Messy 2.5

Experimental: Messy 2.5 from Thalia McWatt on Vimeo.

I really wanted to test the oil pastels on some character animation. I had a feeling that the strength of oil pastels as a medium for animation lay in how they would respond to movement. My last test, where I scratched away at the pastels, was entirely missing that component and I knew it was not the direction I wanted to proceed with.

Materials:

Large sheet of acetate

Oil Pastels

Felt and coloured sheets of paper

I also played around with back lighting the piece this time. I have 2 test shots below. The first one is with the back lighting and the second is just top lit. The oil pastel colours pop a lot more without the light from beneath but I like the back lighting more because it creates depth.

Colour theory came in really handy for the lighting portion of this piece - I was working with blue lights so I neutralised them with an orange paper covering and it worked great! I also put a layer of felt really close to the surface of the animation and the textured background added a lot to the look of everything.

This experiment has me thinking about a lot of new animation ideas. Animating with light would be a fascinating endeavour at some point in the near future. I also need to stop working on acetate (it doesn't hold the colour very well) so I'm going to run another test with the oil pastels on glass. I also loved the texture of the felt so I'm going to play with fabric backgrounds in future tests.

Messy 2

Experimental: Messy 2 from Thalia McWatt on Vimeo.




This is my second animation messy experiment. I decided to pursue the oil pastels in a larger format to see how different methods of animating would affect the background. I tried animating a white figure, animating a black figure, lighting the piece from the top and from beneath. I also tried motion tests where I scratched away at the oil pastel with my finger to reveal colored paper placed beneath.

Materials:
large sheet of acetate
oil pastels
white and black paper

Things I Learned:

My hand smudged the piece as I was working (I need to be very careful about where I touch the image in general, and laying down paper to protect the non-animated parts is essential)

My animation doesn't fit the environment (I need to plan out the animation ahead of time to get a cleaner look in the finished piece)

Outcomes:

I wasn't happy with how this piece turned out. I think there was a potential in the work that I missed entirely with my tests. I think I need to work more with the background and integrate moving parts into the scenery and have characters actually negotiate the environment. I plan to attempt this method again but with narrative and sound informing the direction of the animation.

Messy 1

Link to Vimeo Version: https://vimeo.com/74817785

This week I decided to explore the materials that I'm interested in working with for the rest of the semester. As this is just a material exploration, there is no thematic relevance to my future works... unless I make a film about lipstick. In that case you may refer back to this post and tell me I was wrong.

Materials:

transparent cel sheet

oil pastels

plasticine

I taped down the cel at a shooting station and explored the materials under the camera while learning how to use many of the features on Dragonframe.

I also edited the sound effects together ahead of time so that I was using the sound to inform the direction of the animation. This led to a bit of thumbnail and x-sheet planning of course.

Messy 1 Outcomes:

I was particularly impressed with the way the oil pastels could be applied on the cel. I almost wish the cel had just a bit more texture to really catch the first coat of oil pastel and thus muddy the colours together more while the work progresses. I might try sanding the top layer of the cel in the next experiment to see how it holds the material.

The plasticine was so transformative and I found it to be most striking when I was collapsing forms entirely by pinching and pulling the material. I may move away from plasticine and focus more on the oil pastels from this point forward.

Here's my list of learned things that I wrote in my sketchbook during my experience:

clean your hands

tools are important

manipulate the non-moving parts

trust intuition

Experimental Itinerary

This illustration is meant to symbolize my tentative route through the Experimental Animation course at Emily Carr this semester. I had two considerations while I created this:
Ideas/Themes - nature, architecture, non-figurative
Methods/Techniques - texture, plasticine, paint, cut paper, ink

Now I'm not exactly happy with the outcome of this illustration. I don't think it is the greatest approximation of what I would like to do as an artist this semester, but creating this was a part of my process while I started thinking about the experimental course so it ultimately deserves a post. Documenting process is what this blog is all about so there's no better way to kick it off than with something that I would regard as a 'disappointing artistic stepping stone'. 
To get a better idea of what I would like to do with my animation this term here are a couple of artists that inspire me while creating:

http://www.tilbyforbis.com
An animation duo from Emily Carr, their short film Wild Life is an inspiration because of their painterly technique and focus on the Canadian Prairies.
http://birdboxstudio.com
This a studio run out of London, UK. The energy of their animation is just absolutely entertaining. I find myself watching their shorts over and over again and never getting bored.
http://www.mikeyplease.co.uk
A graduate of London's Royal College of Art, his short films are beautiful. The visual combination of paper cutting and well executed animated movement is inspiring.

Welcome

This is my Research Blog for my Experimental Animation course at Emily Carr University of Art and Design. I'll be posting all of my work over the course of the semester, inlcuding time based media, sketches, and material explorations. Enjoy!