End Of Year Presentations

    This is the presentation for my review of not only the final year, but also my experience as a whole studying animation in Leeds Arts University. This reflection demonstrates changes I made along the way, growth as both an animator and person, and finally how far I have come along in my professional practice, building a foundation for myself in the future as an animator.

 

Create Your Brand

     In this task, we were tasked to create a professional visual identity which will assist in building our foundation to our individual online presence and branding.

    Starting with the business card, I began to design the shape and style of the card. At first I went with a typical landscape style with one side illustrating my name and an illustration, and the back with my details. However that seemed too typical and I started developing it from portrait.

Business Card Process

Business Card - Back Design 1 

-  Very simple illustration and text design
- Colour of the name and profession might clash too much with the illustration
- The details of the squares are a nice touch but there's no specific design choice 

Business Card - Back Design 2

- Illustration choice is nice, however it would fit better isolated from text
- The colour of the text was changed as I was testing out colour choices; the text colour of salmon works better with the chosen illustration compared to the one on design 1
- Overall, it's clean however again, it seems like it lacks a little personality and I will have to explore upon those after revisions

Business Card - Back Design 3

- Combining both elements I still think that the first design with the simple illustration worked best
- I will have to think about colour palette and intentions to detail on my revision

Colour revision:

- After thinking about my colour scheme, I decided to create 6 sets colour palettes as my own personalised colour theme
- The reasoning behind these colours are simply because I like them. My work has developed over the years so much so that there are no sets of colours that I can think of to define my work, therefore I chose colour combinations that I felt were most personalised to myself.

Below are the colour tests I did with the chosen colour schemes.

Colour Scheme 1:

- Design 1: The use of primary colours are nice, however it's a little loud and therefore will most likely not be used as my colour scheme

Colour Scheme 2:

- Design 2: The colours compliment each other well and balance each other out. Considering this colour scheme and implementing it as my website and cv colours will be highly considered.

Colour Scheme 3:

- Design 3: Similar to 'Design 2' the colours work well and balance each other out. The only downside to this colour scheme personally is that it has a retro surfer palette, which does not entirely resonate with the context of animation and my style.

Colour Scheme 4:

- Design 4: Refreshing with the lighter colours, although this scheme was not a highly considered scheme, I might consider this as the lighter colours with yellow and orange compliments one another.

Colour Scheme 5:

Implementing the 5th colour scheme on the business card was a challenge, the light and dark colours were difficult to balance out and the outcome was unsatisfactory. Therefore I designed two designs using the 6th colour scheme. 

- Design 5: Similar to the others, I used a dark colour as base, but instead of two distinct colours, I used two hues of orange. The orange and the dark navy works extremely well with each other.

Colour Scheme 6:

- Design 6: Experimenting with the arrangement of the colours, I felt like the colours are less effective as the orange blends in too much with each other.

Conclusion:
- Through process of elimination, I ultimately decided to go with design 5. The colours there are ones I feel strongly about in terms of colours that define myself as an artist. 
- As I was not able to include the lighter colour from the 5th colour scheme, I will be combining the colour schemes of 5 and 6 as my personalised colour palette. I will also be doing a minor revision on the chosen design to incorporate all the colours of the final palette.

Final Colour Palette:


Final Business Card [Back]

Business Card Front:
- Since the contact information is on the flip side of the business card, I decided the other would be an illustration with a QR code of the website attached. 

Here are three designs I came up with

Front Design 1:

- The illustration is from one of my favourite projects so far
- The layout is simple and the choice of using an illustration as one side is visually appealing for something as simple as a business card 

Front Design 2:

- I used this illustration at the beginning of the design phase as I thought it was visually striking and impactful
- However it lacks personality and it does not fully portray myself

Front Design 3:

- This illustration is from my most recent solo project, Revival
- Out of the three illustrations, this is the most personalised choice and therefore will be choosing this illustration as it represents me the most

Note:
- As the website will be completed after the business card, the QR code and website link will be updated after on the business card

Website Process [My Website] 

    As I have no experience in coding, I used Squarespace and their portfolio templates to create my website. Then applying the previous design of colour schemes, I applied it to make the site visually more personal and more on brand.
    
    Choosing my best array of works, I separated my work showcase into 4 sections, Background Illustrations, Animation Shorts, Showreel, and Other Projects. 

    As I am more interested in background illustrations starting this year, I decided to showcase my best work and development from the beginning of the year to present. Most of which are from the group project I worked on in LAUAN603. 

    In the Animation shorts section, I included a series of animations I made during the second year and this year as I feel like some shorts produced in the second year demonstrate works that I am still proud of. I also included a section for background illustration from The Last Riders...And Hell Followed With Him. As I am now more interested in background illustrations as well as animation; showcasing both in my showreel would demonstrate my best works and interests.

    As I plan to develop this website post graduation, I created a section for showreels; which I hope will accumulate annually as I keep this website updated with all my best works. 

    Finally, I have a section for 'other projects' which includes works such as illustrations, designs or even work in progress animatics/animations, which I will hope to show more of  in the future.

    Other than work showcasing, I also have an About Me page which will allow people to understand who I am and what my interests and ambitions are for animation. I also have a contact page which will allow people to contact me for commissions or work opportunities in the future. Last but not least, I also have quick navigation links which will lead them to my other socials such as Instagram, Twitch, and Email.

[note that screenshots do not showcase the website fully, visit the link to view fully!]

Homepage 

About Me

Background Illustrations [Original]

Background Illustrations [Zoomed Out]
 

Animated Shorts [Top]

Animated Shorts [Bottom]

Animation Showreel 

Other Projects [Original]

Other Projects [Zoomed Out]

Contact Page

    Further developing my website, I created a logo for it with the designated colours and a simple illustration.  

Website Logo 


    In the end, I bought the website and the domain 'tuffkinsart' as I am committed to further expand the develop my website to showcase my work post graduation. 

Website QR Code

Updated Business Card [Front and Back]

Other Social Media Platforms
    
Linkedin Profile 

- I aim to use Linkedin to network with professional animators and artists in hopes to find opportunities for professional work in the animation industry

Instagram Profile

- Instagram will be best suited for commission work as compared to Linkedin, Instagram caters more towards the general public
- I aim to use my platform for commissions on the side 

Twitch Profile

- As I continue to work towards streaming, my goal is not only to showcase my work and progress to an audience who are interested. I also aim to network with those who have similar interests and eventually in hopes of collaborating or taking up creative jobs from larger streamers in the streaming industry.

CV

- I took a more of a creative approach towards it, making it visually similar a info-graph, simple visuals making it simple to understand and digest

Exit Strategy

Building upon the future, here is my plan from present till 12-18 months post graduation.

Before Graduation: [Present till Early May 2021]

- Build up my experience as both an animator and background illustrator

- Complete or fully flesh out at least 3 solo projects I can develop post-graduation

- Complete my own animated short and finish it to the best of my abilities

- Finishing designing my foundation as a professional animator, Cv, business card, and a good portfolio which showcases my development and best work

- Learn and practice industry standard softwares, Photoshop, After Effects, TVPaint, Toon Boom Harmony, and Premier.

- Continue to build up and get in habit of streaming on Twitch.

- Revive online presence, start posting my work on Instagram to get the fear of 'bad' art out my mental

After Graduation: [12-18 months post-graduation]

- Settle down as soon as possible and adjust to new environment 

- Spread my wings, put myself out there more and try to find free-lance opportunities through social media or online events

- Obtain the equipment necessary to maintain a less problematic stream on Twitch and develop a stream schedule

- Continue to develop my skills as both an illustrator and animator through working on my solo projects and practicing heavily on industry standard softwares

- Keep posting my latest work and developments on my social media platforms consistently to maintain online presence 

- Be able to earn a living and support myself through my passion of streaming and animating.

Scan the Horizon

    After graduation, it would be most preferable for me to work freelance as I plan to pursue my interest in streaming alongside too. As my plan for streaming will take place throughout the year after post-graduation, the period will be considered as a trial year for my side hobby as streaming. I aim to integrate my knowledge and passion for my animation projects into streaming and create a platform to record my progress and growth as an animator and streamer. Therefore my consideration in fully indulging within the animation industry as a part of a full-time studio is not that great. 

    Currently my dream role would be able to work free-lance on some projects that would allow me to show the work being worked on stream and also get a form of royalty and credibility. I am currently intrigued in background illustration and would not mind taking part in building up that skill. However, I would also like to build up my skill as an animator therefore both regarding those aspects would be my main focus. Job opportunities or offers will mostly be gained through either Instagram or FaceBook as there are many groups and communities that are catered towards specific aspects. My main goal would be to self sustain and gain salary through working free-lance on projects as well as streaming those on Twitch, having a two way income. 

    Linkedin will be a great helping hand for me to connect with professionals directly. Social media in general will be helpful too in terms of self promotion and getting my work out there to gain recognition. Moreover, animation events such as MAF will also be a good opportunity to network and engage with professionals.

    As COVID is something that needs to be heavily considered, I would want to stay within the UK and find opportunities online for now. Ideally, moving to Canada would be my first option as it's also a place where animation is more prominent compared to Hong Kong. And that would take away a lot of issues regarding requiring and signing up for VISA in the UK. However, if the latter was not possible, I would mostly move to London and settle down there as the central of UK would most likely have more opportunities for me as an Animator. 

Network

    Attempting to widen my horizon I tried to connect with people who are artists, animators, or creative directors who have worked with or are working in companies that I want to be a part of in the future as an animator. 

My Linkdln Account: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-lam-529826182/

List of Attempted Contacts:

1) Chengwei Pan [2D Animator, Concept Artist] 

    Pan is an animator/concept artists who worked at Riot Games. He would be a great connection to have and would be insightful for me to learn about both 2D animation and concept art as I am interested in both fields.

2) Blair Armitage [Character Artist at Riot Games] 

    Armitage is a freelance artist who worked with Riot Games as a concept artist. She would be a great connection opportunity for me to learn more about character artist.

3) Lorenzo Colaiori [Animator - Riot Games] 

Colaiori is an animator who specialises in CG Character animations. His connection with Riot games and having worked on a cinematic short Ryze: Call of Power for Riot Games was what 

4) Ross Tran [President of RossDraws / YouTuber] 

    Tran is a public figure and creative director. He is known for his wide range of illustration and digital art tutorials on YouTube. Moreover he recently started his own animated series featuring characters created by him, building a universe upon it. If possible, this would be a project I will want to be a part of.

5) Gregory Sharp [Creative Director at Truba Animation]

    Sharp is one of the co-founders of Truba Animation. He has directed and worked on the infamous show 'Rick and Morty' and they also worked on the animated music video 'Childish Gambino - Feels Like Summer'.

6) Adam Deats [Associate Director at Powerhouse Animation, Brady Games]

    Deats is the associate director of the Netflix series Castlevania and Blood of Zeus. Both of which has been an eye opening experience as they were able to encapsulate immersive storytelling and characters which got me hooked onto the show.

7) Bagus Y. [2D Fx Animator at Axis Studios]

    He is an animator which specialises in 2D animation, specifically high octane action sequences. He has animated a scene from the series 'Animator vs. Animation V' which was directed by Alan Baker.  

8) Rory Alderton [Animation Director on League of Legends Wild Rift]

    Alderton is an animation director on the mobile game 'League of Legends - Wild Rfit' derived from the infamous MOBA [Multiplayer Online Battle Arena] League of Legends. The renewal of in-game models and animations was a refreshing experience compared to the character models and animations from the MOBA. 

9) Yixing Qin [Animator, Character Design - Lilith Games] 

    Based in Shanghai, China, Yinxing Qin is a Masters  Surprisingly, I was able to connect to her through Linkdln recently. She works at Lilith Games which is known for their infamous mobile game 'AFK Arena'. 

10) David Stodolny [Character Animator at Walt Disney Studios]

    Stodolny is a character animator at Walt Disney Studios. With his wide asset of skills ranging from traditional animation, to film and directing, it would be a great learning experience  and opportunity to form a network.

List of Networking Events / Opportunities 

1) MAF [Manchester Animation Festival]

    Having attended this festival annually, it allows us to view early screenings of projects with other animation students and even directors. As directors and professional animators gather for this event, it is a great opportunity for exchanging and networking.

2) Asian Creative Network [FaceBook]

    This group on FaceBook is an Asian based community which allows individuals to share and promote their work and passion. The community is filled with diversity and doesn't only limit to Animation or even Art students. This would be a great opportunity to network with people in general to self promote and gain a following. 

2) Animation Jobs [FaceBook]

    This group on FaceBook is aimed towards animators, posting and promoting various job opportunities for anyone that are interested. As they post daily, there will be a wide range of jobs that will be open and available for me to take part in if possible to build up my experience.

3) Instagram

    As I am aiming towards free-lancing post graduation, posting more frequently and being more active will allow me to build my online presence more. Moreover as I use instagram actively I will also be able to connect and look for opportunities directly.  

4) Fiverr

    Fiverr is a website catered towards online hiring. People post their work and their services such as creating a 10 second animation short for a set amount of price, and depending on length and quality, the price varies. This allows me to work on short and small projects and complete requests under self set guidelines. 

5) Twitch 

    As I am more active on Twitch as a side hobby, ultimately I aim to create a platform not only catered towards my own hobbies, but also animation. Although this platform is not known to cater towards artists but more so personalities, I aim to one day build a community which cater towards both. I aim to stream my own work progress and develop solo projects and showcase them to a community that I've built, hopefully inspiring others who are interested in animation too.      

    Moreover, as this site is known for gamers, some gamers do develop their own game. Specifically, a streamer named Boxbox is developing a turn based card game and is looking to hire some part-time artists who will help create his game. I aim to take upon that opportunity and hopefully land a role to build up my experience and portfolio. 

Review your presence

    My current practice is that of an 2D Animator. I am interested and passionate about this field as I want to create short films that demonstrates and illustrates my creativity in storytelling. As I specialise in 2D I am familiar with Photoshop, and in the process of learning animating through TVPaint. I also am interested in illustrative animations [animating a digital painting] so I will be learning that through a mix of Photoshop and After Effects. Moreover, I recently found interest in background painting and have been learning digitally painting landscapes for scenes. Subsequently, this has lead me to be more indulgent in background creating than character concepts, therefore I believe I am currently more specialised in background creation and illustrative storytelling. 

    By the end of my university studies, I aim to continue with my own work of passion which is working on my solo films. I do not plan to set up my own studio as of now as I aim to become a social media presence which revolves around myself engaging in activities other than animation such as gaming or drawing digital art. However I do consider working freelance on some other animation related projects from studios. 

    I aim to become a full-time streamer who engages with their audience and hopefully entertain a community of people who are interested in animation or have passion for it. I aim to demonstrate my process post graduate on Twitch through streaming and be able to create several passion projects from start to finish full time. As of now, I have a Twitch channel which I stream regularly at, although there is no set schedule for my streams, I try to stream at least 3 times a week. I am also opening a Discord server for my stream community to engage in so there will be more interaction between me and the viewers. Finally, I aim to reactivate my Instagram account and further promote my art and Twitch channel to further build upon the community that I strive for in the future.

    

    

Extended Practice - Progress Journal

 In this project, I aim to create a solo project which elaborates on the progress on my context of practice 3. In addition to that, I also aim to focus more on character design and backgrounds. Working on other projects will also help develop my skills and strengthen my portfolio as an animator.

[24/10/2020]                                      Initial Developments

         As I want to further develop upon the topic of synaesthesia in context of animation, I plan to create a short film recreating the experience of synesthete. I will accomplish this through  choosing one soundtrack and animating a series of visual elements synchronising to each section of the track itself. 

    The chosen soundtrack is 'Darkness' by V.K a Taiwanese composer. This soundtrack is heard from a rhythm game Cytus developed by a Taiwanese company, Rayark. The reason I chose this track is because of the dynamic flow and beat this track features, allowing interesting dynamic visuals to be interpreted.  

[10/11/2020]                                   1st Weekly Presentation

[Week 1 Presentation]

[Initial Mood board]

    In the first presentation, I talked about how I wanted to further develop the theme of synaesthesia from the Context of Practice 3 Module. With the chosen sound track in mind, I developed a visual mood board after synthesising with the song itself.

    I will also look at opportunities to work in other groups as either a background artist or a character concept artist. 

[24/11/2020]                                        2nd Weekly Presentation 

    Developing upon my visual board as tasked, I added a series of visual images that would help develop a visual style and imagery that will feature with this project. 

    Alongside that, I also completed a live brief from LoopdeLoop - TheSmilingBoy. This live brief required us to visually interpret a song which was about asylum seekers, in particular Farhad Bandesh whom was one himself. Inspired by a photograph which captured a boy smiling before being buried alive in northern Iraq as Saddam Hussein tried to wipe out their population in the late eighties, Farhad wrote this powerful song which embraces the struggles and experiences he and many others had experienced as asylum seekers. 

    I developed a visual board with provided and externally sourced images then produced a looping short for the song.

    I aim to progress from visual developments and get on to storyboarding the project.

[29/11/2020]                    Group Meeting [Rhys' Project - The Last Rider]       

    In the first meeting, we discussed about our roles in the group and the work we would like to each tackle for the project. As I was interested in character design for this project, I applied for that role. Alongside that, I wanted to practice and develop my illustration skills and decided to also take on that role as well.

[30/11/2020]                Meeting with Music students at Leeds College of Music            

  As my solo project does not need additional sound, I joined in to understand the progress of collaboration between music and animation students. Since I was a part of Rhy's project, it was also interesting to listen to the work and projects music students' have produced and how they maybe able to help out on the group project.            

[7/1/2021]                                                3rd Weekly Presentation

    Further developing on my solo project, I created a draft storyboard of the soundtrack. Separating it in different sections and taking notes on what visual elements and transitions would appear after indulging myself in the soundtrack.

    As I joined up with Rhy's group, I developed some character concepts. However, I found that I was more indulgent in developing and painting a concept background, taking up majority of the time; therefore a compromise was formed where I would focus solely on background concepts. 

    Feedback; Background needs to capture the 'hellish' theme of the world! It is realistic but lacks creative aspects.

    After that, I will have to develop the exterior but also keep the creative aspect in mind while doing so.

[21/1/2021]                                      4th Weekly Presentation

    From the previous weekly presentation, I started from scratch and redeveloped my vision on the projects' background concepts. I approached the world in from an abstract point of view and created several hellish like western landscapes. 

    After conversing with Rhys, we came to the conclusion where I would add a saloon in the landscape, keeping the abstract structure from the Design 2; developing into the final Design, 3. 

    Completing the exterior concept, I moved onto the interior. Using the Maya references made by Rhys, I developed several visual concepts with it. Keeping the creative aspect in mind, I made a hellish visual theme for the backgrounds. 

    Feedback; The original colour scheme and visual style was preferred over the overly hellish colour scheme from the interior concept. 

    Due to the constant development and time spent on the backgrounds I didn't have time to work on my solo project. However I do aim to resume progress next week.

[4/2/2021]                                          5th Weekly Presentation 

   

    As Rhys has finalised the Gantt chart for the backgrounds, I spent the time to develop and finalise the background I did as a concept during the previous weekly. The outcome was great and I am proud of the development, however I will need to keep the subsequent background visually consistent. 

[Change of plans for solo project]

    Due to the time spent finalising and painting the backgrounds, I did not have time to work on my solo project. Moreover looking at the time and deadlines set, I might not be able to produce a final film that I envisioned and will be proud of, some compromises may have to be done to shorten it if possible. 

    However as I am getting more and more interested in background illustration as an animator, I actually do not mind comprising the solo project to complete and put my fullest effort to create and complete the backgrounds for Rhys' animation project. The more I think about my solo project the more sense of direction lost from the planning phase as the 'feeling' of depicting specific visuals synchronising to the soundtrack maybe dependant on myself and changes overtime. I will make a final decision on the verdict of my solo project within the timeframe of this weekly and the next weekly.

[11/2/2021]                                          6th Weekly Presentation 

    Continuing on with the backgrounds, I've finished the second background and moving swiftly onto the third. As I am able to reuse a lot of the assets I've digitally illustrated, this makes the process of the backgrounds a lot faster; only having to adjust and repaint some parts of the background and not starting from scratch. 

    If possible, I aim to finish the backgrounds ahead of time, allowing room for improvement and changes if needed. Depending on how ahead I am from the schedule, I can then go back to my solo project if possible. As I still aim to create a abstract visual based animated short, I will not need the long process of pre-production but only to test animatic timings. Therefore if there is time left to spare, I do aim to get back to it after completing the backgrounds.

[18/2/2021]                                     7th Weekly Presentation 

    This weeks' progress was productive. I've managed to complete three backgrounds which puts me ahead of the set time schedule by 2 working days. I've managed to complete backgrounds 3, 4, and 5, moreover I got to add some minor details to the completed backgrounds of 1 and 2. 

    I aim to continue working at this pace, hopefully allowing myself to complete work ahead of time to allow room for adjustments.

[25/2/2021]                                                1-2-1 Tutorial

        In this meeting with Mike, I was able to inform and update him on my situation regarding this module. My plan for this module initially was to create a visual and music synced animation which lasted for 1 minute and 50 seconds. However that was put on hold once I've started committing on Rhys' project. 

    Although, I am ahead of schedule on Rhys' project and I aim to spare as much time as I can to complete what I wanted to do originally. I will compromise and cut down the time to around 30-40 seconds, focussing only on the main parts of the song. I will have to go back to the drawing board and fully plan my animation once I'm at a stage where I only have to do minor revisions on the backgrounds. 

    My second plan would be to fully help Rhys out on his project and do some producing of animating some scenes if my project is not developed or revised enough in a timely manner.

[3/3/2021]                                         8th Weekly Presentation

    As there was some time between the 7th weekly session and the 8th, I was able to get some more backgrounds completed. I am currently a little passed the half way point, 10/20 completed backgrounds and almost completing the 11h and 12th. 

    As aforementioned, I aim to complete the 20 backgrounds in a timely manner allowing time for me to work on my initial project. That plan can change and I might fully commit on Rhys' project not only as the background artist but also an animator. However that will be my backup if I do not come up with a revised storyboard and animatic for my project once I reach the stage of minor revisions on the backgrounds.

Feedback:
- Make the shelves messy! Not rearranged
- Generally, the place is too clean, need to mess it up more [on the floor] 
- On background 10, the cards needs revisiting, seem to be on different planes 

- Things look too even, needs foreshortening!

[10/3/21]                                          9th Weekly Presentation

    Since last weeks' weekly, from the feedback I got to make the environment messier and less clean, I decided to hold those revisions on pause after I finish all of the backgrounds first. As I am still ahead of schedule for the backgrounds, I aim to finish all the interior backgrounds first then move onto the two remaining exteriors.

    I planned to have worked on some of my solo project this week however I was not able to do so due to the backgrounds. Since I completed the interiors, I will hopefully be able to move onto the exteriors and revisions by next weekly. Leaving the remaining time to work on my solo project. 

[18/3/21]                                       10th Weekly Presentation 

    This week, instead of leaving the revisions till last, I decided to tackle them and finish them for feedback this week. Alongside revisions, I also completed the rest of the interior backgrounds that were not complete due to the bar shelf needing to be reworked as well as the bar atmosphere. 

    During the week, Rhys also requested for two additional interior backgrounds, I will be aiming to complete those alongside the exterior backgrounds for the next weekly. As those backgrounds will not be too difficult, I can complete them and also work on my solo project.

Solo Project Update:

- As adjustments had to be made due to the lack of time left before submission date, I decided to retackle the concept of my solo project.

- I changed songs, from 'Darkness' by VK, to 'Luolimasi' by SIHanatsuka

- This short will be a self reflective piece, illustrating self struggles and overcoming them through synchronised visuals with the track

- To accommodate for the time remaining, I will have the option to cut down the song, however that effects the 'storytelling' aspect of it as I aim to synchronise the tone and mood portrayed by the track to the visuals. However my solution will be to have the first half illustrating self struggles and battling them illustrated in a black and white animation, finally breaking free and transitioning to fully coloured visuals at the end.

    I aim to portray my concept through a developed storyboard and animatic by next week alongside the backgrounds. 

[25/3/20]

    Tackling on the exterior backgrounds, I used the exterior concept piece to get an understanding of the rest of the sky that I will have to build upon as this background is planned to pan from the sky down towards the saloon. 

[Original Concept Exterior]

    I decided to redo the main assets of the background as the lines and the colouring of the mountains, tower, and saloon are well underdeveloped and lacks the consistent quality of lighting and style.

    But before tackling the assets, I had to settle down on the background composition. The concept Rhys provided was a portal that opens up leading towards the saloon in the sky; some thoughts of colour came to mind and I decided to try out different colours for the sky.

[Background 13 Colour Tests]

    Rhys suggested the colour of the portal to be a hellish orange colour, therefore tests were done to make the sky orange fading to the green for the portal. However there was an issue of consistency where if there was to the background, I would have to apply the change to the other backgrounds where there were windows showing the landscape from the interior. 

    Rhys and I mutually agreed to keep the background colour range from hot pink fading to a pale purple to make things more simple.

    A workaround for the portal was to replace the portal with the moon, making that the focal point suggesting that this world presented was a fantasy Hellscape; which was suggested by Rhys. 

    Happy with the decision and direction, I started to compose a composition for the clouds. 

[Background 13 Cloud Composition]

    After polishing off the clouds, I moved onto the assets. I decided to tackle the tower and mountains as those were the easier ones to redo first. 

[Background 13 WIP1 - Tower and Mountains]

    

Tower Changes:

- Completed base colour and removed the line details

- Separated the creature statue from the shaft of the tower and added a shadow underneath it

- Repainted the scales of the neck portion of the creature to replace the lines

- I decided to not paint the 'brick' texture on the tower and make it just simple stone shaft

Mountains Changes:

- Repainted some areas to make it more complete

- Changed the hue of it to reflect a more reddish tone, fitting the hellscape environment

[Background 13 WIP2 - Saloon]

Saloon Changes:

- Repainted the entire structure

- Changed the base colours, instead of browns mirror the texture of wood, I changed it to a maroon tone to push the hellscape aspect further

- The wood textures on the structure are now more visible 

- Added interior details, so now the windows are see-through to the inside of the saloon

Overall, I am really happy with the outcome of the saloon. Although this process too long, it was really worth it.

[Background 13 Final - Added Shadow and Lighting]

[Background 13 - Close up of the Saloon]

Final touches:

- After adding the lighting and shading, the saloon really popped

- The saloon sign was a bit dull even after revision, so I decided to push the fantasy aspect further and made it emit a hellish green flames which worked extremely well

Solo Project [Storyboard]:

- After spending majority of the week working on the first exterior background, I was only able to get the general concept of the storyboard complete. 

[Revival Storyboard]

I plan to complete the backgrounds and start animating next week after completing the final and last background for Rhys group project. 

[1/4/20]

    Working on the final background, the background is a wide-shot illustrating a sand-dune background. Reusing assets of the mountains and clouds, I created a draft version to see if this was the direction Rhys wanted for this background. 

[Background 19 - WIP1]

- Simple background to accomplish as a lot of assets were reusable

- Most difficult aspect of it would be the sand-dune 

    I mainly struggled with the colours of the sand-dune as I did not know whether to depict it with an array of reds to reflect the hellscape theme or use colours I used to depict the ground form the first exterior background.

    In the end I decided to keep the colours consistent and use the lighting of the hot pink to help depict that hellish fantasy aspect. 

[Background 19 - WIP2]

 

    After completing the assets, I started to work on the lighting, shading and minor details. 

[Background 19 - Final]

    After this background I still have a final background to complete depicting the final scene depicting Marrow, the protagonist and his skeleton horse. 

I will work on that next week and focus on my solo project backgrounds first.

 Solo Project Update:

- Due to minute amount of remaining time, I have decided to cut majority of the storyboard concept down to only the ending where the character breaks through from the darkness and flies through the skies. 

- I will complete that aspect of the project first as that will be the most visually impactful scene, leaving the remaining time for polishing and finding a workaround to depict the 'struggle' aspect

   

    Working on the first background, I struggled a lot with the perspective, technique, and the depiction of the city. 

    I started by composing the perspective of the shot and started painting. 

[Revival Background 1 - WIP1]

    After working on the perspective and the composition, I managed to get a general composition of the background. Excluding the city, I've painted the mountains and sky. 

[Revival Background 1 - WIP2]

Trial and Error:

- As I wanted to speed the process up for the background, I tried and attempted photo-bashing, to depict the aspects. However I found that too difficult and inconsistent in terms of texture and style

- I resorted back to painting using a textured brush to give it a rougher look

- Thinking about the scene, I thought of elongating the background and changing the colour of the sky, making the two backgrounds combine to make the process easier

- I attempted photo bashing for the city, however I did not like the perspective of the sot and in the end, I decided to find a better reference photo for the perspective and start over

    I will work on the background next week, and hopefully experiment with after effects to see how I can transition the sky from night to sunrise.

[8/4/20]

    Working on the new background, I got a perfect reference perspective for the background. With that, I started to work on the new background. As this animation project is a personal project relating to myself, I used a cityscape of Hong Kong as a part of my background to demonstrates my origins.

[Revival Background - Perspective reference]

    After gathering the images, I started to compose the city aspect first as that was the most trouble I had in the previous background. 

[Revival Background - WIP1]

- Using colour range, I created the light contours of the cityscape of Hong Kong Victoria Harbour

- I then photo-bashed various views and cityscapes of Hong Kong to complete the missing aspects of the contour

- I played around with the hues and saturation to make the city scape monotone 

[Revival Background 1 - WIP2]

  

- I changed some areas of the cityscape hue to make the contours more apparent 

- I used colour range for the city reference image of Victoria Habour and adjusted it to get a selection of the cityscape highlights

- I adjusted the colour of orange of the sky to reflect that on the highlight buildings 

    I then started to work on the clouds; starting with the sunrise.

[Revival Background 1 - Sunrise clouds]

[Revival Background 1 - White clouds]

[Revival Background 1 - Grey clouds] 

    To save time, after finishing the sunrise clouds, I adjusted the hue and saturation of it to produce the white and grey clouds. 

I aim to finish the last background for Rhys, the second Revival background and start animating next week.

[15/4/20]

    Working on Rhys' last background, it was quite simple as it was just a change of composition and some minor details.

    I used the sand-dune from background 19 to create the background, added a flat foreground  to complete the ground composition. I was deciding whether to have a flat landscape or a more dynamic one, I decided to create a more dynamic background to make the landscape less static.

[Background 23 - WIP1]

- I attempted to repaint the clouds using a chalk brush but that changes the style of the clouds immensely ruining the consistency, therefore I kept the clouds the same  

- As in the storyboard, there were boulders around the mid-ground I decided to add those there for the final composition to make it look more interesting and less empty

[Background 23 - Final]

- I finished rendering the boulders and the post for the leash of the skeletal horse

- I added lighting and shadow to this piece and completed it