Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Callie is Determined

I'm writing my blog post today because Friday afternoon I'll be on a plane so it would be slightly difficult for me to come to co op. Monday was a very productive day for me because I finished my entire second background (it took me forever to do the first one)! SO that was good. Today not so much. I learned some more about Photoshop from Aramika but I kept trying to draw and then save my file and it would freeze every time. It's probably my fault though for making the file so large, but still, it's frustrating because I was supposed to get done and I spent so much time waiting for Photoshop to start working again.


I am pretty behind schedule, but I think that's because I forgot to even put backgrounds in my schedule or maybe I lumped it in with design. Apparently that was not smart. Rich says not to worry about being behind because it's most important that I am doing a good job and learning everything properly, but still I don't want to leave Smiley Guy with my film unfinished. I can't believe how fast the year has gone by, there are less than 3 months of school left! After the March break I'll come back and work super speedy. I'm very excited to start animation but the task seems daunting, It will be my longest stage yet and I find that by the end of the long stages I start to become less efficient. Probably because I just want to get it over with start something new. I must overcome that, I'm sure animation will be very interesting. See you next week!

Friday, March 4, 2016

Callie Battles Lighting and Perspective

This post will probably be very short because I am very tired and my ear hurts (I got a new piercing!!!) and because I haven't done much this week, except backgrounds. I discussed backgrounds in last weeks post and so there isn't much more to talk about, except that I think I'm finished my first background. Maybe not though, it's so freaking hard. I have very little experience with making up rooms and getting the perspective and lighting right.


I think next week I'll look up more reference images and try to make it more 3D or at least add some charm to it because right now it's sort of flat looking. I think I'll go back to my sketchbook and try out sketching different rooms in my house. Until next week!!

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Callie Tackles Backgrounds

I believe that all of last week was spent doing backgrounds (a majority of that time figuring out how to use clipping masks). Typically, I don't really like drawing backgrounds because I'm not very good at it and because I have a obsession with drawing eyes and quite obviously there aren't many eyeballs present in backgrounds. So a lack of skill and no eyeballs to draw made me think that I wouldn't really like doing backgrounds, but oh on the contrary, backgrounds are really fun.


It's a challenge I will willingly accept to try over and over again to make the perspective of a room look proper when usually I can just guess at something and it turns out fine. To help myself out I looked up some background samples from animated movies and there's this one from Lilo and Stitch that is absolutely beautiful. Of course I wouldn't be able to use it as reference because it's not what my film looks like, and I highly doubt that with my limited knowledge of Photoshop I would even be able to recreate it. Clipping masks and remembering to put everything on separate layers is literally the bane of my existence. My first background is basically an amalgamation of rookie Ps mistakes, but I promise I will learn!! At least the next few won't be as terrible (AKA I will make more than one layer). I have a new found respect for background artists because everything is a detail that needs to be attended to and making all the components fit together (and look nice) is very difficult. Kudos to the background artists of the world! Peace out!