James Annandale MSc Animation

 This semester has been SO good, I'm actually gutted it's nearly finished! I've learned so much and ever since changing my main project I'm now a LOT happier with the direction I'm heading in and gaining more confidence with each new piece of art I complete. Using Procreate in tow with One Drive and Photoshop has helped me develop a workflow I'm growing very comfortable with and transferring files between devices is now a lot more streamlined. Also, the addition of this blog which I've used just like a journal, has been essential to my development as well as keeping track of my progress and my work organised and up to date.  I now know that Concept Art and Character Design is what I want to do, so I've joined the following FB groups to start sharing my work and gain feedback (I also intend to start using Artstation for the same purpose)...  I've bought the following online Character Design courses to help with my development next semester... I've

  When collating my work for the end of semester assessment video I realised I'd forgotten to post the finished animation of the Keith Haring mural, so here it is...

  Last week I set myself the challenge of finishing the design of the Robo Samurai three-quarter view, creating a value study, experimenting briefly with different colours and making a final coloured image which I'm delighted to say, has all been successfully completed. The finished piece is shown above. The very last thing I was really eager to try and achieve before having to stop in order to try and finish my end of semester video to submit, was a glow test in After Effects. As mentioned in the last post, I'd loved the idea of making the the energy source and eye of the Robo Samurai glow and pulsate using the the same techniques I'd used to animate a glow on my sword design in After Effects, mid-way through the semester. To do this I had to save a PNG of the Robo Samurai minus the parts I wanted to animate, this is shown below.. I also saved PNG's of the eye and the energy source, there's no point in posting these as they wont show up very well.  I took each of t

Now that I had finished both the final design and a value study of the Robo Samurai, I was about to start work on colouring the design. I opened a new file in Procreate and added a saved version of the black and white design, then duplicated the layer twice and arranged each layer as shown above.  I wanted to play around with the colour balance of each layer as this is a really quick method to do, you can change the overall colour by doing this and get a sense of how it might look if this particular colour was used. So, starting with the top left I used the lasso tool to draw around all of the body except the wheel and the swords. This area was then selected, I then went to the Colour Balance option (below Hue, Saturation & Brightness) and chose the layer option and adjusted the colours till I'd achieved the green you see in the image above. Now, this should have been a simple case of rinse and repeat, however when I then tried to use the same process to change the colour of th

After finishing the Robo Samurai design I was very eager to start experimenting with colour, but first I thought it would be cool to create a value study and it would also be useful for when the time came to paint this character so that I already had an understanding of the lighting and shape and form. I decided to have the main light source coming from the top left hand corner. I also wanted to test out using a combination of different brushes to create the varying surfaces on the Samurai's body, shiny steel blades on the armour, helmet and swords. Rugged body parts, smooth sports bike inspired lower half of the body and heavy duty, off-road bike tyre. Brushes used were the Script, Willow Charcoal, Spraypaint and the Airbrush. I'm finding the more I create, the more ideas I have and the more I want to push myself. I'm very pleased with the above study and how it helped me prepare for using colour. One other brilliant thing I remembered when completing this is Procreate rec

 Having worked with Eve to complete the transition from her dance scene into the moon and the spoon scene now being animated by Yutong, I took on one last job so that I could continue to contribute to the project before I step back in preparation for the birth of my son. Seeing as I had already drawn up key points of the sequence above for the original animatic, I thought it would be of help to Yutong if I used these as well as Emma's colour study (shown above) to create finished and coloured key frames for Yutong to use when animating. So I opened up the original Procreate file and saved copies of each frame, then in a new (1920 x 1080px) file I imported both the old black and white artwork along with the colour study which had already been split on to two layers for the transition from Eve's scene.  I then placed both coloured layers in position before turning off the coloured backdrop. Then starting with the first black and white frame I lined up the coloured moon above the

  After quite a few weeks of design, iteration and development I'm absolutely delighted to share the final full body design of the Robo Samurai. To get to this stage is so exciting especially after working my way through each area of the body separately and then see it all come together after a slight wobble in the middle.  There are certainly areas that could have benefited from more development and understanding such as the connection point between the two halves of the body and also the spine but I'm more than happy with the above and am really looking forward to adding colour.

  Now I had completed the design for the arms and hands of the Robo Samurai, I wanted to wrap up the upper half and design the sword. I searched Google images and Pinterest for references of classic Samurai swords. Here is some of what I found... I used the photos above to draw the following designs... Above, I started with the lightly drawn sword furthest to the left. Then looking at my mood board I realised these types of swords are slightly curved so I drew the design to the right. This had too much of a curve (looking more like a pirate sword) and again on closer inspection, I realised the handles also tend to follow the curve of the blade.  Moving to the right I tried again, this was better but still quite simple. Next up I flattened the metal circle at the top of the handle, made the base of the handle thicker and added an engraved shape at the base of the blade. I also spent a bit more time rendering the pattern on the handle.  I considered trying a different pattern or design o

 With time running out swiftly I've decided to concentrate my efforts on finishing just a three-quarter view of the Robo Samurai first, so that I can move on to adding some colour before the end of the semester. This will save me having to continue working on parts of the body that can't be seen from this angle, such as the shoulder blades/pads and back. Above is the design at this stage, the arms, hands and sword have been sketched in roughly just to indicate how the final design will look. I liked the rough shape used here, thinner strips of exposed metal being used for the upper arm and a broader, heavier shape for the fore arm. I liked the idea of having plates of armour attached to the outer side of the arms, and blades running off the end of the lower plate. Below are my initial sketches... I then remembered that I don't have to design the full arm at this stage in order to progress with the three quarter view, so I changed tack slightly and started researching some i

  Returning my attention to the Robo Samurai design, with the deadline for submission fast approaching there's still a lot to do to finish the full design of this character and I really want to have a finished, coloured image by the end of the semester. So, I've decided to concentrate my final couple of days finishing the three-quarter view I've been working on so that I can introduce some colour to the design. I still want to develop the design of the back of the body so that I can draw up full turn around sheets and make pose sheets but this is something I'll come back to next semester. In the meantime, I took the WIP of the full body into Procreate and developed the lower half...  Above is a before and after shot, albeit the wrong way round lol The before is on the right for comparison. I started by widening the front of the pelvis and changing the shape slightly to incorporate a line down the middle to match that on the chest and stomach. I then changed the shape of