Animating Anning

This Life drawing wasn't what I pictured, I don't think it looks like the relative I'm drawing and doesn't use bright colours like Ocean does. Although I spent a lot of time on this drawing I don't think that the outcome is very good at all. I painted this on a A2 canvas and overall, it uses some technique that Ocean does but it difficult to tell it's inspired by his style. In one of Ocean's paintings the head smaller than the body and the shape is oddly proportioned so I tried to imitate this however, I think my recreation isn't like Ocean's. The tones in Ocean's painting have a lot grey undertones in it so I replicated that and I do think that it's similar to how his would paint. I tried to paint the tones in sections, similar to how Ocean would I partly did it but I found it difficult to make it realistic, if I was to do it again I would ask my relative to wear brighter clothes as I think thats a huge aspect of Humphrey Oceans work whic...

For the body language life drawing class I originally started drawing the characters too realistic so instead I decided to turn them more into illustrations so it was easier to understand what was happening in the picture using purely body language and some background 'hints'. For example in this first drawing you see a woman holding a paint can and paint brush, with her arms open ready to accept praise (or in this case, criticism). By her facial expressions you can tell she's unsure of the response and looks quite tired. Her fee are pointing to wards the two men, an open gesture similar to her arms. One of the men looks like his thinking of something to say with his confused expression, his legs crossed- a closed of position and almost looks defensive. On the other hand, the other man looks quite angry and disappointed, his arms crossed- a very negative gesture. His feet are pointing outwards as he's not ready to talk.  This drawing at the bus stop is my least ...

My first silhouette is done fully out of charcoal. Its of a women with long hair posing with her hand next to her face, looking back at this drawing I think I could chose a better position for the woman to be standing in as it looks just like a blob of black.  My second silhouette is of a man sitting down with his legs bent and hand touching his face. This is my favourite silhouette out of all of the drawings, mainly because if how simple it is and the use of sharpie to colour in the silhouette. Also I like how I have accentuated the ears of the man and his hair. It exaggerates the drawing making it easier to understand the concept.  I next took out parts of this next silhouette so you'd be able to understand the difference between the arms, body and the face. Although because I used charcoal for this drawing it looks messy and not clean enough.  So, I decided to use posca pens to outline the hands and even the shoes this time and it looks very effective....

Finishing my animation i encountered a few issues. The original animation's video was corrupted and I had to use a lower quality version.  Although the quality is very low, the animation still shows the 12 rules of animation effectively. Also, I added some sound effects. Including seagull noises, a dog barking, footsteps and Mary Anning's footsteps. Adding sound effects created more believability in the animation. It seems like Anning is walking on the beach ready to find some fossils. This animation has a calming nature to it.

The left photo shows the original drawing I did of the fossil depot and as you can instantly tell is the perspective looks a little off. The reason I originally drew it like this was to match the original source photo of what Anning's Fossil Depot looks like, for example here it is shown below.  I wanted the drawing look similar with the depot being on the corner, however, it doesn't look very effective or like the original. So, I recreated the last drawing so that the perspective isn't as strange. It definitely looks a lot better and less uneasy to look at. I change the background colour from black to white mainly because it looked too gloomy.  Here is the new drawing on it's own; This drawing is definitely nicer to look at. its very simple but you can tell that it's Mary Anning standing in front of her new house and depot for fossils. In the front window is the ichthyosaur fossil she is most proud of finding.  Here's what the drawings all look lik...

For the lift the flaps and pullouts, I wanted the fossils to be bright colours so I chose pink, green and blue acrylic to paint a block colour. Then, I outline the paint with with black and white POSCA pen so that they would stand out just as much as the main ichthyosaur fossil.  I also left some room where I could add information on the flaps, however, In the pull out designs it was hard to find a big enough area where I could add type. If I was to do this again, I would make the folded format wider this is because as the ichthyosaur got bigger there was less room for the fossil prints to go. So, I had to make some of the pullouts thinner.  Overall, this folded format is definitely a high quality design for a children's book and with added information could be something children would find themselves enjoying learning facts. Children could even use it as a poster on their wall, which also could make it easier to interact with. 

To paint my ichthyosaur fossil across the folded format I first used a sharpie to outline the shape. Then I painted a grey acrylic colour in between and added highlights and cracks in the fossil with POSCA pens. The pens really allowed the fossil to stand out and become very vivid.  Here are some sections of the folded format;  I then added the foam prints of different fossils on the pages. Because I had limited lino I decided the foam was the second best option, however most of the prints didn't have the same effect as what lino and ink would look like and is a downfall in my final piece. 

For my final folded format I used two different methods for the flaps. One would be a pull out and the other would be a lift the flap. For the flaps I would use a scapel to cut out a section leaving half of one side still attached and folded along that line. I did these shapes in line with the rocks so that when cutting them out I didn't have to be too precise.  I did the same with the pull out design but made sure it was completely cut out. I added cartridge paper to the back of the folded format for both but left a gap in the pull outs for a piece of card to slip through to allow the pull out to move.   The top picture shows the flaps closed and the pull outs in position. This bottom picture shows the pull outs pulled out and the flaps lifted.  Here is a video demonstrating how the pull out works. 

For my final pieces I like how different they both are while being similar in style and shape. I like that i was able to do one completely traditional and to do the other digitally. I think the different medias suit the drawing that they are, doing a digital drawing for Mary Anning digging is effective and could even be a front cover of a book I like that I ended up sticking with the theme of the vignette being circular in both and links both of the vignettes together. Using watercolour for my fossil vignette was the best decision for it, this is due to the texture of the paper making it look earthy and underground. The warm colours in both show that they're in the same place, however if I would do the Anning Vignette again, I would make the ground similar to the Ichthyosaur fossil. 

My first design for my final folded format is on the left and as you can tell from this picture, it's too big for children to hold in both hands. However, on the left is my second design for it and it's the same amount of but easier for the children engage with. After reading children could even stick in on their wall as a poster. However, because it is smaller its going to be harder for me to draw exactly what i want and to fit the fossils on the page. I moved on to painting the background before cutting out the flaps. This was mainly because I practiced earlier doing this and because I painted it after the watercolour painted almost collected itself around the flaps- almost creating an outline. This is not what i wanted and to make it look more seamless I decided it was best if I painted it first even if I make a mistake cutting out the shapes. Because I have changed the background to look rocky I have decided that I could cut around the rocks to be the shape of the fla...

Sketchbook Page of new prints for my folded format and Vignettes. I have added 3 new fossil designs to my folded format; sea Urchins, Belemnites, Trilobites. On this page I experimented with painting the fossils and printing them. For my final folded format I will be using the printed fossils on top of the lift the flaps and underneath I will be painting the fossils.  On this page I wanted to show the difference between a detailed painting of a fossil and a print. Although I do like the painted ones, I think the printed fossils look more realistic to something you would dig up and find. And at the bottom of the page I decided to paint a background behind where I would printed the fossils. This definitely looks the best and the white outline around it helps the fossils stand out and I think I will do this with my folded format, if one of the prints don't turn out as clear, as a backup plan.  I experimented more with the lift the flap experiments. I wanted to have the...

With my second Vignette I had a lot less trouble and obstacles to tackle. This was mainly due to the fact I had the anatomy of my imaginary fossil (inspired by an Ichthyosaur fossil) memorised with the style I wanted to draw it in. However, unlike my other vignette I wanted this one to only be using traditional media. My only problem was my prints which I decided I wanted to use were to faint to notice so if they looked too faint I might have to redo my final piece. In the drawing above some of the prints are hardly showing up. So, I had make sure the acrylic to water ratio was thin enough to not look harsh but thick enough to clearly show the fossils. This is also an obstacle I'll have to tackle in my final folded format design.  Before scanning in, this is the final outcome, I think that this Vignette is definitely what I envisaged to look like. The colours look colourful while still having earthy tones, the fossil is prominent and clear. The rocky background is definite...

On A2 watercolour paper I started drawing and painting my design for one of the Vignettes however, halfway through drawing the final Vignette design I realised I didn't like that it wasn't looking as polished as I would have liked it to be so I decided to redraw it on my Ipad instead. The reason I changed the format of my final design was mainly because I wanted more precision in the vignette. And I thought that out lining the watercolour with a fine-liner took away from the drawing.  Halfway through drawing it on my ipad, I noticed a significant change in the clarity- looking cleaner. I found that this started to look how I wanted Mary Anning to appear and it definitely seems be a character in a book. Although I changed my drawing format to be digitally I still used the outline of the original drawing on the A2 paper as my starting point. This was because I did like the proportions and the angle, it was mainly the mistakes I made on the A2 paper which made me loose con...

The first design of my A2 vignettes is of Mary Anning and her dog on the beach digging up fossils. I wanted this design to be similar to both my animation and my folded forma to keep continuity. However, I do think that this vignette could be more interesting. To improve this I could add fossils and shells around the beach and in the sand. I could even add in her beach hut where she used to sell fossils.  This design for my the other A2 vignette is definitely my favourite because it's interesting and original. I like how the ichthyosaur fossil forms the vignette and circles the printed fossils. As the final piece is going to be a lot bigger than this design, I will be able to add  more prints and different fossils. Also I will use a darker paint because most of these fossils are faint. Although the fossils being faint could add believability, there are too difficult to see. 

To start my experimentation, I used a scalpel to cut a A3 piece of paper in half. Cut circles and half circles in various places on one of the sheets. Then I glued each of them together. The half circle were for "lift the flaps" and the full circles were for "pull outs". As you would uncover them, different fossils would be shown such as Ammonites, Belemnites, Sea sponges and urchins and sharks teeth. As you read further on on the last couple of pages there will be reptiles and bigger fossils that Mary Anning found herself. Example of the "pullouts" and "lift the flaps" opened up Next, I drew the ichthyosaur fossil to reference the positioning of the other fossils on the folded format. 

To improve my animation more I decided to add a cliff side for Mary Anning to dig at as well as creating the hole for to clearly show the dog digging. I also added in shadows underneath the feet of both Mary Anning and the dog. I added a blush on to Mary Anning's face to add a little more definition on her simple design.