Visual Cues in Animation

I was looking at a scene from Wallace and Gromit: The Wrong Trousers, where Feathers McGraw is controlling Wallace as he goes through a museum. During the animated film, I thought; why did the penguin move around like a normal person and why no one else seem to notice? There was an exhibit featuring tribal penguins.This could suggest that in this universe, penguins developed in a similar way to humans. I found this to be an effective example of a visual cue that conveyed an idea. The foreground was blurred so that the focus was still on Wallace.

Wallace in Museum Vido Clip

Week 14 Development

Monday 

 Today, I updated my poster to share more similarities with my comic's front cover.

Old Poster

On the 5th of April, I uploaded copy of the image on to my Facebook profile to receive some feedback. Some of my peers suggested that I added darker colours to provide the illustration with a Lovecraftian vibe and others suggested that I should change the sky to reflect the oceans. Here is what I created in response to this feedback.

Improved Poster

Poster with ominous night sky

In this iteration, I have added a ominous sky with the gibbous moon. I used blues and cools colours to become harmonious ad allowing the protagonists' boat which features warm colours to stand out.

Business Card Design Front

Business Card Design Back

This card design was to be more affiliated with my project. However I really liked the paper texture which connected with the card materiel. However I feel the illustration on the back would be something else which represented the strengths of illustration.

12/4/16 Brian Meeting

On Tuesday, I requested a meeting with Brian to look over my dissertation. He liked my poster but he suggested that I make the hand a bit more threatening or to leave it as it is to suggest some form a ambiguity and mystery. He also suggested that I include a rim lighting around the figure in the boat to make him stand out more.

Modified Poster

Here is the version with the applied rim lighting. I also included elongated tips onto the creatures fingers to add creepiness. I could also apply the rim lighting to the water as well.

Wednesday

Today was used to rearrange my dissertation to fit Brian's suggestions.I decided to merge the findings and the discussion together to allow me to convey how I applying my findings to my final work. Following today's review of my current dissertation draft and the following have been omitted as they don't seem relevant to an extent.

In the reedited Blue Ray release of the Star Wars Trilogy (2012), one scene in the climax of Return of the Jedi portrays Darth Vader making his decision to turn against his evil master. There was an inclusion of dialogue which may have been used to reflect his thoughts but the delivery made the moment less effective. The original was more effective as it showed him showed him deciding in silence as the music built up to a tense moment emphasising his dilemma (HelloGreedo 2015).

Thursday
I worked on the line work of some of my pages such as page 15 and page 4. My meeting with Brian went well. He was happy with my changes but he suggested that I make further edit to allow me to talk more about my project and how I applied the theory and conventions . At first I was uncertain about the idea but he helped assure me that it would help clean things up as well as reduce the word count. 

Friday
Today, I sent away my dissertation to be checked by a member of student support. After I met up with Sasha, one of the student support staff, He told me that my dissertation was really good despite a few issues with grammar and spelling.

Saturday
After the chosen camera angle was determined, the image was rendered and then placed into Photoshop to be drawn over. Another approach in Maya featured line edges. When producing the environments, screenshots of low poly 3D models created in Maya were implemented to suggest a three dimensional space. However these were drawn over to enhance the traditional look. To accelerate the production process, sketches and final works were produced through digital software such as Adobe Photoshop. Words are also represented as sounds effects and can inhabit a panel’s suggested three dimensional space. In figure 13, the sound effect is placed in the middle ground, suggesting that the panel has its own environment and space which is beyond the border window (Johnson 2006) yet this form of text can also be obstructed by it (Kluthe 2011).

The findings and discussion were altered to fit Brian suggestions. I went through the dissertation and removed unnecessary elements

References
Werner, R. 2014. The Quest Page 6. [image] Available at: http://www.richwerner.com/#/comics/ [Accessed 8 Apr. 2016].

HelloGreedo, 2015. Star Wars Changes - Part 7 of 7 - Blu Ray Changes. [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ot886gTECig [Accessed 7 Mar. 2016].

Week 13 Summary

Monday - I used today to make some alterations to my project. I wanted to fix some inconsistencies with the frames. I spent a majority of today working on my dissertation, taking out irrelevant information.

Page 2

Page 7

Page 10

Modified Front Cover

I also took the time to work on modifying the front cover by applying highlights on the hand as well as adding sun rays to generate implied lines which direct the reader's eye up to the boat.

I received some feedback about my poster and front cover for my comic. My relatives and peers suggested that: 

• The hand on the front cover replaced the hand on the poster. 
• The poster featured a Lovecraftian vibe through the use of darker colours.

Tuesday ,Wednesday and Thursday involved me overlooking my dissertation and having it proof read by peers. This was a long process. 

Friday - I am still unhappy with the layout I have established for my case studies. I am finding it difficult to summarise these comics as they continue to vary in every page. I do not understand how to analyse an entire comic, .I would have spoken to my supervisor about this but he was unavailable.

However I do have a series of case studies which analyse my understanding of colour, backgrounds, body language and word and picture combinations.

Sound Effects in Comics

I have had some thoughts about including sound in the comic, especially in the scene where the monster merges. Some of my thoughts were to apply the text in a form where it looks it it is part of the environment in a similar to this panel from the Flash and of Will Esiner's work.

The Flash #1 features a title where the inside of the text features panels of the Flash fighting.The layout of the panels are placed in a circular composition all looking like slices. The gutters all direct towards the Flash in the centre which helps with the overall composition. The colours of the panels behind the Flash are coloured blue which helps make it look further way whereas the panels in the form of the Flash feature warm colours benefiting the depth and perspective of the picture.

I also discovered a blog by Zainab Akhtar that discusses the ways that sound effects are implemented into the comic illustration. He talks about an artist called Frankie Quietly who has deployed sound effects in the illustrations. Akhtar (2015) states that integrated SFX in comics often harmonies with its environment and its context whereas traditional SFX that stands out has more visual impact when elements such as shapes, colour and composition are considered. He also discusses about James Stokoe ,the artist who illustrated Godzilla:The Half-Century War (2013). Within the comic there, minimum sound effects. In one page where Godzilla roars, the sound effect is represented by a distorted, sharp and large illustration with a warm colour scheme. The mixture of these elements help provide an insight of how it would be heard if audible. It also connects with the idea of how the original Gozilla roar was produced through the use of a violin and a rubber glove (Rolfe 2008).

Here is a test I did where I took page 14 and applied sound effects to it.

Page 14

The text produced a curved which helps lead onto the protagonist and it also adds to the impact the splashing water. The chosen text font was "Super Weird". I think it would look better if the text was white like the foam of the waves, making it appear more integrated in the image. 

References

• Rolfe, J. 2008. Godzillathon #1 Godzilla (1954). [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Avc4AS3AvcA [Accessed 1 Apr. 2016].
• Stokoe, J. 2013. Godzilla:The Half- Century War. San Diego, Calif.: IDW.
• Akhtar, Z. 2015. Snapshot thoughts on comics sfx: Quitely does it. [Blog] Comics and Cola. Available at: http://www.comicsandcola.com/2015/06/snapshot-thoughts-on-comics-sfx-quitely.html [Accessed 1 Apr. 2016].
• Manapul, F. 2011 Flash #1. [image] Available at: http://comicsalliance.com/files/2011/09/flash01.jpg [Accessed 1 Apr. 2016].
• Manapul, F. 2011. Flash #1. [image] Available at: http://comicsalliance.com/files/2011/09/flash04.jpg [Accessed 1 Apr. 2016].

Comic Opportunity

DC are putting together a comic artist workshop. Those who can take part must seen a cover letter, a series of images as part of its selection criteria, a letter of recommendation and a CV. The applications are open at the beginning of April.

Case Study: Far Side Gallery 2

Case Study 2: The Far Side Gallery 2

Garry Larson’s the Far Side Gallery (1989) is a series of single panel short comics which focuses on surreal humour.

Characters
The subject differ depending on the joke and scenario of the panel. Some of these include animals, tribal, scientists, situation comedies, cavemen and so forth (Wicklin 2011). The captions can represent the character’s dialogue or it can provide context to the illustration. Sometimes these are necessary to convey the jokes whereas other times, they are not needed. This study will analyse a few of these comic strips which use visuals to tell or reinforce their conveyed jokes. Sometimes they are used to reflect a figure of speech or derivatives of such a case.

Colour
Overall the main colours are grayscale but there are occasions where many of the panels have been repainted with traditional materials. The choice for no colour appears to be a cost efficiency purpose. The colouring style varies as it includes tones and this is applied in various ways for characters and backgrounds. There is always a sense of location in these panels and the tone reflect that. Various tone help suggest the presence of colours

Figure 1. (Larson 1989 P. 46)

Figure 1 features a cowboy is holding up a large branding iron. The lettering on the iron is flipped but it spells “This cow belongs to Jones so hands off.”

Most branding irons are small but the exaggerated iron is used to an unnecessarily large branding label is comical. It is enhanced with the cowboy’s grin. The five cows in the background look wide eyed in fear. From this context we can come to the conclusion that to the cows, the pain will be extremely severe. This is an example where the text and lettering which does reinforce an idea that is being conveyed and is part of the illustration. Anticipation although the panels are restricted sometimes through closure we can jump to a conclusion of what will happen. There is a present of curved liens to suggest that he iron is emitting steam. The cowboys eyes help direct us to the branding iron’s message.

Figure 2. (Larson 1989 p. 57)

Figure 2’s context of this panel is the siege of try with the iconic wooden horse which houses the Athenian army. An outhouse labelled “men” is placed just outside the horse. And we see the army pour out of the horse and into the outhouse with wide eyes, suggesting based on the visuals, that they are desperately needing the toilet. It could be suggested that they are about to make their attack but they need to use the rest room before doing so. A darkened overlay is used to indicate that it is night time. 

Figure 3. (Larson 1989 P. 56)

Figure 3 features a man at a podium labelled “Bob’s Gallery” with a series of paintings in the corner of a room. There are several props placed to reinforce that this is a gallery such as a barrier. Our first focus is on the centre of the picture which features a tilted landscape painting. All the paintings are tilted and one of the thing that comes to mind is why they are like that. The answer is visually clear as the man at the podium has his head tilted as well. Therefore form his perspective he sees the paintings as straight. The perspective of the room also helps draw the reader’s attention to the centre focal point of the panel.

Figure 4. (Larson 1989 p. 75)

Figure 4 depicts panel a cow and man are on a life raft out at sea. Both have thought bubbles of what they perceive each other as the food. The man perceives the cows as a steak and the cow perceives him as someone covered in grass. The thought bubbles help provide insight into their thoughts base on the situation. The humour comes for the fact that a cow is a food source but there is also the unexpected element where the man could be considered as well. We are given the impression that they are out a sea based on the curve lines that suggested waves and the white highlights to indicate white horses. The man also has a bear which can suggest the duration of the two of them being in the lifeboat.

Figure 5. (Larson 1989 p. 75)

A couple of anthropomorphic dogs are in a double bed. One is sleeping whereas the other is wide awake reading a book entitled “the mail man carried mace”. Based on the context of how dogs hate people who approach their homes, is funny to see that the postman carrying mace is see as a fear for dogs. The white light helps act as a focal point and directs to what the dog is reading.

Facial Expressions
The character of Larson’s Far Side palette of emotions is no expressive. However they do show wide eyes with pupils despite a majority of his characters wear glasses. Some of his illustrations exclude facial features such as mouths and eyes. The presence of a mouth on a charter which is open can helped determine who is speaking in the panel.

Word and picture Combinations
These panels feature various forms of verbal and non-verbal narratives between comics. In some scenarios, there are a mixture of pictorial text and speech bubbles whereas other times captions underneath the panels consist of a signal sentence or a segment of dialogue which provides additional clarity to the picture depicted in the comic.

Background
The style of backgrounds vary between the panel’s contexts. White areas determines the light source including the time of day. Therefore ab lack background with white dots represents the starry sky. According to Punofthday.com, Larson was fascinated by biology and there has been some throwbacks to this such as the reference to science in some jokes and even the study of insects.

Conclusion
The Far Side Gallery 2 has a grand mixture of narration. Larson’s art style is simplistic, providing enough clarity to communicate the jokes conveyed through the visuals. However in order to understand the humour, the reader may need to commence external research.
Stephen King’s forewords mentions how “You can’t tell a cartoon” (Larson 1992 p.5), which helps highlight the importance of visual storytelling, especially in the genre of comedy.

Reference
Punoftheday.com. 1996. Gary Larson - Biography - Pun of the Day. [online] Available at: http://www.punoftheday.com/gary-larson.html [Accessed 29 Mar. 2016].

Larson, G. 1989. The Far Side Gallery 2. 7th ed. London: Warner Books.

Wicklin, R. 2011. An analysis of subjects in The Far Side cartoons. [online] The DO Loop. Available at: http://blogs.sas.com/content/iml/2011/03/18/an-analysis-of-subjects-in-the-far-side-cartoons.html [Accessed 29 Mar. 2016].

Week 12: Summary

With the Easter Holidays, I have taken the opportunity to revisit my dissertation and clean up certain areas to it.

Monday - I spent the entire day, overlooking my pages. I added n a German rowing boat with multiple soldiers on board. I looked at some 1914 boarding parties to get some inspiration of how the boat could be designed. I decided to keep it simple and in the distance. I also took some time and looked over. I use the remainder of  the day to look over my Dissertation and correct it.

Modified Page 2

In addition to putting together a PDF. I was successful in implementing page 6 into the pdf with no abnormalities in its presentation.

Tuesday - The aim for Tuesday was to go through my blog posts. Instead I focused on sending away a copy of one of my case studies to be checked over. I am starting to think that I may run out of time to write a case study about Creepy which is a foreign comic which was going to be analysed to see how to can tell a story when  the dialogue is not being told in the English language. I finished up a case study about Gary Larsons's the Far Side and looked into how he conveyed jokes through visuals. Although his single panels were minimal, they provided really good humour.

Wednesday - I started sketching out a new page to replace to Page 20's layout. This one features a panel where the protagonist opens his eyes and we see an image of the fish creature silhouette in his eye. I also included a large panel of him surrounded by three of the Dagon creatures with his hands on his head with a high camera angle to signify his vulnerability and weakened state.
I used blues and purple because the creature, Father Dagon is affiliated with coldness, the ocean and mystery.  used the shadow colour scheme of purple and yellow to provide consistency.
I chose to apply different panels shapes in this page. The last panel's gestalt form is to suggest that he is descend into a state of madness with the panel's bottom edges meeting at one point.The panel's pattern was intended to slightly resemble the head of Father Dagon or suggest some demonic connotations.

Thursday - This morning I was informed by Brian that the meeting will not be on today. However I decided to come into Dundee to discuss one of my case studies with my NAS Adviser who has been helpful in  checking over my Dissertation's grammar. In addition, I have been inside my home in Kirkcaldy or the last few days so I am quite happy to go into Dundee. I spoke to my adviser and she was kind to give me a copy of my case study I sent where with some corrections needed.

Friday - I took the time to work on improving the Monolith design.
I took my improved design ad applied it to the model sheet.

Before 

After

I found it easier for me to make changes to it by creating and clearing grid lines. I also took some time to work on setting up my portfolio. I hope to publish it and seek feedback from my peers.

Saturday - I took some time off to rest and play games. For an hour, I modified my poster and dissertation.