Details are sketchy

Ok.. so a few days ago I was bored waiting to go back to Sheffield and decided to remember as many different animated tv series I watched when I was younger and name my favourite ones. Turns out, I watched a lot. It's not really surprising that I did when I'm an animation student now but I thought you guys might like to get a bit nostalgic or maybe even learn of a new series you could watch. It's been so hard to pick a top five to write here, but here they are:

6.(Yeah I said 5 but this had to be in here)

Digimon

This is one show that no matter how cheesy it seems when I look back at it, I will still remember watching it with some paper and a pencil infront of the tv drawing all of my favourite charaters and the endless Digimon that they met on their adventures. I absolutely HATE when people say that Digimon was copying Pokemon. I myself loved both shows and their storylines were completely different. This story much more depended on the friendships of the characters for them to get through their trobles in the "Digital World". There's a lot of cheesy moments with "friendship" and "love" and "belief" thrown in there but it wouldn't be a great nineties series without it. This series, much like Pokemon has been done to death with many seasons and different Digimon introduced and the first season is definitely the best. I have a lot of good memories watching this after school and got a lot of drawing practice from it too (I think I have some around at home somewhere actually..). Anyway, great show and had to be on the list.





5. Dexter's Laboratory

Ah, Dexter's Lab.. a great show by the brilliant Genndy Tartakovsky, the genius behind many nineties cartoons that could all be in this list, including The Powerpuff Girls and Samurai Jack. His unique art style always stuck with me as one of the greatest simplistic drawing methods around and through his writing he managed to bring a constant stream of situations, crazy and inspired that were put across by the mind of the genius that was Dexter. The diminutive intellectual would create an experiment in his secret lab in his room while his parents sat downstairs blissfully unaware. That is, until his sister Dee Dee come along to ruin it all for him. This sibling rivalry was the thing that made the show so great.
Another thing that I distinctly remember and loved is the segments about Dexter's pet, Monkey. Dial M for Monkey was a great little segment that followed his pet's adventures as a superhero while Dexter was ignorant to it all. These layers of misunderstandings and ignorance of aspects of the show by the characters living in the house were great examples of comedy, along with perfect traditional wacky animation which are what I think made it so well remembered.





4. Hercules

The tv series based on one of Disney's best animated movies of that time, Hercules is such a great extension of an equally great movie. Disney animated shows were always flawlessly animated by some of the greatest we've known in the last couple of decades and the huge mythology of Greece allowed for many, many different characters and plots to be brought into the show. It's a bit strange really because it contradicts the film somewhat so is not considered canon but it really can stand on its own. I can't really explain what was so great about this show, other than saying it really was. Voice acting talents such as James Woods made this a show I could watch over and over and never get bored of. The characters of Cassandra and Icarus always provided a great back and forth and the show again helped a lot with my development as an artist as I'd basically draw anything put infront of me.





3. Looney Tunes

One of the greats. I really wouldn't have been so enthusiastic about animation if it weren't for the legendary Warner Brothers animation studios. I really don't think I have to introduce the characters that are the Looney Tunes but here:
Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Elmer Fudd, Sylvester, Tweety, Marvin the Martian, Taz, Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner, Foghorn Leghorn, Yosemite Sam, Pepé Le Pew, Speedy Gonzales, and many more.

The animation will probably never be surpassed, with the greatest squashes and stretches and perfect timing. The characters are all so indivudually brillaint that any of them could and did have their own sections dedicated to them. Personally, Syvester and Tweety and Bugs were my favourites but then again, I liked Daffy with his irritable personality nearly as much.

Currently, the animation industry is really missing this great dynamic style and I really hope it returns soon. I was so influenced by this show and I could keep going on and on but it's not quite as nostalgic for me as the next two.



2. Pokemon

Yeah, I know, it seems childish now but I will always stand by my love of the original Pokemon series. The endless possibilities of stories revolving around a game I played at the time: what more could I ask for? As everyone knows, the show follows ten year old Ash with his friends Misty and Brock, all Pokemon trainers who go on an adventure together. There really wasn't a lot more to the episodes than them trying to get to the Pokemon trainer's ultimate test: the Elite Four.

I think what was so great about this show was that every kid who watched it wanted to BE Ask. They wanted to explore and it really evoked that sense of adventure in kids. Each pokemon was different and although it has (in my opinion) gone downhill since, I will always have fond memories of getting in from school and following their quest, guessing the pokemon in the break, then going to play on my own game. I don't think anything will steal more years of my life in total than this franchise, not to mention that "Pokemon: The Movie" was one of the first cinema going experiences I can remember and has really stuck with me. So I think this show really deserves to be in the top few.




1.
Dragon Ball Z

This show was originally broadcast in Japan starting in the late eighties and continuing through the nineties, ending its run in 1996, but I started watching itaround 1998 when it first aired on Toonami (RIP), one of the best channels of my childhood. I was amazed by it, a show about aliens that weren't the typical little grey/green things that abducted people, but instead kicked ass! The story arcs were interesting and although they were drawn out, you'd never find someone getting bored and leaving. This show was like nothing else and until then, anime was a really rare thing to see in the UK and I loved every minute of the fast-paced fighting, interesting characters, menacing villains and to be honest I though the comedy mixed with the violence was awesome. Another thing is, it was actually a sequel series to "Dragonball" but I much preferred this one. If any of you don't know of this series (and I'd be really surprised if you haven't) then this is the plot of the show (All via TV.com):

Many years have passed since Goku first searched for the Dragon Balls. He is a grown man, with a wife and son. He and his friends have settled into their own lives and, for the most part, things are rather peaceful. Then one day, Goku learns he is really a Saiyan and comes from another planet. Now… More begins new adventures for Goku and his friends as they defend their home against new, more powerful threats.

As you can tell, it has a very Superman vibe to it and that's a lot of what it was about; a guy who always thought he was normal but finds out he's not. You'll see it a lot in 80's/90's tv and even today.

But just to get to the point of this choice, it had every element that a show needed to be brilliant; great characters, strong plots in every story arc and flawless, fast and some of the most dynamic animation ever produced. Great show all round.


So that's them all, I'd like to hear what your favourites are so feel free to comment!
Thanks for reading, I might add some more soon so keep an eye out for an update :)

Ever have one of those moments when you realise just how little free time you really have. Lately I've been having a lot of these. Looking through my 3rd year Univeristy timetable, I have a total of 12 hours in lectures and semesters each week, which really doesn't sound like a lot but I can assure you it's exhausting. They say that you are meant to do two hours of work outside of Uni for every hour in so that's 36 hours in total. Yeah, a lot, but i'm probably (well definitey) not doing this much and I really should be.

I don't mean to say this isn't fun in any way because I'm enjoying every minute of it but honestly, with my leap into the industry only two years away and my level of knowledge in Animation still so limited, it's a little daunting.

Alongside this, I'm currently studying French, which is going great. I'm starting to be able to understand whole chunks of writing and listen to tv shows and films and good grip on what's happening. I've honestly been slacking a bit when it comes to this though, with my inteded amount being an hour of French exercises a day, but lately i've been too swamped to do this. So I make do with listening to Smallville or a movie in French language in the background or with English subtitles when I'm having a break. It's a really fun way to do it and has helped the speed of my comprehension, to say I can understand things that before were much too fast to follow.
This blog seems really rushed and I'll probably hate how it sounds in the morning but it's gone midnight and I'm tired, been to see The Social Network (which by the way is a great movie) with my friends after class and I just want to sleep. Another thing I've been going crazy for lately is the Animation Podcast, which everyone who's a fan of aniamtion should check out. Animators for Disney and other great studios talking about their experiences in some of the best animated films of all time. Great listen. Ok, I'm going to listen to some more of these and go to sleep, up early for more work (on my day off) wooo!

This past couple of weeks I've been swamped with work at Uni and looking for a job to get some extra money in, but no luck at the moment. My final University project has begun and it's pretty great if I do say so myself.
The basic idea behind it is that a man is sitting in a coffee shop looking around him. He spots a guy sitting across from him who it staring at the waitress working in the shop. He is besotted and can't take his eyes off her. But she barely notices him. Taking out a sketchpad, he draws the two, the guy first, signing the picture at the bottom. Then the girl, also signing this picture. As he does, the girl looks up, finally noticing the guy and their eyes meet.
He goes home and takes the pictures, pinning them side by side on a wall. The camera begins to zoom out, revealing many drawings of couples on a huge wall. Back at the coffee shop, the couple are holding hands. He smiles and walks off past the
shop.

My main character, I decided, would be based off Joseph Gordon-Levitt, mainly due to the similarities in character and look. Without being blatant, I hope it's clear that he is Eros, or Cupid, bringing people together with his drawings.



My second character, the waitress, will be based on one of my favourite actresses, Felicia Day. The character is beautiful but unaware of it, here's a few more drawings..



I haven't got the third character designed yet but as soon as I do, I'll upload to here.

Another part of this project that I did simply for myself, to try to get my head around the characters and who they really are was to write a short narrative about them. It's not finished but this is what I have so far. Enjoy, and I'll post another blog soon:

Sitting alone at a table in the most typical of coffee shops in the most ordinary town was a man. This man waited for nothing but knew something would eventually turn up, not for him but for someone else. Everywhere stood elements of the classic Italian coffee house; canvases with picturesque little shops with old Italian men buying their daily espresso, beautiful young women riding Vespas down the winding cobble-stone streets of Rome or Milan. All in black and white of course, it wouldn’t look nostalgic in the normal vivid colours of these places, despite the fact most of the customers were business men and women driving through or the locals who had never left the country. Contemporary glass ornaments sat in shelving units, filled with coffee beans that gave off such a rich aroma he could not help but take a moment to enjoy it. The deep brown wooden chairs and tables, along with the soft oversized armchairs that sunk almost to the floor when even the lightest person sat on them, gave the place a warm welcome feel. The clean, shining coffee maker resembled something you would find in a diner of the nineteen-fifties and although it should have seemed out of place it only added to the character of this quaint little coffee shop. Despite all the manufactured elements that made up this wonderful place, a place he could have stayed all day, there was one thing that caused not a break but a minor crack in the illusion. The coffee. Ever since his first visit to Italy, quite a few years back now, a cup of freshly brewed coffee never tasted quite the same. He was quite the connoisseur when it came to good coffee and had always found there was no better bean than the Columbian, straight from the plant and made as fresh as any coffee could be. Nonetheless, this cup of coffee was absolutely fine. It was the best in this part of the world in fact and so he found any chance to work in the area. Working was what he was doing today, but as it often was, work was scarce so he did what he always did, waited. He often got compliments from the women he met and twice already had been approached by women, both beautiful, who wanted his phone number. He had politely declined. They were attracted to his boyish good looks that while young-looking were also chiselled. He had long brown hair that he brushed to one side. The words most people described him as were “classically handsome” which had always made him laugh.
Once he had finished his first coffee, he placed the cup back to the saucer gently and called over the waitress. Long red hair tied back into a ponytail and a black blouse and trousers with a green apron tied around her waist, she looked stunning. In fact, maybe stunning wasn’t quite the word he would use. She was beautiful indeed but there was something about her that made her invisible to most men who visited the coffee shop. She would spend every day exchanging pleasantries with her customers and always get a nice amount of tips, but never for her beauty. This had led to a shyness developing within the girl that was all the more endearing to him and clearly to the man sitting across from him. As she walked over to him, she smiled sweetly and took his empty cup away with her, quickly returning with another hot coffee. All the while, the man across from him followed her with his eyes, love-struck and completely enchanted. Her pale flawless skin glowed in the soft lights of the coffee shop that seemed to reflect and bounce so perfectly off the countertops. He knew very little of her other then she worked incredibly hard and on her breaks sat at a table in the corner of the cafe studying.
Rooting through the inside pocket of the coat placed across the back of his chair, he took out a black book, around the same size as the average novel. It was leather bound and held closed with a piece of well-worn elastic, a piece of ribbon sticking out of the bottom of its pages, keeping his place. He took a pencil from the same pocket and, stretching the elastic over the book he began drawing the man that sat across from him. This man, so infatuated, was the perfect subject. In the twenty minutes or so that he was drawing the man he moved only to try to catch the gaze of the young waitress. It was done. Both pride and happiness escaped the man in the form of a small grin and once he had finished up some last bits of detail, he signed the drawing.

Back again. So recently I followed a user on Twitter that tweets quotes that are by people who meant them to be inspirational and the majority of them are. Some are not so. But one in particular stood out to me and really made me think a day or two ago.

"You are what you think about all day long." - Dr. Robert Schuller

Then it occured to me. I've always had my heart set on working in the games industry and it was probably in agreat part due to my uncle's career. He has always worked in the video games industry and is now the president of Rockstar Leeds. I have been there for work experience over the years and really enjoyed the small amount of time I had there; the people are great and the place they work has such an atmosphere with people workin together and all getting along. I aimed my work in the direction of the arts and always used computers, always getting good grades in my other subjects but for most of my school time doing much better at art and design. Although my uncle found his way into the indusrty fairly easy, making some lucky breaks without any of the necessary qualifications you have to attain nowadays, I was always told and figured out for myself that I needed to work hard to get to the place he was at. Money, accomplished in the field and he had everything that I wanted to have to. It never really occured to me that there was another path I wanted to go down and as I was such a big fan of computer games I focused on this. I took Animation (which I am currently studying) as I was told that the broad set of skills they would teach me would translate into many fields (they haven't taught us these skills yet...). But this is one thing I am really glad of. If I had taken Games Design I would have limited myself to a career that I have recently had doubts about. I would never say never to working in the Games industry as there are some incredible artists and animators working in that field and their advice and that experience would be invaluable, and I would love doing this for a few years. But since I have drifted more and more away from games and more towards my love of Television and film, TV in particular, I have realised Games are not the way I want to go in life. This quote really resonated with me, made me think.

If "You are what you think about all day long." then I am film, television, animation.

I am films. The writing; scripts, ideas and even the philosophies and depths behing the ideas in these series. Even more so the visual effects, the CG modelling, texturing, integration of the whole process and above all the opportunity to work on a long running project that allows for a new piece of work each few weeks to work on. This is where I really want to work and from now on I have decided to put everything into finding out about this career choice and doing everything I can to make myself employable in this industry. Films and television are my biggest hobby and I have a never-ending list of shows I am watching, analysing and wanting to work on.

I've decided to get organised and it's working! I'm making strides in learning French, finally understanding it much better and alhough slowly, my 3D modelling work is coming along too. But a real downside to this week is that my boss (oh how I hate her sometimes..) has given my so many shifts that I have barely any time to do all this work. I don't like working there but hey, I have to start saving for next semester so I can live now my rent's going up.. It'll be worth is one day! I'm sure of it :) But for now, I'm going to relax and draw a picture of Jessica from True Blood, should look awesome.

Night all

So, I've redesigned my blog and there are a few different things that I still want to add when I get the chance but I'm pretty happy with how it's looking right now.

The main thing that's changed for me at the moment is that i've gotten organised. I bought a day planner and set out the things I need to do each day. I'm really disorganised when it comes to getting stuff done, especially when i'm at work in the summer but things are going to change; one of those being this blog.

I plan to change the style of it, from the personal blog it is at the moment to one that's updated much more frequently, basically talking about anything and everything that I like in the media. I plan to work in television in the future and my drawing has been coming along lately so you can expect realistic drawings of characters from television shows posted fairly frequently. I'll also be posting reviews on new episodes and old of shows that stand out to me and some 3D modelling work i'll be working on in the next few months. I'm going to be busy but by the end of the summer i'll be well prepared for next year at University.

I'm hoping a few more people will subscribe to it, possibly giving me pointers on the sort of things you want to see from the film, television and animation industry and from time to time maybe some more intellectual things will pop up.

I've just finished watching the first half of the third season of A Town Called Eureka and the show seems to be picking up a good stride of late so there may be some reviews on the latest season of that. I've also just finished season four of Ghost Whisperer, watched almost three seasons of 30 Rock and I'm almost done reading Neil Gaiman's American Gods, which definitely deserves a review. Time management will hopefully allow me to get a lot of these things done but as I said before, I'm currently working part time to save for my next Uni year so there may be slight gaps in the times I post updates.

Anyway, thanks for watching and I hope you like the new design and way i've decided to take this blog. Bye for now

Soooo not updated for a few days :P but here we go.

I've been really busy getting all my uni work done. A podcast, presentation and 3D modelling work.
So yeah a fair bit. We're doing a presentation on Commodity Culture and the Simpsons. Sound fun.. well it isn't it's boring as hell and two lines were missing from the top of each page in the reading we were given for it.. so quite difficult to read.
That's tomorrow and i'm nervous as I always am before presentations :( I've known the people i'm presenting to for a year now and likeliness is i'll still be a babbling fool when i get up there.
Then we have the podcast.. I hate doing these normally but this one went down fine.. second recording and i'm happy with it :D Just got to hand that in tomorrow woop!
But the thing i'm really excited about is my progress on 3DS Max. It seems like a pretty intimidating program but once you get used to it it's pretty awesome. I'm currently animating a fight scene between two characters. It's an assessed exercise to help us develop natural movements and i'm really enjoying it.
Um... I've not spent to much but acquired loads of DVD's in the past few days and some would probably say a weird mixture but I like them :D

Dogma, Mallrats, My Neighbour Totoro, Hocus Pocus, Beetlejuice, Karate Kid 1,2 and 3 (In a badass tin XD), Butterfly Effect and The Craft.

HMV having a sale.. means a much more awesome October :D

Anyway bye for now should be back soon.

So the last few days have some strange ones. I've been ill but also been probably more productive when it comes to my future than ever before. After spending half the day in bed yesterday with some sort of cold/flu and missing two lessons because of it, I decided to get something done.
First task was to contact some people in the Animation industry. I've been worrying about exactly where I wanted to go with my degree (once i've finished) ever since our tutor mentioned it to us. So I typed up 5 emails to various different people and sent them out, eagerly waiting on the relpies for hours after that.

One to a 3D Animator in the US who had worked on some big titles including the Bioshock videogame. He was focused on cinematic animation for films and game trailers/cutscenes and this has recently been something i've been looking into and likely the career path i'd like to follow.
Another to Square Enix, the video game company who most famously develop the Final Fantasy game series and many other.
One to a UK-based 3D animator who has worked on quite a few well known advertisements and character animation projects.
And lastly, on to Blur studio, a Visual Effect studio that have worked on shows such as Heroes and one to one of their 3D animators that had particularly interested me.

I'd pretty much given up hope on getting any advice when the emails started coming in.

Firstly I heard from the guy who worked on Bioshock, Ryan. He was really helpful and had spent his time on a long letter detailing all the things I would have to know and what areas I would have to work on to make it in his area of the industry. I learnt a lot in the way of requirements and this also opened up a connection into the industry, which I was so pleased by! :)

Then I was sent an email from Square Enix which, although it was a generic sort of letter that was not so personal, it did highlight the requirements for working in their company, which was great to know.

Following this, I got some great advice from Sandra, the UK based animator, who told me the essentials for her area of animation and she said she would also like to keep in contact. Also, after seeing some of my portfolio, she said i'd make a great character designer XD which really made my day.

I'm still waiting on replies from the other two but still, 3/5 isn't bad :P

That was yesterday.. today was not so constructive.

I got up late, feeling ill again. After a morning trying to recover somewhat, I went to Uni and worked on my 3D animation project, which was going really well and I was pleased with.. but then 3DS Max.. that hellish program closed itself. It was like an oven in that room and I was too annoyed to stay so I came back and sulked if i'm honest :P

Better now and going to go to bed now as I have a life drawing class in the morning which should be good :) But that's me caught up.

I also watched the pilot episode for Dollhouse and it was awesome so I might have to get the DVD boxset tomorrow :) and not forgetting I watched the awesome fiom that is Beetlejuice which was bought the other day :D Burton's the man.