After having had the infinite canvas idea on my mind for a few years, I've finally found the time to try implementing it. I've taught myself to use the Google App Engine framework and decided to use it to create a webapp for displaying comics in an "infinite canvas".
For more information about the concept, visit http://www.tingting-wu.com/infinitecanvas.html.
You can see a first test of the infinite canvas here: http://sketch-journey.appspot.com/test2.
You'll see one looooooong series of images in a linear row. Keep scrolling to the right and more images will load. I used all the images from my Avatar:The Last Airbender thumbnailing exercise, and this turned out to be a really good way to showcase them!
Enjoy! I'm taking a break on coding for now, but I'm really looking forward to adding more features to it.
Showing posts with label thumbnailing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label thumbnailing. Show all posts
Friday, June 6, 2014
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
Done thumbnailing for Avatar - The Last Airbender episode 2!
It's been somewhere between 6 months and a year of working on this on-and-off, but I finally finished thumbnailing for episode 2 of Avatar - The Last Airbender. Here are the raw scanned pages below. They're in the order that I did them, meaning, I started in the middle of the episode went to the end and then decided to wrap around to the beginning and finish the rest of the episode.
I'll find time to process these and clean up the bad frames, make the frame sizes uniform (like the later sheets) and maybe even turn it into an animated gif.
I learned so much in this process. And it's pretty obvious to anyone looking at this, how much my basic mechanical skills improved as I went along. Hope this is as encouraging to others as it was to me. This is pretty simple proof of what raw practice can do.
Part of me wants to jump into thumbnailing more episodes (Samurai Jack? Batman-The Animated Series? 20th Century Boys?), but I really should start applying what I've learned to Project Apricot. I also want to do another exercise where I take this and try to adapt it into a comic form using comic and manga techniques. I want to better understand and explore the best ways to portray an action scene in comic form. This exercise already showed me the limitation of trying to turn animation into static frames (check out how many frames it takes to portray action heavy shots!!). But are there ways to portray elaborate and compelling action sequences using the comic format?
I'll find time to process these and clean up the bad frames, make the frame sizes uniform (like the later sheets) and maybe even turn it into an animated gif.
I learned so much in this process. And it's pretty obvious to anyone looking at this, how much my basic mechanical skills improved as I went along. Hope this is as encouraging to others as it was to me. This is pretty simple proof of what raw practice can do.
Part of me wants to jump into thumbnailing more episodes (Samurai Jack? Batman-The Animated Series? 20th Century Boys?), but I really should start applying what I've learned to Project Apricot. I also want to do another exercise where I take this and try to adapt it into a comic form using comic and manga techniques. I want to better understand and explore the best ways to portray an action scene in comic form. This exercise already showed me the limitation of trying to turn animation into static frames (check out how many frames it takes to portray action heavy shots!!). But are there ways to portray elaborate and compelling action sequences using the comic format?
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Updates and Inspirations
I have not had much to post lately even though I've been keeping busy with projects. Here are some updates.
"What's New in SAND 1.5" comic
So I can't actually post it here, but I essentially completed my very first comic. We completed version 1.5 of SAND at work and were asked to give a presentation of it to the TD sup's and leads. We put together an outline of the material we wanted to cover and then I decided to put it into a comic form! It took a few late nights at home, but it turned out really well! (It was received really well at the meeting and word spread about it.) I'm quite proud of it and it works really well as a proof of concept for communicating very technical things in a visual, accessible way. I've been wanting to do that for a while and have some other ideas on where to go next :)
Avatar: The Last Airbender - thumbnailing
I finished up thumbnailing episode 2, but since I started in the middle of it, I decided I should thumbnail the first part too. So I wrapped back around and still have about a third of the episode to thumbnail. Oyy... still learning a lot, but some days it's pretty monotonous. Will scan them up soon.
20th Century Boys - thumbnailing
In case I haven't mentioned it before, I've also been thumbnailing the pages of 20th Century Boys, currently my favorite manga. I'm also learning a lot here and getting a better sense of pacing in the comic form and how much dialogue you can get away with and how to keep it interesting. Progress has been slower on this though because I'm working much smaller and it feels even more tedious. Will scan some up soon.
Project Apricot
I haven't made much more progress on thumbnailing and have spent more time working on the two studies above. Though honestly I've probably been using the two studies above as excuses to not work on my own stuff some days. I need to readjust my goals and motivate myself to just do it. New goal: thumbnail for an hour for Project Apricot every week; outline for an hour for Project Apricot every week.
Concept Art
Haven't done much in that regard lately, but following the posts of my talented friend Patrick Jensen, I found and joined a great facebook group where an amazing collection of super talented concept artists from the industry post 30 minute paintings inspired by topics of the day. Daily Spitpaint is simultaneously inspiring and makes me want to pick up my tablet, and also intimidating because I have so far to go and no time lately to follow down this new path. New goal: Do at least one daily spitpaint challenge a week.
Artists to watch
Since my last post, I've gone to APE (Alternative Press Expo) again and though we were rushed this year because of time constraints and other engagements, we saw a lot of amazing artists, and I've compiled a list of links to blogs and websites that I will frequent for inspiration. Here's the list:
I've also been playing with the idea of making some shorts out of the Prairie Rabbits universe. This has gotten me researching shorts and digging up my favorites again. Here are a few:
http://www.shortoftheweek.com/
http://www.shortoftheweek.com/
Wow. That's enough for now I guess. Not much to show, but there's definitely a lot happening.
"What's New in SAND 1.5" comic
So I can't actually post it here, but I essentially completed my very first comic. We completed version 1.5 of SAND at work and were asked to give a presentation of it to the TD sup's and leads. We put together an outline of the material we wanted to cover and then I decided to put it into a comic form! It took a few late nights at home, but it turned out really well! (It was received really well at the meeting and word spread about it.) I'm quite proud of it and it works really well as a proof of concept for communicating very technical things in a visual, accessible way. I've been wanting to do that for a while and have some other ideas on where to go next :)
Avatar: The Last Airbender - thumbnailing
I finished up thumbnailing episode 2, but since I started in the middle of it, I decided I should thumbnail the first part too. So I wrapped back around and still have about a third of the episode to thumbnail. Oyy... still learning a lot, but some days it's pretty monotonous. Will scan them up soon.
20th Century Boys - thumbnailing
In case I haven't mentioned it before, I've also been thumbnailing the pages of 20th Century Boys, currently my favorite manga. I'm also learning a lot here and getting a better sense of pacing in the comic form and how much dialogue you can get away with and how to keep it interesting. Progress has been slower on this though because I'm working much smaller and it feels even more tedious. Will scan some up soon.
Project Apricot
I haven't made much more progress on thumbnailing and have spent more time working on the two studies above. Though honestly I've probably been using the two studies above as excuses to not work on my own stuff some days. I need to readjust my goals and motivate myself to just do it. New goal: thumbnail for an hour for Project Apricot every week; outline for an hour for Project Apricot every week.
Concept Art
Haven't done much in that regard lately, but following the posts of my talented friend Patrick Jensen, I found and joined a great facebook group where an amazing collection of super talented concept artists from the industry post 30 minute paintings inspired by topics of the day. Daily Spitpaint is simultaneously inspiring and makes me want to pick up my tablet, and also intimidating because I have so far to go and no time lately to follow down this new path. New goal: Do at least one daily spitpaint challenge a week.
Artists to watch
Since my last post, I've gone to APE (Alternative Press Expo) again and though we were rushed this year because of time constraints and other engagements, we saw a lot of amazing artists, and I've compiled a list of links to blogs and websites that I will frequent for inspiration. Here's the list:
- artist blogs
- e t e l o i s
- Rad's blog
- d3capmode
- gheehappy
- Greg Peltz
- Brittney Lee
- Francis Vallejo | blog
- Josh Kao's blog
- Nathan Fowkes Art
- LIBRA BEAR
- Charicreatures.com :: The Art of Genevieve Tsai
- Charicreatures Blog :: Genevieve Tsai
- The Art of Eunjung June Kim
- Tuna Bora
- Scribbles For Sweetpea
- cake-o
- Keiko Murayama - Online Portfolio
- Everyday Love – the art of Nidhi Chanani – Home
- Everyday Love
- LITTLE BITS
- Nhu Q Diep - Home
- Waffles the Cat | Home | Online Store Powered by Storenvy
- Pickle - The little bird who doesn't Tweet!
- Hediun's Atelier by hediun on Etsy
- Thousand Skies
- tonybuifanclub
- ♥Cindy Chen♥
- Pin Illustration
- Hula Bunny - Cute Animation - Dress Up Games - Sketches - Art
- Berkeley Mews -
I've also been playing with the idea of making some shorts out of the Prairie Rabbits universe. This has gotten me researching shorts and digging up my favorites again. Here are a few:
Mirage (which I've shared before)
Oktapodi (Octopus love)
Paperman (currently not available online because it's being considered for an Oscar)
Carn (visually striking and haunting)
The Wedding (perfectly neurotic and just a bit poignant and just a bit profound)
I found some of these from a site called shortoftheweek.com. Great collections of animated shorts. I'm still making my way through. A lot of good stuff here. Paperman (currently not available online because it's being considered for an Oscar)
Carn (visually striking and haunting)
The Wedding (perfectly neurotic and just a bit poignant and just a bit profound)
http://www.shortoftheweek.com/
http://www.shortoftheweek.com/
Wow. That's enough for now I guess. Not much to show, but there's definitely a lot happening.
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Project Apricot Thumbnailing
Alright! Thumbnailing for Project Apricot. This is an exciting and terrifying first step because this is the farthest I've ever gone with this project and also this is the closest these ideas have ever come to fruition. And what if it sucks?
Well, Rad told us expect it to suck the first time. It's more important to make progress and iterate, than to keep preparing before going forward. So here is the first attempt at a forest scene.
Well that wasn't too horrible... maybe. But after thumbnailing Avatar - The Last Airbender for about two weeks, and thumbnailing various forest photos, I gave it another shot and here's how it looks so far.
It feels more interesting and more in context. It still has a long way to go, but it's encouraging that I'm moving in the right direction. It just goes to show that there's no replacement for practice.
Here are a few more thumbnail sequences. (Not edited yet, so it's not entirely coherent.)
Well, Rad told us expect it to suck the first time. It's more important to make progress and iterate, than to keep preparing before going forward. So here is the first attempt at a forest scene.
Well that wasn't too horrible... maybe. But after thumbnailing Avatar - The Last Airbender for about two weeks, and thumbnailing various forest photos, I gave it another shot and here's how it looks so far.
Here are a few more thumbnail sequences. (Not edited yet, so it's not entirely coherent.)
Thumbnailing for Trees and Prairie Rabbits
I did some similar thumbnailing studies on trees or landscapes where there are trees to study how different forests might look. The opening scene of Project Apricot takes place through a forest. In the next post, the first attempt at the forest scene was done before this study. And the subsequent attempt was done after. Again you can see the huge different it makes to have some practice and have some reference.
This felt really good to open up my mind and refresh my imagination so I can spice up the opening scene. And also, trees are amazing!
Also, here is an attempt to thumbnail for the opening of Prairie Rabbits. I didn't get too far, but it was a nice little challenge to myself.
Also, here is an attempt to thumbnail for the opening of Prairie Rabbits. I didn't get too far, but it was a nice little challenge to myself.
Avatar - The Last Airbender thumbnailing
As I'm attempting to thumbnail for Project Apricot, I've been finding it really helpful to study the framing, composition of other comics, photos, and animations. So I turned to one of my favorite stories and shows, Avatar - The Last Airbender. I particularly love their action sequences, and thought it would be a perfect place to start learning about how to tell an action scene story effectively.
My goodness!! It was so helpful and enlightening! It showed me the limitations I'd be faced with in trying to portray complex action scenes (as complex as they had) in the comic form versus animated form. It also showed me a lot about framing and composition that can serve the scene's intention. Anyway, here are the thumbnails from about half of episode 2.
And just the act of practicing thumbnailing really added to my sense of feel for it. It lets me feel out the boundaries of what I can do, what I can try, and how to best capture the scene in my head. I'll post later some of the thumbnails I've been doing for Project Apricot, and it's pretty easy to see the improvements between the first attempts and the later ones.
My goodness!! It was so helpful and enlightening! It showed me the limitations I'd be faced with in trying to portray complex action scenes (as complex as they had) in the comic form versus animated form. It also showed me a lot about framing and composition that can serve the scene's intention. Anyway, here are the thumbnails from about half of episode 2.
And just the act of practicing thumbnailing really added to my sense of feel for it. It lets me feel out the boundaries of what I can do, what I can try, and how to best capture the scene in my head. I'll post later some of the thumbnails I've been doing for Project Apricot, and it's pretty easy to see the improvements between the first attempts and the later ones.
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