Animation Student

OUT WITH A BANG!

2006-11-30T12:06:00.000-08:00

Hey all,

Here's the very last art post on AnimationStudent! I recently got hired as a storyboard artist (in-training) at a studio here in Toronto. Many thanks to everyone who's commented on my work over the last year. I greatly appreciate all the input. Wow! I can't believe it's only been one year since this blog went up. It's crazy when you look at the progression in only 12 months.

You can catch me over at: http://carlton-branch.blogspot.com

It's been a blast, seriously. This last one is a digi-painting that I did for a fan jam over at Lesean Thomas' forum.

Enjoy!

(This was my first digi-painting from Feb/06 - ouch!!)

Branched-out!

Storyboard Test Characters

2006-11-18T08:28:00.000-08:00

Hey all,

This is a quick model sheet that I put together for a recent industry board test. It was a variation on the 'Waiting Room' storyboard test that has been used by a number of animation studios. I was given seven days to complete the test based on the initial "waiting room" premise. I didn't have a lot of time, so once I had decided on the story and roughed out the sequence in thumbs, I went straight to final boards based on these rough character designs, making changes as needed. Finishing the final boards took 2.5 days, stopping only to eat and sleep. Funny thing was I didn't realize just how long I'd been working on this, until the morning of the last day when I went to put out the garbage and I stopped and thought, "so that's what the sky looks like!"

Good times.

I'll post up a video of the complete 90-panel sequence as an animatic, when I get the originals back.

Branch!

Quick Sketch.

2006-11-05T06:50:00.000-08:00

Hey all,

Working like crazy on my personal project, but here's a random sketchbook drawing that I can actually post.
I'm going to try to do more stuff in my sketchbook, so I can blog more often.

Branch!

Quick Head Sketch

2006-10-21T13:35:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

Just a quick head sketch from a TTC poster (done while waiting for the bus).

Branch!

7 min Monk

2006-10-14T19:29:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

Yes, I'm still alive.
Yes, I'm still drawing.

Unfortunately for various reasons nothing I'm working on now can be posted. However, I did this sketch to help explain a point on Drawingboard.org.

Branch!

+2

2006-10-07T08:32:00.000-07:00

Hey all,
Here are another two from last night's TSA session. The place was surprisingly busy for the Friday before a long-weekend. The model was just awesome too, so it made it pretty enjoyable.

Happy Thanksgiving!
The Branch.

More Life Drawing

2006-10-05T20:10:00.000-07:00

Hey all,
Just two from tonight's session at TSA.

Animatic #2

2006-10-04T18:36:00.000-07:00

Hey all,
This is a 21-panel supplementary animatic that I put together to showcase more character interaction and action staging.

Enjoy!The Branch

Another Commuter sketch

2006-10-04T14:03:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

Just another quick sketch that I worked up today while riding the rails.
Branch!

"Bump in the Dark": Sample Boards

2006-10-02T17:24:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

These are the storyboard samples that I've put together this past weekend. I really had a lot of fun with these. This is the first half of what I originally planned for this sample, but between working full time and having just a single week to prepare the package, I am relatively pleased with the final result. I completed the animatic using Flash.

Branch!

More Life Drawing and a Boxer

2006-09-30T11:17:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

These are from yesterday's session at TSA. I'm totally swamped with this boarding project but I can always hear the words of my first year life drawing teacher Joe Park, "life drawing is the beginning and the end". I didn't understand his particular approach to and philosophy about life drawing in the beginning but now it's starting to make a lot more sense. Funny how that works. :)

The last one is a pen sketch of a boxer design that I've been playing with.

Branch!

IRON CHEF: "Fry Harder"

2006-09-28T19:32:00.002-07:00

Hey all,

Just another quick commuter sketch done on the train today. Inspired by an Iron Chef poster.

"Yippie Kay Ye [censored]"

Work has been crazy busy, but expect a massive update very shortly with a large storyboarding project that I'm feverishly at work on.

Branch!

Commuter Sketches

2006-09-26T15:47:00.001-07:00

One thing that I actually enjoy doing each day is waiting about 20 minutes for my bus to come take me home. That's because it's a great opportunity to do a location study. I'm probably the only person dreading inevitable arrival of the bus because I'm scribbling furiously trying to capture the mood of the particular environment. These are some from this week:
Branch!

Wash Your Hands!

2006-09-24T19:17:00.000-07:00

These are some rough story sketches that I did during a group meeting for a class film project earlier this semester. The story centers around a young kid who discovers why it is very important to wash your hands when you finish in the bathroom. Fun stuff! -CB.

Life Drawing

2006-09-23T11:08:00.000-07:00

Some recent studies from this weekend at TSA and from last semester.
- Branch!

Sequentials and Compositions from last semester.

2006-09-23T09:38:00.002-07:00

Hey all,

These are some of my favourite boarding assignments from last semester:

The first is a series of required shots of a man getting into a taxi. As you can see, I thought a monster would be much more interesting.

The second is a composition and storytelling exercise we did with similar elements (in this case squirrels and an acorn) with different story situations.

The third is an animatic based on one of our later assignments. We were just given a prescribed action and shot list. The action of an exploding building and two people running in, reminded me of the Incredibles, so I took Mr. Incredible and Frozone and worked the assignment into a complete Flash animatic.

Branch!

Armageddon's Children: Final #1

2006-09-20T13:45:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

Here's the final version. The original blue rough is pretty loose and as I was going, I realized that I could make the composition tighter by shifting some of the elements and the cropping of the border. This was done in PS. The rest was done in Painter 9. This is my first time using the software and it's pretty daunting looking interface at first. But the workflow is very similar to photoshop and once you get the hang of where everything is, it is very straightforward. I am very much looking forward to the next one!

This scene is taken from the climax of the novel, where a giant centipede breaks into the underground home that these street kids are living in. The thirteen year old girl, named "Sparrow" protects her wheelchair-bound friend with only an electric prod to protect them.

Branch!

Armageddon's Children: WIP #1

2006-09-19T20:42:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

This is the first rough in a series of digital illustrations based on the awesome Terry Brooks' novel, Armageddon's Children. I just finished the book and like everything else TB touches, it's solid gold! I am really inspired by the work of Chris Appelhans. Really beautiful paintings on his site. I'm planning to do about 4 or 5 of my favourite scenes from the book. All done using Painter9, instead of Photoshop.

Paints for this to come on the 'morrow.

Branch!

"Mr. Blandings"

2006-09-19T18:23:00.000-07:00

The second finished design in the cast of the Sir Charles Adventures assignment.

The barking space dog: "Mr. Blandings"

Branch!

BeetleJuice

2006-09-19T09:44:00.000-07:00

One of my favourite cartoons (SketchbookPro).

Branch.

"Sir Charles"

2006-09-18T22:05:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

This is a cleaned up and painted character design that I used for an earlier storyboarding assignment. The sassy computer known as "Sir Charles". I chose to base the design on Charles Barkley for rather obvious reasons. I'm really working on trying to improve the quality of my digital painting work. I'm moving away from the rough 'colour sketch' style that I used last semester and trying for more finished pieces.

The rest of the cast is coming...

Branch!

Kim Possible (Sketchbookprostyle)

2006-09-18T06:26:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

In light of the possible (and highly probable) eventual industry shift to digital storyboarding, I've started doing more work with my tablet in SketchbookPro.

More to come...

Branch!

"Pencil Dreams" (Conceptual Sketches)

2006-09-14T18:38:00.000-07:00

Here are some quick developmental sketches from a personal project I was working on during school.

The main concept revolved around visually describing the the creative process and the Artist's journey into himself and the strange world that he finds within.

Branch!

Branch-Man: Year Two

2006-09-11T17:49:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

That's right! We're back for another killer year. Had an awesome 9-day break! Woot! I just finished my first week and all my teachers are really awesome, so this year is looking fantastic!

But back to what I do on this blog, which is to post drawings, here are some quick ones that I've done in the last week or so:

Preliminary thumbnails for my animation lip sync assignment "Meow!"

In our first character design class, we were given 15 minutes to draw the character design that most inspired us. I chose Philly from Cannon Busters.

This one is the first part of a subway sketchbook series that I started based entirely on song titles.
This one is called "Cupid's Chokehold" (Gym Class Heroes)
The second one in this series is called "Combat Baby" (Metric)

That's it for now.
Branch-out.

Painted Flash Character

2006-07-22T14:59:00.000-07:00

Some quick paints of a character design I did for Flash.

Branch!