So It Goes: Postcards & Presents

Senior thesis is finishing up... and to go with my animation, I took some of the scenes & made them into postcards! I am still tweaking the animation, so I'm not posting it yet, but here are the postcards: 

(all images copyright 2014 © Alex Pope ! )

In addition to making postcards that I will hand out at senior show at the end of the year, I also took the pages of bristol I recorded paint drips on (to use in my animation) and cut them into pieces that I then framed and gave to all the teachers who helped make my thesis what it is.

Doodle Daily

I try to do something in my sketchbook everyday-- and lately its been a lot of type.

My thesis sketchbook front page + thesis animation title

 A birthday card I made my dad

Lots of #wordsofwisdom

  

(follow me on instagram for more + often! @axpope)

Value Contrast

I don't want to give anything away, but here is another sneak peak into my thesis process! 

Enjoy these screen shots straight from AE. I threw an adjustment layer over my comp with the black & white effect on it to evaluate my color / value choices before second critique on monday.

Walk Cycle Development

My main character, I shall name him Carl the Cage for now (I love alliteration), has a very important walk cycle. I mean all character walk cycles reveal a lot about themselves, however in my pieces he is mainly walking hence the emphasis on the need to finesse his walk.

Check out how far his walk has come since this summer:

First rig & walk cycle

To be honest I wasn't quite sure what he would be doing so this is pretty generic. 

Second rig & first walk cycle

Doing ok, but still seemed to light on his feet 

Second rig & second walk cycle 

Now the way he pulls the string makes more sense and he feels a little heavier... 

Still in the works but I've gotten this far in time for our second critique. his walk will continue to be pushed but you won't see it till the end-- I got to leave some things about my thesis a surprise still! :) 

Handmade Alpha Mattes

My thesis is very illustrative with a focus on hard work and being handmade. 

Here are some behind the scene shots of my handmade alpha channels! By recording the motion of black paint and ink on a white background, I then translate that information to opacity-- so black will be see through and white will not. I'll be using the paint / ink motions as scene and color transitions in my piece :)

In the container & on screen:

Dropped ink in a tall, clear container of water (seen here), soapy water and milk.

 

Working behind & in front of the camera: 

Clamped bristol paper to outside of fish tank and dripped ink, watercolor and acrylic paint.

 

The paint & the painting:

Taped velum paper to inside of fish tank and painted with acrylic paint.

 

Colorful Color Tests!

(Although most of these images are on my Tumblr I wanted to post about them together here)

These are a variety of color tests I have done for my thesis + the color palettes they are based off of. Big thanks to my illustration teacher Mr. Hodges for helping me push that atmospheric perspective!!

These are from the first round of color play to show day & night:

 

This round came after as I developed the story with seasons and these shots are straight from after effects with color palettes that inspired them: 

Winter 

 Spring 

Summer 

 Fall 

 

Ted X = Sarasota | The Spark

I made this short animation for Ted X event in Sarasota.

Given the challenge of making a piece relating to 'sports' my group of 5 & I had to create animations that could be played individually as well as together. Mine goes first, hence its title: The Spark.

I've Moved! // I'm Back!!

SEPTEMBER: 
Hello all!!

I've made the leap from blogspot to tumblr. 
Please continue to follow me, as I will continue posting process work of all the random things I do + currently lots of thesis process work.

I did this in hope of getting more exposure + spreading my art around.
So please, follow me here on tumblr:
http://axpope.tumblr.com/
also, feel free to follow me on instagram:
http://instagram.com/axpope

OCTOBER: 
Hey guys!
I'm back to blogger.

I tried the tumblr thing out... and the thing is- I love it for looking up inspiration and reference... but not for posting my own work. As of right now I use instagram for the same purpose I would tumblr-- for spreading my work around-- with more fun since I don't post strictly art. I enjoy blogger the way I do an [art] diary since I feel like I really get to craft each post and center it around something.

So I will leave my tumblr open and see how I continue to feel about it... but in the mean time I'm back to my beloved blogger. <3

Trippy Trees

Turned my season-changing trees into cute little .gifs!!
... they kind of look like they are on drugs, but in my animation they are actually changing seasons :). The gradual color change is temporary, I hope to add some cool textural change by the end of this!

 

Printers with Personality

It will be my last year working at print services (let alone being in school!) :,(

I tried to make extra spiffy name tags that will last a while!

Done with acrylic + sharpie 

(vs. being done w/ prismacolor markers-- they always fade 1/2 way through the semester). 

 The smaller & nicer printers: 

 

The twin-sie, larger printers 

 

Another big printer  

The biggest & meanest printer 

She always eats paper & gives you a hard time! 

New York

It was crazy and awesome spending the summer in NYC, but now I am finally back at school.
Soon I will be focusing on thesis, and putting lots of process work & other goodness up on here, but before I do wanted to recap.
I don't usually like putting personal pics up / stick to work-- but I learned a lot as an artist as well as human in the city. (I will put together a demo reel of my Showtime work soon here as well.)

Showtime building & some cool interns!

So many rooftops! 

Good times with good people :) 

 

Times Square at 2AM & Dope concerts! 

Visited the cloisters & some other super neat museums! 

 World's smallest museum! 

 Old Timer's Day at Yankee Stadium! 

Random apartment/ cat sitting!