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Sussex, United Kingdom

Wednesday 8 December 2010

FRANKIE BOYLES TRAMADOL NIGHTS

So the animation that I created some backgrounds for was aired on channel four last night. And although my art was not used fo legal reasons, it was really great to watch as Alex Jolliffe animated it. And I can now begin to upload some of the art work to my website. so if you are interested, have a look at the background section on www.lauraannhough.com

Monday 22 November 2010

Project Manager...Yes Please.

So today I went for lunch with James Chaytor, thinking that it was a ' Thank you for helping out but really we don't want you anymore' type thing and actually Ollie, One of the Designers is going travelling for six months in the new year and James wanted to know if I would be interest in being taken on as a project manager, doing some design work when necessary to free him up to pick up Ollie's workload.... Yes Please! I am very happy.

Monday 15 November 2010

christmas is acoming




and my mum wanted a card designed for her. so here it is

Wednesday 10 November 2010

styleguides

So at the moment I am still down in Brighton at Sprung Studios, one day a week, and I am helping them to update the iPhone styleguide on the orange interactive design and pattern website. Its quite interesting but there are lots of sections that you wouldn't even expect or think about, especially as a non iPhone user.

Thursday 14 October 2010

getting back into art for fun :)


I sat down at my desk with some ink and paper.

Friday 8 October 2010

Monday 4 October 2010

Wednesday 29 September 2010

creating a page...

So today I have been practicing making a page for viewing the news on your mobile phone, I started from the top by using the rectangle tool and adding a gradient layer, and altering the gradient. all of the other sections were created in a similar way, each with it own effects.

Wednesday 15 September 2010

Phone Wallpaper


Today I have been putting together a practice wire frame and then this afternoon I created a few practice phone wallpapers. The one above that I have posted I made by following a tutorial posted on http://www.photoshoplady.com/tutorial/awesome-colorful-bubble-effect/811

Tuesday 14 September 2010

practice wallpaper

I was set the 'homework' of choosing a phone wallpaper and attempting to copy it using the skills I had in Photoshop and this is what I have managed. this is the wallpaper I chose. this is my version.

Friday 3 September 2010

Work Experience

Next week I'll be starting my work experience at Sprung Studio in Brighton, which I now know to be very very close to Brighton station, so I got there exceptionally early. James was really friendly and explained what he hopes from me fairly well but I think it will probably be a case of learning as I go along.

Tuesday 31 August 2010

Fingers Crossed.

I am going down to Brighton on Friday to meet with James Chaytor, who runs Sprung Studios, an interactive design agency, to discuss possibly doing some work experience there. Quite excited about it.



Also I have finished the artwork I was doing for Andy Wyatt but will have to wait a while before I can post it.

Wednesday 18 August 2010

so at the moment..

I am working at a few fine drinking establishments and cleaning at a school to pass the time of day, but I have been given a fab opportunity by Andy Wyatt to be involved in a project. I am doing eight background for project for something that might be on tv hopefully, assuming the work I submit is ok. I'll have to check if I can post any of the artwork before putting anything up. but I am really enjoying the work :)

Tuesday 3 August 2010

Card Loving


So this card is actually for Jack's Parents for letting my gatecrash their family holiday next week and I love it so I thought I should probably take a pic before giving it away. I love the design. If I could hover about in card shops in Brighton Lanes for a full day I would be in heaven.

Wednesday 14 July 2010

Busy Month!


It has been a busy busy month for me, not really animation wise, though I certainly am now working on it.
I graduated on the 1st of July with a BA (Hons) Digital Animation Degree, which was Exciting! I went to the London Grad Screening and met a few nice industry folk, one or two of whom I am going to send my CV to, in the hopes that they might see my potential and give me a placement or work.

I moved back to Sussex after graduation and am currently filling my days with part time paid employment, and scouring the web and paper for more inspiring work. I have a few personal projects I am about to crack on with, and will upload artwork as and when it is finished :)

Thursday 24 June 2010

so my film is online and you can watch it!

The Lady in the Rain
Charlotte and I are happy to be able to show everyone what we have spent the last year working on. The Lady in the Rain is a 2D short arts animation, and the story is based on a moral found in one of Aesop's fables 'The memory of a good deed lives.'
I hope you enjoy it.


Sunday 20 June 2010

My Postcards Arrived!


so my postcards arrived, and they are a little darker printed than I was expecting but I still love them! Cant wait to start sending them out with my CV. And I very excited about our grad film screening a CineSite in Soho next week. Partly because I get to see evryones films and I havent seen any yet and partly because it'll be a really great way to end the year before Graduation (plus I get to see/stay with my lovely sister :) )



o and degree results tomorrow!

Monday 14 June 2010

Annecy Animation Festival 2010


So I have just got back from our trip to Annecy's Animation festival in sunny France. It was a lush week and I had a great time. In the picture above you can see all of the successful paper airplanes that made it to the stage, of the the talk given by Matt Groening. The whole week was a completely eye opening experience and showed just how widely spread the animation industry is.

Thursday 27 May 2010

FMP Finished.

So I have just finished typing up my Final Major Project production report, and it actually was quite an epic task to recall a years worth of work and I am glad I kept some sort of record of my involvement or else I would have completely lost track or when and what I actually did.


I can't believe it's done though. Hand in tomorrow. and then an opportunity to start creating artwork for fun for a few weeks :)

Wednesday 26 May 2010

Burning to Disc


So after three days of toil and trouble, I have finally successfully burnt our film to disc with a functioning menu and sound. Which is very exciting as it had started to feel as though it was never going to work.
I have also finished the press kit menu, and I am reasonably pleased with how it all looks, although there are a few pages on the press kit that needed rescaling, but time constraints and other un touched projects have encourage me to compromised and finish.

Tuesday 25 May 2010

Encore.

Above is an example of the grey hell in which I am currently having to work. I am not designed to use this software. it is mocking me at the moment. and is the only thing standing between Charlotte and I completing the practical aspect of our final major project and getting on with our other work. All of the components for the film disc are in the project, they all work perfectly well outside of Encore but when I import them in the film does work and nor does the sound. it is completely maddening. Hopefully I will be receiving some help soon, as I would really like to finish this today rather than waste any more time on it

Monday 24 May 2010

An Update, for me more than you.

So, the film is done, for all intensive purposes, and will be ready for the hand in on friday. Tomorrow I will (I am determined) be burning it sucessfully to disc, after georg gave me a brief lesson in how to set up a menu in encore. Charlotte was trying to do the press pack using her mac dvd thingy but it seems a bit confuing for the user so I am going to be making a simple functional menu tomorrow for all the press kit bits she has put together.

I am about 800 words into my production report and that just leaves another 2200 to go, which is completely managable as i have so much to talk about.

I am 800 words into my professional practice which leaves 1200 to go, though I am a little unclear as to what to talk about now that I have covered Kathy and Joke's day to day working experiences but I am sure I'll think of something.

Which just leaves the innovation project which I am a little worried about, though I have begun the practical side of things. my main concern in the research report.

Tuesday 18 May 2010

Lable making efforts



It is safe to say my attempts at lining up the layout template with the stickers have been a bit of a fail. Plan for tomorrow is to have some over lap, so it does not need to be perfect.

DVD labels artwork


and Alex just called and is back on for doing some effects. Phew!

Change of Plan

So due to an unforeseen problem, Alex won't be able to help us with the special effects on the film, which is a shame as he seemed to have a very firm grasp of after effects and Charlotte and I now have to muddle something together. But our back up plan of lighting using photoshop layers and adding them to the toonboom scene is already underway so hopefully it wont take too long and I can just cut them film together in a few days . Scary nonetheless.

Monday 17 May 2010

Press Kit Cover

Final Major Project Update

So, today I have finished editing that animation together and I think I have included everything necessary in the finishing credits, from animators to the tutors who have all been a massive help.

It is being finished a little later than originally planned, editing wise anyway, as I made a massive mistake on friday evening by pulling out the cord to the hard drive, and all my hard work was lost.

So all that is left to do is to email it to Alex Jolliffe who can now do the final cut of the music he has created, as the film is now slightly longer than originally anticipated, though only by 15 seconds or so, I think.


And another cut of the film needs to be given to Alex Darabi, as he will be doing all of the special effects for the film (though I will be doing a test shot for my innovation project, I don't think it will be of I high enough quality to include) So I am hoping to be able to get hold of him by the end of the day, though no joy so far.

Tuesday 11 May 2010

The Press Pack

For our Professional Brief, we have to produce a press kit, which supposed to be produced to industry standard. Which must include our final film (marks for presentation) bios of both Charlotte and myself, print quality stills from the film, a full list of credits and a brief synopsis of the film. So today Charlotte and I have ordered our blank discs and cases and cd labels. I am a little nervous about the labels to disc procedure but I am sure we can work it our, and we have about 50 spare labels, to fix mistakes. So fingers crossed and pictures to come :)

Wednesday 5 May 2010

Particles

Invite Artwork


So Andy (course leader) ask that each project submit a piece of artwork from their final film for the graduation film screening invite. And so below is the submission for The Lady in the Rain. Can't believe we are graduating. eek.

Tuesday 4 May 2010

Postcard


So the odds and ends day.






Today, after Charlotte completed the rough cut for Lady in the Rain last friday, we have both decided that it would be a good idea to work on the other projects on the go, so as not to fall behind. So this morning I have been completing my creative CV, which I have decided not to include any artwork on as that is what my show reel is for and I would not like to try too make a statement about my artwork and style with just one single piece.



Monday 26 April 2010

lauraannhough.com

So lauraannhough.com is alive and kicking now which is very exciting. All I need to do now is sort out the artwork and videos for the website and it should be done.

Tuesday 20 April 2010

Innovation Project- Lighting

Lighting is an important feature that can sometimes be overlooked in animation. For my final project the mood of the piece will be greatly effected by the lighting effects that are used. Taxi lights, street lights and the lights in windows are all something that I will be hoping to work on.

From the brief amount of reserach I have done so far there does not seem to be a lot of obvious lighing effecting in 2d animation so I will be taking my influences from 3d examples and hoping to achieve similar standards in 2d.

The software that I think I will eventually end up using is Adobe After Effects, although I will be researching alternative methods.








Friday 16 April 2010

the countdown begins

So as the last term of my degree is about to begin, I have been working on my professional website. My dad kidly offered to pay for my own domain name for a year. lauraannhough.co.uk is mine for a whole year but I have been developing my moonfruit based website up until a few days ago and as I have not yet got to grips with this new site I will be keeping both, so I have something to hand in come the professional practice deadline

Monday 22 March 2010


starting to animate is not going too well, struggling to work out how to extend the time line i am sure i will eventually figure it out. This is an example of some layouts I have set up

Monday 15 March 2010

A mispent day...

So today Charlotte and I tried to do our weekly rush to check the quality of the puppets on the large cinema screen, but hadn't realised that the session had been moved til later. When we did turn up at the correct time we then couldn't view them as we had saved them all as psd rather than tiff or jpegs, and the academic offerings the available computer were of no use. So tomorrow we are hoping to sneak into the cinema in a break between seminars to check them.

I have been making the sky background for the opening and clsoing credits, it will also be used for the last shot, in which the man disappears into the sky and becomes one of the stars. Below is a very poor quality copy of the piece, as the original that I have been working on is far too large to upload. which is a shame.

We are still waiting on the final puppets from Scott, which hopefully will be ready tomorrow.

sky for opening and closing credits

Wednesday 10 March 2010

an Update on everything at the moment.

Final Major Project

So today we had another meeting with our crew members, which Scott failed to turn up to which was quite disappointing. but on the upside Kat brought in her work and she has drawn some awesome puppet positions, and has scanned them in a cut the out and they are ready to be used. We have asked Scott to come in to see us tomorrow to make sure he is not falling behind as this will affect the whole production.

Yesterday Charlotte and I, with the help of Andy Wyatt, set up our first shot in Animate pro, and it is almost ready to go, but we noticed that I needed to extend the depth of the road, as it was outside of the 'safe' area and the movement of the taxis would most likely be lost. This afternoon I have been getting together everything to show in tomorrow's production meeting and putting it into a power point so hopefully that will work successfully this time.

The plan for the next few days is to have our fortnightly production meeting, take in any feedback, set up the rest of the shot folders with the altered backgrounds and newly scanned in and higher quality puppets and ready to animate first thing next week. We are a few weeks behind our schedule but we have allowed plenty of contingency time.

Professional Practice

I have been working slowly on my website, but have had a few problems with images seemingly uploading fine one day and then strangely not being there the next time I look at my page. Overall so far I am pleased with what I have come up with I think it is reflective of who I am and the work that I am hoping to achieve and be employed for.

With regards to my mentor, I have chose a lady called Joke, I looked at her website, after Andy suggested her and I really liked her artwork and style. Hopefully Andy will hear back from her soon so I can start picking her brain about the high and low points of life as an independent animator and illustrator.

After the CV workshop a while back i took to heart how important a CV is for selling yourself and landing an all important interview. I found all of my certificates from my a levels etc. and started to write out a list of everything I have done, paying attention to the good and bad examples that we had been given. I plan to take it to Careers Advisory service for them to check through it and make sure I am not making any silly mistakes.

I guess the only thing I have left to start is business cards and start researching places that I would like to apply to.

That is all for now.

Kat's Awesome work





Tuesday 9 March 2010

Puppet making


So Charlotte scanned in the drawings again of the old woman poses, at a high quality so that when the close up shots are shown on a large screen they do not lose quality and look pixelated. So I have been helping make sure these are ready for animating by picking up the extra slack and cutting out these few puppets and readying them for animating.

Thursday 4 March 2010

ToonBoom

So today, after I asked Andy Wyatt to give our crew a tutorial in ToomBoom, we have spent the afternoon in the main studio. I had hoped that we would each be able to have our own machine, similar to the session we have had with Andy previously, which would give the four of us the opportunity to do some quick, simple test animations using the backgrounds and props which I have finally completed and the puppet which Charlotte has painstakingly cut out and re layered. Unfortunately the studio was busy and Charlotte and I have had to share a computer, trying to upload our work to Animate pro and failed miserably

Wednesday 3 March 2010

Meeting with our 2year crew

So this afternoon we met up with Kat and Scott to see how their work was coming along and to check that they were still on schedule, with what we had asked them to complete by today.

Both Kat and Scott have been given a character each, to re draw, in the different positions required, outlined in black line to keep the characters consistent with the backgrounds. I was very impressed with both of their drawings, particulary Kat as she had managed to keep the look of the man very close to the original character sheet which she was given.

I was pleased that they both accomplished what we asked of them and after setting them some more work, of creating puppets of the characters for next week am excited to see what they come up with.

Tomorrow afternoon the four of us will be creating test animations using toon booms Animate Pro with the help of Andy Wyatt, hopefully this will enable bot Kat and Scott to feel more confident about eventually animating using the programme.

Taxi back with a door

Taxi with Interior


This has a separate layer for the main taxi and interior from the outer car door.

Tuesday 2 March 2010

Let the Animating begin

So I think I have finished the backgrounds, and today Charlotte and I are going to start setting up the shot folder, with each of the backgrounds and elements that are needed for each shot, ready to be opened in ToonBoom's Animate Pro and doing some test animation.

We are hopefully seeing Kat this afternoon, as she said she was going to pop down to the L3 studio and should us the drawings she has done so far of the old man, and I think she has some questions about his legs when on the bike. So I think I will show her the video Charlotte posted on her blog of a robot cycling.

Friday 26 February 2010

Thursday 25 February 2010

completed house background


This is the background for the middle section of the film, everything is on separate layers, and the door is movable, with a hall way behind it.

Wednesday 24 February 2010