Sunday, October 10, 2010

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Ball Under Layer

Every image was part of the same environment, alterations in structures were placed in spaces that avoided conflict from the first bounces.

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Golf Swing Sequence

The first video is a loop starting with a slower sequence, back to position, then a faster swing, then repeats. I thought it was the best way to represent both movements. The one below is a slower version.

Golf Swing Sequence 3 from Rhianna James on Vimeo.


Untitled from Rhianna James on Vimeo.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Incremental #1

Photobucket

I feel like my surroundings affected my drawings to a degree today. I feel like some of the discomfort from being outdoors actually helped me loosen up, since I'm more of a technical detail-oriented type. The work produced was an interesting twist on typical figure drawing studies I've done, just adjusting my mind-frame to take into account scale and position was new, I feel like I got better by the end of the drawings on placement and fluidity, but still drawing in this manner, especially having to overlap and assume the size of field and character is a definite challenge.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Incremental Sample #1



Def. one of the better incremental sketches I've done... I've found another reason to love music videos after starting these.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

METAMORPHOSIS

At long last?! Note to self, never voluntarily animate in color again...

My first ever attempt at an actual animation, the technical challenges were the determining point as far as what I took away from the creation process. From the beginning, I concentrated most of my energy on rendering the ink and color of the image, I feel like I lost direction and had too many movements with too little frames. That was the issue, clearly learning that emphasis on color and details is kind of pointless in animation if it has no flow or continuity due to a lack of inbetweens. I did love seeing my inspiration and characters coming to life with the liveliness of color, if even for two seconds, the morphing process was so much fun, just the things that I would unconsciously create; bench into face into head into plant into dragon eye...then back again.
I wish I would have pushed a variety of perspectives and depth of space.
Still, even with a lot of regrets I can actually say I love what I made, just seeing my art and vision come to life is amazing.

kcai animation straight ahead from Rhianna James on Vimeo.




------------------------------------------------------------


A second larger upload, with a little more detail.
Had some issues with cropping and file size restraints on Vimeo.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

KCAI ANIM: Hunting & Gathering Project, PART 1

Favorite Place Growing Up




Pegah's Family Restaurant
    Nine years, in that proximity, my family and I, whether partial or complete have spent countless meals at this place. Pegah's Family Restaurant, two locations home to the average, middle class suburbs in common place Kansas always had a special charm to me, even as a kid. Though my Mom and step Dad were never the kind of people to value nostalgia or ritual, the times I had there keep me coming back, even if the food ain't worth so much now. It's the way we've come full circle as a family from the crappy two bedroom apartment across the street from there, to our final stop, a charming house just two blocks from there.
     The way everyone knew my name, knew what we liked to eat, and treated us special, it's the feeling of home and permanence, but at the same time change and moving forward. It was so exciting as a kid to go out for breakfast, our special treat my Dad and I would do every Saturday morning, just me and him. We'd talk about our week, work, school, anything. The waitresses were always nice to me, ask what I was drawing, what the day held. On my 12th birthday, unprovoked, I remember receiving a giant cinnamon roll with birthday candles, Pegah's doesn't do birthdays.
      Also, my independent attempts in early teenage years; the first place I ate after buying my first car, breakfast with my friend from California,  crying there after being scolded, secretly using the parking lot, even buying biscuits and gravy  to go in secret as surprise for my first love. After moving through five different homes, losing and making friends, the birth of my little sister, that place remains the same, somehow never improved nor lacking to me. It's still a favorite place to me, if only for the memories and discussions I collected with my family there.



Favorite Place Locally



His House
     Baltimore Avenue, Kansas City Missouri, a street lined with big old houses, some reconstructed with beautiful outdoor porches, some not so lucky, ending up run down, especially as the street goes farther north. This is not a nice part of town, but it's not horrible brutal either. If you're not on foot two blocks down, that is. I didn't live here, but I might as well have the past year and a half of my life. It almost seems like this shouldn't count as a local joint, do to it being a friend's house and not anyone has a pass in, it feels like it though. Though my friend no longer lives there, it still has an importance to me, I still pass it daily, I'm welcome anytime. Five different guys live here, filmmakers, artists, and friends, it's like a big mismatch family.
     Friends of friends were always in and out, whether for a party, a film shoot, a get together, Christmas eve, before the show, at random night where we heard gun shots, birthdays, a funeral, fights, loving, and at times my personal hatred, It's the place full of my first experiences, good and bad. I always wanted to be there, I'd sneak away from home just to go there, I didn't matter if everyone was doing nothing or everything. It's my best friend's home, he lived in the very top room. I'd always look straight to that single window at the point of the house from my car window, hoping his light was on, that maybe I'd see him. I can get away there, it's not like other people's homes where there are rules and manners, no boundaries.
     I painted there, stayed up all night to my heart's desire, I was open and could be myself, I was always welcome there, as if it were a cafe or my own home. There was always someone I could talk to, something going on, something worth listening to, but it was never required.
    There was no expectation to preform, or to even socialize, I would spend time there alone even, just a space to work and allow myself freedom from family demands or having to be entertained or entertaining to one another. Like a studio, home, foreign place, or social gathering all rolled into one, fitting my wishes. For me, almost everything imaginable was done there, from a green screen film project, Thanksgiving dinner, moving furniture, a Venture Bros. marathon, a guitar jam-out, casting, baking cupcakes for Valentine's Day, a place to crash after a crazy First Friday, facebooking all day, a heartbreaking fight, some of my closest bonding, or to just cry and let out all of my personal tragedies to someone who cared. It seemed so questionable, for a girl to hang out at a house full of guys so much, maybe that's part of the attraction, the fact that I made my own choices, lived without caution and in secret when I would go there.