Monday 31 October 2011

THE CAMELS ARE COMING


Hey Folks this is a clip from bob clampetts cartoon porky in egypt it was done in 1938 a very long time ago and was in black and white. Youve gotta check this out its brilliant a camel is going mad in the desert because its too hot. How can a camel do that its crazy. but anyways

enjoy muchly

Looney Tunes / Merrie Melodies - Book Revue - 1946

Hey Folks this is a Bob Clampett cartoon called the book revue. Its a cartoon which deals with the books titles and pictures. So for example it has dantes inferno which is meant to represent hell. But never mind that watch the animation frames some of then are unreal. here is a link to John K's site which has a few frames from it and also a lip sync test from one of the scenes where one of the cops says "Calling all cars".

http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/search/label/Clampett

http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/search/label/Lip%20synch
Clampett is an awesome animation director his work is so well exaggerated that to me it is considered an art. from John K's point of view. "Clampett found a way to combine the magic and invention of early cartoons with the skills and principles of Disney animation."

This is where i want to be when i leave :D.

enjoy muchly

Proud sponser

Hey Folks
Here we have an awesome sponsor of Yoda's Portrait, Jessie J. My sister went to her gig and got to meet her backstage. She gave Jessie my portrait of Yoda as a gift and fell in love with it :P she even had it on stage. so yeah its an honour i must say so :P. hardly got any of these left. so if you want one facebook me.



Monday 24 October 2011

DJ Yoda vs Star Wars

Hey folks i was looking up some Djs that Kennys Music suggested and i came across DJ Yoda he uses technology to scratch videos as well as his music here check it out :D

Thursday 20 October 2011

The Golden Ratio "What i have Uncovered"

Hey folks
here is what i have managed to uncover in understanding the Golden Ratio or Phi as its called. Here is a small symbol of what is looks like.
The Golden Ratio is a greek symbol ("Phi") which represents a special number of 1.618. The ratio is said to have appeared in Geometry, Art, Architecture as well as understanding the human body and revealing it in plants as well as understanding the universe.

"How do we do it!" if you did maths and paid attention like i didn't then you will know but for those of you who don't know theres a few ways to do it.

One in the Fibonacci Series and the Geometric way.

Fibonacci series
0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, ..

What i learned was to take a ratio of two successive numbers and divide each number by the number before it, if done you will find the following series of numbers.

1/1 = 1
2/1 = 2
3/2 = 1.5
5/3 = 1.6666...
8/5 = 1.6
13/8 = 1.625
21/13 = 1.61538...
34/21 = 1.61904...

Eventually if you keep going you will end up with the "Phi"

Another way is the geometric way, so one way is in the form of a line. If you divide a line into two parts so that the longer part of the line (a) is divided by the smaller part (b) of the line which is also equal to the whole length (a+b) divided by the longer part (a).
sounds a bit complicate so i gave it a shot and found this one out.
(a = 61.77) (b = 38.22)
(a+b = 100)
(a/b =1.61619544740973)
(a/a+b = 1.618)

to me its like taking a whole line with a value on it like 100, 1000 or 1 and get another line of the same value and take a quarter section and then divide both together then divide the longer section by the whole number.

heres a way you could do it in drawing. The Golden Rectangle
so the yellow square is at a length value of 1, come in halfway and you have 1/2 draw a line from the halfway mark to the top corner of the square that length will now be 5/2. then with a protractor draw a curved line along the squares side join the lines up and you now have the Golden Rectangle.

you can also do it with the Golden Triangle.
I have also noticed that obviously this triangle sits at 72 and 36 degrees but you can also do it with a 51.83 degree angle to also get the golden ratio.
here is another pretty cool one which uses both triangles and rectangles the golden Spiral.















So here are some definitions of what the Golden Ratio is, But what does this have to do with my project. Well in an art form this has been used by some of the most talented artists of their time including Da Vinci Raphael and Michael Angelo. The Golden Rectangle is said to be the most visual pleasing of them all to look at and it is very useful for compositions if you take a look at this here.



















If you have a 1 by 1 square and add a square with side lengths equal to the length longer rectangle side then what remains is another golden rectangle. What you could do is keep adding more rectangles and keep this going to the desired size you want. then if you notice on number 5 there are split sections. This is what artists use for composition and construction of their paintings.

in the post below this one is the explanation if use of the Golden Ratio used by artists. My theory is to hope to achieve this technique in my music and in the animation.

so that is the next challenge to research the Golden Ratio in Animation.

Enjoy Muchly lol

By the way this research was uncovered by Assistant Professor Samuel Obara Department of Mathematics in Texas State University and his website is

http://jwilson.coe.uga.edu/EMT668/EMAT6680.2000/Obara/Emat6690/Golden%20Ratio/golden.html

The Golden Ratio "Phi" In Art Form


Another form of "Phi" is used in architecture within the famous greek building of the Parthenon. This has used Golden Rectangles to get its shape and proper construction of the pillars and roof.

Leonardo Da Vinci was an engineer and a Mathematician away ahead of his time. He liked to use his math skills in his painting to understand in more depth about human life. we can see here from his drawings that he uses the Golden Rectangle to understand composition. In this sketch of the "Old Man" by Da Vinci displays "Phi" displaying human proportions within the face.
"The Mona Lisa" uses the rectangle from the bottom of her right wrist to her left elbow and extends to the top of her head. However what is most important is what is inside of the rectangle. Da Vinci helps construct important focal points in the painting within her face and helps centre her eyes and her mysterious smile.

"The Vetruvian Man" uses three golden rectangles to help construct perfect proportions of the human body.


Here is an example of the Golden Triangle and the Golden star used in "The Crucifix" By Raphael to help indicate that the angels and Mary and Joseph in the painting has an important relationship with Christ.

Wednesday 19 October 2011

Brain Heart Music

Hey folks how you all doing.
here is something i came across yesterday after searching for a DJ which i found by the way :D. I will be uploading his link to here as soon as he replies to my mail:D. Now i was in Kennys music which is in Dundee in the town centre and i spoke to a guy who works in there.

I was telling him about Synaesthesia and the whole connection between music and image he mentioned a scottish composer called Punit Yaatri who does the same thing as synaesthesia but instead of visualisation he does it physically and mentally. Its called Brainheart Music! what this is, is a music therapy technique which helps triggers the brain and the nervous system to unleash a chemical. The chemical then flows through your body to help stimulate your mind and promote health and well-being.

according to Yaatri the first 45 seconds of the music being played to a patient was able to display electrical activity of the brain and the heart to tween with each other and create what is called "Coherence".

Coherence in physics is when two properties or fields produce frequency waves, when these frequencies are of the same wave equation they will phase with one another and connect the two fields. For example lasers share equal frequencies which produce a perfect stream of light, this technique is used for fibre optic lights so that when they bounce of the glass the frequencies will remain the same and still produce the perfect light. so basically for this small report the heart and the brain are dealing with the music being listened to and producing the same wave frequencies to produce a health promoting chemical around the body. this can do lots of things from emotions to pain and to even mental problems.

Brain heart acts like a painkiller in which it helps triggers where the pain is located in your body and helps to relieve discomfort so its like a drug but you don't need to swallow it, just listen to it. this method has helped people all over scotland to help deal with situations in their lives from ADHD, depression, learning difficulties and even brain injuries. here is an article displayed on the brainhearts web page showing what the results can do there are more stories so look it up and give it a go. I tried and i felt so much better and even shed a tear of emotions with my own problems.

This is extraordinary and i am going to conduct an experiment on a friend of mine who suffers from ADHD i will report the results when i can but the subject will remain anonymous. here is the site: http://www.brainheartmusic.com/

Another thing that was mentioned in this article was something called the Golden Ratio or the "God Ratio" it is a formula that displays a ratio of 1.618 which is shown in all devine plans, cells, energy and patterns within the universe. In Brainheart theory the music was able to allow the brain to display large amounts of alpha waves within the brainwaves and produce the Golden Ratio or "Phi". Apparently Leonardo Da Vinci used this method in his paintings especially the "Mona Lisa" and also the greeks used them too.

more info on this to come.

enjoy muchly


Tuesday 18 October 2011

POSTER



Hey folks, this is my poster which is basically showing that i am looking for a DJ. Hope you like it with complimentary work from dale . enjoy much. Get in contact

Monday 10 October 2011

Synaesthesia

hello folks.

I have spoken to a friend of mine who does psychology at uni and he has helped me with understanding what synaesthesia is and not to mention a couple of cool examples of what this little thing. Here is a small report of what the subject is all about.



I guess first things first, you need to know about how sound is transformed into a perception of hearing (you don't hear, you just think you do, as I'll demonstrate later with some illusions).

Sound comes in via the earholes (the outside bit focuses the sound, or at least that's the theory.) It hits the eardrum, which is as one would suspect, a sealed drum. The inside membrane of the drum is attached to one of the three bones in the ear (the hammer, stirrup and anvil- so called due to their shape). These transmit the vibration directly onto the oval window of the cochlea, which is just a hole filled by the end of the 'anvil'

The cochlear is filled with fluid and has a load of epithelial (flat cells) with hairs (cilia) attached to them. When sound waves travel through the fluid, they cause the hairs to move. This movement triggers a nerve impulse (electrical charge) to be sent down the nerve attached to the ear (the 8th cranial nerve). This nerve travels into the brain stem and then up into the brain to the primary auditory cortex.

So the pathway is

Sound-->earhole-->eardrum-->Bones (hammer, stirrup, anvil)-->Oval window-->Cochlea--> Vibrations bend hair cells-->nerve signal-->Brain stem-->primary auditory cortex

In the primary auditory cortex, the nerve signal is transformed into a perception of sound. The hair cells further into the cochlea (further away from the oval window if we were to uncurl it) are more sensitive to bassier sounds and so are triggered by these. Conversely, ones closer to the oval window are more sensitive to more trebly sounds.

This is why as we get older, we tend to be able to hear bass more than treble, as loud noises eventually degrade the ability of the cells closer to the oval window to send nerve impulses. The hairs on these cells are literally worn or blasted off.

So at this point in the game, we have a perception of sound. Other parts of the brain (secondary and tertiary visual cortices (cortice is the plural of cortex) etc) tranform this perception into a fully formed idea of what we are hearing. The brain is also able to interpret variation in the signal from each ear in order to tell where a noise is coming from.

SYNAESTHESIA- When the brain gets confused.

There is a youtube link I'll send you on facebook that goes over the brain anatomy you need to know in about ten minutes, and it's not too high falluting or anything.

Synaesthesia is a condition where the brain confuses one sense with another- i.e. seeing sound or percieveing colour with numbers. It's quite rare, but can create odd sensory perceptions. It's believed that famous Indian musician Ravi Shankar (not sure on the spelling) and Jimi Hendrix (needs no introduction) are both alleged to have this condition in a musical sense.

Now this isn't suprising- the area in the middle of the sensory cortex (back of the frontal lobe), auditory cortex (top of the temporal lobe) and visual cortex (back of the brain, the occipital lobe) is involved in combining all of our senses in order to get a better idea of what is actually going on.

Consider this example- you are walking along at night, and you hear a noise. You localise this noise to somewhere to your right, where out of the corner of your eyes you see a bush rustle. Your brain connects the two effects into a single perception. You can see a perfect example of this reliance on both senses in the McGurk effect.

The McGurk effect consists of a video of someone mouthing a syllable, along with a recording of a different syllable being pronounced simultaneously. When you listen to the noise with your eyes closed, you will hear a different syllable to when you watch the syllable being pronounced (usually ga or ba). The effect is so strong that even when you know it is going to happen, it still works.

Another cool effect is the doppler effect. You know when an ambulance runs past you and it sounds like the pitch changes? That's the doppler effect. Basically if something is moving towards you, the soundwaves are compressed (put closer together, hence the rise in pitch) and after is it is past you, the soundwaves are stretched out (causing the drop in pitch)

What is even cooler is that you can create an illusion of the doppler effect by panning from all the way left to right or visa versa whilst lowering pitch. A perfect example of this is on Pink Floyd's 1974 song from Dark Side of the Moon "On The Run". Throughout this track, odd panning effects are used, creating an often disquietening and confusing effect- see the plane crash/explosion at the end of the track for a perfect example.

for more info check out Ryan's Blog at night-worker.blogspot.com

Friday 7 October 2011

Hey Folks this is a kinda introduction to my project. To start off I am a 2D animation student in the masters course for this year at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design. I graduated last year with my Honours degree :) woohoo haha. 

I have had a loving passion for very exaggerated animation from the Golden Age right up to contemporary. My biggest influences are Tex Avery for breaking boundaries, Robert Clampett who is the most exaggerated animator of his time and John K who can create exaggerated emotions in character and is not afraid to experiment.

I also have a loving passion for DJ music although I can't perform myself I am interested in how everything works and through the years can keep a beat to myself and even place a few good acapellas in the music I am listening to :). I love Daft Punk, Deadmau5, DJ shadow, Grandmaster Flash, Skrillex, dubstep, David Guetta, Calvin Harris and DJ faust but I love to listen to ones I have never heard of before and expand my media.

So now you know my passions here is my theory...what if you could put both of them together and express DJ music visually through an animated character. My brief is:

"how to expand exaggerated 2D animation through the manipulation of DJ music"

I am working with a psycology student who showed me a technique called synaesthesia which is being able to see music by creating a cross between your primary visual cortex and your primary auditory cortex. I will be conducting a few experiments which will help my research for the animation. For example if the DJ scratches the character is forced to move to what the scratch would look like through the research.

So I am hoping to come up with a 2-3 minute piece with music and by using certain techniques like scratching, crossfading, bass, tremor, pitch etc. I'm also looking for a high intense dubstep music for the last minute when my character will turn into a monster and destroy the place.

So the story is, the DJ comes into a warehouse to practice his set for his show...when he turns on his music the little character will come out of the decks and this will represent his music. When the character realises he is a puppet the battle is on to try and fight back with his little gadgets on his arms that are similar to the DJs decks only more limited. Eventually the character realises that he can't control this so he turns the music evil and sinister and morphs into a horrible monster, destroying the place. The DJ then has to reverse the character back in and setting things back to normal but in the result the DJ is pumped up and ready to please his fans at his gig.
so how do i come up with the story you say...well firstly i will need to find a DJ to make a soundtrack for my film, then i will conduct a few experiments using synaesthesia with people and see what the results will be...i will create a storyboard along with the music and the gathered research for the visuals of the film. The shoot the film in live action, use this as a layout and the produce the animation.

Thursday 6 October 2011


heres some little facial expressions still early day though folks i need to also pick what colour he is going to look like and make a final model sheet plus more movements and facial expressions.

or maybe this one...still deciding

Here is some little sketches of what he may look like as a poster design.

I then decided instead of 3 fingers i and going to give him the traditional 4 fingers i feel that is a little more easier to draw...despite that 3 is less :P. Also i have finally refined my character and have shown here what is what and also some ideas of what he may look like during the effects.

well i thought today about my character and said why don't i try and get him to maybe have his own little gadgets on him that he can maybe use himself during the film so i gave him little faders and buttons.

here is another sheet i chose one of the designs and started to refine him a little but theres something missing.

The start to the character design


hey folks i have been getting my backside into work now to produce some stuff, here is a character design sketch of the character i am going to use in the film he is not refined yet.