Edmund Mcmillen: Independent for The Right Reasons by Brian Lindsay

Through playing specific 2D character driven indie games I have gathered a specific interest in animator and game designer Edmund Mcmillen. He has influenced me to try and expand my animation style to the maximum. Why has he influenced my studies and what makes him so interesting?

This proposal aims to explain how Edmund has inflicted his style into my own studies through the use of character development, 2D animation, 3D animation, music, ethnic issues and background design.

I aim to interrogate why this all looks so inspiring to me by explaining in depth: his influences, his workflow, his music, his ideas and his artwork from character design to backgrounds.

I will also explain how these styles are helping me reflect with my studies involving 2D animation and 3D character Design. By explaining the techniques involved within the process of my studies to indicate success or failure.

See Brian's blog here

Exploring the issues around combining motion graphics with live action by Zihui Li

Motion graphics, as a new form of graphic design was born in the 1950s. Since the 1960s, due to the advancements in digital technology, a huge change emerged in the industry of animation and film with the development of computer animation. The boom had also affected the field of motion graphics. It became possible for a Graphic Designer to change his or her role into a Motion Designer with the newly evolved tools of moving image.

A large number of excellent motion graphic works have emerged and the applications of motion graphics have become more widely used. In the era of which special effects and compositing technology become more and more advanced, the technique of combining animation and live action is already maturing, and has already been applied to a large number of film and advertising productions. In such a context, motion graphics, as a branch of animation, is also beginning to combine with live action.

This article focuses on discussion around the technique of combining motion graphics with live action. I will explore how to express emotion and narrate story by using the technique, and what kind of visual experiences it can bring to audiences. I will also analyze the difference between motion graphics and traditional animation by documenting the approaches and process of my own practice, which will be a music video, made using this technique. Moreover, I will ask questions for some unresolved issues at the end.

See Link's blog here

The position of traditional painting in animation by Hai Guo

Animation is a wonderful and interesting art form, the animation movies and the video games are very popular in today’s world, and it is playing a more and more important part in our leisure life, especially for the young generations. The constant developments in animation industry have brought us improved visual and spiritual enjoyments. While, either for the traditional hand-drawn animation or the latest high-technology animation, the ‘art’ elements remain the same and always play an import role. An animation project cannot be ‘great’ without the proper combination of unique shapes, great composition and beautiful colors. Whatever it is, a character, an animal, a background scene or other parts in the animation, it could not be anything good without good traditional painting skills, unfortunately, those skills are being neglected by many young animation practitioners.

At present, in China, almost all of the animation professionals are just “software operators” who are usually trained in continue education schools, where the educators used to educate the participants by simply teaching them to get familiarly with the mechanism and application of some certain animation design software, rather than help the participants to build their sense of aesthetics and their visual sensitivity. The inadequate training and education at professional levels caused the slow development of China’s animation industry in recent years, and of course, you could not expect a high quality animation works from those ‘software operators’.

In this essay I will explain: first, the role of animation; second, the workflow of animation production; and the principle elements of art: composition, shape and color. After then, I will give a general description of the Chinese animation industry. At the end, I will discuss the importance of the traditional painting skill in creating animation works.

See Hai's blog here

Reflection on Practice Module

Reflection on Practice is a module within the MSc Animation and Visualisation course at the University of Dundee.

http://www.dundee.ac.uk/djcad/programmes/postgraduate/mscanimationvisualisation/

One of the outcomes of this module is for the students to present their work in a conference / symposium style environment. We are calling this event:

Animation & Visualisation: Reflection on Practice Mock Symposium

and it will be held on Wednesday 25th April at the University of Dundee.