Milestone 08 -THREE WEEKS LEFT!!!

As of Wednesday March 21^st I noticed that we only had three weeks left… This was a severe reality check… Not sure if I have enough time…

I still have a couple shots that need inbetweening. None of my drawings have: Facial Features, Tails, or Ears. And most of my drawings still are just circles. This leaves me with only a few options as to what I can do with my remaining time.

Option one: CUT my film to be half the length. This would sacrifice the story and character development, but give the film a “FINISHED” look.

Option two: Seeing as just about all the animation is complete, I could attempt to go through and spend the rest of the time drawing the character’s tails in and ears. (Probably won’t have time for facial features.) This option saves the story/character development, and would have really solid animation… Though the characters would look only slightly better than circles that move like the animals they represent.

Right now I’m leaning toward option two. I think what separates my animation from other animations is the story. I have to tell the story. I also think that with smooth animation, the circles will be enough to convey the idea. All I have to do is get those tails drawn in. I won’t worry about facial features for now, unless it’s a close up reaction shot. I’ll keep the line quality sketchy and add color under that.

My plan for QUICK coloring: each character will most likely only be one color (Except for the egg with the acorn hat on it and the acorns [both of which will be two colors.])

ACTIONS in Photoshop: I’ll set the drawn layer to Multiply (so all that’s white will be see through).

I’ll select the drawing (by selecting a top corner pixel, then inversing the selection),

Then create a layer under the drawn layer, and fill the selection with the foreground color (which would be the color of the character)

Then I’ll merge the two layers so that the color becomes part of the drawing.

Reselect the top pixel and delete all the white around the character.

It will be tough, and it's a race to the end, but I'm doing my best. I'm rolling with the waves as they come.

As for capturing my drawings into the computer: I have access to a feed-scanner. But if that fails, I’ll just capture them into the pencil test station and lowering the opacity of the tests over my backgrounds (But that’s WORST case scenario and would only take me a couple days to complete.)

I haven't lost hope or confidence that I'm able to complete this film. It might not be to the quality that I had originally imagined, but I keep chugging along!

Milestone 06 & 07 -Finishing Up Animaiton

With exception of three shots that are particularly difficult, I have most of the animation done. The next step is for me to finish the drawings (over the construction lines that I have made). I’m behind my original schedule that I had made at the beginning of the year, but I think I’ll have enough time. I have one month left before I have to be completely done, so I checked where I was a month ago to see how much I had done over the previous month. It appears that each step of my production “Process” takes me about a month. It’ll be close.

As for week 8, we had off of school for spring break. I continued working as much as I could manage, but after being completely burnt out, I felt that I had earned at least a couple days to recoup. Hopefully this will recharge me for the second half of the semester. I did manage to finish painting all my backgrounds in Photoshop. I’m happy with how they turned out.

It’s going to be far from easy, but I think there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. If I can make it through a tough month, then I think it’s possible for me to make the film.

I definitely “bit off more than I could chew” but I’m willing to make it through as much as I can. We’ll see where it gets me.

Milestone 05 -Catching Up

This week I was just powering out more in-between drawings,
hoping to get caught up to my schedule. I’m keeping a good pace I feel, and
should have them done by Wednesday the 7th.
I’m starting to consider that maybe I should do the fourth
step of my original production schedule, and do another pencil test after I get
all the in-betweens done. After I have the in-betweens done, the timing won’t
change for any of my animation, so I’d be able to get started on sound effects
at that point.
I’m continuing to work on finishing the in-betweens and will
start FINAL DRAWINGS after this. I feel that I’m still just behind being caught
up to where I had hoped to be, but two things should help me in weeks to come.
I’m working less over the weekends, and I cut the inking phase from my
production schedule.
After spring break I’ll make the call as to whether or not I
need to edit together a shorter version of my film with all the NEEDED shots, and
go from there.
For now, I got this.