It's been a while

This blog has been quiet for a long time. There are so many things in the works at the moment, from directing a final year film to dissertations and getting things ready for my portfolio.

I will soon be moving my work to a professional blog soon but for now here are some bits and bobs from the film. Production should be on its way before Christmas.

I can't wait to start to see the film come together.

Cheeky mid-pitch doodle

Pitching petrified

We just had our big rehearsal pitches today and although I felt exactly the way the title of this post suggests.

However, luckily it didn't go as badly as I feared it would go. I just kept reminding myself to breathe, think and then speak. There are still loads of room for improvement and the ending of my idea still needs to be rehashed, but I think the rest of it came through okay.

Now I need to just go back to the drawing board and try and build my story from the beginning again to see what I am missing.

Here are some of the final concept art I used in the pitch:

I really think I'm going to use the summer to pitch my story to different people to see how they react to the story and get different opinions on it.

What dreams may become (1998) - Vincent Ward

I recently came across an old film that I had once watched when I was around 8 or 9.

I didn't remember much about the plot but even though I hadn't seen it in about 13 years I could still remember specific scenes from the film.

Not only was the story itself beautiful but each scene was composed wonderfully.

I loved how each scene and the environments in the afterlife was presented like a painting.

From romantic landscape paintings to scenes that seemed to echo old renaissance paintings.

(Still from the film)

(The Garden of Earthly Delights)

The visuals of the film really serve the hard topic of the film really well. The surreal world the protagonist experiences are not easy things to depict, yet we find our self completely submerged in it. 

I also love the way the same shade of blue and red and tones of yellow keep reappearing through the film. It acts as a perfect guide in order for to help us pick up on the certain visual cues and how the real world is echoed in the afterlife.

Watching it really makes me itch to paint again.

Winter in Easter

Tasters for Towels

We've been working on our third year pitch ideas and putting together lot of different character and story designs.

My idea is slowly taking shape and I'm really excited to see where it goes. 

Not going to say to much about the plot just yet but lets just say its a wild and territorial day at the beach for two people and all they have is their towels and hot tempers.

So far the character design and story is coming together but there is still a lot of things that need to be worked out. I was surprised how much fun it was doing quick elevator pitches to other course mates. The feedback really helps me see things from a fresh perspective and its feels really good to bounce ideas off each other, especially with all our different influences and styles.

I really want the animation to be visually satisfying and fun to watch. 

Something that will wake you up, make you laugh but also experience the textures and charms found in traditional experimental films. 

Tonal study and the last life drawing of the semester

A first observational study and looking more closely at the different tones present.

We then did a tonal study using black and white acrylics which was challenging but really refreshing to do. It really made me consider how subtle tonal differences can suggest so much. Also made me think more about why lighter tones and darker tones stand out more and the tone that surround them. 

It was a shame this was our last session as I really enjoyed painting again and wish we had a lot more sessions like this.

Also learnt that you can leave some edges undefined and use just lighting to suggest the edges.

Now this one was just pure fun.

With only 4 mins left and a tiny blob of paint left we decided to speed paint with our left hands.