Genndy Tartakovsky

Genndy Borisovich Tartakovsky  is a Russian-born animator, director and producer and he is the creator of my favourite animated series of all time; Dexter's Laboratory. 

The character design in Dexter's Lab has always been something that has made me want to be an animator - it's probably the nostalgia of it all, but the simplisity of the characters with their distinctive expressions have always appealed to me.  Dexter's sister Dee Dee was inspired by one of Genndy Tartakovsky's drawings of a ballerina. After drawing Dee Dee's tall, thin shape, he decided to pair her with a short and blocky opposite, Dexter, inspired by Tartakovsky's older brother. The series was animated in a stylised way, which Tartakovsky says was influenced by the Merrie Melodies cartoon The Dover Boys. Dexter's Lab, however, was staged in a cinematic way, rather than flat and close to the screen, to leave space and depth for the action and gags. Tartakovsky was also influenced by other Warner Bros. cartoons, Hanna-Barbera, Japanese anime.
I'll always love Dexter's Lab because of the nostalgia but it's the style of animation and its humour that has kept me a viewer throughout my young adult life. 

paperman

Paperman (stylised as paperman) is a 2012 black-and-white 3D hand-drawn/computer animated romantic comedy short film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and directed by John Kahrs. The short blends traditional animation and computer animation.
I thought this video for the making of the Paperman. As a budding character designer, it's nice to see that in the workplace they do value their initial designs enough to put them into parts of their film. 
I think it's given a really nice feel to the film itself.

SVA Motion Graphics

This is a really nice piece of motion graphics that I came across on Motionographer.
The transitions of the cats are really smooth so it looks as though it could have been created using After Effects.
As I've probably stated before 1000 times, I'm a really big fan of simplistic animation and cats so this is right up my street.
The rest of the work in this portfolio is really nice too, and offers a lot of inspiration for trying different things in the future so I'll be keeping an eye on this company to see what else they come out with. 

Mameshiba

While I was in Tokyo a couple of years ago, I kept seeing these short animated adverts which were really weird. 
After remembering them again, I decided to have a look for them online. I literally only had 'talking green beans advert Japan' to go by in terms of a Google search but I managed to find the whole series of these ads on YouTube. Turns out they're called Mameshiba which are different varieties of beans that have dog-like faces and tell trivia and they're actually quite popular in the UK in terms of merchandise.
I really like the animated shorts however, I think the kind of watercolour style colour palette works really nice and the sad songs in the background when the bean is talking definitely gives it it's comedic value. 

The Employment

I saw this video after someone shared it on Facebook. It was titled 'The Best Animation of All Time' which I think is a bit strong but it is a really nice animation. After some research, I found out it was called 'The Employment'. It's a really powerful animation showing that everyone is pretty much someones employee in some way or another. The colour palette in this animation is really apt for the story with it's dull colours reflecting the daily grind.
I think it's really nice that it's been able to tell a story so well without any dialogue and it's no wonder it has won multiple awards. 

The Animated Self - Production

I used a programme called Paint tool SAI to create the frames for my animation as I think it's a really simple to use software that can create effective outcomes. I use the curve tool to create smooth edges to give a slick effect. 

Creating the movement of my previous animations was pretty time consuming. I added in the individual frames one by one to get the movement right. There probably was a simpler way of doing it but it worked fine I think. 

To make the eyes into stars for the ending of my animation, I used the translate tool to manipulate the curve of the eye. 

Once I'd illustrated each frame I imported them into Photoshop to see how they'd turn out as an animation. This method was pretty time consuming but I used a way I was comfortable with to get the animation done in the short time that we had.

Trusts and Estates

I found this animation whilst looking on Short of the Week. It's been adapted from a conversation overheard between four lawyers in a Santa Monica restaurant.  
I think the way Jeanette Bonds has translated the conversation into a visual really works well -  the animation style doesn't take away the focus from the conversation yet it is still visually pleasing in a quirky way. 

PPP Presentation - First Year Progress

These are the points I have to consider when making a presentation:

What have you learned and also what do you want to learn? 
I have learnt many different techniques including hand drawing frame by frame animation and digital.

What have you enjoyed during the year and why, also what have you disliked and why? 
I have enjoyed getting my ideas down into an animation - some of them turned out better than others but I've liked seeing my ideas come to life. 
I haven't really liked the documentation side of it all, which has been a major downfall for me. Time management has been a struggle for me also and I need to spend less time procrastinating.

What mistakes have you made (in and out of college) and how have you learned from them? 
I think for me a big mistake I always make is kidding myself I have more time to do projects than I actually do - I tend to leave a lot of things until the last minute (especially blogging!). Which isn't great when you have more than one deadline to meet...

Has this made you consider how you do thing or will approach things in the future?
Definitely. Next year I intend to visit academic support to help out with the written aspect of my work.

What are your strengths and how will you develop them further and begin to apply them? 
I think my strength is thinking of a good story - I'll be putting a lot more time and effort into my animations to do them justice. 

What are your weaknesses and how do you intend to address them? 
Again, blogging and documentation which I've already addressed. I think I could also do with improving my drawing skills, which I'll definitely be practising over the summer.

What did you want to get from the year? Have you achieved this?
I wanted to make some quirky animations that I'd be proud to show and to an extent I have. 

The Animated Self - Storyboard

Here is my storyboard for the animated self animation. Due to time constraints it's going to be pretty simple but I'll make it my own with using a simplistic design to my advantage. 

It'll probably be about 20 seconds long with the narrative so it should meet the brief.