tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-714186916663624682011-04-22T05:12:16.392+01:00Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.comBlogger531100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71418691666362468.post-35219193098530742122009-04-30T09:00:00.000+01:002009-04-30T10:44:42.713+01:00

Click here to see a bigger/better version.

Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71418691666362468.post-55405469388629778502009-04-30T01:16:00.005+01:002009-04-30T01:25:44.476+01:00

Another simple idea that turned out well, this was really fun to make as it involved just playing with paper and objects on my desk. I found myself repeatedly acting out this guy's expression when the door is shut in his face, must've looked like a right loon. It's a bit small so click the link below to see it properly.knock knock animation fullsize on vimeoknock knock animation fullsize on

Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71418691666362468.post-25949145557341642762009-04-29T10:40:00.000+01:002009-04-30T10:45:28.760+01:00

Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71418691666362468.post-31698700969770809042009-04-20T23:49:00.001+01:002009-04-20T23:49:49.804+01:00

This is a short looped animation that will be used as part of a larger piece of work. The piece had a to last only a few seconds and be on the theme of discovery.

Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71418691666362468.post-24052790487648334172009-03-25T13:33:00.000Z2009-03-27T13:37:44.809Z

I made this whilst messing around animating in my sink. I used Rose's eyeliner to animate with, not sure if I'm in trouble for that one. Feel free to comment on it here or on vimeo, I'd like to know what you think.

Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71418691666362468.post-89729221564530642342009-03-24T13:40:00.000Z2009-03-27T13:46:13.021Z

Here are some images of my ferris wheel I'm making for the advert for vocational studies. It will be included as part of Birmingham with other iconic buildings, and then be used as a set for our idea.It still might need a bit of work to make it look like a ferris wheel, such a spindles going out from the centre.

Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71418691666362468.post-63151135329814713312009-03-22T12:52:00.000Z2009-03-27T12:59:08.343Z

These are some weird experiments, I've been illustrating on things at the moment looking for potential to turn them into animation. The babies look like they're in some sort of guitar-womb.

Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71418691666362468.post-61921588479372005892009-03-21T19:40:00.001Z2009-03-27T13:09:50.120Z

Here's a scene I really liked from the recent documentary "Age of the stupid", it's brought to life by Jonathan Hodgson, the same animator that did "The man with the beautiful eyes", another of my favourite animations. This scene is so well executed and intergrated into the film, it provides some relief from the BBC-esque interview style, yet gets its message across more effectively. Not to

Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71418691666362468.post-66949909384407087992009-03-21T13:00:00.000Z2009-03-27T13:09:05.578Z

Shake the world is a non-profit documentary experiment, where people all over the world film something to do with their life for 60 seconds. How easy is that! It has to be at 12PM on April 11th, and then they're going composite parts of people's footage to make a documentary out of the world at that point in time. I was attracted to it after watching the animated adverts below, but the

Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71418691666362468.post-5479435875396232422009-03-16T19:40:00.009Z2009-03-16T20:18:31.900Z

I'm also currently working on a short 33 second animation for the Dante's Inferno competition that's been set by EA. Here's a quick test I did, it's incredibly short and it might not end up anything like this, but I already know a few things I'd like to try out for this piece. 1.I'll be animating on my own body2.It's gonna be f*@£?ed uphttp://dantesinferno.eagames.co.uk/

Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71418691666362468.post-2602804931715901342009-03-15T22:14:00.004Z2009-03-15T22:19:58.980Z

Here's the Baskerville film that I helped animate recently. It's doing the rounds at festivals all over the world now, so here's to Johnny B, and lets hope he's not spinning in his grave too fast now that someone's gone against his request and actually given him one.

Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71418691666362468.post-38595290142441078012009-03-15T06:36:00.014Z2009-03-15T22:01:23.763Z

With Saturday being so hectic and full of cool goings on, we decided to overdo it on the Saturday and leave the Sunday completely, otherwise we run the risk of our brains and eyes becoming runny.MEGUNICAMegunica demonstrates the anti-consumerist and anti-materialist values of a group of down to earth street artists that tour south American countries painting their wall murals wherever they feel

Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71418691666362468.post-6103437039696876512009-03-14T07:50:00.005Z2009-03-15T22:10:28.388Z

Wow, tons of stuff to talk about from the first day of Flatpack festival for me. Moon dreams was an eclectic mix of animation and live action short films with a lunar theme, and I found out about director Chris Marker. HOW have I not heard of him until now? A major influence on Terry Gilliam, here's the film we saw last night, 10 years before that famous intor for monty python I might add:Paper

Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71418691666362468.post-20390192475408632752009-03-14T06:34:00.004Z2009-03-16T20:14:59.942Z

These ideas are a starting point for my major negotiated study. I'm taking the approach of making visuals and then creating a context around them, like a lot of animators do.

Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71418691666362468.post-77136871158408843402009-03-13T11:25:00.004Z2009-03-15T22:01:48.455Z

Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71418691666362468.post-89493899397694878622009-03-13T09:55:00.004Z2009-03-15T22:01:53.321Z

Something I did on my plate when I found I'd been using my eggcup to store ink...

Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71418691666362468.post-67667178109399036122009-03-10T12:14:00.007Z2009-03-11T08:10:24.224Z

I've just found out that Second home are in the process of making a animation that uses dramatic scale. The test for the animation will be shown at shorts on walls this Saturday, so I can't wait see more of it. Take a look at the video below..

Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71418691666362468.post-75485546552601786712009-03-07T23:49:00.003Z2009-03-11T08:10:24.225Z

I can now work in HD effectively, after following tutorials and workshops on it. Might as well start sticking this logo on my work mwahahaha

Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71418691666362468.post-6782585832412139932009-03-07T22:46:00.004Z2009-03-11T08:05:28.247Z

Flatpack is just next week and there are so many good films, my backside will be numb for months. If anyone wants to come along to any of these as well then the more the merrier!Megunica -doc about the street animator BLU (won't miss this for the world)Bafta animated shorts -seeing this for varmints alone, as i love the book, and craste's stuffOne night in one city -czech animation about the

Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71418691666362468.post-52288409423913330522009-03-07T13:36:00.003Z2009-03-14T07:49:37.643Z

These are the minicards we had made to help promote our installation piece. We've left these around leaflet hotspots and shop counters in Birmingham. Hopefully more people will visit but they're nice as they are, and act as a business card as well as directing people towards the piece. We found that when people see there are a four different cards, they want all of them, so maybe a collectible

Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71418691666362468.post-69050294171230407622009-03-07T12:02:00.002Z2009-03-11T08:05:47.084Z

Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71418691666362468.post-84374299679563432132009-03-07T12:00:00.001Z2009-03-11T08:05:47.085Z

Here are some shots of the installation piece finally setup in the window.http://www.flatpackfestival.org/blog/2009/03/06/launched/

Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71418691666362468.post-17379995752611301032009-03-07T11:00:00.002Z2009-03-11T08:05:47.085Z

This is the animation we created for Flatpack. The idea was to create some interesting visuals that would grab people's attention as they pass by in the street, so bare in mind it is out of context slightly. It was then put in the shop window of Up and Runnning, temple street, where we made the window space look appealing as well by using bits of card etc. The video is there until the 16th of

Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71418691666362468.post-85857603691076783592009-02-28T09:13:00.000Z2009-03-11T09:22:05.148Z

Read the full article below:http://www.bbc.co.uk/birmingham/content/articles/2009/02/27/flatpack_trail_feature.shtml

Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71418691666362468.post-26318936115428773402009-01-16T11:50:00.004Z2009-03-11T08:05:47.086Z

Woohoo our idea has been selected to be a part of the installation trail in Birmingham as a part of Flatpack festival 09. For a week in March people will be able to walk around Birmingham on the installation trail and view short films as parts of installations in shop windows.Our space will be in the window of "Up and running", a large running shop opposite swordfish records up temple street,

Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71418691666362468.post-22407901412245346492009-01-15T00:05:00.003Z2009-03-11T08:10:46.558Z

This was an experiment to see what I could do with cutting up film, and creating a film collage. Some parts work better than others, some parts are better quality than others, but it all helped me get a better insight as to what I could do with found film footage.

Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71418691666362468.post-83352246792168988522008-12-16T13:25:00.003Z2009-03-11T08:10:54.362Z

I'm really trying to push my visual style now with these visuals, more coming soon...

Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71418691666362468.post-51681657013590562782008-12-16T11:08:00.002Z2009-03-11T08:10:54.363Z

This is my first animatic. I'm already making changes as some parts aren't working, and a few of my drawings are hard to understand.

Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71418691666362468.post-39950951812671819742008-12-12T23:51:00.003Z2009-03-11T08:11:16.668Z

We paid a visit to the warehouse where the birmingham museum stores all...stuff. It resembles the big warehouse full of artifacts at the end of the Indiana Jones. I got snap happy and saw some amazing stuff, which is all on my Flickr account here.

Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71418691666362468.post-76269965216992935742008-12-11T23:52:00.005Z2009-03-11T08:11:21.783Z

Images

Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71418691666362468.post-78438592801115970792008-12-09T11:21:00.005Z2009-03-11T08:11:26.712Z

Shaun Tan is one of my favourite illustrators, and he's taking his work into animation now as well. This video explains how he's using 3D and trying to stick to his unique style. For anyone who has yet to discover this amazing artist take a look at some images of his book "The Arrival" below, altho low res google images don't do him justice. I can't get hold of the video embed code so take a look

Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71418691666362468.post-84045237299649226672008-12-09T00:07:00.005Z2009-03-11T08:11:43.908Z

Here are some designs for what my animation will look like. They're quite simple at the moment, although I think there's not much more that needs to be added. A bit more character definition maybe, although I like her in all black. She reminds me of one of those veiled women in the animation Persepolis.CLICK THE IMAGES TO VIEW FULL-SIZEMore coming soon!

Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71418691666362468.post-41976493938425696462008-11-26T09:43:00.001Z2009-03-11T08:11:47.808Z

We decided to get some preliminary visuals made so that we can get a feel for our idea. This test is an example of how we may collage moving film on to our own backgrounds. It was also the first time we tried collaging film and making photographs look like a live action setting.We cutout each individual frame using photoshop and composited it as a film in after effects. We then applied vintage

Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71418691666362468.post-77886245341091660662008-11-25T07:45:00.004Z2009-03-11T08:11:58.793Z

After finishing the UV maps I decided to have a bit of fun, I doodled all over my model. 3D isn't associated with more free types of drawing like doodling. It'd be interesting to experiment with how doodles can inform 3D.I'll post some more images up once I've sorted them all out. Have to keep passing things between 2 computers to do this.

Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71418691666362468.post-5833145695437553892008-11-23T23:11:00.006Z2009-03-11T08:11:58.794Z

I started modelling a few days ago and spent most the weekend finishing it off. I modelled the the body and the head seperately and then joined it later. I'm now very confident in modelling lots of different things due to following through maya handbooks and applying them to my own work. The method I used to make the head and body is called box modelling. You strt of with a cube shape and simply

Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71418691666362468.post-90471776326890435892008-11-22T15:16:00.003Z2009-03-11T08:11:58.795Z

Here are the storyboards for my animation. They've been cut down quite a lot as I realised I had too many ideas when they were finally down on paper. I storyboarded on squares as it made it easier to chop and change shots and ideas around, a tip I got from Pixar people when they storyboard.This is a shot of the storyboard squares before and after I shuffled around and trimmed down the scenes. The

Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71418691666362468.post-25164601878591943722008-11-21T16:21:00.005Z2009-03-11T08:11:58.796Z

I found these great painting by the artist Leopold Boilly. He shows a wide range of facial expressions all in one painting, I'm tempted to print this out large and stick it above my computer. This will help a lot with facial shapes in 3D that I'm working on. I made a set of some of his work if anyone wants to take a look.Boilly image gallery

Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71418691666362468.post-38591621491846338802008-11-21T14:48:00.006Z2009-03-11T08:12:12.122Z

I've done so much recently it'd be criminal to not post about it,We went to London recently for a all nighter film marathon at a cinema, sort of like staying in london overnight for much less and getting to watch films as well. Whilst there we decided to pay a visit to the V&A exhibition "Cold war modern" which I have to say is one of the best exhibitions I've been to. I even liked it better than

Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71418691666362468.post-37251180368476811492008-11-18T09:12:00.004Z2009-03-11T08:12:28.079Z

We went along last night to the "Animation in advertising" presentation by Peter Walshe of Milward-Browne, a market research company. It was a strange experience to say the least. First off, there was a small bunch of animators there all expecting to be informed or enlightened in some way as to animation in the advertising industry.The presentation was actually about animatics, and how they can

Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71418691666362468.post-80403100944524450752008-11-16T14:29:00.006Z2009-03-11T08:12:37.101Z

The theme for the night was animals, and so we had to put our drawings into a context like a jungle/forest/under the sea. With life drawing I find it's good to keep at it everynow and then otherwise I get too rusty, and burlesque life drawing in a pub certainly rekindled my enthusiasm. We randomly bumped into some female illustrators from uni as well, so I'm not a pervert, honest...Here's a few

Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71418691666362468.post-28762471062288395722008-11-13T22:38:00.011Z2009-03-11T08:12:46.234Z

I've begun work to submit to flatpack festival 09, which is centered on the theme of Victorian cinema and it's early pioneers. The methods of early cinema seem to be the most interesting to me, things like thaumatropes and zoetropes. We've got together and setup a seperate blog for the work we do for Flatpack festival next year, which can be found here at flatpackideas.blogspot

Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71418691666362468.post-13064636690029170332008-11-11T21:11:00.006Z2009-03-11T08:12:52.157Z

I've taken a few of the actions and visual jokes I've been coming up with for my short, and applied the Laban theory of movement. I'd heard of this from Ed Hook's book "acting for animators", and later found the actual theory of movement Laban came up with, is much more complex than Ed Hook's interpretation. So in this video I made I'm referring to Ed's version. He's whittled movement down to

Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71418691666362468.post-7196103862246409872008-11-10T18:03:00.012Z2009-03-11T08:13:02.230Z

Flip festival came and went, but either it's improving every year, or I'm just getting more from it, because this year seemed even more worthwile. Osbert Parker, Portfolio advice, Ninja Theory, and the various Open Shorts were all worth the ticket price alone. Please excuse the dodgy photo of Osbert Parker, I like to think the camera couldn't focus on him because he was emitting raw inspiration.

Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71418691666362468.post-31342983892252179082008-11-10T17:16:00.010Z2009-03-11T08:13:23.962Z

Have been busy going to all sorts of animation events recently so it's time to post something about them. Hello Digital Festival recently hosted a talk by Michal Makarewicz (a Pixar animator), and that was great for understanding the production pipeline for a big budget feature length animation. Below is a pic of an interactive wall display that kept the children happy while I looked round.Pixar

Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71418691666362468.post-40667346995624090272008-10-30T12:31:00.003Z2009-03-11T08:13:53.353Z

This is a mood board, or a sort of rough character sheet. It needs more work on the actualy animation of the character and I hope to get some tests done again very soon.

Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71418691666362468.post-27997968890097885252008-10-29T19:07:00.005Z2009-03-11T08:13:53.354Z

This is one of the photos I took of my clay model. I built it to get a better understanding of my model in 3D and it has already proved useful in finding out what will and won't work with my characters shape. It also allowed me to light it quickly and effectively, by taking it into the photography studio. I could then take shots from lots of weird angles that I probably wouldn't have thought to

Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71418691666362468.post-53576644730370603342008-10-29T19:05:00.003Z2009-03-11T08:13:53.354Z

I experimented with body shapes using potatoes as these bulbous vegetables were a good shape to play with. In doing so I combined it with a tapestry texture and the look was fantastic. I may take this visual look forward in a few experiments even if it doesn't end up in my final animation. It could lead to a whole new idea or animation. Using found objects to create characters is something I

Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71418691666362468.post-4519464864452259592008-10-29T18:48:00.008Z2009-03-11T08:13:53.355Z

This is a character analysis of the huge alien creatures at the start of the film "The fifth element" by Luc Besson. Click the storyboard to enlarge it.

Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71418691666362468.post-28249796641434502522008-10-29T15:37:00.004Z2009-03-11T08:13:53.355Z

I've produced a character creation sheet for Wall-e, showing influences and inspiration the guys from pixar used when making him. I also added some stuff I thought they were influenced by but didn't tell anyone. Click to enlarge it.wall-eOriginally uploaded by chalmers_alec

Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71418691666362468.post-54247341934749593222008-10-24T00:27:00.001+01:002009-03-11T08:13:53.356Z

Veg ideasOriginally uploaded by chalmers_alecSome character ideas done with fruit n veg. They really helped me get a feel for the size and shape of the characters I'm working on. These are still concept ideas though.

Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71418691666362468.post-80335327508828883782008-10-14T22:38:00.011+01:002009-03-11T08:13:53.356Z

Initial thoughts and ideas - Upload a Document to Scribd

Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71418691666362468.post-56062287891021432652008-10-06T23:36:00.009+01:002009-03-11T08:14:22.245Z

Recently got involved with the Baskerville Project, which is a animated film about the life of John Baskerville the legendary industrialist and typographer. The film will consist of mainly 2D animation of which I'm hoping to contribute a Terry Gilliam-esque look and feel. I'll be posting up developments on that as time passes, as well as uni work. Click the title to go to the official site.

Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71418691666362468.post-56750771566764973302008-09-30T23:55:00.006+01:002009-03-11T08:13:59.247Z

This is a practise I did recently to get used to animation controls in Maya. I tried to apply a few things I'd learned off the recent Pixar character animation masterclass I attended. Trying to use the eyebrows as they are a very expressive part of the face. Making sure the eyes are always reacting to show the thoughts of the character, not just blankly staring at things. The animation is just a

Alec Chalmersnoreply@blogger.com0