Week 3 Homework - Colours

For this task I have chosen the stop-motion film Coraline by Laika because I really liked the colours in it and how important they were to the story. Throughout the film the two worlds, the real world and the other world, are clearly distinguishable just by the colours as the real world is very desaturated, dull and devoid of colour (except for Coraline who in contrast has bright blue hair and is wearing either red or yellow) and the other world is very colourful, sometimes maybe even too colourful. 

In the beginning of the film we see Coraline in her bright yellow raincoat against a very dark and monochromatic background. This not only sets the mood but also directs the attention towards her, making it clear she is the main character. When she is not wearing the raincoat she still has blue hair and usually red clothes or at least a bag so no matter the setting she always stands out in her bleak surroundings. 

In this scene from the other world we see a nice analogous palette of blues and (yellowish) greens. The whole scene is dark with the only light being pointed at the door through which Coraline will enter. Once she appears her clothes immediately make her stand out but without her even the other world is monochromatic.

The triadic colour palette of red, blue and yellow is used in many scenes, especially from the other world, the colours usually very saturated. I like this particular scene because of how harmonious the colours look here, it's all very dream like and even though Coraline is very small we still easily see her as the colours progress from dark to light, directing our attention to where it needs to be. 

The green colouring in this scene makes it look very dramatic. Even though it is a monochromatic palette, it doesn't look calming or harmonious because of the brightness and saturation of the colours. It's also quite dark so even though green usually looks hopeful and cheerful here it creates a feeling of danger, a feeling of something bad about to happen.

Week 3 - collage

This week we did collages. My collage has kind of minimalist look to it which is unusual for me. It's actually a joke about one town in Slovakia - Vrutky. I found a train ticket to Vrutky and knew immediately I wanted to do something with that. It's hard to explain to someone who's never experienced Vrutky, but it's a very weird place. The popular theory is that nothing besides the train station is actually real and sometimes trains that are supposed to arrive just don't. And no matter how late your train is, if you're changing trains in Vrutky there's no way you won't catch the train. Like I said, to understand Vrutky you have to experience Vrutky. 

For our second task we had to create a character. This is not exactly what I had in mind, but it was fun anyway. I wanted her to have a long flower dress, but I couldn't find enough suitable flowers. She's a giant man-eating flower queen. Even though I don't usually do collages I had a lot of fun with them.

Week 3 - Life drawing -proportions

As much as I try to focus on proportions in my drawings I know I rarely get them right. I also know proportions are very important and hopefully with practice I'll get better. I'm not used to planning and measuring my drawings and I should probably work on changing that. I think I can see improvement already but there is still long way to go. 

30min, pencil

The time ran out just when I started fixing one of her legs. I've noticed that legs are the most disproportionate part in my drawings in general.

 30min, pencil

 30min, pencil

I think her head is a bit too small in this one. I've spent a lot of time fixing her legs, but I don't think I've been very successful. 

 30min, pencil

This was a tricky one. I couldn't get her arms right and her leg looks a bit off too. 

60min, pencil

Week 2 Homework - Balloon

To practice timing a bit more we had to animate a balloon. I've decided to animate the long one instead of the typical one because I like the way it flies better. I've recorded a couple of videos of the balloon and then chose the parts that looked the best to use as a reference for the animation.
In one of the videos the balloon flew by real close to the camera and I've tried to recreate that in my animation. 

The balloon flew really fast so it was hard to tell where it was slower and where faster, but I've decided to make it slower in the loops and faster between them. One thing that definitely could've been slower is the part where the deflated balloon is falling to the ground.
The balloon didn't change its shape too much while deflating but I think it's still interesting because of how it stretches and bends. 

Week 2 Homework - negative space

I really didn't know what to pick for this homework and I felt like none of the things I own would be suitable but then I ended up picking these 4. 

For my first object I chose scissors. Not very original, but it was a start. 

For my second object I wanted something slightly more challenging so I chose my cord extender and laptop lead. And challenging it was! It turned out to be way more complicated than I'd expected and I felt like giving up about halfway through as it was a complete mess. I'm not entirely satisfied with how it turned out, but I've done my best. 

My third object were my pliers. This is my favourite drawing from this task. I know it's not perfect, but I like it. 

For the last one I wanted something simpler so I drew some safety pins.