Recent Embroidery

Below are several images of some recent embroidery I've been doing in between rotoscope projects. I find it good to exercise my creativity in a variety of ways as I feel it provides me with space for my ideas to develop and breathe in my main practise (animation/ moving image). It's nice to do something creative which isn't solely computer based, too!

These are all my own designs, however I didn't design the typefaces on the one with the letters, though I would have loved to have been the person who designed Helvetica <3 The one with letters was more of a sample piece to practise different styles and stitches. Many of those used on that piece were ones I've never tried before.

Also, pictures ain't the best quality (just using my phone, soz).

Collage #1

Moving on from the skate clips (or at least for now) I’ve been working on a couple of collage style pieces. This post is about the first one, the second to follow next week- I’m sure the suspense is killing you!

I’ve had several old maps lying around in my room for a while, which I bought some years ago from charity shops with intent on using them as backgrounds for some art pieces I was doing at the time. I only ended up using small parts of them and have been waiting for an idea to use the remainder of them ever since. Which brings us to this.

I decided to get out the good old PVA glue (oh hey GCSE art) and make up some collages from small torn up pieces of map. I made ten of these, which would then become the background to the animation:

With the background being maps, I wanted the rotoscope foreground to relate to travel, or at in least in a loose sense. Either way, the piece of footage I chose to animate, juxtaposed with the maps, would then (hopefully) give the feeling of travel/ adventuring. Basically all of the cool stuff we can’t do right now. I chose this clip of a guy walking around in a forest. Because nothing screams travel more than that, right?!

I did several style frames for this one, as I wanted to find a look which really complimented the map background. So I was looking for something which was fairly rough around the edges, which could actually be drawn on a map in real life and of which would suit the rough aesthetics of the torn map pieces. It also needed to show up against the quite busy background, so was looking for a style which was bold.

I ended up using the ‘pen brush’ with a quite high thickness, but also with pressure for how hard I pressed down with my pen as I wanted the lines to have some nice differentiation. I think if all the lines were the same thickness, it might look weird and unnatural. 

The style is overall quite different to my usual fairly neat look I go with, but it was super refreshing to animate something that I could be loose with and not care over the minute details. I feel there is a place for both in animation and for my personal progression, I am a strong believer in diversifying what you do or I feel you don’t move forward as much or as fast as you have the potential to. I’m aware that I bang on about this quite a lot in this blog so I’ll read this is my queue to stop talking writing.

Here’s the finished piece:

Skate Again

In my previous post I said I may or I may not do more skate related animations and in this post I’m saying that the ‘may’ turned into a ‘yay’ and here I am talking through another skate clip. Though with a bit of a twist, as the character in this video isn’t actually skating (gasp) he’s just walking with a skateboard, but I thought that might be a little more interesting than someone just plainly walking. Am I right?! I think so…

Desperate to continue evolving my designs, I wanted to break away from the usual colour and outline I so often do and try something a little different. I did want to use both colour and outline, but not in the usual sense. I wanted sections of colour and sections of outline (how many times have I just said colour and outline), but did not want them to be joined, in an attempt to break down the traditional form of a picture.

I originally sketched out some style frames but for a different clip which went wrong (long story, but I do hope to do something with the clip at some stage as I think it has lots of potential, so watch out for that). You can view those below:

As you can see, I have broken down the image and taken some colours to focus on and others to leave out. Despite choosing a different clip in the end (lots of it was down to the first clip not having much action for the character- he was just sat there and not moving about much so was uninteresting to animate- I mean, I’m not sure what I exactly expected from a clip of someone sat on a train but anyway) I still kept the concept the same and tried to do what I could with the new piece. Unfortunately, unlike the train video, the second clip had less imagery in the background to deconstruct, so it turned out a little less exciting visually than the original style frames.

One of the major pros of working in this manner was the fact that only having to do outlines on the character cut down the time immensely! I ended up focussing on the skateboard as the ‘stand out’ colour in this clip, as I did not want to be drawing lots of nature stuff in the background as I wanted the clip to look quite graphic-y with clean lines.

Instead of colouring the skateboard though, I drew a filled box around it for each frame and coloured this red. At this stage, I quite liked the appearance, but didn’t think it was especially exciting or outstanding, so messed with it some more. I decided to colour the outlines which were within the box white (as opposed to black which the rest of the outlines are in), so there was some contrast and also further emphasis on the boxed area. I like this effect and pleased that I went with it in the end.

For the background, I wanted something textured as the rest of it is very smooth (I really like playing with texture), so I used some cine film to make a contrasting backing. I use analogue techniques a lot in work and love how it looks when juxtaposed with something digital.

Overall I really like how it looks, but I still feel the deconstruction idea can be pushed a lot further. Perhaps this might be easier on a clip with a more interesting original background or maybe push myself to be a little less tentative in my approach. Perhaps a mixture of the two… As always, check back on here to see more of my work or see me on IG/ Twitter for slightly more regular updates.

The finished clip is below:

Skate

As the title of this post suggests this one has nothing to do with light or shadows and is something completely different altogether. Why? Because I just wanted to have a bit of fun! This isn’t to say the other ones were not (they were), but they were all quite structured with an end goal/ aim and I really wanted a project where I could loosen up again.

I’ve done several skate clips since I began rotoscoping way back when and because it’s a subject I have an affinity towards, every now and then I like to revisit it. I also used to skate. I tend to experiment heavier on the skate clips than anything else for some reason, so it’s always good to go back to them and see how to progress further. Perhaps because they’re often short, snappy clips which don’t take that long to create, it encourages me to do something I usually wouldn’t do as it doesn’t matter if I ‘mess up’ or do a style I’m not happy with. This clip (for a couple of seconds animation) only took 2.5 hours which is like crazy short in animation terms!

As I often do, I rough out several style frames to get my ideas going. Usually more ideas develop from just putting pen to tablet, so even if I don’t have an idea to start with, after about half an hour of messing, I’ll have lots! Most of these were just line work and some were similar to what I have used before so I wanted to steer clear of those. It was the 6th design when I created the one I used for this project.

Style frame

I used the filled stroke tool and silhouetted each section of the skater in a different colour. None of the other ideas were especially jumping out at me and I seemed really drawn to this one- maybe it was the bright colours- I definitely get distracted by shiny things! It’s not a style I’ve used previously and I thought it would look super cool as a moving piece. The original clip had a lot of motion blur, so drawing it in this manner meant I could be quite rough and it didn’t matter if it wasn’t super detailed- I wanted to get the general impression of the clip down, rather than focussing on the minute details. I decided that this clip wasn’t especially about the intricacies, but more the action of the skater, which I feel came across nicely in the final outcome.

I definitely had some fun with this one and I like to think that comes across too. Watch this space for more (maybe skate clips, maybe other stuff, I’m yet to decide)…

2020 Top 50 Film Recommendations

I’m sure readers of this blog know that I keep Excel sheets of both bowling alleys and football grounds I have visited, but I also keep a spreadsheet of all the feature films I’ve watched. I started this back in September 2010 when I started my Film Production degree to see what films I would watch over the three years, but I have kept it up ever since. There is a column for the film title, the director, the date the film was made according to IMDb (what would I do without you), my rating out of five, a line for comments and a tally where I mark subsequent watches (though these day I don’t re-watch films as much as I used to).

The only thing I left out was the date in which I watched it- I would have found that really interesting. Which is why at the start of 2020 I created a separate document titled ‘2020 watched’. After adding the films to my main spreadsheet, I would copy and paste them into the supplementary document allowing me an account of films watched by the year. I have already started this again for 2021 and will continue to do so for years to come.

In 2020 I watched 219 different films, all ‘new’ watches, besides three which I have seen in previous years. One of these was on purpose (oh hey Waking Life) and two by mistake (I had no recollection of having watched them until I went to add them to the spreadsheet only to find they were already listed).

Instead of putting the whole list up for all the world to see, I edited it down to my top 50. I have put them in the order of which they were watched, rather than try to find a number 1 film and so on (would have genuinely been too difficult a task). The title of the film is in bold, with the director(s) in italics and the date in (brackets). If you can’t spot a film on there, it’s either because I’ve not yet seen it, I watched it prior to 2020 or I simply didn’t think it was good enough!

Please enjoy and let me know any recommendations in the comments.

1. Mustang, Deniz Gamze Erguven (2015)

2. If Beale Street Could Talk, Barry Jenkins (2018) 

3. Our Little Sister, Hirokazu Koreeda (2015)

4. Only Yesterday, Isao Takahata (1991)

5. Capernaum, Nadine Labaki (2018)

6. American Honey, Andrea Arnold (2016)

7. Diego Maradona, Asif Kapadia (2019)

8. Stations of the Cross, Dietrich Bruggemann (2014)

9. Three Identical Strangers, Tim Waddle (2018)

10. The Grand Bizarre, Jodie Mack (2018)

11. Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Celine Sciamma (2019)

12. The Lunchbox, Ritesh Batra (2013)

13. Ghost Town Anthology, Denis Cote (2019)

14. Honey Boy, Alma Har'el (2019)

15. Eden, Mia Hansen-Love (2014)

16. It Felt Like Love, Eliza Hittman (2013)

17. The Wind Rises, Hayao Miyazaki (2013)

18. The Souvenir, Joanna Hogg (2019)

19. The Farewell, Lulu Wang (2019)

20. The Selfish Giant, Clio Barnard (2013)

21. The Vast of Night, Andrew Patterson (2019)

22. Fruitvale Station, Ryan Coogler (2013)

23. Woman at War, Benedikt Erlingsson (2018)

24. I am Not Your Negro, Raoul Peck (2016)

25. Jeune Femme, Leonor Serraille (2017)

26. The Red Turtle, Michael Dudok de Wit (2016)

27. 1985, Yen Tan (2018)

28. Girlhood, Celine Sciamma (2014)

29. Sorry We Missed You, Ken Loach (2019)

30. Bait, Mark Jenkin (2019)

31. Lynn + Lucy, Fyzal Boulifa (2019)

32. Never Rarely Sometimes Always, Eliza Hittman (2020)

33. Finding Vivian Maier, John Maloof; Charlie Siskel (2013)

34. Little Women, Greta Gerwig (2019)

35. Notes on Blindness, Peter Middleton; James Spinney (2016)

36. Matthias & Maxime, Xavier Dolan (2019)

37. Rocks, Sarah Gavron (2019)

38. The Forty-Year-Old Version, Radha Blank (2020)

39. Queen & Slim, Melina Matsoukas (2019)

40. Perfect 10, Eva Riley (2019)

41. You, the Living, Roy Andersson (2007)

42. Calm with Horses, Nick Rowland (2019)

43. Ernest & Celestine, Stéphane Aubier; Vincent Patar; Benjamin Renner (2012)

44. Mangrove, Steve McQueen (2020)

45. Song of the Sea, Tomm Moore (2014)

46. The Australian Dream, Daniel Gordon (2019)

47. Parasite, Bong Joon Ho (2019)

48. Roma, Alfonso Cuaron (2018)

49. Festen, Thomas Vinterberg (1998)

50. Saint Frances, Alex Thompson (2020)

I’ve also added on a couple of bonus films (it’s my blog I can do what I want). These were two of the re-watches, but wanted to recommend them as they are both fantastic each in their own right.

Waking Life, Richard Linklater (2001) 

Like Father, Like Son, Hirokazu Koreeda (2013)

The Cat is Out of the Bag

I did this piece for one of my friends for a Christmas present of her new cat- isn't she the cutest?! I won't be writing loads about this one as it wasn't especially an exercise in my animation development (even though I did use a style I've not used before), but just a bit of fun. Is that even allowed these days?

Happy new year to all readers of this blog and best wishes for 2021.

2020 in Football

2020 wasn’t the year of football myself or many others was expecting back in January, though despite several interruptions and restrictions I was still able to attend some fantastic matches and grounds all the same. I managed to go to 87 games, 86 of those being ‘new’ grounds (the revisit was Cheadle Town for all those wondering).

As a person who loves lists, I have devised some sort of ‘top 10’ of my favourite grounds from this years hopping travels. I find it a nice way to look back and appreciate some of the places I’ve been. It was a genuinely hard list to compile and there were lots of venues I had to leave out to keep it to 10. Of course, like groundhopping itself, this is all arbitrary and I could have instead chosen to do a top 17 or any other random number, but a top 10 seems the most appropriate so here we are!

I have listed them in the order which I visited them.

Ravenhill Park

Brereton Town 1-5 AFC Bentlands
Staffordshire FA Kimberly Cup QF (Sunday League)
12/01/2020

For someone who loves both power stations and grass roots football, Ravenhill Park was a match made in heaven. It’s hard to avoid the eye catching concrete structures in the form of Rugely Power Station, which are still striking despite the bottom halves distorted by an Amazon building. Sadly, these towers are set to be demolished sometime in 2021, so you better be quick if you want to experience football against one of the most exciting backdrops there is. Well, in my opinion anyway!

Full set of photographs here.

Knypersley Sports Club

Staffordshire Victoria Ladies 3-0 Doveridge Ladies

Staffordshire Women’s County League

12/01/2020

While searching for a women’s game we could double up with Ravenhill Park, Knypersley Sports Club in Staffordshire made for the perfect accompaniment. It had a stand at one end, views of the cricket pavilion at another, set amongst fields and topped off with a warm welcome, it was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Full set of photographs here.

Newlandsfield Park

Pollok FC 2-0 Hurlford United

West Region of the Scottish Junior Football Association

18/01/2020

Newlandsfield Park was on my hit list for some time and we finally took advantage of a free weekend in January to visit. The ground was everything I expected it to be and more, with the welcome and hospitality one of the friendliest ever. This will be a day I’ll hold long in my memories.

Full set of photographs here.

Western Lane

Buxworth Reserves 3-2 Railway FC

Hope Valley League A Division

08/02/2020

Craving a ground with views, Western Lane in the High Peak did just that and then some. Not only did it provide me with the views I was yearning, it was hemmed in by a dry stone wall and situated alongside a row of picturesque cottages, it really made a photogenic football setting. 

Full set of photographs here.

Indodrill Stadium

BSC Glasgow 1-4 Hibernian FC

Scottish Cup

09/02/2020

A large grandstand, some terracing (both covered and uncovered) and views of what I assume are the Ochil Hills, this made for a brilliant first game of a double header back in February in the midst of Storm Ciara. Sadly this was one of those grounds I didn’t take my camera to, so all the more reason to return…

Horsfall Stadium

Bradford (Park Avenue) 0-2 Curzon Ashton

National League North

14/03/2030

A little different to my usual idea of what I like in a ground, but perhaps because it was the penultimate match I attended before the first lockdown it holds a special place in my heart. Or maybe I just liked the large seated grandstand, complete with terracing on either side, the friendly welcome and the unique clubhouse.

Full set of photographs here.

Quarry Lane

Cartmel AFC ‘A’ 2-3 Endmoor Reserves

Pre season friendly

17/08/2020

From seeing pictures of this one on Twitter the previous week, I knew this ground would be making this list before I even visited! Set within a quarry and with views out to the sea, this was a great August Monday evening out and a fantastic ground to mark my 300th. It was so special, it even got it’s own blog.

Full set of photographs here.

Bamford Rec

Bamford FC 4-1 Buxworth FC

Pre season friendly

22/08/2020

The Hope Valley League never disappoints for grounds with views and Bamford Rec was no different. This one even included some football furniture in the form of a small wooden stand tucked to one side. Would recommend! 

Full set of photographs here.

Sir Tom Cowie Millfield Ground

Crook Town AFC 0-2 Marske United 

Men’s FA Cup Preliminary Round

12/09/2020

For the limited time travel restrictions were relieved, we took advantage with a trip to the North East to the magnificent Sir Tome Cowie Millfield. One which was on our to do list for a while, I was so pleased we took up the opportunity to attend for this sold out FA Cup fixture. I’ll let the images do the talking, so without further ado you can view those here. 

Park Road

Swarthmoor Social FC 2-1 Bootle AFC

Furness Premier League Premier Division

26/09/2020

After seeing an image of Park Road, I couldn’t get the ground out of my head and knew I just had to visit! I finally put my words into action one weekend and took the train up to Grange-over-Sands, where the ground was a couple miles walk away. Not only did the ground have fantastic views, but also a clubhouse and a compact bus shelter stand. It’s just a shame that there were only 8 or so spectators to enjoy it… 

Full set of photographs here.

That’s it from 2020, hope 2021 brings more football and travel for those that want it and hope to see you at a game when circumstances allow!

Shadow Play

Being as I seem to be playing with light a fair amount at the moment (see older posts for details), I continued this in my next clip with a slight deviation to exploring shadows. Having never really worked with shadows before, it was a subject I definitely wanted to try out.

I didn’t have an idea what to do going into this mini project, but found a clip I really wanted to animate as I loved the framing and the movement of the character, so I decided to use that as my starting point. Perhaps a bit of a backwards way of working, but I find ideas from lots of different starting points, rather than just the ‘traditional’ or ‘obvious’ ones. I loved how the shadows from what I assume are trees appear across her as she walks and that was something I wanted to replicate.

The original footage

Before getting to the ‘fun part’ though, I needed to rotoscope the character. I wanted to do this differently than a standard outline, so went for a quite chunky brush. I haven’t worked with a thick outline like this for a while, so it seemed like an appropriate time to go back to it. I knew it would work as I have used it previously and as this clip was more about the shadows than the character, I didn’t mind using a style I had used already. Again, to colour her, I used familiar block colours which I know work.

I still had another step before moving on to adding the shadows: the background. I didn’t want a plain background as I wanted to contextualise the character, but I didn’t want to spend hours and hours rotoscoping the footage from the clip, because it wasn’t an exercise in background. I decided to put the background frames through a couple of filters in photoshop, before altering them further in After Effects, where I composited the project. I tried to make them more ‘cartoony’ or animated looking. Looking back, I think this still needs further work as it looks too close to the original footage, but as said I didn’t want this to be a time sucker as it’s not about the background, so just left them without further additions. I think it gives the right impression anyway.

So, now for the fun bit! As always I wasn’t totally sure how to do this when going into it (I bet you can see a familiar theme here, right?!), but I did have an idea. The idea was to draw some shapes which could represent tree shadows (very impressionistic ones):

Ok, yes, I know it just looks pretty random at this point, but stick with me here! I then brought it into After Effects and set the position key frames so it moved from right to left (the opposite way to her walking so it didn’t look like it was following her). I then added some blur, took down the opacity, added a ‘wiggle’ expression and a couple of magnifiers so when the shapes were on her they looked more 3D.

At first, it was a little hard to get the timing right and I ended up having to make the shadow file longer in length (it went from 6000x1080 to 9000x1080), which ended up being the right length for the speed I wanted it to be moving at.

I felt the shadows turned out really nicely and looked quite realistic. They definitely gave me the effect I wanted to create and perhaps turned out a little ‘better’ than what I was expecting. If I require shadows in this context again, I will be sure to use this style.