Sun Symphony was selected to showcase at the annual RMIT University MAGI Expo 2024, which took place on 14-15th of November. With this year’s expo called Banquet of Oddities, my animation was the first selection in the Abstract reel. To have had my animation selected to be shown in a theatre and to a crowd of professionals, industry artists, and students, is a huge privilege.
I Made a 2D-Animated Short Film All By Myself
From preproduction to the sound design, I made an original 2D short animation all by myself. It’s truly a feat that I am incredibly proud of and feel grateful to have put myself through the challenge of creating what is, in my eyes, a masterpiece.
The concept was originally conceptualised in one of my units, Animated Narratives. After giving it some thought, I wanted to produce at least one full-length short 2D animation in my time in my animation program. I had a few other stories lined up but felt this premise was more in line with my interest and the story more relevant to my current state of mind and being.
Sun Symphony is a short 2D animation about a distant future where the sun is dying and its power has become a commodity and can only viewed in cinema-like venues. We follow a man as he nervously waits his turn to experience what may be his last encounter with the sun and the memories they bring. The aim is to evoke a universal experience viewers can empathize with—a simple moment of feeling the summer sun's warmth amidst impending grim reality, capturing the essence of the calm before the storm.
I Wrote and Published an Art Book
Well, I did something that even surprised myself. I wrote a book.
Okay, it’s technically an art book that covers the initial stages of my preproduction phase of my current 2D-animated augmented reality experience called Lens (AR): The Future. The name isn’t the most creative but I’m pretty proud of what I’ve been able to create. The book printing aspect was completely optional but seeing it in person existing as a physical copy even with its own ISBN is something pretty special.
I could literally write a novel and be able to publish it.
You can preview and purchase the book on Blurb by clicking on the ‘Source’ link below.
May with film - logo-dentity
May with Film - Logo-dentity
I’ve finally created my brand-spanking new logo for my website. Not only is it a logo, but it’s an animated one, too! While not perfect, it’s another step in the unveiling of my vision board. I wanted to put a lot of myself into the logo. I thought about revolving around the image of a camera. And that’s what I did for a long time. As I’ve given myself more time to explore, focus, observe, and dabble into what I see through the camera lens, the end-product is, really, my perspective of what and how I see things. It’s a unique view because it’s my own - and I’d like to think I'm a unique creature of this world.
How did I create my logo design? You know it. I went back to basics and put pencil to paper. While digital illustration’s opened up some many exciting new artistic ways to design, I can't but help that that genuine feel of pencil scratching on white drawing paper is a feeling that cannot be authentically and truly replicated. Technology can come close and our minds can tell us to think it is as good as the real thing. But it’s still not the same. Or at least I’m being a bit too old-school. Afterwards, I transferred the physical sketch to Procreate, the drawing application I use on an iPad Air (4th generation) with an Apple Pencil 2 (and a really cute pastel pink silicon case to protect the pencils super clean and dirt-magnetic exterior). I traced the sketch onto a screen-sized canvas. Once that was all done and I had my completed sketch converted digitally, I transformed my art with colour and animation.
During this part of the drawing process, I felt like I created over fifty layers for this small part of sketch for me to realise I wouldn't be able to get it to animate or move seamlessly enough. I think i went through this thought process at least twenty times. I know what I'll need to improve on next time - efficiency. The animation was particularly tricky to get the hang of because each part that you wanted to move had to be drawn in its own layer. Once that was done, I had to go through trial-and-error and see if it actually looked good translating to animation. The animation segment was straightforward as long as you got the layers right. This was the really fun part because it gave me the chance to really know what it’s like to draw simplified 2D animation. After a few settings were tweaked and, several adjustments and replays and more adjustments, I finally had a finished product. A really cool thing about the Procreate application. I use is that it automatically creates a time-lapse video of your progress, which allows you to watch your progress in the entire process. You can even save a copy for your unashamed replays. I’m really glad that I've the tools I need to be able to create and explore art through a device that's accessible and portable. Check it out in my brand-spanking new YouTube channel below: