Welcome to my Blog where you can keep up to date with all my projects!
Here’s What I’ve Been Up To Recently…
Coronavirus Awareness
Lately I’ve seen so many people I know posting photos online with their friends… then new friends the next day… and the next day. As someone who’s been hugely cautious during this whole pandemic, it pains me to see people flaunting their socialisation when the risk is still very much there. I know we’re all…
Working With Children
In my last semester of my degree I had the opportunity to undertake a teaching module that involved a local scout group. For this project we had to plan and deliver lessons to the scouts to teach them the necassary skills for their media badge. Although Covid prevented us from delivering most of our content,…
Ofcom Children’s Media Report
These are my final pieces that I made using info from the Ofcom report! I love to read the report every year to track the trends within the next generation, and these are just a few of the cool facts I found this year. I know that graphically, these pieces aren’t too complex. After feeling…
My Work Within the Automotive Industry
RS Alloy Refurb Since I was 15 I have been doing design projects for RS Alloy Refurb. I started my design work with them for their convenience, as I was interested in developing my digital design skills while working as an administrative assistant for them so they asked me to design their flyers whilst at…
A New Project
I find it SO difficult to create without purpose, and when you can’t really leave the house and do your normal routine, purpose is hard to find. Last year I created an infographic to show information from Ofcom’s Children’s Media Usage Report. I find this report absolutely fascinating as it very clearly demonstrates the developments…
My Uni Experience
Having recently finished my Bacherlors degree, I thought it would be nice to recount my experience and take you along on the journey that I went through to become the motion designer that I am today. For those who don’t know, I studied BA Media Production at The University of Lincoln from 2017-2020. Going into…
Semester Review
What a whirlwind this semester has been. No one could’ve predicted the way that the semester would sadly end, I certainly didn’t think I would be completing my project during a global pandemic. It has definitely been the hardest semester of my degree, and I have really struggled with finding the motivation to work when…
Final 3rd Year Pieces
Here are my final pieces for this project. While I will be writing a longer evaluation later on for this module I wanted to just briefly reflect on the success of each piece here. Tessa Violet Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKPBf8BmxsY This is perhaps the piece I am most proud of this semester; I feel like the style…
Artstation Elements
Since we no longer have to create our own Artstation pages, I wanted to collect all of my additional Artstation assets here, just for reference. I have created a tutorial video detailing how to use my Twitch asset pack within OBS, and this is also linked within the read me file in the asset pack.…
TV Ident Update
Here is my finished ident piece: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fCyI58Dozk&feature=youtu.be I had to render this out at only a medium sample size, rather than high. Below you can see what it would look like with high samples and global illumination to make the scene lighter (but without any postproduction), however rendering this single frame took close to 2…
Problems with the Honne Piece
With everything going on in the world right now, I have come to the conclusion that pushing myself to finish the Honne piece in this short space of time would not be beneficial for my mental health or the success of the piece. Being so disconnected from my work at the moment, I have almost…
Finalising the Twitch Pack
Creating the Motion Graphics Template I tried to screen record my process for this but the recording made my computer run really slow so I had to cancel it, the process for creating a motion graphics template file is very straight forward though and is something I have previously done anyway. To create the template…
Creating the Twitch Pack
Initially, I wanted to steer away from complex scenes for my Twitch pack, and wanted to come up with some abstract graphics instead. As much as I really admire and appreciate Twitch packs with more complex artwork, I felt like I didn’t have the skills to accomplish this myself. I decided to experiment with creating…
Finishing the Tessa Violet Lyric Piece
While the Covid-19 problems have been progressing I found myself trying to complete my creative work, but not really getting too engrossed in it, and this has meant that I have done small amounts of this piece without screen recording any of it. Instead of screen recordings to show my process, I will just annotate…
The Impact of Covid-19 on My Project
As you will be well aware, the world is currently dealing with a global pandemic, and this has of course had some affect on my project. From the 12th of March I found myself presenting some symptoms of the virus and chose to self isolate following government advice. While I did find myself at home…
Making 2D Fire in Cinema 4D
For the Honne Video, I want to use flames engulfing the page as a transition, but creating this is proving harder than I thought. I drew up the concept frame by frame on my iPad, and I really like how it looks apart from of course the slow frame rate. I just couldn’t get this…
Creating Some Ident Pieces
Modelling process: -Create the glass tubes with the connector hoops -To make the bent ones, use the bend deformer and subdivide the initial shape Initially I intended to simulate the ball rolling through the pipe, so I turned the pipe into one mesh, selected static mesh to ensure that the mesh would be hollow, and…
Cinema 4D Sketch and Toon – First Impressions
I always knew that Cinema 4D was capable of creating nice looking 2D shots, and had heard whispers of a mysterious ‘Sketch and Toon’ feature, but I always assumed that I would stick to After Effects for my 2D work and leave Cinema 4D to do anything 3D. My curiosity has gotten the better of…
What is 32 bit Floating Point?
32 bit floating point is a colour depth setting that essentially switches your software from display referred to scene referred. What is display referred working? Display referred workflows work with the final output in mind, this could be sRGB (for computers), Rec.709 (for HDTVs), P3 (for cinema or Netflix 4k), and there are many other…
The Open EXR Workflow
What is an EXR? OpenEXR, or EXR for short, is a file type used to contain multiple passes of the same scene. Instead of exporting out to a PNG sequence and baking all of the components into one frame, an EXR file creates multiple passes (selected by you) of the same shot, and each of…
Looking Into Branding
Before fully engrossing myself in designing my channel idents, I wanted to take some care and design the brand identity, to give more meaning to the pieces I create. Obviously since its a theoretical brand, and I am not trying to demonstrate my ability to create a brand identity, I will not be thinking too…
Brainstorming the TV Ident
I decided to open up Cinema 4D and experiment to find some ideas for what I could do for my ident. This piece is just a simple motext, turned into a solid object, then with a soft body modifier and pressure added to make it bouncy. The material is an experiment with different colours in…
More 3D Abstract Work
I decided to do another Eyedesyn tutorial; I think his tutorials are so helpful as I always end up following along easily, and I find that he talks through the processes to help me understand why I am doing each thing. This means that I learn the reasons behind using each tool and can, therefore,…
Making my Own Font
For my lyric videos, I will be able to work much more efficiently if I don’t have to hand draw absolutely everything. I had the idea of creating my own font to keep within the hand drawn style, and this way, if I do at any point still hand draw a word, it will fit…
Initial Concept Lyric Video 2- Tessa Violet
Initial Idea https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAj-Xo5-NXU I used the album artwork to come up with a colour scheme again, and came up with this lovely retro combination of warm orange, a greyish blue, a washed out yellow, and a pale peachy grey. I wrote out the lyrics for the section that I want to create my piece around,…
Initial Concept Lyric Video 1- Honne
Honne – Warm on a Cold Night https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0uekC4DJak Initially, I wrote out the lyrics for the section of the song that I wanted to create the piece around (this is the pre-chorus and the chorus) and I used the album artwork to come up with a colour scheme. The scheme includes a very dark grey…
Other Animated Lyric Videos
Here are some other lyric videos that I have looked at to inspire my work, some have given me ideas of what to do, and others have shown me what I want to avoid. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIBwOmCKhE4 I think this video is amazing, I’m a big fan of the art style and think that the decision to…
MaginPanic Case Study
COPYCAT Music Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aejbTf8Y0_0 I absolutely love this piece. The bold yet understated colours are very 70s-esque which is really in right now, and I think they look great together. I also like the style of the drawings, very hand-drawn and flat Key points: -Words don’t have to be laid out in a logical order…
BBC 2 Case Study
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szX9L8J6CC8 BBC 2 are known for having some amazing creative idents, and these have really inspired my interest in creating this kind of work. Above is a reel of some of their more abstract idents, and I think these are really nice. None of them explicitly feature the number 2, they all imply the 2…
Twitch Case Study
Nana Ga on Behance The below pieces are all from the user Nana Ga on Behance, I really like their overall art style and the general theming for these Twitch packs, they are much lighter and happier than some of the cold and industrial ones I have seen. Things I like: -The warm welcoming colour…
Creating 3D Abstract Work
Last semester I based my work around creating real tangible objects in Cinema 4D. This meant that creatively, I had less freedom. Lava lamps look like lava lamps, cameras look like cameras, everything I created had an underlying design defined by real-world objects. This semester I am eager to create some more abstract and artistic…
Learning Agreement and Plan
Learning Agreement I have chosen to do a portfolio project this semester as this will work best with my skills. Project Outline This semester I will be expanding my current portfolio of work with the intention of appealing further to a future employer. From my previous research I have found that employers in the motion…
What Have I Learned?
I thought for my own peace of mind, it would be great to write down all of the things I’ve learned this semester, to remind myself how far I’ve come. At the start of the semester, I had only used Cinema 4D for a few hours, following a few tutorials over the summer. The work…
My Final Piece of Work
Here is my finished piece! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rId9q23SaQc&feature=youtu.be
Finalising my Piece
I just have a few more tweaks to do before my final piece is finished. Adding the Annotations Below is an example of how I added the annotations to my pieces. It is really simple, just involves placing the annotations in 3D space and making sure they’re positioned correctly on the Z axis. Choosing a…
How to track things onto Cinema4D videos in After Effects
https://youtu.be/qF8uHj_X4SM I decided to create this quick video to demonstrate to others how easy it is to use Cinema 4D file data to track things in your shots. This is the process: -Put the video and the C4D file into the same composition -Extract the data from the C4D file -Delete everything except for the…
Creating Book 3.0
I decided that a good test of my progress would be to model the book again, just to see if my methods have changed and/or improved. I managed to do it much quicker than my last 2 attempts, and I think that this one is actually my most effective one. The structure is very accurate…
Creating my Transitions for the Final Piece
Initially I wanted my transition to look like it was pages of a book being turned, but after watching the tutorial below, I decided that CC page turn looks a bit basic, and I could create something much more interesting and fitting within my style myself. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSFX1tB6mNU Instead I have decided to use a…
Creating the Donut Machine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QM4NrC9Q0Qs When trying to create the conveyor belt I came across a repetitive issue; the slats would just not line up properly on the ends. I went through many tutorials and followed them exactly and none of them worked. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ0KpiTaPAc I really like tutorials from EJ at Eyedesyn, I find him easy to follow and…
Preparing my Shots for Rendering
To prepare each of the models for their final renders, I had to do a few optimisation tweaks. Background The backgrounds of each of my final pieces started as infinite backgrounds that I created. I wanted to be able to have shadows from my objects because then they would then look more realistic, but I…
Learning How Fields Work
I like to periodically browse Linked In Learning, even though I’m coming to the end of my project, because I constantly want to be improving my skills. I found a short tutorial on using fields, which is something I had never used before in Cinema 4D, so I decided to give it a go since…
What Renderer Should I Be Using?
Renderers make a big difference in how your work looks once it is rendered out. At the start of the project I wasn’t aware of the possibility of different renderers, but now I use the physical renderer instead of the standard one. As it turns out, there are many more renderers out there, and an…
Daniel Danielsson
Daniel Danielsson is a motion designer who has worked with big clients such as Lush and Sky. He is a co-founder of, and creative director at Savage & Civil, a motion marketing company. I really love some of the pieces he has created. This piece for Lush is one of my favourites. The warm colours…
An Interview With a Professional
Alongside my studies, I do freelance work for Project XIV. The company was founded by former UOL students who studied this same module in their final year. I have spoken with Antek and Ellis in the past, Ellis Blake is now my main point of contact but I decided to ask Antek a few questions…
Creating the Lava Lamp
After sitting down one evening and creating a scene just for my own benefit, I had the idea to create a lava lamp, using the soft-body skills that I have recently acquired. The piece that inspired this wasnt meant to be part of my project, I was just brushing up on my skills and feeling…
Softbody experiments
I haven’t yet really learned a lot about soft body simulation so I decided to do a LinkedIn Learning tutorial to learn the basics. Above is the finished piece, and below are my screen recordings showing how I got to this point. My first screen recording shows the issues that I had with the soft…
Creating the Cactus
For my next piece, I wanted to demonstrate rigging by creating a character. Creating the model Creating the flower Adding the spikes Rigging I had a bit of an issue when it came to the rigging; when creating the model I had already warped the arms and baked them as warped objects, when really I…
Inspiration- Beeple
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ul9jrCXhR4 Recently I watched a video by one of my favourite YouTube channels, Corridor Crew. They made a video where they met and challenged online creator Beeple (Mike Winkelmann). Beeple creates and shares something new every day, and is currently in his 12th year of doing so, without ever missing a day. I really feel…
Making the Camera
My first step was to model the camera using a photo from the internet. I went about this by creating the basic block shapes and then editing the geometry and adding bevels where necessary. To create the white part I was expecting to just extrude a face from one cube to create an L shape…
Making the Gumball Machine
For my first final piece, I decided to model the gumball machine. I split up my process into sections with a video each. Firstly I had to model the main shape of the machine. I used the taper deformer so that initially I could work in a non-destructive way, but shortly after I switched to…
Using Linkedin Learning
I decided that as a refresher I would look on LinkedIn Learning and follow some tutorials, as I was feeling unmotivated after having issues with my HDRI, and wanted to create something successful to boost my motivation. I chose to look into modelling with primitive objects, as this sounded relatively simple but the end product…
Having HDRI Issues
What is a HDRI? A HDRI (high dynamic range image) is a simple way of lighting computer-generated work. The image is applied to a sky sphere, and the data from the image is used to replicate a real-life lighting scenario. They can be the difference between work looking fake and looking realistic; they provide more…
New Plan
I’ve had another boost of inspiration and decided to create a different idea. The video below is one that Jon put on our shared Facebook group, and although it was not created in Cinema 4D (they used Blender) I really like the visual style and overall effect. The bold colours and white overlaid graphics are…
Book 2.0
I decided to have another go at creating the book, this time for use in my final piece. From a previous task I discovered the dope sheet, which means that keyframing is really logical and although it may look very confusing, it makes a lot of sense. Last time I modelled the book, I modelled…
Keyframing and Rigging in C4D
I started off today by intending to learn how to keyframe in Cinema 4D. I’m very familiar with the way it works in After Effects and have so far been very confused at the way it seemed to work in Cinema 4D; the keyframes all seemed to be bunched together on the same timeline, and…
Storyboarding
I have decided that to combine After Effects and Cinema 4D, I would like to create a short animation in AE that then turns 3D, which would then be created in C4D. The animation would be from a dot, to a line, to a square. Then a cursor would appear and adjust the hue and…
Cinema 4D R19 or R20?
R19 or R20? Before opening Cinema 4D R19 I anticipated having to do a lot of research into whether to use it (since it is built into After Effects), or find a way to incorporate R20 into my projects (since I’ve been using it this whole time). It became very obvious however, when I opened…
How to Create Materials in C4D
So far to create materials in Cinema 4D, I usually just pick a default from the software. While this does usually get me the desired effect that I want, I should definitely know how to create my own materials so that I can branch out and create different effects, and ultimately be more creative. Using…
Learning How to Use MoSpline
To create the book that I would like in my sequence, I searched up a quick YouTube tutorial and saw that I need to use the Mo-spline tool. I have never used this tool before so this activity will help me to learn what the tool is and how to use it. This is the…
The 12 Principles of Animation
The 12 principles of animation were created two Disney animators and outlined in The Illusion of Life (Thomas and Johnston, 1997). I have decided that instead of focusing closely on 3D techniques, I will focus on these 12 principles and incorporate 3D techniques into them to form my project. The 12 principles are as follows:…
Reading ‘Motion Graphics’ by Crook and Beare
I have purchased and read through a few chapters of Motion Graphics by Ian Crook and Peter Beare (2016) and have found that they define three key aspects of what makes up motion graphics; image, space, and time. I have noted below the key takeaways I got from each of these chapters. Image We call…
Coming up with some vague designs
I decided to sketch out some ideas on my iPad for things that I could create. I haven’t had a chance to read Motion Graphics (Crook and Beare, 2015) yet as its shipping has been delayed, however, I decided to just generate some initial ideas from what I’ve read in Light for Visual Artists (Yot,…
New Idea
After speaking with James I have decided to slightly change the direction of my project, to make sure I am appealing to my target audience. For this reason, I am going to do a project that spans both 2D and 3D, and basically, create a piece that demonstrates each skill I have. Throughout this I…
What software should I use?
When working in 3D, there is a multitude of software available to use. Many of them have vaguely similar interfaces and tools, however they are used by different people in the industry for different tasks. Blender is a free piece of 3D software that covers a huge range of capabilities and tasks. The user interface…
Researching for Briefs
I have decided that if I am going to do some 3D work, I would love to involve myself in some competition briefs. This will be helpful for me creatively as I am usually bad at just pulling ideas out of thin air and it will also encourage me to work to a strict time…
Idea Generation
Initial Ideas 2D -After Effects -TV advert -Motion graphics template pack -Promotional social media content -Adobe Animate 3D -Cinema 4D -Blender -Maya -Satisfying Instagram videos -Low poly pieces -Modeling -Advert featuring 3D model Other -Spark AR -Adobe XD After writing down all of my initial ideas, I am conflicted about working in 2D or in…
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Jennie Hawkes 