Update: Recap of Stuff

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.

Recent Qilin Character Design Sketches 002 UNICORNS

迎麒麟

Well, here were the recent character design sketches I did last week. They came up out of nowhere. I'm feeling much better about my sketching ability. It's still not at the level I would prefer, but you just gotta go through it to get to it!

I DID, however, reference 1 loosely from the late artist Ken Hultgren, whom was a lead artist whom worked on Bambi (Disney).

I still wanted, very much to stick with these designs/characters to be as simplified as possible... but, some of my artistic brain went a bit beyond it. I'm really working on trying to maintain the simplified feel. I suppose I don;t mind too much if it gets a bit Disney-ish, since they're the top standard for traditional animation, but trying to stay away from too many details like a comic book, or fine art. When doing poses like the ones I did, I wasn't sure yet how to think in simplified forms, and some of them went a bit anatomical. I have mixed feeling about that, because I don't want too much realism.

Anyways, it's a long process of development. I'm only in the pre production phase which means, lots or development, designing, practicing, experimenting, getting to know the characters, and so on. That also includes learning programs, timing, animation experimentation.

Many of THESE are the Dujiao Qilin or UNICORN Qilin.

I am also considering adding Chinese Dragons (called "Long") and other kinds of Chinese Unicorns, which are NOT Qilin.

獨角麒麟 Dujiao Qilin (Unicorns):

CD Qilin Unicorn 001 by BlackUniGryphon on DeviantArt

CD Qilin Unicorn 002 by BlackUniGryphon on DeviantArt

CD Qilin Unicorn 003 by BlackUniGryphon on DeviantArt

麒麟Typical Qilin:

CD Qilin Unicorn 004 by BlackUniGryphon on DeviantArt

CD Qilin Unicorn 005 by BlackUniGryphon on DeviantArt

NOTES:

 EYES & FACE:

It's important to note that altho' there are MANY MANY versions of Qilin for thousands of years, their heads are supposed to typically be more DRAGON LIKE. Dragons have their eyes set in the FRONT of their heads, with binocular vision like all typical predator skulls/heads.

Even tho' it's THE MOST common shape for dragons of all types by most artists (especially on the internet of whom I'm friends with countless)  we generally use a "basic horse shape head" however, we set the eyes NOT LIKE A HORSE. Horses are Herbivores (plant eaters) and have their eyes set on the sides of their heads to have wider vision, including behind themselves.

Altho' these are mythical creatures, it's important to understand biology & anatomy of live creatures, or even prehistoric ones, like dinosaurs.

The majority of my Qilin are equine or deer-like which is very common throughout most Chinese Dynasties. But, they also had bulky versions that were more oxen-like with bulky legs and very muscular, or even remind me of Western Draft Horses.

But, the EYES MUST be binocular DRAGON EYES. They MUST view FORWARD, and should be LARGE. Also, I've found that Chinese Dragons (Long) can often appear very human-like in their expressions even tho' they are also depicted as roaring like a beast. they are no common beast or brute, but were viewed in ancient times as "gods" or divine sprites/elementals. Qilin also.

Qilin & Dragons also have thick eyelashes, and distinct  brows with fluttery brows that appear to me like fishy-fins, or reptile spikes, but I've seen fluffy ones as well. It depends on the artist.

A Major reference for these comes from The Last Unicorn which were intentionally drawn with HUMAN EYES.

Mane & Hair:

I've decided to keep the beards & mustache (altho' I might lessen or delete them for females, but I haven't decided yet). So far, I generally view the one's I've been working on as MALE.

I am generally keeping the main to be more like that of a Horse. However, these beings are divine and heavenly (much like angels or fairies) so they defy gravity, because they're not fully of this world, and not entirely existing within the 3rd dimension. Their hair always flows upward, or even as tho' under water.

The tufts of hair are very typical of Chinese art (not sure which dynasties), especially on horses, but also on Dragons, Qilin, and other divine animal-like beings. Chinese "gods" ( "god" with a "little g" as there are many kinds of beings that can translate to English as "gods")  are benevolent, and these ones are specifically lucky, and life changing. The good fortune beings, sort of similar to Western fairy tales of the Fairy-Godmother whom grants wishes, or brings good fortune.

They are NOT the western equivalent of demons. The Eastern equivalent of "demons" can range from Yao Guai/Yao Gui, to Gui (ghosts) for even what are called "You" (sounds like "yo") which are basically the same thing. However, these beings are also not entirely evil, or can also be good. In the West you generally wouldn't think of demons or devils or sectors as good.

I have tufts of hair on the front legs, and the fetlocks. But, I'm deliberately keeping it super simplified, because I'm SO tempted to go more detailed, but that will screw up animation with too many details.

The tail is more Lion-like, but more like some artwork by Susan Dawe, yet simplified.

Fire:

One interesting thing about Qilin is they are often depicted with parts of their bodies on fire. I haven;t come up with a design for that yet, and for the moment I'm sticking to the hair tufts. Altho' that WOULD look, pretty good animated.


Teeth:

I haven't actually scanned any of the sketches I was making, but I was playing with the teeth. Qilin have Dragon heads, which means they have FANGS.

That MIGHT seem strange, but camels ALSO hang fangs. Also, oddly, not all camels have their eyes set on the side, but some have them set forward facing with binocular vision in their skulls.

GoFundMe Page

Please help me on my GoFundMe PAGE to help my dreams come true for Producing my Animated Short Film as a Gift To The World.

Examples of Older Qilin Character Design Artwork 002

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. 

Examples of Older Qilin Character Design Artwork 001

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:

Mighty Qilin by BlackUniGryphon on DeviantArt

Dujiao Qilin Spunky by BlackUniGryphon on DeviantArt

Simplified Qilin Front by BlackUniGryphon on DeviantArt

10 03 2007 _002 by BlackUniGryphon on DeviantArt

Eyewitness Qilin by BlackUniGryphon on DeviantArt

10 03 2007 _0013 by BlackUniGryphon on DeviantArt

Ruf Doodles 10 16 2007 001 by BlackUniGryphon on DeviantArt

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.

An Unfortunate Current Reality

I actually have a lot to say about this because I've run into this sort of thing myself, but many many young new artists.

An actual reality for a young artist, or and older life-long artist, YOU ARE NOT EVEN CONSIDERED an "ARTIST" anymore by the Establishment Bubble.

I do NOT believe in this kind of rigidity. I am HERE ON RECORD as denouncing and REJECTING this kind of mindset.

I denounce and reject the frozen, rigid thinking of the establishment.

Part of my INSPIRATION in doing my current & future work is defiance. I BELIEVE in art fundamentals, PRACTICING, studying anatomy, and DEVELOPING SKILLS.

I will be CONTINUING to give out my tutorial, exploratory, and process work FOR FREE to ALL PEOPLE OF THE WORLD in PROTEST against THOSE whom get paid to "teach" but DO NOT, and admonish those whom are ACTUAL artists that study traditional styles.

I actually DO view many forms of creativity as ART, including photography, video, and even many many forms of Modern Art. But, I PROTEST the dissuading of art basics and fundamentals by those with high price tagged paperwork THAT CAN'T even draw a human figure, and are TOO LAZY to bother trying. When those guys say that i'm NOT and artist, or that I am not good as an artist for doing what really inspired me, and what's ACTUALLY in my heart, THEN IT PROVES TO ME (and to you) That I AM CORRECT and they are WRONG, biased, and closed minded. They became the thing they once rejected.