final year animation

To finish off the year of After Effects workshops my class and I worked on a collaborative piece. We each created a ten second video where each individual person was to create an object or scene which would move from right to left across a sky setting. The background stays consistent with each individual video to give a linear and continuous feeling from one piece to the next.

With the theme being broad and open I decided to create a sky ship. I wished to replicate the style of historical maps and adventurers. This theme is increasingly popular with the Sci -Fi sub genre 'Steampunk'.

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The main charm of this style is the hand drawn aspect and etching technique. To achieve this I made hand drawn sketches of each of the individual components I wished to use in my composition to scan and create digitally. Once opened into Illustrator I convert the lines into vector based lines. These are versatile and allow me to adjust any sizing and shape without pixelation. From there I adjusted with colour as the composition would have a blank background till in post.

When making my animation I ensured that the clouds would overlap the ship so that I could give a visual representation of 3D without creating a 3D model. To create the flag I made the flag move on a 3D plane to show a sign of it flickering in the wind.

power of flight from Sophie Wales on Vimeo.

This is the full colaborative piece we created:
Group C Finale - Flight of the Valkyries from Motion-go on Vimeo.

Neon Test

Working with the idea of documenting a retro arcade I followed a tutorial to test a glowing animation style that I could implement into my work.It isn't an overly animated but gives an atmospheric feeling to it.

Flicker Light Test from Sophie Wales on Vimeo.

Variophones

There are not many examples of early visual representations of animation however I became fascinated with Russian Variophones. Evgeny Sholpo developed the variophone in 1930. His work revolved around ornamental, artificial and visually synthetic sound. The variophone utilised soundwaves which he visualised onto cardboard disks which moved to a 35mm film reel to create a looping visual film. The filmstrip is then amplified using speakers and photocell methods to create synthesied audio.

Though successful so far his variophone was destroyed during the seige of Leiningrad, the place of his work, in 1941. His work along others around this time became revolutionary for visual audio and landed Sholpo's a place as director of the new Scientific‐Research Labratory for Graphical Sound after World War two ended.

The Importance of Sketches

Our sketchbooks are personal and can often hold our subcontious inside. Doodling is a freeflowing practice that allows creativity without the need to think too seriously of what we put inside. When in lectures it can be worth jotting notes down in doodle form as the information can often feel more engrained. These were my doodles related to this lecture:

Doodling taps into an uncontious of being aware you are drawing while not having a knowledge of what or how you do it. The outcome isn't always important so you enter a dream like state some could consider to be hinterland an area lying beyond what is visible or known. 

This lecture we were introduced to Jay Paynes work and process. First an foremost an illustrator Jay wishes to be a man of many traits and stated the first thing he would do when thinking of an idea would be to look through his previous sketch books. His most recent work revolves around exploring the edges of reality and a hypnogogic state. The conscious and the subcontious visually represented.

To continue this work I wished to elaborate on the idea of Hinterland and did a sketch series based on things that we see that are not necessarily there. I initially upon hearing the world felt unsettled by the idea of a fairytale-esque setting. This drew me towards the feeling of being alone in a forest and feeling watched. The thought of birch trees and how their wood has the likeness to having eyes showed emphasise to the feeling of being watched. The feeling itself is a psychological reaction of fear that can relate to facial recognition in others or fear of danger with fight or flight.

I played around with shadows and reflections aswell as they are both things i associate with feelings of fear. Jumping at my own reflections in the dark before I turn on a light or the idea that i can always see a shadowy figure in the doorway of a coat cupboard.

As these are just drawings relating to my work i would like to expand and refine these even more in the future. perhaps into a digital illustrative piece or a short story.

Typeface Continuation

Looking at my previous work on fonts, I set out to continue some of my ideas to a higher standard. My personal goal was to complete an alphabet to a consistent standard in shape and style. I chose to do a methodical and mathematical format typeface first. Ensuring they followed rules to where they curve and where. It is important that as a set the type works well as it's required to make a type flow easily.

My next alphabet was a lot more free flowing with less restrictions. I focused on unclean lines as a stylistic choice. The use of negative space was the core concept behind this work and I would like to explore and elaborate on it more.

Typeface Exploration

 Todays task was to explore different visual cues in imagery and style to create different typefaces. The task was intentionally free-flowing to allow as much exploration as possible. The intention to this task is to consider cursive, serifs and overall layout and style not just legibility. I wanted to focus on colour, shape and negative space inspired by the reference materials we were given. The references were a variety of pre-existing type, architecture styles and imagery.

Interactive PDF files

When we are creating media we have to think about compactness and delivering method as a designer. The user experience can be a crucial part of a graphic presentation or work demonstration. Building buttons and making it interact can give the client or user a more interactive experience.