Sophie Henney – Page 3 – Sharing my progress, development and research during my animation studies at Central Saint Martins

Animating ‘Snotty’

I was so happy with this puppet I couldn’t wait to animate it. The first exercise I tried with it was for the body acting assignment – having a character react to something using body language. For this one I wanted to just focus on getting to grips with the process of stop motion animation and not worry about facial expression or set details. Because Snotty is quite a melancholy guy the first thing that came to mind was to have him be scared of something.

https://vimeo.com/685140474

I animated this with the help of Steph – who suggested to record a reference of ourselves acting the scene out and then importing it into Dragonframe so we had a guide to follow for the timing and movement. I found this really helpful and got this one done in a short amount of time. I would like to try this again because although I am happy with the overall performance, I think I could make it a lot more fluid and interesting now that I have more understanding of the process.

Facial Animation

I decided to also use Snotty for the facial acting exercise. I was anxious to go straight into animation so I thought it would be a good idea to experiment with creating some different expressions and take pictures to use as a reference. I had initially painted on the mouth and eyebrows which allowed for no movement in these areas, so I painted over them and replaced them with plasticine that I was able to manipulate.

I had planned on making separate eyebrows and mouths for different expressions but once I had tried out the expressions I thought it would be easier to mould them as I went (I was wrong).

I shot some reference footage of myself and I also thought it would be useful to draw out a reference so I could work out the timing of the action.

https://vimeo.com/685143922

Key frame reference

I hadn’t really thought about the set before I went into animating so I had to improvise with this make-shift table which was impractically wobbly. I tried to stick it down with plasticine and tape but it didn’t really work – I think something magnetic would be much better in the future. It also wasn’t really long enough for the spider to crawl out of shot, so I had to manipulate it to create the illusion of it crawling off instead. Here is the animation:

https://vimeo.com/685143838

This scene took me a very long time because of the many different elements involved, but I really think it was worth my time because it turned out even better than I imagined! I think the timing could be better with the first reaction but overall I’m really happy with the acting and the way the scene loops. I began to animate by following my reference footage but my timing charts became redundant quite quickly as I realised it was better to just use my intuition.

The puppet armature itself was very nice to animate with – it was easy to manipulate and nothing felt like it would break. The hands were a little bit stiff and weren’t quite doing what I wanted which I found more difficult. I also wasn’t able to do the blocking that I wanted to with him ducking under the table – I tried but the body just wasn’t supple enough to have him bend down. I think my solution of just having him lean back was effective enough though.

The animation of the face was very time consuming. I was taking a lot of time in-between frames to sculpt the expressions where I hadn’t pre-made them. This allowed me to get nice transitions between the expressions but it was quite inconvenient when animating. I think next time I should do a few versions of the same features so I have some that I can manipulate and some to replace them.

Something that was very inconvenient was the way the hat would move every time I touched the puppets head – which I was doing a lot in order to animate it. I had to match the hat to the previous shot almost every time I touched it – which was another unnecessary consumption of time. Gluing the hat down would have made things a lot easier.

The other inconvenience I had was with the wobbly table and camera set up. You can see the table is moving around in the shot but I think I just about got away with it after taking time to match the table up with the previous frame a lot of times. I also learned the importance of having a stable camera and being very careful so as not to knock it (which I did quite a few times!) which results in having to match up the shot again.

It was also quite a challenge to have 2 animations going on at the same time with the spider and character. There were times when I would get too focussed on the character and forget about the spider so the timing is a little off – but I wasn’t being too fussy since this wasn’t the main point of the assignment.

I have a little bit of knowledge in VFX so I put something together in After Effects for the purpose of the assignment – I do want to try and get a better composite done for my portfolio.

https://vimeo.com/685153814

Final film!

I really loved this exercise, it felt like my first piece of proper animation and I am really proud of what I did. I’m especially glad I took the extra time to make the animation loop because it makes it feel very complete. This was a very useful exercise because I made lots of mistakes and learned so much from it – I will feel more confident going into my next stop motion animation.

Puppet Animation

Modelling for Claymation – ‘Sasha’

Post author By Sophie Henney
Post date 6th March 2022
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Our next puppet project was to make a new model with plasticine. I decided to create a character based on one of my favourite drag artists, creating a punk look which would give them lots of personality. I had a bit of a rocky start with this one as I tried to understand the best method of sculpting. I intuitively created a base and then added details on top of this, but I now realise it is better to sculpt the details out of the clay.

My first attempt – I wasn’t happy with the messy face and the skinny body was impractical

I really felt I could do a lot better with this model, and as I was creating a character based on a real person I wanted to do them justice. I decided to restart the head and face to make it neater and more drag-like and was so much happier with the result. I also added details like jewellery, a braid and some elf ears (because why not?) and fixed the body so it would stand better.

Once I was happy with the design of the model I began to think about practicalities for animating. I wanted to use this puppet for a lip sync animation so I needed to create hands and various mouth shapes. When creating the mouth shapes I realised that the oversized lips I had created were difficult to mould into different shapes, so I adapted more of an Aardman style for the more extreme shapes.

For the hands and arms, I decided to make the puppet more butch to give it more substance. I really wanted to create more muscular arms but ended up being a bit pressed for time so this was my final result:

I made the hands using the same method as I did previously – wire, hot glue and then the plasticine on top. I attached them using Milliput placed so the arms would bend in the right places.

I added some more colour into the hair to make it stand out more and I am now ready for animation! Even though I spent a long time creating this model there was still more I wanted to perfect – I have had to make myself come away from this one because I might have gone on forever! I think this is because I found the plasticine quite frustrating to work with because things can get messed up so easily and don’t stay put! But overall I still really enjoyed creating Sasha.

Puppet Animation

Making of ‘Snotty’

It’s been a while since I updated this blog and a lot has been done in that time! In this post I will show the rest of my process of making my first puppet who has now been named ‘Snotty’.

After creating armature, padding out the body and carving out a foam head for the puppet, the next step was to add hands and facial features. I made the hands out of wire covered with hot glue which made them flexible before painting over them with colour. I then used paint to add lots of nice colour to Snotty’s face and stuck on some elements like eyebrows and eyelids to give him more character. The idea is that he is congested and fed up with having a cold.

The next step was to make some clothes for my character so I went to the costume store on campus and found some material to create a jumper with. I have no experience in sewing and have never made clothes before but by following a YouTube tutorial I was able to create exactly what I had wanted! I cut out a pattern and used hot glue to fit it to the puppet’s body, then I created the turtle neck and cuffs for added detail.

I made trousers following the same method. I was so pleased with how the outfit turned out, and I really loved the process of making it! I also fashioned the shoes out of foam which was probably the trickiest thing to do out of everything and took several attempts. I painted them with some latex to give them texture.

Finally I made this little beanie hat out of felt. Again, I followed a YouTube tutorial to make this and it was very easy. I sewed the top part of the hat to create a bobble and glued the hem around the bottom. I had to try a couple of times to get the right fit but it came out looking perfect.

And here is the final result! The final details included painting the shoes black and painting the fingers with an ombre effect to simulate cold hands! Even though I had made eyebrows, I found that just the way in which the hat was positioned could show different emotions which was fun to play around with.

Overall, I absolutely loved my first puppet-making experience and I look forward to this class every week. I’m really happy with the character I made and think he already has a lot of personality so I can’t wait to animate him.

Uncategorised

Presentation

For this presentation, I was really keen to link my research back to Wales. I knew this would be a challenge because Wales isn’t exactly known for its animation industry. When I was pondering my topic I was surprised to find that there is actually an ode to Wales in one film from our beloved Disney.

2. Released in 1985, the Black Cauldron is Disney’s 25th animated feature film.

The film is set in the mythical land of Prydain during the Middle Ages and is about an evil king who wants to steal a magic cauldron that will allow him to conquer the world, and a young farmer boy who tries to stop him.

The film has a lot of classic Disney tropes like an Aurora-inspired princess and a couple of animal sidekicks.

3. The film is based on a series of books written by American author Lloyd Alexander called The Chronicles of Prydain.

The author went to Wales for army combat training. After becoming familiar with Welsh culture, particularly the castles and folklore, he was inspired to write a fantasy series.

Mainly influenced by the stories of the Welsh Mabinogion.

The Mabinogion are the earliest prose stories in British literature, basically a collection of short stories made up of drama, philosophy, romance, tragedy, fantasy and humour.

The setting of the book is loosely based on Anglesey and all of the characters have Welsh names. These are all used in the film so we have Taran, Eilonwy, Gurgi, Fflewddur Fflam and Hen Wen the pig. However there isn’t any other kind of recognition for Wales other than this.

4. Most people are not familiar with this particular Disney production as it is widely disregarded for reasons which I’ll go into later. However the film has a pretty important place in Disney’s history.

5. TBC was actually the first ever Disney feature released that utilised computer animation (White, 2020).

CGI was only used for minor objects (bubbles, lighting, the cauldron) but it still advanced Disney animation, moving it away from the old methods used before.

6. At the time of the production of this film there was a lot of sci-fi dominating cinema and Disney was losing their audience to it. The Black Cauldron was Disney’s attempt at a fantasy adventure. (Price, 2019, p.1)

It was thought that this film would be the Snow White of a new generation of animators. We saw a very different approach to Disney’s usual style of filmmaking. It’s dark themes and scary villain earned it Disney animation’s first ever PG rating (Kois, 2010).

Now, Disney have made their fair share of unsettling sequences but this film is another level. Aside from the Horned King villain who is basically the devil, there’s a traumatising pig chase sequence and one of the main characters sacrifices himself in an act of suicide. Let’s have a look at one of the main sequences.

8. From that clip, it’s clear to see that this wasn’t made for Disney’s usual audience. But it also didn’t appeal to a more mature audience.

The Black Cauldron was the most expensive animated film ever made at the time, with a huge cost of $44 million, almost 4x that of its predecessor The Fox and the Hound (Box Office Mojo). This was not planned but the studio ended up going way over budget after spending more time than expected in production.

Unfortunately the film was a complete fail and didn’t even make half of its money back in the box office. It was beated by The Care Bears movie, a defeat which has been described as Disney’s rock bottom (waking sleeping beauty). It actually put the future of Disney animation in jeopardy. There are a lot of elements involved in the films failure, let start with the plot.

9. So what caused the failure of this film? Well it was produced during a pretty chaotic period in Disney history.

There were lots of staffing changes going on in the company, Jefferey Katzenberg became chairman and Micheal Eisner was the CEO. TBC ended up being passed around amongst different directors and there was a conflict between them and the artists. The concepts and ideas for the film were often revised and many people left the project due to creative differences.

Jeffery Katzenberg was shocked when he saw the film and felt it was too dark and intense for children. He insisted that the film be re-edited, ignoring the producers who told him that this wasn’t possible in an animated film.

The film was reworked again. Some scenes were reanimated but others were not so seamlessly cut. In the clip I just showed you, you might have noticed this.

All of these changes resulted in a disjointed plotline, jarring editing and weakly developed characters. The audience found it confusing. I personally think the main problem is that they didn’t want to put out another typical Disney fairytale but also didn’t fully commit to the dark fantasy idea, so they ended up pleasing no one.

10. TBC was produced in the period of Disney that is known as The Dark Age, or the Bronze Age. These films demonstrate the struggle that the studio went through after Walt Disney’s death in 1966. Without him to hold the reins, Disney entered this period of transition and turmoil until the late 1980s.

This was generally a commercially unsuccessful era for Disney but TBC was their absolute rock bottom (Waking Sleeping Beauty). However, it has been said that TBC made pretty great achievements in animation and inspired the company to continue with their digital work. (Price, 2019)

Looking back now I think we can say that this was not a dark age of Disney animation but more a time of experimentation and transition. After all it ultimately set the foundation for the pinnacle of the studio. Does anyone know what happened next?

11. After gaining some stability Disney were able to bounce back with the Little Mermaid and after that the Disney Renaissance. I’m not going to go into this too much but basically they took the all of the successful technical and artistic elements of the Dark Age and went back to producing well-known fairytale musicals (Price, 2019, p.3-4). Combine this with cheaper production techniques and Disney entered one of their greatest eras of all time.

12. So in conclusion, even though TBC wasn’t commercially good it led to many great things and shows that we all learn from our mistakes. I’m glad I got given the opportunity to tell you about this film if you didn’t already know about it because I don’t think it deserves to be forgotten about.

Drawing for Character

Drawing for Character Week 3

Post author By Sophie Henney
Post date 12th November 2021
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This week we focussed on extreme perspectives and facial expressions. I felt more positive going into this session after my tutorial last week.

This was such an interesting exercise and challenged the way I thought about the human body. The extreme perspectives made the model’s body make no sense, so I really had to look at where things were in relation to each other instead of using the life drawing techniques I have learned so far. I tried to focus more on the shape and perspective of the body as opposed to the personal details of the model but sometimes naturally began to include those details during the extra time I had. Overall this was enjoyable.

Expression changes and alternating poses

I found myself really liking this exercise and how my drawings came out. Having 20 seconds per pose allowed me to be more nonchalant and free in my drawings and I actually enjoy how they turned out with this distorted look. I am definitely learning the importance of exaggeration, whenever I think I have taken it too far it tends to read better!

Puppet Animation

Puppet Animation Week 2

This week we visited the CSM costume store and got inducted on how to use their facilities. I was a little nervous to use a sewing machine for the first time but it was much easier than I thought! We also used the overlocker (and learned what an overlocker is!).

Sewing practice – straight, zigzag and overlocker stitches

Looking forward to learning how to make tiny outfits for my puppets!

We then went back to the studio to carve out heads for our characters. At first I found it difficult to figure out how to make a head shape out of a block of foam but it came together as I understood more.

Really pleased with my work on this! There are some more details to be added such as a nose, mouth and eyebrows and eyelids before painting. Again really enjoyed this class.

Progress

Tutorial with Maryclare

This week instead of a character drawing class we had tutorials. I wanted to make a short note of what I discussed with Maryclare as I feel it will be an important part of my animation journey.

I was a little anxious to show my drawings as I’m not very confident in this class and my drawing skills aren’t as developed as my peers. I spoke to Maryclare about how I was feeling and how I felt it was affecting my work. I explained to her that I struggle to practice as I am rarely happy with my drawings and it can have a negative impact on me.

Maryclare advised me to approach my drawings as if they are an animation exercise and not an observational study. So instead of getting stuck on drawing the details of the specific model, focus on their pose, emotion and perspective by drawing simple shapes. This was really helpful for me, as I really do enjoy the animation exercises we are given. I will definitely apply this advice to our next session and will hopefully enjoy myself more going forward!

Puppet Animation

Puppet Animation Week 1

I’m so delighted to be making puppets and doing stop motion animation as it is something I have wanted to do ever since starting my BA. I was a little worried I wouldn’t enjoy the hands-on aspect of puppet making and the mess that comes with it but I actually loved this lesson so much.

My skeleton along with my character design for this puppet

This week we focussed on making the skeleton for the puppet before padding it out with sponge.

All padded out – he gained a little weight!

I decided to make my character a bit larger than he is in my design as I imagine him being a little more short, stout and grumpy. Super happy with my puppet so far and can’t wait to make him a head next week!

3D Animation

Maya Week 2

https://vimeo.com/645321581

In this session we sped up Bonky’s movement and made him bounce along a path. We also set up a camera to record the shot. It’s great to refresh my memory of these processes!

Drawing for Character

Drawing for Character 27/10

Post author By Sophie Henney
Post date 29th October 2021
No Comments on Drawing for Character 27/10

This class went much better for me than the previous one as I am trying really hard not to overthink the drawings too much. I am still a bit unsure as to what is expected of me during these exercises, but I think I am struggling to get out of the mindset of trying to draw accurately instead of thinking about the emotion behind the pose. I definitely need a lot of practice but feel I am improving a little each week so I know I should continue.

I have more experience with drawing faces than anything else (although I am a little out of practice) so I felt more comfortable with this exercise.

I’ve never done an exercise like this – it was both fun and stressful! I think I did well to get the drawings down on the page but there isn’t much of a clear difference in action between them.