Stream of Unconsciousness

Sound Perspective Final Outcome

Eleonora — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 21:39:14 +0000

So, here’s my final outcome. Some movement’s are completely wrong, but at least i’ve managed to finish everything in time.

All the digital drawing were made using Paint Tool Sai and a Wacom Tablet. The cutouts were coloured and drawn traditionally and animated with Dragon. Everything was then edited with Final Cut Pro.

Sound Perspective Pre-Production: Character Design

Eleonora — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 21:34:32 +0000

Once I got the narrative sequence approved by my teacher, i worked on the character design. I looked around for a particular breed which would have match perfectly with my story and that happened to be the Greyhound. Yes, they’re great when it comes to run, but as soon as they reach your home’s couch, they will lie there sleeping for hours.

This was the final character design:

Sound Perspective Pre-Production: Brainstorm and Storyboard

Eleonora — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 21:25:30 +0000

For this project we had to concentrate on sounds and choose some of them from a list provided in our course’s handbook. We had to link at least three sounds with three pictures (always listed in the handbook) in a creative way. A narrative sequence wasn’t necessary, but i found it useful to link sounds and images which wouldn’t have worked all alone.

As always, i started with some brainstorms.

and then i moved on with the storyboard:

Picture This Project: Insomnia Stories

Eleonora — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 23:57:39 +0000

This was a collaborative project where we had to mix photography, animation and live action. Our group was made just by animator, although one of them shoot all the live action sequences and took the pictures we used as a background (and did the editing as well!).

The project’s aim was to create a documentary-like piece which aimed at giving informations. After many attempt to get a clear idea, we focused on the problem of insomnia, which is kind of persecuting us now.

We’ve found this website where lots of people suffering from this desease were publishing their stories. We originally selected three of them, but due to time problems, we’ve been able to produce two of them.

I did most of the hand drawn animations, but without the help of the other members of the group, i would have never finished it in time.

Here is our final outcome:

My Dog Tulip

Eleonora — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 23:04:23 +0000

My Dog Tulip is an american indipendent animated movie directed and entirely animated by Paul Fierlinger and his wife Sandra.

It is the story of a man, J. R. Ackerley, the author of the homonymous book, who’s in costant search of a friend which he cannot find among humans. By chance, he comes in posession of a german sheperd that is everything but the ideal dog everyone dreams of. Despite this, Tulip becomes Ackerley’s best friend and true lover.

This movie is really impressing considering that such a huge amount of high work quality is being made by just a couple of people. Fierlinger is an award winning animator who as worked as a free lance artist for most of his life, while his wife is a fine art painter.

When working on this film, they used to sit at their own desks in the living room and draw on the computer using a Wacom tablet. Paul would have spend even 16 hours animating, due to insomnia problems. What really made him stay awake, though, was his devotion for his work.

I’m a dog lover, and i couldn’t miss this movie! I’ve been drawing dogs since i was very little, and it has become an obsession. I reckon Fierlinger style for drawing dog in this movie does not really matches my usual tastes, but i admire the result he has achieved in portraying dogs’ behaviour. I’ve read some comments about people who didn’t like the style of the animation because they considered it too storyboards like. I totally disagree. As i am getting more into animation, i understand that an animated featured does not need to have a famous label to be considered great. I think those people do not understand it, and keep considering widely known studios like Disney and Pixar to be the only one able to produce a worth movie. Obviously, and fortunately for people who work on indipendents movies like this, that’s not true.

I must confess i found the film a bit weird at first, but then started to apreciate it. You definetely want to give it a try!

Trailer:

Evading from school projects

Eleonora — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:29:20 +0000

Yeah, sometimes i really need to work on personal art, which is another way to improve my skills.

This is not so personal, since it is an art trade with a DeviantArt user, so the dragon character, Flame, was designed by her.

This is the work in progress:

Sketch

Lineart

Flat Colours

Storyline Project Entry

Eleonora — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 23:49:22 +0000

Working in a group of four, i helped creating one of the two storyboard frames we were meant to post for a project called Storyline. We really had fun creating this situation, since it was bot odd and hilarious.

I sketched and did the lineart for the Easter bunny.

We figured the that there would be a twist near the end: the fireman who had saved the boy had turned out to be the Easter Bunny!

The dream was, in fact, real, as the bunny had turned the elves against Santa, so he could get The Key.

Click to enlarge the pictures.

Body Language Project Post-Production/Final Piece

Eleonora — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 22:43:58 +0000

I don’t have the entire film without sound anymore , so i can just show the very final one. I had huge problems with Final Cut, so i’m not completely satisfied about my final work. At least i’ve managed to finish it in time to receive a good critique from my teacher and classmates.

Body Language Project Production: Line test and cut outs

Eleonora — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 20:43:23 +0000

Here you have a line test of one of the first scenes which is about 37 frames.

These were some cut outs i’ve made for the chasing scenes. I had run out of time so one of the teachers suggested me to use stop motion instead of hand drawing the frame because it would have been quicker.

Body Language Project Pre-Production: Hare Studies and Character Design

Eleonora — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 18:01:33 +0000

As soon as i got the storyboard done, I started studying the animal. Here you have some sketches showing poses and a running cycle, which helped me a lot during the animation process! I personally sketched the cycle by watching a video on You Tube and pausing it. I think i got it quite right, but i wish i could have found something from Muybridge to help me with the “in between” frames.

Character Design