Update time

I wanted to post an update on something since its been a while. I'm still working on my flapper, the progress is slow because of my lack of time to do it, but its coming along nicely. I'll post an update of that when I make a little more progress. For now I'll post a picture of the logo I'm working on for my website.

I came up with this:

I think it looks neat, but I'm stuck with how I'll actually use it. I think it would look really neat on a business card

Anniversary Pic-WIP part 1

Still slowly working on my flapper project when I have the time. Everyone once in a while I'll work on other things when I get inspired to do something new. I've been wanting to learn more about illustrator. This technique involves taking a picture and tracing over it with a custom brush to give it a more sketch look. I tried it out with a picture from my anniversary:

 Here's the original:

...and here's the work in progress:

I'm going to go in a tweak some of the lines and add a little color later on. I'm really pleased with it so far.

Flapper Dance Update

Not much of an update, but I'm working on the background for my character. I'm going with her performing on a stage. I'm going to add in some characters playing instruments and the background music much later. Now just to finish the animation itself and clean it up.

51 Great Animation Exercises

The last year I've been really anxious to improve my animation, its something I'm always thinking about. I practically jump at any chance I can to get better. I've been discussing how to do that on the ASIFA group on Linked In. Someone suggested this website to me, and so far its going pretty well.

Animator Island- 51 Great Animation Exercises to Master.

This is a great way for me to revisit the principles of animation and a chance for me to understand them a lot better. This is also great because its an opportunity to just practice and not get too caught up in a project that gets too troublesome later one.

I've done the first to exercises on the list already this week:

1. Ball Bouncing in place, no decay (loop)
2. Ball Bouncing across the screen

I did both of the exercises about 3 or 4 times in a row, every time I thought I was done I would look at it again and start over. Paid more attention to timing and archs. I did some squash and stretch because I think it makes everything look a little more interesting. 

Flapper animation update!

I got to animate this scene a little more tonight and finally got to work on the motion of her dress. So far it isn't a complete disaster but it still needs more work:

Still haven't quite worked out what to do with her other arm, I tried animating her hand resting on her hip, but I didn't like it all that much. I'll keep at it until I find something I like.

 I also found background music that I like for this project. I went with Jazz since it fits the time period, here's the link to it:

Flapper WIP, hair

I finally got a little time to work on my flapper dance. Also did a few little sketches of how I want her hair and dress to look during a little down time at work:

I did a little research on women's hair style during that time period and decided on the finger wave style. I have her a little hat with a feather in it for a little more secondary action. I'm going to have fun doing the ink and paint for the character.

Line Art and an update!

I've been wanting to give my portfolio site and blog a more professional look, so I'm working a new logo and background design for my websites. I think I've thought of something pretty cool, I did a few sketches during break at work yesterday:

I  want to do something that plays off my name, that means "queen" and also something to do with animation or illustration in some way. What I thought of was a silhouette of my head. I incorporated a peg bar to represent animation and around it will be a fancy border. I've come up with a nice color scheme and I've been doing a little work with it today. So far I really like it.

I wasn't planning on redesigning my blog, but after playing around with some new techniques in illustrator today I'm going to give it a try. It will tie into my portfolio website with the same theme except it will look a bit more like a sketch.

I also worked a little on a sketch I drew of a woman on the bus, I did the lines for her. I'm probably going to give her a little color and a background too when I have more time.