Character dev

Dev of the charros

I forgot to blog this at the time but character development for the gif - I found this quite hard as I don't quite know how I feel about characters - often don't like using them. Finishing the sketchbook wasn't hard - but I found very few of the characters any use. I find I tend to just churn things out without thinking very much. I look at other people in the studio who have considered a drawing much more before starting and it look like its much more useful.

Drawing developing ideas or ideas developing drawing?

When I looked at what I'd done maybe one or 2 ideas from the whole sketchbook were viable to push further. While I think this wild approach can be useful for idea generation I need to harness it for my own good and not let it run free like a wild beast. I need to consciously think more as I draw and generate ideas. 

Too inhibited? I think so. What is it
saying? How would movements
translate the vibes of the song?

Nice - But complicated
- especially w/ animating- 
how will all those bits move?
what does it say?

Of all the characters I thought these ducks/swans were most viable. They seem to fit the music better than a human, floating along as they please - plus who knows how a humans limbs move? not me. 

World of swans

I found this video of Ukranian swans. Natalia appears to have filmed this on her camera phone and put some kind of looping (xylophone?) track over it. There are many reasons it should be very wrong but I really liked it. Seems to have been filmed in the early evening. Lovely reflection from the lake. Something very calming about it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_VtX8AuM78

Here are some seemingly Dutch swans on land. Not as graceful as the Ukrainian swans but some interesting camera work (voyeuristic zooms?) - could there be a deeper meaning to the boy doing scooter tricks?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJR02SfZVAw

These Danish swans don't move very much, but I respect that, and I respect Danish society for respecting that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IpWIBeOCzA

These aren't swans as such, but they are Russian and I suppose they say something about swans. Getting side tracked. Its mesmerising though. Also, lovely sounds Pyotr.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rJoB7y6Ncs

The low down is the internet is full of swans moving in all kinds of ways. Having a good look at these swans to see how they move and hopefully informs how my gif swans move.

Animating/next moves

Developing it a little further the analogue one will be rain on a swan- with it getting mark making on its body as it rains then effectively reversing as it drys out. Started it and I hope its ok. For the digital one I would like to do coloured, slightly transparent swans overlapping as they swim (they will create extra colours in the overlaps)

The 3D/lens one is quite scary and daunting I hope it comes to me soon. 3D generally scares me - but its also something I want to try and conquer.

So far I have been thinking of the swans as floating in the ether- do they need a liquid base? I imagine water hard to animate (its quite hard to draw) I could just over lay it as a layer on photoshop - certainly on the digital one. But these (compositions? shots?) might look pretty confusing/empty if theres no context to these birds. 

I feel like I've probably not really working as hard as I probably should be; I've been doing more personal work and I feel like I find it hard to maintain a high work rate for a long period of time - can't really take your eye off the ball - even for a few days - with these briefs.

One more swan video:- Susan (I'm presuming she's Scottish) is offering us a social commentary of some swans. Really like the simple title. She has some lovely videos, great movement from those swans.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGwGUNwVp3o