Today I was wandering through the bookstore, my fingers running across every magazine edge and each binded book. I wasn’t looking for any periodical in particular. I let them find me instead. When I write, the subject chooses me, so it just so happened that a few minutes ago Computer Art Projects, Issue 139 was dancing for the attention. I mean, have you seen this magazine cover? It’s cartoon heaven on roller skates. As I was flipping through the “in depth guide for creative professionals,” articles and illustration in every style, font, and color emulate TV in paperback format. It’s hard to choose just a single article to write about since the entire publication is a Graphic Designer’s dream; therefore I will give you a small taste. If you would like more of the juicy platter, the magazine can be found at http://www.computerarts.co.uk/
“Project three-Characters in motion”
Modern animating techniques are described in this article by Tom Dennis. The goal of any artist is to bring his or her creation to life. Here we go….
“Cel Animation”
Advice: After illustration (done manually or technically) another artists cleans it up and scrubs those crazy characters to perfection so they are ready to be digitally painted, without redoing any of the previous process. Check out Daz3D.
“Flash”
Advice: Flash is mainly used to bring the artist’s work onto the play stage of attention for audiences like you and me. (www.bombsfall.com). Flash+ Photoshop+ After Effects= Genius. Check out CS4, Adobe Bone tool. Play.
“Stop Motion”
Advice: Okay, so it’s tedious, but artists do what they love. Coraline (2009) the movie was made, therefore someone had to love it. 3D printing created all the mockups with expressions and physical personality. Check out FrameByFrame for the basic stop-motion work; Bonix Software, iStopMotion 2-Home (does not support HD video), and Express and Pro. There are limitations with most, however your video or still camera can partner with this software for achievable effects.
“CGI”
Advice: There’s no faking a brilliant imagination here! “When working with physical elements one doesn’t have so many undos, which forces you to embrace mistakes, while CG can be modified, changed and edited at speed- allowing many options to be quickly explored.” – Jon Humphreys, The Neighborhood’s creative director/ contributing founder
Looking to become a better designer? http://www.computerarts.co.uk/in_depth/features/50_ways_to_become_a_better_designerCredit goes to Magazine Contributor, Tom Dennis & participating interviewees for August 2010 issue of Computer Arts Projects.
