More Photostudies.

More Photo studies

Well it's been a while since I've posted on here. My new job has kept me on my toes and I've been immersed in the glory of Breaking Bad. Anyway, here are a few photo studies concentrating on lighting and composition. As soon as I am fully confident with lighting, I will move onto texturing. Anyway, hope you like these.

Light in Pictures.

Discovered this great article: here which has been incredibly insightful and helped with some quick speed paints you will see here:

Credit to photographers on website.

Adventures With The Caretaker

Well it certainly has been a long while since I last updated. I'm currently interning online for an independent film company called Shadowlight Entertainment, and here are some exclusive finished backgrounds I have completed for an up and coming children's cartoon: The Adventures with The Caretaker! Keep your eyes peeled for the completed trailer coming real soon. 

Right now I am focussing on completing storyboards for the pilot episode, and designing the character Skukhill, one of the antagonists! 

Volcanic Pic - In Progress

Sketches

Feels like I've not updated in a while. Anyway, here's some quick sketches I did the other day. May consider taking them further ...

Moorland Speed Paint

And as promised ... the next speed paint churned out in a matter of hours. I paid a lot more attention to detail in this piece and I especially like the dull, muted colours. Compared to my earlier post ... well, its amazing how quickly you can dislike your own work.

Mountain Speed Paint

Downloaded some new brilliant new brushes from cghub, and decided to test them out with some quick speedpaints to test them out. One brush in particular, a "triangle brush," was particularly good at creating texture and allowed me to create mountain landscapes a lot easier, due to the expressive, quick technique.

This piece is the first speed-paint I created, which took roughly half an hour. I started off painting the piece in black and white then colouring it in with a different layer, set at "Overlay," which created a nice rich, textured look to the piece. Well, I certainly plan to do a lot more of these speed paints ... practice makes perfect ... as the saying goes.

The Well

New background to be included in my film. I intend to add this scene after the tree shot, as it shows the link between the transition of land and water. Unlike the tree scene, the colours are a lot more vibrant in this piece, which I may include in the tree shot.

Personal Work - Wonderwoman Portrait

First Cut of Final Year Film

This is the first cut of my Final Year Film.

Overall, I feel that this project has ended quite well. I had many ideas what to produce for my Third Year Film, and which medium to use to for my film. I was interested in using 3D elements in my film but I decided to play to my strengths and produce a 2D film focussing on layout and environments, using programmes I have a thorough knowledge of. I had no problem using Adobe Photoshop/Adobe Flash throughout First and Second Year, but I can say with full confidence that I have mastered a new software this year: Adobe After Effects, which has been invaluable in the making of my film. From what I have produced, I believe there was no need to create 3D elements using Maya for my film, due to the focus of composition and the detail in my backgrounds.

Before Christmas, I felt that my project had no real direction and I was simply producing lots of sketches and unfinished conceptual paintings to include in my film. However, after producing the Animatic I decided that a simple narrative of different backgrounds effected by destruction, in different environments would be most effective. Restricting myself to 6 backgrounds, in 2 different environments I was able to focus on the composition of each background and how much detail I needed to include. Another vital element was establishing a colour scheme, and when I completed a composition I compared different hues for the scene. (For colour comparisons, see older posts.)

There were some paintings that I redesigned, i.e. I originally painted some buildings in the underwater scene but I was unhappy with their design, so I opted for a rocky, barren landscape with a cave instead. The latest redesign of a background was the castle in the second shot of my film.

 I decided to redesign this feature because the previous castle was too basic for the composition and also the style didn't suit the mood of the piece. I believe I have improved vastly over the past months, learning different painting techniques for certain parts of a composition, i.e. clouds, rocky terrains, how compositions can be laid and balanced out, learning how colour can be used to create a sense of depth and in different environments. More importantly I have managed to create a good work ethic: setting myself goals, and challenging myself, accepting constructive criticism and establishing my own style (which was often remarked as quite "illustrative."). I don't regret working alone for this project, as I have enjoyed putting my own stamp on a project, whilst improving my skills with Photoshop and learning new software (Adobe After Effects.)

In the new 2 weeks I will be working on the following for the degree show with my film.

Things to do For Degree Show

• First Background - The blur on the house will be toned down and the camera will not zoom slowly into the City layer. 
• Second Background - Some clouds will be added to the sky and animated in After Effects to give the composition some variation. 
• Third Background - The camera needs pan slower and linger on the tree for longer. Also, I plan to include another small scene with a well, which will show the connectivity of the underwater scenes. This will be an extension of this scene. 
• Fourth Background - the camera will not zoom in on the cave at the end of the scene. Also the light shining through the water needs to be animated a bit more. 
• Fifth Background - I might tone down the lighting reflecting through the water.  Also, the camera will move slower and not zoom in on the cave. I think it needs some more rocks, and subtle structural features to balance out the composition. 
• Sixth Background - Introduce more features into the foreground and the sky. Change camera shot or make camera tracking smoother as it zooms into the background. 
• Music/Credits - Need to find a suitable soundtrack that matches all of the compositions and of course, to create credits at the end. 

Essentially there should be more variation throughout my film, as the pieces are quite similar, so I aim to do that within the coming weeks. 

Updated Mountain Scene

Decided to redesign the castle for this scene, as I felt it was too basic and not detailed enough, especially with the close-up shot at the beginning of the clip. It still maintains the same colours and muted, dim lighting but I feel it works better with the environment; especially as it is hugely remiscent of Balmoral Castle and other Victorian Scottish Castles.

 I simply included the redesigned layer into the clip in After Effects, without changing any of the effects I put in previously. I might consider including some outlines to the castle so that reflects the ruined city in the first clip of the film.

Film Shot/Clip

Underwater Mountain Scene

This is the last and final shot of my film. This landscape appears through the cave, however I feel that it needs to be more cinematic. Despite choosing the selected blue and green colour hues for the environment, I feel that the piece loses some atmospheric quality due to the desaturated tones of the layers placed into After Effects.

I am pleased with the composition, however I feel I may need to increase the contrast of the mountains so that the layer stands out against the distant background. More detail needs to be applied to the mountains, which I will do by creating a texture brush on Photoshop and applying it to the crevasses in the rocks. I also feel that the particles need to be a different colour and the Fractal Noise acting as the sunlight needs to be toned down, although I am happy with the smooth animation.

Inside Cave Render

Important Note - due to Youtube compressing videos, some quality has been lost to my videos uploaded onto my blog.

This shot is quite simple, and like the Outside Cave shot, I will opt to have the camera pan across more slowly. Learning from the previous underwater scenes, I have chosen to use the Particle World effect (Faded Sphere) in the scene, and using the fractal noise as the light rays shining through the water which are animated a lot simpler and smoother than the Outside Cave shot. I am happy with the colour hues and level of contrast emanating from the light source (Light Ray) behind the fractal noise which enhances the contrast of the rock formations framing the cave entrance.

However there is room for improvement; there should be more variation to the particles and when the camera pans across they change direction when the camera zooms in. This can be easily corrected.

Cave Test Renders

Important Note - due to Youtube compressing videos, some quality has been lost to my videos uploaded onto my blog.

This is the first shot of the exterior of the cave, and I have opted for a dull, murky “greenish” colour scheme for the tone of the scene to make it atmospheric. I was initially going to include some plant-life but I wanted the environment to appear barren and deserted, so I included more detail on the rock formations and the different hues of green/blue. With the use of a texture, I created a brush in Photoshop that allowed me to texture the rock formations, however I painted the detail where the light falls on the crevasses through the water. Creating the right tone of colour was very important for the underwater scenes.

Final Cave Render.

I am quite happy how this has turned out; the particles in the water have a lot more variation (Particle World: Faded Sphere) which has been used in separate layers, also achieving for light to be reflected on the rock formations. This was simply done by changing the settings in Particle World. There are some glitches with the animation of the light shining through the water (Fractal Noise) but that can be simply altered. The camera also needs to move slower. Overall, I am happy with the simplicity of the scene and the particles don't draw attention away from the detail of the rock formations.





Cave Test Render 1. 

This was one of the first test-renders, just to test the speed of the camera panning across the scene. I think I will aim for it pan slower, whilst zooming into the cave to initiate the next scene (Inside Cave). I also will include light rays coming through the water. I am not happy with the bubbles rising in the water, as there is not enough variation despite being on two separate layers and moving at different speeds. The effect I used was CC Snow, which despite being quite effective for singular particles, appears to restricted.

Mountain Scene Renders

Important Note - due to Youtube compressing videos, some quality has been lost to my videos uploaded onto my blog.

The past few weeks have been quite hectic, drawing in each of the environments and rendering them out in After Effects. Here are two of the final renders of the Mountain Scene for my film. Due to encountering some problems with rendering and other issues with After Effects on my latptop, I have struggled to include some of the plug-in presets already installed on the University Computers, plus the rendering speed is a lot more effective and quicker.

With each of these renders, I have tried to focus on the simplicity of the environments, as well as drawing out subtle details in the backrgounds by way of simple alterations in After Effects. I will explain, thus:

Final Render

Overall, I am quite pleased with how this has turned out, although there is some room for improvement. I have toned down the opacity of the fog, allowing the foreground of the landscape to come into focus and the colours have a bit more contrast to them, so that it looks less "muddy." However, more detail needs to be added to the castle in the background, judging by the fact it focussed in the first shot of the render. Although too much detail would draw away from the detailed foreground. I intend to add some clouds with the Fractal Noise effect or simply drawing some in Photoshop, to glide across the moon however the effect will have to be subtle. The colour of the piece needs some variety, so including some "pinkish" elements i.e. the clouds will be relevant.




Test Render 1:

Due to the amazing quality of Youtube's video uploading system, it has enhanced the contrast in this render, as before the colour of the piece was a lot less saturated and "muddy" looking, especially the sky. The foreground was also drowned with fog as the camera pans out, so I will aim to tone down the opacity to reveal the detail of the stream. 

Fog Test and Tree Scene (After Effects)

Imported the fog into the tree scene and faded the opacity as the tree comes into focus, using a Fast Blur effect. Used the effect "light rays" for a dimly lit sun, which gives the clip some ambience and balance. Quite pleased with the outcome however I think the camera tracking should be a lot slower so more focus can be paid on the detail around the bottom of the tree.

Tree Render.




Rendered a fog test in After Effects using a combination of fractal noise and mask layers which have been feathered to enable the gradient effect. I hope to use this in some of the first scenes of my film, namely the mountainous scene with the castle. I am quite pleased how this turned out. This effect was loosely based on a tutorial from ae.tutsplus.com

Fog Test

City Scene (Camera Test)

Testing out how the camera will track through the first scene in my film. Getting used to the camera settings in After-Effects was rather tricky at the start, especially trying to focus the point-of-interest in the foreground before panning out from the house. I have included a Gaussian blur to the foreground layer and the city layer. Thus, the camera tracks outwards from the house, the city comes into focus and the house layer blurs outwards, enabling the city to become the focal point and main source of perspective.

 After rendering the camera sequence I imported the 26 second film into After Effects a second time and added an ellipse solid, which is feathered at the edges to add a sense of atmosphere and darkness to the mood. Trying to achieve a flickering light was particularly tricky as there was no opacity setting to fade away the brightness from the house, as the camera tracks out. So, I simply opted for a black solid layer and animated the opacity to make it appear like a flickering light.

 

Inside Cave Concept

Exploring/comparing different colour hues with an inside cave shot. Focusing mainly on lighting to create the impact of the piece. Naturally, I will be using the top image for my film as it follows on from the previous "outside cave shot." I quite like the limited use of light reflecting on the barren rock-faces and blurring the silhouettes of the stalactites. This creates a real mood to the piece.

I think I prefer the top image, as the colour scheme isn't too bold, and embodies the greenish hues from the third image and elements of brown from the second. It creates a nice blend. I intend to animate light rays shining behind the stalactites in After Effects to include more depth and variation, whilst including some particles rising from the ground.

I may create some brushes in photoshop to add some texture to the floor of the cave, to contrast with the the smooth rock formations inside the cave. Some extra plant-life may be added around the left-side of the piece to balance out the composition. however I don't want to lose the barren, desolate feel of the piece.

Underwater Cave Concept

A cave shot featured in the last half of my Third Year film, testing out different colour hues. I have decided to use the top image due to the complimentary colour scheme working better with the back/foregrounds. I created a brush on photoshop to texture the rock-face to give it a gritty, barren feel and the surrounding environment. I am aiming for simplicity in each layout I create; too much detail would stray away from the remoteness of each environment.

Essentially, the top image is more appealing colour-wise, as it maintains the "murkish", barren, underwater feel of the composition without embodying one singular colour. An array of greens and browns can be added to the painting to create more variation to the piece.

With each of my underwater scenes I intend to animate light rays shining through the water using After Effects and particles rising through the water. I will also create a lighting effect in After Effects to show the light reflecting off the rock faces.