So Much to Do, So Much to See

Hello again. My, it's been a while, hasn't it? It has, because I have a whole bunch of fun stuff sitting on my computer waiting to see the light of the interweb.

First of all, there's some sketches from Exeter (among other things). As usual, clicking makes things bigger! There hasn't been as much Moleskine use recently as there has been in previous weeks, but that only bodes well for bigger and better things, which will surface in due time... There's a whole bunch of people here: TJ, Jack, Mark, Harry; Guillaume and Anne make another cameo or two.


Next in the lineup is some actual schoolwork. These drawings are for the Design for Layout unit of the Year 1 animation course. It's basically a drawing class focused on, appropriately enough, layouts. This is where AIB scores a point on MICA: animators here get a whole range of pertinent knowledge: layout, using field guides*, filling in x-sheets... But then again, MICA students gain a lot of that knowledge and then some in the other studios that we can take. So... I guess they're still even. There you go. These line drawings are meant to practise using line weight and placement to give a sense of depth and perspective. How well that is achieved, I'll let you (and the course tutors) decide.
* Hear the MICA kids say, "huh??" Don't feel bad; that's what I did.


Finally, strap yourselves in for another animation dump! We're still plugging ahead on the two films. This clip from Sol probably took the longest, as I animated two separate banners, and then added the sun logo at a later date. Layout drawing by Harry.



Risk has been kind to me, and I've been able to crank out a few scenes in relatively short time. I surprised both my director and myself when I finished the horse animation the same day it was assigned to me.

For fun's sake, I included two versions of the credits sequence that didn't make the cut. They're still in the keyframe stage, so the animation's not as smooth as the final version.

Now, moving away from the Land of Art... We visited London again this past weekend. As usual, the photos may all be seen here. I went into the City with Paul and Ben, who were going to meet a bunch of people from the ConceptArt.org Forums. Ben is a third-year, and directing his own film, Kung Fu Romance. You can find him over at bendragon.blogspot.com. I missed the bus (to Uni) to catch my bus (to London) but ended up getting on an earlier (but direct) bus to Victoria Station. I met Ben, Paul, and Naomi at the Underground station, and after being thwarted by the ticket machines four times,* finally got to the Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons. Appropriately for a College of Surgeons, the museum was full of all sorts of squishy things in jars and medical anomalies. Unfortunately, I had left my sketchbook home for efficiency's sake, and they don't allow photography. Very interesting, and worth the trip - if you're into looking at preserved chimps' heads.*
* The machines closed down when we were the second ones in the queue. Four times.
* The apostrophe lies, there was only one.

After getting left in the museum by the whole gaggle of artists, I took a stroll down Fleet Street past the Royal Courts of Justice, and met everyone up for lunch at the Shakespeare's Head Pub. A few of us took off for the British Museum, whilst everybody else just stayed and socialised. Unfortunately, the British Museum closed not long after we got there, but I can say that the Korea and Japan rooms are excellent. Small, but excellent. We walked back to Soho, where we met up again for dinner - Latin* - until it was time for me to leave. True to fashion, the Underground decided to have a problem on the Victoria line just when I got there, so after circuitously arriving at the coach station, I discovered that I was five minutes late for my 20.30 coach to Bournemouth. I had to buy a whole new ticket (£18) and wait until 22.00. Ugh. At least I got to finish Dracula while I was waiting. An excellent read, I highly recommend it. Closer to its film stereotype than Frankenstein.* So finally, arriving at Bourne Chambers at precisely 1.05, I went to bed. The end.
* La Cucaracha, not Ave Maria.
* Though even my grandmother is closer to her film stereotype than Frankenstein.

Animated Exeter

Sitting here on a Sunday afternoon munching a Cornish pasty and having some gelato stracciatella* I figured I'd write up a little post to let you all know that this past Friday, 13th Feb, I took a trip to Exeter for the Animation festival that is held there every year. It's a very small event, and there weren't any lectures that were interesting enough or at a convenient time to go to. It was nice just walking around and drawing Exeter - it's a very old town, and the architecture is molto interessante. Tudor houses from the 17th century, an ancient Roman road, and a stunning church that I unfortunately didn't get to go inside. One of the AIB films from last year won first prize - £500 - in the Best of the West competition, and I got a complementary DVD to send back to MICA. For a Friday the 13th it wasn't that bad. The screening was frought with technical issues, though. The photo album is here.
* Don't judge me, England's closer to Italy than New Jersey is... That's chocolate chip, by the way.

I don't have any art scanned/prepped for posting yet, but I will remedy that at the nearest opportunity. Hope everyone had a good Valentine's Day! I spent mine giving a Brief History of Disney Animation (provided by YouTube) lecture until 3am. Good times.

Here We Go Again

I really have to get the hang of this "regular update" thing.

We* went to London this past Saturday, photos can be seen over here on Facebook.** It was a really nice time, just walking around without any real goal. The only problem with that strategy is that more often than not you don't get past the first step. We spent pretty much the entire day simply walking who-knows-where. Actually, I do know where: Trafalgar Square, Soho/Chinatown, Picadilly Circus, and Oxford St.
* The French, the Italian, and I.
** It's a public link, so don't worry about needing any usernames, passwords, or a litre of chicken blood.

We did go to the National Gallery, however, and thank goodness for my 19th Century Art class last semester - my entire textbook was all over at least five rooms. It's always uplifting when you can go, "Oh that painting over there must be a Gainsborough, and that one is Millet. And look, there's a wall of Degas. Holy crap that's Van Gogh's Sunflowers." Good times.

I also got some calligraphy pens and a pot of gold ink. For, you know, when I write, and stuff.

At some point on the cusp of Sunday and Monday, I watched the Super Bowl with some Brits, and Bonnie.* They got really into it, and it was almost like watching it with Americans. It was worth staying up until 3:30 AM for, even though the Cardinals almost didn't not win.
* Who is, in fact, from Washington.

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In other news, I have two weeks' worth of drawings to share with the world! Aren't you lucky? We had a standard life drawing on the 20th, and a costumed life drawing the 27th. MICA needs to do more costumed life drawing. It was so much fun, and so interesting. Makes a nice break from naked people.* All of the costumed poses were 10 minutes, except for the seated on in the middle, which was 25.
* Also, clothed sessions tend to attract the kind of models who would, if not for the taffeta ruffles and feather boas, make it very difficult to concentrate.