Dreamweaver

I have the adobe creative suite 3 web premium, I only installed flash, illustrator, and photo shop at first. It wasn't until recently that I discovered that dreamweaver and fireworks were also part of the package. I installed them on my computer and have been tinkering around with dream weaver. It makes learning html much, much easier. Not just because I have a library of tags or that I can use the auto fill options. I'm happy simply because I can check my work as I go. Before I would have to type out my code in note pad, then open it up in my browser to see if it worked. Now I can just write the code and see how it looks visually in the same program.

Smoker wip

So, I added another piece to my senior project work about a week ago. I'm probably working on this as I speak (or type...). This is what I have so far that is uploaded on Vimeo.

Since this has uploaded I've exaggerated her inhale. I really like it, I just need to finish her torso, hand motion, and add in my smoke.

Smoker Pencil Test 1 from Regine Francois on Vimeo.

Flamingo Flight Cycle

So, after attempting to do a four legged walk cycle and completely failing at it, I still didn't want to give up the idea of animating an animal for my demo reel. One of my teachers suggested that I try my hand at animating a bird.

I picked a flamingo because they look so interesting. Plus I thought it would be fun to explore different ways to color it.

I tried using a bitmap fills or actual feathers that I turned pink on Photoshop, but it didn't look quite right. I was about to just give up and just use flat color when I was inspired to do something different after I finally saw "Sita Sings the Blues".

The movie was made using flash, and I really liked how Nina Paley made all the characters and environments look so interesting. She used flat colors for somethings, but they always had some sort of interesting detail.

After even more trail and error I finally found something that worked pretty well for my puppet.



I made the body, legs, and head puppet parts and animated the wings and neck myself.

I'll post the actual scene on my vimeo later.

Pregnant puppet

So, a long while ago, I designed two characters for a lip sync, but after calculating how much time it would take to actually animate the scene, I changed my mind. But I had already made the puppet for one of them; and since I totally loved how it turned out, I decided to keep it in and make a walk cycle out of it.

I'll start out with a sketch of her (I have the another one, but my scanner is acting wonky today...)



At first I tried to draw normally, but I didn't quite like it. I kept it like that for a while until I got a little inspiration from Netflix of all places. After I drew the first pregnant woman I went home and watched some old tv on Netflix. One of the reccomended shows for me was a show called "Shorties Watchin' Shorties" from Augenblick Studios. I really liked the design of the characters, so I tried to emulate what I saw. In the show, the characters had thick outlines, and round bodies bean-like bodies. They also had sort of a flatness to them, that I liked.

Here's the puppet after I finished with the ink and color:



I'm working on the details of her walk now, I really want to emphasize secondary motion with this one.

I'll try to upload what I have on my vimeo later.

Mongoose!

So I only have like 2 weeks left to work on my senior project work, and everything is actually working out more or less. I only have 3 more things to do and I'll have everything done for evaluation.

I'm making the puppet for my 4 legged walk today in class, as well as finishing my skip today. I'm making a mongoose.

Here's the sketches:

Lip Sync 1 test

So I've been working on a lip sync between my Robot and Fred Shirt. This is what it looks like thus far. ( I have made some improvments since this one, which I'll upload later. )

Sync Test 1 (I'll find you) from Regine Francois on Vimeo.

Complete Puppet

I started working on the puppet for this character today:





I finished the puppet in flash today. (I'm getting a little faster at it!)

Here it is:



I like how it turned out. Its so cute!

UPDATE

Ok, so I got my midterm evaluation a few days ago. It wasn't so great, my teacher was looking for completed work, I only have works in progress. But what I had, he liked, with the exception of my fat guy walk. And I have to say I agree with him. After thinking it over I came to the following conclusions.

1. I'm discontinuing my work on the fat guy walk.

2. I'm doing the rest of my work as cut animations, I'm faster and better at it than traditional 2d. I love traditional, but I work at a snails pace at it. That I think I still need practice. Its senior project time, I have to put my best foot forward.

3. I'm working a little more with my robot character and her counterpart. I didn't start off making a narrative, but it kinda turned into one.

4. I'm going to use my fat character as a cut animation; I spent all that time working on the animation, I might as well get some use out of it.


Anyway, I'll continue to update my blog with what I've been working on. Until then, feedback is always welcome.

Almost finished run cycle for robo-woman

Bionic Run from Regine Francois on Vimeo.

Here's what I have so far. I've added a fun sound effect. I'm working on making her head and torso move side to side as she runs right now.

Robot Girl run cycle wip

Here's what it looks like so far:

Robo Girl Run Cycle test from Regine Francois on Vimeo.

Right now I only have her keys and breakdowns, so it isn't as smooth as I would like. I'm sorry she's so small as well, when finished her puppet, it was way too big for the stage, so I shrunk it for my test.

Feedback would be great!

Robot Lady Puppet vol-1

Here's what I've done in class the last hour. I'll work more on her tomorrow. I don't like her arms quite yet. I also think I want another magnet, maybe a little more narrow.




Any Suggestions?

Robot character-more sketches!

I've started making the puppet for my cut animation robot. Here's the sketch I'm using.



I changed her chest cones to head lights because they look strange, and she's going to be a multifunctional robot, she should have lights somewhere, lol.

Really Rough Animation for Fat Walk

Here at my vimeo account!

Untitled from Regine Francois on Vimeo.

I did this last week, and I've made a lot of progress on the animation for this (Will post it after it uploads to Vimeo!) But here is the rough animation for the fat man's walk.

I'm going to loop his walk cycle once I fix a few things and add secondary motion to his belly.

Robot Character

This is a sketch of the robot character I want to use for my cut animation walk cycle. She's a robot with magnets for hands. I don't have a name for her yet, but I will soon.

Right now I'm thinking I want her to run on screen and jump since my first animation is a regular walk cycle. I think it'll show a little range.

I have more sketches for her I did this weekend, I'll post them later.

Another turn around sketch!

I'm doing a little sequence with this character, I'm naming her something cute like "Poppy Seed" since she has a little flower on her dress.

It was fun to draw her, I can't wait to ink and animate her. The next character I make will probably be a robot for my cut animation walk cycle section.

Fat guy inked

As promised, here is my fat male character inked.



I used a combination of the pen tool and the brush tool. I like how it turned out.

Fat character ink

Just finished doing the inking on the 3/4 pose of my fat character. I used the brush tool instead of the pen tool. I'm not sure about the line weights though. I'm a little new at using the brush tool, but I wanted to see if using the brush tool with pressure made a difference in how the character looked.



Feedback would be great!!

Character for fat walk cycle

So I went home yesterday after class and started working on sketches for a fat character for a walk cycle.

Here are some body sketches, I picked the one with the check mark above it.




Here are some face sketches:




And here's the sketch of my turn around:




Tomorrow I'm going to clean this up in flash and begin working on the rough animation for his walk cycle!

Feedback would be great!!

Start Senior Project 1 Work!!

My schedule is going to be pretty busy.

The things I'll be doing is:

1. A short shopping sequence line test
2. A lip sync sequence line test
3. A fat character walk cycle line test
4. A fat character walk cycle ink and paint
5. A cut animation walk cycle

I have about 3 months or so to finish all of this, and I will (somehow.)

I've got it all planned out. This week I will finish storyboards and character models.


I've already gotten started with the shopping sequence. It will be an animation of a little girl walking in the city, she passes a shop window with a sign on it. It is an ad for a big sale. The girl will do a facial take, then it will show the girl skipping away with shopping bags.