This was supposed to be my June Rubber Onion Battle entry post, but guess what! I hate the one I finished yesterday. There are a great many things wrong with it, but the most noticeable one is that there’s next to no animation in it. I actually thought I was being clever, but as I stared onto the monstrosity I created I realized it was just bad, really really bad. Fortunately, as I was about to fall asleep I came up with a much better idea. I’m not sure I’ll be able to finish it in time, but as of today, I’m actually pretty optimistic.
I learned A LOT makings this, and I shall now attempt to list my newly found knowledge in neat bullet points:
“Cut-out” or “Puppet” animation isn’t as scary or complicated as I first thought, and a lot of the Toon Boom functions I needed to know for this were so dumbfoundedly simple that finding a tutorial for them was next to impossible.
I found a free and easy to use program for voice changing: AthTek Voice Changer which really saved my butt on this one after the guy that wanted to voice one of the characters bailed on me.
Getting up from a cross-legged sitting position without using your hands is a surprisingly big thing online. Soooo many videos… My husband can easily do it, I cannot.
General workflow of creating cut-out animation is a little less fuzzy for me now
As I suspected, I would’ve finished this much faster had I just drawn everything instead (but that’s only because I had no idea what I was doing at first.. and towards the end too)
I cannot do animation and watch streams, or listen to podcasts/music
Eli prefers animation with animals in it
Hmmm, for some reason I thought there would be more bullet points in that list. Ah well.
The theme I was really rooting for was “Medieval Dorks”, so when “Bad Magic” won instead I thought I’d be smart and fuse the two together. I got a bit carried away with the background, so I had to completely redo the characters in order for them to fit in better. (Still didn’t do too great a job there though. Also, shadows should be a thing with me. A thing that I sometimes add…) All in all I think I wasted at least a week and a half drawing and redrawing the kids, and another two weeks animating them. Even though I only had a couple of hours a day to work on that, it still took me way longer than it should have. I lack self-discipline when it comes to sitting on my ass and animating for a few hours straight.
I actually considered not posting this monstrosity, and just quietly absorbing my lessons, but then the exhibitionist in me protested that this is so bad, it needs to be seen! Since I post some terrible stuff here anyway, I figured you guys should be pretty immune to my experiments by now 🙂
All in all, I might’be bitten off more than I was prepared to chew this month, but I’m liking the whole “learn a new thing” I’m trying to do with these battles. Maybe I should aim for somewhat smaller “things”, but I’m definitely going to use these monthly animation challenges as opportunities to experiment and grow as an animator.
So Stephen Brooks launched his new site a little while ago, http://rubberonion.com/ and there’s stuff happening! Especially on the forums!
You can see all the entries and vote here: http://rubberonion.com/topic/vote-2016-october-rejected-monsters/ . I think it’s my favourite battle so far, where everyone really stepped up their game… But then I suspect I think that about every battle I participate in.
November’s Battle Theme has been announced, and it’s Unmade Holiday Specials, I believe. I was a little confused about what that actually means, but Stephen and Rob explained it pretty well, and now I have the weirdest idea bobbing about in my head. I made some initial ideas sketches, picture proof below: Continue reading “Animation Talk: Rubber Onion Battles and Boonka”
Ooooh boy, I’m a little behind on my inky drawings! Two more to draw today.. and I’m also hoping to start my Rubber Onion entry (“Rejected Monsters” YAY!!!), aaaaaand there’s a bunch of other things I’ve planned for today…
I wanted to draw a boy butt, to counter the numerous girl butts and boobs I’ve posted recently. A healthy naked bits balance is important! It was a lot harder for me to come up with a boy-centered fairy tale though, so I dove into the Russian Folklore for this. The guy’s name is Ivan, and he’s the go-to male character. He’s stupid and lazy, and if it weren’t for all sorts of supernatural beings (like a magical russian stove, a clever talking wolf or the humped donkey-horse) he’d never find a good royal wife, and probably wouldn’t make it to his next birthday.
I’ve been wanting to post this for at least two days now, but I only got to drawing it today! July’s Battle Talk episode of the Rubber Onion Podcast is out, and Rob and Stephen found new and inventive ways of trying to pronounce my name 😀
If anything, I look forward to participating in future battles just for the sake of them attempting to say my name (cool and insightful discussions of the work behind making the animations aside, of course). Earlier this month I decided to not participate in this month’s battle, hoping to use the time wisely and get overdue work done, and I shall stick to that decision, no matter how itchy I get to draw some last-minute animation mini-short. Anyways, I think it was Rob that started it, but they kind of came up with these two characters, and I got the urge to draw them, so here they are!
As you can see, Eli decided to help me add colour to this one as well, and insisted on sitting on my lap and drawing away as I was finishing the Princess. She tries to copy pretty much everything she sees me do, whether it’s talking on the phone, drawing, sitting in my spot on the sofa, eating from my plate or petting the cats. And she looks so cute doing it! I have to be a lot more careful with storing my drawing supplies these days, but it’s a reasonable price to pay, considering my baby is learning to draw 😀
I started off drawing this along to Sinixdesign’s “Painting as a sculptor” video and then got carried away, concentrating on the eyes. The ears used to look like they belonged on the head, but I was so distracted with other features I completely forgot they were even there. Now I just think this looks super creepy. I do like how I can see my weakest points here though, and it’s a good thing to keep in mind, especially since I was getting rather confident drawing faces. I need a ton more work on anatomy.
I’m posting this now so that I don’t repeat yesterday’s mistake, where I drew all day and thought I’d have enough time to post after Eli falls asleep, but as soon as I sat down at my desk the comp died in a puff of blue screen. It seems to be feeling better now, but I think I prefer blogging during the day.
Link straight to YouTube: https://youtu.be/5fOMV7ledMs
This is a very difficult word for me. I think that a possible part of the problem is the difference in English and American pronunciation, and since I haven’t really thought about it as UK English vs US English before (if that is even the case!) my brain registered one as correct and the other as incorrect, but then forgot which one is which. Right before I have to actually say the word “moustache” the following happens in my head:
1) I see the word written down in my mind, it’s always the “mOUstache” version
2) I hear myself saying it in my mind, and it always comes out as Moose-tash first
3) Doubt sets in. Is it mOOse-tash, or moose-tAsh? Or mAst-ash?
4) Going back to the way it’s spelled, looks like a mooooosetash
5) I start thinking about a moose with facial hair, flouncing around in a fancy suit
6) There’s now more than one moose. Meese. Mooses?
7) Brain freezes, possible blue screen of doom
8) I actually say ‘tache.
Sometimes I bug out and phases 2-8 happen out loud.
And this is before you even hear me try to say “cockroach”. (Coke-roach? Cock-roach? Cock… Hehe! Rooster-roach? But I love chikans, Eddie! I said “cock”! *giggles*! *says ‘roach*) Continue reading “Mous..Mus..Moose! Tash.”
With only a 100 frames to clean-up for my Rubber Onion Battle entry and my wrist being this close to stopping functioning altogether, things could be worse. I’m hoping to put Eli to bed early today (as she somehow managed to stay awake the entire day, refusing all attempts at a nap), and that means that unless my hand just drops or wilts off, I will probably be done with my “Moustache Problems” for good.
This is a moose. How is this relevant?
Hopefully, tomorrow this moose’s relevance will be revealed, for it is there, believe me.
Rediskot 