Animating Anning

To make my prints more interesting I decided I could add interesting objects and characters underground. These prints included a caveman frozen in time, a spaceship, a treasure chest and a key to match it.  Also to add more dimension to my prints than my last foam paper prints I made sure to press on hard to make thicker and deeper lines. By doing this the prints turned out very impressive and clear for a child to understand what they are.  Although that first experiment was successful I still thought I could make the prints more exciting so i decided to use brighter colours. I also added some painted versions of fossils but to distinguish I used earth tones for the painted fossils. This contrast worked very well and makes the prints stand out even more.  Because the last experiment turned out well I decided to add the watercolour background that I used in previous plans for one of my designs for the folded format. This turned out well apart from some of th...

When doing my final Storyboard I started making different character designs, two of my character designs (the scientists) are inspired by when I did experiments with paint- trying to make faces out of randoms shapes. Her family members had to look similar to my character design of Anning so I didn't experiment too much with these characters and kept them quite simple. I wanted the artist who creates Durio Antiquior to have messy hair to imitate the look of a stereotypical artist. This was decided so that children easily understood who he was.    Final Design of Storyboard on A2 cartridge paper.  Each segment has a different caption  Struck by lightning as baby. People around her attributed her intelligence to this freak accident Mary Anning sold fossils since she was a young child with her brother and father.  When Mary Anning just turned 11, her brother, Joseph, found Ichthyosaur skull, they sold it for £23! Mary Anning found her fir...

  For the storyboard we were task with the idea of making pivotal moments in the historical figures career. So, for Mary Anning's first three snapshots was going to be dedicated to her childhood.  1. The first drawing is of her as a baby underneath an Elm Tree, which was struck by lightning. This is an interesting snapshot because a lot of her family and neighbours attribute her intelligence to this incident. This was definitely worth noting as it shows how women at this time couldn't just be smart, they had to have a reason why they were.  2. The second drawing of the storyboard is of her, her father and brother Joseph selling fossils. This was the initial reason for her being so fascinated by fossils. Even in Mary Anning's later life she was known for selling 'Curios' on the beach. This is where the tongue twister "She sells seashells..." comes from. 3. Her brother found a 4 foot long ichthyosaurus skull which was one of her the turning points of...

Tribolites  Distant relatives of crabs- lived in the sea Some swarm, while others walked on the sea floor  251 million years a go- they disappeared  They have three main parts- head, boy and tail  Ammonites  related to squids and octopuses  they died out the same time as the dinosaurs  their shell is a flat spiral  made up of chambers like little rooms in the shell- connected by a tube  the animal only lived in one of the these chambers and used the other space to float in the sea  some can by tiny and some can be as big as a human  Brachiopods  lived in the sea, attached to a hard surface  they are very common fossils and over 66 million years old  List of Fossils Mary Anning found  Proteosaurus- Ichthyosaurus  Plesiosaurus  Belemnites- fossilised squid- like creature. Mary Anning collected the inks so they could be macerated and used to make drawings of other Lyme...

Lino Prints  My first couple of Lino Experiments were incredibly effective and is an improvement to my previous rubber print experiments to a great extent. the texture is clear in the lino print and against black paper they look bold while still keep the aspect of underground. I do think the lino experiments with the paint backgrounds look the most like fossils underground, however I would have to use a huge sheet of lino to get this effect for the final folded format.  .   On the other black piece of paper I decided to print just the individual fossils on to it and this pattern looks very effect and I can see this being a way forward for my folded format. Out of the different colours I used for the acrylic paint, I definitely prefer using the tan colours to show they're dirty and old and underground. Unintentionally I like the effect of the prints where the fossils are more faded to show they're in the background and it adds dimension.  I then did...

  For this fossil experiment, I started off painted the fossils shape a block colour, I used three different acrylic colours and then I outlined them with a white pen. I think that if I added more fossils, varied the size and had a darker background that these experiments would be a very successful pattern I could repeat. 

These drawing have been created using gouache paints and lino prints of a couple of fossils the first couple I did used too much paint on certain areas and were too dark in colour. So, I decided to use fainter colours and less acrylic paint on each print, this was a lot more effective and I can see myself using this technique in the future.      Although the the darker shades for the fossils don't suit the first A4 page of the folded format as you get lower the darker shades fits in easier. However, I do think that just having fossils underneath the ground could be boring for young children to look at so I might add in fun objects like a treasure box, UFO or even time capsules.  For this experiment, I used cardboard as my background for the folded format so that I could draw a quick example of what the fossils would look like in a format. I think that the white and brown contrast each other effectively and by making the fossils in the background just o...

Rubber Stamps Experiments  For these experiment for my folded format I wanted to explore different textures for my final piece. This reason was mainly because I wanted to show that the fossils were underground and still covered. I also thought it could add to the aspect of age and how some of the fossils have been there since the Jurrasic Period. I also explore creating rubber stamps for skeletons of the flying reptiles such as the Dimorphodon. However, because I was using acrylic paints instead of using printing ink the prints look blurred and you can hardly identify each fossil.    So, because the fossils were unclear I decided to use Posco Pens to outline the indentations. Although this looks effective, it also take away from the reason I wanted to use rubber stamps, it takes away the authenticity of them being textured and instead of look old and below ground they look bright and standoffish. 

I decided for my final animation this will be my main background and if I can, I will do close up shots of the character faces with the background being different versions of this background. I wanted this setting to be a simple as possible while still being able to recognise that they are on a beach with cliffs. I was going to animate waves to add to it however when experimenting with this it took a lot of the focus away from Mary Anning and her dog. 

This is my final animation so far. My animation takes place on the Lyme Regis beach where Mary Anning spent most of her working life. She spent all of that time with her dog "Tray" so I thought it was incredibly fitting to use the dog in the animation as well. I wanted the main attraction to be that Tray sniffs out a bone and starts digging. Using the comical aspect that Mary Anning is a fossil hunter which basically means she also digs up bones. I want the audience to think that this bone is an ordinary bone until the camera pans down to show its a skeleton from the Jurrasic period. And a famous fossil that Mary Anning is most associated with in her career the Ichthyosaur.  If possible I will add close up shots of Annings and her dogs face. Unfortunately, as my facilities for this is limited I will struggle with this aspect. 

In this experiment I used a simple walk cycle to create my character look like she's walking. This line test look very choppy however, I was having trouble scanning the drawings in so I just took pictures and added them into animation software. Moving further I will definitely add colour- maybe with a different character design and the background will look more interesting than plain.  I also animated Anning's dog as well with a walk cycle to see if it was difficult to animate with multiple legs. Although it was more difficult than a person walking by using examples of a dog walk cycle next to me while animating it was a lot easier to process and wasn't too difficult. 

Animation Experiment 5  In this experiment I wanted to make the stick man look like he was weight lifting and struggling while holding it up. However, because of the animation app I used the frames move too fast for the audience to realise he's struggling or even pulling a face without focusing on each aspect individually.  I decided to do this animation again changing a few aspects. I changed from the previous app used to procreate, I made the stick man appear buff and like a weightlifter, I made the frames a lot slower than the previous animation and I made the block the stick man was lifting up actual dead lift weights. This definitely made the animation more appealing and easier to understand. This is one of the most effective animation experiments so far and my animations are definitely improving as I use more spare time on improving my abilities. 

Animation Experiment 4  This was to show the movement of a balloon and how using squash and stretch can make the balloon look more believable. This experiment is one of the most effective so far because it looks so much like a balloon deflating  I attempted to do this balloon again and although it looks like a balloon deflating I think because I was looking for detail in the first experiment- using a real balloon deflating to distinguish each shape it makes and by doing that I made it look as realistic as possible. However, in this other experiment I just drew random shapes each frame which is a massive error for this animation. 

Animation Experiment 3 Animation inspiration In one of the Monday day experiments we were tasked to create an imaginary animal out of cardboard. I created a mix between a 'Narwharl' a dinosaur and an aquatic creature. This inspired me to create an animation of this character.  Animation Experiment for Creature For this experiment similar to the bee experiment I wanted to creature it as fast and as accurately as possible. I used an animation app for this which has made the speed very quick paced. I also had to redraw the grass a couple of times so its quite straining for the eye. I used squash and stretch for this experiment for the creature to show its walking- this part of the experiment is effective however if I did this again I would make sure the background was still apart from some secondary actions- for example grass flowing in the wind. 

Animation Experiment 2  Jumping Animation  In lesson we experimented with the "Arch" rule in the 12 steps of animation by showing a stick person jumping over a square. However, I wanted to make it more interesting so end it with the stick person rolling on the floor- using exaggeration to make the animation look more believable.  Jumping Animation 2  Inspired by the lesson I re-drew the animation however to make it look like its continuous I made it look like the stick person doesn't stop running and carries on jumping over the block. 

Animation Experiments   Bee Experiment Number 1 In this experiment we were tasked with the idea to animate the wings flying and create a path for the b ee to fly through. I have enjoyed doing this experiment so I wanted to create my own however animating it on my ipad instead drawing my own bee.  Bee Experiment Number 2 By re-doing this bee experiment it allowed me to understand how to animation an object a lot quicker and more accurate without re-drawing the bee every single frame. 

First Attempt at a line test  For this animation I wanted to do the most simple animation while maintaining the shape of the head. As Mary Anning's main work environment it was important to me that the hair genuinely looks like its being blown by the wind. I wanted to draw simple secondary movements for this animation as it was the quickest way to experiment with different facial expressions and mark making. 

Before experimenting with David Lyttleton's style I was set on using a more angular face for Mary Anning however, I don't think that this would appeal as much as I thought to children. Because I want to inspire young girls to get in to subjects that are typically dominated by men. I think that using a simple drawing of Anning would be more engaging for younger girls to look at in a book.  Although I wanted a more simplistic look to Mary Anning, these digital drawings are still very effective, especially the picture of Anning walking.  However, the only problem with this digital drawing is that she looks quite hunched over and fed up. So, moving forward I will make her look more excited and ready to go on an adventure. 

As Mary Anning's career was started on the beach it was obviously to start in that setting I used photo graphs that were similar to Lyme Regis beaches as my starting point to base my drawings off of. I wanted to experiment using traditional and modern media so that I could see if my watercolour would translate on to animation digitally. Overall the watercolour approach was very effective, however, when drawing on an Ipad with an apple pencil I was finding it difficult to define the edges and make the picture look attractive. The drawing as a whole looks very blurred digitally so moving forward I will be using the traditional drawings as my starting point for my work.   When attempting different settings apart from the beach I decided to research what her fossil depot looked like and expand on that. Even though I used a ruler and tried to measure out my proportions the finish look to my recreation of the original picture looks uneven and very different. to improve this...

Attempting different style using techniques inspired by David Lyttleton  David Lyttleton is an artist known for depicting famous celebrity and figures by only using simple techniques. Lyttleton is well-known for his work in making history books for children and for his recurring work in newspapers and magazines.  Inspired by David Lyttleton's work I decided to use his techniques to explore different styles and processes when creating my characters. Lyttleton uses geometric shapes and makes his artworks as simple as possible. However, while they look simple they are easily recognisable to the celebrity or figure Lyttleton is showing. Lyttleton only uses a few lines to describe the face and mainly uses bloc colours to define the body and outline of clothing.   My version of Lyttleton's art is simplistic and enjoyable to make as little mark-making as possible, however, my recreations for Anning and her dog aren't as effective as Lyttleton. I prefer usi...