Did you know tat you can read the first chapter of my “Design Essentials for the Motion Media Artist” free on Amazon Kindle?
Just click here and then follow the link on the right hand side of the page under “Kindle”.
Tag: artist
-
Read first chapter of Design Essentials book free
-
Design Essentials for the Motion Media Artist
Design Essentials for the Motion Media Artist – who is this book for?
This book was written for people I meet at trade shows and seminars who say “I’ve learned the software but my designs still look terrible. What am I doing wrong?”
This book is also for you if you’re a student or are new to motion graphic design. While teaching design students I found it frustrating recommending ten books to each student to cover the basic design principles for the foundation year of their degree course in Graphic Design. The university library never had enough books. The students couldn’t afford to buy the books they needed. Ironically, they only really needed one chapter from each to provide what they needed to get started. If only all that information could be provided in one book!
What will it teach me?
The book is designed as a one-stop, getting-started guide for anyone new to motion graphic design who wants to get the basic principles under their belt so they can get started quickly, making better design decisions as they work through the chapters.
After reading this book you’ll feel comfortable with the basic concepts and principles of design, animation and editing. There’s a chapter on drawing that teaches you the importance of “learning to see” through fun drawing exercises. Among other things, you’ll learn how to choose color combinations that work and how to create convincing and compelling movement in your animations. It will also help you choose fonts that work and improve composition with balance and elegance.
Inspiration
At the end of each chapter, a well-respected creative professional will talk about how their work incorporates some of the principles taught in the book. This helps you see the importance of these principles and to understand how they eventually become second nature to artists and designers.
Learn from some of the top people in their respective industries. The book includes “Inspiration” sections written by graphic designer and creative director Malcolm Garrett and musician Joan Armatrading amongst others. The Foreword to the book is written by commercial director and photographer, Rob Chiu (AKA The Ronin).
Where will it take me?
“Design Essentials” confidently points you in the right direction on the road to becoming a better designer and animator. The book presents the principles of design in an engaging and inspiring way. Each principle is explained in plain English with illustration, and photography where necessary. As well as mastering the fundamental concepts and principles of motion graphic design, with my creative approach to teaching, you’ll learn how to manipulate and bend the rules to create something unique that will also achieve your communication goals.
Once you’ve finished reading this book you should have the confidence to implement what you’ve learned to your motion graphics projects. There’s also an extensive Recommended Reading List on this website that will help you decide where to go next so you can increase your knowledge of these basic principles even further. There’s also a page featuring links to all the external resources mentioned within the pages of my book.
- My “where to go next?” Recommended Reading List.
- Resources and links referred to in the chapters of the book.
- Links to other useful training materials such as a blog & tutorials.
- You can buy my book from Amazon or any other good bookstore.
- Reviews of “Design Essentials for the Motion Media Artist”.
-
Post Production Magic
Join Red Giant for an evening of inspiration
I’ll be speaking at Red Giant’s FREE Post Production magic event in September. Here’s the blurb! Event Registration is available now on the Adobe website.
When a group of amazing animators get hold of a projection system, youâre either going to get an evening of inspiration or a cheeky light bulb joke. Post Production Magic is your event for awe-inspiring work by After Effects gurus Angie Taylor, Simon Cam of SuperGlue, Ernesto Rogata of BSkyB and colourist and trainer Simon Walker.
 These artists show you how popular Red Giant tools like Magic Bullet Suite and Trapcode Particular and Trapcode Form open up big creativity on a small budget. Experience the best of design, animation, colour grading and visual effects created in After Effects and Premiere Pro, along with a networking and cocktail hour. Hosted by Red Giant and co-hosted by Adobe Systems, the event will be streamed live by Adobe and held at state-of-the-art Ravensbourne University in London (www.rave.ac.uk).
 Angie Taylor (www.localhost:8000)
In her session Angie will share tips and tricks for creating cool and quirky motion graphics in Adobe After Effects and will show how she uses Red Giant Looks, Particular, and other Red Giant effects to give her animations a more distinctive style and pull her compositions together.Angie Taylor is an art director, motion graphic designer and author. She enjoyed a fourteen year career producing animation, visual effects and motion graphics for television, film, video and the web. During her career Angie worked with D-Fuse designing animation for cutting-edge Beck DVD ‘Guero’ and provided animation for the controversial Aphex Twin / Chris Cunningham collaboration ‘Rubber Johnny’. She also provided visual effects on the John Williams-directed “Hibernation”, winner of six awards at international film festivals, including ‘best short’ award at the 2005 Manhattan, Rhode Island, Edinburgh and Zagreb Film festivals. Examples of her work were regularly broadcast on the BBC and Channel 4 in the UK and across Europe.Angie also works in the software industry as a software specialist, regularly touring with companies including Adobe and Apple. Angie delivers software demonstrations and seminars on digital filmmaking and animation processes at international trade shows and conferences including NAB, IBC and Macworld. She also provides bespoke training and consultancy to a wide range companies including; BBC; Channel 4; Channel 5; Carlton; HTV; B Sky B; MTV.The author of three successful books. The âCreative After Effectsâ books (version 5 and 7), published by Focal Press, and a third book, âDesign Essentials for the motion media artistâ which is also published by Focal Press. Angie is also co-author of “After Effects CS5 Learn by Video”, published by Peachpitt in association with Adobe Press. Angie also produces high quality online training workshops with video2brain, Europeâs premier source for video training since 2002.
Simon Cam, Superglue (www.wearesuperglue.com)
Superglueâs projection mapping project for Toyotaâs âGet Your Energy Backâ campaign (http://www.vimeo.com/16466136) was a highly creative and technical challenge, utilising numerous different production techniques. The animation featured 2D, 3D, keyframed animation, dynamics, particle systems and more. Compositing, VFX and general pipeline management was performed in After Effects, whilst 3D work was created using Autodesk Maya and Maxon Cinema 4D. The team made extensive use of both Trapcode Form and Trapcode Particular in bringing to life the âhybrid energyâ that was the key part of the campaignâs message.
Superglue is an award winning, London-based production company specialising in innovative digital projects. The team comprises a dynamic mix of production, post and digital brains working across live action, visual effects, 3D and motion graphics. Superglue operates across the modern media spectrum, creating moving image for everything from banners to broadcast.
Ernesto Rogata, BSkyB
Ernesto will talk about the daily challenge of integrating text and other graphic elements in exciting and innovative ways in sport pieces, stings and short title sequences – usually with little time to complete the job. He will share some simple techniques to create motion graphics using After Effects and Red Giant plug-ins.Ernesto Rogata is an award-winning senior video editor at BSkyB in London and has worked in post-production for 20 years. His professional role covers four areas: editing, grading, creating motion graphics and training.
Simon Walker,  (www.simonwalkerfreelance.com)
Simon will show the grading secrets of Plot Device, a new short film produced by Red Giant, and will demonstrate how Red Giant’s Magic Bullet Suite brought to life a varied series of genres… as well as a hoard of zombies!Simon is creative director of WiltshireVideo.com, makes online grading and editing tutorials at www.simonwalkerfreelance.com, and is an instructor for the International Colorist Academy, iColorist.com. He is an Adobe Certified Premiere Pro Instructor and trains industry professionals in editing, motion graphics, colour grading, audio sweetening, and (excitingly!) video compression.Â
Here’s a link to Event Registration on the Adobe website
Ravensbourne
6 Penrose Way
Peninsula Square
Greenwich
London
SE10 0EWWeds 7th September 20116.30pm for drinks and networkingPresentations from 7.00pm to 8.15pmNetworking til 9pm -
12 rules of animation
Digital Arts has featured – 12 Rules of Animation – an excerpt from my “Design Essentials for the Motion Media Artist” as their feature article this month. The article is now FREELY AVAILABLE on the Digital Arts website.
Animation as we know it has been around since Horner invented the zoetrope in 1834. Since then animators have developed rules of animation that help us to draw viewers into the world we have created. From Disney classics to the latest stereoscopic 3D productions, weâve plundered them all to find the 12 key techniques you need to master to be a top-flight animator.
Some of these rules are based on real-life physics, and others on observations and reactions. They provide a set of invaluable âtricksâ for animators that have been proven to work in almost every situation.
In the article I delve into the world of animation to pick out the 12Â rules of animation that every animator and motion graphics artist must know. Drawn from the forms 150 year history, you’ll learn a wealth of dos and don’ts that will help you produce more engaging projects, whether you’re working in 2D, 3D, graphics, stop-motion or a mixture of them all.
You can pick up both printed copies and digital downloads from the Digital Arts website where you can also find some of my tutorials, tips and tricks.
I’ll also be talking about some of these golden rules of animation in my “Dynamic Text Animation for Motion Graphicswith After Effects” presentation at the Production Fiesta in London on May 6th.
In this session, I will share an in-depth look at the options for working with text in Adobe After Effects. I’ll show examples of successful motion graphic designs and will discuss the components of design that make them work. In this session youâll earn about the rules of typography and how to apply the rules of typography to your designs to make them easier to read and more dynamic. I’ll also take an in-depth look at the typographic controls available in After Effects and will also show you how you can use hand-drawn text to bring a unique aspect to your designs.
I’ll also be presenting four other sessions at this event which you can find out about here. If you want to register for a full day of valuable creative sessions by me and all the other speakers you can do so here on the Eventbrite page. I hope to see some of you there, please make sure to say hello if you can make it along.
-
Uprezzing Comps
A question appeared on the Video Copilot website today about uprezzing old projects which can be a bit of a nightmare in AE. You can often find that layers positions get messed up and effects change appearance when you scale your comp.Some of the issues that you’ll come across are hard to avoid but you can make the process a little easier by using some of the scripts that come free with After Effects CS5.
Incidentally, making projects bigger is a massive headache so always good (if you have the opportunity of course) to create your projects at the biggest size you think may be required. If there’s ANY chance of HD requirements then use HD, even if the immediate requirement is only for SD.
Having said all that, there are always times when you need to up-rez. Updating old projects for showreels; adapating other old projects for new jobs etc. So, if you simply HAVE to do it, there’s a couple of scipts that will work. In the Demo Palette (can be opened by going to File > Scripts > Demo Palette) there are two gems, one is called ‘Scale Comp’ and can be used to scale your entire composition, keeping all layers in the correct position. The other is called ‘Scale Selected Layers’ which will work on a selection within a comp, again, maintaining their position relative to each other.
You need to make sure your preferences are setup correctly to use scripts in order to use these. to do so, go to Preferences >General > Allow Scripts to Write Files and Access Network.
You will still need to go through the somewhat painful process of editing effects but this will save you a lot of work with layers etc.
To find out more about After Effects and download some FREE movies, check out my After Effects CS5 Learn by Video page where you can watch excerpts and learn more tips.
-
Lip Sync in After Effects
Lip-syncing is something that all animators will be asked to do at some point in their career. The following technique automates the process of lip sync in After Effects and uses only built-in features of Adobe After Effects – no extra software is required! This video tutorial is an updated version for Adobe CS5. Tutorial files and a text-based version of the tutorial for older versions of After Effects are available here if you want to follow along.
This project was a test project for a job for the BBC. They contacted me and asked if it was possible to create a minute of lip-synced animation on a cartoon character. The budget was really tight, as was the deadline, so I had only one day to create a character that lip-synced to a provided sound track for a full minute.Of course it was the BBC so I could hardly say no! So I said “Yes, no problem, I’ll take the job!” The minute I put the phone down I thought, “Oh Blimey! What have I got myself into?” I went to bed that night worrying about how I’d manage to get the job done. I tossed and turned, having nightmares about failing in my first job with the BBC. Then suddenly I sat bolt upright in bed and thought, “hang on a minute, what if I use Time Remapping with the Convert Audio To Keyframes Assistant, I’m sure that’ll work!” (That’s the kind of sad geek I really am!) đ
Anyway, I leapt out of bed, ran over to my computer and put together a test project to see if it would work. This is the very project I put together as a test to see if the technique would work. Luckily, it did and I got the job done on time!
The audio used in this tutorial is contributed with kind permission. “Memories Of Your Own” – Words and Music by Jason A. Levine © Jason Levine 2007
-
Creative Constipation:
I was describing a friend of
mine as suffering from creative constipation recently. It’s a common complaint, many designers suffer from it and it can be the result of multifarious causes; tight deadlines, the distractions of every-day life, worrying about friends and families, an untidy desk. All of these have been my obstructions at one time or another, preventing my creative juices from running freely.Fear of failure is the main culprit though, not just failure in the eyes of others but more importantly, failure to oneself. As a creative I’m cursed by the desire to create, it’s a necessary ablution – required to purge my brain of the incessant busy-ness it experiences on a daily basis. I have important things to say, I need to communicate!
But it’s not just a simple case of drawing, designing or writing just any-old-thing, it has to be good, to mean something, to make sense and, most importantly, to inspire and evoke reaction. This pressure I place upon myself is enormous, it’s enough to make me seize up into a foetal ball – like a anally-retentive hedgehog.
Luckily I’ve discovered ways of dealing with this potentially crippling condition. When a bad case of CC kicks in, the natural response is to sit in front of a computer screen in a frozen state of panic, waiting for that elusive “idea” to formulate. This will never happen. OK, I lied, it might happen but chances are that, if it does, it will be a crappy idea.
In order to free your mind and to come up with the best ideas you just need to get working. If you are a writer, just start writing! Any old rubbish that comes to your mind will do, whether it’s related to the subject or not. The exercise of writing will free you up and you’ll find that eventually you will start to incorporate the subject at hand and little gems will appear amongst the sentences. Once this happens, go over it again, delete the rubbish, elaborate on the good stuff and craft it into something positive.
If you’re a designer or artist, get away from the computer! Pick up a sketchbook and start drawing. If you can’t draw then go out and take some photographs or even Google images for inspiration by typing in key words. Drag what you find into a a document to create a mood board (I use Curio for this as it maintains links to the original files).
If you’re working on a design think about the individual components separately as this can be less intimidating than thinking about the job as one, huge, insurmountable project. Spend an hour playing with fonts, not just fonts on your computer but looking around at shop signs, magazines, anywhere you see type. Tracing letter-forms from magazines can be a great way of “feeling” a font instead of just liking it. Spend another hour with some paint, playing with it, experimenting to find color combinations that please you or convey the feeling you want to get across.
From these experiments your ideas will grow, some will be awful but elements will shine through that you can use in the current, or future projects. The ideal is find time to do creative exercises like these on a regular basis, even when there’s no deadline. Modern life and work pressures make this very difficult but a good employer knows that to get the best out of creative talent, employees need inspiration and time for experimentation. Most creative agencies make sure their staff are looked after fairly well with generous time off (compared to other industries) and a good working environment. (Why do you think most production companies have fridges full of wholesome food, drinks and the odd bit of alcohol?) đ
If you’re a freelancer, remember that you are your own employer so don’t be too hard on yourself. Allow time for experimentation and inspiration. Avoid stress, look after yourself and don’t forget to have the odd bit of fun. Finally, once the ideas start coming, enjoy it but don’t get too cocky or over-confident. You want to be freed up by these exercises but not to the extent where you’re producing nothing but a vast quantity of digital diarrhea!
Angie’s track of the day – Free Your Mind – En Vogue
-
Women of Punk 02
Growing up in Scotland in 1975, I had no idea what was going on the other side of the Atlantic. Little did I know that American “women of punk” were in the process of breaking ground so that people like me could find a voice and be accepted despite our inherent weirdness!
The first woman who I remember having the ideals and attitude that define the category of “punk” was the wonderful and truly original, Patti Smith. I’m sure Patti hates labels as much as I do. In fact the majority of folks labeled “punk” would kick and scream against having it safety-pinned to them. Sadly it’s human nature to feel the need to classify so, Patti, sorry for calling you a punk but please see it as the badge of honor it’s intended to be!
Patti was 29 in 1975, a veteran in punk terms, when she released Horses, her debut ground-breaking mix of rock and poetry. Lenny Kaye, the bands guitarist was also a writer. Lenny has been accused of instigating the use of “Punk Rock” to describe the raw, basic, gut-formed music that was desperately in need of a genre-defining moniker.
Horses is one of my top albums of all time. It fits into my elite category of “albums I never get tired of hearing” (of which there are only about 20). She continues to record and perform today and her recent albums are just as compelling as they ever were. She’s one of those rare individuals who, as well as writing her own fabulous originals (like title-track Horses) can take other artists songs and make them completely her own, take for example her cover of Them‘s Gloria or, more recently, Nirvana’s, Smells Like Teen Spirit.
Patti also had a big influence on the “Punk look”, and on design. She was the first woman I remember seeing wearing a biker jacket, jeans and cowboy boots, just like the guys, and she looked great with her straggly hair and gaunt beauty. She lived with photographer, Robert Mapplethorpe who produced countless iconic images of Patti, including the album covers.
Patti was part of the legendary CBGBs and Max’s Kansas City scene in New York in the the early seventies. The scene was frequented by other great luminaries of the punk scene like Iggy Pop, Velvet Underground, Andy Warhol, The Ramones, Wayne (Jayne) County and of course Debbie Harry who started out as a waitress at the clubs and went on to form 80’s supergroup, Blondie. Debbie Harry brought sex to the Punk Rock movement, most female punks were considered unattractive by regular guys but Debbie Harry toyed with their affections by pouting at the camera, then following this with mocking, teasing gestures. Sadly, partly due to her cuteness, I think she never got the recognition she deserved as a top song-writer and performer. She and Blondie wrote some of the greatest punk love songs of all time including “Picture This“, “Denis“, “Hangin on the Telephone” and “In the Flesh“. After all, punks fall in love too y’know!
Nico became noticed as part of the Velvet Underground/ Andy Warhol scene at the Chelsea Hotel in New York. Her gorgeously, deep, flat vocals can be heard on Femme Fatale, I’ll be Your Mirror and All tomorrow’s Parties as well as others considered to be some of the best Velvet Underground tracks. Although the Velvets can’t really be considered punks their influence on the punk movement can’t be underestimated. People like Siouxsie Sioux had ground broken for them by the likes of Nico with her fusing of 60’s Berlin beatnik, Marlene Deitrich style deep vocals and a passion for the art of singing that can also be seen in the likes of Beth Gibbons from Portishead.
There were countless other acts that influenced me and others, and still continue to do so. Joan Jett was a rock chic of the highest order, as was the Pretenders, Chrissie Hynde. You just have to look at the amazing Alison Mossheart of The Kills, Discount, and more recently, Dead Weather to see their influence carried down the generations.
Without these ground-breaking women we wouldn’t have had PJ Harvey, Kate Bush, Annie Lennox, Madonna, Bjork who are mainstream pop icons of today. And we definitely wouldn’t have any of the women that formed the UK punk scene who we’re going to take a look at in the next installment. I hope you enjoy my little nostalgic trip down memory lane. Please listen to the music and please feel free to chime in if you think I’ve missed anyone!
I was describing a friend of
