CHUFFED

Checked out www.wix.com this morning after Carl mentioned it in his presentation.

IT IS AMAZING!!!

Here, lookit the website I made!  It took me less than an hour :-)

I found a nice website

It's called "Illustration Friday" and they have a theme for each week.  It's like a weekly mini competition... a good reason to get into the habit of making half-decent illustrations!

http://illustrationfriday.com/index.php


Enjoy!

No Laptop = A Sad Katie

My laptop gave up last Tuesday, so i've been reduced to the LIBRARY computers until I can get a Vista disc to try and revive it.  I have never knitted so much, or watched so many DVDs.  Life without a computer is strange.

We had presentations today.  It wasn't nearly as boring as usual :-)  I got some good feedback and seeing as i'm computer-less I thought i'd get some stuff printed out whilst at college.

Chris recommended that I have a look at some war propaganda posters.  Here's a couple of my favourites...

I thought this would look cool if it was a pig's head instead of Hitler's... It also happens to be the right colour scheme that I was hoping to use.  Penguin book's bright orange/white contrast is really punchy.

Don't get into the car alooone!! Hitler might be there! :-O  I like this one for the colours... nice orange car interior. Also, the text style might look good for use in the book cover(s).

Some other feedback and inspiration I got from the presentation waas:-

• ·      Create a series of book covers for all 6 books, rather than just one.
• ·      Make a short hand-drawn animation to submit to festivals/competitions.
• ·      Look at War propaganda posters for inspiration.
• ·      Read “Animal Farm” and look at the political metaphors in there.  

Anyway, it's 4pm so i'm going to go home to my DVDs and my knitting :-(

I miss you, laptop!

Animation Festivals

Here's a list of links...

http://animex.tees.ac.uk/
An animation festival which takes place at Teeside University every year in Middlesborough.  Unfortunately the tickets are sold out - it's on from the 8th to the 12th of February.  It's so near Newcastle...I could've gone!! :(  Oh well.  There are loads of great speakers lined up and the workshops all look really fun.  Bah humbug.


www.annecy.org
A French festival... happening from the 7th-12th of June.  They're accepting film submissions.  The deadline is the 15th of February.

www.aurora.org.uk
A Norwich-based animation festival with an arty feel to it.  They have an exciting thing called "open projector" happening on the 14th of November where people can get their work shown in a "friendly yet focused arena".  Sounds like an open-mic for animators! :)  There  are only 8 slots available for the open projector though, and you have to buy a ticket to be able to submit.

www.britishanimationawards.com
This festival happens every 2 years.  It's free to submit animations and they seem really student-friendly.  If you win an award from them you get a drawing from an inspirational artist as your prize!  Yay.  Much better than a lump of metal...but not better than a lump of money.  :-P


www.bangshortfilmfestival.com
A really basic website for this festival.  A lot of the links didn't work but from what I could gather it's just a festival for animators/film makers in the midlands and beyond.

www.fmx.de/start.php?lang=E&navi=1&page=pages
This festival is in Stuttgart, Germany from 4th-7th of May.  Wait, it's not a festival...it's a CONFERENCE ;-)

www.pictoplasma.com
"A weekend of character-centric lectures, inspiring artist talks, and selected animation screenings."  It's in Berlin on the 9th and 10th of April.  I love this website :)  So many pretty pictuuures.

www.flipfestival.co.uk
In the West Midlands, Wolverhampton from the 5th-7th November.  100% animation :)

www.liaf.org.uk
An annual London-based international animation festival.  It goes right through from 27th August to the 6th September.  It's always LONDON, innit?  Looks good though :)
This animation won something at LIAF.  I love it!  Behold:  Muto


www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk/baf
Bradford Animation Festival.  It's on from the 10th-14th of November.  A lot of these festivals are in November... did I miss something?

www.avfest.co.uk
Takes place from the 5th-14th March, and  It's local!!!  Newcastle/Sunderland/Middlesborough and Gateshead.  p.s. AV stands for audio visual.  "It's a packed and diverse programme with 24 exhibitions, 20 performances, 10 screenings, 14 talks, 3 symposia, 4 club nights, 2 residencies and even our very own café."  So much stuff going on.  From what I gather you have to buy individual tickets for each screening...rather than one festival ticket.  Hmmmmm.




p.s.  Here's the link for the Penguin book illustration brief  (including Alice in Wonderlaaaand)  http://www.piczomypenguin.piczo.com/?cr=3

TWEET!

dfsdfsdklfj

Been mucking around with Adobe Illustrator tonight... did some online tutorials about live trace and live paint.  This pigeon was a really quick sketch coloured in with my overpriced marker pens, then just live traced!  I changed the settings so that it was on 6-colour mode.  Added the "tweets" as an afterthought.  Computers are clever.

Ahhh, pigeons :)

Here is a link to a Happy 2010 video Fons Schiedon and David OReilly made together.  It is nice.  You should watch it.

Writing My Personal Statement

...makes me want to poke my eyes out. 

HOWEVER!  Here are the "tips" Dave gave us yesterday.  Bah.

Stuff to include:-

• What type of work you're interested in.
• The type of work you've been doing at college.  What skills do you have?  What software can you use? 
• Put a link to your blog if it is relevant.  Hah!
• What do you aspire to? AKA what job d'you want?  What's your focus?
• Influences
• Animation trips or general travel.
• Why you're applying for a 3rd year or another course, and how you'll benefit their institution.
• Keep it current **past 2 years**
• Convince them that you aren't going to drop out.  Tell them about commitment-related stuff like jobs, time management etc.  Demonstrate that you can motivate yourself.

DO NOT:-

• Write about pointless hobbies
• Name-drop excessively or go on and on about someone else's work
• Mention Manga or Anime.  (You are not Japanese.)

Gah.  It needs to be written and handed to Dave by the 11th... I wish I could just re-cycle my old one.