Critique.....

I think I'll have a look at animating the Crow And The Pitcher. I've chosen this fable as it illustrates how what appears to be a big task can be overcome by a series of smaller ones. I think it also encourages ingenuity.

To make it a little more relevant to modern children I'd like to try for a Pixar stylee animation maybe using a popular child's toy known as a Dippy Bird. Dippy Birds appear to lean down and drink and this would work both with the action of drinking but also with picking up stones to drop in the pitcher. Again to help kids relate, I may replace the stones with marbles as this wouldn't spoil the moral?

The downside of selecting this fable is that the action centres around a single character. This means that he'll need to be super expresive to hold the viewers attention.
As a Dippy Bird simply rocks back and forth, I'm aiming to give him fairly expressive facial features to compensate for limited movement.

Stick men are go!.....

Week 1 Lecture exercise..... We were asked to have a go at sketching people walking across the room in various styles using stick men figures. This was to try and concentrate on what were the key features of the actions.

The Peacock And The Juno.

A peacock asked Juno for the song of a nightingale, Juno refused. When the peacock persisted and became agitated, Juno simply said that he was her favourite as he was.

Moral: Be content with your lot.

(Juno turns out to be Queen of the Olympian Gods)

The Dog And The Shadow

A dog was carrying a piece of meat when he came across a plank of wood acting as a bridge over a brook. As he crossed he caught sight of the reflection of what he thought was a dog carrying another piece of meet. Being a little greedy, he snapped at the reflected piece of meat and in doing so, dropped his piece into the water and lost it.

Moral: Beware lest you lose the substance by grasping at the shadow.

The Crow And The Pitcher

A thirsty crow finds a part full pitcher but can't reach down to the water to drink. Despite repeated efforts, he cannot take a sip. A clever thought then springs to mind, dropping a pebble into the pitcher, the water level rises slightly. Pleased with himself, he then drops in more pebbles untill he can is able to take a drink.

Moral: Little by little does the trick.

Animation and initial reaction to the new brief.....

Second year. semester two. Time to have a go at animation using 3DsMax.

The brief this semester is to have a go at animating one of Aesops Fables for a new childrens tv channel.

As an initial reaction, it looks like the tricky bit's are going to be:

A) Retaining the original moral but making it relevant to todays children.
B) Creating models with sufficient personality and character to maintain a childs interest.

As children of different ages have different interests, I asked the tutor which age group the animation should be aimed at. He suggested around 6 years old. 6 year olds prefer more action to cutesy characters so I'll aim at quite a lively script.

Ok, first things first, I'll have to have a read of the stories and choose one that has a current moral meaning.......