Back To Basics Day 7 - "Immediate Future Vlog"

Back To Basics - My way of getting those creative juices flowing! And this time I'm showing you some behind the scenes behind key parts! 
Day 7- "Immediate Future Vlog"

A vlog to inform you of the immediate future of the series.

Back To Basics - Day 6 "Another Look At Arcs"

Back To Basics - My way of getting those creative juices flowing! And this time I'm showing you some behind the scenes behind key parts! 

Day 6- "Another Look At Arcs"


Apologies for the look of the example, it is a new style I'm trying and haven't got the hang of it just yet.


This episode of Back To Basics takes a quick look at arcs when used with a character.

Back To Basics - Day 5 "A Brief Look At Arcs"

Back To Basics - My way of getting those creative juices flowing! And this time I'm showing you some behind the scenes behind key parts!

Day 5- "A Brief Look At Arcs"

This episode of Back To Basics takes a very quick look at arcs of action. This is just a set up for tomorrow where I will look further into multiple arcs with a character

Back To Basics - Day 4 "Timing and Spacing"

Back To Basics - My way of getting those creative juices flowing! And this time I'm showing you some behind the scenes behind key parts! 
Day 4- "Timing and Spacing"
This episode of Back To Basics takes a quick look at Timing and Spacing and how easing can make all the difference in the appearance of how something can move.

Back To Basics - Day 3 "VLOG"

Back To Basics - My way of getting those creative juices flowing! And this time I'm showing you some behind the scenes behind key parts! 

Day 3 - "VLOG 1"

This episode of Back To Basics is a look at what I want to do with Back To Basics and also who I am.

A different form from the previous 2 episodes, this is something I want to drop into the mix from time to time, just to give that human touch to the whole project.

Back To Basics- Day 2 "Bowling Ball"

Back To Basics - My way of getting those creative juices flowing! And this time I'm showing you some behind the scenes behind key parts!

Day 2 - "Bowling Ball"

A look at the bouncing of a Bowling Ball.

Creating a Halloween Short

Okay, so I've been posting my updates to Facebook and not on here, but when there's not much to talk about with it, why worry?

I'm planning a Halloween short, so I have a strict deadline for it. I have the idea, so now it's just making the stuff! The short has a couple scene changes, which isn't too bad, and only two characters. I wont give away the story, though.

I began sketching out the base of the character

Then building up to the final design

Same process for the second character

And there we have it! Two characters!

Flash thing!

So, this is embarrassing... After that last post about Creative Block, I've had the biggest bout of it ever... I have, however made a little thing in Flash!
It's a Pikachu!
Pikachu Attacks with a Thunder attack.

Creative Block and me

Hey all! Creative block hits all kinds of areas, from writers, artists, animators, musicians and so forth. It's a shame when you really want to just make something and you have no inspiration or drive. It happens to me a lot, either I lose interest in my personal projects because I have no drive, or I just can't bring myself to actually start one. Right now, I have an idea for a Lore-Breaking Fallout video based around Cats and Deathclaws. I know what I want to do with it, I just can't find that push to do it. It's a shame, because I really think it would be a funny short, and would be instantly hated by the Fallout community, or loved by them for poking fun at the game we all like.
I have another project I'm slowly chipping away on which Alnwick North fans would enjoy, the successor to A Week In Barresdale, which I have created an Establishing shot for. I've got the episode planned out with sketches and everything, it's just sitting down to make them.
Then there is wanting to learn Toon Boom...

I've found that there are ways to get yourself into "the zone" through different methods. Sometimes just doing some exercise helps. It clears your mind for a while, lets you think solely on certain areas, like, if I'm on a treadmill or exercise bike, I tend to think about the progression of story in 30-60 second sketches so they don't drag on or end before you can grasp what's happening in the scene.
But on the flip side, I walk 2 miles to work, making a round trip of 4 miles, plus being on my feet for 8 hours. When I get home, I'm physically drained and just want to sit down for a while. Animating may not be physically demanding, but when you're tired, you feel mentally drained, too. I don't always feel like drawing. Sometimes I can, sometimes I can't. It's tough sometimes.

Music! I listen to a wide variety of music. From metal and rock to pop. Recently, I've been listening to a bit Hayley Orrantia (you may recognise her from The Goldbergs). When really getting into animation, I like to get some metal on. Epic guitar riffs like in Iron Maiden are great for keeping you going. Lighter stuff like Hayley Orrantia and a-ha work well when you're already under way. At least, that's how it works for me.

TV! Sometimes not animating and watching some TV works well. For A Week In Barresdale, I would watch The League of Gentlemen a lot, now I have that and the Scottish comedy Burnistoun, shows which are based around characters in the same town which rarely interact with characters from outside of their sketches, save for perhaps mentions in passing.

Even just cleaning your room can help. A tidy area leads to a tidy mind. Or play with your pets. It's a fun distraction which gives you mind a break, so when you come back to working on your project, you can feel a little refreshed.

I'll leave you with a little sneak peak at the establishing shot I mentioned earlier. It's a throwback to an old cartoon, so, can anyone guess which cartoon? It was towards the end of Alnwick North's run, so some of you may still remember it.

Be sure to follow the blog to keep up to date with what I'm doing!

PreRoll Animation

I've created a little PreRoll animation which plays after the cartoon has loaded.
http://www.fastswf.com/bCnC7P0
It's a simple piece, but it tells you who I am and gives you the link to my website. It's nothing crazy, just straight to the point, which is important, because if you have a long advert for your site, people wont really want to watch much more. So a quick splash card and onto the movie is a plus!

I'll look at putting some sound into it later, as it's quite plain right now

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.

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

Bradford Animation Festival

BAF is just around the corner and some of my lecturers have put together a competition for two winners to go to BAF with the full tickets. We need to make a 7 second Vine for them (animated, obviously).
I really want to go to BAF so will definitely be entering that! For my piece, I'm thinking an animated animal, like a cat!

I do love cats... Here's the Tipp himself!

So I reference drew this chap out in Flash:

http://www.fastswf.com/sF83PXw

Coloured version

http://www.fastswf.com/6wOlBiI

In a field!

http://www.fastswf.com/0O24qOo

Rain Test1

http://www.fastswf.com/_cqHETg

Flash Rain Test. The rain drops are lines converted to fills, then Alpha Gradient added. Duplicated multiple times and resized. Repeated on a second layer, resized and moved around, then tweened. The house was placed on a layer between the rain, with rain splats FBF and duplicated.


FASTSWF is probably the best SWF upload site at the moment, in my opinion. Other sites I've tried resize the file and show the "dead area", which annoys me.

Flash Water Splash Tutorial!

Stephen Brooks (of www.rubberonion.com <-- Check him out if you haven't already) shared this via the Rubber Onion Animation Facebook page. The effect it gives is amazing! A must-know for any Flash animator wanting to make effects look convincing!
Flash FX Blog

Lonely This Christmas - The CMANIM Short

It's been quite a while since I've used Flash, so I thought Christmas was the perfect time to get back to it!
An original idea, Lonely This Christmas chronicles the Yuletide season for an elderly gentleman, alone at Christmas.

Animated in Flash, then converted from .swf to .mov in After Effects in order to be uploaded to Youtube.

Scanner issues.

Getting a bit grief from my scanner, so I'll be uploading some images at a later date, (Most likely next week), but to give you a heads up of what to expect, there will be some Life Drawing! Also, some designs for my final project, where I am focusing on Spiders for an APC, also some environments (one I have is digital, drawn on Flash which will appear on this message)

But first, a test animation of moving an immovable object! Dee returns to confront his arch nemesis, The Duck. It's giving him tremendous resistance, so Dee has taken to roping it and pulling the sucker!

It's a test piece which I am working on improving and will show you once it's done!

New Hessen, Europe.

An inner city area of former North East England. Ran by Van Laaq and under attack from Chigusa-Kamome (Former Japan, East Asia)

The roads are no longer Tarmac, instead they are a vented metal allowing for surface work to be performed more efficiently and quickly. A tram system runs left side of the screen, above the roadways. A mid city area of commerce where people gather to work and socialise. 

Getting back into Flash

Aww, man, this is great! I've not been this excited to do Flash in a long time! At work, all I think about is Flash. I get home and the PC is straight on, Flash being opened and I graft away at it. I've been looking at my last upload, and it's looking like the best thing I've made yet! And it's only a few seconds long!
I think this blog has been exactly what I've needed to get myself sorted out.

Take it easy, guys and gals!

First Post!

So, this is my first post for Chris McEwan Animation.
So, as you can guess, I want to be an animator. I currently use Flash Pro CS5. It's been a long while since I really animated anything worth showing, and when I look back, what I had showed was not all that good. In recent years I've got lazy and hardly done anything. It's a shame, really. I had a tremendous talent for creating animations for my jokes and spent practically all of my High School career animating. I even made a bit of money by doing things for a club in the town I lived.
Nowadays, I try to draw using my graphics tablet, but it never comes out right. I need to get back to it. I have so many ideas for things I want to create. From "Reasons To Be Miserable", a short series about the highs and lows of working in Retail, through the eyes and over-active imagination of a disgruntled employee, besotted with a co-worker (I've got episode outlines and the basis of Ep1 Script down). Then there's Dead Night, a zombie animation that has been through so many rewrites, it's not even resembling the first incarnation of it, then named Chitch Of The Dead. And more recently, I want to show my love for the game Syndicate, by Bullfrog, by creating a couple episodes based on it. For those of you who don't know the game, it's a Cyberpunk strategy game set in the future, where Syndicates run countries and are warring over global control. It's full of Augmentation and mission planning. Check it out.

I would love if this blog was discovered by some other budding animators, or some prolific doodlers (of which I also am), or, Hell, just ANYBODY!
I want to update this as often as I can, showing drawings, animations, anything I do, and recieve feedback and tips on how to further what I am doing.

Okay, to give you something to look at, the below picture is a sort of Self Portrait.It's a character from "Reasons To Be Miserable", who is based on myself. That's how I'd look if I was a cartoon character.





Thanks everyone!
I hope to see you again!
Maybe I'll have some actual animation, too...