Kittypillar into the sequence as best I could. I decided upon having the face pop out of the centre of the flower, with each other facial feature popping out separately – in order to add some more visual interest to the piece. Having everything pop out at once would’ve made the sequence over far too quick, with very little visual interest. This is the only abstract piece in the animation as a whole.
‘E for EGG’ was the final sequence that I managed to complete within the allocated time before hand-ins. I did one or two other variations of this sequence, one of the originals being themed more around the concept of ‘Easter’ – with the Kittypillar decorating the egg by painting it with it’s tail. In the general made-up genealogy of Kittypillars, they come from more spherical eggs, but I felt that having one pop out of a standard egg would be something that a lot more children would recognize.
One thing that I definitely would re-do about this sequence, first and foremost, is have much more varied speeds on each bit of the cracking effect on the egg. If there were ore sudden cracks added in, coupled together with slower ones at a steadier pace, I reckon that it would have looked quite good. I would also factor in a few more subtle mannerisms by the Kittypillar, for example, a few more blinks and little twitches of the antennae here and there, It also could have done with having the Kittypilar either tip off the top half of the egg completely, or sink back down into the shell. Either would have added just that little bit more to the segment, I feel.
For whatever reason, subconscious or otherwise, I really like this little Kittypillar character in particular. Something about the way that I have animated him (deciding now on the off that it is a boy) makes him quite cheeky. As far as colouring those I may make this Kittypillar one of the more fantastical ones. Giving him the standard colours and patterning of a regular house cat doesn’t really seem to do the jutic for this little character in particular that I think it could. Bright colours and perhaps some form of ‘tabby’ pattern definitely seems the way forward from now.
The concept behind this one is a little bit more abstract than the other little sequences within the animation. Whereas the others show the Kittypillar interacting with each designated object or action, this one presents Kittypillar in a much more bizarre and whimsical light. In this sequence, we see the daisy in the centre of the screen sprout the face of a Kittypillar which twitches and wriggles as it appears. I thought that this would be quite a cute little variation on the ‘standard’ interpretations of each title. I am still particularly pleased with the boiling effects that I am using in each of the sequences, it gives the animation as a whole (when all watched together in full sequence) a very light-hearted and whimsical manner – a much more home-made appeal.
I will have the other minor colours in the Kittypillars face appear as and when each facial feature does. The Kittypillar will obviously be starting out yellow / orange, like the standard centre of many flowers that you would typically find in any garden. As for the daisy itself I think that I will be leaving the petals mostly white with a hint of colour at the tips, just to make it look a bit more visually appealing. If it still looks a bit out of place with a white background as well, there will be green or blue added to give the impression of grass or sky.
I may add additional sound effects to each appearance of each body part in another small test, but if it seems a bit too much in comparison to the other sequences then I will just leave things as they are – with a simple meow and a few purring effects here and there. Traditional ‘pop’ sound effects may seem suitable in this part of the animation but as previously stated, they may seem like a possible step too far and take away from the sequence as a completed piece. Without any sounds as this video presently is, I think it just seems to be missing something as a whole. This will be rectified shortly with further experimentation with editing.
Well, with the idea for the ‘Tombola’ falling through due to some mild legal constraints (evidently, it falls under ‘gambling’ and we would need permissions from the Dean of the University and the local council to actually do it), each of us had to come up with an alternate idea in a much shorter given time span. I have decided upon utilizing the building up of my portfolio, with some old-fashioned stall activity, and decided upon doing a portrait stall. I’ll be selling ‘Itty Bitty’ portraits of passing people for £2 each. I was originally going to do them for £3 each but I feel that £2 would drum up a bit more interest.
The other guys on the Animation course, as well as myself, will be joining in on the Games Design courses fundraising day, and they will be doing a Nintendoland stall – on which players have to try and beat them at a game of Nintendoland so that they can pick from any one of the wrapped mystery prizes (which are the prizes originally bought for the ‘Tombola’ – waste not want not, after all!). It will be £1 a go for their stall, which is pretty fair! Alex (http://mrteaandcreamcrumpets.wordpress.com/) will be supplying his own Nintendo Wii U for the event, which is fantastic. Alongside him, there will also be Callum (http://lastshadow21.wordpress.com/) and our other course mate Maddy (http://maddyanne.wordpress.com/) who will be helping to manage the stall respectively.
I asked Dave @ WrongKey Designs (http://www.wrongkeydesign.co.uk/) once again, to put together a poster for our two stalls for the event. We just required standard posters with the activity and the price on, clear for patrons to see. He delivered the end product very quickly, which had each of us thoroughly impressed. My poster is more of a leaflet design, printed out on A4, which I intend to be giving out to anyone who wants them throughout the day itself. The poster for the rest of the courses activity is a poster that they will be putting up around the building to gain interest. Both of the posters look absolutely fantastic!
POSTER DESIGN BY DAVE @ WRONGKEY DESIGN
POSTER DESIGN BY DAVE @ WRONGKEY DESIGN
Both of our stalls will be set un in the H.E. Centre of Hull College on Wednesday the 14th of May. There will be an all manner of other activities going on, including other gaming stalls, competitions, bake-sales, and more! A large percentage of the year group will be getting involved in this fundraising all-dayer (9:00 am til 17:00pm) so if you are in the Hull area or a student of Hull College, then please come along and help us all raise money for our End of Year Degree Show!
AbbieSTABBY 