Production!

About two weeks ago we started production. We're currently ahead of schedule, seen here. Everyone is working hard and seems pretty confident so far. I'll try and update weekly. As for now I'm very confident in my team.

Also on another note I created a colouring tutorial video awhile back to give to anyone interested in helping with colour.

Hopefully this will be useful in helping understand the method I'll be using to make this film.

A challenge that we overcame this week was the opening shot. Thanks to Will and some after effects magic we split the background into two 3D planes, the sky and ground, so that that when we panned down it looks convincing. I feel it helps the films opening.

Opening Sequence Sea

I animated the sea it's self in Photoshop, as I felt flash animated water on top of a Photoshop background would look really out of place. I kept the water at a low frame rate, as from previous tests this just proved to give a nice illustrative look. Over all what I did for the sea it's self is something I am proud of.

Then further on we placed the animation of Jenny on top and found the shell needed sea foam running off it. Once again this wasn't something I could do in flash as it stood. I decided we needed to export shot in after effects and then put it back in Photoshop again for the sea foam effects. I was slightly worried about quality being lost after 2 exports but they both seemed clean and the effect needed was there.

There are still some things to add to shot one, such a the seals jumping out the sea, but these rough tests show it can be done rather simply.

Opening Shot Test (after effects by Will Wivell)

Other than that shots are making good progress. Everyone it working well I am hoping to get all the animation done by at least March.

Tutorial: The Colouring Process

The colouring process is the key to making Pups look like Pups.

It mostly involves exporting the line work gifs from flash into Photoshop. I'm using a walk cycle Will worked on to show the process.

We start off opening the gif in Photoshop. Create a new layer beneath the animation layers. Fill this layer in grey with the fill tool.

Next we put all the animation layers on Multiply. You know this is working correctly when you see the grey layer becomes visible beneath the animation layers, like the image to the left.

Then create a Group above the grey layer but below the animation layers and we call this "The White." Now for each frame of animation we create a new layer within the folder. Use the magic wand tool, with the tolerance at about 150, and select the outside of the image. Then with the magic wand still equipped, right click and select "Select Inverse." then fill this white. continue to do this until each frame is filled white like the gif below.

The reason we do this is so backgrounds can be put behind the animation layers and it wont interfere with the colour work. The grey layer is just a stand in until the backgrounds can be added.

Now we close up "The White" group, click the arrow on the group layer and it'll close, and create a new group above "The White." We call this group "Colour." In the group we create a new layer for each frame of animation, like we did with the white. This time though we use the brush tool and the oval brush that you should have been given to hand colour each frame, using the reference sheet given to know what colours to use. You can ether colour each piece at a time and go back through to colour another part, for example I have gone through once to colour Jenny's hair first and then gone through again to colour the coat, or just colour her all in one go for each frame until you're done. Do whatever you feel is best for you. Keep going until it ends up like the gif below.

(Quality slightly reduce due to being in gif format)

Don't cheat! Each frame has be hand coloured each time to create the boil effect. If you cheat by using the fill tool or a similar method then the effect will be lost.

Happy colouring!

Jenny's House V2

Jenny's home has gone through a small change, mostly the windows. It was found that in Jenny's room Pup couldn't actually see out to sea. So it was decided to add long windows, ones Pup could see through, this of course had to be reflected in the house for continuities sake.

The Sea!!!

When trying to figure out how to animate the sea I took some examples straight into Photoshop to try and keep the look of the backgrounds done by Pat.

The first test seemed ok but didn't loop correctly and would flicker to quickly. I added a dissolve which added an interested effect.

 I made the loop smoother and then lowered the frame rate, adding to the illustrated feel, also could help save time during production.

When it came to the whole sea I tried expanding of the dissolving transition but it just didn't feel right.

A suggestion from our tutor, Hillary, was to copy the animation and post it around, perhaps changing the timing of a few and I did find it created a good effect. I gave the suns reflection it's on animation and overall I'm best pleased with this!

I added the dissolve effect and I'm not 100% sure I enjoy this as much. There is some appeal but at the same time I worry if it would annoy to many viewers with this perhaps slightly trippy animation. I'll have to see after feedback. Still so far I feel it's a step in the right direction.

Creepy Deer

More for Amelia. She requested me to draw some concepts for a dead deer that may be found by the player, perhaps to cause the player to feel unease or a dark foreshadowing of the players fate if they fail!

Bed Room layout

A small bedroom layout for Ella to work off when working on Jenny's room.

Cherubs

Expanding on the statue done for Amelia previously we've moved onto cherubs. Each one worn away to represent the iconic "three wise monkeys" image. 

New Reference

Slight update on Jenny's turn around. The biggest change is her boots, nose and cheeks are now different colours from her hair. I think this is a real improvement for her design and makes her less flat.