Story project

The goal of this project was to make a 2d animation with a minimal of three scene changes that tells a story.

The first step in this project was to come up with the characters and setting which I thought was going to be easier then it ended up being. In the end I went with an Ent character, which is essentially a human tree, in no specific setting other then nature.

I then began to create a story which underwent lots of change. The initial story was a community of Ents that got wiped out by some natural disaster and one survived. That Ents goal was to find an acorn and replant the population and die in the end. However after watching my final animation you can see that was nowhere near the final story which was: an Ent wakes up and discovers he has an acorn, he then plants this acorn and waits for it to grow ultimately creating a new friend.

My first step in making these ideas come to life was making my main character and his environment. Hopefully as you can see I put a lot of detail into this Ent which took a long time. I created a front view and a side view of him along with different background scenes and my other growing tree.




From there I moved to after effects where I made each of the 10 scenes separately and then combined them together into the final project


Along the way I learned how to make a walk cycle using the puppet pin tools. Something else I learned was that (speaking for myself) to make a quality project class time is simply not enough.

What I would do different if I remade this project would only relate to time. As in I would spend more time making him sit down properly and things like that. Other wise I would mostly do everything else the same.


The main thing I can draw from this project is time management. I know how long it can take me to complete bigger projects so I need to plan out how I am going to spend my time on each.

This story animation could very well be my favorite project this whole year.

How to Make Sound Waves in Illustrator

Step 1

The first thing you need is a line, remember to hold shift to draw a straight line.

Step 2

With this line selected go to "Effects" then "Distort and Transform" then click "Zig zag".

Step 3

In the box that pops up select preview and to make sound waves you will also need to check the "smooth" option under "points".

Step 4

After you click "Ok" you will see that you have made a sound wave, however sound waves can get bigger or smaller so you will want to go to "Object"

"expand appearance".

Step 5

Finally, using the direct select too you can edit specific points and move them up or down to your liking.

Painting the Ocean

I wanted to make a landscape since that is what we had done before so I went with something similar, that being a sea scape I followed the tutorial given but instead I adjusted it for my picture. I used the mixer brush to  make the sky a smoother transition. I used it for the water as well when I added the brighter reflections in the water. finally I used it in the clouds when I added in minor highlights.

My Personal Logo

Step 1

The first step I went through was a Design brief where essentially I said that I was making a logo that was going to revolve around music and I wanted it to represent expensive or high quality things. I also wanted simplicity

Step 2

I researched how this had been done before and came across the idea for a sound wave so it gives the high quality feel without tying me down to one aspect. Lots of the logos were red or orange like the one to the left but I was going for more of a mellow feel.

I then came across the logo to the right and found that I like the light blue's calmer feel paired with the simplicity of this logo. I then googled the values associated with each color and found that teal Has an "expensive","trustworthy" and "creative" symbolism associated with it.

I also recreated the adidas logo following a tutorial, and was very happy with the way that I turned out.

Step 3

I worked with a lot of different ideas before I finally narrowed it down to sound waves. my big revelation was when I found that my "H" fits into my "M" which I then combined with the sound wave Idea I had 

Step 4

I began by trying to make my logo with the pen tool but soon saw that that wouldn't work

Online I found a tool that could make sound waves from a line and I used that and expanded it and edited the line to create a growing and decaying sound wave with a "M" in the middle. From there I copied the line and flipped it over the x axis then created the "H" from the negative space.

However the "H" wasn't prevalent enough so I put it on a black background and made the "H" white and tested it with my word mark

I wasn't a big fan of the word mark so I got rid of it and put my logo in a circle to define the edges

Because I had been getting peer review along the way from people around me, when we did peer review as a class there weren't many suggestions. Alas, my logo is complete

Floating Mountain

I feel like this project mostly revolved around selecting. Through it we learned new ways to select objects. An example being the quick select tool where you can paint on the selection and it also can detect edges and fit the selection better. This project also revolved around layer masks where as you can see at the bottom of the picture the cloud is in front of the mountain which in this case adds more of a 3d look to it. The main things I added were the sun rays in the sky and the "Mason butterflies". If I were to redo the assignment I would probably stick more to the main goal and have a little less going on.

Drop Shadow

In this project we worked with making shadows. Shadows can add a lot to a picture because it is one of those things that you notice the pictures is missing but you "can't put your finger on it". I think that this technique was very simple and the shadows were very realistic. I could have picked a better object because the bullet bill is angled upward and the tutorial was focused on something that is flat on the ground. If I would have done it without the tutorial I would not have thought to use the gradient to make it fade off and I would have most likely made it a hard edge. Through this tutorial I also have learned a new tool that I can see myself using plenty in the future, that would be the pixel lock tool which allows you to lock pixels so that it is restrained to that area.

Professional Article Review

The article has 4 major parts to it it starts with what is 2d animation, then it lists the different tools that animators use. The next part it goes over is the 12 laws of animation; squash and stretch, anticipation, staging, etc. then finally it finishes off with the process. The main things that the author argues is that 2d animation and 3d animation are different in the idea that 3d animation utilizes more "fancy digital models" and "virtual spaces". The other thing that the author argues is that 2d animation is generally always done the same other then a few slightly different techniques. the author supports both of these claims with lists of the tools and processes. The article's weakness is that it doesn't necessarily take a side on anything but instead is a neutral paper. Its strength would be that it is very thorough in its lists. The author's conclusion is that 2d animation is the same whether it is done at home or a professional studio. My critique on this article would be that the main points, as far as an argument perspective go, were not very significant. I find that the evidence is convincing and as an animator I can improve my animations by going through the same processes that professional animators use. I understand the article very well. I really liked this article even if I had to dig for a claim because I feel as though this can help me in making better animations.