Billions Thanks, & It's END of 2009...

Good Friends..
that brought me unforgettable memory..

Thanks everyone who celebrate birthday with me.. Thanks Thanks Thanks!
You guys are so awesome!

Thanks God for the 1 & half years guidance & leading in faith & study life in US..
May what I doing & achieving is glorifying Him but not myself.. >.< style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" >BYE 2009
&

Hi 2010 =)

Early Christmas Wishing: Prep & Landing

Due to the final of this semester... I guess I would have no time to update my blog until this Christmas over... (& by then I'm already at home enjoying mum's cooking~ home sweet home~!)

simple yet touching story, awesome animation, beautiful design, great humors.. I think this is really well done for TV animation~!!
(ofcoz, it's by Disney studio..~)

Yeah~ Hope you guys enjoy this & wish u an early...

MERRY CHRISTSMAS!!!!

yeah, back to work >.<

Another youtube link but there's only Part 1 the first half http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crr3TfyM-m0

Week 03: You Know What Some of the Kids Said? More about Layout

Before we get into Animation, I would like to expand a little about LAYOUT from Week 02. =)

It all start with the 12 Principles of Animation: Staging

We don't simply layout-ing, putting camera around if we know how important staging is.
If we study animation featured, we noticed how every single shots has been designed, layout nicely.

& how's my friend, Jin Liang think about layout design, do check out one of his post: Lady & The Tramp & I'm totally agree with him.

The Basic idea of Staging

We can see how everything should be organized nicely because everything appear within the frame tells the story. Good staging lead audience into the right mood of your story, it make your audience focus on your story. & Yea, it's all about story.


What we can expand from Staging is Composition,

& what we can learn from Composition is the Rule of Thirds.


This is how's the great master piece painted during Renaissance, good photography nowadays, they all followed the Rule of Thirds.

Let's take my shots for an example..




& now you can really see how I can improve my composition.


The third thing you may need to consider is Leading the Audience's Eye.

Spungella on July 2009 has great post of this topic.

The basic idea is to create an area of focus from shots to shots.
The focus area could be the position of your character, the direction of your character looking, the props that pointing to specific direction & etc.

For my shots,

shot 1 & the direction of little girl looking.

when we put shot 1 & 2 together, we can see the direction of 2 characters looking.

shot 2 & the direction of batman looking.

when we put shot 2 & 3 together, we can see the direction of 2 characters looking.

shot 3 & the direction of both of them looking.

By applying this, it would spice up your shots, & this is how you differentiate a good or bad shots.

& So here's my improved layout,

Oh yeah, what do you think? what do you think about this layout? what do you think about this piece of sharing & infomation?

feedback guys! comments!

Hope you like it.

Have Fun =)

Week 02: You Know What Some of the Kids Said

Yeah yeah, after ideas brainstorming from Week 01, I finally decided what I'm going to do!

I'm going to create a scene with a little girl was about to sleep, sitting on her bed & telling her dad about her worries, what she heard from the other kids said in school.

I want to make it a cute, sweet, adorable character animation..

Cast: Little Girl, Dad
Set: Room


After I got my ideas all set, I quickly go into Maya to create the layout with my characters (from modified norman).
I did sketch out my ideas, but too bad I left my sketches in school lab computer..

Anyway, here's my layout.

Haha, surprise~!! Batman?! Yeah, I changed it to Batman instead of 'Dad' because of 2 reasons:

1st, I want to make it looks like a scene from the Batman movies.
2nd, I don't have time to modify a 'Dad' norman..


Something about layout,
I try to make it more 'movie' approach instead of just one camera. It's good to make your piece that looks like it's a scene from movies.

At least I believe it make your work stand out among the dialogue animation, especially student's demoreel. Of course, animation quality is still the king.

Alright, this is actually the 1st layout I created, as you noticed the switch between First & Third camera is the only different.

It's actually not that bad because the 1st shot established everything clearly.. but it turned out too clear for me..

I prefer the top one because it doesn't show Batman at the 1st camera, when it cut to Second shot only people realize... it's Batman!
& they'll scream 'what the hell'.. & this is the respond I want!

Do you like the layout? heeh


So once the layout, cameras are all set, you're ready to animate it!!
But not so fast, before you really begin your animation, some brainstorm & planning should have done as well~

& I'll talk about this in my next post.

Have Fun~ =)

Week 01: You Know What Some of the Kids Said?

Yeah yeah, finally I got something to post here~

I'm working on a new clip now which I think it's a pretty good idea if I can share my progress here. =)

I'm taking JD's workshop now, & I'm doing a dialogue piece..

Week 01

In order to do a dialogue animation, you should find yourself a dialogue clip first (of course~).
There are many ways you can get it through internet but it's not easy to get a good one sometime.

Few things to bare in mind:

1. Look for something contrast in speaking tone, clear accent but not mumbling, less background sound.
   
   
2. Contrast as in emotional changes as well, to show character's thoughts, thinking, emotional gear change.
   
   
3. Avoid too famous actors, movies/ scenes that too recognizable. It's not a good idea if someone recognize where's your dialogue originally from, or who's the original actor who spoke the line, these would cause the audience recall the original scene, & letting your animation down by comparing them.
   
   
4. Not from an animation featured for sure. Just like Michelangelo was not going to re-paint, re-produce Leonardo da Vinci's artworks.
   
   
5. Avoid FXXX or similar words if you're putting it into demoreel. Keep it clean.
   
   
6. If there's more than 1 character conversation, we should look for the 'conflict' between 2 or more characters.
   For example, Character A would like to offer something to Character B but B refuse to accept it.
   
   
7. Be able to create the context that show your brilliant, interesting, creative ideas. We don't want to re-create the similar scene from the dialogue you've choosen.

Here's what I original have.

scene from Omega Man, video sources from youtube.com

I've several other clips from movies like Memento, Legend of 1900 but I decided to work on this because I would like to do something with a cute little girl scene.

However, it's too long, length of 9-12 seconds is always preferable.


& here's the version I edited.

I take out some of the lines to make the topic even more clear & focus, & tried to reduce the background sound (esp the foot step walking sound at the beginning) as well.



Alright, I'm cool with this & I'm ready to move to the next step --> Brainstorm the ideas, Show your talent~

but remember, try not to involve politics, sexual, racist, toilet/dirty jokes, animal abusing, violence issues in it.. if you're putting it into your demoreel.


That's all for week 01, there are more to come. What I mentioned here is basically the basic rules of it.
Hope you like it & find it helpful (whoever reading this). Do let me know what I missed out or to make it better. Thanks!

I'll show my layout for the next post.

Have Fun =)

Memory

It's not ANIMATION related,

but it's friendship.

paseeewball.blogspot.com

=)

The Reminder

基本上自己的animation已经上传的七七八八了...
画的也没什么进展...
照片没钱洗...
Wanna Be 那边还没时间把前期好好的整理与大家分享..

主要问题是现在手上的projects还处在production刚开始的阶段，实在是没什么好上传的 (为了保持新鲜&神秘感..)

加上本人最近遇到创作上的瓶颈，文化&思想上的冲击.. (抱歉，这写的也太文绉绉了) =.=

这些都是最近没在更新的原因 (虽然我不知到底有多少人注意我的更新..)


anyway,父亲刚于信仰上再次提醒我...

马丁 . 路德 & 约翰 . 加尔文 于宗教改革时期的口号:
唯独信心
唯独恩典
唯独基督
唯独圣经
唯独荣耀上帝

加尔文主义 的五要点 (TULIP)：
全然败坏
无条件的拣选
有限的救赎
不可抗拒的恩典
圣徒的坚忍

这都是归正信仰非常重要的教义
经常以这来反省，检讨自己
以这为各种现象，文化，思潮给于批判
这么做不是要凸显自己有多厉害
而是为了面对上帝
晓得如何面对上帝
在信仰上才能站立的住
生命要改变，有基督的生命，才能改变别人的生命..

谢父亲 的一番提醒&勉励

谢上帝

=)

White Slim Angel III

Another set of photos, a week of Reformed Theology learning in Reformed Institute, Philadelphia.

A week of John Calvin, a week of learning, a life time of Reformed Faith.

White Slim Angel II

Haven't been really posting anything here since August because I've been enjoyed my Summer holiday.. It's so much fun~!!

By working on some projects as well..

But mainly is because that I has posted most of my animation works & I got nothing to show here.. yaiks, what should I do?

Anyway, here I show you some of the photos that I took during my Summer holiday.

We went to ILM tour, & Palace of Fine Arts that near by it. Thanks Jung who invited us!

Also, I've signed up for flickr & this is the new way to browse my photos now. Check it out~!

Enjoy =)

Let's Bounce like 'Mario'

Another class assignment that I did last semester.
I think it's such a brilliant idea to combine 'ball with tail' with 'Super Mario'..
omg~ I'm so annoying~

anyway, I had a lot of fun in animate this. Hope you like it. =)

due to the copyright issue, I desperately wish but I don't think I can put the classic lovely Super Mario soundtrack in it.. >.<

White Slim Angel I

Here's some new photos~

It's basically a Mexican area. I felt like I'd back to Malaysia.. >.<
Have Fun =)

The Wanna Be Project

Do check out my another blog, The Wanna Be Project!


I'll constantly updates the progress of my thesis project there, as I try to make it specific, differentiate it out from my personal art blog here.

For those who don't know what thesis is, it's basically my final project for my MFA study in AAU. I've to finish it in order to graduate..

Thesis project, here I come~~!!!

& yeah~ I passed my midpoint 1 hour ago~!! THANKS TO GOD

'Vespa' Animation Test

a short animation test I did for my friend's thesis.

well, it would be a deer riding on the bike instead of norman. cheers =)

2010

new project. coming soon 2010.

Black + Green

new member.. combination of BLACK & GREEN
it's on my feet right now.

Sis NO.1

A drawing I had promised my sis but then I forgot...
A drawing for her because she got the 1st place in class.

Congratulations~!!

Well, KEEP IT UP!
Eventhough you're not the 1st place in class I'll still draw you something.
1st place or last it doesn't really matter.
As long as you're doing your best & know what you're doing.

& this remind me of the best I had was 3rd place in class & the worst I got was the last one.. opps~

A Day in San Francisco Zoo

The first Wednesday of every month is the free day of Zoo, with your California ID you can get it free. Other wise you got to pay $15 for entrance fee.




I didn't take much photos because I did more life sketches this time. Yes, zoo is a good place to do quick life sketches, study animals & stuff..

If only the animals in zoo behave more energetic. Don't sleep all the time, don't hide in the cave.. but they've been caged & taken good care. They're like the Narnian captured by the Tashbaan. What else more I can ask from them? Shame on me.





See, I need more practice on drawing animals, definitely. Thanks for this wonderful zoo trip that provided me to do more drawings, & realizing how much more practice I need?

& it's glad to meet others schoolmates that most of them came to zoo to sketch animals as well~! Cheers

Sneakericious

to view in better quality, press HQ button!

This is a fake commercial that I did for my class project.


Sneakericious = Sneaker + Delicious

Why NIKE Dunk SB? Because it's my favorite sneaker of all type.

Why sneaker transform/ evolve into a monster? Because it's my imagination as a sneaker lover, no why.

Why sneaker is delicious? Because I ate it before... (cold~~)

This project took me about 5 months to complete.
Start from scratch, to design, modeling, texturing, rigging, animation, lighting, rendering, & compositing etc.
Of course it's not a perfect piece of work, & it would never be.. (especially the reflection on the floor & the animation)
But this is the best I be able to produce so far, due to the time & skill I have.

Thanks Jason Patnode (class instructor) & all my dear friends who commented on my work! Thanks the panels of Spring Show who made this nominated into screening.

It's trully appreciated!

& I'm glad that I showed this to a Pixar's lighting artist & he gave few useful + helpful comments & suggestions~ opps! hehe ^^

Hope you love it. Enjoy!
If you love this, you must spread/ share this around!! Thanks!

MC Quick Sketch

Yea, just a quick sketch I did this afternoon,

while I running out of idea for planning my new shots...

I NEED IDEAS!!!!!


.



Yeah~! I got some ideas now...



He's MC Quick Sketch which took me abt half an hour to do it..

5A3

At the first day of school,
I wake up early,
dress my school uniform,
comb my hair,
wash my face,
get my breakfast,

& YES,
This is what I wanted to do..

GOING BACK TO SCHOOL!

& Ean from Hitz.fm did it..

Watched this clip from Lock Sin's Facebook..

Well, I wanted to go back to my high school,

Chong Hwa Independent High School!

http://www.chonghwakl.edu.my

I'm planning on it right now,
I think I still keep my uniform,

There are only 2 worries I consider..
1. I need to cut my hair,
2. which class should I go in? 5A3? or 6A2?

hmmmm.....

Yeah I'm FAT, SO WHAT?!!

My another assignment from Character Animation class, Get Out from Chair.
Yes, the subject for this assignment is to practice/ learn character weight shifting, from 1 point to another point. The center of gravity, how we move our hips when we lift 1 of our leg up etc.

It's a fun project. Moreover, it's a weird idea.. Tom Bertino asked me where I got this idea from...

well.. I don't know, maybe Wall-E..? I'm not sure.. it just suddenly pop up in my head. I think it would looks very funny in visual... maybe I felt like the character..~

Of course, if you felt offended please leave this page immediately, & come back again after 2 weeks. Thanks!

btw, it's Norman rig.
ENJOY

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to AI YI~!!

HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY
to my little sis, AI YI!

Be Cheerful,
& Good Luck in exam.

from leng zai gor gor.

The Fighting of Flour Sack

Here's my latest flour sack that I just completed 2 month ago. Yea, another/ new 3d Flour Sack..! which I found myself enjoying animate it..~ with the character rig I got from highend3d.com..

V.S.

and you can compare the old 3d Flour Sack that I did few years ago.. I model, rig, texture, & lighting the scenes myself, in year 2005..

and the one I drew in 2004.. the 2d Flour Sack. This looks really crappy..~ u won't like it! =)

Finally, submission for springshow 2009 is finally finished (deadline due tomorrow..) !! Yataa~!! have been doing & refining my works for this past few weeks... ofcause, this flur sack is one of it..

& soon, more to come.. especially there's a main big project I'd been work since last semester... I'm going to launch it soon.. stay tuned!

POWER UP!! I DON'T MIND BALD-HEAD

In the middle of night,

rushing assignment,

alone....

starving.....

tired......

sleepy.....



BUT...

A PACK OF MAGGI MEE


JUST ONE PACK

WAKE ME UP

POWER ME UP

NOW,

I'M FULL OF ENERGY

MAGGI GO GO GO~!!

* this is not a Maggi commercial.

Thanks Aik Sern for brought this back to me!

For those who concern: What is Maggi?

rush rush rush... will try to upload some of my latest works soon! Getting ready for Spring Show... everything is so tide & pack~ wish me good luck~ phew~

The LOMO Attitude! 樂魔 The Negative Effect by Dick Chua

For those who interested in lomography, check this out!

A recent documentary that recorded there's people (in Malaysia) who still in love with films, the old fashioned way! But so what if it's old? Just like you like old mini cooper, VW beetle, or even Beatles! The fact is old fashioned Nasi Lemak always taste the best!

樂魔 The Negative Effect directed by Dick Chua a.k.a. D1 Production.

A Reminder from Don Bluth x A Cliché Gag from Ben Lam

From the book of The Art of Storyboard ---------------->

Don Bluth said that,

'I never concentrate on doing good sketches on the first pass, but place my focus instead on the emotional power that emerges from my imagination. With each new sketch,

I ask myself the same TWO QUESTION:

What Am I Trying to Say,

&

What Do I Want the Audience to Feel?

If I can't answer these two questions, I'm not ready to draw, so I put the pencil down. '
(page. 22)

::What do you think? It apply in doing animation as well, If I can't answer these two questions, I'm not ready to animate...::

FYI, this is a very fun book to read at. Mr. Bluth shared his view of his career, not the history nor the drawing skill, but the positive attitude that we need all the time. Mr. Bluth showed his talent; moreover, his passionate in storytelling industry.

.

My last week Storyboard class assignment-

Here is your story: two characters are traveling down a road or path and something falls from the sky.

Can you believe this?! I created such cliché gag into my storyboard in 21st century.....!!! I'm running out of idea...

Oh~ by the way, the final ending could be a coke logo, or sprite, or pepsi.... whichever accept such cliché idea... Enjoy~

Trunk x Monkey x Mr. Bond x Mustang GT x Presentation Board = Concept art?

My latest assignment for storyboarding class,

Presentation Board for Advertising industry,

is a board that you draw to present to your client, to pitch the job, to convince them, to get the contact.

I learned the different between presentation board & production board, & got to know how ppl in advertising world expect the presentation board is.

Final Outline

image reference from internet

color thumb

FINAL

I never know whether I will be in advertising field or not. The fact is- CG needed in TV commercial, as well as storyboarding, especially in Malaysia.

Anyway, this is a good practice for me, esp digital painting. Furthermore, this 'presenatation board' thing might meant similar with 'concept art'- convert your idea into visual & present to your director.

We just need to do more practice in drawings. Enjoy~ =D