Annual Flash Presentation

Overall, designing a flash presentation to showcase fabrics isn't as exciting as you may think.

The overall idea was a fabric show called "All Sewn Up" where the host would travel across Canada and see what people have been doing with their fabrics. From Outdoor, to indoor, to crafts... It was 20 minutes of tweening.

My favourite part of course is this clip I am showing here. I thought it a good idea to bring in some of the Flash sketch technique I love so much and showcase some of the fabrics through the eyes of students. I really enjoyed giving each student their own personality. By far the most fun i've had at Rose E Dee yet. Other than the Web Redesign, that's pretty fun too.

Flash Presentation

A big part of my job at Rose-E-Dee is preparing an annual presentation to be shown at convention to introduce new lines of fabrics. Each year they hope to add a little fun to each presentation as to not bore the audience. This year the concept was to create a home decoration show, with a host to introduce various segments and in those segments, display the fabric.

To introduce the crafts segment I thougyht it a good idea to host a craft challenge. My first task was to design and pitch a logo to begin the segment. This was what I ended up with...

Rose-E-Dee

I have now been a Graphic/Web Designer @ Rose-E-Dee for a month and am glad to be gaining experience in my field. So far the main focus has been to keep the website updated and current as well as to brainstorm and design the annual flash presentation for buyers.
As you may imagine, showing fabrics is not the most exciting job but at least creatively we can have some fun with it. I have also been working with Interactive Touch Books, in my spare time, and have been helping compile the works of Red Chair Press into interactive books for kids. The books are so much fun, that somehow I find the time. That and working on my own books...well, there are just not enough hours in the day.

MEET MISS MADD on your iPhone (soon)

Meet Miss Madd

Just completed my 2nd interactive book. Meet Miss Madd was never intended to be interactive, but, with the help of www.interactivetouchbooks.com , it was easy.

I just had to make my own graphics, place the objects and with some directions from me, the software did the rest. It was fun!

So in sequence this is my book.

interactive touch books Miss Madd

The result after a drop shadow in added in Photoshop...

Interactive Touch Books_Miss Madd

I decided to try something a little different for my next book. I am outlining my characters in illustrator then exporting to Photoshop and adding some cool shadow effects...this is what i have so far...

Interactive Touch Books_Miss Madd

I was contacted by www.interactivetouchbooks.comand asked if I would like to convert one of my books into an interactive book using their application. It's an incredible tool allowing pretty much anyone to create an interactive app for the iphone. All would be required is the story as well as the illustrations. I have decided to use my Miss Madd Story and began to sketch out my character and scenes...

Im Scared Iphone App

While doing some freelance and design work I decided to go ahead and make my "I'm Scared" book into an iPhone app. So far I have completed 4 scenes here are some screenshots of whats to come.

Wee Hands

Just finishing up my Wee Hands project here are a few examples of illustrations i have done in flash.

Still Painting

Work in Progress

Loving the fact that if I am inspired to paint it no longer means that my clothing and furniture will get covered in acrylic.

Wee Hands

Feels good to be upon completion of my internship!

Saturday April 2 (6:00pm-7:00pm): Illustrating Objects
TOTAL: 1 HOUR

Sunday April 3 (9:00pm-12:00pm): Illustrating Objects
TOTAL: 4 HOURS

Monday April 4 (6:00pm-9:00pm): Illustrating Objects
TOTAL: 3 HOURS

GameLoft

Its Friday Night and I am working diligently on this Gameloft project. They have given me a week but I love getting things done way before the deadline. Some people like to relax and get it done on time. I like to get it done and then relax, cause you never can really relax when there is work to be done.
Sadly, I cannot say the same for my essay, due on monday. Sometimes we just have to prioritise.
I have included my work so far. The sprite, which seemed an easy task was challenging still. With only 128 pixels to work with, I had to cut much of my original design. As for the Sexy Pirate, I think I may have some serious touching up to do but felt I should leave it for a bit and go back to it.
Thirdly, the running cycle. I was not schooled in animation so this was new for me. However, when you have the basic talent, drive and capacity to learn, anything is possible:

http://www.boomchickaboom.com/largeImages/mainsprite.htm

http://www.boomchickaboom.com/largeImages/sexypirate_v08.html

http://www.boomchickaboom.com/largeImages/RunningSpartan_v01.html

The Job Search

For the past week I have been applying to various jobs in my field targeting companies I admire. Today I got a reply from Gameloft for a 2d Illustrator position. Not hired yet. But they do want an art test submission. I got so excited I dropped everything! And so I should. This is the reason i went to school right??? They require four submissions, ONE: a sexy realistic pirate, TWO: a spartan game sprite, THREE: the spartan in a flash running sequence and FOUR: a mock mobile game image. Ive attached the rough sketches I have so far:

Interactive Book

I am proud to say that I am in the finishing stages of my interactive book! I have a few glitches to fix as well as replacing a few sounds and the voiceover...BUT it's getting there!!!!!!!!! Wow. I have been writing and dreaming of making these little children's books for so long. First it began with the stories and illustrations but I had no idea how to actually put together a book.
I tried to teach myself photoshop and came up with some great toons but I didnt understand rasterized images and hated the jagged edges.
I had no idea how learning these tools would bring these books to life. I was in dreamland when i learned illustrator. Learning VECTOR was like someone had stuffed my head full of cotton candy...and now FLASH? So much fun!
I really hope that I can find a career that fully utilizes my talents and I wont stop CREATING my fun lil books.

I am now the proud owner of www.magicstorybook.ca, that combined with boomchickaboom.com (based on my "registered company" boomchickaboom creative), interactivestorybook.ca as well as gailmackenzie.ca, I am well on my way to taking over the internet!!! LOL

Interactive Book

Interactive Book

School is almost finished and I just wont feel complete until I breathe life into at least one of my storybooks.
If you have seen earlier posts in my blog you may have seen that I have been working on a book called "I'm Scared", its been a work in progress for a number of years. Initially I wanted to learn more about difital art to help me produce and publish my books. I love writing poetry and especially for children. After taking DMA I not only gained skills in Illustrator but I realized that I don't have to make a regular static books either, mine could be so much more.

With school combined with my Internship I have alot on my plate, but i'm determined to get this thing off the ground.

I have included some of the images I have so far. I have mapped out my story and what must happen throughout. Some of the backgrounds as well as rollovers and interactive buttons. Once this list was compiled I had an idea of the assets I would need. I have included what I have put together so far:

Wee Hands

Wednesday February 16 (4:30PM-5:00PM): Keying Green Screen Clips
(8:00pm-10:00pm): Illustration
TOTAL: 2 1/2 HOURS

Thursday February 17 (1:00pm-5:00pm): Keying Green Screen Clips
TOTAL:4 HOURS

Wednesday February 23 (2:20pm-3:20pm): Keying Green Screen Clips. Discovered quicker way to key!!! Was keying each clip individually as directed by an After Effects professor. Not completely happy with that answer, I asked another professor who happily showed me the way. (Grrrr...but on the positive side, keying will be much quicker now!!)
(4:00pm-5:00pm): Keying Green Screen Clips.
TOTAL: 2 HOURS


Thursday February 24 (3:00pm-5:00pm): My clips are Keyed!!!! Yay. Now just exporting the files as Targas where I will then combine the Targas and Audio from the original clips in Final Cut to continue with the project.
(8:00pm-10:30pm): Illustrating...Only 7 left!
TOTAL: 4 1/2 HOURS

Friday February 25 (12:00pm-4:30pm): Spent the entire day rendering one clip after another. Sound exciting? Luckily I was able to work on some other school work while I did it so not an entire day completely lost. I have run into a PROBLEM and that is that these Targas are taking up too much space. I ma sending an email to my professor and hopefully we can find a better way than this.
TOTAL: 4 1/2 HOURS

Monday February 28 (1:30pm-2:00pm): Got a lesson on how to export the After Effects files to movs while keeping the quality as well as the sound, and as an extra added bonus...I can actually store these on my hard drive :)
(6:00pm-10:30pm): Getting ready to do a SUPER render tomorrow. Luckily it is reading week so the mac labs are empty...which means I have 40 computers at my disposal. We will call it a GAIL lab for the day because I am going to log into 30 computers and render like a madwoman. Tonight I have been organizing my files into quick folders to upload onto each mac computer. I also compiled my swf files for approval to move forward with the flash illustrations..I may need to commandere another lab to export them all to movs.
TOTAL: 4 1/2 HOURS

Tuesday March 1 (10:30am-5:30pm): A long day of rendering what should have taken me MUCH longer. I ended up rendering all the footage on 40 computers, I had never done it so I could not even gage how long it would take. Ended up in a mad dash at the end and Aparently I was quite the spectacle. a few people came into the class to comment on my hostil takeover! In the end I have 212 beautifully keyed movs :)
(6:30pm-11:30pm): After I got home I began organizing all of my files. Also got word back from laura and about 75% of the illustrations were approved. Which means its back to the drawing board...literally.
TOTAL: 12 HOURS

Monday March 21 (9:30pm-11:00pm): Collecting more reference images and illustrating.
TOTAL: 1 1/2 HOURS



I have included a sample of a clip I have Keyed.

Wee Hands

Wednesday February 2 (12:00pm-2:30pm): Going through Green Screen footage renaming files and deleting footage.
(4:00pm-6:00pm): Illustrating
(7:00pm-10:00pm): Illustrating
TOTAL: 5 HOURS

Thursday February 3 (2:00pm-6:00pm): Illustrating
TOTAL: 4 HOURS

Tuesday February 8 (12:00pm-3:00pm): Renaming video footage and organizing content, learned a better keying technique in "After Effects". Ran into some difficulties exporting video.
TOTAL: 3 HOURS

Wednesday February 9 (2:30pm-5:30pm): Keying green screen footage, learned how to optimize a good key as well as export video properly. Will be exporting as Targas then combining the MOV file in Final Cut to add sound.
TOTAL: 3 HOURS

Thursday February 10 (10:30am-11:30am): Illustrating
TOTAL: 1 HOUR

Tuesday February 15 (11:30am-12:30pm): Keying footage in After Effects
(3:30pm-5:00pm): Keying Footage, sent a clip off to Mulberry Media and got the go ahead with the key. It's good! :)
(9:00pm-12:00pm): Illustrating, I do this at home because the school computers wont accept my pen and touch pad.
TOTAL: 5 1/2 HOURS

Wee Hands

January 22/2011 (1:30pm-2:30pm): Selecting new reference images
(7:00pm-11:30pm): Illustrating objects
TOTAL: 5 1/2 HOURS

January 23/2011 (2:00pm-5:00pm): Illustrating Objects
(7:00pm-10:00pm): Illustrating Objects
TOTAL: 6 HOURS

January 25/2011 (5:30pm-8:30pm): Illustatring Objects
TOTAL: 3 HOURS

February 1/2011 (3:00pm-4:00pm): Moving video files to Final cut at school
(10:00pm-11:30pm): Illustrating Objects
TOTAL: 2 1/2 HOURS

My Personal Project

I am excited about this particular project as it has been something that i have wanted to do since way before starting school. I will be working n my book, "I'm Scared". Rather than the static book i had always thought I would make,i've decided to take it one step further, I will be making it into an interactive book, one that kids could have fun with.

First I compiled a list of some of the images I would need, then I began to sketch the different pieces needed for each scene and now I am scanning and uploading into Illustrator to draw each image. I love illustrator and how it creates nice sharp vector images so I think it will look very polished once I am done.

Rebranding of a Company

For this project we were given a list of companies which required re-branding. I got a company called Master Bubble whose identity was seriously flawed. They claimed to be both traditional and reliable, the gum company that has been around forever. This was a great concept if they wished to market to an older age group, but their other claim was to have the biggest bubbles, which i felt spoke to a younger market. In order to make big decisions such as this regarding the direction of a company I would have had to do some market research but since the assignment was flexible I decided that, Fresh minty long lasting gum was for adults, but gooey big bubble gum was for kids, therefore I would go in that direction instead.

The first thing i did was pull up kuler and come up with a color scheme:



I chose these colors because they defined the three things i felt this company needed which was: BOLD/EXCITING and FUN.

I also went ahead and changed the name, out with the old and in with the new. The new brand would be Spy Bubble and the focus would be making the bubble gum fun and marketable to kids. We would take the "Big Bubbles" and make the gum larger than life, any good spies aid while on secret missions. The abilities of the gum could be brainstormed for commercials but off the top of the head. It could be applied to your shoes and enable you to walk up walls, or blow a bubble and be lifted away...just fun stuff for kids imaginations.

Wee Hands

Friday January 21, (10:00am-1:00pm): Met with Laura James to go over the tasks at hand. We went over each object and got a clear picture of what would be needed for each. We decided against animating every object in that it would require tons more work as well as take away from the sign itself. We also highlighted the most urgent chroma keying needed right away.

(7:00pm-11:00pm): Began tweaking illustrations and organizing into a new folder. Also went through my reference image folder and began replacing images with new ones.

TOTAL: 7 HOURS

Wee Hands

Wednesday January 19th (8:00pm-12:30pm): Animating objects
TOTAL: 4 1/2 HOURS

Thursday January 20th (4:30pm-10:30pm): Animating objects
Total: 6 HOURS

Wee Hands Baby Sign Language Iphone App

Back to work on my internship:

Monday, January 17th (9:00am-10:30am): Began retrieving reference images for 175 Sign Language Objects.
(4:00pm-6:00pm): Began illustrating some of the objects in Flash.
(7:00pm-1:00am): Still Illustrating, sent my swf's for approval to ensure that I am on track.
TOTAL: 7 HOURS

Tuesday, Jamuary 18th (9:00am-11:30am): Making some revisions on the illustrated objects. Sent the changes to Mulberry Media.
(5:00pm-12:00am): Recieved Email from Mulberry Media stating that the objects should have small animation once etched, which should include a few extra frames. Continued to revise the objects and set up a breakfast meeting for Friday to discuss these illustrations. Hopefully we can get together and save some revisions and time.
TOTAL: 9 1/2 HOURS

DVD Portfolio

Business Card Updated

Just sent my Business Cards off to the printers! I ended up going with a 2-sided card cause I love my logo.
I went ahead and started up Boomchickaboom Creative as a sole-proprietorship, thought it had a nice ring to it. Never know when I may need to do a bit of freelance.

Internship Game On!

As you may have seen in my blog I have done a few little things for Mulberry Media. One project I was super excited about was the WeeHands Iphone app but until now it was put on pause. Today I found out that it is now in production and I am going to be doing all of the animation for it. Once it's all together I will import in a few screen shots. The footage has been shot on green screen so it will need some Final Cut Magic which I have volunteered to do as well.

FITC

So, as luck would have it. The awesome Laura of Mulberry Media whom I met by chance, sent me a link regarding the upcoming FITC. Turns out, they are giving out free tickets to women!!!! I'm a woman! Basically they just wanted a blog, or video or flash submission stating why we should win the free ticket. I am almost done...just need some sound effects and a narrator voice but this is what I have so far. What do you think? A winner?