Choas really is evil!!

Post by **cowsmanaut** » Thu May 15, 2003 1:06 am

I'm working on a fun little animation which I'll post later when I'm done cleaning up and colouring it.

I was looking at the file size at it's current level of detail and look what I got!!

This is not doctored.. just a funn coincidence.

moo

Post by **cowsmanaut** » Thu May 15, 2003 4:11 am

Post by **cowsmanaut** » Thu May 15, 2003 4:17 am

this is the right size to use as an avatar, I may make a smaller one for use as a emoticon.

Does anyone have some ideas of what they would like to see as emoticons? Dm/fantasy related ones that is..

beowuuf · Post by **beowuuf** » Thu May 15, 2003 8:29 am

giggler face for a smirk or wink?

Post by **Lunever** » Thu May 15, 2003 9:07 am

As emoticon? A smiley switching between wearing Chaos' helmet, a white beard and Librasulus' helmet!

Post by **Ameena** » Thu May 15, 2003 10:50 am

Well, an angry face could be a Dragon's head...can't seem to think of any more ideas for now

Post by **Gambit37** » Thu May 15, 2003 10:58 am

Heh he! I love that little animation! He looks kinda cute now; I'll never feel threatened by him again. Cool about the file size too!

At 38Kb though, it still seems quite large. Are you sure you're using as few colours as possible?

Post by **Lunever** » Thu May 15, 2003 10:58 am

An exlopding fireball should be there too.

Post by **cowsmanaut** » Fri May 16, 2003 5:39 am

well since it's set at 32 cols, 16 get's too dithered, and 38 frames. I figure 1k per frame is not too bad.

Post by **cowsmanaut** » Fri May 16, 2003 6:24 am

two more new ones.

Post by **Ameena** » Fri May 16, 2003 11:32 am

LOL

the Dragon one is so funny hehehehehehehehe

Post by **Gambit37** » Fri May 16, 2003 12:15 pm

Yep, like that dragon too! I love the fact that you're doing other types of art; your cartoon animation of Chaos is really good, showing excellent use of squash and stretch and exaggeration; all the staples of cartoon animation. I'm surprised that the anim is 38 frames, it doesn't look that many, but I guess that's how you've got it so smooth. Great stuff!

Post by **cowsmanaut** » Fri May 16, 2003 9:25 pm

you do know that I work for the Capilano College Animation Department (recently named one of the best schools in the world for 3D animation, which I'm very happy about) right? I'm also a graduate of the program. I wouldn't say I'm an amazing animator by any means but I think I'm adequate. I specialized in modeling and texturing of 3D models. That's really the part I klike the most. Just thought I'd mention that since you seemed surprized I knew about squash and stretch, followthrough, exaggeration, etc.

moo

Post by **Gambit37** » Sat May 17, 2003 12:25 am

Yes, I did know that! Unfortunately my message came out sounding patronising, which wasn't the intent; I just wanted to comment that you'd shown great use of those techniques. Gah, sometimes I hate communicating in text....

Post by **cowsmanaut** » Sat May 17, 2003 3:57 am

no no, it didn't sound bad. It just sounded (as I said) as if you were surprised. So I figured I simply hadn't told you or you had forgotten.

I must admit to being a little surprised hearing you talking about fundementals of animation as I was unaware of you having Animation Experience. Are you self taught or was it part of a course you took? I know about your web skills but I lack in depth knowledge about any art based schooling you've had.

moo

Post by **Gambit37** » Sat May 17, 2003 11:12 am

I've not studied animation anywhere; I just know the basics -- I tend to have the kind of mind that learns a little about a lot of things, so when exposed to new stuff that I'm interested in, it sticks. I have messed around a little in Illustrator but nothing worth showing...

As for art education, I come from quite an artistic family, and studied Art up to 'A' level (if Canada is like America, then this would be equivalent to High School qualifications). However, I didn't continue with Art and after I got in to multimedia, it was my design/graphics skills that got developed, and my 'real' art talents kind of got left behind. I haven't done any drawing or painting for nearly ten years and that's something I'd like to get back in to, though I probably need to learn it all again.

The other day I started messing around with drawing new creature graphics in Photoshop. The initial results are pretty bad.... plus it's hard with a mouse. Once I'm earning money again, I'm going to look at an art evening class and buy a graphics tablet....

Post by **cowsmanaut** » Sat May 17, 2003 11:42 am

it's not an art class you want. It's life drawing. Do you have a girlfriend or someone who will pose for you? A sketch book is little more than a few bucks or if you go to the right places (read dollar stores) only a buck. Art based tutorials on perspective, colour theory and the like are all over. However they can not give you a true person in full 3dimensions posing for you. I know here we have life drawing drop in's where each person pays $5 canadian and you spend 3 hours drawing who ever they got to pose that night.

It really is the best thing for an artist. It teaches you to trust your lines and to draw quickly to capture light and shadow and shape and to understand structure and proportion.

Anyway, artistic family, that's me too. On my mothers side people are teachers, artists, musicans or medical care. everyone of them were expected to play some kind of instrument and encourraged to be creative. My Grandpa could whittle a flute in about an hour from a willow branch. He made the most beautifull violins and cellos, etc. he could draw quite well to boot. On my fathers side my grandma is a painter and has been all her life. My father is into puzzles and tech but he did his share of art.

So as a result I play two instruments, I draw, paint, sculpt, animate, model in 3d, write, paractice a number of martial arts (for the beauty more than the self defence), etc etc.. Basically if I can not express myself in some way I go nuts. I think it's also good for me because I don't take it as seriously as some people I think. I create for the sake of it not to be profound.

Anyway, I love art.. I like to see other people's work even if it's not amazing. I like even more to inspire others and to help. So personally I think I have the best job I could ever have.. The only thing I don't like is the politics, but it's worth it for the benefits of working at something I love.

moo

Post by **Gambit37** » Sat May 17, 2003 11:55 am

You seem to have the life I want!

I kind of got swallowed up in the whole newmedia thing over the last few years, working very late nights for little reward and not having much time to explore new things. When I was made redundant after giving so much to that company, it came as a right kick in the teeth, but the benefit is that it has allowed me to realise that I was actually pretty sick of it.

I want to work for myself doing things that I enjoy, and frankly sitting in an office bashing out pages of HTML isn't my idea of fun. I like doing it for myself on my own projects, but am pretty bored with it as a way of making money. Plus, as you said, the politics sucks!

Thanks for your advice about the life drawing. Other people have said the same thing too, and I have a very good friend (who was also made redundant from the same company), who is a fabulous artist and who inspires me. I know various artists and art teachers from over the years, and I can get into life drawing courses pretty easily, so that's something to explore next week I think.

What would you say about learning 3D software? It's not something I've done, but I got Maya PLE with Unreal 2 and have some tutorials off a magazine that teach you from scratch. It's something I've thought I'd be good at, but so far have not invested any time in.

Post by **cowsmanaut** » Sat May 17, 2003 12:47 pm

The tool itself is easy enough to learn given time. However, sculpting, like drawing, is something you need to invest much more time and practice to. It's a matter of the same principals I mentioned earlier. Knowing about form, shapes and proportions. You get that again from life drawing. Once you know where everything is you can start to visualise more easily the structure and poses of things the way they exist and how to reproduce that.

Look at 3d as nothing more than a tool like a pencil and you are on the right track. Use tried and true methods to achive things before resorting to tricks and what not. People are always looking for shortcuts. Myself included, however you do yourself a disservice if you do it while learning. If you do it the hard way first you learn more and that knowledge is more likley to stay. If you do it the easy fast way then you cheat yourself and retain little.

There are a number of people who come to our course with comments like "yeah I heard the computer does a lot of the work for you" if that's the attitude then I'm inclined to say why bother. Art is about the creation process, where it gets it's life and orriginality is from the artist allowing it to evolve from mind to media. the more time you put to it the more you get out.

However, there are things that you can do quickly that don't matter in the scheme of things. Details that are only icing. Those things can be sped up with little loss. So it's really a balance and having the knowledge to see what matters and what doesn't.

I don't know it that helps any or if it's just me ranting.

moo

Post by **Gambit37** » Sat May 17, 2003 2:18 pm

I agree wholeheartedly. All this stuff: computers, technology, 3d software, whatever, are just tools, and I've always seen them as such. You don't have to worry about me having the right attitude: I already have that. I think the problem is that I have so many ideas about things that I might like to do, that I never discover what I actually want to do! However, I am in a good position where I can start discovering these things; it might be 10 years late, but it's better to do it late than never at all...!

Thanks for your insights, they are very useful and have given me some food for thought.

Post by **Lunever** » Mon May 19, 2003 9:39 am

Figuring out what it is that you really WANT to do is a task you'll be busy with an entire liftime or even more.

Speaking of art in general: Art is so much more important than most people are willing to admit. Nowadays most people think art is some kind of luxury, and the important thing is economy, with it's main purpose being creating more economy.
I think, the main purpose of economy is to enable people to create art, and the main purpose of art is to express spirituality.