Blog Reflection

When doing my capstone project, I made sure to always be handy and think in the most time efficient way possible. The concepts and exercises that were given to me were easy to understand due to all my recent past experiences. This was only due to my interest in animation as I always tried to analyze the animator’s drawing styles and techniques, especially when the production utilized camera shots to zoom in and pan out. When working with my mentor, I made sure to vocalize my understanding as a way to make it easier for him to understand what I do and don’t know. Making sure to ask question on the ideas that I had more difficulty in understanding, my mentor was made aware of my confusion as he cleared it with a few explanations and examples.

When creating my own animation, I felt that I gained a stronger work ethic and sense of time consumption, as I was being pushed to limit when it came to completing my work under pressure while collaborating with others. I also felt that I’ve become more vocal in addressing and working with others when it came to hitting a block in the process of editing. I also learned a few tricks when I was handling Photoshop and computers in general that will definitely come in handy due to the continuous mechanization and computerization of jobs.

What challenged me the most was just the task of drawing out, by hand, the minimum amount of 130 slides as that is just an estimate. The job was tedious and very repetitive after planning the entire process out with a story board and notes. The job of creating each set of movement and backgrounds one by one was only even more emphasized when it came to editing the animation on a program. Since I’m not exactly familiar with computers, this gave me a headache and slightly discouraged me from moving forward, as I felt intimidated by the whole process of editing in general However, knowing that I had a set deadline to fulfill and a want to see my animation be a reality pushed me on. I also didn’t want to disappoint my mentor and put all his effort in teaching me go to waste. This drive created a process of forward momentum as I was able to finish and scan the entire animation. Editing will be a challenge, but with more than half done, I’m sure the rest can be finished as well.

5/14/13

Mentor Hours: 8:34 p.m - 4:12 a.m

Arriving at my mentors house again for another night of doing my animation. I was able to finish all the slides and scenes within this session as what came next was the editing.

Despite hitting a few problems when it came to working with a trial version of Photoshop, we were able to nonetheless edit the animation to a satisfactory level, especially with the little to no equipment that we had. This process took several hours due to the amount of problems and creation of slides in general as it was just a collaborative process of work overall with this final session.

Total Hrs: 5hrs.

Total Cumulative Hours: 29 Hours Total.

5/11/13

*Forgot to upload this before the last logged hours.
Mentor Hours: 6:24p.m - 2:33 a.m

Arriving at my mentor's house, I continued to work for several hours on the slides. The entire meeting was of him just watching over and answering questions as I attended to the animation. Creating a concept for the title page and finishing scene two. We met with his co-worker to scan and upload the finished slides that I had so far. Downloading a trial version of cs6 photoshop, his co-worker showed me a few steps and tricks when it came to editing the slides that were uploaded from his scanner.

Saving the program and creating a file, we finished for the night at around two-twenty a.m.

Total Hrs: ~ 6hrs.

5/13/13

Mentor Hours: 4:42p.m - 1:27a.m

Straight upon meeting with my mentor, I explained to him my confusion of beginning my initial slides and soon came to an understanding after going over the concept once more. Showing him my progress, I was able to complete the main backgrounds that would be used within my animation. After going over the concept of slides once more again, I began drawing out the first scene after setting up a homemade light box to ensure consistency when it came with comparing one slide to the next.

Also I took a few steps further with my storyboard while working on the first set of slides. For the next five hours, I sat drawing out each scene and slide one by one with a pencil as I took a few 30 minute breaks in between to eat and rest. By the end of the process I finished half of scene 1 as I finished late in the morning.

Total Hrs: ~ 5hrs.

5/9/13

Mentor Hours: 8:15 p.m - 1:32 a.m

After arriving and meeting with him, I went over the assignments and exercises he had me do over the length of time that we haven't been in contact. Confident with my progress, we began implementing all of my skills through an actual animation that would be used in my presentation.

It would span about one minute and forty seconds long at the least, to two minutes at most. Creating directors notes and setting up a story board, he went over a few vocabulary words as I began to grasp a new concept of slides that were within scenes. Creating an idea to base the animation off of, I gave it a title and stopped the animation off at four scenes. Calculating the amount of slides needed, the minimum would be about two-hundred while the maximum would take four-hundred. The slides would be running of about 0.2 seconds for each slides when putt through an animation program.

 Marking up and ordering how the animation would run. My mentor advised that I should begin my slides as soon as possible.

Total Hrs: ~4hrs.

1/26/13

Mentor Hours: 5:00 p.m - 9:30 p.m

After reviewing last weeks lesson and assignment, I recalled and reported the findings and shifts in shadow and movement that I was able to find from my observations when it came to watching the two amines that my mentor assigned. After also reviewing the resources and slight shifts in movement that connected the resources to my observations, my mentor and I went onto the next lesson of going over distance and shading.


First we went outside to view the landscape after creating a tool that directors use to plot out scenes, when it came to filming. After creating the tool, it was used to help me grasp the idea of a scene changing over time, while "panning out" or "zooming in" on a certain emphasized object that the tool is directed towards.

 Looking through the device, we watched as the sun slowly waned in existence as daylight gave way to the night sky.

Heading back inside, my mentor created a prop that would help me in an exercise that was added to practicing lines and shapes. Creating a prop and a few figures out of paper, an interchangeable scene was created. Before leaving, I was directed to practice distance as I used the prop to help me grasp the idea of shadow, distance, and change over time.

Total Hrs: 4.5hrs.

1/20/13

Mentor Hours: 12:00 a.m - 12:30 am

After receiving a few resources, my mentor directed me to analyze and watch every single different slide as well while cultivating my skills when it came to the practice exercises of drawing shapes and lines to create a consistent flow of even back to back pictures.

I also took it upon myself to create a flip book of a simple ball bouncing across the page.

Total Hrs: 0.5hrs.

1/19/2013

Mentor hours: 7:25 p.m - 9:37 p.m

Met at about 7:25 pm. My mentor began explaining the methods of shading and how lines are a fundamental aspect in animation. A grid is used to help give depth to either the background or character, but mostly the characters. Explaining the aspects and advantages to using a grid, he explained that it gives the object mass while also supplying a guideline for shading to follow. Moving onto shading and detail, he segwayed towards the aspects of detail and how shading can be used to externalize the boldness of an outline.

Using examples like the one to the left, he drew attention to how the main focal point is internal before displaying with a line as to how the shading branches out. From the butt to the thigh, up the to the calf and then finally the foot.

Using a grid and shading together, he stated as to how the artist artfully crafted the picture, while explaining how the stance seemed more realistic and natural while still retaining an animated 2-d quality. Drawing out from the waist was the body, as it was just an extension. However; still utilizing the grid, the artist was able to create a shadow using a darker tone via the jacket as he explained that despite the hue - it gave off a realistic effect.

Relating the shading effect to the thickness of the line we went over how the finer the overall outline of the cartoon there is, the more realistic approach the artist is trying to pull off as opposed to the heavily inked cartoon characters that are portrayed to be cute and relatively lighthearted. As the session came to a close, and after examining a few Japanese and American animations, my mentor gave me the assighnment to watch two animations called "Kimi no Todoki" and "Fruits Basket". He stated that while watching an episode each, I were to take down anything that my eye caught as I noted the animation style and differences when comparing the two.

He also gave me an assighnment to practice drawing straight lines, prisms, triangles, and spheres while being placed with an at least two-perspectived field under a light source. I was to shade in accordance to whether the object was placed within a day or night setting along with how strong the light was, as this was told by the shadow.

Total Hours: 4hrs.