Tracing paper techniques

After the success of my misty mountain papercrafted landscape using tracing paper, I've decided to stick with the technique for other sections of my animation for a nice sense of style and continuity. I think it suits my way of drawing and also uses both shadow puppetry and drawing technical methods. There is the section where the faeries are down at the rocky sea shore and for this I couldn't just have a static background. There had to be movement in the waves so this is where the cutouts are brilliant. Rather than drawing the waves in as a separate animated element over a seashore landscape and then also animating hand-drawn characters, the waves can be stop-motioned cut-outs! I like that this is including another methodology too. It's an idea I played around with in my competition entry for the RSA Student Design Awards and was a really nice way to animate.

The waves for my seashore will be much more subtle as the general feel of the animation is more sophisticated and less cartoony than my RSA one, but the process is the same. I had a little play again with my window to see what the effect of watercoloured waves would look like. I quite like it but painting the tracing paper does make it curl. I'm not sure if you can even stretch tracing paper to avoid that problem like with normal watercolour paper. I also think more layers for a subtler effect would be better. The torn edge works nicely though as it's softer than when I used a scalpel. I think the waves need to be behind the beach for a softer effect but that will cause complications in the animating process later on as it's more fiddly and might cause unwanted movements. A peg bar for the foreground so it doesn't move might be the way round that particular problem.

Edited closeup of the waves against the window.

Adjusted contrast and an instagrammy effect.

Unedited closeup of the waves.

Using the window as a lightbox again. (Student solutions)

 

 

Hybrid Theory

Through my research lately I've come to the conclusion that the best creature/character designs are based on natural forms which already exist. The designer's job is to then take all the inspiration from nature they've gathered and play god a little by taking little bits from everything. This has been the way to design creatures for a long time. Look at all our favourite mythological beasts; the sphinx is part woman part lion, the griffin is half lion half eagle, dragons are just big lizards that also act a bit like volcanoes and giants look a bit like boulder mountains and a bit like humans.
Guillermo Del Toro is brilliant at creating creatures with human-like qualities but then adding fur or horns or animalistic eyes and claws. This fella, Mark Oliver, is one of many I've discovered who likes to create beetles and other sculpted creatures from found objects. 
 

These have a very steam-punk quality which is just brilliant. I'd love to articulate one for a stop-motion , like a small version of La Princesse (a future plan).

I've decided to go for the same idea by taking inspiration for my faerie designs from the insect world, but instead of putting them all together in one image, I have chosen to hint at various elements. Just showing a leg, a wing or a shadow at any given moment.

Tricks of light and shadow

Tracing paper is the best material ever for this layering malarkey! I can cut it, draw on it, layer up washes and it still has that lovely translucency that you just won't get with normal paper. I've found that by using thin layers of acrylic washes on it, I can create a shadow-puppet effect plus a touch of subtle colour. Obviously because of the nature of acrylic as an opaque paint, like gouache, the layers have to be extremely thin.
I experimented with 4 layers of tracing paper, cut to create layered shadows, painted for the same effect and drawn on in black ink to create foreground silhouettes. I loved the effect when I held it up to the light, and on a light-box I can imagine the effect would be even more intense. My favourite part of this experiment is how the light casts a misty glow between the layers, giving an ethereal/eerie effect when the layers aren't completely flattened. It's exactly what I want as a background.

 

Del Toro Time

 

I finally got round (plucked up the courage) to watch Mama the other night. I took the plunge as I'm looking to create an uneasy, hopefully slightly uncanny atmosphere in my next animation and certain directors such as Del Toro and Hitchcock are masters of suspense, and brew fear by not showing the audience exactly what it is they should be scared of. It's fairly similar to that age-old mastery of seduction you get told about... don't give everything away too soon and leave a bit to the imagination; the same goes for suspense thrillers.

In 'Mama', Del Toro doesn't let you see Mama fully until a fair way into the film, even though her existence is acknowledged from the very beginning. He uses shadows and blurred viewpoints and casts her just out of shot instead as a way of heightening the audience's unease. I found that after I knew what Mama was, her motivations and what she looked like, she immediately became less terrifying as a presence. I, personally found the children more terrifying than Mama herself, as their feral nature made them unpredictable and they did not display any of the normal tropes associated with childhood, such as innocence or dependence. They were wild at the start and therefore really quite scary. It was also the way they moved.

They crouched and crawled, displaying animalistic characteristics, rather than human ones. The uncanny came into play here, and I think this is perhaps a device I can use with my faeries to make them more threatening.
The sounds were great too. After watching 'Mama' I'm definitely thinking of using wind chimes to give an eerie vibe to my animation. They have a very special supernatural quality to them, as well as subliminal connection with ghosts and horror.

Next on the list is 'Don't be afraid of the dark', but I might not watch that one on my own. Just in case...

 

Encyclopedia Faeriea

I discovered this little gem of site which contains an alphabetical collection of the different mythological faerie creatures from folklore around the world. It's an interesting read. Every culture seems to have them...
http://ladyaleta.com/aleta/types.htm

Fear the faeries

This tale recounted by a man who went on a trip up to a faerie hill is an interesting one. I love the buzzing idea, as though there is an invisible swarm up there, maybe faeries are on the dark matter scale? They're there and give off an energy but we just can't see them... As a sound effect in my animation, that growing buzz would be highly unsettling. It connects with a deep dark fear of insects that a lot of people have.
http://forum.forteantimes.com/index.php?threads/classic-archive-fear-the-faeries.34958/#post-819137

Nature Doodles

I've had to do a fair amount of diagnostic drawings of the creatures which will appear in my animation to make sure I know how they look in different positions and from various angles. It's definitely worthwhile prep for animating because the more you draw something, the better you become at drawing it (usually anyway). It means that you know it inside out. Da Vinci is the most noted example of this sort of method because he went deeper and studied the anatomy of people and creatures in order to understand them more and therefore be able to do more detailed and realistic studies of them. The better you know something, the easier it becomes to replicate.
Here are some of my sketches:

 

The Ultimate Battle: Pen Vs Acetate

Attempts at cel style animation proves difficult when you can't even find a weapon of choice to begin drawing with. "The pen is mightier than the sword"... but that not many are mightier than a piece of plastic though.

 

Round 1 (Ding ding ding!!!)

 

Biro vs acetate sheet.

Acetate floored it. Biro didn't even write.

 

Round 2

 

WHSmith Fibre-tip marker vs The Mighty Acetate.

Over in 2 seconds. Acetate wiped the floor with said marker. Markers have no staying power for the long fight.

 

Round 3

 

Faber-castell waterproof indian ink fineliner vs The Unbeatable Acetate.

No match. Clean defeat when the fineliner line was broken using a single finger.

 

Round 4

 

Alpha Design Marker vs Acetate: The Ultimate Fighting Champion

We have a winner! Alpha markers are called alpha for a reason. It left its mark.

We got there in the end though and it's actually quite a nice method I think. Once you've found a pen that doesn't wipe off straight away, it's quite nice to draw on acetate as there's very little friction and lots of flow for your lines. If I choose this method though then I might see if I can invest in some finer Alpha markers for detail.

 

This watercolour sketch:

Plus this design on acetate:

 Equals this:

Learning the moves to the Arachnid Tango

More research into how insects and arachnids and various other creepies move, led me to this brilliant little youtube tutorial by animan1999 on how to animate a spider walk. Simplified down it almost seems easy (bet it's not) but has also made me appreciate how graceful these little terrors are, managing to coordinate all those legs at the same time. Talk about multi-tasking!

My Office

Quick snapshot of my studio, aka take-over of the kitchen surfaces.

 

Insect Struts

Trying to get the balance and speed right for any walking creature in animation is difficult, but it seems that the more legs it has the worse it gets. I should have storyboarded a snake rather than ants and spiders for this latest project!
I've found some really great research on the web (pardon the spider pun) by roboticists, entomologists and fellow animators though. Animating and illustrating does help you to broaden your horizons. It's hard to know how to draw something or make something move without examining every aspect of it. Nature documentaries are taking over my life.
Credit and thanks to these guys for aiding my current creepy crawlie obsession: http://www.mindcreators.com/insectlocomotion.htm

Glen Keane : "When I’m animating I’m thinking of the line I’m making as sort of a seismograph of your soul."

I received these interactive animations on my phone when I changed to a Motorola and thought they were the best things ever! I love that the environment feels like a 3D space you need to explore WITH the characters, and then I read this article and I was blown away by the fact that everything was hand-drawn. I love that the big names in animation from Disney are really focussing on the importance of physical drawing. There's a quality about hand-drawn that can't be replicated; it just has soul and I love that. So what if it takes longer and your backdrops shudder a bit and you go through a million pencils! It's a labour of love and in the end everything comes back to drawing anyway.
This was a brilliant read courtesy of AWN. http://www.awn.com/blog/search-perfect-pencil-glen-keane-and-duet

Paperman

Disney Studios released an animate short a few years back which is beautiful, simplistic and harks back to the good old days of hand-drawn animation whilst maintaining a standard of modern, technical skill and inventiveness. I think it's just gorgeous and the love story is very sweet too, speaking to people who feel lonely in a massive city.

This interview with AWN was a great way to delve into their process and development of the film > http://www.awn.com/animationworld/inside-disney-s-new-animated-short-paperman

Sand animation

Some more amazing animations to inspire myself and others. This is just ingenious. I'd love to use an element of this in my fairy animation as it has that ethereal quality I want. Just can't believe the transitions!

Home Sweet Home

I think the reason I loved Allingham's poem about the fairies was because it felt so familiar. Coming from Irish heritage (my grandparents were both from Dublin) I must have grown up hearing some of these folktales and sorts of darker celtic fairytales. It also touched a chord because of the natural imagery in the poem. Every setting in which you could find fairies can be found on the Wirral, the lovely peninsula I call home. It has every sort of landscape mentioned in the poem, from beaches to woodland hills and views of the welsh mountains. So I've returned for a wee bit of inspiration.

By the craggy hillside...

Down the rocky shore...

Noises...

I've been practising my Irish accent for this animation so I can MAYBE provide a rendition of the poem. I've been giving it a go in a very soft, whispered tone (mainly so no one at home will hear me pretending I'm from Dublin) but the whisper is actually quite good. It adds to the secretive nature of the fairies and makes them seem creepier.

For now though, I think I'll have to listen to a lot more of this fella to get my intonation right and apparently Guinness helps. Ahhh feck life's hard...

More Backdrop Sketches

I'm still focussing on getting the right look for the backgrounds of my animation. Not sure it's quite there yet, but I like the inky smudgy qualities. Think I need to be more minimal and looser about these. Drawing larger might help me forget about the details.

The rocky shore

 

The reedy marsh

 

The fairy glen

Magic Lanterns

In looking at more traditional forms of animation, I came across the magic lantern. In Victorian times, before the advent of cinema, these slide projectors were used to create little spectacles for audiences. I like these connections I'm finding between cel animation, shadow puppetry and slide projection to create really gorgeously painted images/films.

Beautiful, subtle and just what I want to achieve

I found this video by accident really whilst looking for some music to listen to. I love it's subtlety and the minimal colour scheme, tones and lines. The story itself fits snugly with the tone of the music, and I like the way it plays on the repetition of the bike and the seasons. It's just gorgeous. I want to make something this beautiful.