Skip to main content

Kid's & UFO's: Digital Drawing Process

For the main body of animation, extra drawings were created using both pen and paper and then digitally drawn in Photoshop using a Wacom tablet. After the drawings were made, the images were scanned into a computer and drawn over and coloured.

The fill tool was used for the main bulk of colour, and then shading added. The drawings on the left were for the 'What Do Aliens Eat?" part of the film.

The original idea was that the food drawings would appear as a tally chart every time the item was mentioned in the interviews. A 'ping' sound would then accompany it.


However after second thoughts, another idea was had:


'A trolley in a supermarket moving along and the items falling off the shelf into the basket - perhaps with an alien pushing it down the aisle?'



So, a supermarket aisle was drawn on half an A3 piece of paper. A single food item was drawn on each shelf. 

Once the image was scanned in and opened in Photoshop, each item was coloured in and then replicated on multiple layers. Spaces were left on the shelves so that the individual items could be animated. The trolley was drawn and scanned separately.

The images were then sent to the animator.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Hobbit - Defining the Look

A look into the use of lighting and colour to create emotion. Originally published in 1937, The Hobbit was written by J. R. R. Tolkien. It has since been made into a Trilogy by the film director Peter Jackson consisting of: The Unexpected Journey The Desolation of Smaug The Battle of the Five Armies What is most notable about these films is that they are very different to the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Although set in the same universe of Middle Earth, there is a tangible contrast between them.  The Hobbit, some might say, is lighter, funnier and more suitable for children when compared with The Lord of the Rings. This being said, J. R. R. Tolkien did write the book for children and it was aimed at young readers around the ages of 9 and 10. One difference, for example, is the use of lighting and colour - which is used as a n extension of a particular character -  to provoke an emotional response from the audience. In general, the film is brightly lit,...

Gasman - the Importance of Trust between Characters

Gasman is a short film made in 1998 by Lynne Ramsay about a man who lives two lives. The film is shown mainly through the eyes of his daughter, in an innocent but hard-hitting way. It's the Christmas season. With her mom's help, Lynne, a girl of perhaps eight, dresses up; her younger brother Steven plays with a toy car. The children leave with their dad, who's affectionate with them. They walk down a railroad track where an unkempt woman waits with two children, about the same age as Lynne and Steven. The children go with them. They're all headed to a holiday party at a pub. Lynne notices that the girl acts all too familiar with her dad. What's going on?   Plot Summary - IMDB The film has an observant feel to it, like the camera itself is a 'third person' watching the plot unfold - sometimes from a distance and other times up close. The camera is mostly hand-held, free in a documentary style. It seems that the camera was left rollin...

STORYBOARDING: The Chess Player

A few months ago I was presented with the opportunity to create the storyboards for a student project at the University I had graduated from. Having always storyboarded my own projects, and used to drawing what I could see inside my own mind, I jumped at the chance to help visualise someone else's film. Everybody sees things differently. We imagine, we visualise in different ways. Maybe because our brains are wired differently, maybe because we all rely on different experiences or the things we've read. A wide shot to one person might be a close to another; or someone might prefer a high-angled birds eye view, whilst another a fish-eye lens effect. There are endless ways to visualise a story and we are all unique when it comes to this. So being tasked with aiding in the visualisation of someone else's film is by no means an easy feat. One must be able to see inside the director's mind, understand their vision and translate that into something that will reach and ...