Thief Film - Concept Art for Thief Character

I might not be able to make my animated character have these type of cut-out shadows but I do like how it looks. I think I'm pretty close to a final look for the thief that I'm satisfied with. He's not always going to be just happy anymore, he's somewhat resembling a vulture and his body will be completely seen now - no more gaps because of the stripes in his clothes. There are still unresolved issues but they'll heal with time. Now I need to start placing the design with different backgrounds and getting him to move to see which combination of character over background is readable but still pretty.

p.s. I like that this pose makes my thief take the form of a question mark, which was actually an accident. He is a bit of a mystery to me and I still don't know when he's going to settle down into a design! Hurry up Numair, get with it!

Thief Film - Background Stylistic Choices

Ok anyone checking these out is definitely going to have to click each one to see them properly. The black base color makes all the detail vanish so fast. Hmm.. I'm going to have to keep that in mind for the film too.

I'm trying to experiment with as many styles of brush strokes for the backgrounds before I decide on the final look for this thief film. In the process I'm able to test out possible techniques for the characters too. I'm not sure I can make any concrete decisions with these experiments alone just yet. Unfortunately it looks like I'm going to have to lay out all my options once I feel like I can't come up with any more/get tired and then mix and match with the options of the animated thief. I only know the feelings I'd like to provoke in the viewers so I'm going to have to use that to make my decision. Errr... I might need to hurry soon if I want to have something viewable in time for the Prom!!

These illustrations above are all made with vectors in Freehand. The textures are scans. I don't know if that would make it easier to animate with. That's to be thought of later on anyway. Right now I need to focus on a nice look.


And these two are the same as above but in day situations. Somehow I like how they look in day situation more than night. They're just so much more readable. I can't change that in the story though so I'll just have to be happy looking at them here in the meantime.

TV Show - brainstorming

I'm developing some ideas for a tv show to be sold in Pakistan.

Above is some development. Scanned in paper, illustrated in photochop.



And this above is having made some (deceptive) progress. i.e. none at all. I feel like I'm still undecided which design is best.

So I'm really confused which character looks better (see: more appropriate) than the others and I'm scared to ask for opinions ...because right now I have almost no real opinion of my own!!

I've also posted a little test animation with one of these characters to see how it might end up looking in (not so) glorious 'tv series' limited motion HERE (ON YOUTUBE).

Thief Film - Rich Magnate Design

Here's some development of the rich magnate the thief bumps into on his way out. I'm sorry about the ugly untextured 3d designs. On top are sketches of the final design. I haven't finished modelling the 3d character but I'd say he's pretty much 85% done except for the body and ears. Oops yeah I seem to have forgotten to add those but they're going to be tiny anyway.

I'll try to post some development sketches of this guy later. My scanner/computer isnt really loving me back these days.

Thief Film - Development

Some stylistic experimentation with the look for the backgrounds. I think this would look very jarring on the big screen unfortunately even though I do like the stark graphic design feel of it. It would be nice to use some of my past graphic design experience in my film.
This is a style I could use for the thief / animation itself. It's inspired from urdu/arabic calligraphy and would be nice to show the 'beauty' in his dance.

Btw, I'm trying to think of names for this film now and I've thought 'Possession Dance' might be somewhat explanatory. I'm using this line to explain what my film is about for the Spotlight Show at UCLA - "What's more important? Values or things? A thief and a magnate help figure it out. ". I'm finally doing a film that has meaning but still focuses more on the entertainment values! Hooray!

Thief - Fan Art

Megan made me this Fanart. I love it! And I really like the way she's connected the head with the arms. I think I might actually use that, Megan ...is that ok with you? :)

Bill Plympton at UCLA

Oh did I mention Bill Plympton had come to the lab to give us a talk and presentation with some of his films? :D I've uploaded a video on YouTube HERE. It's not so great but still watchable.

Thief Designs

I'm finding it hard to get the particular look for the thief so I thought I'd refer to my inspiration of the character - a vulture. That got me thinking maybe I could try other birds too.
Nope. Vulture suits it best. These are most of the designs I've gone through so far most just modifications of its predecessor. The hardest part is going to be the neck joining the rigid head to the overly flowing torso.
I like strokes for arms and legs. Details like fingers can appear only when he needs them. He's an efficient thief after all and he loves his job to the point where it's an art he enjoys.
I just thought that design modification in the bottom right corner was funny so I added this page in too. Right now I'm thinking; what is it that makes the UPA style so beautiful to me?
Yeah this might be pushing the vulture thing a bit too far. That neck thing really just won't work. He has to stay an 'inspiration' from the vulture design and not an 'imitation'. I don't really think it's that super important in the film as long as the audience feels a slight connection I'll be happy.

Inspirational Animators

Paul Driessen, an amazing Dutch animator gave us a presentation at UCLA today. In the afternoon we had a personal discussion session with him and our animation department and then in the evening the official screening was presented with his fascinating films.

Finals are around and I wasnt able to attend the whole presentation. So unfortunately I don't have footage to upload on YouTube. But I took some notes!

Firstly, I think he's such a humble guy! He's got so much experience and his films are so clear and powerful. His animation style is so unique and the amount of work and care he puts into his work is so obviously more than most mortal animators these days. Anyway, you can see I was inspired. He said unfortunately theres not much money to be made as short film animators. Friends and I talked to him afterwards to suggest some ideas that maybe would work with his high quality work and relationship with the rest of the industry. He took our suggestions in stride and said we might have some good ideas there. Damn, did I mention he's humble?

Quick notes since I'm taking a lot of space here... I like that he does'nt get influenced by other animators; he gets inspired. As animators we should find our own way of storytelling. When asked about style, he pointed that not only do you show your visual style in your films, you also have sensibilities which show in your time and pacing and come from your personal feelings. For his unique sound effects, he often uses stale boiled macaroni...! Now thats ingenious!

Here are some stills I took from the Glen Keane presentation on March 4th. In the top photo Glen is showing samples of art from his portfolio. The bottom photo was when he was demonstrating straight lines and curves and how they look great when youre able to balance them together. Check out the videos I uploaded to hear a bit more about that. One of them got linked on a whole bunch of awesome sites including CartoonBrew, Seward Street and CookedArt !!!

So anyway, some quick notes of what struck me most from what Glen Keane talked about in his presentation... "Don't be afraid to shock. Learn the principles of animation, and then put them at the back of your head when you actually go in to animate - live it... don't formulise it. Don't do 'animation' things - do 'real' things. Find the 'golden poses' in your animation and build the animation around that. Animate the forces in the animation. Art is not age or color (or any other prejudice)".

Thief Film - mansion sketches in vectors

Ok so getting back to my Thief film, here I've tried sketching the mansion in vectors to see if it could be an artistic approach I could take. I know it would be easier to draw whatever within the computer if I want to turn it into a 3 dimensional environment in Maya but somehow I'm just not satisfied with these at all. Its looking more like Fosters than UPA and no matter how good I am at managing vectors, I just really like that coarse feel of hand drawn of UPA. I dont want to be imitating it tho - I mean, its just for inspiration really. Or so I'd like to say. So anyway, I wish people would leave comments on what they think of this stuff and my direction. I know people are viewing this page but no comments! Animation so far is a lonely art *sob*. Hmm.. I might have to post on Devart again now. hehe.

p.s. I know these sketches are incomplete. (e.g. the upper windows are just rectangles right now). These were meant just to be sketches anyway. But if I ever polish them up I'll replace them here.

Storytelling in Photographs - Stalking

Stalking:






Here's a question for everyone... which photos do you think I can take out without harming the story?

p.s. Ofcourse damned auto-focus made the trees beauuutifully sharp in the second last shot. Sorry bout that. :p

Storytelling in Photographs - Lost

Lost:Chanya had some great facial expressions for my stories. Click on each picture to appreciate them better.

Just a little hectic...

I've got some really good work coming up soon... my schedule's just gotten even tighter than normal as of late but I'll upload as soon as I'm able. For the time being, here's a little something I made today.Lasting Impressions
(click to see larger)

Flower Film screen tests

Here are a few tests of what my 'Flower Love' (working title) film might look like. The flower isnt rigged yet so thats why it looks all rigid and stuff here. The story is of a flower professing his love for the sun. She is far away from him, but she's the reason he lives. Kind of like my own story. It ends badly.