Updated animatic

Well, semester has started again, so I guess it's time for another update on going ons. I haven't really been updating my animatic since I started animating, since I am doing it on paper, and have barely any time anyway, so I thought I'd do it when I start scanning stuff in. But according to Susan I should be constantly updating it, in order to see how the shots fit together. Which I totally get, but I didn't think I'd have time, considering Aftereffects, timing, rendering... well she said she would show me a quick way, so we'll see. I mass updated it this week anyway, just to see my progress:

It's depressing.

I tell myself that I haven't yet put in the slapping bits near the end I animated but couldn't be bothered timing, and a section in the middle that I did in Flash, but that's still nowhere near halfway.

Good news though, is I have a couple of helpers for colouring the animation. The need for newer versions of Photoshop made it difficult for some, but I am lucky, I have some very nice friends. :) I might also be enlisting external help for backgrounds as well. I have completed a few already, but not enough. My friend Michelle is super talented, and I have asked her if she could do a couple of the bigger backgrounds I haven't the time for. She is yet to confirm though. She has a blog here: http://meshellfish.tumblr.com/

Some of my backgrounds:

I have changed the style of the backgrounds to a smoother look.
This was faster for me, using gradients for lighting instead of hand painting it.

Much neater style, compared to my previous look for this.

Which reminds me, I have to source some playing card designs. No way am I designing 52 cards... but the court cards I might have to do, to have them look similar to my Jacque/Death design. Gah.

On the sound front, Nick is currently inputting his ideas into Musescore. His new piece... I don't quite feel it fits either, but the midi in Musescore isn't that good... or maybe nothing will ever please me. Either way, it would be unfair of me to ask for another, so we are just going to work this piece vigorously. I am disappointed that Adobe Audition doesn't have midi support though, since I have it at home and it would thus be more convenient than Pro Tools. Quite a let down really.

In other news, I am ineligible to showcase my animation in the COFA Annual, as I am not a final year student. It makes sense now that I think about it, and I don't mind really, since that means I have time to develop something that is actually any good for next year. It's all part of the learning journey.