Tuesday 17 April 2012

Super Sid comes alive

Print Screen from a flash project, showing character parts
After loads of redrawing, (at the same time it was very important to me to stay as close as possible to James' original drawings) i finally started putting the character of Super Sid together in flash.
Here's a print screen of the library in flash, with all the seperate components of the character. Having everything clearly labeled was key, as i was trying to make it as easy as possible for James to use.
Before each lesson i would have a play with what it is that i was trying to achieve (I must say i was learning aswell, a lot of it was trial and error). I found , that James learned a lot more enthusiastically, after I'd show him an example of what he could make at the end of the lesson.


This was a colour reference image
done by James.

 So normally i'd start by explaining some basic function within flash, for example scaling rotating, drawing etc. and than show him an example using his characters and drawings, at which point he'd get extremely happy and start paying attention again :).
After all the hard work it was amasing to see his face as i showed him an .SWF of Sid just blinking and changing his facial expression, it was the same for me, and i think it'll never get old, that moment that you first see your character come alive.

The final character
constructed in Flash

Animation Mentoring Continued

James' first attempt of the storyboard
After the first session with James, I decided that due to the limited time we had and also the style of his character design, Flash would be the best programme for him to use.

I gave him some homework, after we finalised the story together, i explained to him what a storyboard was and asked him to draw his story out. Also due to the time limit i decided it would be best, to focus on one of his superhero characters, called SuperSid.

The story James came up with, was that a lion breaks out of his cage at the zoo, and the superhero SuperSid is called to save the day. I also asked him to draw some different facial expressions for his characters.

I've included here, the drawings that he did for homework.
After this session i went away and scanned all of his artwork, and redrew it so that all the sizes matched up for seamless animation. I used photoshop to draw, although i could've drawn straight in flash, instead of vectorising my drawings inside flash later. (which i started doing later)
After creating a library inside flash i was ready to start explaining evrything to James at the next lesson.

Animation Mentoring

Here are a few of his initial character drawings,
that he brought with him to the first session.
I haven't blogged in a while, and the more time passes the more daunting the task becomes, but I need to start somewhere right ? so here we go :)

 i thought I'd share with everyone the work I've been doing with a 13 year boy, James. He is a very talented and a very keen artist, and my role was to help him use his creations and create a small character animation.

 He was extremely enthusiastic from the very first lesson, which made it extremely fun to work with him. He had a couple of characters already designed, and I've worked with him to come up with a story and get him to do a storyboard.