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Any assignments listed under "Homework" are due BEFORE THE BEGINNING OF THE NEXT CLASS unless otherwise stated

Even if you are absent it must be submitted digitally through portfolio or email on time!

January 23

APPLICATION:

  • Sign up for DA, Tumblr, Google Docs or wherever your Portfolio will be

  • Complete the themed assignment: Exotic Parakeet Punch

    • Up for interpretation: submissions can be drawings, storyboards, sculptures, etc. Any form of visual storytelling

    • Examples of past themed assignments that were accepted for enrollment can be found under Previous Work/Archive​

  • Submit the Google Form Application (Due by 1/28 10:00am [new extended deadline])​

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January 30

HOMEWORK:

  • 4 story splines + 3 mood boards + 2 short paragraphs of the stories you’ve decided to pitch next week

    • ​STEP 1: Create 4 Story Splines

      • Once upon a time there was ___.

      • Every day, ___. One day ___.

      • Because of that, ___.

      • Because of that, ___.

      • Until finally ___.

      • And ever since then ___.​

    • STEP 2: Eliminate one of your stories

      • Create one mood board for EACH of the remaining 3 stories​

    • STEP 3:Eliminate another one of your stories.

      • Develop the surviving 2 stories into a short paragraph for a 60 second pitch!​

    • STEP 4: Email in your work! (no need to upload to your portfolio this time around, just email it in!)

  • Email your document/PDF to adfa@ucbugg.com. (Due by 2/6)

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February 6

HOMEWORK:

  1. Character Designs for your main character

  2. Create 10 quick potential silhouettes for your main character

  3. Pick 2 of these and make 3 line art iterations of each

    • same silhouette but different expressions and outfits​

Final results should be 10 silhouettes, and 6 line drawings. 

** DO NOT email this to us! Submit this week's HW to your portfolio

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February 14 (HW due Feb 27th)

HOMEWORK:

  1. Character Turnarounds (Front, Side, and Back) for ALL MAJOR CHARACTERS

  2. ​Character Lineup for at least 3 characters 

    • If your story only has 2 or less, make more hypothetical/background characters

    • Color is optional (remember that form and silhouette > color)

    • After you finish drawing: Block out silhouettes!

    • See first character lineup slide (with the Big Hero 6 cast) for example

  3. Model sheet for main character ONLY - 3 poses 

    • Shooting a gun (Type of gun? What are they shooting at?)

    • Lifting weights (How heavy? Are they struggling?)

    • Dancing (What dance? Are they having fun?) 

  4. Intro to Premiere Lab​ (under Coursework > Labs)

    • Email it to adfa@ucbugg.com as "[Name] - Intro to Premiere Lab"​ 

    • Only email the .mp4 for the premiere lab. Upload your character design HW to your portfolio like last week

Check out Past Student Work if you're unsure what to do!

**Color OPTIONAL for all of these

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February 27

HOMEWORK:

  1. 3 black and white thumbnails of environments in your story

    • They can be different locations or the same location but with different angles, etc...

    • Something similar to the activity in class, focus on the mood, leading lines and values

  2. 1 Refined black and white sketch of the most important setting in your story

    • Simple gray shading recommended but not required

    • You basically want to take one of the 3 b/w thumbnails that you are most content with and refine it so that it has more details

    • IMPORTANT!: Do not draw on top of your thumbnail; instead, make a separate drawing that follows your thumbnail but has more details

  3. 1 aerial planning view of that refined setting

  4. OPTIONAL BONUS: Draw Jackie Chan. It won’t raise your grade but it will raise your spirit and soul

Check out Past Student Work if you're unsure what to do!

**DO NOT email this week's homework to us! Submit all of this to your online portfolio

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March 6

HOMEWORK:

  1. 10 quick (2 in x 1 in) sketches of scenes from your story

    • Pick the most important scenes to draw (Tip: refer to your original splines from the story lecture)​ and try to span all major story beats form beginning to end.

    • Thumbnails should be fast, rough, and NOT take more than 3 minutes each

    • NOTE: These should be actual drawings/sketches, not the abstract black and white shapes like last week's thumbnails (Although you can try creating thumbnails with the back and white shapes to help you determine values/composition)

  2. Colored Beatboards

    • Pick 5 of your most important scenes from the above thumbnails

    • Color each of these scenes (remember to keep in mind mood, tone, and contrast!)

    • NOTE: Keep them flat and loose. No intense detailing or shading.

    • Use the 16:9 (or roughly 2:1) ratio for each beat board.

    • Do not use more than 5 major colors in each of your drawings 

 

March 13

HOMEWORK:

  1. Thumbnail out your entire story first to see how many drawings and what drawings you’ll need (not required and not turned in, but highly recommended)

  2. Storyboard your story out from START to FINISH! And be ready to pitch it next week!!!!

    • At LEAST 25 drawings (Aspect Ratio 16:9) and must cover your WHOLE story

      • Black and white: at most a few tones of grey (Try to stay away from color)​

      • Remember this is your first pass

        • DON’T worry about boarding out every minor action or detail!​

        • DO focus on conveying the main points and the main story

      • Your story should be a 1-2 minute short. Maybe it’s time to shorten or modify it?

    • ​The blank storyboard sheets we used today 

      • Traditional: Take photos or scans and upload

      • Digital: Compile them into several jpegs and upload

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March 20

HOMEWORK:

  1. Turn your storyboard into an animatic!

    • Scan and/or crop your storyboard into individual 16:9 frames and compile them in Premiere Pro (or any other video editing software)

    • Focus on clarity/pacing of story

    • Implement any suggestions or criticism you receive today during storyboard critiques

    • Upload your animatic to your portfolio; if your portfolio site does not support video hosting or you run into technical trouble, then upload your animatic to youtube and email us a link

  2. Animatics Lab

    • Not an actual assignment: Some shortcuts & tips for Premiere that are specific to making animatics so you can work on the above bulletpoint

  3. Bouncing Ball Lab

    • Definitely an actual assignment: Intro to animating in Photoshop (Found under Coursework>Labs)

    • Email your final .gif to adfa@ucbugg.com

    • Warning: This lab is longer than the previous ones!!

  4. SIGN UP FOR CHRIS ROMAN'S CRITIQUE IF YOU ARE INTERESTED

 

April 3 (HW due April 17th)

HOMEWORK:

  1. 2nd Pass Animatics

    • Make any revisions based on today's critiques and the followup email your rotation group facilitator sends

    • Must have substantial differences from this week's!

  2. Create a walk cycle for a stick person! Follow the WALK CYCLE LAB HERE​

    • Export your file as a .gif file, and e-mail it to adfa@ucbugg.com by 4/17!

 

April 17

HOMEWORK:

  1. 3RD PASS ANIMATIC FOR FULL CRITIQUE NEXT WEEK

    • This should be your first priority; incorporate the feedback you receive today, from your facilitator's followup email,  and any lingering changes from last week

    • You WILL be graded on the number of changes or revisions you've made in your animatic since the first pass!!!

  2. OPTIONAL: Animate one of your characters changing between two expressions (similar to what we did in class today)

    • ​Can be used to make up 1 unexcused absence or 1 missed assignment​

    • ​Must use at least 24 frames!

    • Export your animation as a .gif file, and email it to adfa@ucbugg.com

 

April 24

HOMEWORK:

  1. FINAL ANIMATIC

    • ​Deadline is Thursday, May 4, 11:59 pm! Make sure to have it uploaded to Youtube (CHECK PRIVACY SETTINGS) and email us the link, or email us the .mp4 file

    • Let us know in the email if you DO NOT want yours shown

    • Check last two slides of lecture for showing formatting details

  2. Fill out the FINAL EVALUATION form if you have not done so already!​

  3. Fill out the PERMISSION TO UPLOAD WORK form to let us know if you would like your work featured on our website or not!

  4. If you enjoyed our class and would like to teach what you've learned to others, APPLY to be a facilitator! (DEADLINE: May 22 11:59 pm)

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Final showing: May 5 1--2:30 pm in Sibley Auditorium 

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