Part 4 of The Reedy Boy

So I've finally finished the massive Arts Council funded project, The Reedy Boy. I've loved every minute of working with such a lovely pair of talented guys. I think without such hardworking, supportive people around me I wouldn't have managed to get over 45 minutes of hand-drawn animation produced in just under three months. It's been a crazy level of commitment, and the learning curve has been steep as anything. In this last week I've learnt how to mask videos, composite photographic elements with hand-drawn images, create sunbeams and glowing fire embers in After Effects, composite real film and digital animation in with hand-drawn animation... to name just the things I'm most proud of/are most useful for the future.
Anyway, here's Part 4, The Final Chapter, The Finale, The End.

Sneak Peeks

I thought I'd show a little sneaky peek of the final part of my collaborative animation project, The Reedy Boy. This was an animated scene that I edited some more before including in the final film, but I think it's quite sweet and pretty as it is. Never animated snow before. I only discovered afterwards that I could have used the After effects snow simulation to achieve this blizzard but I quite like that I drew the snowflakes myself, maybe in the future I'll combine the two techniques if I have to create a snow scene again. 
Part 4 of The Reedy Boy comes out tonight on Youtube!

Sketchbook Throwback

Leafing to the back of an old notebook to try and find a spare bit of paper to scribble on, I came across this drawing and note from the summer. I thought about making myself a collection/encyclopedia of 'How Shit Moves', so that whenever I learn how to animate a specific movement, walk sequence etc, then I won't forget. Now this all seems far too organised for me, but maybe it's a little & often side project that slowly fills out to become my ultimate animation guide. Think I got this idea from my flatmate's methodology and process files for her Textiles in Practice course. Collaboration comes to the rescue yet again! 

Experiments with doodles

I've been learning all about how children's drawings develop recently; reading a book called Artful Scribbles which examines the process and psychology associated with it. I'm currently animating the progression using a single, continuous line style that morphs from a squiggle to meandering lines, to a circle etc. I love the shapes and lines more and more now, they're like the basic building blocks for all drawings. I've been trying to find ways to combine them into my animation as an added layer of texture/interest/symbolism. 

I attempted a couple of combinations of figures and patterns, using the claire house color scheme (although I think these hues are just a bit too vibrant, and I'll lean towards a more pastel scheme for the animation itself). This is one of them (plus a close-up), which I thought could maybe hint at the worry/stress experienced by the parents after a child is diagnosed. I thought using the child's own squiggles and visual language was an interesting and alternative way to this, rather than necessarily relying on facial expressions all the time. These were done in gouache paints and black fineliner pen. 

Design Academy

Had a wonderful trip down to London yesterday to present to the Design Council our pitch for the Design for Care challenge. Was really rather nerve-wracking but somehow we managed to make a great impression and my team were offered a Special Commendation for our pitch! We were given these cute little certificates that reminded me of primary school. Gonna put mine on the fridge! 

I did actually learn a lot on this programme though and it's made me more aware of the employment options available to me when I leave uni. I guess I'd never really thought of myself as a 'Designer' and instead just as someone who draws and animates, but actually all the creative thinking practices I've learnt and developed over the course have given me the brain of a designer/creative problem solver/lateral thinker. 
The programme has definitely made me realise how much I can do to help solve social problems or make a difference, even if I sometimes still feel like I 'just draw'. I'm really happy that there seems to be a place for creative alternatives to problem-solving, because it fits so well with what I'm learning about for my dissertation too. I think I can find a way to make a change and still include my animation practice in the future. 

Design for Care

For the past two weeks I've been working on a Design Academy brief titled, "How can we help people stay independent for as long as possible?", and I've been collaborating with 3 other girls from the School of Art to try and design a solution using creative and lateral thinking processes. It's been really interesting to see how a design course such as illustration could lead me down a path to problem-solving for the care industry. 

This has linked very well with everything that I've already been looking at in my dissertation research and my authorship project for Claire House Hospice. I've realised in the past few months that I don't want to just create something that is all about aesthetics, I want there to be a deeper social context to everything I do. All my dissertation title might claim differently, I'm aware that illustration or art alone can't change the world, but I do think it can genuinely help people. 

It can do this in more than just the obvious NPO/care/community services driven way as well. I've always been friends with people in bands and have a list of ever-growing music videos to complete; of which one is an EP based around the topic of depression. People find solace in all sorts of places; in music, art, conversation, or in the hope of my Design Academy team, in community-led garden projects. 

Focus on the fun

When making something so emotionally charged as an animation for a children's hospice charity, it seems to be really important to be able to acknowledge the full range of human emotions. This film needs to be empathetic, but in doing so I need to be able to find the fun. Claire House is a place for families and children to feel safe and supported and receive care, but also a place to embrace the joys of childhood and parenthood, however fleeting it may be.

Being an animation student, I regularly find myself having been sat hunched over a lightbox for long periods of time and needing to get up and move. When this happens I normally refer to it as the need for a "30 second dance party", and a few months ago I decided to capture it in animated form.
This is the kind of thing that I need to focus on with the family I am assigned to; their quirks and jokes, their ways of finding the joy in the small moments shared together, all their little ways of being human and happy and together, because Claire House doesn't have a one-size fits all approach to their work, and neither do I. I want to make this as much about the family themselves as about the work Claire House do.

The Penultimate Chapter

Part 3 of The Reedy Boy, my collaborative animated film project with Andy Hickmott and Jay Birbeck, funded by Arts Council England has been released!

Creating what will be over 45 minutes of hand-drawn animated film set to poetry in less than 3 months, alongside university work has proven to be rather strenuous, but I can't believe how much I've learnt and how much more confident I have become technically by working to such a tight deadline. It's been a lovely experience to work with a talented writer and composer as well and see how the style of things develop when you have several creative voices working together. I might even miss this once it's all over and I've caught up on sleep...

Beautiful oils

What can I say, except that this is just bloody lovely.

Oils on glass stop-frame animation for The Jezabels. So much atmosphere and depth in each frame, and really showing a knowledge of the history and technique behind oil painting by utilising it's translucency and slow drying rate to the advantage of a stop-frame animation over light. I love the chiascuro quality of the whole film and its constant flicker. It feels full of life, which is the entire point of the song.

Animation for good

Just Tuna is an animated film made for Greenpeace to inform shoppers that they should know exactly what they are buying and the industries and companies they are supporting. John West's sister company Thai Union is guilty of using unsustainable fishing methods and violating human rights through the exploitation of their workers and by contributing to the human trafficking industry. 

Again, it seems that a charity has chosen to use animation to spread awareness because they are aware of it's novelty, that people will appreciate the artistry of the film and perhaps then inadvertently also learn something and spread the message. It also seems that when tackling difficult social issues such as human trafficking, abuse and the death of marine life, animation provides a forum that can delve deeper than live-action film would be able to. It enables a sense of empathy that might not be achieved through a generic documentary-style film. 

In terms of visual language, the monochrome colour scheme and simple lines add to the narrative. They don't make it fussy or too 'pretty' because Greenpeace want to deliver facts, not just a story about tuna in nice animated packaging. 
That said, there are some really beautiful transitions in the film, such as the bars of a jail becoming the barcode on the side of the tin of tuna - a very simple, clear link between the act of buying and consuming to the atrocities committed by the company. 

The Reedy Boy - Part 2

As promised, Part 2 of the four-part animated fable, The Reedy Boy, is now available to watch on youtube! This is my first professional role as an animator and I've already learnt so much from the experience, and from the musician and poet I've collaborated with. Can't beat working with lovely, talented people, and having the support and backing of Arts Council England!

Do schools kill creativity?

Sir Ken Robinson is an educationalist with some interesting insights into the issues behind modern day eduction systems. He claims that modern day schooling stunts creativity by putting an emphasis on the more 'academic' subjects like maths, science and english, rather than the 'creative' subjects like dance, drama and art. 
This week I've been taking part in Design Academy, a programme that instills design strategies into students so they can theoretically tackle any problem, regardless of their existing knowledge on the topic, because they know how to use design to work around the issue. Creativity is apparently the biggest skill set that employers now look for in their applicants because it allows them to problem solve more effectively and think more laterally. Whereas, Sir Ken Robinson says that our current schooling is formed on the premise that we will need skills in maths, literacy and science because it is based on an out-dated model of industry from the Victorian era. 

These three talks highlight both Ken's ideas about education, and the benefits of being a 'multipotentialite' rather than a specialist (something that most schools do not currently embrace). 

Lupus films: behind the magic

When thinking of creating a hand-drawn, coloured pencil animation, it would be a massive oversight not to consider the adaptations of Raymond Briggs' story, The Snowman from the 1980s, and its more recent sequel, The Snowman and The Snowdog made by Lupus Films, based in Shoreditch, London. This animation company specialises in 2D hand-rendered animation, but brings it into the modern day by compositing traditional hand-drawn images with digitally rendered bases and after effects skills in editing. This standard of production is most definitely not a solo project, but it's good to be inspired!

This is the only company I'm currently aware of who embrace the 2D traditional techniques so intensely, but it's working for them. They're about to start production of another Raymond Briggs adaptation, Ethel and Ernest, which looks just as beautiful and true to the original illustrative style as The Snowman and The Snowdog was. Lupus Films' website hosts a video link of the making of the snowdog, which has some slightly awe-inspiring and unexpected insights into how a film like this goes through production. Definitely there are some technical and process practices that I could adopt in my own work from this studio's approach. http://www.lupusfilms.com/productions 

The level of collaboration and trust on this project is really lovely. In terms of career aims, a studio like this would be my dream after graduation, because the years of experience under one roof would give invaluable insider advice to a newbie like myself. By way of technical skill I always think that praxis (the learn-by-doing approach) is the best way to pick up a new skill quickly, and in a studio like Lupus, I can't imagine there being a lack of teachers. Something to aim for indeed!

Maow Nobrow

Back on the topic of non-fiction literature made more accessible for children through illustration, Nobrow Press have released a book called Professor Astro Cat's Frontiers of Space! Prof. Astro Cat also has an app which allows children to take part in his animated adventures through space and time. The book and app serve to teach kids about gravity, extra-terrestrial life and time in an entertaining way. Dr. Dominic Walliman and Ben Newman seem keen to break down the preconceived ideas that science and art are not compatible and that learning needs to be dull and structured on the Victorian school model.

The Astro Cat book has a beautiful set of infographics, with cute characters to give it a story-like element and plenty of illustrated facts to help children retain the information. The book, like most of Nobrow's publications it is printed so that it feels personal and more like a treasured possession than simply a mass-produced publication to sit on the shelf and eventually end up in a car boot sale. Nobrow Press' attention to detail in the publication makes the knowledge inside the book feel like what it is; a very precious commodity, and Ben Newman's illustrations bring life to the facts in a way that combines the arts and sciences seemingly seamlessly. The book is something to be cherished and the app brings Astro Cat into the modern age.

Stop, Look, Listen, Live

Talking to people my age about animated public information safety ads has brought up lots of cute films from my childhood, such as the hedgehog road safety adverts. I think everyone remembers these years later because of the combination of animation and song; they clearly made an impression on our young minds in the 90s, meaning they did their job well! The animation is simple and quite basic in comparison to other animated film from the time, but the animated form clearly drew kids in. I remember singing along and loving the hedgehogs as a small child, and I know my mum cashed in on the idea by reminding me at roadsides to remember 'what the hedgehogs would do'.
This kind of source material is something that reiterates what I'm thinking about with my dissertation research... that illustration/animation offers a gateway and a medium to educate children outside the standard classroom, learn-by-rote system. The style of drawings themselves actually work so well I think because they are simplistic enough for a child to copy easily, possibly making them more relatable. Roman Mars hits the nail on the head when he talks about the important qualities of design in general by focussing on flags. He discusses how the best flags are kept so simple as to be replicated by a child, and I think this is a design principle to stand by when your target audience is children!

 

 

Keeping things simple

This advert for Olay keeps you focussed and tells a story all with a single line. Kind of genius...

Obviously not as easy as it looks, keeping things simple and taking everything down to its basic form means that that form has to be done perfectly. I love this because it focusses on movement and plays with all the basics of animation. It shows how much you can achieve without piling lots of visual information onto the screen. Reminds me of Frederic Bach's films for some reason... perhaps the style of movement? But also Picasso's simplified line drawings of animals.

The playful quality of this is something that would work really well for my Claire House film. A sense of fun and looseness relates to my idea of using the children's own drawings.

The Reedy Boy - Part 1

So very, very, very excited to announce that Part 1 of the collaborative animated film I've been working on, The Reedy Boy, is now available on youtube! I've been working on it round the clock for the last two months, as the entire set of films will be over 40 minutes long (not including additional trailers made for the series), and our team has been miniscule; just me, a musician (Jay Birbeck) and the poet of the original story (Andy Hickmott). As we are all students, our time and funds have been precious and few, and I can't thank Arts Council England and Manchester Metropolitan University enough for their support of the project!
Parts 2,3 and 4 due for release over the course of the month.

Charley Says...

Can't believe I forgot about these absolute gems when researching public information films and animations with messages for children! The Charley Says films were a series of cut-out animation shorts designed to inform children about staying safe. They were aired during the 1970s and 80s, during my parents era of growing up Maybe my parents thought they were effective and showed them to us while we were growing up too, because the 'Charley Says' quote has been a long-running pop-culture reference in my family. 

Anyway, these are brilliant. Very simple and clear, and using a cute (slightly deranged) cat to get kids on board. 
London's Central Office of Information knew how to get kids interested... show them a funny cat video. 
I also found a funny adapted version for 'modern day advice', probably aimed at the adults who used to watch Charley as a child.

The original Charley Says films

Satirical remake for the Modern Technological Age

More abstract animation

I've been messing around with some marking making abstractions for animation, whilst I wait to be introduced to the family I'll be working with. There's little directional drawing/designing I can do right now before I know what their story is and get to know them. I do know that I'd like to incorporate some abstract elements though, focusing on just colour, shape and movement, so I've been experimenting with this alongside life drawing. I really like the texture that comes from using graphite, and I'm starting to think that I need to branch out from my original concept of coloured pencils/watercolours for this film and consider the textural benefits that will come from using things like pastels as well (although pastels do pose the challenge of transport, this would probably have to all be made and photographed immediately in studio to avoid unwanted smudges) ((although sometimes smudges and accidents make the best marks...))

Thinking about abstraction and simplicity

Over the summer I interned on a moving image production with Antony Barkworth-Knight for the Manchester Jazz Festival. From this collaboration I found that minimalism and abstraction of ideas to their most basic forms could be really captivating and beautiful. There was a mesmeric quality to some of the flowing lines and shapes which we animated and I loved the animated lines Antony created from a day of mark-making together using paint and graphite. Antony taught me that when you boiled everything down to line, shape and tone, it could be really exciting because then everything is about the movement, colour and texture of the image.


I made these samples when we first started talking about lines 'having a conversation', and then Antony animated some captivating sequences of squiggles/doodles/basic lines reacting to each other and developing. My later versions of the two lines 'dancing' which made it into the final show alongside other work like more figurative bird animations, is still something I'm really proud of and continues to be an idea I develop from. I keep coming back to this idea that moments of abstraction, rather than being fillers, act as palette cleansers. They keep you intrigued and focused, and I've found this across the board when dealing with narrative, not just in animation.

 

A Monster Calls

"The monster showed up after midnight. As they do.

But it isn’t the monster Conor’s been expecting. He’s been expecting the one from his nightmare, the one he’s had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments, the one with the darkness and the wind and the screaming…

This monster is something different, though. Something ancient, something wild. And it wants the most dangerous thing of all from Conor. It wants the truth."

This young adult fiction novel by Patrick Ness is something that I'm very interested in with regards to broaching the subject of death among children.Obviously by working with a children's hospice for my current animation, the subject is constantly there. The Claire House team want me to focus on the uplifting and encouraging aspects of their work and not dwell on the topic of a child being taken too soon, but I think it is important for me to see how other illustrators and authors have tackled the issue in order to be aware, even if I will not face the challenge fully myself. It's interesting to see that books like, A Monster Calls and The Dark have emerged in recent years. Perhaps, in an age where children have access to the internet and all the information it has to offer, and some would argue that childhood innocence is lost earlier; this honest and straightforward approach to tackling fears is the better option, rather than skirting around the issues?

Into the Woods...

I recently discovered the Modern Love column from New York Times and became infatuated with it. The column is created by the general public who send in essays about all sorts of love and relationships, and the troubles/joys that accompany them. Some of the essays featured are transformed into animated shorts, and 'Into the Woods' is one of my favourites for its beautiful simplicity. 
The design choice to make the characters abstract, gracefully dancing shapes, defined by their different colours, works well. I feel like this is an example of storytelling and animation in harmony, as the animation compliments the speaker rather than distracting the viewer from the original story. In a way, it feels like the animator has approached the voiceover like it was a musical composition; highlighting the peaks of the story, the rhythm of her voice and the tone in general. The transitions and abstractions are seamless and I think this is what attracted me to the animation so much. It's gentle, understated but ultimately moving and memorable.