Artwork
The animation is done, i worked in aftereffects to create the animation and my plan and assets for the animation are outlined and described in my plan post and my props …
This is the workflow i had. i pre-rendered each scene to make it easier to manage as i had props and frames to work with as well as specific animations and transitions for each scene…
The process is best described in my pervious blogs.
Animation props rendered (Week 14) – LAST POST
SCENE 1
I will use these props together in aftereffects to show amber putting the book down into the briefcase and pulling away (alternate hand) like illustrated in Beas plan shown here… I will make this scene long enough to have the subtitles clearly displayed.
SCENE 2
I will show amber standing on the platform, the long train illustration will speed into frame and slow down lined up with the platform illustration, i will use lens blur to change focus from the train to amber at the end of the scene, this follows Beas plan for scene 2 shown here…
SCENE 3
Similar with the platform plan, i will animate the row of trees speeding behind the window… i will use visual effects like motion blur to smooth out the animation and will use a camera stutter to emulate the vibrations experienced in a train. Plan for scene 3 is below…
SCENE 4
I improvised scene 4 more as the plan was too complicated for the story book/slideshow animation style i was going for, so alternatively i created frames for a 3 frame looping animation showing amber getting off the train with her hair blowing in the wind… this will fade to black.
(Wednesday)
I made a plan based from my final sketches to refer to when i animate, i will use these sketches as the line-work in my animation (i will clean up the lines like i have in the previous asset creation process next week – process demonstrated in speed paint find at amber creation page) and will refer to the notes i made whilst editing in aftereffects.
Easter break – Animation research (week 9-12) – Animation props rendered (Week 14)
These are the frames provided to me for the animation ive been set to do over the easter ^^
It will be difficult to finish the assignment set to me over Easter as i am spending half of it away vising my mum for her birthday and my sister for hers, so during the initial bit where i am busy i will focus on visual styles and animations that are aesthetic and realistic for me to do with limited animation experience. I wont date this blog as i will add to it when i am able to and it will seem too convoluted.
I would like to do frame based hand drawn animation but i know that would take me too long so instead i will need to do a motion picture/slideshow type style of animation, this is used in games like the witcher.
The animation is predominately still image with parallax animation and post rendering effects, i have enough knowledge of aftereffects to be able to do a simple version of this… I also think it would work best on a mobile interface as something heavily animated may look busy and be distracting as the animation will be narrated through subtitles. Aswell as this the ‘hand drawn’ style of illustration im using will look its best this way due to the lack of time. If i was working with someone as to lessen the work load on a frame by frame animation style it would also work however.
The Witcher 2 animation cut scenes have a more illustrative stylized look which demonstrates the versatility of the ‘slideshow’ style animation im thinking of using…
this is just an idea… i will look specifically at mobile game animations/cutscenes to expand on my idea.
Angry birds also uses a slideshow style animation sequence, tho a lot more bare-bones than the witcher’s style which emphasizes imersiveness with the post rendering effects and parallax.
(Monday – friday)
Fully rendered the solider assets over the week
Soldier 1 hurt
Soldier 1 shoot
Soldier 2 hurt
Soldier 2 shoot
Soldier 3 hurt
Soldier 3 shoot
I lost the footage while recording this but to make these illustrations i merged the head with the body in SAI and re-saved each soldier and coloured them with the same method used in the other assets.
Soldier assets (week 7) – Easter break – Animation research (week 9-12)
(Tuesday)
Bea provided me with this guideline to follow for the soldiers style/art direction
I searched on google aswell but it came up with much of the same 
These make good facial references aswell as hair/facial hair styles so i will refer to this for the character sketches..
(Wednesday)
I sketched up the characters, instead of redrawing the body multiple times i decided to try a new method where i draw two templates for the bodies, (attack and hurt) and then draw interchangeable heads which i can edit onto the bodies digitally. this saves time and keeps the assets consistent… I will render these characters next week after the linework is cleaned up on photoshop.
(Friday)
CLEANED UP LINES
Rosalind readjustments (week 6) – Soldier assets final (week 8)
Rosalind needed revisions as she looked too ‘babylike’ – Aswell as this one of the assets needed to be replaced with an ‘Angry’ emote instead of sad.
The features suggested i worked on/added were…
Rosalind Happy
Rosalind Neutral
Rosalind Surprised
Rosalind Angry (NEW)
very rough sketch, will fix anatomy in photoshop and will render same as other assets
(WEEKEND)
Last minute i decided to include a side by side comparison of the rosalind assets to compare the changes i made for game reference but also self refernce so i can improve elderly characters in the future…
Old asset was Rosalind sad emoting, after a team meeting i was told that anger would suit Rosalind characters more so i created a new asset.
(i lost the original surpise asset and process video as i saved over it so couldnt make a comparison)
WEDNESDAY – Rosalind sketches
THURSDAY – Rendered assets process + done
ROSALIND NEUTRAL
ROSALIND SAD
ROSALIND SURPRISED
ROSALIND HAPPY
EDIT
Speedart here
WEEK 4
(Monday)
Jasper sketches following the same pattern of previous assets, this time i tried to make the pencil work cleaner so there would be less to render when in SAI which would save time and allow for cleaner finished work.
anatomy issues with all will need fixing anyway but especially the sad expression, face/jaw too far forward mouth too low and angled, eyes too far back.
(Wednesday)
Happy
Neutral
Sad
Surprised
EDITWEEK 3
(Tuesday)
After the meeting there were a few changes that were needed to be made. These changes are noted in my sketchbook but the main points being to keep the proportions more realistic than stylised which is what i was doing to keep with the anime style. I will shrink the eyes and the head to keep the style more realistic and also the cameo as it was too large when compared to the original design.
I will use the 8 heads technique to properly proportion the character, this diagram illustrates how it works. The assets needed are Amber in 3 emotional states…
Progress
(Wednesday)
line up the sketches into photoshop to prepare for rendering
VIDS COMING….
(Thursday)
NEUTRAL AMBER ASSET
SAD AMBER ASSET
SURPRISED AMBER ASSET
HAPPY AMBER ASSET
slight changes can be made if needed
EDIT
Speedart here
Witches Craft 