illustration future - gallery animation

I have been working on animating John's portfolio. I know the picture above doesn't make a lot of sense, but if you can imaging the frame appears and then the images inside it gradually change. I got the idea of the frame from a huge Frida Kahlo book I got out of the library. I was looking for inspiration and trying to understand John better. Frida Kahlo is a favoutie of John's and in this particaulr book there were the most amazing frames, thus the frame. I am afraid it is all rather cheesy and amateur but hopefully if the whole thing ties together ok it'll be ok.

illustration futures - contact details appear

contact details appear, a photo by only lucy on Flickr.


This is my favourite bit of the animation so far. Basically the contact label disappears and the contact information cloud above appears. I know it sounds simple but it took a lot of work to make two separate stop-frame animations then put them into the main animation and get the timings right.
I can't believe how long it is taking to do this animation. I thought I had it really well planned, but it just takes so much time. Also it is slightly frustrating is how easy it is to accidentally change the timings or move something, and how long it takes to put it all back!

illustration futures - labels

I forgot to post my final selection of labels. I wanted the Facebook one to have the same cutout look as the others but still be recognisable. Did it work?
I have been really busy planning the animation. I discovered that it is possible to do slightly more complicated animations as stop-frame animations in Photoshop. Basically you copy and change layers and then convert the layers to frames. You then amend the timings (you can also reverse the order of frames) and then you export the animation as a png file. Having done that with some leaves, some of the labels and a butterfly I was then ready to get help with the next stage.
The plan was that Nick in IT would then help me imbed them. Nick showed me how to do the rendering and then thought it would be best to move everything into Final Cut Pro. Unfortunately this began to get epically complicated. Time was flying by and I wasn't going to be able to continue in Final Cut Pro at home.
So we went for plan B (the Keep-It-Simple-Stupid option), Nick showed me how to import the video as a new layer. Once I had done that I could change the start and finish point, (though not the duration) and the opacity. I have since discovered that it is possible to resize them but it changes the format (still trying to understand that bit!) Also if i want the last frame to effectively "freeze" then I need it as a separate layer.
It was slightly frustrating how long it took and although I learnt a lot I am no further forward with the actual animation. 

pinterest

Heaven help me I have been suckered in to Pinterest. I can't help it, there are SOOO many pretty pictures. I decided the one above sums up the beautiful, warm, sunny, tranquil day that is going on outside perfectly. Have a good one!

punch and judy

punch and judy coloured, a photo by only lucy on Flickr.

Digitally coloured version, but I don't like it. :-(

illustration futures - screen grabs

etsy page, a photo by only lucy on Flickr.

So today I learnt about screen grabs as I want the animation to look like someone is following links to John's Facebook page and blog. I also thought it would be good in terms of self promotion if it looked like John sold his work, so I mocked up the Etsy page you can see above. Does it look convincing?

illustration futures - big leaves

animating leaves 4, a photo by only lucy on Flickr.

Today was a good day! I finally got to grips with getting things to move between points at certain times. In my head I had grand plans, but in the timeline animation you can't rotate or change the size of things, only move and fade them. The leaves above are at the beginning of the animation, they move out the way and smaller ones move into place on the tree.

illustration futures trying out different labels

The image above shows my tree with different styles of labels on. I have enjoyed making the labels and then scanned them in and changed the shape and colour. After much playing about I have chosen the oval labels in various colours. But which ones would you choose?

illustration futures - tree with symbols

tree with symbols, a photo by only lucy on Flickr.

As I mentioned before, this is for animation I am working on. The idea is it will look like someone is using a webpage, so the strange symbols on the tree will link to (from left to right) John's shop, gallery and Facebook page. John likes surreal imagery but I am worried that this idea doesn't look slick enough. I am going to work on some text that can be displayed instead, to see which looks best.

engine house workshop 3

ghosts, a photo by only lucy on Flickr.

I had so much fun with the kids yesterday. I was introducing them to the concept of typography. They were really up for it and all got stuck in. There are more pictures on my flickr, but I thought this one was particularly clever.

saucy

IMG_2250, a photo by only lucy on Flickr.

So yesterday I was at Engine House again and this time we were looking at typography. It was messy and fun!

dog

dog, a photo by only lucy on Flickr.

This is one of the roughs for a story that features a dog with red eyes (it makes sense when you read the story!)

illustration futures- tree with leaves

web page background tree with leaves, a photo by only lucy on Flickr.

This is a still from the animation I am working on for my Illustration Futures project. I cut the leaves out from magazine supplements. I rather like them! (You can see the tree with out its leaves here.)

illustration futures - eight hour day

I have been doing some website research for the Illustration Futures module and thinking about the way in which practitioners present themselves and also what information they include on their sites. I thought this (see above also) was a good example of communicating a look to your audience.

illustration futures - web page background

tree with arrow, a photo by only lucy on Flickr.

I am working on a mock up of a web page for the Illustration Futures module. The work I am submitting is going to be an animation showing how the page would work and at the same time promoting my classmate John to a potential employer.
I have chosen to do the project in Photoshop as that will allow me to work on it at home. I was shown how to insert objects (in this case the arrow) on to the background in layers and how to change their location and opacity on a timeline.

mtn-world

from here

Graffiti isn't often my thing, but when we visited Barcelona earlier in the year I had an introduction to it that has made me think about it differently. Anyway, if it is something you want to find out more about mtn-world is a great resource with lots of links to events, articles, blogs etc.

chiccham

from here

Loved this blackboard doorway and it is a great site too, have a look here. Happy weekend!

engine house workshop 2

IMG_2231, a photo by only lucy on Flickr.

So we did music themed still lives this week and the kids did a great job. The listened really well and worked so hard!

lady

lady cropped, a photo by only lucy on Flickr.

I have been at the at the scrap box again!

possibly the most beautiful blog in the world....ever?

from joythigpen

Joy Thigpen. Packed full of beautiful, romantic images, ever. Perfect for a quiet Sunday. Enjoy.

dominic owen

blue face

Yesterday at college we had a visit from recently graduated illustrator - Dominic Owen. What a lovely guy! It was really interesting hearing what life is like for someone who graduated two years ago. He went to Uni in Bath and has recently moved to London so we had a discussion about the old "in town v out of town" issue. Basically, in London, you go out, meet people and it all comes together, but if you base yourself elsewhere then you have to market yourself more aggressively.
He talked about being represented by YCN and the pros and cons of having an agent. He also talked about the various clients he had had. He spoke very favourably about being involved in Pick Me Up (it is a great day out if you ever have the chance to go). He talked of his love of hand drawn font and how his sister is better at digital type. Also he likes to sketch first  and then render his work in illustrator before printing the image on wallpaper lining paper.
I asked if he follows any illustrators or blogs, and he explained that he is wary of absorbing and being influenced by someone else's style but he does enjoy Booooon, its nice that and fecal face.

jane ormes

unblinking by jane ormes

I have just come across some of the most beautiful, characterful prints I have seen for ages. Please take some time to look at the prints of Jane Ormes - sooo good!

banker?

img162, a photo by only lucy on Flickr.

I wanted to experiment with some paints I was given as a "thank you" and decided to combine them with collage - pattern paper and envelopes (again!)

pattern section

pattern section, a photo by only lucy on Flickr.

I was having a little doodle yesterday to try to get in the mood for some project wrok.

engine house workshop 1

I had a lot of fun with some lovely kids making musical instruments out of newspaper. It was the perfect session to meet the kids and get them to mix, work together and experiment. Can't wait for next week!

yellow birds

yellow birds, a photo by only lucy on Flickr.

A few years ago I was introduced to free hand machine embroidery and decided to see if I could remember what to do. So this is free hand machine embroidery on a collaged background. Not exactly groundbreaking I know, but at least I didn't break the machine!

punch and judy

punch and judy, a photo by only lucy on Flickr.


Working on a Punch and Judy themed piece.

o

IMG_0809, a photo by only lucy on Flickr.

This is one of the letters from the series of test prints I did the other day. You can see the linos being cut here.