Sketching in Class Part III

More random sketching of heads.

Sketching in Class Part II

More sketching from class. This one I might use with my TIME MACHINE project since I never worked out some of the lesser character designs.

One of the scenes I added from H.G. Well's version was a stop off to the year 5173 AD for the Time Traveller to give a bit of an original backstory on how the Morlocks and Eloi came to be. The idea I came up with is the Traveller ends up in the middle of a worker's revolt between the workers, led by a character named MOORE, and the ruling class, led by a QUEEN ELOISE. Part of this has shades of METROPOLIS but also a nod to Wells' Socialist leanings.

In the year 5173, space on the planet is at a premium. Rather than just building up, humans have started to build down and under the ground, which is where the heavy machinery and workers dwell. Queen Eloise's solution to the worker's revolt is to LOCK the workers underground and seal the entrances with her royal emblem, a Sphinx (in the future, royal blood in the UK will have ties to Egypt).

And there you have the beginnings of the divided human species of the year 801,702 where the Traveller ends up. As you've probably guessed, Moore's locked away workers become the MORLOCKS while Queen Eloise's class becomes the ELOI. But, over time, the Morlocks find ways out of their underground to the surface and the Eloi end up worshiping the Sphinx statues, once the Queen's royal seal but now, with the meaning lost and distorted, the Sphinx statues are gateways to the Morlock's world and temples that provide clothes and metal to the Eloi.

So back to the drawing above. I never worked out the characters of Queen Eloise and Moore as they were lesser characters. Perhaps another semester of Animation will give me the time to hammer out those characters but the drawing above might make for a useful Queen Eloise. The one below might make for a good Moore.

Sketching in Class Part I

Last semester, I just filled up an entire sketchbook with drawings, something I've never done before in 4 months. Without the class to give me a kick in the rear, to give you a point of reference, the sketchbook that I started in 2007 is only half full.

So one of my goals for this semester was to fill up another sketchbook. I wasn't sure if it would happen since I figured most of my animation drawing would take place on sheets of paper outside of the sketchbook. But I wanted to keep active and sketching so I kept the goal.

Fortunately, I think I'm going to hit that goal with one blank sheet left in the sketchbook. During the down time of our last ACME broadcast of the semester, a had some time to sketch and doodle and will post some of the drawings here in the next few days like the one above.

It doesn't seem like it but I might have exceeded my goal from last semester since I've done some damage in the old 2007 sketchbook as well plus filled up half a Moleskine with drawings. So Yay for me!!!

One Week Left

Progress on animating goes slow. I should have about two of the shots out of 14 done for tonight with a week left. I also have my story bible to wrap up. However, I am making progress in other areas like designing a logo (above) for my presentation. I doubt I'll have my pencil test completely animated for the final so it will probably be a hybrid between the Animatic and the Pencil animation but I'll be using iDVD to add some music to the presentation. Other than that, here are a couple keyframe drawings below.

The First Second

Well, it ain't much and I certainly hoped to be farther along with this than where I am but Life Happens, ya know? Anyway, I'll be having around 14 different cuts to animate. This is about #12 in the process but I wanted to start with the Morlocks reacting to the matchstick light. I have another second of animation to add to this where, once his arms block his view, the eyes open a little more. And when all of that is done, I'll be tilting and zooming with a motion tween for effect (see my animatic for that).

So why this little snippet? Well, I wanted to see if I'm on the right track. Originally, I had planned on animating this on the Twos (each drawing getting two frames) but the look was too slow and resembled more of a transformation rather than a quick reaction. So while I'll still animate on the Twos for 24 frames per second, I'll be dropping it down to Ones if need be. Essentially, whatever is appropriate to make the animation right as long as it all runs on 24 frames per second.

Misc. Morlocks and Weena

More misc. drawings of the Morlocks and Weena from my sketchbook.  Although I'm already locked in on what drawings I'll be doing for my final animation, this is more of an effort to just draw the characters often to really get them down pat.

Morlocks Gone Wild!!

To break up the same ol' Morlock drawings for my animation, I decided to do some cartoons of the Morlocks in some different settings. We never see this side of them in the novel and movies but maybe they have social lives? Maybe the working Morlocks have union rules on breaks? Maybe they drink beer and do the "Pull My Finger" joke? Probably not but it is fun to imagine.