Degree Project: Animation (5)

Colouring

In the process of colouring the whole animation, I spent around 1 week, more than 14 hours per day to complete. In this process, not only colouring the frames, I also drew and redrew a lot of backgrounds. This process was very repeatedly. There are different ways for me to create the lights and shadows: 1. colouring frame by frame, 2. create a clipping mask on a track above the coloured one and create the shadow, however the shadow will not move. I used both of the methods, the first one gives a better feeling of hand-drawing but might look flickering, the second one is faster and easier, but does not look detailed. For most of the scene in the first half I drew frame by frame, but for the last half, I used the second method, I did not know that I can do this while colouring the first half, but then I found out that different tracks can be masked and turn into a different colour mode.

Audio

For the sound of the animation, I was not sure what should I do. I looked up on Artlist and thought I should use the sound from it, so I subscribed for one month which costed me around 15 pounds. However, after subscribing it, I came up with the idea of recording the sound on my own.

I used my phone to record all the sound I used in the animation. I had a lot of fun recording sounds, I went to and standing at the campus in the morning and captured some birds sounds, I also used a lot of things in my dorm room such as tissues, a empty cup of ice cream that I ate, my bed, clothes and my own walking, blowing, tapping sounds.

I seperated 2 tracks for the sounds, the first track is for the ambient sound that I recorded from the outside. I thought this is better for continuous sound as if I placed a sound of tapping in the middle of the ambient sound, the sound would feel different. Therefore, for the second track, I placed the sound of different sounds such as walking, stirring, wind blowing, door sliding and the bed sound. I then lowered these sound so that the ambient sound from the first track will cover that noise of those sounds. I also lowered the sound in the first track according to different scenes, for example, when the balcony's door opens, the ambient sound gets a bit louder.

Outcome/Thoughts

The time of the animation is around 3 minutes and 20 seconds. I have spent at least 400 hours on this animation project from all the drafting to colouring and audio editing. I spent around £400 for an iPad before semester A starts. I also spent around £25 for the apps Procreate and Procreate Dreams. And I spent £15 for Artlist subscription.

Overall, the outcome of the animation is good considering the limited of time, I think it has a lot to improve or refine, more animation of movements can be better. It was my first time using Procreate and Procreate Dreams which was a new app only published in November/December 2023, and drawing on an iPad. Also, my first time making an animation that is longer than 10 seconds.

I think the story is a bit boring with the way I presented in the animation, I regret changing my original idea after the conversation with my tutor, I believe I would make it more interesting with another story, but overall, I enjoyed the process and learned a lot of animating skills and drawing skills, I hope I will make some more interesting animations in the future.