View Full Version : Art Thread: Ose
I figured it was about time I started one of these. I don't have a lot to show right now (I'm planning on rescanning a lot of the older art I've done that's still worth showing, but I keep getting distracted by things that are a higher priority), but for your amusement, I shall start off with a couple animations I've done. Flash files only, sorry. It's the only way I have to compile animation on my computer.
Cri-Kee Lift (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/temp/crikeelift.html)
Cri-Kee is from second semester last year. I, being the stubborn person that I am, foolishly decided to animate a real character instead of the one-step-above-stick-figure "Blobby". It didn't turn out half bad though for a first try. It jumps a wee bit because of being lined up on my scanner without a peg bar. It needs a few more frames at the end for a settle, but I do plan on fixing it up. I like the little guy despite the flaws.
Emotional Flour Sack (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/temp/floursackweb.html)
Please, try not to laugh too hard. I plan on completely reworking this thing because it looks like a chicken at some points. This is a work-in-progress, since there's still another couple seconds worth at the end that I just didn't have time to finish before having to hand it in. I need to tweak the timing a bit by either redrawing or removing some of the frames (my teacher likes the timing, but I still think it could be better, mostly in the recoil and the jump), then I plan on redrawing the entire thing with an improved flour sack design. My bad on this one, I admit I rushed it.
hellboyone
09-21-2004, 04:58 PM
Good stuff, Ose! Yeah, the second guy definitely looks like a chicken. I wouldn't have thought "sack of flour" if you hadn't prefaced it. Love to see more!
R.
Good stuff, Ose! Yeah, the second guy definitely looks like a chicken. I wouldn't have thought "sack of flour" if you hadn't prefaced it. Love to see more!
R.
Thanks Rick. At least I don't have to feel too bad about my sack of flour resembling a chicken. A fair number of my classmates had the same problem. When I redo it, I plan on having a model sheet in hand.
looks like a bunny to me.
give us some sammael updates!
Maija
09-21-2004, 06:56 PM
Hahaha! Those are great!
So remind me again where you're going to school at?
Good start. Don't use the "flaps" as legs. If you use the corners of the bag you'll get more of a sense of weight. The chicken look comes from using the top flaps as arms. If you're going to redo it, I'd suggest thinking of it as an armless character. Put your hands to your sides and act in a mirror. See if you can get the attitude you want without arm or head. It's not easy, especially without a head to play the shoulders against.
For absolutely fantastic examples of animated props with personality, rent Disney's Sword and the Stone and the sequence where Merlin is packing his bag magically. There's a sugar bowl with a great personality.
I'll try to keep that in mind when I redo it Tad. The teacher wanted us to think of the corner ties as arms and legs, so that's how I had to work with it in order to get a good mark. Maybe I'll just do a whole new animation to try your suggestions. I need to do more playing around on my own time anyway. Thankfully, I have a nearly unlimited supply of animation paper I can snag from the college.
Oh yeah - and ruta? I'm going to college in Windsor.
A piece I finished last night (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/images/dfdnameplate.jpg)
I decided I needed a proper nameplate for my animations, so I whipped that up as a template. The inking's a little messy, but that's because I was playing around with the new set of Speedball pen nibs I got recently. I haven't touched those things since my grade 11 art class about five years back.
Maybe something Hellboy related will spark some replies?
Sammael headshot (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/images/sammael.jpg)
I know it's got major problems and a lot of the details are screwed up. I did that one a few days after seeing the movie for the first time and only had what details I could remember and the very few Sammy pics I could find online for reference.
And a couple older pieces I rescanned today:
Abstract wild cat collage (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/images/abstractwildcats.jpg) (the ears are screwed up because of mixing little cats with big cats, but it still remains one of my favorites)
A crosshatched piece, one of my dragons (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/images/bbch.jpg)
I'll be quiet now. I'm not scanning anything else tonight.
I'll try to keep with more spooky and/or mythology related artwork after this, but I've decided to show this very off topic piece just because I'm very fond of it at the moment and it will probably be a portfolio piece. It was done for my layout class - the assignment was to create a sense of depth using characters. I'm sure I'm going to get some flak from some of my classmates for drawing anthro animals, but ah well. The idea had been in my head for ages, and it needed to be drawn.
The edges are cut off a bit, by the way. Limits of the scanner size and all.
Dancing Gypsy Vixen (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/images/gypsyvixen.jpg)
JohnThompson
10-12-2004, 09:17 PM
Wow, how did I miss these? You've done some damn nice drawings, Ose!
The cat collage is my favorite so far, with the Sammael head coming in second. Nice shading and detail!
The gypsy piece does a great job of conveying depth, and I especially appreciate that your outlines get heavier the closer an object is to the viewer.
morna
10-12-2004, 10:20 PM
... something really nice about the dragon too... the density and the style... good stuff girl !!
gary bolt
10-12-2004, 10:41 PM
Thanks for all the great posts Ose. I've been away from my computer for 8 or 9 days and just came across this thread. I love your animations. The discussions about animating the bag remind me of stories some friends told me of working on "The Raccoons", an animated series produced in Ottawa back in the 80's. They used to get tours of dignitaries spouses and told a story of trying to imagine how to visualize a snake that had anthropomorphic movement. Just as several people were squirming on the floor they had a tour of diplomatic significant others come through. Embarrassment all around.
I think the dancing gypsy vixen piece is great. The sense of depth and the body language of the characters are quite convincing. How can your classmates get on you about making the piece too "anthro" when almost all animated characters are just that?
Thanks John, glad you like them! I love doing detailed realistic work, but I just don't get the chance all that often because of classwork taking up all my time. I still have a long way to go with realistic critters, so I really should practice more often. And I'm very glad that my linework for the gypsy piece carries the depth across well. I'm pretty sure I'll do good on the assignment, but it's nice to get feedback, especially when it's positive :)
And thank you to you too Morna. That dragon character of mine has been around for awhile, and of all the doodles and drawings I've done, that piece is my favorite of him. Even though it was a lesson in why one shouldn't do a black-scaled critter with crosshatching...I killed a pen and my wrist!
Gary, you just made me grin. I adored "The Raccoons" when I was a kid! It was a staple of my childhood. Your story about the animators acting out the movement on the floor is very familiar. While we haven't had any assignments that involved movement quite that odd or embarrassing, my entire program knows what it's like to be stared at by outsiders. The animation studio at the college has been dubbed "The Fishbowl" by us animation students because we have wall-sized windows looking out into the hallway. We get stared at like we're freaks of nature on a regular basis by the students in other programs who wander by ;)
Heh, the "why my classmates don't like anthros" rant isn't one for here. I'd give Lady J a massive headache. To give a brief explanation though, not all my classmates are mentally mature. They are only vaguely familiar with the anthro animal/furry genre, and they generally can't see past the dark underbelly of that particular fandom to see the good in it. The only reason why they don't trash anthro cartoon characters is because they refuse to connect the likes of Bugs Bunny, Secret of NIMH, or Disney's animated Robin Hood with "those furry freaks". It's rather amusing, really, given that those characters are what spawned the fandom to begin with.
I got bored while working on an assignment earlier, so I started doodling for a few minutes to take a break. I'm tempted to do a few seconds of animation with HB Jr now...the little guy's infectious.
Hellboy Juniors (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/temp/hbjrs.jpg)
You'll find the problem with trying to animate Junior is his RHOD. When drawing him for my comic, I was constantly cheating the length of his upper arm or just ignoring it completely.
Eh, the animation would just be for fun anyway. It wouldn't be anything I'd be putting up on my site for potential employers to see. I just like the idea of doing a Junior wild take. Besides, the practice won't hurt me any, RHoD being a pain or not.
This one's just a background - I finished it last week but didn't get a chance to scan before having to hand it in.
Forest background (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/images/forestbg.jpg)
petriacce
10-19-2004, 03:21 PM
Ose, wow I really like all of the art you've posted. I don't know how I missed your thread earlier. My brain may be mush but my eyes still work. Thanks for sharing your work.
A little werewolf humor for Halloween:
Little Red Riding Wolf (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/temp/littleredridingwolf.jpg)
The sketch is a year old, and I finally dug it out of my sketchbook and got it done. That was supposed to be a submission for a werecreature fanzine last year for the Halloween issue. I think I overworked the crosshatching on it though.
More cute...the second picture I'm contributing to the next issue of Fang Claw & Steel. This one's also for Grey, since it's pretty much her and her boyfriend turned into werefoxes.
Werefoxes (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/temp/jamiekevinweres.jpg)
This'll be the last art I'm posting for awhile. I have about six weeks to put together a 30 second or more animated short entirely on my own. Storyboarding, animating, colouring, compositing, the works. Needless to say, I'm going to be busy.
King_Vold
11-03-2004, 09:02 PM
Awwww..... :D
That's great Ose, it's amazing how much personality and boy language you can get across in a single still frame. Good luck with your animation!
Petersen
11-04-2004, 08:43 AM
Good luck to you Ose with your classwork! I selfishly wish that we could see more artwork from you before the end of your semester...
any chance you could post the work you are doing for class? I'm sure many of us here would be interested to see your animation progress..
and I know your busy..but I wondered if you and or Grey were going to make it to the Holey Moley comic art show at EMU??
I could post progress, so long as I have time to scan stuff in and so on...but as a warning, my little animation short is going to be horribly out of place here. It only has one character, and it's a cavity walking on four legs - a sugary cute puppy named Tuck (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/images/tuckrotation.jpg). I created the little monster and he even gives me a toothache!
I'm not sure if Grey or I will be able to make it. For me, it's unlikely given the amount of work I have ahead of me. I actually had to pass up going to the Detroit Institute of Arts today with my elective class because of having storyboarding that needs to be done...but I'll see what happens. If I manage to get ahead of things, Grey and I might be able to work out a day to go to Holey Moley. Here's hoping!
I've been working on storyboards for the last few days, and Grey figured I should take a picture of the wall that I've stuck all the individual panels up on. So here (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/temp/storyboardwall.jpg) it is. Five scenes, 41 storyboard panels total. I really don't think I'm meant to be a storyboard artist. It's just not something I'm good at.
Ok, so I lied. I have one last layout class assignment to work on in addition to my animated short. The subject I chose for it fits in here perfectly, so here's the sketch. I started messing around with where I might put the shadows, but I think I'll leave that for when I transfer the sketch to a clean sheet of paper.
Misshepezhieu (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/temp/misshepezhieusketch.jpg)
I've been meaning to draw him for awhile...can't say I'm overly happy with how this particular design for him turned out, but ah well. Misshepezhieu is from Ojibwa mythology - he's the generally short-tempered demi-god of Lake Superior who is said to raise storms by slapping the water with his tail.
Maija
11-08-2004, 11:13 PM
Cool interpretation! Can't wait to see him thrashing around. He'd be an interesting adversary for Hellboy.
For others, here is the monster in question:
http://www.lakesuperiorpark.com/picto1.jpg
*gets all misty for the North Shore*
http://www.lakesuperiorpark.com/agawa_rock_pictographs.htm
The "Haunted Shore" is full of many Hellboy-ish things.
I always thought Misshepezhieu would make a great adversary for Hellboy too. The Great Horned Lynx certainly has the temper to get himself into a situation where Hellboy would have to smack him around with the RHoD. I keep swearing I'm going to draw that sometime, but I just haven't had the time!
Glad you like the sketch though ruta! I figured you'd get a kick out of it. I love Agawa myself - that trail down to the rock face has such a natural presence to it. Though it's a pity it isn't all that safe to go out on the ledge under the rock face nowadays. They took the hand-hold chain away for some reason beyond my understanding.
Hellboy-ish "Haunted Shore" indeed! All those islands that are supposed to be inhabited by spirits, Devil's Warehouse Island where people still leave offerings of copper and tobacco to appease Misshepezhieu when they go out kayaking or canoeing, Devil's Chair...ah, I love local mythology!
Petersen
11-09-2004, 06:27 AM
Yes indeed, Hellboy needs a Michigan adversary
Misshepezhieu Inks (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/images/misshepezhieuinks.jpg)
I haven't really played around with deep, stylized shadows like this before...but damn did it turn out well! Now all that's left is to colour it.
Ok, I got Misshepezhieu coloured. I'm probably going to hate it before long, but for the time being I'm pretty happy with it. Digital colouring still isn't one of my strong points, but given the more graphic style I was going for, it didn't turn out nearly as horrible as it could have.
Coloured Misshepezhieu (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/images/misshepezhieu.jpg)
And now I can focus on my animated short for the next few weeks.
E. Spears
11-15-2004, 10:26 PM
I really like the colors you chose, Ose. Very nice. The inks are the best part of the drawing, I think.
-ERS
Anthro Vixen. Kewlies. Actually I do like your work, just had my curiosity sparked by the anthro bits there. The animations you did are waaay beyond me. I'd love to see more.. I'll be scanning the rest of the thread, and trying to get to yer site.
Thanks Robert! I'm particularly fond of the inks myself, since it was an experiment that went right.
And Leo, I'm glad you like the anthro art! I've been doing anthro art (and fantasy, animals, monsters in general) for years now. Non-humans are so much more fun! I'm afraid there isn't a whole lot up at my portfolio site right now, if you do go poke around there. I'm always busy with college stuff, so I haven't had time to rescan some of the older pieces I plan on adding to the portfolio. Plus, there are a couple sections missing until I have the time to add them in.
Maija
11-17-2004, 09:40 AM
How did I miss the Misshepezhieu updates? He looks great, though my inclination would have been to use the red ochre of the rock paintings to colour him.
Can't wait to see him thrashing up the waves!
The red ochre wouldn't have looked right, especially with the colour palette I was going for. To be honest, I've never pictured Misshepezhieu as the same colour as the pictographs. I figure the colour of the medium he was painted in wouldn't have a bearing on the creature's true colours...but that does give me an idea should I ever try a more realistic portrait.
A bit of test animation for my end-of-semester project. Beware the cute.
Tuck the puppy - test run cycle (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/animation/tuckrunfinal.html)
Petersen
11-18-2004, 11:26 AM
He never gets anywhere!!!
Very cute Ose. Is there a gag at some point in your final?
The whole thing is a bit of a gag since it's about Tuck trying to get a bone that's dangling from the ceiling. There isn't a whole lot to it since the animation is going to be less than a minute long, but Tuck does have a few mishaps before actually managing to get the bone. It is pointless cute, but it's the kind of short you'd expect to be shown between TV shows to keep the audience's attention.
And Leo, I'm glad you like the anthro art! I've been doing anthro art (and fantasy, animals, monsters in general) for years now. Non-humans are so much more fun! I'm afraid there isn't a whole lot up at my portfolio site right now, if you do go poke around there. I'm always busy with college stuff, so I haven't had time to rescan some of the older pieces I plan on adding to the portfolio. Plus, there are a couple sections missing until I have the time to add them in.
It's perfectly alright, no huge rush. I just enjoy seeing/appreciating artwork. I'll be sticking around to see anymore you post on this thread. If you want to take a glance at my stuff, let me know, I have a DeviantArt account. (But most of the crap on there I ain't proud of) Anyhow. Keep pluggin' away, heh. I'm content to wait until you get the chance to put up some more kewl work.
Another test cycle (not as good as the run cycle, unfortunately), and this will be the last thing I post for a few weeks. I have about two weeks to get my rough animation done, another week to do cleanup - then scanning, colouring and compositing by Dec. 15th, so I just don't have time for anything else.
Tuck walk cycle (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/animation/tuckwalkfinal.html)
gary bolt
11-19-2004, 11:16 PM
Those Tuck animations are great Ose. Why do you think the running sequence is better? Is it because the movements are larger? It sounds like an excellent course you're taking.
It's one of those animator things - with every little animation I do, the more I pick up on problems. The movement on the hind legs in the walk is fine, but there's something slightly off on the front legs that I can't quite place. Any small problems in the run are less noticeable because of the faster timing and broader movement. I really can't get too upset over it though, given that we don't actually touch on quadrupedal movement in class until next semester.
Heh...not to bash my program, but we're not up to "excellent" yet. The program's only been around for five years or so - the hope is that we'll eventually be a rival to Sheridan College (which is "THE" animation college in Canada), but there's still a very long way to go. It's not a terrible program, but there are definitely still problems to work out. The one thing I will say in favor of the program is that for the most part we have wonderful teachers, which in turn makes things so much more pleasant.
It's one of those animator things - with every little animation I do, the more I pick up on problems. The movement on the hind legs in the walk is fine, but there's something slightly off on the front legs that I can't quite place..
The front right paw isn't pushing off the ground for forward movement. It's just lifting up. Using such a short limbed character to animate makes it a little harder to watch the movement of joints but you've made a good start. Good luck with your program.
Ack! I nearly forgot to reply! Thanks for pointing it out Tad. It should still work as a template for movement in my short (hopefully! I'm terribly short on time as is!), but I'll definitely keep that in mind next time I animate a quadrupedal character.
For the sake of preventing thread necromancy on my costuming thread and keeping all my stuff in one place, here's a little page (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/sammael.html) I whipped up today that shows some of the better finished photos of my Sammy costume. I'm debating about whether or not to add all the in-progress stuff as well, but I think I'll leave it as is for now.
Hellsaint
11-24-2004, 01:53 AM
Oooo... Nice stuff. I havent been around much but your Sammael costume is like woh! Great job :)
For anybody who hasn't been to the page with the stuff from the art exchange, here's the piece I did:
Abe (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/temp/abetrade2004.jpg)
gary bolt
11-24-2004, 07:00 PM
Nice Abe, Ose! I love seeing him portrayed in his element. I wish we could see more of him swimming in the comics.
I'm working on cleanup this week for my end-of-semester animated short. Don't expect anything coherant out of me closer to the end of the week because I have a lot of work ahead of me. I have one of the short scenes cleaned up (I just have to do the final lines in regular pencil over the col-erase). There are a few minor things I could probably fix, but it'll have to wait until I have the bulk of the animation cleaned up and out of the way first.
EDIT: Fixed pencil test uploaded. Still not perfect, but better than it was, at least.
Beware the cute (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/animation/scn4_cleanup.html)
Four and a half seconds down...thirty-five and a half to go.
I'm hoping to enlist the help of you fine folks for a moment or two. I'm heading into the digital ink and paint stage in a few days, so I'm screwing around with creating a palette. I have two versions...the second definitely works better for the bone and ball, but I'm not quite sure with Tuck. Opinions?
Palette 1 (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/temp/palette_color1.jpg)
Palette 2 (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/temp/palette_color2.jpg)
Petersen
12-07-2004, 07:48 PM
I'm not seeing a difference
The differences are in the lines rather than the base colours. Background's the same, but the bone, rope and ball have darker outlines in the second. Given my luck, it's probably a monitor thing. Wouldn't be the first time. Oy.
JohnThompson
12-08-2004, 06:45 AM
I prefer the second palette, it really helps all the objects stand out more from the background.
I gotta ask-- what kind of sick **** would suspend a bone out of the reach of a dog?? You're twisted, lady!! ;)
Anakin
12-08-2004, 07:00 AM
Ose, Hello! I don't think we've met before. I'm Anakin (female) and I'm an Architecture student in Boston.
I absolutely LOVE your stuff! I wish I could draw like that.
i actually have a possible business proposition for you. My website, www.arsmagicae.com really needs an interesting graphic for the front page. I was thinging some sort of dragon inked picture, something I could use as a logo as well.
Would you be interested in doing soemthing like that? I am happy to pay for art, I have just been looking for an artist with the right style for a long time.
John, you haven't seen twisted yet. Just wait until you see what I draw out of frustration from the cuteness overload! Oh, and if it makes you feel better, he does get the bone in the end. The whole animation is pointless cute ;)
And Anakin, I'll talk with you via PM about the possible commission.
I'm very much needing to get reaccquainted with that "sleep" thing, but I just thought I'd say...
WOO HOO! The animation is done! It took the last 14 hours, but I coloured the whole thing. All that remains is to drop the frames and sound into Premiere, then render off the completed project. I have until Wednesday to do that, so I can finally relax a bit!
I'll see if I can upload some of the low-res render stills later today. After I get at least 10 or 12 hours sleep...
Anakin
12-12-2004, 06:28 PM
Ose, I can't wait to see it! Please post when it's done. :)
Finals survival suggestions:
1. You can sometimes trade sleeping for eating in small ammounts.
2. If you can't have a shower, change your socks. It's amazing the difference that having warm, dry feet makes to your outlook in life.
3. Bring a change of clothes to school with you if you pull an all-nighter, and take a shower at the gym.
4. Keep hydrated! For every cup of coffee/soda, drink one of water, or better yet, Gatorade -- it's got electrolites and other good stuff.
5. If you're too stressed to eat, you can useally get yogurt down.
Just thwap me if this is overkill; studying Architecture tends to take alot of time and require multiple all-nighters.
Us animation students find our own way around since we have to pull a lot of all-nighters too. We live in the studio, if necessary ;) I'm fortunate enough to live at the rez though, so a bed is just a two minute walk away. I generally stay away from coffee and pop - my caffeine pick-up is green tea. It doesn't dehydrate nearly as bad as anything else, and it doesn't screw with my stomach the way pop does.
I'm afraid I can't post the finished project - it isn't going to be a small file and posting a public link is a good way to get my host to put a bandwidth cap on my webspace. If anybody really wants to see the animation though (minus sound), I'm going to have a test copy of the short online for a couple days so my parents have a chance to grab it. As a warning, it's a hefty 40 megs. Just let me know if you want to see it, and I'll PM you the url.
And for everybody else, here are some stills. They should pretty much cover the story.
Tuck sees the bone (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/stills/giveadogabone/scn1_1.jpg)
He turns around (and looks up at it wagging his tail) (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/stills/giveadogabone/scn1_2.jpg)
...Backs up and crouches... (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/stills/giveadogabone/scn1_3.jpg)
Jump! (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/stills/giveadogabone/scn1_4.jpg)
Perspective shot - 1 (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/stills/giveadogabone/scn2_1.jpg) 2 (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/stills/giveadogabone/scn2_2.jpg) 3 (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/stills/giveadogabone/scn2_3.jpg)
Coming down from the jump... (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/stills/giveadogabone/scn3_1.jpg)
...only to go skidding offscreen (CRASH!) (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/stills/giveadogabone/scn3_2.jpg)
A ball bounces onscreen, followed by a running Tuck, whose back paws skid as he stops (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/stills/giveadogabone/scn3_3.jpg)
Crouch (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/stills/giveadogabone/scn3_4.jpg)
Jump! (followed by a second crouch and jump) (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/stills/giveadogabone/scn3_5.jpg)
Tuck lands on the ball (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/stills/giveadogabone/scn3_6.jpg)
Which bounces him off (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/stills/giveadogabone/scn3_7.jpg)
Tuck is not too impressed (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/stills/giveadogabone/scn3_8.jpg)
So he does what any puppy would do - he barks at it (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/stills/giveadogabone/scn3_9.jpg)
Angry puppy (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/stills/giveadogabone/scn4_1.jpg)
Thinking... (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/stills/giveadogabone/scn4_2.jpg)
Ah ha! (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/stills/giveadogabone/scn4_3.jpg)
He gets on the ball to use it as a springboard... (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/stills/giveadogabone/scn5_1.jpg)
And it works! (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/stills/giveadogabone/scn5_2.jpg) (he swings back and forth several times)
The rope loosens (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/stills/giveadogabone/scn5_3.jpg)
Tuck lands (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/stills/giveadogabone/scn5_4.jpg)
Gets up without any problems (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/stills/giveadogabone/scn5_5.jpg)
And happily walks offscreen with his prize (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/stills/giveadogabone/scn5_6.jpg)
JohnThompson
12-13-2004, 06:57 AM
Please PM me with the URL, I'd love to see it!
The stills look pretty cute, but don't think you've fooled us into forgetting how sadistic you are to come up with the idea of tying a bone up out of a puppy's reach in the first place! Will your class be holding a kind of animation festival to premier everyone's shorts?
Kusanivy
12-14-2004, 04:41 AM
Cool Ose! I really like the perspective shots the first time Tuck jumps for the bone
John - I'm not sure if we're going to have a screening any time soon. One of my teachers said there might be an in-class mini-screening so everybody in my class can see what everybody else did, but if not, there won't be a screening until April.
Not that I plan on waiting that long to get my film out there. After a bit of tweaking (mostly to add in background music - the sound effects aren't bad, but it could use a bit more), I plan on submitting to film festivals. The Kalamazoo Animation Festival International is the only one I'm certain about submittting to right now - a lot of the others depend on how much money I can manage to get together to cover entry fees.
Anakin
12-15-2004, 06:48 AM
Hey Oze, have you ever considered looking into Web Design as a way to make some extra cash? HTML isn't too hard to learn, and you have the graphic skill that most Web Designers lack.
Just a random thought; selling HTML code and boffer swords has sometimes helped pay my bills.
I've thought about it, but decided against it. I have enough trouble managing my own sites, never mind working on somebody else's. I can't do anything fancy because I stubbornly stick to hand-coding. I have the tools to do neat things (Dreamweaver), but be damned if I know how to use them to do neat things the easy way!
If I want to make cash, I'll just have to see if I can get a few art commissions lined up. Or if I can find more of the cheap padded hairbands I use to sew fake fur animal ears to, I can see if I can get a few commissions for those as well. Cheesey as they sound, I actually do pretty well selling them.
JohnThompson
12-15-2004, 02:13 PM
Ose, thanks for sending me the link to your animation. You did a great job! I especially like the way Tuck's body sways back and forth after he finally gets the bone, the feel of weight is really well done. Actually the whole thing was great, there's just too much to mention! The cute side of the Force is strong in you!
Is your semester over now? Any idea what you'll be working on next?
Thanks for the compliments! The only people who've seen the short so far, with or without sound, have been my classmates and teachers, so it's good to know that people outside that circle like my short too. Here's hoping it's good enough to make the cut for the film festivals!
The semester's officially over at the end of the week. But since there are no exams in the animation program, once you hand your project in, the last week is pretty much a "relax and do what you want" week.
I don't have any more animation projects planned right now - I just plan on polishing the soundtrack for Give A Dog A Bone a bit. It needs background music, and I'll have to compose it myself (hopefully I'm not too rusty, and at least it's just going to be my own version of "This Old Man") since I couldn't find anything that would work that I could legally use. Other than that? I have a comic short idea I've had in my head for awhile, and I really need to get around to thumbnailing that out.
EDIT: An addendum - I just can't be happy with my work, apparently. Long story short, we've been taught to animate on a 24 frames per second rate, but we had to hand in our films in as Microsoft DV AVI files, which puts them into TV timing - which is roughly 30fps. Even though the teachers are taking how that screws with things into consideration, I can't just leave things alone. The fact that my animation's timing is sped up is bugging me, so I've gotten it into my head to re-time everything so it'll look as close to the original timing as possible. I'm going to end up with a massive headache in the process, I'm sure.
I got around to doing a bit of sculpting over my winter break. It's not on topic though, so in my thread it goes instead of in the sculpting thread.
Tree frog! (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/sculpture/treefrogunpainted.jpg)
JohnThompson
01-03-2005, 06:35 AM
I got around to doing a bit of sculpting over my winter break. It's not on topic though, so in my thread it goes instead of in the sculpting thread.
Aww, what a cute little froggy! Nice frog-- what the hell- arm getting...numb! AAaaaarrrgh!!!
See? Perfectly on topic.
Are those marbles for the eyes? They look especially creepy. Any plans to paint him?
EDIT: An addendum - I just can't be happy with my work, apparently. Long story short, we've been taught to animate on a 24 frames per second rate, but we had to hand in our films in as Microsoft DV AVI files, which puts them into TV timing - which is roughly 30fps. Even though the teachers are taking how that screws with things into consideration, I can't just leave things alone. The fact that my animation's timing is sped up is bugging me, so I've gotten it into my head to re-time everything so it'll look as close to the original timing as possible. I'm going to end up with a massive headache in the process, I'm sure.
You'd also have to redraw everything since there's no simple way to change timing for 24 into 30. And you're screwed if the teacher takes the limitations into account and judges your animation to be too slow.
A professional animator follows the director's rules and moves onto the next scene... or takes a nap. Don't give yourself an aneurysm over this! Relax. You did a great job.
gary bolt
01-03-2005, 07:44 AM
Great tree frog Ose. You sure can do cute.
Morna and I went for a walk with her aunt on Christmas day and could hear the occasional peep from a tree frog. That may not seem notable except for the fact that this is Canada and it's winter (or at least what passes for winter here on Vancouver Island).
Thanks for posting the frog, he's great.
Are those marbles for the eyes? They look especially creepy. Any plans to paint him?
They aren't marbles, but those glass blob things that seem to be cropping up everywhere. I wasn't sure if they'd work as eyes, but they seem to be ok. Not perfect though.
And yes, he's painted. I'll try to post pictures here in a little while. I would have last night, except the sealer was taking too long to dry.
And here's the painted sculpt.
Again, tree frog! (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/sculpture/treefrog.jpg)
Maija
01-03-2005, 08:56 AM
Ha! Cute. Are those the glass blobs that people use to fill the bottom of flower vases?
Do you have tree frogs around where you live? My uncle lives in the woods near Kenora and when you get up in the morning and draw the blinds there can be 3 or 4 tree frogs stuck to the window. I don't know why they like sticking to window glass, but they look cool.
hellboyone
01-03-2005, 08:58 AM
EDIT: An addendum - I just can't be happy with my work, apparently. Long story short, we've been taught to animate on a 24 frames per second rate, but we had to hand in our films in as Microsoft DV AVI files, which puts them into TV timing - which is roughly 30fps. Even though the teachers are taking how that screws with things into consideration, I can't just leave things alone. The fact that my animation's timing is sped up is bugging me, so I've gotten it into my head to re-time everything so it'll look as close to the original timing as possible. I'm going to end up with a massive headache in the process, I'm sure.
I find it a bit irresponsible of your teachers that the 24/30 fps difference wasn't explained to you at the beginning of the process. Aren't frame rates a fundamental point in animation? Whether something will end up projected or just live on video tape?
Those glass bits for the frog eyes work great but next time try something globular like marbles. The roundness of it would look even better than this already does. Bravo.
R.
Maija
01-03-2005, 09:01 AM
But is 2-d animation for video traditionally animated at 30fps? It sounds like this is just so the instructor can watch the files at his leisure on a computer and the students aren't expected to make a proper film to video transfer.
Traditional animation is done at 24 frames, even what we do for television and direct to video. I don't believe there's any special conversion that's done. It's no different than showing a live action movie on video.
Petersen
01-03-2005, 09:20 AM
I like the tree frog! very cool Ose! When do you head back to school and what will you be working on then??
I think they might be, ruta. I figured it would be worth a try to see if they worked as eyes. They didn't turn out too badly (though Rick is right - other things would probably work better), but I don't think I'll be using them this way again any time soon. As for the frogs - I don't think we have them in my hometown. We have frogs, but I don't think they're tree frogs (they still sing beautifully in the summer though!).
And Petersen? I got back down south Saturday night, and today's the first day of classes for the second semester.
In regard to the animation thing - I can't fault the teachers too much, though I wish they had told us ahead of time that we'd be saving our shorts in a format that would screw with our timing. We were all in the production stage when we were told we were to save in Microsoft DV AVI format. Ah well...it seems that they're making up for the little mistakes with a whole bunch of new goodies for the new semester. We're supposed to be getting a tablet for each of the 42 computers in our lab, among other things.
Anakin
01-03-2005, 01:07 PM
Hey Ose, those "glas blob things" are actually small glass rounds that stained-glass artists use in their creations. My grandmother taught me how to make things with stained glass, since it's one of her hobbies. Sadly she lives in Virginia and I'm up in Massachusetts so I don't get to practice much.
You can get all sorts of varaitions of the glass rounds, they come in 1/2" 3/4" 1" circles of every color, and there are other neat shapes like teardrops and such that you can also find them in if you look.
Petersen
01-03-2005, 01:20 PM
'Glass Blobs": card players use them as 'counters', florists use them in vases to weight the bottom, and I know that 10 year olds use them in slingshots to try and break glass insulators off of the old electric poles by the RR tracks....
Therefore, Hobby shops, Stained Glass suply stores, Floral Crafts stores, & 10 year old's pockets have them.
What kind of material did you sculpt the frog out of?? Looks like paper-clay or something similar.
Sorry to hear that you are back to school so quickly..best to you and Boober-Shirt!
It's regular Sculpey. I picked up a block awhile back to play around with since up until recently, my only experience had been with Sculpey III/Fimo/Premo. The Sculpey isn't bad, but now that I've played a bit, I've found my Sculpey of choice is Super Scupley. I still have about a pound of the regular stuff left though, so I have to see what I can do to use it up.
These are horrid, but I figured I'd show them nonetheless. I'm going to try to keep an online daily sketchbook going on my site, and this is the first one I'll be putting up. I'm going to make an effort to know animal anatomy on the same level as human anatomy. Before I continue, I think I need to find a good animal anatomy book (suggestions, anyone?) and get my hands on some critter skulls.
The side view and front view were drawn from photos of skulls, while the other three were an attempt to draw the skull under the flesh from photos of wolves.
Wolf skull doodles (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/sketchbook/sb010405.jpg)
JohnThompson
01-04-2005, 10:19 PM
The Sculpey isn't bad, but now that I've played a bit, I've found my Sculpey of choice is Super Scupley. I still have about a pound of the regular stuff left though, so I have to see what I can do to use it up.
The regular white Sculpey is near worthless as a serious sculpting medium. Throw it out!
The skulls are cool, they remind me of your Sammael costume.
It might be near worthless, but I am just getting back into sculpting. Better to do a bit of practice with the cheaper stuff (especially when the only place I can get Super Sculpey charges an arm and a leg for it!). After this block is gone, I won't be getting regular Sculpey again though. I'll have to sell sculpts just so I can afford to continue practicing when I work solely in Super!
If not using regular Sculpey means you can't sculpt, go ahead but the stuff is so hard to work with that you end up being limited by the medium. Too late to ask Santa for the good stuff I guess.
Petersen
01-05-2005, 06:38 AM
I really enjoy using regular sculpy. It's what I have done all of my sculpting with. Although I think I'm nearly out of the stuff, so I may pick up some super when I restock.
Fine! Make liars of all of us. ;)
JohnThompson
01-05-2005, 07:39 AM
I really enjoy using regular sculpy. It's what I have done all of my sculpting with. Although I think I'm nearly out of the stuff, so I may pick up some super when I restock.
Try the Super-- you won't be disappointed. It is a little firmer (won't fingerprint or mush up as easily) and will hold detail better than the white stuff.
The main drawback to Super Sculpey is that its slightly translucent before its baked, making it more difficult to see details on the surface of the clay. Many sculptors mix in a small brick each of black and white polymer clay to the pink block of Super to make an opaque clay.
Petersen
01-05-2005, 08:02 AM
What brand/product is the black and white polimers? will anything mix and bake with the super???
JohnThompson
01-05-2005, 08:32 AM
What brand/product is the black and white polimers? will anything mix and bake with the super???
Most clays from Polyform (Sculpey's parent company) bake at the same temps: Sculpey III, Premo, Flex, etc. They make a "Super Flex" clay and an "Eraser" clay that cure at lower temps, but I have yet to see those in any art/craft store.
I have also heard of people mixing totally different brands together with good results. Just read the baking instructions and bake at the highest recommended temp if there is a difference.
You don't have to limit yourself to just adding black and white, mix whatever colors you prefer, almost all will make the pink Sculpey opaque, although I'd avoid the clays with a "granite" texture or pearlescence, they might be distracting while sculpting.
Petersen, if your Mouse Guard sculpts were regular white Sculpey, I applaud your patience! I'm not having too much trouble with it overall, but I'm not sure how well I'd manage fur using it.
I forgot to mention that the tree frog now has a name and a new home. He was made as a surprise for Grey, and I gave him to her a couple days ago. She loves him and immediately named him Gwak ;)
Petersen
01-05-2005, 09:41 AM
Gwak? prnounced like Quack with a Gah instead of Qua?
Yes the Mouse Guard are all regular white sculpy. The trick is doing them in modular pieces. Once it's fur time for the head, I only handle it by the rod I stick in where a neck would be. Then it gets baked. I sulpt a body up to the head (minus hands, tail, and feet) and use either the head or a rod where one of the legs come out from under the fur. Once those are baked, I make custom fit paws and bake them seperately and pin & epoxy them in place.
I make a boo-boo fingerprint in the fur at least once per mouse..but it doesn't take too much to fix unless it's on the face or an ear.
It's pronounced "g-wha-ck". Like rock, but with a Gwa at the beginning.
For anybody who was upset about not seeing my short before - be upset no more! A much smaller version of the version of my film I handed in was put on the college website, so I snagged it to upload to my own site.
Give A Dog A Bone (700kb WMV file) (www.dragonfyredawn.com/animation/giveadogabone_small.wmv)
petriacce
01-05-2005, 12:31 PM
That's great Ose. Thanks for sharing.
Maija
01-06-2005, 03:51 PM
Cute!
So is this the one you were going to re-do because of the frame rate? It looks fine to me.
Ambitious but you brought it off! I trust this will result in glowing marks on your grade sheet.
Not so much a redo as it just needs some tweaking, ruta. Mostly, it needs some music added to smooth over the big quiet spaces between sound effects. I want to see if I can fix the timing a bit, but if not, it'll do.
And thanks Tad, glad you like it! I got my marks back on it today, and got an 82% overall on the project. Not too shabby.
I've been focusing on creating a character for my next animation assignment and when I decide to take a break and draw something else, I get this...
...dog-rat-lizard...thing? (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/sketchbook/sb011005.jpg)
Be damned if I know what it is! And gees, I need to find myself a good animal anatomy reference book...
petriacce
01-11-2005, 08:40 AM
I've been focusing on creating a character for my next animation assignment and when I decide to take a break and draw something else, I get this...
...dog-rat-lizard...thing? (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/sketchbook/sb011005.jpg)
Be damned if I know what it is! And gees, I need to find myself a good animal anatomy reference book...I like it. It looks like you were influenced by the dead dog Johann commandeered in Plague of Frogs. That's a good thing.
You might be right, petriacce. It must have been a weird subconscious thing though, since I wasn't even thinking of Plauge of Frogs when I doodled it!
More sketchbook critter doodles (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/sketchbook/sb011205.jpg)
I'm rather fond of the frog-footed one and the disgruntled looking gargoyle.
Also working on a Misshepezhieu mini-bust when need a break from sketching and animating. I'd post pics of the rough sculpt, but at the moment he looks like a feline version of Yoda, since he lacks the horns and spike bits.
E. Spears
01-13-2005, 10:32 PM
Nice critters! I think the pissed gargoyle is my favorite--you should animate him!
I want to see the Misshepezhieu bust, I remember the drawing and it was sweet.
-ers
gary bolt
01-13-2005, 10:35 PM
I like your new sketchbook critter doodles. Especially the frog footed one and the last one with the bird face, the horns and the tail. There is diversity in your critter universe.
Robert, I'll see what I can do. I've already designed a character to use for my current assignment, so I can't animated the gargoyle immediately. The next one will involve creating a walk and run cycle for a two-legged character, so he might be brought to life yet ;)
And thanks Gary. Now I just have to learn to draw these little critters more realistically!
yukon
01-15-2005, 11:52 AM
hey if youre looking foar a good anatomy reference for animals I think this is one of the best. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0486200825/qid=1105818482/sr=8-3/ref=pd_ka_1/103-6544601-0764660?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
I must say my copy is beat to hell from so much usage! it has the greatest plates. Plus since dover publishes it it very affordable.
Thanks for the book suggestion, yukon. It looks like a good book - I'll probably get it when I put my next book order in.
Not that this is really art, but I've been meaning to try to make chain mail for awhile. It hit me today that I could play around with some of the copper wire I have kicking around. This is what I ended up with. (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/temp/copperchainmail.jpg)
Useful chainmail this time...a necklace/collar/whatever (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/chainmail/chainmailcollar.jpg)
Made with 1/4" copper jeweller's rings. Figity to work with, but I like the result.
Some of the random sketchbook doodlings from the last week or so. Just trying to make up for the lack of finished stuff.
Hyper red panda (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/sketchbook/sb011505.jpg) (random gift-doodle for a classmate)
Misshepezhieu headshot (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/sketchbook/sb011605.jpg)
Elliot the magician (cat) (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/sketchbook/sb011905.jpg) (going to do more with this - he's the character I designed for the current assignment I'm working on)
Lil' demon (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/sketchbook/sb012305.jpg) (an older character that I've never done anything with)
I really should be asleep right now...but instead I decided I wanted to see how my cat magician's bow from the current assignment I'm working on looked all cleaned up. So here he is. The tail's missing because it's going to be put on a seperate animation layer.
Elliot bowing (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/animation/elliotbow.html)
JohnThompson
02-01-2005, 06:52 AM
Cool pencil test! Do you have the project storyboarded out at this point (meaning, can we see it?)
Great start, it will be interesting to see where you take this. Is this another 30 second project?
Edit: I just looked at the PT again, and I really like how he raises up on his toes a little as he bows. Its a subtle movement now, but I think the effect would be enhanced if it was exaggerated a little more. Cats are so flexible, and I'm picturing the way a cat stretches with its butt in the air :D
Almost everything in animation works better when exaggerated, it seems.
Anakin
02-01-2005, 07:02 AM
Like the magician bowing! Is he going to pull a rat out of his hat? Or a pit bull?
Chain mail suggestion: anodised aluminum is the best thing to work with since it's light and won't tarnish. A friend of mine knows of a website where you can order pre-cut links, I could see if he'd pass it along if you're interested.
John - there's no storyboards for this one, since it's just a regular assignment rather than a final project. All I needed were thumbnail sketches to plan the key poses. It'll be about 10 seconds long when I'm done. And believe me, when it's done, the motion will seem more exaggerated. I still have to animate the tail layer, and the motion will be much more over the top with the tail accentuating it.
Anakin - the joke's that obvious, is it? ;) His actions are all showy, then he pulls a ticked off looking dog out of the hat, quickly shoves it back in and turns to look sheepishly at the audience.
About the chain mail - if I have to order anything, I already have a place in mind (as a bonus, it's a Canadian company, so I won't have to deal with duty fees when I order). I plan on making my own rings rather than buying premade ones, once I get back home and can rig up the equipment to make the coils. In the mean time I'm going to buy premade coils and cut 'em myself. And although aluminum's lighter, I'm still going to go with galvanized steel for the chain mail shirt I plan on making. The weight's not a problem - a friend of mind has a vest he made that's just a touch bigger than what my shirt would be, and I barely felt it once I had it on. That, and there's just something amusing about being able to say you're wearing fully fuctional armor ;)
I had a bit of time to myself today, so I decided to start fleshing out my next costume idea. I've been wanting to make a quadrupedal stilt costume of some sort for a few years now, so that's what I'm going to attempt next.
The critter is going to be a gryphon (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/gryphonsuit.jpg) (lacking the wings in this drawing because I'm not sure how I'm going to do them yet).
JohnThompson
02-03-2005, 06:17 AM
The costume sketch looks great (but uncomfortable!) Its never too early to start thinking about Hallowe'en! ;)
gary bolt
02-03-2005, 06:30 AM
Ose, your new costume looks more ambitious than the last one, and that's saying something! Have you ever made, or tried, quadrupedal stilts?
Petersen
02-03-2005, 07:21 AM
I assume the 'entrance' will be the belly?
I think your toughest logistical challenge will be making the head stay out in front where you want it. Very very cool plan though....and thoughts in the contruction materials yet??
Perhaps Boober can walk along side you as a 'handler' again and control your wings
morna
02-03-2005, 07:35 AM
Are you nuts!!?! Wow Ose. It looks kool though. To me the hardest thing looks to be actually wearing it. That is a very physically demanding position to be in. Looking forward to the process!
JohnThompson
02-03-2005, 07:42 AM
That is a very physically demanding position to be in.
Spoken from experience? ;)
Maija
02-03-2005, 07:53 AM
Ose, you crazy!! But it will be pretty darned cool.
Keeping the head up: you could make a spine out of dressmaker's hoop steel (still available-- ask around at any theatre with a professional costumer in the neighborhood and maybe some fabric stores) and cantilever the head off of the neck with a "tendon" of cloth tape. It would only swing from side to side, but unless you're going to rig some system of pulleys and wires from an apparatus attached to your head... I'm giving you even crazier ideas, aren't I?
You could run the steel straight through the tail to keep it up too. Maybe a light rivet through a joint at the base of the tail would let that swing back and forth too.
As for the wings : You could use sheer curtain fabric cut into feathers and stiffened with spray starch (or maybe something non water-soluble-- Final Net hairspray, for example. ;) ) stuck over forms made by pulling the same sheer fabric over a form. I'm not sure what you'd make the form out of though. Aluminum rod, maybe? Then when the wings ar upright attached to a stiff support inside the costume, you could hold them upright with heavy fishing line running between the two at several points.
Can't wait to see it. And we have to wait 10 months!!
morna
02-03-2005, 08:26 AM
... I'm giving you even crazier ideas, aren't I?
hmmmm...
lots of room in there for...servo motors! ;)
Wow...what a response!
Morna, you should know by now that yes, I'm most certainly nuts ;)
It'll be a bit uncomfortable, but shouldn't be that bad. I'll be able to put some of my weight on the arm stilts, so it'll take the pressure off my back and legs a bit. I've never tried walking around on quad stilts before, but this is part of the reason why I want to get started as soon as possible - this way I can take some time after building the stilts to get used to walking around in them, and seeing what I can manage to do without making myself fall. I should have pretty decent mobility once I get used to the stilts, maybe even be able to rear up.
Petersen - the planning's still mostly just ideas in my head, but yes, the entrance will probably be through a hidden slit in the belly. If I use the foam I used with my Sammael costume, I should be able to make an opening that'll pop shut the moment I get inside. The head will actually be easy. The head and neck will have a base made out of wire, and it'll attach to a helmet on my head. I move my head (side to side or up and down), and the movement will be amplified in the gryphon's head. The only trick here is that I need to keep it as light as possible so it won't strain my neck too much.
I've already talked to Grey. I'll have to see what I can rig up that won't muck up the workings of the costume, but the plan is to have Grey leading the gryphon around on a leash as her "pet" :p
Whew...as for materials. I'm going to try to make this for as cheap as I can, since I can't afford to do another project on the same scale as Sammy right now. So anything fancy (like an animatronic tail, which is on my list of things I'd like to add if the funds and time present themselves) is out, at least for now. As is, the six months I'll have to work on it might not be enough for the basic costume.
The stilts are going to be made from whatever I can scrounge from my dad's garage, or get for cheap. Probably just 2 by 2 wood or thick dowling. The spine of the tail will be sections of dowling connected with bits of rubber tubing, wrapped in quilt batting to give more dimension. The base structure for building the gryphon's body will be done with thick wire, and foam will be used where needed. The skin overtop of that will be plain cotton broadcloth. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to do the wings or eagle legs yet, but vinyl is a good guess for the legs. The wings (since I'm probably just going to make them stationary and stylized) might be done using a trick I've seen used to make armor out of those sheets of kid's craft foam.
The "fur" won't be fur at all (I'd easily have to spend $400 to get enough fur to properly cover that thing!). This is the really insane part. I'll be sewing individual hairs cut from aluminum pop cans to make the fur. Cans are easy enough to come by, and as long as I cut them right, the metal edges aren't sharp. I sew the hairs on with the unprinted side facing out, and I have myself a silver gryphon.
JohnThompson
02-03-2005, 11:09 AM
I'll start saving my Mountain Dew cans for you!
Damn, you're not abitious, are you? :D
Hellsaint
02-03-2005, 05:40 PM
Just wow. The hairs are the nutty part :eek:
That's sweet of you, but you really don't have to save your Mountain Dew cans for me John. I should have a good stash by the time I head back home from college in April, and I've got my mom saving any cans she and my dad go through at home.
Ambitious? Maybe a little. I'd say it's more crazy than anything else though :p
Especially since I have at least one paid costume commission I need to get done before I start on the gryphon. That's just a mask and matching paws though, so not too bad. I can probably manage that in a week or two once I don't have classes taking up all my time.
Petersen
02-04-2005, 06:37 AM
You are going to be loud walking around. I hope the can idea work better in real life that it seems like it would in my head....I'm sure if any hellboarder could pull it off..it would be you, Laura.
I'm going to do some test bits first, but the aluminum shouldn't be very loud, if it makes any noise at all. It won't scrape the same way a heavier metal would. I plan on sewing the hairs fairly flat, which should minimize the shifting that would make noise. And given where I'd be wearing the costume, what little noise it would make would be drowned out anyway.
And some random art, just because I want opinions before I start adding designs to my Zazzle store thingie...
Tiger t-shirt design (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/sketchbook/sb020805.jpg)
E. Spears
02-08-2005, 08:02 PM
that's a nice design. nice an clean, should make a sweet shirt.
-ers
Thanks Robert. It seems that I'm going to end up doing a series of them...I did a cougar (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/tshirts/stylizedcougar.jpg) and a leopard (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/sketchbook/sb021005.jpg) today. I have all three up in my Zazzle shop, so here's hoping. If I manage to sell anything, I won't make much...but eh, I won't complain if I make a bit of pocket change.
Now, I need to make something other than cat designs. I'll have to see if I manage to make something decent of that skull sketch I did yesterday...
morna
02-11-2005, 07:12 AM
Hey Ose! Is it your birthday today? I have you on my calendar but you don't show up in the CBR birthday thing.
No, mine isn't until April.
Trio of skulls (t-shirt version) (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/tshirts/skulls.jpg)
If I have the time, I want to take the skulls and do an inkwash piece with 'em.
morna
02-12-2005, 10:34 PM
No, mine isn't until April.
Hmm weird ...
but kool skull shirt!
Nice critters! I think the pissed gargoyle is my favorite--you should animate him!
Here you go! (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/animation/impwalk.html) ;)
I need to fix it a bit. There are some boiling problems and I don't know that he should walk quite that slow, but my teacher put a minimum on the number of drawings we could use for the cycle.
Petersen
02-17-2005, 12:18 PM
what are 'boiling' problems? Although slow, it looks clean.
Boiling is what happens when you don't get your lines quite right, so the line wobbles. The only example I can think of is the kid's show Stickin' Around, were the boiling effect was done on purpose. The mouth's boiling a bit on my gargoyle, but since my teacher didn't say anything about it when I showed it to her today, I might just be doing the I'm my own worst critic thing.
Behold my incredibly crappy UV texturing! This is an assignment for one of my 3D classes, and my first try at trying to flatten out a model to do textures. I didn't make the model, just the textures. Between the model itself having issues, the teacher not really explaining anything and this being my first time doing this, I suppose I didn't do too badly.
http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/animation/kangatestrender.jpg
The second half of the two-legged walk/run assignment.
Imp run cycle (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/animation/imprun.html)
Whew...nice to be able to work on something other than animation class stuff for once! This one's mostly for myself, though I also plan on sending it in for the next issue of a werecreature zine I regularly submit to. I love the Chat Noir classic art print by Steinlen - so this is my little nod to that piece.
(Were) Chat Noir (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/temp/werechatnoirc.jpg)
morna
02-26-2005, 08:08 PM
That's very kool Ose. That pose is SO Ose! But no-one would miss the reference. Nice!
Petersen
02-26-2005, 08:28 PM
a wonderful and well-done tribute and design!!
more of this I tell you More!! More!!!
Glad you like it, morna and Petersen. It was a fun piece to do. I don't know how soon I'll be able to do anything new (similar or otherwise) because school stuff is getting hectic - plus I have a little animation commission I'm taking on.
But who knows, I may get inspired yet. Charlie Bonifacio is coming to do a bit of a lecture and workshop here at the college on Friday for us animation students. Charlie's among the best animators in the world, and from everything my teacher's said about him, he's a really nice guy who's willing to offer honest and helpful feedback. It should be an interesting day.
Whew. Between Friday and Sunday I managed to do six inked pieces, plus the were chat noir. Now I have to focus on animation again, though I did do this doodle to put with my mini-bio for the contributor's page in tEiN. Zombie-ish to fit with the theme of the first issue, but it could easily be me after a long night of animating.
Doodle here (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/sketchbook/sb030205.jpg)
Speaking of which, my next assignment (we won't be starting until after the March break) is going to be a lip sync. I already had a classmate suggest I do comic-Hellboy. I'm just not sure I'm brave enough to try to make a lip sync chart for him!
So many things wrong with it, but I'll post it anyway. Yeesh, you'd think that since I did a 4-legged walk before, that I'd do it better on the second attempt.
Data7 walk cycle (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/animation/data7walk.html)
Data7 from the Cybersix TV series. He looks weird without his proper colours.
And just a random tidbit that I find amusing. I use StatCounter on my site mostly to keep track of how many hits I'm getting on each page, but it also tracks some other statistical information, including search engine keywords that people who find my site that way were using. In the last day, I've had two unique visitors, both of which found my site thanks to my Sammael costume page turning up when you search "sammael hound of resurrection" on Yahoo. I got curious, and it turns out when you search "sammael costume", that same page is also the first thing to turn up on Yahoo - and that's before all those interviews and such that mention the Sammael costumes and Brian Steele!
E. Spears
03-08-2005, 10:15 PM
that's a really great walk cycle. reallyreally cool, my favorite walk-cycle from you yet.
I can't animate for the life of me, so i'm especially in awe of stuff like this.
-ers
Animation really isn't that hard, Robert. It's just terribly time-consuming and gets frustrating at times.
Anyway, I was out of town for a few days so I'm behind once again. I have a character model I have to try to have modeled and at least partially textured by Monday. This is what I have so far, and I don't think I'm doing too badly considering I really don't know what the heck I'm doing. The ears still need to be worked on a bit before I attach them to the head properly.
http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/temp/smoothedroughhead.jpg
Run cycle for the 4-legged 2D animation assignment (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/animation/data7run.html)
Petersen
03-23-2005, 04:39 AM
That's awesome, Ose. I assume he is very dark and that's why the wiskers are boxed out to be white?
JohnThompson
03-23-2005, 06:29 AM
Fantastic run cycle, Ose! And your 3D modeling is superb considering you haven't been at it long. I've seen 3D from guys who've been at it for years that don't have as good a grasp at organic modeling as you've shown in this thread.
Yes, he's dark with only highlights to accent the shape when he's all coloured (I've attached a small still from the TV series for reference). Unfortunately, I just don't have the time right now to try colouring the two cycles. School's sucking up most of my free time, and what little I have left is going to be set aside for a small animation I'm getting paid to do.
Heh, and thanks John. I have to admit that I'm surprising myself a bit. I've only gotten this far by referencing a method used in a great tutorial I found, but I'm starting to get the hang of it. I'm still not too fond of working on 3D, but modeling isn't as bad as I thought it'd be.
Anakin
03-23-2005, 05:51 PM
Ose, 3D animatio is actually easier than hand animation, IMHO. You just need to make sure the timing is correct, which is easier to FUBAR in a totally computer media than by hand.
A good trick is to attach the camera to one of your lights, so you'll be sure your target has light. This works well in 3D Studio Max and Poser, and that's all I've played with.
Ah, but it takes a good knowledge of 2D to be good in 3D! ;) That's one of the problems with the 3D industry - you have a lot of the newer animators with no background in 2D that just learn to use the 3D program and think that that makes them great animators. It leads to mediochre animation a lot of the time. That's why the industry loves people who have training in both or to bring in vetran 2D animators to learn 3D - because the 2D trained people make far better animation than people trained solely in 3D.
Just as a personal preference, I like 2D better. Sitting in front of a computer pushing buttons just isn't the same as putting a pencil to paper. And though the animation part goes faster in 3D, you have all those other headaches to deal with in 3D that you don't in 2D - individually modeling every item in the scene, modeling the character, rigging the character, making UV texture maps and layered textures, making bump maps or displacement maps, lighting, scripting...not to mention all the bugs that tend to pop up in Maya (I don't know if other 3D packages have similar problems). I'll take 2D over all those headaches any day.
Neither is easier but each requires a different type of intuition. Of the Disney animators that made the shift, several spoke of how difficult it was not to be able to rough out the whole action before going back for details. The line of action is easier to follow when you can sketch an actual line.
If anything, I would think 3D is trickier but maybe that's because my background is 2D.
For everybody's amusement, here's a little quick-sketch animation I did in Flash of Hellboy. I'm not really taking it seriously as it was just a bit of a test to try out the lip sync chart I made today.
Hellboy animation (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/animation/awcraphellboy2.html)
JohnThompson
03-24-2005, 09:55 PM
Cool! You know, I'm obligated to say....
More, more!
There will be more, and it'll look a heck of a lot better than that quick-sketch animation. I'm making myself not look at it because every time I do, I spot more things that make me cringe...but given that I whipped that up in about two hours by doodling in Flash, I shouldn't complain too much.
Hopefully the real lip sync will get done reasonably quickly. My workload for my classes has been very heavy lately and with 3D being the focus this semester, my 2D assignments tend to end up on the backburner. Nevermind finding time to do stuff for myself.
I'm making progress on my 3D dog model. The body, arms and legs are modeled. The body is already properly attached, and I'll be doing the same with the arms and legs as soon as I'm completely happy with them. I'm still not sure which type of tail I'm going to give him. I think he'd look better with a longer corgi tail rather than the usual stub, but I'll see.
http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/temp/dogfullbody.jpg
The modeling is done for my corgi character. (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/images/corgism.jpg)
I'm hoping to get him rigged and textured this week, along with painting the weights. Time's running out for this project, but at least I'm not really behind anybody else in class.
JohnThompson
04-02-2005, 08:46 AM
The modeling is done for my corgi character. (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/images/corgism.jpg)
I'm hoping to get him rigged and textured this week, along with painting the weights. Time's running out for this project, but at least I'm not really behind anybody else in class.
Cute li'l fella! Will you be able to create "real" fur on him, or are you limited to texture maps only?
We are using Maya Unlimited, so I do have the option to use "real" fur, but for the sake of render time I'm not using it. I'm just going to start with UV textures, and if I have time (a huge factor at this point), I'm going to experiment and see if I can make decent looking psuedo-fur using bump mapping.
There are a lot - and I do mean a lot - of problems with the current "final" version of my corgi character. If I can find the time between the many things I'm hoping to get done over the summer, I want to try to partially rebuild him to correct things and make him easier to work with.
http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/images/corgimodel.jpg
JohnThompson
04-15-2005, 11:21 AM
This is a great model & textures! I can't wait to see him in action. You do get to animate him, right?
Like most artists, you're very critical of yourself. I think, rather than spend your summer re-building this fella', you should just keep moving ahead with new stuff. Take what you learned creating this character, and apply that experience to your next project. Your head must be busting with new ideas, let 'em out, I say!
Petersen
04-15-2005, 11:35 AM
John is right..push forward.
I had a wonderful Sculpture instructor in college. His plan for assignments/projects, were what he called 'problems'. and the instruction was something like: "Build a delicate from using only hard materials with hard right angles" He didn't care if the final portfollio was only a few good pieces with the rest being failures...the idea was to learn and think about the mistakes you make. He was very active about discussing what works and what doesn't based on those goals.
Having just finished Mouse Guard, I see all kinds of pages and panels I would like to go tweak...but instead, I'll just accept that was the best I could do at the time and work to make the next one better.
Hope this isn't too much of a threadjack but it seems applicable.
I was just reading an interview by Mike Manley in Draw! Magazine and he and the artist were saying how important it is to redo the work after a crit as opposed to "I'll apply those ideas to my next project."
The point was that listening to a critique is one thing but trying to apply it to the original project cements the lesson. A new project will have different problems that might overlap the original but cloud the lesson.
I thought it was an interesting point, especially in an era of short attention spans and students eager to rush forward to the next thing. In this case, Ose is talking about making changes that will make the Corgi easier to work with so that's work she should definitely do since it sounds like it will affect her animation.
Petersen
04-15-2005, 12:57 PM
Tad's right..
take the time to do it right. ;)
I can see both points. I think it's important to really understand the crit and be able to use the information. If the corgi is something you will use again (after it's remade or 'fixed') then it makes sense. If, to you it's just a project, and you will spend an enormous amount of time tweeking and redoing, then it might not be worth the time.
A friend of mine is one to redraw the same thing so many times over trying to get it 'perfect' that he never quite gets there and spends so much time on it, he couls have put that drawing excersise to other poses, subjects, etc.
JohnThompson
04-15-2005, 03:23 PM
I understand putting in the work to fix one's mistakes, especially when working professionally for a client, art director, editor, etc. You need to show that you can take direction well, and show that you're taking their criticism seriously.
On the other hand, and the point of my earlier post, its so easy to obsess over details that at times are unnecessary. How many times have you seen a wonderful rough sketch get the life sucked out of it by overworking it to produce a more polished finished piece?
Its a great habit to learn discipline at an early age, but you need to enjoy a break, too.
Tad, any time you feel like threadjacking in order to drop a few pearls of artistic wisdom, go right ahead!
Anyway - it turns out the corgi's going to get an overhaul sooner than I had expected. This will make absolutely no sense to anybody who isn't familiar with 3D, but I'll explain anyway. I made a mistake that I'm sure many a first-timer has made, and smoothed the model too early. The result was that the skin weights were incredibly difficult to work with and fix. Depsite my best efforts, he still deformed rather oddly everywhere but in the arms. One of my teachers has offered a solution that should fix things without rendering the high-res model useless, so my project partner and myself are going to fix the problem before we start animating.
Needless to say, I'm not getting any sleep this weekend. On top of the 3D project, I have a 2D lip sync assignment to get done too. I swear, it never ends!
jnapper
04-15-2005, 05:49 PM
http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/images/corgimodel.jpg
That is so cute!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The 3D project was a minor disaster, so I'm afraid I won't be showing any of it...
So instead, here's my 2D lip sync assignment (www.dragonfyredawn.com/animation/hellboylipsync.avi)
As a warning, that's an 8 or 9 meg .avi file. I don't know how to make it any smaller, I'm afraid.
There is some weirdness with it, but that's because of 1. scanning the frames individually on my flatbed scanner (so there are spots where it jumps) and 2. this isn't final the final cleanup version.
I've been deprived of Teletoon while at college (what kind of student residence tied to a college that has an animation program doesn't get Teletoon in its cable package?!), and now that I'm back home I've been checking out the newish shows I haven't seen before.
This includes Delta State - a digitally rotoscoped animated series which I'm starting to get hooked on. I got bored last night after watching it, so I rotoscoped an old picture of myself to look like a [I]Delta State/i] character.
Picture here (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/sketchbook/sb041005.jpg)
I don't know how much time I'm going to have to post art over the next little while, so here's a sketch for one of the concept art pieces for the 2D short I'm going to be starting on in the fall. Enjoy!
http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/sketchbook/sb042905.jpg
Oh, and what the heck...also working on drawing some girls over the summer to try to keep some sense of proportion while I don't have life drawing class - and so I have some pieces that aren't critters to sell at the fall MCCC. Sketch only right now, still not sure what I'm going to do for a background.
http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/sketchbook/sb042805.jpg
No art, but I feel like mentioning the fact that I just found out about a new Canadian "interactive" TV station that is accepting submissions for potential broadcast material. This is targetted at amateur video and the like. So if I can manage to find a way to put my Give A Dog A Bone short to DVD, I'm going to try it. What the hell, the worst that can happen is I don't get a response and am out a DVD.
Petersen
06-02-2005, 10:19 PM
I say go for it Ose!
looking forward to the Fall MCCC!
longmanshort
06-03-2005, 02:18 AM
Ooooooh, those are just lovely, Ose! The stuff you did for End is Nigh was ace, but I really like the cowgirl sketch (perhaps a little too much ...) :p
Good! Then I'm not an utter failure at this pin-up thing! ;) I also have this sketch (which needs some work) (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/sketchbook/sb050205.jpg) and this one (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/sketchbook/sb050505.jpg) . I have a few other ideas, but I haven't had as much time for sketching as I would like.
E. Spears
06-03-2005, 05:13 PM
I love the cowgirl, and the dragon is tops!
If you put it on DVD, good luck with the submission. woowoo!
-ers
Just to keep everything in one easy-to-find thread, here's my summer art exchange piece. I haven't done this style of inking in about four years.
http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/images/mignolafrogmonster.jpg
JohnThompson
06-14-2005, 10:49 PM
Cool frog monster! But now I've got this damn song in my head:
"Froggy went a-courtin', he did ride mmm-hmmm...."
Gaah! Make it stop! This is worse than the paralyzing tongue!
"...Took Miss Mousey for his bride..."
Somehow, I think this particular frog would eat Miss Mousey instead of court her ;)
I'm having second thoughts about putting this one in for the exchange. I still have a few days to decide, and to produce another piece if I decide I like this one too much. I was planning on drawing Liz originally, but I got the "must...draw...monster" urge. Maybe I'll see if I can do a decent piece of her.
Go with the good karma of putting a great piece in the exchange and who knows what you'll get back?
True enough Tad. Thankfully, the attachment to the piece is already fading. And if I do decide I like it that much, I can always ink up a second version of the piece for myself. The practice can't hurt, though I should be practicing on some pieces I can put in the monster themed sketchbook I want to do for MCCC.
Maija
06-16-2005, 09:03 PM
Better to share the work! Anyway, as the artist, you can always make more for yourself (and it's good practice, as you say).
morna
06-16-2005, 09:04 PM
well said!
...I got in. Holy...wow.
I did get my Give A Dog A Bone short sent out to BiteTV last week. I just got an email requesting a still so they can put a synopsis up on the BiteTV site. I don't know all the details just yet, but I'm pretty sure this means my short will be on TV.
morna
06-20-2005, 07:53 PM
wo hoo!! That's awesome news Ose. Well done!
Maija
06-20-2005, 08:02 PM
Congratulations, Ose! Coolness!
Ok, now I know for sure my short will be on TV. I got a second email, from the Program Director at BiteTV. She's going to be sending me a 1-year non-exclusive contract to sign. I guess I now have a minor claim to fame to list in my little bio thingie at MCCC!
I haven't had the time to do much traditional art lately, but I'm trying to get a few commissioned costuming pieces out of the way so I can go back to traditional art. MCCC stuff is a-callin', but other obligations have to be taken care of first.
The big one is a mask commission that I finally got a decent start on today. I figured I'd post some WIP on it for those who might be curious. It's going to be a black wolf with some grey accent markings. I just have the muzzle and eye ridges done right now, but tomorrow I'm going to see if I can knock off the cheek ruffs, lower jaw and ears. After that, it's on to furring it.
http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/headwip_side.jpg
http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/headwip_front.jpg
JohnThompson
07-18-2005, 10:36 PM
Yes!! Its costume time again!
*Does the Snoopy happy dance*
:D :D :D
Consider this a warm-up John. The costume I'm going to be doing for myself (if all goes well...running out of time very quickly) is going to be far more complicated than this.
This is just a standard, boring mascot-style head that I'm doing for somebody who was kind enough to trade me the 1/4 scale Hellboy statue from Sideshow for a commission.
JohnThompson
07-18-2005, 11:34 PM
I don't care! I just love the work you do making costumes of any kind. So, bring it on! Perferably with lots of progress shots. ;)
Petersen
07-19-2005, 07:22 AM
yes, remember to take lots of photos....esp. when you get to the 'furring' I made a number of puppets when I was younger that I had done pretty detailed or interesting foam understructures for, but then lost everything when I applied a skin or fur. Either my seams were to distracting or the whole thing got really clunky and the form became bloby
so I want to see how someone who knows what they are doing does it
I'll do my best to take lots of pictures. I'm not sure how much will show if I take pictures as I work on the furring. Black fur and thread isn't very camera-friendly.
I don't know if I'll have any more pictures to post tonight, but I'm currently working on the jaw. It just has to be glued on, then it's on to the cheeks and hopefully ears before I go to sleep.
Ok, I lied. I'm leaving the head alone for the rest of the night so I can focus on the other costuming commission a bit.
Mask base, jaw added: front view (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/headwip_jaw_front.jpg) and side view (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/headwip_jaw_side.jpg)
Mask base, start of rough cheeks added: front view (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/headwip_cheeks_front.jpg) and side view (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/headwip_cheeks_side.jpg)
JohnThompson
07-19-2005, 10:21 PM
Thanks for posting these, Ose! You know, your avatar is way too serious to be doing such fun work as this, so I decided to tweak it. :)
Very funny John :p The truth is I don't smile when I'm working on my costuming - but I do tend to make weird faces, especially when I'm concentrating.
And speaking of costuming, I think I need to make more of these rabbit tails (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/bunnytail.jpg) for selling at MCCC. Judging by the fact that I've sold seven in the last month and a half, I have to assume they'd go over well with the anime kiddies at the con too!
And more updates.
Second layer of foam added to the cheeks: front view (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/headwip_cheeks2_front.jpg) and side view (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/headwip_cheeks2_side.jpg)
Cheeks carved to their proper shape: front view (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/headwip_cheeksdone_front.jpg) and side view (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/headwip_cheeksdone_side.jpg)
Ears added: front view (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/headwip_foamdone_front.jpg) and side view (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/headwip_foamdone_side.jpg)
JohnThompson
07-21-2005, 11:00 PM
Looking great! What will you use to make the nose? Will you use the rubber tool dip stuff and just paint over the foam, or do you attach a sculpted nose of some kind, or...? Or am I getting ahead of you and should just wait patiently? :p
I'm planning on doing a tool dip nose - easy to do, and durable without question. I was going to get creative and try making a mold for a latex nose, but I haven't done any playing around with making latex bits yet. I'm not sure how well they'd hold up, especially given that the liquid latex I have currently isn't top-of-the-line stuff. So my experiments will have to wait.
I need some opinions. I'm going to get some stickers printed up, I'm just not sure which of these three to go with. I'm partial to the first one myself, but I want to see what others think.
http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/temp/stickerdesign1.jpg
http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/temp/stickerdesign2.jpg
http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/temp/stickerdesign3.jpg
gary bolt
07-22-2005, 07:27 PM
I choose door #1.
Thanks for posting the progress shots of the mask. It's great fun to watch it evolve.
I've started the furring of the mask. So for David, here's about as detailed a visual description of the process as I can give you.
Step 1: a (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/blackwlf_furring1a.jpg) b (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/blackwlf_furring1b.jpg) c (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/blackwlf_furring1c.jpg)
Step 2: a (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/blackwlf_furring2a.jpg) b (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/blackwlf_furring2b.jpg) c (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/blackwlf_furring2c.jpg)
Step 3: a (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/blackwlf_furring3a.jpg) b (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/blackwlf_furring3b.jpg) c (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/blackwlf_furring3c.jpg)
And more:
Step 4: a (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/blackwlf_furring4a.jpg) b (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/blackwlf_furring4b.jpg) c (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/blackwlf_furring4c.jpg)
Step 5: a (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/blackwlf_furring5a.jpg) b (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/blackwlf_furring5b.jpg)
Step 6 (jaw): a (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/blackwlf_furring6a.jpg) b (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/blackwlf_furring6b.jpg)
And since everybody's looking forward to my gryphon when I get started on it - my plans have changed slightly. I wanted to do a stilt-suit, but I'm very quickly running out of time for it. If I do something with stilts, I have to take the extra time to build them then get used to using them. I've seen a few decently done quadrupedal costumes that don't use stilts in the hind end, so I'm going to give it a go that way.
JohnThompson
07-24-2005, 10:42 PM
Great looking fur so far! Will you trim the fur at all tapering to the snout, or do you leave it all the same length? Also, at what point do you attach the fur to the foam?
Looking forward to more wolf and gryphon too!
Unless the guy I'm making it for wants the fur trimmed on the snout, it'll stay as is. It's difficult to trim fur so that it's of uniform length over a large area, so I won't do it unless it really needs it. It looks a bit odd right now, but it'll look better once everything's properly fitted and the eyes and nose are in place.
The fur will be attached to the foam shortly. I've got the piece for the back of the head cut, and once I sew it to the fur for the face, it'll be mostly attached. The glue will be the last step, attaching the fur to the lip area and around the eyes.
I wanted to get the furring done tonight - and it is close - but my eyes are going screwy. Black fur is a pain to work with for long periods of time because after awhile everything just starts blurring together.
Step 7 (furring the back of the head): a (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/blackwlf_furring7a.jpg) b (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/blackwlf_furring7b.jpg) c (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/blackwlf_furring7c.jpg)
Step 8 (gluing down the fur): a (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/blackwlf_furring8a.jpg) b (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/blackwlf_furring8b.jpg)
Step 9 (insides of the ears): a (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/blackwlf_furring9a.jpg) b (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/blackwlf_furring9b.jpg)
Step 10 (back of ears): a (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/blackwlf_furring10a.jpg) b (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/blackwlf_furring10b.jpg)
Step 11 (finishing ears): a (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/blackwlf_furring11a.jpg) b (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/blackwlf_furring11b.jpg) c (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/blackwlf_furring11c.jpg)
Step 12 (gluing jaw on): a (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/blackwlf_furring12a.jpg) b (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/blackwlf_furring12b.jpg)
Step 13 (adding the neck - furring done!): a (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/blackwlf_furring13a.jpg) b (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/blackwlf_furring13b.jpg) c (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/blackwlf_furring13c.jpg) d (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/blackwlf_furring13d.jpg)
This just leaves the last details - the eyes, the nose and lining the mouth. I'll probably put some teeth in the bottom of the mouth too.
Petersen
07-26-2005, 01:10 PM
Wow! Nicely done. Will you do any 'highlights' in the fur, or keep it strictly black?
Looking forward to seeing eyes, teeth, and nose
It'll be staying just black. Fake fur is notoriously difficult to airbrush (so that the airbrushing is permanent, that is) and black fur is near impossible. Because fake fur is synthetic, normal dyes don't work all that well. Watered down fabric paint can work, but you have to sit there while it dries so you can comb the fur to keep the hairs from sticking.
BKole
07-26-2005, 02:55 PM
Watered down fabric paint can work, but you have to sit there while it dries so you can comb the fur to keep the hairs from sticking.
Is this the Voice of experience?
I've never had to do it myself, but some of the people in an online costuming community I'm part of have managed it before. Apparently it's even possible to "dye" white fur to pure black using the fabric paint method, but it's not really worth the effort.
ARG. Another broken sewing machine needle. The torture I put that thing through...
I've been taking a brief break from the commissions the last couple days and instead been working on a few tails to sell at MCCC in the fall. There aren't many so far, but I've got a wolf tail (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/greywolftail.jpg) (going to make three of these total) and a red fox tail (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/redfoxtail.jpg) (planning on making five total). These are nice and easy to make, and they're helping to put a dent in the ridiculously large pile of fake fur I've got right now.
wooo00000oooo
you have inspired me. I will be making a gargoyle costme now.
And it's done! I'm shipping the mask out to its owner tomorrow.
Mask: front (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/blackwlf/blackwlffront.jpg) 3/4 front (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/blackwlf/blackwlf34front.jpg) side (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/blackwlf/blackwlfside.jpg) 3/4 back (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/blackwlf/blackwlf34back.jpg)
And a few of me trying it out: 1 (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/blackwlf/blackwlf1.jpg) 2 (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/blackwlf/blackwlf4.jpg) 3 (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/blackwlf/blackwlf7.jpg) 4 (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/blackwlf/blackwlf8.jpg) 5 (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/blackwlf/blackwlf9.jpg) 6 (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/costuming/blackwlf/blackwlf11.jpg)
Petersen
08-08-2005, 05:02 AM