Computer Animation Arts

Hi guys, this site looks seriously good for those looking to do character design. Just watch the video below to see how Chris Swift (creature designer) goes from a clay sculpture to a digital concept. It just blew my mind :D https://www.stanwinstonschool.com

Thursday, 11th October is your Cinematic Spaces Online Greenlight Review (OGR)   Your OGR is to be presented as a single  Scribd  presentation on your blog, beginning with your name, date, and project title.  If you are still yet to get to grips with  Scribd   go here for some easy-to-follow   instructions.    I suggest you save your documents as PDFs before uploading to  Scribd , as this should mitigate against formating  glitches.   Remember - when pasting  Scribd  embed code into your blog, you must first select the HTML mode tab, then switch back to 'Compose' to view the embedded presentation.  Your OGR presentations should be uploaded to your blogs by 10am on Thursday 11th October.  Written feedback will follow as a 'comment' on your OGR post and will take between 1 and 3 days. Cinematic Spaces OGR: What do you need to present? 1) A short  illustrated synopsis of your...

I've been following De'Von Stubblefield's blog for a while now after his deceptively simple character designs caught my eye.  His blog biog tells us he's just 17 and off to CalArts for a stint of character animation - little wonder!  Sometimes, 'character design' gets confused with a sort of conspicuous complexity of costume and prop, but here, the characterfulness of these drawings announces itself from the simplest, most reduced of forms. There is an enviable lightness of touch in Stubblefield's work, so happy browsing - lots to like, and lots to aspire to in terms of the joy of drawing.

Exciting news! Tom Beg - CGAA graduate, soon-to-be Master of Arts, and our 'all-new' artist in residence - has just learned that his lauded The Lifecycle of a Mushroom animation (created as part of the Spectacular Science collaboration) has been selected for screening at the 5th Imagine Science Film Festival - in New York!  Congratulations from all of us here on CGAA, Tom - may the force be with you... Spectacular Science: The Lifecycle of a Mushroom from Thomas Beg on Vimeo .

The 'podcast' from today's Postmodernism is Difficult lecture is now available on myUCA

    Some lovely, expressive thumbnails from Disney's Cinderella (1950)  - courtesy of Deja View.

Hi Alan Just to confirm about graphics tablets, Are you not lending any out during the lesson or was that just if we wanted to take any home?

This is a character from a guy known as ' Funky Bunnies ' . She's named Dizzy and she's from a game called Guilty Gear. Obviously there is a tonne of great Character art out there, but I feel like this needs sharing as the turn around really distinguishes its self from most character turn-arounds out there. She feels alive, there's subtle movements, blinking, minor head movement. Plus the character is stunning. Just wanted to share a great example of showreel material done right. Funky Bunnies 'Chris Whitaker'

Hello all, I have lost my wallet and I think/I hope I may have left it in the CG base room, I was wondering if anyone has seen it. If any one has please let me know! It's a black liverpool fc wallet and it will have my ID card in it so you will know that it is mine. Thank you in advance

  From this!     To this! A big welcome to our year two exchange student, Llogari Casas Cambra, who has come all the way from sunny Barcelona to study with us in not-so sunny Rochester.  Llogari's blog is up and running so go make him feel welcome and show him the ropes! Help him feel at home. Llogari Casas Cambra @ http://llogari.blogspot.co.uk/

  Okay - take a look at the following examples from last year's Cinematic Spaces project (formerly called just Unit 2: Space )*.  Don't get caught up with the polish of the final images (that's you too after five weeks!) - instead, click on the names and you'll be able to view their creative development - their thumbnails, their film reviews, their process. Nat Urwin   Steve Payne   Joey Ku Emma Foster Sammy Butler Be sure to check out all the resources, references and learning materials available to you via myUCA - go and explore.   The 'podcast' from today's briefing presentation is already available in 'Learning Materials'.  You should look too at the 'Do's & Don'ts' of Academic Writing also available in 'Learning Materials'.  A link explaining how to reference published sources correctly using the Harvard Method is included on your brief...

At last, ladies and gents - the definitive list (I hope!) of our new CGAA year one students and their respective blogs. If you haven't done so already, show your support by following and tracking their progress and offer pearls of wisdom on an as and when basis! Shannon Mason @ http://shannonkmason.blogspot.co.uk Jake Bryant @ http://jakejbryant.blogspot.co.uk George Hind @ http://george-hind.blogspot.co.uk Alex Edmonds @ http://alexnedmonds.blogspot.co.uk Vikki Hercules @ http://vikkirh.blogspot.co.uk George Nwosisi @ http://www.georgenwosisi.blogspot.co.uk Samantha Niemczky @ http://samantha-niemczyk.blogspot.co.uk Lekti Rose Jacobs @ http://lektirose.blogspot.co.uk Akinbiyi Babarinde @ http://kinblob.blogspot.co.uk/ Katy Fosdike @ http://katyfosdike1.blogspot.co.uk Megan Howett @ http://meganhowett.blogspot.co.uk Anass Moudakir @ http://a-animator.blogspot.co.uk Dhuran Modha @ http://dhuranmodha.blogspot.co.uk Peta-Gaye Brown @ http://peta-gayebrown.blogspot.co.uk Aar...

These giant glass microbes merge science and art  to each other Images of microorganisms are derived from electron microscopy and are usually enhanced with color. The color is generally arbitrary and used primarily to help distinguish the various elements of the image. But in fact most viruses are smaller than the wavelength of visible light, so they can't really have a color. His glass sculptures of these viruses, made in consultation with virologists using a variety of images and models, thus have a lot of merit as scientific illustrations and have been used as such. Beyond that, they're just really really cool. These sculptures were produced in collaboration with glass blowers Kim George, Brian Jones and Norman Veitch. There's plenty more viruses to look at and a lot of other cool stuff on his website  

The Art of Walt Disney: From Mickey Mouse to the Magic Kingdoms and Beyond   by Christopher Finch The very definition of 'heavy reading' if only because the book is a 500 page juggernaut - it's absolutely huge and weighs a ton. Otherwise, it's a very digestible and easy to read history of Disney and the artists working behind the scenes, developing the ideas which ultimately make Disney cartoons as beautiful as they are. As expected for an art book about Disney , expect some absolutely glorious images. Finch's seminal book, originally published in 1973,  has seen numerous reprints and revisions and was most recently revised in 2011 to include an extensive section on Pixar . I prefer the older editions which go into more depth about slightly obscurer Disney cartoons and these copies also feature some lovely pull-out double page spreads of Disney art. Even its modern, slightly truncated form, this book is still the de facto study into Disney's st...

Although not a lot to read in this book it does however provide the perfect companion for a CG student. Over the past few years of being a student on CG Arts this book has been my friend. Even if you don't use every shot depicted in it, its still helpful for getting ideas together. Each page takes you through a different camera angle/shot, what the shot is called and a description of how it is captured. It also gives examples of where to find such a shot in well known films as an example to follow. . 

I'll bite with this one. First thing that came to mind for me was 'Stop Staring - Facial modelling and Animation done right' The title explains it all really. Perfect for head modelling and rigging/ animation. Fantastic book, definitely a must have for character artists and animators, and is a valuable resource for the course!  Amazon - Stop Staring (Third Edition)

Hi Everyone, Whether it's your very first film review or those first speculative moments of your final dissertation, it's the start of a new academic year and pretty much everyone studying at university, of all years, is about to embark on an uncharted journey of self discovery and research which often involves climbing a few sets of stairs to the library so that you can discover new and exciting things about both the world and of yourselves. You're all like academic George Mallory's and Andrew Irvine's, but hopefully without the grisly, frozen demise! To avoid being stranded on the metaphoric Mount Everest of academic writing, the best trick to survive is to prepare yourself for the climb so you don't get caught in a tricky to navigate blizzard without the correct equipment. And that means books, and lots of them. While studying my MA, for the entirety of the year I carried around a canvas bag full of books which made up a quite sizable reading list ...

I came across  this  on Empire today and thought I'd post it up just in case anyone hadn't heard about it yet.  " Rodney Ascher's look at several very close analyses of Stanley Kubrick's film by those who have studied it in great detail and come to some quite startling conclusions about it. " I got to see The Shining for the first time at uni and I thought it was amazing. Any film that makes the days of the week scary is powerful stuff, so I'm really looking forward to seeing this documentary. It will be out on October 26th and you can catch Empire's review of it in their next issue, although there is also a clue on the poster.

Project: Cinematic Spaces - Your Creative Partnerships* George Nwosisi @ http://www.georgenwosisi.blogspot.co.uk Samantha Niemczky @ http://samantha-niemczyk.blogspot.co.uk Peta-Gaye Brown @ http://peta-gayebrown.blogspot.co.uk Anass Moukdir @ http://a-animator.blogspot.co.uk/ Katy Fosdike @ http://katyfosdike1.blogspot.co.uk Lucy Yelding @ http://lucy-yelding.blogspot.co.uk Emily Clarkson @ http://emily-clarkson.blogspot.co.uk Matt Coward @ http://mattman12.blogspot.co.uk Alex Edmonds @ http://alexnedmonds.blogspot.co.uk Akinbiyi Babarinde @ http://kinblob.blogspot.co.uk/ Megan Howett @ http://meganhowett.blogspot.co.uk Kym Mumford @ http://kymmumford.blogspot.co.uk Meg Leslie @ http://meg-leslie.blogspot.com Lekti Rose Jacobs @ http://lektirose.blogspot.co.uk George Hind @ http://george-hind.blogspot.co.uk Shannon Mason @ http://shannonkmason.blogspot.co.uk               Simo...

My most up-to-date listing so far of the 'all-new' CGAA Class of 2012 blogs - re-posted after some clash of hidden coding in the original 'incoming' posts turned the group blog an eye-watering blue! Add them to your Blogger reading lists and make everyone welcome - and offer help, support and guidance when duty calls! Shannon Mason @ http://shannonkmason.blogspot.co.uk Jake Bryant @ http://jakejbryant.blogspot.co.uk George Hind @ http://george-hind.blogspot.co.uk Alex Edmonds @ http://alexnedmonds.blogspot.co.uk Vikki Hercules @ http://vikkirh.blogspot.co.uk George Nwosisi @ http://www.georgenwosisi.blogspot.co.uk Samantha Niemczky @ http://samantha-niemczyk.blogspot.co.uk Lekti Rose Jacobs @ http://lektirose.blogspot.co.uk Akinbiyi Babarinde @ http://kinblob.blogspot.co.uk/ Katy Fosdike @ http://katyfosdike1.blogspot.co.uk Megan Howett @ http://meganhowett.blogspot.co.uk Anass Moudakir @ http://a-animator.blogspot.co.uk Dhuran Modha @ ...

  With the imminent release of Sam Mendes' new Bond adventure, Skyfall , Ian Fleming's original novels are being reissued by Vintage here in the UK and by Amazon in the US.  It's a minimalist graphic-design smack-down between the two companies, and they're compared and contrasted here for viewing pleasure.  Saul Bass looms large - never a bad thing - and the best of these just go to prove that sometimes there's nothing more chic than a bit of text and lots of negative space!