Final Animation | Reflection

Reflection:

Having the freedom to choose the final project we like to produce can be the best thing that happens to a student or their worst nightmare! Since we had limitation throughout the semester, we still expect it by the end. However, having the door wide open just tests the students of what they learned and how are they going to use it for their own benefit.

Therefore, i have always wanted to expand my knowledge in creating cartoon character’s. I have never thought in a million years that creating characters and animating them are one of my strong suite. Hence i would like to take this opportunity to do so. I had this big idea of what i would like to do and have already set some restrictions and limitations for my self. Unfortunately, i have had a slow starting point as i have no idea of how i am able to start! Butt once I did, i got really excited and worked on it everyday for a couple of hours, since i was already behind! During my design process, i have found my signature, my style, my voice in my characters, and i was more than happy to hear on of my classmates comment ‘Hessa, mashalah, i instantly knew that this was your work‘ which made me happy over the moon! I feel like i managed to accomplish what i wanted to find, which was finding my voice through my work!

I don’t think I have faced any major struggles, expect TIME! Final’s week was hectic and super stressful, which i didn’t know what to focus on every day. I managed to sightly fix the problem by committing on working on it everyday for a couple of hours. However, I learned how to create my own limitations and expectations. I feel like every designer need’s to learn this component in their future career, because no one will make the decision’s expect yourself.

Overall, i was overwhelmed during the mini exhibition we had during the last class. I was happy and proud of myself, and was pleased to see the my classmates truly enjoyed my animation and have applauded for it. I can honestly say with pride that it is by far my favorite project.

Animation | Sound

Since i have experienced earlier this semester from gathering sound effect and remembering how exhausting it was because i had over 10 small sound effects. What i have decided to do different is insert one background music and small sound effects. As i started searching i have fell into the perfect soundtrack by Disney, that is 14 minute long from YouTube. All i need now is one soundtrack of a splash, which i have already from my last animation and another specific sound effect that i have to record and manipulate with the high pitch.

Recorded my voice via Garage band

One challenge that i have faced is that i had to extract different parts of the soundtrack, which actually eased the process of gathering, but the cuts and hooks should blend together and becomes smooth. Other than that, from the help of Adobe Premiere, i have imported the animation video into it, to have the chance to play with different tones and pitches.

I am finally satisfied with my final animation and ready to export it and display it to the class. 😀

Animation | Title

I was thinking deep and hard to come up with a unique catchy title for my animation. But then i figured out that my animation doesn’t have a story line nor is very complicated to have a unique title. Therefore i have been jotting down words just explaining the animation:

• journey
• sky
• sea
• trip
• ride
• pedal

1. Pedal Through the Sky to Sea Journey
2. Sky to Sea Journey
3. Sky to Sea (suggested by Micheal)

The simple the better. Therefore i have interpreted the title at the end of the animation as if the shark is pulling it. The typeface is Fedra Sans, since it doesn’t have serifs which relates to the kid-friendly vibe. Inserted the Wiggle-Position effect on the title to show that it is flowing in the sea, instead of it standing still.

Animation | Scene 3

The final scene, where it all sets in the sea. First and foremost is when added the imported file of the third background i have inserted the Wave Wrap Effect but made sure to lower the amount of waves to show the deepness of the sea. Afterwards, fish after the another is imported and animated by moving their fins and sometimes their tail using the puppet tool. I made sure to add my famous bloated fish with it’s bubbles, as i have repeated the same process from the previous animation.

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As for the shark, the sudden ending, i have included multiple movements. Other than moving it’s fins and tails with the puppet tool, i have enabled the eyes to blink with the scale tool. Also, show a smirk with popped sharp teeth at the end as he swims across. To do so, i had a skip a couple of seconds, then use the puppet tool to transition from a straight feature mouth to a smirk, then pop the teeth with the scale tool. When added to the ‘all’ composition i had to make sure to play with the rotation and position tool as it swims down and across.

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Animation | Scene 2

The second scene portrays the meet between sky and sea, where the pelican dives into the sea. From previous knowledge i have added the Wave Wrap effect on the waves to have a subtle effect of waves. I have an idea of allowing the pelican to catch fish, now that’s another challenge! First i repeated the fish ritual, import, layered, movement, and inserted in the ‘all’ composition. I had an idea of allowing the fish to jump at first but it didn’t make much sense so it was just swimming across until the pelican catches it. To show proper layering of the beak and the fish, i had to add new separate beaks and layer it and positioned it correctly. It took a while but it worked!

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Even though i have restricted myself to not get into small detail’s but i feel some really make a difference. I decided to add a couple of splashes, very small and basic. Having previous drops from my previous animation, i have imported them and have allowed them to splash in different timings and scale.

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Animation | Scene 1

Finally the time has reached when i start animating, what i first opened AfterEffects I have forgotten what do i have to do next. It took me a second to figure everything out and get to love this program again. I started by importing the first scene background and slightly have stretched it to have a longer art broad. The beauty of the gradient tool is that when it stretched it will automatically fix the problem. I have used the position tool to scroll the background upwards till it reaches 17 seconds.

Importing the bird character’s one by one from the illustrator file as they are separated in  different layers. Each bird has a movement by moving their wings and tails with position tool and sometime blink their eyes with scale tool. After animating them separately i would move them to the ‘ALL‘ composition where i would add their last movement of moving it across the page.

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As for the pelican, it has a similar process but a bit different. Like always it has been imported from an illustrator file where the layers are all separated. Included simple movements at the beginning, like the moving the wings by the position tool and allowing the eye to blink with the scale tool. After a couple of seconds i have allowed the pelican to bend his head as he is looking downwards by using the puppet tool. When i have added this composition to the ‘all’ composition i added the Wiggle-Position effect so it won’t look it was still since the movement is slower than the other birds. To enable transition of the pelican to the diving pelican i have decided to allow the pelican to fly out of the page and then the diving pelican will appear. As i have allowed the viewer to imagine that the pelican have transitioned out of screen and came back. I have made the diving pelican to dive for 4 seconds as the background scroll have increased even more to show speed.

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Coloring Character’s

When I opened my illustrator file, i had a thought of coloring my character’s in gradient mesh because i have experimented briefly in Imagining I class and would like to interpret it in my character’s. What I didn’t know was that it’s time consuming!! I have spent almost half a day coloring only one pelican, and i couldn’t see myself to stop! Once you start, you have to finish it perfectly or there is no point!

It show’s that a great amount of time has been spent!

When both professor saw the pelican, they were amazed and knew instantly knew that it took a VERY long time to produce it. But even though, they have suggested to just stick to normal gradient tool because  the gradient mesh tool is time consuming and i don’t have much time!

There’s is an obvious difference, and the gradient mesh looks more realistic and professionally done! But the normal gradient has ‘Hessa’ written all over it, it just fits my style.

As for the other character’s i didn’t even try to test them with the gradient mesh because there’s not much time left! I have to keep moving and not waste any time. But i tried experimenting with a different style:

So what i tried to do as shown above for both the fish and bird category is to make it all one color gradient, including the features because their in the background and won’t show as much. But then i thought it’s a different style and i always like to personify my character’s give them a personalities hence the lashes and small hair bangs. Therefore, i have colored their eyes as i would usually, and add color in their beaks. Simple as that, they look so different!

When i started to color the shark, i began manipulating the body the features because even though I’m sticking to the kid-friendly theme, the shark still has to look scary! By simply stretching the body, pointing the nose and changing the eyes and it’s a new shark! I have also been experimenting with the color i should use, i have to be careful about the shade of blue and make sure it doesn’t blend with the sea!

Critique

I was so relieved to know that we have a critique, because i feel like i need some feedback. Are they good? do they look plagiarized? Am I behind schedule? I just need to be reassured. When i met with both of my professors and showed them my work and explained my whole process, i think they were amazed of how deeply i thought about it. They appreciated the fact that i have referenced images and wasn’t disappointment. They were just concerned about my time management and if i am able to finish it on time! I panicked a little, but i feel like if i have committed to it and spent a couple of hours each day i will able to finish it. Inshallah I’m on the right path, i just have to keep moving and that’s exactly what I’m planning to do!

Background Design

The background is where the method of rolling, transition, scrolling, whatever you want to name it falls in. It has to be a long background that transition into three scenes, sky, sky and sea and sea. Illustrating it wasn’t that hard, as i have used some of my old environment backgrounds from previous projects.

Taking what i need and started illustrating my background. One of my professor’s have suggested to divide the background intro three different art boards as it will be easier when animating.

The gradient tool have saved my life right now for the first scene, I’m able to transition from the sky in its highest point to bottom where it meets the sea. Adding a couple of clouds here and three and playing with the opacity level, to show depth. As for the second scene, i have used the previous environment but stretched it from the sky and sea. Added more strokes of the waves but made sure to decrease the amount as it goes deep down. The third scene was only adding three strokes of waves with the gradient tool to darken the end of the sea, and VOILA.

Character design

Since I’m creating different kinds of birds, fish and one pelican there is a very thin line between plagiarism of making it your own. This was my number one concern, how am i able to design birds and fish that don’t exist?! It’s such a crucial part during the design process, therefore i started collecting images online of my favorite character designs as a reference. This way, I am able to observe the body figures and different feature’s that i can get inspired by and design my own. Here goes nothing:

The body figure of the bird’s is the main differentiation between all. Hence, what i managed to do is start my illustrating the body with it’s features, and start manipulating it slightly by stretching or flattening. Even though, there are small differences they seem to be from a another bird family

As for the pelican, the main character, it was a challenge to design a unique one. It seems that it’s not the different, but from my reference images i have studied the body shape and the placement of the wings. The rest was from my imagination. Since I’m planning to let the pelican dive i have to illustrate it diving, which was easy since i already illustrated it in the right position.

My work area where i have my referenced images. I have also added a couple more birds, and a grouped bird in a small scale.

I feel like i have went overboard of creating birds, that’s because I’m still not sure the amount that i need! The more the merrier as they say. However i feel like i should limit my character design in the fish category because the first week is about to end and I still have coloring!!! This is stressful. Since i already have my famous bloated fish that i love so much, i would like to include it but add a couple more. Another decision that was made up was adding a shark to end my animation.. just a thought. Here is what i did:

Having my referenced images, i have only added three different fish, a shark and a grouped one with my existing fish. I have followed the same strategy when illustrating the birds. I can always add more if i feel like it. I have mastered the idea and now I’m able to produce one in a couple of minutes!! Exciting!