A Stroll With Famous Cartoon Felines

The link below was a good site I found that explored different animated cats including the ones that inspired me! It was helpful at working out the design for my cat.

http://www.the-flying-animator.com/how-to-draw-a-cat.html

Giving Cats a Voice

I love these videos. I have done it since I was young. You basically film a cat or cats and then talk for them. The videos below are two great examples of this. They are done really wellso much so that it looks like the cats are talking! Brilliant!

WOW A video of a real cat that lives in a Fish Shop!

WOW I just found a video of a real cat that lives in a Fish Shop! His name is Charlie and he is 18 years old.

What I handed in

Here is where my animation got to when I had to hand it in. Pitty that I never got to finish it for the hand in but I think it will be ok.

Cool Walk with Hi-5ing Snake

Here is the bit with the cool walk and the hi-5 with the snake. Remus just needs bits adding and it all coloured.

Some vids i forgot to post

Here are some videos that I forgot to post.

My Bits so far

I'm not going to have enough time to do the last bit with the sandwich gag in time for my hand-in but I fully intend on finishing. I worked too hard on it to not!

Any way, here are my bits so far. Some have no backgrounds or props missing but that will be fixed.



Missing from this is Remus' tail, pupils, collar, colour and the background. There is a tiny bit missing from this too. If you look at the end he has his paw up, well that extends and hi-5's a snakes tail in the tank in front of him. He then turns towards the right side of the camera and walks off.





This just has the wrong background and needs the proper zoom in footage. Oh and the girl's hand appearing and picking the butty up!





Remus is missing his tail, pupils, collar and colour in parts of this bit. The girl is missing some of her colour, blinks and some extra frames to tidy her movement up. This is the last scene and is missing the bit with the keys and the butty bit. The butty bit will be missing from my hand-in as I previously mentioned but I'm hoping to finish the key bit tomorrow. The background of this bit is also wrong, its not meant to be in b/w, not sure why I did that. Its also meant to zoom in closer as he runs across the desk at the beginning, solving the issue of him being so small but still fitting all my stuff in.


Its going to be a long day tomorrow, possibly a night too. Wish I had one more day, would be so much easier. My own fault though, I should of spent more time on it when I got my extension. I took it too easy as I took quite a while to recover from my awful attacks and then was scared they'd come back and then got drawing block! Not good. I am happier with what I've got now though so that's something. I just hope I get it all in one piece, that works and that I can write to a disc.

2 Small Bits = 1 Bigger Bit

Well, here is the last posts video joined with the next bit. You will also see at the end is Remus sliding across desk because of the owner pushing him away. There is also colour here and there to get an idea of what colours things will be.

Its rather annoying that its taken me forever to do this bit and its only 16 seconds long! Grrr Argghhhh!

Look, Climb up, Little Walk, Meow

Well, this is what I've done from coming home instead of doing the rest of the Maggot Run (Gutted about it by the way! Really wanted to do it all. Annoys me that everyone else got to do the rest of the treasure hunt on great biking roads, having loads of fun while I'm stuck indoors doing work.)

Any way, you can probably guess what bit this is for. I made the first bit a bit spooky with a kind of exorcist feel with the stiff, straight look up and down. Thought it would be something a bit different from how I've done the rest of the animation. I also thought I'd pop in a blink.

Oh and sorry for no videos while I was making it and only showing you it all done. Just got into it and forgot to export any, even forgot to do progress saves. Lucky I'm happy with the final thing.

Is it just me or does he look cuter in this bit. Maybe its just because I actually added the pupil in this one. Yeah, that would make sense.

Changed Girl and Cat Slightly.

Due to my silly mistake of doing the cat first for this bit I have changed them both slightly. I've also coloured the last few frames of the cat as a test.

Fingers and a Bit of Colour and Tidy

Ok, I've added fingers and tided it a bit. I've also fixed the sandwich and added a bit of colour. She is now ready for colour although if I have time I will add a few more frames like I said I would earlier. As it is I think it works ok as most of the focus is on Remus.

Remus isn't very noticeable at the moment because he has no colour and needs some sorting as I changed how the arm will be positioned. Really I should have done the girl first. I've been putting her off though as I prefer animating animals. Silly really.

Any way, As you can see. Its really coming together :)

Girl with Remus

This bit of the girl is really coming together. Just need to sort the fingers and blinking now. I also need to add a few more frames so it flows better. Oh and of course make the background colour and add a keyboard.

I made her head bigger in this update, I think she looks more correct in her proportions now.

Girl Blocking with Remus Animation

This is the footage shown in the last post but I have added the Remus animation. I will need to change the size of the background as Remus' first bit slightly cut off. What happens is, the camera starts at a wide shot and then slowly zooms in as Remus jumps closer to the girl.

Remus' next bit is sliding across the desk after she pushes him with her arm.

Girl Blocking Outline Animation

Here is my blocking animation for my girls part with background. As you can see its just a rough body outline based on what I recorded of myself and Andy. I forgot to add a keyboard Oops! So need to add that at some point.

Meow, Run up and Rub

Just need to add the tail and pupil now... well and colour.

Reference Videos

Here are some videos of my carer, Andy acting out a bit of my animation for me to use as reference. I love refernce videos, it pick up little human actions that if done by memory would be missed.

Remus got curious about what was going on and kept joining in though LOL. He will go in front of the camera when I don't want him too!

Here is another update of my cat rubbing on the girl. Took a lot longer than I expected to work this out and get it done! It just needs a little bit of tidying and the tail added into the rest of the frames. The next bit is she extends her arm and slides him along the desk using her fore arm.
That's going to have to wait though as I'm working on the girl today.

Worked out how head could go!

Took a lot of messing and tries but I think I've worked out a way to get the head to rub on the arm and then move around it but still look like its rubbing and moving with the body. I've also added some more and put the tail in the last few frames.

Sitting, Get Up, Run and Rub on Owner

Here is what I've been working on the last few days, all put together. Really annoys me that its taken me so long to just do this much!

Rub on Owner

I've had a bad day trying to animate. My heads not been in the right place so drawing and thinking of transitions was really difficult. Any way, here is today's progress. I know theres no head. Due to my problems today I got stuck trying to work out how it would go past the arm, I'll work it out tomorrow when I'll hopefully be thinking right.

Oh and the person is meant to be still. I was just using it as a reference for where my girl will roughly be. It also looks like he's doing this off the desk but the girl will be in a slight slouch so really you need to ignore the straightness of the person. She will actually be sitting slighty sideways so Remus will be rubbing her arm and then slightly along her side.
I also noticed I deleted a frame by accident so theres a slight jump near the beginning.

Next he lifts his back rubbing against the girl, as he's lowering his back, the girl gets sick of it and pushes him along the desk with the side of her arm. I'm still thinking how the cat will move along the desk while being pushed along. I think it means another test that will annoy Remus.



I didn't really like how long and slow the walk at the beginning is as he is leaping before this so here is a version with the beginning cut down and changed.

Cat Scene 3 - Animation mixed with Storyboard

This is to show what I have done so far for this scene and what I have left to do. I'm hoping I will get it done in time but time is running out :(

Oh the angles are off because I decided to make the angle different so the desk is straighter. So things won't match up in the right place in this. I think you get the idea though.

Sitting Meowing, Get Up and go to Owner 3

Here is a bit more of what I've done. Remus pounced and ran at me while I was doing it and he seemed to just stop and walk so suddenly that I thought I had to have that in mine. I don't know if he's just odd and can do that but well, I saw it so it happened.

The next bit is, he will turn his head and rub himself against the owners arm to get her attention, she is busy so pushes him back along the desk. I've done quite a bit today actually. Quite happy with myself :D

Sitting Meowing, Get Up and go to Owner 2

I've made more progress in this bit today. Hopefully I will have most of it if not all done by tonight.

Sitting Meowing, Get Up and go to Owner

This is the bit I've been working on today. So far I am at the sitting and getting up stage. It did take most of the morning to picture it in my head after watching various YouTube videos of cats. I think I got the getting up right, it is a relativly quick move though so I guess its not a big problem if its a bit wrong.

I've noticed that his fringe looks wrong on the first frame so I will go back and fix that at some point.

Some Fish Videos

Here are some Fish videos used as reference.

No Tail!

I just noticed his tail is missing! I forgot about that. Will add that in now or in the morning, it is getting a bit late.

Cool Cat Walk Finished!

It's taken an awful 2 days to work this nightmare out but I have finally done it! 80 drawings, 149 frames! I think thats not bad. Oh and just for fun I gave him a little jig onto the screen, I thought it was fun first appearance for him :) Sadly, it's not very noticable, seemed like it was longer when I drew it :(

Now I just need to put the tanks in the background and draw the bit where he turns his head back and sees the snake and Hi-5's him. Although because I am running out of time I am just going to have him walk past the tanks. If I have time at the end I will add the Hi-5 bit.

Another Reference Video

This is a really good reference video with different types of walks. The first one was the kind of thing I was thinking of for the cool cat walk just with a bit more of a gangster walk in it.

Reference Videos

I just realised I never posted the link to the reference videos I found to help me with animating a fish, my girl and cat.

http://www.youtube.com/user/moogyxo#p/u

Cool Cat Walk body

Here is what I've done so far today. Bit annoyed that I overslept as wanted to get this done today, just means I will be up late tonight instead.

As you can see I've kind of made his walk into a bit of dance with his back legs doing a double take when he puts one of them down. I'm hoping it will look right when it's done as at the moment I'm not too sure. It does look like hes dancing to a beat. I was imagining how people who think they're cool whistle and walk in time to it or walk in time to music there listening to. I was thinking maybe Remus could be whistling or humming but that might go a bit too far for what I wanted from him. I think I still stuck to my idea of giving him a slightly anthropomorphic walk here as I've never seen a cat walk like that!

Cool Cat Walk Skeleton and body

Here is a bit more progress on this walk. I know its odd but I always prefer to start at the end so this is the last bit of the skeleton, then the skeleton with my character drawn over and then just the character. Maybe I do it backward because of my dyslexia LOL.

Oh I know he has no tail yet, I put that in last as it is easier to make it flow better once the rest of the body has been animated.

Cool Cat Walk Skeleton

Here is my first attempt at the cool walk. It is in a skeleton look as it's quicker to work out and fix. I know it looks funny with the big head but it will look wrong with the skeleton legs and head the actual shape, although it may be a little too big. I can fix that when I draw the body though.

It is taking a while to work it out and Remus isn't appreciating me making him stand and lift his legs in funny ways. It is really helpful having him here and behaving so well for me to do it.


The video repeats it 3 times as it didn't always play with 1 showing of it. Maybe it was because it was only 3 seconds long.

70 years of Disney YouTube Video

This is a lovely video that tributes Disney's animated features over 70 years. I thought I would post this as it was Disney that made me fall in love with animation and one of the reasons I want to be an animator. It would be a dream come true if I got to work for them one day!

Casper Animation with 2 kittens

I found this animation of Casper the ghost. In it he rescues two kittens and they become friends but they become a handful so he finds them a home. Only thing is the kittens don't want to leave Casper and find a way to get back to him.

It's a nice animation and I've always liked Casper. The kittens had very basic anthropomorphism so were very kitten like but thats what works well with this animation.

Cat cool walk based on

I thoght long and hard about where I should get inspiration for a cool cat walk and I came up with the Dodger from Oliver and Company. I know he is a dog but he is a quadraped and all the other dogs think he's cool and during the song 'Why should I worry' He really comes across as cool so Dodger is my inspiration for the first scene of my animation :)



If you look at this video at 1.28 in you will see his 'cool' walk. He sort of bobs as he walks and has his eyes closed. He also holds for a split second longer when he lifts a leg fully up. I think I will try doing the same or something similar at least.

The Jungle Book

I thought it was about time that I posted the bit from my dissertation about 'The Jungle Book' and what I learned from looking at the differences between the three versions by Kipling, Peet and Disney. It is a long post but I hope that it will help myself and others when they come to creating their own animation based on a book or when making an animation with anthromophic characters.


I have chosen Rudard Kipling’s, ‘The Jungle Book’ against Disney’s animated version to see how they are different and why. This is to see how someone would create an animation based on a book and what he or she should look and avoid.

The reason I chose, ‘The Jungle Book’ is because it is a good example of anthropomorphism and has two characters that are cats, Bajeerah and Shere Khan. I also loved the film as a child so I was interested to see what the differences are and why Disney chose to do so.

The Rudyard Kipling story, ‘The Jungle Book’, is actually part of a collection of stories about Mowgli and his friends. I had never read the story before doing this paper but had seen the Disney film so I was really surprised to find out just how different the two are.

'No one can say at this late date, but the finished Jungle Book, according to animator Eric Goldberg, “bears very little resemblance to Rudyard Kipling’s original, but I don’t think that’s what Walt wanted.”'
(http://bezalel.secured.co.il/zope/home/he/1209439536/1211516902)

For instance, the beginning of each story where Mowgli is found and rescued by the wolves it shows the different ways Kipling, Peet and Disney took it. Kipling wrote that Shere Khan attacks a camp of woodcutters and during this Mowgli wanders off and enters the wolves’ cave. Shere Khan comes to kill Mowgli but the mother wolf bravely protects him.

Peet did not seem to think this had enough drama and tension so gave this scene more action to thrill the audience. Peet had Mowgli carried off by a river clinging to a log; Bagheera tries to catch him but fails. The wolves watch him head for the edge of a waterfall when Mother Wolf saves him just as he goes over.

Personally I liked Kipling’s version and found it was an interesting start to the story although Peet’s version did have a lot of excitement, possibly too much for an opening sequence; I am sure it would have grabbed the audience though!

As you probably know Disney simplified Peet’s version and simply used some amazing paintings of a wrecked canoe with Mowgli inside. Bagheera then carries Mowgli to Mother Wolf for her to care for him.

There are actually three versions of ‘The Jungle Book’, Kipling’s, Disney’s and Peet’s. This is because Disney and Peet had a falling out over the film. Disney did not like how Peet was turning the film dark and sinister; he wanted to mainly focus on the characters and entertainment with the story coming last, which explains the poor plotline that barely exists!

‘Disney's insistence on fun and character also overrode what he discomfortingly called "the icky-sticky story stuff," meaning most of Kipling's dark, smart story elements got trounced in favor of singing, dancing, and slapstick.’
(Online Newspaper - http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/2007/10/jazz_in_the_jungle_or_if_you_d.php)

As they could not reach an agreement, the two of them fell out and Peet left the studio and Clemmons took over. It is really a sad ending as they had been friends for years and never got to make up, as Disney died of Cancer towards the end of production.

The greatest change from the book has to be the actual storyline, the journey from the jungle to the man village. This storyline that Peet created was what Disney and the story team turned to when they had difficulties after he left. Kipling did have Mowgli go back to the man village but he went back and forth from jungle, the idea of him going and staying at the village was a completely new idea by Peet and Disney.

One change that really surprised me was that Baloo and Bagheera’s personalities had almost been swapped. Baloo was sleepy and bossy to Mowgli and was a proud teacher, who taught Mowgli the law of the jungle and the secret words of the animals. Kipling’s Baloo was in every way like the serious teachers you had at school although he was still caring like Bagheera in the film. Bagheera was more of the joker in the book although he did still have some sensibility about him.

(Figure *** - http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/2007/10/jazz_in_the_jungle_or_if_you_d.php)

Peet decided to make Baloo a lazy, easy-going bear but it was not until Phil Harris was cast as Baloo that they really knew what they had. Harris really made Baloo who he is and actually got Disney and their team out of the problem they had with Baloo who was originally destined to be a cameo part.

‘Phil Harris’s performance added sincerity in a colorful character that gave new interest to everything he did, but, most important, this bear suddenly had great warmth, something the picture needed.’
(Thomas and Johnston,1997,p.80)

All three versions do have a similarity; they all included the scene of Mowgli being kidnapped by the ‘Bandar-log’, Kipling’s name for the monkeys. In Kipling’s book, the monkey’s pretend to be men but without a law or a leader. They kidnap Mowgli so he can teach them to be men and to weave sticks so they can make shelters. Peet wanted to pretty much stick to the way Kipling had created the ‘Bandar-log’ but by kidnapping Mowgli to teach them how to rebuild their city and to teach them the secret to mans ‘red flower’, fire. Peet wanted to bring slapstick comedy in to this scene, as did Disney so they created an entertaining and funny sequence of Baloo and Bagheera coming to save Mowgli from the monkeys and King Louie. In Kipling’s, Kaa was a friend and mentor of Mowgli’s and came to help too!

Peet also made the story more like Kipling’s later in his version of the film but Disney did not approve of where the story was going so it was dropped. Peet had planned for Mowgli to return to the man village and be adopted by a woman called Messua, who is believed to be Mowgli’s mother. He stays in the village learning to be a man but is plagued with difficulties because of a hunter called Baldeo who thinks Mowgli is a sorcerer and a man wolf.

During the monkey scene Peet had included a bit about there being treasure under the monkey’s city and Baldeo, the hunter finds out about this and forces Mowgli to show him where it is. Once they arrive, Mowgli distracts Baldeo as he sees Shere Khan coming who eventually kills Baldeo. Mowgli then uses Baldeo’s gun to kill Shere Khan. Mowgli is then a hero to the people of the village and the animals of the jungle and decides to live in the village but visit the jungle as he pleases. As you can see this is an exciting version of the story but due to the darkness of it Disney dropped it as his film was aimed at adults, and children. He also wanted to stick to the plan of Baloo being responsible for returning Mowgli to the village and to concentrate more on the characters, something I do not understand his reasoning for. Yes, characters are important but so is the story. If Peet’s version was made less sinister then I believe ‘The Jungle Book’ would have been even better and I am sure it would have more fans, especially today where fans look back and admit to preferring Disney’s more story based films such as ‘The Lion King’, ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and ‘101 Dalmations’. I believe it was mainly the catchy songs such as ‘The Bare Necessities’ that saved ‘The Jungle Book’ and made it successful.

Due to dropping Peet’s ending and him leaving, Disney and his team were stuck for an ending but Disney urged the story team to not look at Kipling’s book and to just concentrate on personality and entertainment. Disney however did not take his own advice and used the book to get ideas. He finally got his inspiration for an ending from two passages; one from the end of ‘The Jungle Book’ and the other from ‘The Second Jungle Book’. These passages are shown below.

‘So Mowgli went away and hunted with the four cubs in the jungle from that day on. But he was not always alone, because, years afterward, he became a man and married.’
Tiger! Tiger! In The Jungle Book. Page 107.

‘Mowgli was going to answer when a girl in a white cloth came down some path that led from the outskirts of the village. Gray Brother dropped out of sight at once, and Mowgli backed noiselessly into a field of high-springing crops. He could almost have touched her with his hand when the warm, green stalks closed before his face and he disappeared like a ghost. The girl screamed, for she thought she had seen a spirit, and then she gave a deep sigh. Mowgli parted the stalks with his hands and watched her till she was out of sight.’
The Second Jungle Book. Page 155.

After finding this all out I watched the film again and it is fascinating to see how much of Peet’s original work was used and inspired from. Even though Disney broke it down to the very basics it was still taught you the differences between man and animal and we should get along and be friends even if it was a basic story it was still a highly entertaining, musical journey.

From this I have learned that if you truly believe in something that you should follow it as you may be like Disney, who stood up for what he believed in and made a film that became a great success but due to people not liking the poor storyline; I have learned that you should always listen to people’s advice even if you do not take it. Also, that you should have great characters and give them time for your audience to fall in love with and be entertained by but to also have a good story. Catchy and entertaining songs also seem to be a popular way of making an audience fall in love with a film, although I already knew this from my love of ‘The Lion King’ songs. One of the most vital things I have learned though is that anthropomorphism is something that Disney uses to bring their animals to life. It makes you love the characters even more, as you can understand them, feel for them and be brought into their world; an animal kingdom filled with love, friendship and fantasy.

The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation Quotes

I have been going through the book, The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation by the amazing Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston. I had marked a few pages with quotes I wanted to take note of a while ago but never did so here they are. They are realy helpful quotes and back-up my reason for doing my animation about a cat. Some also help with making my animation better :)


‘In our own lives, we find that as we get to know people we share their experiences – we sympathize, we empathize, we enjoy. If we love then, we become deeply concerned about their welfare. We become involved in their lives.
We involve the audiences in our films the same way. We start with something they know and like. This can be either an idea or a character, as long as it is familiar and appealing. It can be a situation everyone has experienced, an emotional reaction universally shared, a facet of someone’s personality easily recognized, or any combination of these. But there must be something that is known and understood if the film is to achieve audience involvement.’
The Illusion of Life, page 18-19.


‘“I definitely feel that we cannot do the fantastic things based on the real, unless we first know the real.” Walt Disney’
The Illusion of Life, page 71.


‘That all changed in one day when a scene was animated of a dog who looked into the camera and snorted. Miraculously, he had come to life! Walt was quick to appreciate the difference and so was the audience. The year was 1930 and the animator Norm Ferguson.’
The Illusion of Life, page 74.


‘As he thought about it, Ben decided that the key ingredient must be “realism.” In his own experience, he had found that much of the material in cartoon films was lost on the viewers; they could not understand it or relate to it. Walt had bridged that gap with realism, or a caricature of it. His situations were understandable, clear, and funny. His personalities were based on someone you knew.’
The Illusion of Life, page 80.


‘The scale of the characters to the things around them, and to each other, is an important part of making them believable, as well as giving them charm and appeal.’
The Illusion of Life, page 239.


‘If an animal in a film is wearing any kind of costume, he can be handled with human attributes and the audience will accept him. In contrast, if an animal in his natural fur should suddenly stand up and start gesticulating, the viewers will feel uneasy. Put a cap on him, or a tie, and he can swagger around, gesturing and pointing like any ham actor.’
The Illusion of Life, page 331.

A good example of this is in ‘The Aristocats’. The kittens all wear a small form of human clothing such as Marie wears bows and Toulouse has a bowtie on. The geese even follow the same rule and wear bonnets and Uncle Waldo wears a top hat.


‘Of course natural animal drawing or realistic action will always add sincerity and interest to this type of film, but it is not truly needed to tell the story. On the other hand, if the story is man’s view of what the animal world is like, as in ‘Lady and the Tramp’, ‘101 Dalmations’, and ‘The Jungle Book’, the animals must be completely believable or the whole premise will collapse.’
The Illusion of Life, page 331.


'When we say “real,” we mean only what the audience accepts as being real, for obviously a real animal cannot act or emote as broadly as animators require. The more an animator goes toward caricaturing the animal, the more he seems to be capturing the essence for acting. For example, if we had drawn real deer in ‘Bambi’ there would have been so little acting potential that no one would have believed the deer really existed as characters. But because we drew what people imagine a deer looks like, with a personality to match, the audience accepted our drawings as being completely real.'
The Illusion of Life, page 332.


‘Ears are an important part of the attitude on any animal.’
The Illusion of Life, page 340.

‘Hair can be a key to personality, and many times will show how a character feels. Scraggly hair gives an unkempt, irritable look. Smooth and sleek fur is soft and feminine.’
The Illusion of Life, page 340.

‘Tails can do much to show the mood of an animal. They can give a perky feeling, or show dejection, or affection. They should not rest on the ground without a reason. They must have life too. Watch out for “dead” tails.’
The Illusion of Life, page 340.

‘The neck is often passed over when considering parts of the anatomy that can help show an attitude. It can be arched for belligerence, show alertness, be cocky with chest out, or indicate anger.’
The Illusion of Life, page 340.


‘A cat’s eyes are extremely expressive and change shape radically as they convey different emotions. At times they are mere slits, lost in a puff of cheeks and brows, or they are half closed in complete contentment, or wide with curiosity.’
The Illusion of Life, page 450.

Hand-in Info

After seeing Tracy and Derek this morning I think I understand what my hand-in dates are and what needs to be handed in for each section. Below is my breakdown of it all.

Research & Development - 4th May
* Blog
* Study of cats
* Study of cat behaviour
* Anthropomorphism research
* Visual References
* Videos, animations.etc I've watched.
* Sketchbook scans
* My animation tests
* A concluding statement stating what I did and why I did it, what I achieved, what was easy and was difficult.


Special Study - 4th May
* Blog
* Technical stuff -
- How I did stuff.
- What methods I used and was thinking of using.etc.
* My animation tests
* A concluding statement stating what I did and why I did it, what I achieved, what was easy and was difficult.


Dissertation - 4th May
* Dissertation
* Appendix
* Research associated with my dissertation


Showreel - 17th May
* Animated Short
* Storyboard
* My animation tests
* My animatic
* Script


Presentation - 20/24th May
* Presentation for Special Study (20min talk with audio/visual)


Derek also said that he will look at my animation on the 17th and if he thinks it will affect my grade if I have more time then he will put in for as much extra time as I can have that will still allow me to graduate this year. It would probably be only a few extra days.

Plan of the Week

Monday
* Meeting with Tracy - 9am... Ouch!
* Talk to Derek.
* Talk to Keith about hiring out sound recording equipment to get background noise of a fish shop.
* Complete dissertation main text.
* Label stuff in blog that is R+D and Special Study.


Tuesday
* Book out sound equipment.
* Proof read dissertation main text.
* Dissertation appendix.


Wednesday
* Go to fish shop to record background noise.
* Create disc of all Special Study animations.etc.


Thursday
* Print blog.
* Proof read everything.


Friday
* Bind blog together with other special study documents.
* Meeting with Elaine - 3.15pm


Weekend
* Make any last minute changes.
* Any further information from Elaine, Derek and Tracy.
* Bind format.


Tuesday
* Hand it in :D
* Get drunk in celebration.


Wednesday
* Regret the drinking.
* Start on the animation again. Due 17th May (Check that).

Spotting the Butty

This bit is when Remus runs past the shelves, spots the butty and slides to a stop, meerkats and then turns to look at the viewer then turns back. Below is this bit and as far as I've got but next he drops down and gets into a stalking position. I am working on that bit today.

My only mmm about this bit is really he should go from 4 legs to sitting then to meerkat position. If I get time I will go back and fix that.





Another idea instead of the stalk bit is to zoom in like I have roughly done at the end of the video below. I would just do the zooming in using 3D max though so it won't jump or lose picture quality.




On the left is an image I used as reference for when my cat stands like a meerkat. It was really helpful.

You can see that the pose I used is very similar to the picture. The only real difference is the tail and I twisted my cats body a bit.

Run and Slide Test

Well, I woke up this morning to do the in-between animation of what I've block animated and the folder containing it all had some how been deleted and as it was saved onto the desktop it wasn't saved onto my portable hard drive. GUTTED is an understatement :(
Luckily I got one of the videos thanks to my blog but its still making it difficult.

I watched some Disney films to cheer me up a bit and while watching I saw how they did things and decided to change the view of what I blocked so I could get Remus to give the audience a look that was missing in the original. What I've done today is below.

Another Just for fun - My sister Steph

I like to do something a bit different every now and again so I can rest my mind from my work. This time I coloured in the cartoon I did of my sister. Below is a photo of Steph and the drawing I did.

More sketchbook stuff - Girl

I've realised that I haven't posted any of my drawings for the girl who is Remus' owner. At first they started off really detailed. The hair especially was a problem. I then went into drawing people I know. The girl holding the cup is actually based on my sister.
To solve the hair problem I tried making the hair into a bob as its a simple straight cut hairstyle. I even tried making the eyes big like my Remus character but it really didnt work.


The bob then turned into a backward baseball cap with a fish logo on (I know it looks like the Jesus symbol on these drawings but it has changed so it looks lots different). She is a simple character that I think goes well with my Remus character.


I actually made her look a bit like I did when I was younger as thats when I was most confident and happy about how I look. In a way she is the younger version of me. On the left is a photo I found of me in a backward cap too!
As you can tell my character has a bigger head and smaller body than myself. This is for her to look appealing and cartoony.

A cartoon character who is similar to mine is TJ from 'Disney's Recess' who is shown here.

Wish List - More Books

A while ago I made a wish list of books I'd like. I managed to get two of the books and they have been really helpful. They are all pristine and it makes me sad when I have to bend it to see everything. I have a thing about keeping books in a good condition. Should have seen how crazy I went when my sister borrowed my Harry Potter and saved her page by bending the corner! I wasn't a happy bunny.

Any way, I just caught wind that Disney released a visual companion for Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. The original one I saw in the shop was more illustrations of the film and disappointed me but from the videos that people have posted on Amazon of it... WOW! It looks like it covers all the art, visual effects, design.etc. I soooo want it! I'm sure it could fill my curiosity and love of the Cheshire Cat :D

Amazon - Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland Visual Companion


Another book I've just come across and would love is the Art of How to Train Your Dragon. I'm a total sucker for the 'Art of' books. They always give me an insite of films and their designers, animators.etc. I think when I get a job I'm going to be buying them and build quite a collection, it will be a very pretty collection though as they really do have great pieces of art in them. This one especially interested me because of the dragons. I love mythical creatures especially Dragons, my second favourites are the Phoenix and the Griffin.

Amazon - The Art of How to Train Your Dragon

Silly Symphonies Three Orphan Kittens - Great perspectives!

I saw a clip of this somewhere and the animation by Ken Anderson is just amazing especially the changing perspectives 1.27 and 4.40 minutes in! The kittens are well animated too and show my point of how cats should retain cat movements such as stalking while being anthropomorphic. It also reminds me of when Remus first came home at 12 weeks old and was so clumsy and would knock things over all the time.

The story is from Disney's Silly Symphonies collection and is about three kittens that are heartlessly abandoned during a snowstorm. They take refuge in a nearby house and playfully begin to tear the house apart.

I couldn't find it not in Spanish sorry.




Disney also made a second episode about the three kittens where they befriend a St Bernard and he protects them. They also meet other animals.



I love how the kitten meows as if to say thank you to the dog at 3.48 and all of them do at 7.55 after he hides them from their owner. This episode reminds me a lot of the Simon's Cat book with all the interaction with other animals and especially the way they interact with the bird. With this as a comparision it show what I'm going, which is sort of a combination of the two. Mine is more detailed that Simon's Cat but less than the Disney ones.

Just a bit of fun

I made this as I wanted to do something a bit different for fun. I love this picture of Remus so I thought I'd try putting my characters face in place of his.

Blocking Animation Part 2

Below is my blocking animation for the second scene of my animation. A blocking animation is where just the main poses are put in place, they can be moved or change shape as you will see below.
This is the second part, which is where Remus notices the sandwich. I have done this scene before the first one as I am still finalising the storyboard for the first bit with the fish and snake as it is a recent addition.
You will also see that I added black cartoony lines to the background and made it all black and white. I felt it was more fitting with my insperation (Simon's Cat) if it was also black and white and I mentioned the black lines in the last post.

3D with hand-drawn character

I have had this idea for a while of using the 3D pet shop I made as the background and Flash for my characters. Below is an image I made combining the 3D background and a drawing I did of my Remus character.


I think the only thing that is wrong is the background is too solid and doesn't fit in with the cartoony style of the characters. If I put cartoony texture effects with black line edges it might look better. I know you can do it but Im not totally sure how so I will have to see a lectuer about it.

More sketchbook work

About time that I posted some more of my sketches.

The Cat and the Juggler

I found this animation while searching for something else on Youtube. Its a really nice story and has one of my original ideas of having traditional painted backgrounds but with 3D characters and props. It also won the ASIFA Award of Excellence 2009 in the Best Professional Film category.

The only thing that bugged me was the cats walk was a bit odd, other than that it was a nice story and characters.

Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland

I saw Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland the other day and I loved it, especially the Cheshire Cat. Although I have always been a fan of the Cheshire Cat because of how he is mysterious, mischievous, has a funny grin and the fact I'm from Chester in Cheshire so grew up seeing Cheshire Cat stuff a lot. I even used to go to a pub called The Cheshire Cat for meals!

The Cheshire Cat in this version was just amazing, he is just so stunning especially with the gorgeous blue stripes and Steven Fry's voice was so perfect. The smoke effects were also a bit of brilliant animation and made me really want to know how its done and have a go at doing it myself.
Below is a clip from the film of Alice and the Cheshire Cat so you can see just how incredible it is. I especially love how they make his eyes go bigger at certain points such as when he says "claws". Have a look.



What I thought was even more amazing is the work by the guy who designed the Cheshire Cat. I couldn't believe that he had made the image at the top using a graphics tablet!
Below is part of an interview with the artist, Michael Kutsche about the Cheshire Cat. It is well worth reading all of the interview so I have also added a link to it. I have also added an image of him doing the illustration of the Cheshire Cat on his graphics tablet. I so wish I could draw like that!

GK: In your early sketches, the Cheshire Cat is more human-like and is slight and slinky, with hot pink stripes and an unsettling, toothy grin, and your Mad Hatter wore industrial goggles and had less whimsy...

MK: Because it’s a Disney production [some of that] didn’t really have that mass appeal. It would have shocked the kids. Tim Burton is a big fan of that book, and the original illustrator. Tim had his own drawings in his London office, so he wanted to have a little bit of a classic feel, so that the animals were more like animals with a twist instead of having a far-off fantasy. Sometimes he gave like a very quick sketch that was really helpful. I would take that and make it really detailed.

http://www.timburtoncollective.com/labels/michael%20kutsche.html

Kutsche admits that he got the idea from a design by Kei Acedera and Bobby Chiu. Below is the concept art they did that inspired Kutsche's illustration. You can see that he didn't stray far from the original design.

Something a bit extra that I found is a website that sells prints of the art that Kei Acedera and Bobby Chiu did for Alice in Wonderland! (Sadly not including the one above as that is now owned by Disney).
http://www.imaginismstudios.com/store/prints?_p=1&viewall=yes


The Making of the Cheshire Cat

"The iconic shot of Alice’s first meeting with the Cheshire Cat, who’s grinning at her from his tree limb, begins with what’s similar to a storyboard sketch, using an assemblage of low-resolution character stills."


"The scene moves to animation, where the character is dropped into a low-resolution environment: the images are kept low-res to allow Imageworks’ animators to create the Cat’s performance without having a lot of data to manipulate."


"The biggest challenge is to create a realistic cat that can generate the trademark exaggerated grin. Here, the all-important hair has been added, ensuring it behaves as it should, where it should be, with the Cat now curled on his limb."


"Here, final lighting is added, along with a full-resolution environment behind the Cat, including the flora and atmosphere added for visual effect."

You can also see that the trees in the background have one of Tim Burton's trademarks... curls. As you can see the branches are curled round like he does to objects, clothes, hair.etc in his other films. I was rather surprised how scuttle he was with it in this film.
I loved that he sneaked the black and white stripes in with a quick sneak shot of the Mad Hatters underpants too! Look out for it when you see the film. My friends pointed out that I spot really odd small detail things that they never do... kinda like that even though its probably down to my Aspergers.

Films I have watched

I thought it was about time that I made a list of everything I've watched as research supposedly a record should be kept so here goes. Some will have just the Youtube title as I don't know the actual title. A lot of these have been posted on the blog for you to see.

FEATURE FILMS
The Jungle Book (and all the DVD extra features)
The Lion King (and all the DVD extra features)
The Lion King 2 (and all the DVD extra features)
The Aristocats
Bambi (and all the DVD extra features)
Bambi 2
Brother Bear (and all the DVD extra features)
Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (and all the DVD extra features)
Finding Nemo (and all the DVD extra features)
Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland


SHORTS
Pixar Animated Shorts
The Cats Piano
Juxtaposer
The Suicidal Cat
Simon's Cat
Little Red Riding Hood: As told by Roald Dahl
Simsala Grimm Little Red Riding Hood
Little Red Riding Hood
Disney Little Red Riding Hood
Little Red Riding Hood - Kung Fu
Little Red Riding Hood kicks some ass
Little Red Riding Hood as told in the style of infographics
Hey there, Little Red Riding Hood
Li'l Red Riding Hood - Sham and the Pharoahs
The House Guest
Onedotzero Promo Video
Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends
Daphne's New Broom
Feed the Cat!
Cat got your Tounge
Persian Cat Animation
Cat Soup
The Dog Door
Just So Stories


ADVERTS
Go Cat
Feliway


INTERVIEWS
Simon's Cat by Simon Tofield
BBC News - Simon's Cat

Cartoon version of Remus Meow

This is an advance of my meow test with my character design. I like how the head turned out but at the moment I'm not happy with the body. It is too much like the reference one. I will next try doing it with a more cartoony design. I am also thinking about making spots bigger or having the one big stripe down his back, his face stripes and tail stripes. This is because it is very difficult to make the spots look like their in the right place. As I said before less and larger spots maybe a way to make it work.

Below are my tests.

3D Storyboard shots

I made a rough 3D model of my pet shop with a sandwich and a computer. Below are shots of it almost like my new beginning of my storyboard. I have added some comments so you can imagine what Remus and the camera would be doing as Remus is obviously missing.
I am thinking of just getting a stock image of a cat and blocking the animation, to give a better idea of whats going to happen.
There is also an animatic version of the shots. Of course missing Remus again.


Remus walks past and goes off screen behind one of the shelving units. He suddenly does a double take, shooting back with a slight skid. His mouth just drops open with his tounge hanging out.

The camera changes to look at the sandwich on the desk and quickly zooms in on it.

In the distance you see Remus licking his lips and stand up like a Meerkat to get a better view. As its zooming back in on him you see him drop and get into a stalking pose, moving his legs slightly to give the wiggling bum about to pounce move.




There are two mistakes in the video above, one being the zooming back in on Remus being too quick as he couldn't do what I discribed in that time and the second being that the first shot is missing.



WHAT HAPPENS BEFORE THIS SCENE

Before this bit I have added a new bit which is showing who Remus is. He is basically proudly and cooly walking past the fish tanks with either 1.the fish scared and hiding 2.following him in the tanks sticking their tounges out or 3.just winking at him.
He then goes past a snake tank and the snake slowly opens one eye until he notices it's Remus and opens both eyes while lifting his head slowly. Remus grins and nods his head slightly as a greeting and then they hi five each other with their tails (obviously with the tank inbetween). (Remus could lift his back half slightly off the ground during this like some people jump when hi fiving).
He then walks past the shelving units and it is the bit above.

The reason I have added this is because when I asked the guy from Pixar about how I can make the audience like my characters more and feel empathy for them he said that a background story or a brief feeling of what and who the character is, is the best way of doing it and how I do when creating stories for Pixar.
The bit with doing the Hi-5 with the tails was actually from a suggestion from Derek who said to get the tail involved as if its a hand. I saw this idea as being anthropomorphic, give the tail something to do, be comical and different.


Here are some reference images of animals Hi fiving. Obviously no snakes but some cats to get an idea how I could do it.

Cat Meow Test

I've been doing tests from reference footage recently and below is one of Remus meowing. Its still in rough shapes at the moment. My next step is to draw my character using the shapes as reference.

Advice for Humans

I forgot to post this up a while ago but its another page from Frostymoon's website but this time its Advice for Humans done in a cats point of view.

Its funny and definitely rules that Remus would give me. Just possibly include claws. Although, he is learning not to use claws... finally!


*****************************


Advice for Humans

We all Know that Cats are the kings & Queens of the house, here are some Rules that they wrote for us humans to abide by.

1. If I like it, or dont like it, it's mine.

2. If it's in my mouth/paw/body/next to me, it's mine.

3. If I can take it from you, it's mine.

4. If I had it a little while ago, it's mine.

5. If it's mine, it must never appear to be yours in any way.

6. If I am chewing something up, all the pieces are mine.

7. If it looks like it's mine, or yours it's mine.

8. If I saw it first or last, it's mine.

9. If you are playing/touching/eating/looking at something and you put it down, it automatically becomes mine.

10. If it's broken or tastes yukky, it's yours.


http://www.frostymoon.co.uk/18.html

Thumbnail Animatic Part 1

I have made my thumbnail storyboard into an animatic. Below is the first part of it. For some reason Flash is being awkward with me in any way it can think of. I was planning on finishing the second half in Uni but for some reason it won't open. GRRRR! Any way here is the first half. Bit rubbish as it is just made from thumbnail drawings and I haven't added sound.

Flash also decided to squash it when I exported it too. No idea what is going on with my Flash but at the moment its not happy doing anything I want.

3D or Flash

At the moment I am considering swapping from Flash to 3D Max. This is mainly because I'm not very good at drawing people (hence why I want to be a creature animator). It is also because I think it might be a step up from my inspiration 'Simon's Cat' and possibly quicker.

I discussed this with Tracy and she thought that I should stick with Flash as that's what I've been using and the deadline is getting closer. She did suggest that I talk to some of the other lecturers to see what they think. I still think I will do some tests using it to see if it looks better and makes me feel more confident about my work.

Stalk Test Animation in Flash

Below is a stalk test I did in Flash. If I flip it to go the other way and fix the glitches then I could possibly use it in my animation.

One thing I noticed is that I curved his ears the wrong way to how a cat would actually do it as I did it all off memory and didn't look at my reference images until after. I've learned from my mistake and will make sure I have reference images when I next to a test.

I also didn't finish his stripes so its not a mistake that they vanish from his face half way through. I also didn't get round to doing his spots.

Thumbnail Storyboard

Below is my first thumbnail storyboard for my story.

Road Runner Running Off

As in my story Remus runs off the screen leaving a cloud. In the picture below of Road Runner it shows a few frames of Road Runner running off screen and leaving a cloud as I describe Remus does.

The Lion King DVD

I've just watched the Lion King as I haven't seen it for years. It is a great film and still my favourite Disney film.

After watching the film I went onto the second disc to watch the making of the film in all aspects. While watching I am writing the notes below.

When they started The Lion King it was the B movie (Pocahontas the A) as they didn’t think people would want animals and wanted people characters. The team being the under-dogs pushed themselves to prove them wrong and that The Lion King can be a great movie and they believe that it was really shown when they started working on the Mufasa in the clouds scene.


Their insperations were African art, tapestries (for the bright colours int the film) and visiting Africa. Hamlet, Moses and King Arthur are also mentioned as insperations.


On the 2nd disc there is a section about animals and looking at the real animals they based their characters. This section is not all about the real animals though. There is a section called 'Disney & Animals'. This section is about Disney and their use of animals.

It did after all start with a mouse. Walt inspired his artists to make their drawings of animals better and more realistic with every film. Walt "It's always a challenge bringing a great story classic to the screen, giving visual form to characters and places that have only excisted in the imagination".


It goes on to mention how Disney always brings animals in or go see them in the wild. It also mentions Seal Island. Also the True Life Animal Kingdom at Disney World. Its also talks about the Disney films that involve real life animals such as The Shaggy Dog.

Roy Walt, says when commenting on the opening of 'Disney's Animal Kingdom', "This atrraction garrantees the longstanding union of the worlds of Disney nature fantasy and animal for generations to come."

Walt said after a hard meeting 'Sometimes I prefer Animals to people'.

The section on Character Design for Scar was very interesting. The Supervising Animator for Scar does actually keep calling him a person and makes a lot of anthropomorphic references. I will try and write up the large section where he does this as I am sure it will be helpful.

Plan for this Week

* Storyboard idea (1. that's in post below).

* Make basic animatic.

* Go through references and comment on sources as good or bad references. Any valuable information relevant to my project/dissertation.

* Carry on with animation tests.

More Story Ideas

Last night I had some more ideas towards a story. These are below. I will also post the handwritten story Ive written at some point too. I also know that these do need work.


1. Owner is working on desk doing stock takes on a computer or something and also eating a ham sandwich. A cat REMUS strolls along the desk and meows but the owner ignores, he tries again but is still ignored. He tries rubbing himself on the owner but she pushes REMUS away. REMUS looks around and spots the keys so swipes them onto the floor. The owner growns and gives REMUS a dirty look. As she bends down she is still holding the sandwich up. REMUS sneaks up and slowly puts his mouth over it. Owner now has the keys and looks up, they exchange glances. REMUS then bites the sandwich and runs off leaving a cloud shape of himself (like in the old cartoons). Owner looks shocked and shouts OI! she then grumbles, rolls her eyes and carries on working.
To the right of the screen you see REMUS licking his lips looking all proud. He meows and owner gives him an annoyed sideways glance and carries on. She finishes the sandwich and turns around to put the wrapper in the bin. While her back is turned REMUS runs up, rips her papers and attacks the keyboard. The computer makes lots of crazy noises. Owner looks back and is horrified. REMUS sits and meows at the owner.

2. Cat acting as if not noticed butty. loses balance and falls in tank. Panics comes out all soaked. Owner laughs. Cat walks away as if nothing has happened, head held high.


These are things cats actually do and the cat is the star. They are also similar to Simon's Cat which is my aim. They aren't so much stories as happenings or real experiences though. My ideas are also lacking some anthropomorphism. Maybe he could grab something off the desk and smash something. I don't know.


The end of the first one is like the below short by Simon's Cat but I actually thought of that because Remus did it to me when I was working on my dissertation. Proved hard to work out my notes with scratches going through it.