BMA142: Final Poster, 29 March

Done.  I've made new stickers with a combination of iconic images and unidentifiable sculptures (that's Scandinavia for you).  I'm off to intern on a movie set for a few days and it's time to finish up. 

BDM126: Mad Mozart in colour and a brief biography

CHARACTER BIO: “MAD” MOZART

Child prodigy Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in 1756 in Salzburg, Austria.  From the age of 9, his father would take the family on tours of Europe so Wolfgang could play for the nobility.  It is on one of those trips to Italy in 1771 that Mozart had an unfortunate run in with a bubble in the space/time continuum.  He spent a few hours in a 20th century doctor's waiting room watching music videos; he hasn't been quite right since.  Apart from the frustration of a surfeit of Diabetes Today and Girlfriend magazines in the reading rack, he was profoundly influenced by the possibilities of his new Muse, Electricity.  

Back home in his Alpha timeline, he and drinking buddy Ben Franklin work to harness lightning to power “Mad” Mozart's collection of instruments.  Here we see him cavorting with a mahogany and ivory portable spinaret, or "Key-Tar".  Always a flamboyant dresser, he's brought his style up a few notches by emulating his hero Jimi Hendrix.  His adoration climaxed with the ignition and subsequent explosion of a grand piano, worth several year’s wages at today's prices.  "Ach, mein struedel!" he'd say, or when things are going well, "Und now I am really feeling it in mein schnauzer panties."  

“Mad” Mozart has the typical teen fascination with technology, angst and rock ‘n’ roll.  He is currently attempting to recreate the music of the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Van Halen, and the White Stripes in a concerto to be performed by albino castrati for the Pope.  We wish him well in his endeavour.    

BMA142: Final poster, 28 March

I'm not convinced by any of these choices.  I've tried to create stickers by using my travel photos from September but I think they don't look right.  I prefer the black band with the legend "you can always go back later" over placing the words in the stickers.  But I actually LIKE those sticker choices better.  Probably because they're simpler in colour and form which lends itself to the way the figure is rendered.  I declare defeat for tonight and depart for a steak and movie at home.

BDM126: Mad Mozart poses are finished! 26 March

BMA142 Poster Development: 26 March

I spent an hour fruitlessly trying to quick clone the suitcase layer in Corel Painter.  I gave up because the results weren't any more in keeping with the style of the poster than the photo.  I did use the clone stamp to remove the old travel stickers.  I've chosen some signs of photos that I took on my trip to make new travel stickers. The text 'U CAN ALWAYS GO BACK LATER" will be put on the stickers in appropriate fonts.  No time to change the hot pink for red and purple for dark blue.  I can do that this weekend.  I forgot that I also have to write a 500-word paper on the development of this poster... I think that I've taken enough notes on my blog to be able to do this.  The poster is to be 99% done on Wednesday for digital turn-in during class.

BDM125 Storyboarding: Final Draft

revised 26 March, 2015

Glen, Ryan, Madilyn and Megan from class read over my second draft and suggested some revisions.  Mainly, clarifying what and who are involved when the words "painting", "painter", or "pictures" are used.  

MONKEY SAVES THE DAYPAINT!

by Traci Meek

EXT. PARK SQUARE-EVENING

A small, European park square.  An old brick building covered in graffiti and an art museum covered in windows face each other across the grass.

A TEENAGER works tirelessly with a bag of spray paints to create a mural of a GRAFFITI GIRL holding a canvas and paints on the side of the brick building. 

THE FOLLOWING MORNING

The square comes to life, people are passing by in a hurry, and children are playing in the park. 

Smoke billows out of a small café.  As the local fire department tends the fire, a crowd of latte drinker’s watch on. 

The TEENAGER puts the final touch on his mural of GRAFFITI GIRL and a wealthy museum patron, MADAME LE SNOB, shoos him off. 

GRAFFITI GIRL opens her eyes, looks around and excitedly begins to paint her canvas with what she sees going on around her.

INT. MUSEUM HALLWAY-MORNING

A row of large imposing famous paintings adorn the main gallery.  They stir to life.

A MILITARY HERO polishes the buttons of his coat with his horse’s tail and a TRIO OF LADIES warm up energetically. 

At the end, a small picture sits off to the side, small and forgotten.

ARTIST MONKEY sits in his painting working on a canvas of his own.  With his tail, he swipes a banana from a painted bowl of fruit and paints a moustache and eyes on the horse’s butt; he’s bored. 

EXT. PARK SQUARE- MORNING

GRAFFITI GIRL sees the paintings through the museum windows and waves at them.  They are polite, but too busy posing for the patrons of the museum. 

She makes eye contact with ARTIST MONKEY. 

SERIES OF SHOTS:  GRAFFITI GIRL and ARTIST MONKEY show their paintings and make silly cartoons of MILITARY HERO, TRIO OF LADIES and the patrons of the café.

The ARTIST MONKEY beams and feels a swell of creativity that he hasn’t felt in a long time.

INT. MUSEUM FOYER-AFTERNOON

MADAME LE SNOB marches up to the MUSEUM DIRECTOR.  She gestures through the windows at GRAFFITI GIRL outside.

MADAME LE SNOB

                   UGH!!

    

                   MUSEUM DIRECTOR

                   Ehhhh?

He shrugs apologetically.            

She opens her purse and throws money at him.

MUSEUM DIRECTOR smiles and gestures for the PAINTER to leave the wall he is painting and to follow him. 

EXT. PARK SQUARE-AFTERNOON

The PAINTER begins to whitewash the building with a very small brush.  MADAME LE SNOB taps her foot impatiently. 

GRAFFITI GIRL and ARTIST MONKEY laugh.  GRAFFITI GIRL uses her paints to undo PAINTER’s work. 

MADAME LE SNOB

Faster!

PAINTER reluctantly brings out a roller and brush.  The paint begins to cover GRAFFITI GIRL’s legs and she waves her arms to signal for help.

INT. MUSEUM, CLASSICAL HALLWAY-AFTERNOON.

MILITARY HERO sees her! But, the public is here to take his picture and he can’t do anything right now.  The TRIO OF LADIES shrug apologetically.  ARTIST MONKEY can’t believe it; they’re letting her disappear!  He pulls himself up straight and energetically swings out of his frame.

SERIES OF SHOTS:

ARTIST MONKEY flings himself from painting to painting, changing to fit the style of the paintings he’s traveling across. 

He stops in the foyer.  The exit is ahead of him but there is no more paint for him to use as a stepping stone to the outside.  ARTIST MONKEY looks worried; can he do it?  Can he really go OUTSIDE?

ARTIST MONKEY sees a patron wearing a colourful graphic t-shirt.  He leaps “into” the shirt and rides the patron out the doors.

EXT. PARK SQUARE-AFTERNOON

MADAME LE SNOB has had enough of this and brings out a super spray gun powered by a generator.  She directs the spray gun at the wall and squeezes the trigger with determination.  

The spray of white paint comes out thick and fast.  GRAFFITI GIRL is now literally up to her neck in paint.

CAFÉ SIDE OF SQUARE

ARTIST MONKEY leaps off the shirt to a truck to a window to the yellow painted curb, just across from the park square and GRAFFITI GIRL.

ARTIST MONKEY is stuck! He doesn’t have his brushes and paint.   A LITTLE GIRL sits at the café colouring in her book. 

They lock eyes and she holds up a fistful of crayons for his inspection. 

He grabs a crayon with each paw, and his tail, and busily colours himself across the street.

BRICK BUILDING SIDE OF SQUARE

GRAFFITI GIRL’S last eye has just been covered with paint.  ARTIST MONKEY has worn the crayons down to nothing and can go no further.  He slumps in defeat. 

He re-opens his eyes and sees the hydrant.  He remembers the fire fighters using it that morning.  He grabs the plug and sets off a torrent of water. 

MADAME LE SNOB is blown away, then the PAINTER.  The water washes off most of the paint, freeing GRAFFITI GIRL.  ARTIST MONKEY raises his arms in victory! 

MILITARY HERO and TRIO OF LADIES cheer as GRAFFITI GIRL smiles down at him.  MADAME LE SNOB, drenched in water and white paint, shakes her fist at the wall and the PAINTER.  ARTIST MONKEY and GRAFFITI GIRL lock eyes: is it over?

EXT. PARK SQUARE- THE NEXT MORNING   

PAINTER and MADAME LE SNOB return to find a crowd gathered in front of the mural and more people coming from inside the museum.  A big gold frame encloses GRAFFITI GIRL and a bunch of brass plates adorn the bottom of the frame.  The TEENAGER poses for pictures in front of the mural and GRAFFITI GIRL and ARTIST MONKEY beam down on the crowd. 

BMA142: Poster Development: Poster One in Progress

At the far end of the colour spectrum, my eyes have a problem differentiating between indigo and violet.  I think it's a very dark blue and then discover that I've painted my kitchen aubergine.  Ooops.  That seems to be what's going on here.  I knew that the coat was going to be a cooler red and chose a "blue" to go with it, but I seem to have gone too far.  It looks ok, it just isn't what I thought I was doing.  I'll change those colours out tomorrow and see which version I prefer.  That's the really great thing about being able to work in layers and multiple copies:  no mistakes, just the opportunity to give it another go.  I could leave the suitcase as a photo or I can put it into Corel Painter and see what auto paint makes of it.

BMA142: Poster Development, Colour Thumbnails, 25 March

I experimented with colour schemes on my favourite thumbnails and have added a photo of my old vintage suitcase to the bottom poster.  Still on the fence as to which one is my fave, so I'll just pursue both, probably, and decide which one to print and hand in on the day.

BMA142 Poster Development: Thumbnails 24 March

Based on my research, I want to do a travel-themed poster in red/white/blue.  I'm going to play with font placement and creating my own travel stickers for the suitcase.  I can't decide which of the bottom 2 thumbnails I like best, so I'm going to mock up both of them in color and see which one appeals to me more. 

BDM126: Mad Mozart's Parts

In order to achieve the spin animation, I had to create 8 drawings of my character.  If he was perfectly symmetrical, I could have re-used 2,3 and 4 and just flipped them on the horizontal.  He has a wonky eyeball, tooth and hair bow, though, so 2 and 3 needed a few adjustments.  These elements were then layered on top of each other in photoshop so I could look for proportion issues.  Once those checks, and re-checks were complete, I imported them into Flash.  It's going to take me awhile to get used to Flash.  I rely on the quick keys a great deal and they seem to be different in Flash and I wasn't able to replicate my turn a few times for the mini movie.  In the end, Glen from class showed me how to save it as a gif and that worked.

  My next step is to develop other poses for Mad Mozart.  He's had a accident in space and time and since then has been wiring up his instruments for electricity with the help of Ben Franklin.  The poses to the far left and right are attempts to develop a clear silhouette with a drum.  Three more poses with glockenspiel, harpsichord and triangle are left to do.

BDM126 Principles of Animation: My first animation!

This is my Mad Mozart character doing a spin.  I thought THOUGHT that I had chosen a simple character but he had fiddly stuff to deal with at every stage.  Well, never mind, done now.

BMA142: Poster Development and Inspiration 5, 23 March

                                   Fonts and their placement:  monkey PanAm Wax popcorn

BMA142: Poster Development and Inspiration 4, 23 March

Travel ephemera: luggage tickets journal maps

BMA142: Poster Development and Inspiration 3, 23 March

Limited colour palette:  books  Guardians War summer

BMA142: Poster Development and Inspiration 2, 23 March

                                   One thing becomes another:  hands Aristocats tiger swan

BMA142 Poster Development and Inspiration 1, 23 March

Travel Posters:  Alaska Paris  Amsterdam Viva Italia  

BMA142- 3D sculpting with Mudbox

Second attempt to create a creature face on the program Mudbox.  This program has many exciting possibilities, if I can master it. Theoretically, you could scan an actor's face into this program and then tweak it, print it at full-size, then make a mold for a prosthetic off of that print.  There are blank faces, human bodies, animal bodies, and cars to start from.  In terms of my mascot work, I'd like to learn how to make eyes, noses, and claws.

Here's the creature with some painting work.

BDM125 Storyboarding- Step Outline Corrections

 The Step outline needs to be one page long and indicative of action and where dialogue happens.  Description shows up in later drafts.  These are the changes I made:  

EXT. PARK SQUARE-MORNING

A small, European park square separates an old brick building covered in graffiti and a gleaming art museum.  A teenager paints a mural of a painter Graffiti Girl.  Inside the museum, Artist Monkey resides on a canvas and paints.  A snobby museum patron stops to disapprove of the mural and chases off the teenager.  The Graffiti Girl opens her eyes and paints what she sees.

EXT. PARK SQUARE- MORNING

The Graffiti Girl and the Artist Monkey compare paintings through the window. 

INT. MUSEUM FOYER-AFTERNOON

The snobby museum patron demands that a painter be sent out to whitewash Graffiti Girl.

EXT. PARK SQUARE-AFTERNOON

The paint rises around Graffiti Girl’s legs and she calls for help.

INT. MUSEUM, CLASSICAL HALLWAY-AFTERNOON.

Artist Monkey resolves himself to do something and busts out of his frame.

INT. MUSEUM, HALLWAY-AFTERNOON

Artist Monkey flings himself from painting to painting, changing to fit in with the style of the paintings he’s traveling across. 

INT. MUSEUM, FOYER- AFTERNOON

There is no more paint to use to get outside. Artist Monkey leaps “into” the graphic t-shirt of a patron and rides out the doors.

EXT. STREET CAFÉ- AFTERNOON

Artist Monkey moves from the t-shirt to truck to window to yellow painted curb across the Graffiti Girl.

EXT. PARK SQUARE-AFTERNOON

The snobby museum patron brings out a super spray gun and Graffiti Girl is covered to her neck in paint.

EXT. STREET CAFÉ- AFTERNOON

Artist Monkey grabs crayons from a little girl at the café and colours himself across the street, looking like a kid’s drawing as he goes.

EXT. PARK SQUARE-LATE AFTERNOON

Graffiti Girl is covered in paint. Artist Monkey grabs the hydrant plug and sets off the water.  The snobby museum patron, painter and white paint are blown away and Graffiti Girl is free. 

EXT. PARK SQUARE- THE NEXT MORNING   

The painter and the snobby museum patron return to find a big gold frame around the Graffiti Girl and Artist Monkey and a crowd taking pictures of them.

I knew I was trying to do something...

One of my experiments with Corel Painter's kaleidoscope function was to try to create the illusion that I was looking down a well.  I found this picture on the internet and I can see that what's missing in my first attempt is perspective.  The bricks at the top should be larger and clearer than the bricks at the bottom.

BDM 125, BDM126, Animation Reviews, Week of 15 March

 Weekend binge knit/watch: Archer
(TV series 2009-)  "At ISIS, an international spy agency, global crises are merely opportunities for its highly trained employees to confuse, undermine, betray and royally screw each other."   Now, there's a Logline!  Production companies:  FX Productions, Floyd County Productions, Radical Axis, Trinity Summit.
Showrunner/writer Adam Reed.

I like the lush paintings in the background and attention to detail.  I like how the characters have dark lines around them and strong highlight, midtones, and stylish shadows.  They never get lost on the screen and the two styles totally mesh.  (I can see using this balance of set and character design in "Monkey Saves the DayPaint!")  There are great costume, hair and set choices.  And it's funny.

The writers write to the show's animation limitations.  How Archer Gets Made has an excellent storyboard showing a sequence of talking heads (cheap and easy to make) followed by a jeep rolling through a jungle (expensive to make and where the most bang for the buck comes from in the scene). 

Floyd County Productions art director Neal Holman and animation director Bryan Fordney in Animating 'Archer' 
How do they make the sets?
NH: The way we get a design going is Chad Hurd and I will work on something that we think best suits the needs of the scripts and the aesthetic that Adam is going for in his scene.  We’ll get his thoughts on it and once a design is locked, we give it to our 3D team and they build that environment.  Once it’s built, we can put our camera anywhere inside it and kick out a render and then pass it on to our background team, our painters, who paint over that render.  So, it’s not just an out-of-the-box render that goes straight to television.  It goes through our painters first so it looks more like a painting than it does a stale 3D render.

What program do they use to make the characters move?
BF:  We use Adobe After Effects for the character acting, which is almost more similar to 3D animation than it is to traditional animation because we are essentially creating rigs, like 3D character puppets, but we are doing it in 2D.
NH:  Adobe Illustrator is where we’re building all of the elements for the character rigs.  We’ll draw Archer standing in a tuxedo, but that one illustration of Archer in his tuxedo is split up into several different layers, so that his hand is on a layer, his forearm is on a layer, his bicep is on a layer, etc.  In After Effects, we’ll link those three layers together, so that when I move the bicep, the forearm and the hand move with it.  It becomes like a puppet rig.

More research articles:  
 Adam Reed on writing for 'Archer'
Adam Reed talks Archer: intereview on AWN
The Twisted Genius Behind Sterling Archer

BMA 115, Drawing, comic research: Abandoned Structures

http://all-that-is-interesting.com/drone-chernobyl?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=whfbpd&ts_pid=2#19

http://all-that-is-interesting.com/abandoned-structures#20

http://all-that-is-interesting.com/abandoned-structures#24

Discussion of New Zealand art influences with Megan from class 12 March

 

Megan, one of my classmates, and I started talking about real estate in downtown Invercargill, which led to her sharing some of her favourite New Zealand artists.  How was this connection made?  There may or may not be a gentleman on Dee Street who sells copies of Goldie paintings...



Michael Parekowhai



Michel Tuffery




Bill Hammond





I am very sad that Bill Hammond doesn't have any bulls in his art.  Then we'd have us a theme goin' here!

Petrus van der Velden did not paint any bulls, either, just lots of storm clouds during bad weather, according to Megan.

BDM126 Principles of Animation: Composer Character Corrections

It is really unbelievable how many teeny weeny picky details need to be fixed from day to day on this thing.  I'm sure that once I get it into flash and "spin" it, I'll find even more.  You can see some of the things I worked on, as indicated by the blue sketch lines.  I simplified the jabot and made it the same across the first three figures.  I first widened, then shrunk the feet on the three in the middle to match the dainty shoes of the front and back.  The biggest change was to 3/4 back.  I didn't realize that his coat was still so much like the middle figure in angle.  Here's an earlier example of the figures for comparison:

I'm waving a white flag on his hair bow until the "spin".  It's the dangling piece that's proving to be difficult.  If I have to, I'll ditch it in favor of a queue, the wrapped ponytail that some 18th century gentlemen sported to keep the length of their hair in check.

BDM125 Storyboarding: Step Outline "Monkey Saves the DayPaint!"

Step Outline

“Monkey Saves the DayPaint!”

By Traci Meek

EXT. PARK SQUARE-EVENING

A small, European park square separates an old brick building covered in graffiti and a gleaming art museum.  A teenager works tirelessly through the night to create a mural of a woman with a palette of spray paint and a canvas.

EXT. PARK SQUARE-MORNING

The park square comes to life as businesses open, people go on their errands and kids play in the park.  The little café has burnt someone’s toast and the fire department has just finished putting out the little fire with the fire hydrant in the park.  The slightly smoky coffee lovers continue on with their lattes and newspapers.  A snobby museum patron pauses to note the new addition to the side of the building and clearly disapproves of the mural.  The Graffiti Girl opens her eyes, looks around and excitedly begins to paint what she sees going on around her.

INT. MUSEUM, CLASICAL HALLWAY-MORNING

The residents of the paintings in the museum, all worth millions of dollars, begin their day.  The Hero painting polishes the buttons of his military coat with the tail of his horse.  A Trio of barely dressed ladies begin their warm up and the other paintings generally stir to life.  Amongst all of these Very Worthy Paintings we spy, small and off to the side, a small canvas of a monkey in a red coat and a tricorn painting a picture of his own.  With his tail, he swipes a banana from a painted bowl of fruit and paints a moustache and eyes on the horse’s butt.  He’s been doing this for hundreds of years and he’s just going through the motions:  he’s bored. 

EXT. PARK SQUARE- MORNING

The Graffiti Girl sees the Artist Monkey and the other paintings and tries to communicate with them.  They are polite, but too busy posing for the patrons of the museum.  She makes eye contact with the Artist Monkey and they compare paintings.  The Artist Monkey feels a swell of creativity that he hasn’t felt in a long time.

INT. MUSEUM FOYER-AFTERNOON

The snobby museum patron tells the director of the museum she doesn’t like this “garbage art” that’s dominating the view out of the windows.  She throws some money at him and demands that a painter be sent out to whitewash the side of the building across the park.

MONTAGE  Graffiti Girl and Art Monkey show each other the new paintings that they’re working on and do silly cartoons of Hero painting and his horse and the patrons of the café.

EXT. PARK SQUARE-AFTERNOON

The painter begins to white wash the building but is getting paid by the hour, so he starts with a small brush.  The Graffiti Girl is able to hold him off for a while with her spray paints, and it’s a funny joke between her and Artist Monkey until the snobby museum patron intervenes.  She insists that the painter “hurry up” and he reluctantly brings out a roller and brush.  As the paint beings to rise around Graffiti Girl’s legs, she reaches out to the paintings across the square for help.

INT. MUSEUM, CLASSICAL HALLWAY-AFTERNOON.

The handsome Hero painting sees her! But, his public is here to take his picture, admire his pants and the shiny buttons on his coat, so he can’t do anything right now.  The paintings notice her predicament, but agree that there’s nothing they can do either.  The Artist Monkey can’t believe what he’s seeing; they’re going to let her disappear!  He resolves himself to do something and busts out of his frame.

INT. MUSEUM, IMPRESSIONIST HALLWAY-AFTERNOON

Artist Monkey flings himself from painting to painting, changing to fit in with the style of the painting he’s traveling across. 

INT. MUSEUM, POP ART HALLWAY- AFTERNOON

Artist Monkey works his way through the Warhol and Lichtenstein and stops short.  The foyer and the exit are ahead of him but there is no more paint for him to use as a stepping stone to the outside.  He’s never been outside, either!  Can he do it?  Can he really go OUTSIDE?

INT. MUSEUM, FOYER- AFTERNOON

Artist Monkey sees a patron coming down the hall who has a colourful graphic t-shirt on.  He leaps “into” the shirt and rides the patron out the doors.

EXT. STREET CAFÉ- AFTERNOON

Artist Monkey leaps off the shirt and onto a passing truck with a colourful logo painted on the side.  He then leaps onto the back of the horse logo on the local bank window and from there to the side of the street, just across from the park square and the Graffiti Girl.

EXT. PARK SQUARE-AFTERNOON

The snobby museum patron has had enough of this and brings out a super spray gun powered by a generator.  The spray of white paint comes out thick and fast.  Graffiti Girl is now literally up to her neck in paint.

EXT. STREET CAFÉ- AFTERNOON

Too late, Artist Monkey realizes that he should have brought his paints and brushes with him because he is now stuck at the yellow painted curb next to the café with no more paint for him to use to get to the Graffiti Girl.  He sees a little girl sitting at an outside table colour in her book while her parents chat.  They lock eyes and she holds up a fistful of crayons for his inspection.  He grabs a crayon with each paw, and his tail and busily colours himself across the street, looking like a kid’s drawing as he goes.

EXT. PARK SQUARE-LATE AFTERNOON

He’s too late!  Graffiti Girl’s last eye has just been covered by the triumphant snobby museum patron’s super spray gun.  She victoriously hands the gun off to the painter so he can finish off the last bits and clean up.  Artist Monkey has worn the crayons down to nothing and can go no further.  Dejected, he slumps against the fire hydrant.  With his head bowed, he re-opens his eyes and sees a little painting at the base of the hydrant.  He remembers seeing it being used that morning to put out the fire in the café.  He grabs the plug and sets off a torrent of water.  The snobby museum patron is blown away, then the painter.  The water washes off most of the paint, freeing Graffiti Girl from her white tomb.  Artist Monkey raises his arms in victory!  The museum paintings have been watching the whole time and begin to cheer as Graffiti Girl smiles down at him.  The snobby museum patron shakes her fist and berates the painter.  They’ll just have to come back tomorrow!  Artist Monkey and Graffiti Girl lock eyes:  it’s not over, is it?  How can she be saved?
 

EXT. PARK SQUARE- THE NEXT MORNING   

The painter and the snobby museum patron return to find a crowd gathered in front of the mural and more people coming from inside the museum.  During the night, someone has painted a big gold frame around the Graffiti Girl and fixed a bunch of brass plates to the bottom.  The teenage graffiti artist poses for pictures in front of the mural, a huge sensation in the street art scene, as Graffiti Girl and Artist Monkey beam down on the crowd.