The 500 Word Reflective Piece

Reflective Writing

I have been studying new ways to express exaggerated animation within my film by researching new artists and animators.

I have recently found out about an artist named Edmund Mcmillen, an Indie Games artist/animator who has a specific simple yet exaggerated style within his characters and his animations. He has been influenced by John K's "The Ren and Stimpy Show" as well as collectable cards "Garbage Pail Kids" I have been influenced by these resources myself and was amazed that we share a common knowledge of animation exaggeration. Edmund uses his style to portray a specific look or feel to his characters and gives them a unique personality.

I studied this artist and have found out how he learned to animate and take on board these techniques to draw straight into the computer one programme in particular is Photoshop.

Edmund read "The Animators Survival Kit" to teach himself animation just the same as myself, but i feel that once you have learned the basics it is all trial and error in the use of them. When trying to exaggerate animation i have found out within Edmunds Style is to keep the animation quick and catchy to the viewer.

I have tested out this style with a line test and found out that i can produce animations much quicker and more accurately, However I feel that this can only go so far and i feel that if i want to create a much more exaggerated motion for the character i will have to find more sources, for example Bob Clampett.

Edmund has also a unique drawing style in which i feel i have interpreted into my own with the use of unique ways to express emotion within the face of the character. Through combining his style with mine and Ren and Stimpy, i have managed to create a style of my own in which i can make my characters looks incredibly interesting with good detail in the area of the face that i want to exaggerate.

Through researching John k, and Edmund Mcmillen i have found out that they draw directly into the computer through flash and Photoshop.

I have decided to try this out for myself and have came up with some successful results and unsuccessful. I understand now that it is so much easier now to correct mistakes in Photoshop and develop artwork much quicker and more accurately. However some of my work does not look as appealing as i would like it to be. I have managed to resolve this idea by looking up online tutorials about photoshop techniques which has helped me out a lot.

The good thing about drawing into photoshop is that you do not need to sketch out on a sketchbook, then clean up the drawing, scan it in, then re-clean and colour. This is far too time consuming and i feel that their method is a whole lot more accurate and quicker to do.

However i do feel that i need to get more confidence in myself to draw more freely into photoshop just like i do with pencil and paper.

From the required research and use of the techniques from the sources i feel that i have improved in drawing style and animation as well as learning a new programme which will help my project much more. I do however need to practice more and learn more by looking up tutorials.