But lets not dwell on the negative, lets hear some animation news since thats what this blog is supposed to be all about.
First up we have my new animated loop for "loopdeloop". This months theme was "Masks", which wasn't an easy theme to come up with ideas for at all. Originally I was going to do a photomation as I had for the previous 2 months entries, but after having numerous ideas that just didn't seem to come together I decided to try something else I had been wanting to try for quite a while. I haven't done anything with heavily tweened character models since I worked on "Alison" promos in 2009, and I had been experimenting with drop shadows in my work for several years. This loop is a combination of these two elements.
The Loop also contains a character that will be replacing the current Visitors From Dreams logo to some capacity. But more on that once it happens. Check it out "here"!
Being home so much has also given me time to get some serious work done on the animatic for the Nimbin pilot episode. Im currently working on the last sequence of the pilot that will feature the art style below. I don't want to give to much away about whats happening in these shots, but I'm sure most people can probably work it out for themselves.
Unlike the rest of the series, the Pilot will contain two very different animation styles. The original Nimbin series had very minimal art and animation, and this is a tradition I want to continue with the next series. I do however want to refine the characters a great deal, and you can see some results of that process below. Some of the characters such as Amir and Blob remain much the same as they did, although Blob now has limbs. Ben and Max have however gone through some massive character design changes. (Refer to the screen with Gerkinman holding the photo above for reference). Of course anyone who has been following my work for the last few years will have seen these designs a number of times over the last 3 or 4 years. This however is the first time I have shown the final character renderings and I am quite excited to finally do so.
I realise a few people will probably be disappointed in me returning to tween based animation, especially after the mostly frame by frame "The Telescope". The problem is really time, and that I think that this particular way of rendering art is what is best for the Nimbin series. With assets like these I can easily both create new animations and comics with relative ease and it will help me create more content more frequently. Especially now that I am in the habit of writing a project in full before starting to animate. (Most of my older work was made up on the fly). And lets all be honest, I have never been a very good animator in the first place. I consider myself more of a storyteller with animation as my chosen medium then I do an animator that likes to tell stories.
