CoP Practical: Outcome

I found during my research for my dissertation that there are many elements of aesthetics that can affect story and how it is perceived by an audience. For instance, colour, background and layout and character are all really important elements of aesthetics, as they effect a viewer personally and on an emotional level. However, I found that quality of line, whilst it can be used to create texture within work, thus creating a more realistic environment, as stated by Parr (2016), it doesn't necessarily affect how the story is perceived when used on a character, as quality of line is very subjective. 

Having said this however, it can be used to create energy within a character and can be used to direct the movement of an animation, as Joanna Quinn believes. I found through my own practical, that quality of line is in fact subjective, as I found myself favoring the second test, as I felt that there was a lot more energy and consideration of line behind this animation. This was due to the fact that I was able to control the pressure of the pen more than when I was using a tablet. I also found that I preferred the tactile feel of using traditional methods, as I felt that I had more freedom over my line. 

In conclusion, it could be argued that quality of line can be used to created rich and enticing textures that help to create rich and immersive environments, thus increasing the level of enjoyment for a viewer. But overall, quality of line is a subjective choice that is influenced highly by personal desire. Therefore, although quality of line is an area of aesthetics, I don't believe that it has a significant affect on how the overall story is perceived, but can be used with other elements to create a more entertaining animation. 

CoP Practical: Test Two

For the second test, I wanted to look at creating the same sequence, but using a natural medium and traditional animation. This way, I will be able to test the affect of changing the texture and the technique has on the quality of line.

I decided that I wanted to use a medium that I wouldn't usually use, but one that would also allow for me to create a similar drawing style as the previous test. Therefore I decided to use a brush pen.
I found drawing this way to be a lot easier than drawing digitally. One of the main reasons is because I found it was easier to be more confident with my line on paper than it was on a tablet. Also the tactile feel of drawing on paper felt a lot better than the tactile feel of the tablet, as it felt more natural and I was able to control the pressure of the pen a lot more.

This came as quite a surprise to me, as I usually use digital methods to create my animations. However, I found that using a traditional method was easier and quicker than using a digital method. This finding relates to the statement that Joanna Quinn made during our interview that traditional animation allows her to be much more free and expressive with her line.


Overall, I am really pleased with the outcome of this animation. To my own surprise, I much prefer the overall look of this animation, as I feel that the lines have a lot more texture and hold a lot more energy, as I was able to control the pressure and the movement a lot better.

CoP Practical: Making Alterations to Test One

During my last tutorial with Mike, we looked though a few clips of my first animated test. Whilst the test seemed good, Mike suggested that I remove some of the background where possible, as they distracted from the main focus of the animation, the character. After he brought it up, I became more aware of how distracting they were, so removed the backgrounds from the scenes that I felt needed it. 

Now that the background has been removed, I feel that the overall test works much better at conveying my initial ideas. The focus is a lot clearer and I am happy with the overall result. All I have left to do now it create the same sequence, but using natural media. 

CoP Practical: Test One

I decided to start with the digital test, as I am more confident with this technique, therefore I felt that I would be able to get this finished a lot sooner. I would also be able to focus more on getting the key frames in the right place, and the action, as I felt comfortable using this medium.
As the drawing was going to be quite loose and 'free', I started with the scenes that had very minimal drawing, as I wanted to get used drawing in this way before I started creating a lot of movement within my work.

I found drawing this way to be quite challenging to start with, as I am very used to drawing neatly and trying to keep to the lines as much as possible. However, after a while I became much more confident and managed to get a goof pace going.

Overall, I am pleased with the outcome. In terms of line quality, I feel that I have managed to create a line that is loose and textured. In term of affecting story however, I don't feel that the line adds nor detracts from the message being shown. Although this isn't conclusive, I feel that it might not matter all too much which medium I use, so long as the image is clear, the same message will be taken away. However, this is something that I will have to test once I have both animations complete.

CoP Practical: Line Test

Before I begin animating, I wanted to do a line test in TVPaint to get used to the software and get a feel for how it would feel to draw loosely, as I don't usually draw this way. I also wanted to test whether or not the style of line would translate well into animation.

Overall,  I am really happy with the outcome of the animation. I was slightly worried at first that I wouldn't be able to replicate the drawing style into animation all that well, due to the image boiling too much. However, I actually quite like the overall effect, as I feel that it helps to give energy to the image despite the fact that the character isn't actually moving within the clip. 

I feel as though that this technique will be achievable across both digital and traditional means, which I look forward to exploring. 

Learning TV Paint

As part of my CoP practical, I wanted to learn how to use a new piece of software, in particular, TV Paint. I wanted to expand my skills as an animator, whilst developing my skills as a 2D animator.

In order to get to grips with TV Paint, I watched a tutorial by Aaron Blaise, a film director for Disney. Whilst the program appeared to have lots of different functions and looked more like Animate CC than Photoshop, it was very straight forward to learn. I managed to pick upon the basics very quickly, and was up and animating in the same day.

Having said this however, I feel as though I have only touched upon the basics of the program and will need to explore it further in the future to develop my skills in using. For now though, I was able to use the program effectively and efficiently to achieve what I wanted, including making my own brush to create a digital line to create my animation with.
Overall, I find it very easy to use the program and I am enjoying the layout of the work space and have found that it is helping me to animate at a quick pace.

Linking Theory and Practical

Throughout the development of my dissertation, I have been keeping my practical in the back of my mind so I can allow my research to influence how I go about it and what elements I focus on. Recently, I had an interview with Joanna Quinn, which really opened my eyes to the effects of quality of line on animation.

Whilst I had the opportunity, I asked her why she chose to draw the way she did. She said that it was simply because she liked the look of it and she enjoyed drawing, particularly traditionally, as she felt that digital animation had restrictive qualities on the overall look of an animation. She also argued that drawing digitally didn't have the same tactile feel as it did with paper, reducing her freedom of line. I found this really interesting, as I hadn't considered that quality of line could merely be a subjective choice. The conversation with Joanna has opened my eyes to the different reasons behind aesthetics and encouraged me to explore this throughout my research.

I also found that quality of line can be used to create textures, moods and atmospheres within a background of an animation, as Parr (2016) states. With this in mind, I will focus on the textures within my own work, and test the difference between digital line and line made with natural media.

Practical: Idea Development

Now that I have my treatment, I felt that it would be a good idea to create a small storyboard in order to plan out the key shots of my animation. This way, I will be able to refer back to the storyboard when I come to create my final animated tests, and it will allow me to control the shot framing and keep it the same for all of the animations.

Storyboard 1

Storyboard 2

As the animated sequence will only be roughly 10 seconds long, I didn't want to make things too ambitious or complicated, especially as I will only testing one element of aesthetics rather than all of them.
With a focus on quality of line, I decided to look at artists that use very expressive/loose line work such as, The Brothers McLeod for their very basic line work and loose drawing technique. I also decided that I wanted to look into Joanna Quinn, as she creates very strong lines within her work that I feel hold a lot of texture and energy. As a side thought, I decided that it would be nice to look into replicating the drawing style of the illustration, of the book that I am taking my treatment from, which was illustrated by Quentin Blake, as I felt that it would good to explore a new way of drawing and challenge myself. 

With this in mind, I began to copy some of the artist's drawings to get a feel for how I would replicate them and whether I would have any trouble replicating them. 

The Brothers McLeod

Quentin Blake

I didn't find replicating the drawings too difficult, however it is definitely a style of drawing I am unfamiliar with. Hopefully, the more I practice the easier it will be. From doing this I have decided that I want to draw in the style of Quentin Blake for my practical, as I found this style slightly easier and I prefer the look of it. 

Tutorial: 21/11

During my tutorial last week, Mike and I discussed what it was that I was focusing on in terms of aesthetics for my practical. Whilst I had my treatment I was struggling to decided between whether or not to focus on one single element of aesthetics, such as colour, or a range of them across a series of little tests.

To help me get a better idea of what aesthetics are made of, I was introduced to a blog called LivLily, where many elements of aesthetics are broken down and examples are given. This really helped me to make the decision to go with quality of line for my practical, as I felt that I hadn't come across much research regarding its effects, and so I feel like conducting my own exploration into this would be a good idea. With this in mind, I created a mood board that looked into a selection of animations that I liked the line work in.

Quality of line mood board