Monday 29 June 2015

Hunting High and Low

HUNTING HIGH AND LOW - the new short from Chris McEwan Animation. The alternate ending to the 1985 smash hit by a-ha.

I used this as a bit of an experimental project. The way I have highlighted the characters, the way I made the backgrounds, all different to how I used to do them, and I quite like the effect on the highlights. The backgrounds need work, yeah, but I'm not exactly a wizard with Photoshop.

Saturday 27 June 2015

Graduating Uni, Bojack Horseman, a-ha... The life I lead!

Alright! So I've finally finished Uni and got all of my results. My last two projects (Advanced Anim and the Masterpiece) didn't give me grades I was jumping for joy with, but the final results for my three years at Uni gave me a 2:1 which I am so damn proud with! Yeah, obviously, I'd have loved to get a First Class Honours, but I knew I wouldn't have got that. I always said a 2:1 is the minimum I want to get, as if you don't have that, places wont even entertain you, so getting a 2:1 has really given me that huge push I was needing after the slump I hit this year. So a huge thank you to anyone who helped with feedback on my work, anyone who helped with my dissertation and anyone who just put up with me talking about nothing but bloody Uni work! It's been a stressful 3 years, full of ups and downs (And Inbetweens - get it? Animation? Inbetweens? Ahh, forget it...) it's not something I'm going to miss, if I'm honest with you, but I did love it. I'm just looking forward to getting some money, now!

After my final hand in, I went back to my hometown of Alnwick for a week to see family. I also got into watching Bojack Horseman, I only found out yesterday that it is actually made in Flash! And there I was, thinking it was Toon Boom! So take that, anyone who says 2D is dead and Flash is useless. One of the funniest shows at the moment is made in Flash.

Finally, a-ha!
Finding out that I did well at Uni has really given me a push to do some Flash. So today, instead of ironing a shirt ready for tonight, I'm remaking a small project I made a very long time ago. So let me take you back... Probably about 2005 (10 years ago, Christ!) I was twisting a-ha videos and songs to make them very strange and dark, as you do for your favourite band! I turned my hand to a small section of the video for Hunting High And Low. Today, I begin remaking that. Hopefully better.
I'm going to try something different on Flash here. I've picked up so many tips and tricks since the old Alnwick North days and I'm continuing to learn things with Flash to this day. Using a tip for highlighting and shading (plus a little bit of my own thought process) I've created a really nice effect which gives a sort of 3D feel. It's a way I've never done before and it needs a little work, still, but it's looking nice, if I do say so myself. It's also got me thinking about how to do the backgrounds. I'm luck for this piece that the backgrounds aren't massively detailed, really. It's a good chance to try a different style, which will need me to use Photoshop, too