the bohemian noodle

Blog moving house

2010-03-08T11:47:00.000-08:00

I've moved to the darkside (but it is shiny)

Mainly because it goes in with my site better, so go to www.adamoliver.com/blog to read on sister...

This is why Mickey is cool

2009-03-03T07:38:00.001-08:00

Mickey gets an update and down with the kids. I feel a collaboration coming on...Dr Disney Dre?

Giant snowball

2009-02-03T09:46:00.000-08:00

Watch the chap jump on...

50 squid

2009-01-25T15:56:00.000-08:00

A quicky of keys and a couple of breakdowns for a character and a £50 note exercise. The idea came to me whilst drawing the walk keys due to his beaky nose. Scribbled in Flash (I'm back on that band wagon)

addition..

2009-01-18T15:54:00.000-08:00

don't quite know how a sketch of myself got in there...but here's the one I meant to post.

P.S: I have a big nose.

2009 away!

2009-01-18T15:40:00.000-08:00

Here's some life studies. I've been re-reading the Force book and trying to approach it from that angle when I draw. I think it helps, but I definately need to not fiddle with it otherwise I lose sense of proportion.

Sad day, Tony Hart dies. He got me started! Although not as much as Peter Maddocks' books on cartooning. Tony Hart's creations always were a little disturbing I found. Just a bit soft I think!

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-10T11:21:00.000-08:00

Something I did for Christmas cards...

Two new stills!

2008-12-10T11:20:00.001-08:00

Site has new work on in the stills section, including the cover art I did for Televisual magazine.

reeeach

2008-12-06T10:36:00.000-08:00

no real idea what this is about, but something to post at least (feeling the need to be web 2.0).

Been animating more in Flipbook recently to rough out scenes for animating in 3D. That and designing christmas cards for print (just for fun).

And a new t shirt design, that is actually going to print!! All will be revealed (or maybe not)

20 bricks on your head

2008-11-28T03:26:00.000-08:00

If only the builders outside my window had this kind of ingenuity maybe they'd get the work done a little quicker.

British Animation Network up!

2008-11-26T07:04:00.000-08:00

Go join and have fun. The aim is to make this a common, non-commercial ground for like minded people to share ideas, videos and thoughts without having it scattered all over the internet. Will be updated with animation news and events.

URL for now is: http://ukanimation.ning.com/

And wihin a few days will be: www.britishanimators.co.uk

Any ideas or comments, send 'em my way.

In the meantime..enjoy!

New site up

2008-11-14T10:59:00.000-08:00

This post is from yesterday (Thursday 13th November 2008) and is the only post I'll transfer from my previous blog.

The new site is finally up. I’m still not fully chuffed with it, but at least there’s something to put my work up against. Now for some new content! I did a pencil test earlier this week for the new short film idea, but I’d prefer to complete it all via le Cintiq if poss. There’s just no piece of software that I’m aware of that supports natural media with simple animation controls! Photoshop’s animation functionality is so clumsy, and Toon Boom is good for animating but even in the demo of Digital Pro (which I would never buy for the price) doesn’t allow you to simply lower the opacity of a brush. Very frustrating!

Anywho, my animation section of the site now has some of my Flash work up, and there are loads more stills, some from recent digital illustration work I’ve done.

On a different note, I went and saw the QE2 leaving Southampton for the last time before it looses all it’s British flavour and becomes a tacky hotel in Dubai. It was a bit nesh but BBC south were there (as was Roger Johnson, local hero) so that kept people entertained. The fireworks were probably the best I’ve seen, although I’ve never been to a big city for new years eve. But still. Hope to post a picture from it soon.

Whack mama

2008-11-14T10:07:00.000-08:00

This photo is brilliant. Who said Communism couldn't be stylish?

I did start a blog on my own site, but I'm not keen on the bandwidth situation, so will probably migrate the posts to here, and just link it up. Then I can keep track of the 3rd year films too. And directly post from Flickr.

more sketches...

2008-02-12T11:23:00.000-08:00

a few more...

(notes on the previous images...the horse and bugs was a quick sketch after watching what's opera doc. That horse char design is ace! And don't you think one of the faces looks like brian from life of brian?

drawing practice and some doodles

2008-02-12T11:15:00.000-08:00

trying to draw bugs from a Bob McKimson model sheet. He's harder than he looks!

Also a few nothing sketches with a bit of colour (including my attempt at Yoran's dog character)

interesting stuff...

2008-02-05T14:42:00.001-08:00

makes you think eh?

Coloured background

2007-12-07T10:19:00.000-08:00

Here's a coloured version of the previous image. Hopefully I'll get to turn this into an animated opening sequence!

Concept sketches

2007-12-06T15:05:00.000-08:00

Here's a quick sketch for an short piece of animation. It runs along a story I've written (I say written, it's just a premise) but I'd like to animate the escapist opening sequence.

I started colouring it tonight so I'll post when done. P.s: how cool is the 11 second club? Same as the 10 second club, I know, but you win an ecritique from some industry chap! Not bad for a bit of lip synch.

Labour toon

2007-12-05T04:16:00.000-08:00

A doodled cartoon for our dear Labour party. Inspired by Porky Pig (Ian Hislop) and the great British government. (In case you don't know, it's about the recent 'unknown' donations to the Labour party).

Short film update 'Domestics'

2007-12-02T13:00:00.000-08:00

Here's a few sketches from my character design process. There's two characters, a woman and a man, who are in a relationship of some sort. I had a few before this but I think I'm settling on these designs (give or take a bit of possible adjustments). They're nice and simple, with facial details that will allow me to experiment with acting. I'm also trying to keep the design of the whole film quite linear, so as I can play with line itself. This was one of the main reasons for making the film, (so I can experiment with the actual medium itself) and also to try some new animation ideas.

Here you go anyway. Next stop, storyboards.

Current freelance projects

2007-12-02T11:50:00.000-08:00

Here's an image I whipped up for promo work. I only made the models and designed the image, (the book illustrations are copyright Simon Chadwick).

It's an original idea by Ralph Bailey which is being adapted for TV. I'm working on the production bible, character models and early animation tests to see if can be
done in stop-motion. It's exciting to work on, but still in very early stages so there may be a few hiccups to come. I just hope that this idea is given the time it deserves to be done properly. There have been grumblings of cutting corners which will inevitably have a knock-on effect for the quality of the finished product. I am not condemning time-saving methods (there are some amazing Flash shows out there) but with a medium like stop-motion, it can't really be done without standing out as cheap. I think a low budget, slightly-rough-around-the-edges kids TV show would do wonders for the industry, especially if it gets a good following. Kids TV shows used to be like this and they were, in my opinion, much more appealing than these shiny anime rip-offs or 'just another 3D cartoon with poor animation' shows.

Children's TV is down the toilet. I'd just like to see one project done well. Rant over.

UPA Classic - Christopher Crumpet

2007-11-28T10:41:00.000-08:00

Some inspiration for my upcoming film. UPA had their creativity down with the best of them, just a shame the style inhibited some of the better artists.

2007-11-28T09:27:00.000-08:00

So here's my attempt at keeping a blog. I had a few others, but never kept at it. This time however, I have a plan! And that plan is to post a drawing every couple of days (like a character sketch jam or similar). I'll add some life drawing bits too, then hopefully it'll show my improvements!

Here's one I did of Jemma, my girlfriend, a while ago. It was Halloween themed (surprisingly).

I'm also working on a short film, 'Domestics' but as of yet have only got my characters down. I'll keep the progress of the project noted via this blog. Next...storyboards!