Creature designing

I just bout this book off ebay. And I cant wait for it to come.
One thing Id absolutely love to be is a character/creature concept artist. Though at the moment I have a LOT to learn and a LOT to improve on.
But theres nothing wrong with having a dream :)

I loved the world and creature designs in Avatar. That would have been so much fun doing them!And I love the beautiful storybook looking worlds in Legends of the Guardians.
One thing I really like is anatomically correct animals but they have humanistic expressions. Just like the owls in Legends of the Guardians... ahh they were beautiful! So real yet they had such human qualities in them.. I love the armor and weapons designed for them too.. I would have loved to have worked on that film.. *dreams*

I have one fairly developed creature design that I call a 'runedog'.
Here is a character sheet I made for them - (click to see it bigger)

He is being massively redesigned at the moment to be more 'realistic'. I originally wanted this character to be tall and slim, he somehow turned into this cute chubby thing.
Here's a sketch of what I have of his new look so far -

Im much rather liking this new design.
One thing I know I have to improve on is anatomy and more dynamic poses. I want my character to have a little life of the screen, and bland standing poses dont help with that...
Im hoping I might get some ideas and be inspired by Terryls book. I already love her work.. itll be great to have this book to always look upon.

Design project chosen

Finally!

Ive been tossing up between a few ideas the past week now... or really the past month since Ive known about the projects...

Im going to be do an African Wild Dog Conservation group. Ive chosen to revamp this - http://www.painteddog.org/ a great little site, but I think I can improve on a few things.

I love AWDs almost as much at red pandas at the moment. So its all good.

Im hoping Ill be able to take some decent photos of the AWDs at the zoo, otherwise Ill have to draw everything, which takes considerably much more time...

Anyway, decision made. Hard parts done. Now I can finally start working on my ideas for it.

I wish these guys were more known. I get a lil' peeved when I go to the zoo and people are pointing at them calling them hyenas...

Long day

Long day at uni today. Was cold and raining too. But I suppose thats what I get for living in Melbourne.

Heres a very intriguing and creepy animation by Rodrigo Blaas. It have very nice animation and character designs. The storys very nice and very creepy.




Heres another short animation that I love! I watched this one ages ago, even before I was interested in studying animation, and I really love the simple story to it. Its a student animation, so its not perfects. But everythings so simple and beautiful. You dont understand what the Kiwi is doing until the end, and its all very sweet and has a nice 'meaning'.



I think now I might go be boring and normal. I have a day off tomorrow, so Ill attempt to get some things done. I really should take some photos for an after effects project were doing in Imaging.. and I really should pick a design topic already. Im quite fond of doing a red panda conservation identity... but I dunno... I have until wednesday to decide at least.

<3

Obsessed

Couldnt help myself. I drew another red panda. Im thinking maybe I should do my design project on them. Then maybe Ill get them out of my system and move onto other interests.

But damn theyre too cute! Look at this video on youtube. I literally lol'd a few times.



I really should have a go animating one of them. I tend to save videos like that to my favourites as they are great for seeing their movement... whenever I go to the zoo I never see the red pandas out and about. Theyre always hiding way up in a tree...

I wish I could have a simpler style. Something more 'animateable'. I always tend to overdo things. Im jealous of artists who can stylise animals in a gorgeous unique way.

I have to experiment more and try to care less about correct anatomy...

Deer, oh deer

Im feeling remarkably less motivated today than I was yesterday.

Im reading a book by one of my favourite authors, Anne Rice, and every now and then she describes a scene, it might be some major or minor scene, but something about it makes me want to illustrate it. Like a book cover-type-thing I suppose. While I was reading another of her books I also kept thinking about how this scene might be played out in a movie or a comic book.

Considering Im doing an animation course, I think I should start thinking more like an animator rather than an illustrator...

I also watched Bambi today, to try and get motivated. I watched it twice actually. Once normally, the second time with a sort of commentary taken from the meetings with Walt Disney while they were planning the movie.

All it really made me want to do is draw a deer.

So I did. Or I just sketched one... I might finish it. The photos were taken from wikimedia commons.

Ideas and inspirations

Im only in my first year of Uni and yet Im already thinking about what I might do as my 3rd year animation. I still dont know which Ill choose to do, 2D or 3D animation.. or even both..
I have classes this semester that will teach me basics of 2D animation in Flash and 3D animation. Maybe Ill have a better idea then.
Id love to do something like theyve done in the Fantasia movies. Where they have a classical song and animate a story for it. Ever since I was a child Ive loved Fantasia, I watched it so often I destroyed the video I had. I especially love the animation to Beethovens "The Pastoral Symphony". Those pegasus characters are so beautiful and the little black pegasus is adorable when he's so proud he can fly :)



Another early inspiration of mine are the Krtek cartoons. My grandparents were born in the Czech rep. so I grew up with a few Czech traditions. Whenever I visited I used to watch the Krtek video they had. I loved it imensly. Krtek is such a gorgeous character and though he rarely actually speaks, I love the way he comunicates and all the little adorable sounds he makes.



I really dont know what Id want to do for my final. Suppose its a good think I have 1.5 years to think on it.

A more current desicion I have to make would be what company I have to choose to do my design project on. I have to design an identity in my design class this semester. Im thinking maybe a red panda conservation group. Im a little obsessed with red pandas at the moment, and I do like designing the more corporate/businessy websites and such than the 'artsy-fartsy' ones. Or really Im just better at it...

Ahhh well. We'll see.

Inspiring animation

I just found this animation while browsing youtube. I absolutely adore the animation. Im usually not a fan of 3D being used this way, but I love it here.




I love the 2D look everything has here and the soft muted colours they used. The movement of the deer is beautiful too, especially when he wakes up to the ash falling down and the obviously careful way he carries the leaf to the water. N damn it looks amazing when the leaves/vines spring up and you get the brighter colours... *dies*
The idea of a deer being used as a symbol of rebirth isnt so unique.. but oh so beautiful dont you think?

I especially love the animation in Fantasia 2000 "Igor Stravinsky's Firebird Suite". I just watched it then and it still sends chills down my spine. I absolutely love semi-realistic animals in animations. Probably why I love Legend of the Guardians so much, even though I admit their lacking a lil in story...

Anyway, heres "Igor Stravinsky's Firebird Suite" from Fantasia 2000. Definitely worth watching!

First post... yay

Hiya

Figured I should start a blog of some description. Ive done this before, a few times actually.. I usually get sick of it in a few weeks. But Ill try and keep focused this time.

I wanted to make this to sort of record my progress in my course. Im studying Animation and Interactive Media in Melbourne, Australia. Im thinking I want to post here whatever I want in reguards to my course. Inspirations, ideas, progress etc.

Lets see how this goes :)

<3
Elle