STORY BOARDING

Deaf and Dumb Dad

This module was set out to teach students how to make a good narrative and interpretation of situations and events by making sketches.
As part of this module students were given a short video to watch and carefully analyse. They were later asked to interpret scenes they thought to be vital into a comic book sketch.
This was a little hard for some of us though since we did not know how to go about drawing postures of the characters for various scenes.
Fortunately, this issue was tackle in a corresponding module so things became easier and we all came out with individual work.
We also learnt how to ink and how it is mostly applied in comic books and their importance. This technique could be quite tricky from my understanding but with practice, you can get it right. We also applied this technique in our two other related animation modules.

Disadvantages
I would not necessarily call these disadvantages but rather set backs. The first was that a lot of time was not spent on this, though there was not much work to do concerning this and when compared to the other tasks was quite easier, it would have been good to have more time to practice more and also come out with our own story boards preferably comic books.
It was also a little difficult to pin point important scenes for this task since every part of the story seemed to be vital.

Advantages
The advantage with this was that it was informative, since research was done on new techniques such as inking.
It was also fun and gave a platform for creativity.
It helped some of us get more familiar with body proportions, structures, postures and forms.
We were able to apply other elements learnt from other modules such as perspective drawing to scenes which were in a room.

In a total this module was a fun and creative as well as very educative module which provided much information which helped in other related modules.

2D Character Animation

Character development and animation And Production

As the semester continued we progressed to more complicated aspects of this module. One of the very first things we did was to develop a character from our cultural background. I chose one of my country's ex presidents as my character and sketched him out to make him look like a modern day superhero or super soldier.

We later looked at how to draw the structure of the human anatomy which was going to aid us in the developing of our various characters in our animation work. This module was focused more on the development of characters so everything done in this module was in that direction.
Also we considered the inking technique which was necessary if your animation was not going to be in color.

After we were introduced to the WALT DISNEY  style of doing animation. We had to draw every step and movement of our character at every point in time. This was in accordance to the principles of animation which a lot of animators today have become very oblivious to. 


Movement of Characters.

In my animation work, the main character which is the boy is frequently seen in every scene. His movements are simple movements which consist of walking, running and jumping. For the walking and running scenes the backgrounds are going to be moving, this is to give the illusion of him running or walking,hence the faster he runs the faster the background moves. Now to the jumping scene, this scene is going to show him jump then shoot jump in the air. To give that action and jumping look, effects are going to be added like how it is done in most manga cartoons to give it that fierce action scene. The shooting scene is quite simple since it would be a set position and only arms and legs are going to move. However it is the bullet of the gun that is going to do the upward movement. Again effects are going to be added to make it seem as if it is actually in the air.
Other characters like the monster and giant would follow the same walking and running movement trick, as well as the rocket. The dragon and other characters which are airborne would follow the same movement principles as the jump and bullet movement.
There is also the scene where the girl falls off the cliff. In this scene once again the background would move to give that falling effect and also there would be some effects to show her in the air. There is also the scene where they boy and the girl kiss and then hug, for this scene only their heads would be seen moving close till they get to the actual position either hugging or kissing. There is also the last scene where they walk away into the sunset, in this scene, I would apply zoom-in and zoom-out techniques to show depth and also to give the illusion of them moving further away from the screen. This technique would be applied in other parts of the animation for instance I would zoom-out on the main character when he is running and zoom-in for scenes where there is a lot of action.
There also other elements such as water and sharks for the scene where the main character swims, once again since the water is the background it would do the moving to make it look as if the character is actually moving as well as the sharks.
Also the main character would do some talking so a few lip movement and facial expressions would be drawn and changed in succession in perfect sync with the spoken words and statements.
Below are a few positions and characters.

                                                                      fig. o.1

                                                                 fig. o.2

                                                                  fig o.3

                                                             fig. o.4

                                                         fig. o.5    

                                                                   fig. o.5

                                                             fig. o.6

                                                               fig. o.7

                                                                fig. o.8

                                                               fig. o.9

                                                                    fig. 10

                                                               fig. 11

                                                                fig. 12

                                                              fig. 13

                                                               fig. 14

                                                              fig. 15

                                                                   fig. 16

fig 17

                                                                     We were also introduced to software which to aid in the development of our animation. These software included Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Premier, Adobe Flash and Adobe After effects. Some of these software were used to edit our characters whiles others were used in the development of the animation form movement to the setting of the background, whiles others could do both.

Disadvantages 

This module is very time consuming and especially since it was taken in a short semester it made students stressed out. Also it was a new thing to most of us and so we needed more time so we could get more assistance and guidance on how to go about the module. Unfortunately this module could not be fully completed though majority of the work had been done.

Advantages

Though this was quite a frustrating module, because of the time frame we had to complete this work, it was not a bad module. This module thought me how to became an animator and how animation started. I learnt the old way of making animations and also new ways of doing animation. Some of this knowledge was acquired in the studio from various lecturers and my course mates whiles others were from my research to find answers to my questions. This module also pushed me as well as many of my mates to a very tough extent since we were all eager to try our best to complete our work on time and this is a good thing for me.

In a nutshell this module has been both frustrating, tedious and stressful as well as interesting educative and fun. However I hope to do this again but under more friendlier time conditions so I could have more time to understand clearly this module since I consider it a very essential element to becoming not only a good animator but a graphic designer and artist in general. 

2D ANIMATION

Creative Warm Up

This task was the first task of the semester. We were made to draw and paint using different approaches. 
First of all we were all given sheets of paper to sketch on patterns which interpret a particular instrument from a piece of music which was being played in the background. We then progressed to a different level where we were blind folded and had to use our ears to listen and our minds, hence imagination to visualize different music patterns and instruments.
After a few sketches of music patterns, still blind folded we were given different objects to feel and sketch them the way our minds eye sees them and how we feel they should be. 
We then proceeded to the painting session where also we had to listen to music and use colors to interpret the music. 
We also took turns to also paint on each others paintings, in turns within the interval of specific seconds.

Advantages

This task was one designed to ease up the creative mind of the student. It was designed to prepare us for the subsequent tasks ahead of us for this semester.
Though this task was fun and to some people a little childish, it was very necessary. It is said that children have the best imaginations, and since there is a child in every individual it is very necessary as a designer and creative person to tap into that state of "childness" in order to catch the true creative you.

2D Animation

Animation Production
This was about the last task for the module. We were to produce our final animation work. Prior to this we learnt how to share time for particular frames for the animation. We also learnt how the animation must look like and how to build on our production skills.

Disadvantages

This task could not be fully completed since time was short and things had to be rushed. The software used for the production of the animation was as new as this task was to majority of us especially me and though we got some assistance on how to use them, we needed more time and more assistance to really understand in order to know how to really go about this task.

Advantages

Though the total completion of this module could not be attained I can say it was a successful module to about a seventy percent. I personally saw how to develop good animation considering the principles of animation. I also learnt and I am still learning how to use software to produce a good animation work.
This semester and this module has been quite a headache but if I someone should ask if I would want to do this again I would say yes, but at my at my convenient time because despite its difficult aspect it is a very interesting approach to become a good graphic designer since there are so many things we could use animation for in this field.

Below are some of the element of my animation which are the main character, the sub characters, the backgrounds and the introduction scene of my animation.

2D ANIMATION

Faces and Animation Development.

Flip books
This stage of the module begun with students experimenting with traditional animation techniques such as flip books. This was based on the research on the principles of animation developed by Disney. This was going to help understand these principles more and know how to apply them. After this session we moved on to the next stage which had to do with faces a step into the tough work ahead.
At this stage every student was to take a look at the different face types, which express different emotions. This was necessary since characters in animation are bound to express particular emotions in particular scenes hence in order to add a realistic look to your animation it is vital to add faces to your character.
We also looked at another important aspect of animation which was to do with the development of a successful animation.
We tackled the development of the backgrounds for our various scenes, a vital aspect of animation. After we addressed essential components such as software and techniques which could be used in developing our animation, how to employ them effectively and what to focus our production on. This was more of a planning session in a way to guide us to know what to do before producing an animation.

Difficulties

This module became very stressful at this point especially since a lot had to be done within very little time space. Also it demanded a lot of attention since a lot of us were lost as to what to do or even how to start and where to start from since this was our first experience.

Advantages.

This task however also boosted my desire to learn and find out more ways to produce my animation and how to develop myself as a successful animator.

2D Animation

Structure

This task was one which required students to draw structures of their choice. This task was done in some of the early stages of this semester. It was to make students familiar with different shapes and sizes of different objects. Especially since we were going to tackle animation this semester it was of the essence that every student new how to develop different structures since it is required of every good and successful animator.

Advantages 
This task was not a difficulty for me since I was able to draw a few structures from the human anatomy to guns and cars. It was fun and also helped in calming down the nerves and brain. It also prepared me for the other tasks ahead of me which obviously were going to tedious and not easy.

2D Animation

Animation Design

I should say the introduction of this task was when real work started. Each student was required to come up with an animation in relation to his or her culture.
Though in one of our other tasks we developed the character in relation to this topic, I could not make a story for the character since so many others have developed animations for that character.
I then decided to design my animation on a topic which would seem general and well known but with a more surrealistic approach. The reason behind this is, the chosen topic is one which is quite misunderstood and perceived in a certain light. I then blended basic realistic ideas with a bit of fantasy to make things clearer.
This topic was also developed as a result of a few personal experiences and also experiences shared by others, and since it is one which is also experienced everywhere I looked at it as a universal culture a way of life not for a particular set of people but instead for every race.
I then went on to develop my story boards, make sketches and do a little research on the topic and how well I could represent my message.

 Difficulties.

This task was new to a lot of us especially me since I had never in any point in my life tackled animation development.
This made it quite an issue when it came to the development of the story for my chosen topic and the characters involved as well as their roles in the story.

Advantages

This task how ever opened my mind and in some way pushed to a certain limit since there was little time to cover this task and the modules as a whole.