Collaboration
Uhh yuck other people art, disgusting.
As part of the brief we had to collaborate with someone else in some way/shape or form. So on this page you shall see all the work others did to help me. I'll also say why I picked who I did for help and what they did. This entire page shall just be going over others and wont cover my own work.
Matt collaboration
To start with I’ll talk and show the collaboration and how it went with my class peer Matt Davies. He's a concept artist with a very unique style. The kind that you could always recognize. I highly recommend you check him out. I can only give his Instagram other than that I don't know if he has a website or something but I can give him some appreciation with a link to one of his socials at least. Anyway the collaboration with Matt went exceedingly well. I came to him he responded well within a good time. He meet every expectation I had of him and then some. Honestly I can't sing his high praises enough. It started in late december with me asking Matt to come up with some mock up designs after my presentation in december. Within a day or two he came back with the mock ups. So over december I had that to work with for my animation test that I did. Then when I came back for term two I got talking to him over whats app, which you will see in a moment, that went well. He got what I meant the first time I said it. He was able to take what I said and run with it and even add his own flair to it which I loved. All in all, an excellent person to work with. I'm glad I did because both his attitude and work itself work exemplary.
Matts concepts and my thoughts
So I think best to now show you the actual concepts that Matt did for me while he made many. I didn't use all of them as I could only pick three to use for logistical reasons for my animation. But other than that one note I think best if I just show you the concepts.
This is the first of the concepts that Matt sent to me. While I really like both the whale and the anglerphin/ sea serpent type creature. I decided to go with the later of the two. Don't get me wrong I like the Whale. I just thought that a Whale would not necessarily be ferocious or predatory enough to allow the narrative to be progressed. My narrative relays on the Leviathans praying upon one another and a Whale type creature doesn't strike me as something that would do that. The latter design also came accompanied with some basic color variations. I ended up going with a the green colour palette not the exact green used here but still a green one nonetheless. In terms of slight alterations. I made it a little less serpent like and gave it a tail fin for propulsion sake but I kept it in theme with the other fins of the body. Additionally just for my own animating convenience I reduced the number of eyes it had. Now it has a total of six. it's just easier to animate then the multiple depicted here. But I still like that idea of it having multiple eyes. if I had unlimited time I probably would keep the eyes as they were. The dorsal fin I made slightly smaller to keep it in proportion with the rest of the body and I also made it more dolphin like as when I saw this design to me it seemed like a cross between a dolphin or marine mammal and an anglerfish. The fins, I merged the two designs into one. So they have a membrane and are rotatable. Lastly, I really liked the use of a bioluminescent lure. As well as the fact that Matt perfectly incorporated the thing that this piece was about in the first place ambience. With it having bioluminescence that helps that. So yea I chose the later design of the two and made some slight alteration mainly for my sake of making the animating easier and also just for clarity's sake.
So this is the second and last round of concepts that Matt made for me with a total of four different concepts on it. So let it be said for a concept artist Matt is doing pretty well. So I'll just dive right in. On this page I chose two of the four concepts to finalise and then add to my FMP. The ones he has labeled as "8 eyes", I realise that was a note for me saying that it has 8 eyes but for a lack of a name that is what I shall call the concept. So yea "8 eyes'' and then the one directly below "8 eyes". the sea serpent concept with the expanding mouth. the reason that I choose "8 eyes" over the other two was mainly because of how unique it was to the rest. It was a crustacean based leviathan that in Matt's own words had big flippers that operate like insect wings. Not only would this provide a unique way of movement it would also be easy to differentiate from the other leviathans. The sketch with its mouth opened with sharp needle like teeth is quite furiosos and I love it. I like the colour of it. I just like every aspect of it. The only things I had to change for my final designs were the amount of legs it had, the size of its stinger and its wings size and shape. But they aren't major alterations by any means and this design is mainly the same from start to finish. Lastly, the orange on red colouration will really help it stand out in the ocean environment.
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The other design I choose, for intensive purposes let's call it a Lamprey Leviathan since the mouth reminds me slightly of a Lamprey. The Lamprey Leviathan really stood out to me since, one it's a sea serpent and I'm a sucker for a sea serpent. And the sketch that really sold it to me is the one of its mouth agape. With a human for scale. When I saw those multiple rows of sharp teeth I could really clearly visualise it in my head. May be weird but the better an image I have in my head the more confident and liking I am to an idea. I saw it with those many teeth all rotating like a shredder within its jaws. I then knew I had to animate it. additionally the whiskers and many fins look really cool along with the matted texture along its back. I don't know if that is fins or hair but I like that it's a simple enough of a design to animate easily. The only changes I had to make were to reduce the number of fins and that's it really. Since this one didn't have a defined colour I just decided to make it a light baby blue. Since all of the fish in the FMP are neon based.
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lastly even though I'm not using them I just want to talk about the other two concepts and what I like about them. The one labeled water wings I also like for its sea serpent concept and I do also like it wings with its large membrane. While looking comedic I do like its seemingly smiling demeanor. Probably if I were to use it it would bring some levity to the FMP which I dont think would of been a bad thing. I also like how matt has incorporated bioluminescence into this one with the giant light on its forehead. I also liked the idea of the gills being on the top of the body. In terms of animating it the big wings would have looked very majestic and cool. probably would have animated them like a sting rays wings? The little hair looking paddles/fins as Matt puts it, could have been annoying and time consuming to animate so most likely I would have got rid of them just for time convenience. I also like the dark blue. Lastly the other more stereotypical fish whale hybrid design while basic is still similar to the whale concept he did before I just thought it a little too placid in nature to fit the narrative. But a good concept all the same.
Arkin collaboration
So now onto the second person I had collaborate with me. A first year on my course by the name of Arkin. He is a concept artist so what I needed him to help me on were backgrounds. He contacted me about helping me rather than me going right to him. Dan put me in contact with him after me coming to Dan asking for help with my backgrounds since my original person I enlisted for help fell through, I'll speak about that later, so Dan put the word out to any first or second years looking for work since they during the quarantine couldn't do work on their other units since they relied on industry help. Thus I told Dan what I needed and he sent that to the first and second years. To which Arkin responded. I'm glad he did. cause if not, while I would've done the backgrounds myself, it certainly helps to have someone else do them for me. Giving me more time to animate. What Arkin has produced for me was also to say the least is exemplary.
Instantaneously he had already come up with some mock ups on the basis of what I sent dan. All of which nailed the aesthetic I was going for. So it shows great understanding on his part. Instantly being able to pick up on what I was putting down. After making contact with me I emailed him back and a dialogue was started. We are also spoke over social media. The email diagouge between us was mainly me saying thanks for being willing to help me when i'm in a pinch and also giving feedback on the backgrounds he sent. The mock ups while great had some minor changes that I told him to make. He read the notes I had and responded in a timely manner and said he will make those adjustments, he made those adjustments perfectly bar some other minor things I wanted to be changed. He took that on and amended that to. Again in a timely manner with communication on all fronts. In terms of work sent to me it’s great as is his attitude and work ethic. Communication proved to be no trouble and was pleasant and efficient.​
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Through my interaction with arkin I tried best to give him as much of his own room and space to best give him his own creative freedom as I believe people work best when they feel they have room to try things in there own way. I made sure to let him now this by just giving him the specifics then saying achieve these however you feel best. That he did. I also tried to not be too bossy or pushy when asking for changes. I always stated what I wanted clearly and tried never to come off as condescending. To help in that regard I got my father to proofread my correspondence to make sure I wasn't accidentally being rude as I'm aware that on accident I can be sometimes. Thus it helped best to have someone more socially aware then me help me in that regard. Which I did do here. Lastly I tried to be as specific as humanly possible, while at the same time not trying to ramble or repeat myself. In all honesty communicating was harder for me then analysing and using what arkin sent back. But that’s just down to my unique problems. In the end I thanked him for being willing to work with me. I apologised if I came off as rude and or bossy. Complimented both his work and ethic and wished him all the best in his future endeavours, and ended the professional relationship on amicable terms and he himself said he enjoyed working with me.
Arkins backgorunds and my thoughts
These are the three background designs he submitted before the alterations. I needed three backgrounds for the three scenes within the animation. The above the ocean, just below the ocean's surface and then at the bottom of the ocean. So on the whole Arkin really captured what I asked. He got the colours nearly bang on, bar some minor alterations to the second and first. Where just for certain parts of the background he needed to make them a shade or two lighter. Not even the entire thing, just areas. The first one is the one that needed the majority of the alterations and they where small alterations at that. The composition was nearly perfect. I told him to have the ocean take up only the rough bottom fifth of the screen. With the remaining 4/5ths being clear night sky. One thing to note is that he left the sky clear to allow me to animate some basic stars and the moon shining down its moonbeams. It was great he did that. Also just meant less work for him.
I also asked him to make the night sky a shade or two lighter to help it blend with the bright stars and moon light I would of filled it with. That last thing I told him to change on the first background was the bottom corners of the ocean; they too were too dark. I wanted the light to be more spread across the ocean surface not just to be in the centre. The last thing I told him to change and the major issue with all of them was the actual size of them. In the email I gave very specific measurements they needed to match so I reminded him of those and he got to work on making those amendments right away. Quick and efficient, again just him having a great work ethic. Now I'm not saying that was his fault or even a bad thing, making the mistakes he did, I expect a little back and forth between both parties when collaborating on making something. I probably should of been more specific to when saying what I wanted. But then again I did also want to give the individual who took up my offer of work to have enough creative freedom of their own. Certainly I feel Arkin had that, he made the backgrounds how he felt. I asked for some slight alterations and bam all good still holding mostly true to what he made originally. those alterations you can see below.
So these are the three new backgrounds Arkin sent me in relation to the amendments I asked him to make on the previous three. The last two, those being under the ocean's surface and also the bottom of the ocean, where bang on he completely nailed the changes I told him to make, and may I say they look amazing. It's ambient and simple yet still detailed and elegant and really captures the grace of the ocean I feel. The one mistake he made, which was an easy enough mistake, I probably should have specified more than I already did. Is that for the first background of the three, the one showing above the ocean. Is again the wrong dimensions, visually he made the changes I asked and they looked great. It's just the dimensions themselves were not what I asked so the last change I told him to make was simply keep the background itself the same just alter the dimensions to the ones I specified in my email.
additionally just to check I hadn't accidentally given him the wrong information, as I didn't want to have made a mistake, I double checked the email I sent to him to make sure I did in fact give the correct dimensions. and upon double checking again I had. So I just wanted to make sure that I didn't mess up. cause if I did I would have to apologize which would of been fair enough but more importantly it would mean that from then on I would need to maybe not just double check my emails but triple check them. That being said it's still a practice I have now taken up. Anyway, like I said the last change I asked of Arkin was for the first background to remain the same visually just to have the dimensions of the background itself change. This time I made it somewhat clearer in my email what they were. As best to not confuse him again. And fair enough he got confused in the first place. I gave him a lot of dimensions and it seems he just switched some of them round. So in future I'll put more effort into making my email somewhat less confusing.
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One thing I also want to mention is for that first background of the three the one that I said had the wrong dimensions. Even though it was incorrect I still surprisingly enough did find a use or it in the end. I used it for some other shots as the background. In particular the tracking shot of the fin where the perspective shifts. So just goes to show even things that I may write of, I can still end up finding uses for. So there's something I have learned. Not to outright write things off as they still may prove of some use for you. I'll put this into practice by holding onto things that I may consider to be unuseful at least until the projects end.
As you can see here this is the last amendment of the above ocean background that I asked him to do. Same exact visuals just now it has the dimensions I originally asked for. So in the end I got all of what I wanted while giving arkin enough creative freedom to do his thing.
The collaboration that didn't work
Now I want to start this of by saying this isn't me trying to throw anyone under the bus or nothing. I don't even dislike this person or view then in a different way because of this, this aint tainted a relationship or anything like that. However it did affect my project and how I worked so I would feel remiss not to bring it up. This isn't me trying to throw shade or insult, more just give a run down of what happened and how thusly the events affected my work. Then I'll talk about what i've learnt and stuff such as that. Lastly I won't be naming this person or giving away any details that may indicate who they are so dont expect that or screen shots of communication like the last two. You'll just have to take me on my work with this one.
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So originally I didn’t even intend to get a second or first year to do my background. Originally I asked someone in my own class to do them for me, To which they agreed and then I gave them some vague details of what I was looking for followed by an email with the specifics. All well and good so far. can't fault them yet. The trouble comes when despite them saying they would be able to do them they just didn't. On top of that when it came to to roughly a month since they first said they would and I began massaging them, asking how far along they where they didn’t respond in the slightest. I sent message via social media and emailed them, no response on anything, as you can tell that put me into a awkward position of not wanting to pester them for a response but also at the same time needing my work which they said they could make. It also was difficult for me work wise because I didn't know if I should start making the backgrounds myself. Cause if I did then they came back to me with the ones they made I would of wasted my time. Additionally it made planning difficult since I didn't know if I should plan to make my own backgrounds and thusly need to change the time I was spending on animating to allow myself time to make them. You can see how it affected both my planning and the work itself. Another way it affected the work is I would animate and then I would need to stop animating due to the fact that some of the shots I wanted to do had animation that was in the background and thus relied on the backgrounds. Additionally it prevented me from making some assets for the backgrounds. because I needed to see what the background would have looked like first in order to make the assets so they best matched the backgrounds and didn't look out of place. Additionally, what actually annoyed me was that the person in question had actually told others that they had completed my work, i.e. blatantly lying, to I assume, look better by saying they weren't screwing me around?
When it came to two months passing that’s when I took it up with my tutor Dan to see what he had to say. At that point he then asked around the first and second years and that’s how I got put into contact with Arkin but you have already read how that went. So at that point upon being contacted by arkin. I said I'm not gonna assume the original person I asked is gonna do anything even though they said they would. That at least allowed me to then plan accordingly. Also take a load of my back knowing Arkin was gonna do the backgrounds for me. It gave me time and less stress. Looking back on it now, the main takeaway from this experience is that henceforth when I ask someone for help I shant just look at their work itself but also ask around to see how they are to work with. So don't just look at what they can do on a practical level, but if they will actually follow it through. By inquiring others about their work ethic. That in theory should resolve any future problems with people with a bad work ethic by prehensive letting me know not to work with them. In theory this should work. But that is what I shall be doing from here forward.
Relevance, reflection, application and future
Relevance. so while this is more than relevant to just my FMP. Being able to communicate professionally and effectively is a highly useful skill in any trade. On top of that being able to work with one another, again a critical skill. At the same time knowing when not to work with someone or maybe having to for the sake of the work be honest with someone is also highly valuable. So over the course of my FMP having to interact with the multiple people I did even though some did not go great was indispensable in terms of value, especially since I have always struggled with communication and other people a lot. So for me in particular this was good practice and a good learning experience.
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Reflection. What would've I done differently knowing what I know now? Well I can only really think of two things. The main one being. Asking that one potential collaborator to collaborate in the first place as that really put me behind on my work and gave me a lot of unneeded stress. Henceforth before I ask for someone's help I’ll look into what their work ethic is like and if they are good to work with in the first place. Rather than judging them as a professional just based on their work. Find out what the individual behind the work is like I guess. Before I ask to work with them. If upon discovering from others that they aren't great to work with then end it there. Don’t ask and or work with them. This should in theory elviate most interpersonal professional problems before they arise and screw either the work over or the professional relationship. The second just being about communication in general. Not saying I think I communicated badly I just feltI could of communicated better for those that actually managed to get work done for me it went great and I felt we had really good open honest communication throughout the professional process. But my main example being me trying to communicate with the sound students nothing came through on that. I don't know if they even read my inquiries, maybe they didn't. Maybe I should have asked more people or asked more then once? I don't know, but maybe if I handled it better I would have gotten custom music?
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Application. Application wise the main one is just finding out about someone before diving into working with them. A little extra effort to potentially avoid calamity down the line goes a long way is all I’m saying. In terms of communication in general I currently and will probably in the future triple read over all my communication with others in a professional sense before I send it, not just for spelling but to make sure I’m conveying my message in the best manner so that its clear and concise. While also being friendly and not pushy or bossy or overbearing/condescending. Just basically so I come of as nice and not unknowingly rude. If I'm in charge or am leading someone then trying not to be bossy or come off as overbearing and give them the space they deserve and would work better for everyone. Also though keep the lines of communication open so be approachable all while also not constantly pestering them for updates. Generally I message when I need something or every week or so just to check in and see how the work is progressing.
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Future. Future well since the industry has a lot of people in it being able to collaborate and communicate is needed for my future. The ability will help me network and brand myself better and get more more connections and friendships within the industry which I've been told goes a long way in terms of employment. Also being able to lead and in turn be led by someone is a great skill to best allow the group to function on the whole. It's good for employers because in this industry you have a lot of people doing a lot of specialised things all working together to complete one big thing. So communication between pre vis, animation and post is key. So these skills especially for someone who struggles like me will both help my future and make it.