迎麒麟 Yíng Qílín - Qilin Arrival: In the hopes of creating an animated short, and it's promotion, independently by artist Kandice K Zimbleman 任思麒 (Black UniGryphon 烏獨角獸) by staying true to self and what 1 believes in as a gift to the world.
My cohort & I have definitely been learning several programs. I've spent a lot of time with Adobe Animate CC, Adobe After Effects CC, and I also invested in Toon Boom Harmony which was crazy expensive!
The kid has been playing with various other programs as well, and also got more proficient at Animate CC... to some degree.
I've also been busy working on a film "The Holy Maple Tree", and a local TV show "Tipsy TV", plus my own Television productions at WCA9-TV, as well as videography work I do for HockeyTV as a contractor.
The kid, herself, got a trophy award from The Walt Disney Family Gallery in the International Teen Animation Festival of 2nd Place.
We had decided to make a short film last summer, and all kinds of stuff got in the way including working on "The Holy Maple Tree" which had a lot of drama that went down, multiple times, plus we also spent some time in Philadelphia, and in Florida this Spring.
Here's the work I've done since the Winter:
We're finally agreeing on a logo & a "brand" name.:
My own logo works:
One of several of the first version tries:
Meditative version of my compiled recent works:
Redoing my old vintage animation:
Maple Bacon short film bits (we're almost done):
Documentary Version of Jackalope Project:
Graphics for "Heaven & Hell TV" in the film "The Holy Maple Tree"
Animation Montage Edit AMV:
Documentary Film I made at UMASS (short version):
My FULL VERSION
Meditative Film I finally made that I'd been wanting to do:
Other Notes:
I had been working on "The Holy Maple Tree" film as a Production Assistant since November of 2016. By 2017 I kept getting promoted, and went from Audio Girl to Chief Editor, Graphics Designer, and by October I ended up becoming the Director of Photography. So, by winter I'd begun heavily investing in equipment here & there to improve production quality and take the film in a more artistic direction, and bump up the quality. It's still very much a learning process, and I'm always learning. Since then I've acquired new lenses, video tripod, a jib camera crane, a gimbal, and an action camera. I'm always looking to expand that. So, I've tested a lot of things, and shot a lot of video projects since then.
I will be filming ALL DAY tomorrow on location. I will probably be filming some more of my own Television projects whenever I have good weather and transportation the rest of the summer, and also the Fall.
And, between this, since the kid is home now, we are working on animation every friggin day. Since I'd gotten Toon Boom Harmony, my frame by frame traditional animation goes so much quicker now.
Once we finish the "Maple Bacon" animation short we'll be able to move onto some serious animation studies like the walk cycles, and really hone the skills & techniques. These things take time.
Heidi doesn't have any quadroped animation walk cycles published, but I know she was working on some.
It's important to do quite a bit of practice for more walk cycles, and a lot more anatomy. I know human anatomy might seem unrelated, but Life Drawing actually improves skills and proportions quite a bit because it's helps hand-eye-coordination.
Back in August tons of things went down, some really good, and other very bad, including terrorism and hackers. (long story) But, I'm also working on an Independent Film, and some stuff went down in September which made me the new DP.
There's a Recap of stuff since Summer until now on my main art blog HERE, because I actually DID NOT KNOW until about a 1 1/2 week before classes started if I was still going back to UMASS Boston.
We did actually manage to do some animated bits for the animated short to learn Adobe Animate.
The short is called "Maple Bacon" and we'd recorded most of the audio in the Summer.
Here's the Animattics:
My first attempt at animating in Adobe Animate CC:
A Quick animation I did in Adobe Animate CC of Ancient Greek Art:
Some of Heidi's animation done in various Animation programs after studying from materials by legendary animator Richard Williams:
Experiments in Adobe After Effects (effects animation experiments):
I would like to resume working on "Maple Bacon" this month, hopefully starting this week, and hopefully wrap that up by next month. It will ONLY be produced in the rough Black & White.
I should also expect to publish the storyboards as well by next month.
I will, however, begin editing on the film I've been promoted to Director of Photography on this month and next month as well, "The Holy Maple Tree". I almost went to the Producer's house tonight, but I'm still recovering from illness and UMASS Finals. I also have an Art History Exam on the 19th early in the morning.
I will most likely continue my work study job in biology, but I am no longer enrolled in ANY classes at UMASS, but I am still technically a Matriculated Student, and therefore quakify for grants, scholarships, and other benefits. I might still try to start the "Life Drawing" Student run club at UMASS as well.... not sure yet... and no promises right now.
And, I still want to spend more time rigorously practicing walk cycles, run cycles, and Life Drawings.
A number of things happened since I'd last Posted in Mid June.
I was testing out a number of animation programs. I still haven't done one using "Animation Paper" (Open Source) yet. But, I did try OpenToonz, and Toon Boom's new Harmony (Advanced version).
It's crucial that my daughter & I try out different stuff, and really LEARN things, hone programs, skills, techniques, etc.
Heidi also did some horse run cycles, but she lost them, somehow.
Here's the First attempt at a Horse WALKING Cycle done in Studio Ghibli's OpenToonz:
Honestly, I found that OpenToonz was often backwards feeling, was confusing, and I would like the experience to driving your entire life in a American cars, then suddenly driving a Honda, and being completely lost. Also, I didn't like the way it drew, or interacted with the WACOM, and the RAM.
I referenced this cycle from a graphic found on Google Images.
The 2nd animation I did was in Toon Boom's Harmony (Advanced version):
If i can be frank about this, I must say that I LOVE Toon Boom! I also LOVED Toon Boom's new Harmony. But, my trial version ran out. Honestly, AFTER the first 2 days of using Toon Boom's Harmony I WANTED TO BUY IT! But, when I saw the prices, I was very unhappy about it, and according to what I read, ONLY the Premium version had audio.
Oddly, AFTER the trial version was about to run out, Toon Boom's sale's rep e-mailed me! They ACTUALLY asked me what I thought about it. WOW! So, I emailed them, and told them my honest thoughts and feelings, because I just didn't see the logic in buying it UNLESS it had audio, but ONLY the Premium version had audio according to the specs on the website, and it was almost $900 for a FULL YEAR SUBSCRIPTION on the website. The programming is SUPER. But, I'd already paid for Adobe's Creative Cloud, and is has an animation program on it...
Well, my daughter has been playing, learning, and using Adobe's Animation program (used to be Macromedia's Flash back in the day, but times change) so we decided to learn each other's styles, and make a simple animated short together, and we've been developing that since yesterday. I know everyone thinks I'm being stubborn, because I kinda hate Flash. But, I figured, well, I SHOULD AT LEAST TRY. i really gave it the ol' college try with OpenToonz and eventually just had to give it up.
Here's Some of my daughter's recent Adobe Animation work:
Here's a collaboration one she did with her friend:
Needless to say, she managed to get Adobe to do good stuff... so, that's why we decided to move forward with doing a simple project in Adobe's Animation program.
But, THEN, I got a call from Toon Boom in Canada. We talked, and they offered me a number of deals, including using audio in the Basic Essentials HARMONY version if I wanted it, but even offered me a better deal for PREMIUM, and even gave me options for permanent licencing. They sent me a form, and I was totally blown away by the offers. WOW!
Anyways, I'm STILL going to move forward and try to learn Adobe's Animation/Flash program anyway. I'm a Grumpy Gus over it, but I did pay for Adobe CC, and maybe I just need to get over myself. But, I SOOOOO WANT TOON BOOM HARMONY!
I actually STILL kept researching my Horse walk cycle stuff, and on a LUCKY ACCIDENT Google/YouTube recommended me EXACTLY what I was looking for. I actually borrowed an animation book by Richard Williams, which is incredibly good, very technical, yet breaks a lot things down. But, I couldn't quite find what I needed SPECIFICALLY for a horse walk cycle. I'd wanted to know EXACTLY when the horse bobs the head, the tail, when the hips & shoulders move up 7 down, and the timing... and I was trying so hard, on my own to figure it out.
As, much as I loved Muybridge stuff, it doesn't actually help with those key fundamentals, and many hand drawn horse walk cycles are done by artists whom don;t actually specialize in horse anatomy, so it's often wonky. Also, I want to understand the FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES or THEORY of the timing, much like drawing in shading & lighting, or color theory... but the applied theory of the bio-mechanics of a horse walking. SPECIFICALLY walking and NOT running, trotting, or galloping. Mostly only you will find more run cycles for a horse than walking. So, that makes it a puzzle, a challenge. Something to find out, and not much exists open source, Creative Commons, or free on the net anymore.
Remember that lucky accidental video I found, which I mentioned 2 paragraphs above? Well, not only was it a lucky find of a horse walk cycle being broken down, and ALL of the fundamental principles and theory, BUT IT WAS BY RICHARD WILLIAMS HIMSELF, AND he explains WHEN to bob the head, and WHEN the shoulders and hips go up! I had ALSO been wanting to find stuff to better help me with timing and spacing, and he did that as well!
So, I will share those with you here:
This "Timing and Spacing" video is SO GOOD! The way in which it's demonstrated is perfect! There are so many principles, techniques, and more which are NOT taught in animation schools. In fact, I NEVER most of these things that are in the video in ANY of the schools I PAID to go to.
THANK YOU, Mr. Williams for PRESERVING this knowledge and passing it on!
I am SO MUCH more motivated in furthering my self studies in horse walk cycles for my film than I was yesterday. In fact, I would like to double down and further VOW that I will use my own knowledge in this process and publish it FOR FREE for you guys to FURTHER BREAK THIS STUFF DOWN.
If you would like to see the work that my daughter & I have started for the character designs for a simple animation short using Adobe's Animation program, I posted some to Instagram:
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We are mostly going with my daughter's designs for the characters. We're basing the characters on annoying experiences in our recent life.
On a side note, I also got some promotions on a film I've been working on (The Holy Maple Tree). Usually I'm an Audio P.A. on the film, but I also set-up, and close-out the film sets. I also ended up in a role in the film over a month ago, and this weekend. But, I also got promoted as a Video Editor, but Also I am doing the television graphics for a key scene. I don't own the rights to the film, so I can't show all the graphics because of spoilers, but I CAN show some pieces that the Producer has already published publicly.
A post shared by Kandice Kathleen Zimbleman 任思麒 (@blackunigryphon) on
That was actually a lot of work to research, create from scratch, but I also did scenery graphics, motion graphics. Event the texts had to be researched, composed, and I had to create my own chrome gradient. As simple as that sounds it took hours to get it right, or days. Some details took HOURS to be satisfied with. Generally, the director wanted cheesy 90s graphics, but I often found a lot of 80s stuff that were similar to what we wanted.
I'd reserved video games graphics, VHS graphics, old access TV graphics, old films, TV shows, and music videos. Lots of fun!
I'm Still figuring it out, and it takes time to tweak with green screen and color keying. Still learning and figuring it all out.
On a Final NOTE, my daughter & I will be down in Philadelphia for a WEEK starting on Monday. We're visiting my father, but probably will end up in New Jersey ALSO.
We're still running our Fundraiser on GOFundMe, so if you would like to help us out, we'd be super grateful!
My original Qilin animation concept that I came up with several years back, was a part of my series "Eyewitness" (ALL RIGHTS RESERVED) which usually involves the lead character, Lively, experiencing something extraordinary that's rather unbelievable. But, it started to somewhat rub my wrong or uncomfortable since Qilin (at the time especially) was a Chinese cultural icon since ancient times. Lively is a mixed ethnicity girl, but generally appears mostly Caucasian. But, it kinda wasn't really working for me.
So, I had to come up with a new character for that specific short story. I was living in China in 2004, and also in 2006, and I often came back to that character.
The character was named Xiao Moli (Lil' Jasmine), and due to a number of stories in the news at the time, I felt it was better to make a victim character, much like old Shirley Temple films, but a lot more realistic like The Color Purple. If you have watched any number of Chinese films from last century, it often involved the lead female character getting raped by the villain. Also, at the time, I used to listen to a lot of Podcasts, watched Oprah's talkshow, Montel Williams, and I used to be very New Age. I am also a rape victim myself.
So, Moli is a totally innocent young girl, whom found herself unwanted, and her caregiver died, leaving her homeless, and then raped, and becoming a broken person.
This would be the strong contrast to her stumbling upon a Qilin, whom blesses her with good fortune afterwards.
I actually had to scrap this story line altogether, because it's JUST TOO HEAVY to start off with.
I am still rather proud of the original story, because I'd at 1 point even worked out how depict it without overtly doing it. Sometimes drama means you need tragedy. But, It's not going to happen in this this animated short. I want this new one to be less story driven, and more artistic, and more emphasis on making something that's beautiful, light hearted, and appealing to the eyes. Not something that's disturbing.
If you've even watched Fantasia, the animated shorts are less story driven than theme driven.
If you've ever watched the Greek Mythology inspired short in Fantasia, there's no real actual story or plot. It's more "A Day in The Lives of" and transitions from 1 group of characters to another, and is more musical based. the scenery its self is also a major emphasis because it's SO GORGEOUS that the setting is also like a character. You're in a beautiful work among beautiful beings.
Here's another example of a beautiful animated short. At the end of a Care Bear movie, there's this beautiful ending piece that is massive eye-candy!
It's SO GORGEOUS!
So, when I say I'm wanting to do something beautiful, and artistic, it's sort of like this.
There are also some Chinese animated films that are just so gorgeous!
Da Nao Tian Gong:
Da Nao Tian Gong is the Shanghai Animation Company's first major feature animated film in the 1960s. There were no animation schools in Communist China, so that fact that this was made is always mind-blowing to me!
I have watched this film so many times that I've lost count.
Nezha:
Altho' Nezha as some VERY heavy themes in it like child sacrifices and suicide, it's probably NOT for children outside of Asia due to cultural differences. My daughter, did however, grow up watching this in China, and so did my spouse.
However, this film is incredibly gorgeous, and the ending is a happy ending (unless you're a tyrant dragon god)
Hopefully, this might fully illustrate what I'm going for.
I would like to run through my older Qilin character designs I came up with back in the GWB era. I also lived in China several times back then for long periods, spending a lot of time there and then coming back here to run seasonal art businesses in malls in which we sold custom made commissioned charcoal & pastel portraits and pop art, when there still was a Middle Class but on the decline.
I had to stop multiple times because of getting pregnant, living in China, the economic crisis, and lots of other things.
Basically, in traditional cinematic or television character animation, the characters need to at least be somewhat simplified, because it's easier to draw, and focus on the motion, movement, emotion, and too many details slow it down. The more detailed your character design is the less likely it makes sense to really animate it, which doesn't look as good, because it's stiff. I honestly hated learning to animate using a "held cell" at AIPH because my original animation teacher at the Philadelphia UARTS was a graduate of CALARTS and taught the Disney standard style, even tho' Disney does actually use "held cells" in their feature animations they generally didn't. If you watch Japanese animation, AKA anime, their characters often have more details, but they are very choppy, stiff, and don't move very much. They tend to be more like a manga (comic book) that slightly moves and had audio. This is fine if you are producing more quantity over quality.
For my purposes, I need to have the Qilin still look like it has dragon scales, so I need to use simple old fashioned cartooning tricks to infer that it's covering in scales in whole sections of it's body. Some will be in the line art, and the rest will be in the clean-up work, especially the coloring.
As you can see, this Qilin has many many scales, lots of details. This is a NIGHTMARE to animate. It looks great as a still image, or for comics.
So, character designs need to be simplified, and stylized.
Here's a simple technique that tricks the human brain into thinking they are seeing a lot of details, when in fact, those details are merely inferred:
Close-up of my character "Lively" with a spirit dragon. See the textures that are inferred using simple colors and cots, highlights, and shading.
With just a few lines, blots, or coloring the brain is told to see details that aren't actually even there. Also, keep in mind that THIS DRAGON is a WHITE DRAGON (with gold & silver inferred tones), and yet I have NOT USED ANY TRUE WHITE on it except it's teeth, and slightly on the highlight/reflection on the eye. I used almost NO TRUE RGB YELLOWS either.
Much of this technique is based on COLOR THEORY, but color theory in RGB (digital pixels) is different than working with inks (CMYK), or pigments in paints or pastels.
So, here's a number of my older rough designs for my original story:
I actually drew a lot of inspiration form the film "The Last Unicorn" and referenced it a number of times because I kept finding my detail-minded psyche constantly wanting to put in the details, and it was often tripping me up.
There are so many parts to the film that are stunningly gorgeous! Yet, they also use a number of tricks and techniques that infer details using color, shape, form, and color theory. In melds Western Art & Far Eastern Art. The background artwork is stunningly painted, but also this effect is achieved by the flow of the film moving from beautiful themes to dark and scary ones which heightens the contrasting vibe to each part to the viewer.
Another classic animated film that also blended Eastern & Western Art was Disney's Bambi which was the first animated film ever produced in America that employed a special Chinese artist, Tyrus Wong, to do the background artwork, and to influence the entire look and feel on the production.
I have more to write about on this topic, but I will end this entry here.
