Stills From Short Film 'The Astronomer's Vision'

Unfortunately I am unable to upload my short film to my blog as it is currently being entered into festivals but here are a few shots from my film. It's been a busy few weeks since the end of the course and I'm already missing my work area and the creative energy which kept us all motivated in the studio. Making the move to London was a really bold decision and knowing I was going to be part of last Pg Dip course at LAS I knew I had to take this chance as animation is my passion and at times I have always questioned whether it was worth pursuing because of the state of the industry over the past ten years. Instead of the creator driven features and television shows which we were blessed with in the second 'golden age' of animation the 90's, nowadays we are being force fed flat lifeless animation or the same gaudy cg film which is released every other month. That being said I'm glad studios like Disney are still creating hand drawn features and Blue Sky are finding ways to continually trying to push the boundaries of CG with enjoyable snappy style animation by beginning to use squash and stretch . I am still yet to see Kung Fu Panda 2 but I hope it can maintain the comedic timing seen in the first and once again they have managed to translate the great character design across to the CG characters which gives hope we don't have to stare at the same Cabbage Patch Doll like characters for the next 5 years. Also since I've moved to London I have had the opportunity to visit great studios and be introduced to companies which are creating exciting work for advertising/ short film which show there is still room for creativity without having to follow the latest trend or fad.

Anyway here are a few shots from my short film which was probably part inspired by this rant!

'CHATTER' project Lip-synch

Lip-Synch done as part of an Animation/Video Installation Exhibition 'Chatter' http://chatterinstallation.wordpress.com/.

My line was inspired by a line from a routine by stand up comedian Dave Chappelle

Early Layouts and Backgrounds

Early Development

Task Project

Just before we begin our final student films. We were set the task of completing a 30 second animation where we had to find something difficult for a character to do. Doing the task allowed me to understand a lot more about the use of humour in animation and timing not only in animation but comedy. The task was animated straight ahead in flash and sound effects provided by yours truly.







More character/concept art

Body Language and Facial Expression Tasks

Facial Expression Exercise from Mark Jackson on Vimeo.

I plan to push this animation further as my tutor there needed to be more anticipation to prepare the audience for the punch and to make it clearer that it is set in an elevator.

Animatic and Character Designs for task project

Untitled from Mark Jackson on Vimeo.

The basic premise of the story is my main character tentatively known as 'chip', is trying to eat his lunch but the phone keeps going off.This is an early version as there are still timing issues.

1st Term Showreel and exercises from week 8 and 11

1st Term Showreel

Untitled from Mark Jackson on Vimeo.

4 legged Walk

Untitled from Mark Jackson on Vimeo.

4 Legged Run

Untitled from Mark Jackson on Vimeo.

I had originally intended to animate a Hyena but I had problems finding useful reference footage.

LAS Week 6- Snakes, Fishes, Birds and Sinisoidal Waves... Oh My!

Untitled from Mark Jackson on Vimeo.

Untitled from Mark Jackson on Vimeo.

This week at LAS our task was to complete an animation of a fish, bird or a snake. To help us create our animations we visited the aquarium to look at fish and sinusoidal waves! A sinisoidal wave passes down the horizontal plane of a fish and passes down from head to tail. The fish in the animation above is a Racoon Butterfly Fish

I also animated a snake, snakes tend to move in a wave like motion and follow a smooth path along the ground.
I think my snake moves more like a snake on a scalextric track so look out for a new one soon!

LAS Week 5- Walkcycles

In Week 5 we had to complete a walk cycle using Flash, I decided to use a character I had designed to keep the character interesting.

Flash Walkcycle from Mark Jackson on Vimeo.

Week 5- Walk Cycle Test from Mark Jackson on Vimeo.

I also did a hand drawn version, I was happy with my early test above but when it came to tracing and placing my character on top of my original test unfortunately the animation did not move as well as I had anticipated!

LAS Week 4 Weight

Week 4 was all about understanding weight and its importance in Animation. In animation weight defines character, personality and gravity in a scene. We had to choose between a push, pull or lift.

Untitled from Mark Jackson on Vimeo.

Week 2 Bouncing Balls

Bouncing Balls





This second week task served as introduction to weight and the importance of spacing. We had to choose between a soccer ball, beachball, ping pong ball and a bowling ball... Guess which is which! I also created one in flash.

Week 1- Basic Walks

Here is my first animation from my first week at Central Saint Martins where I am studying Character Animation. I was really happy with the final result. We were meant to do just a basic walk but I enjoyed introducing a sense of narrative into the exercise.
I feels rather quick upon reflection and I think I could of held poses a lot longer to give my audience a chance to laugh and absorb whats going on. But overall I was satisfied and its just the beginning....