Ja Boe Boe - 1920s

The 1920s was the birth of mainstream animation 

The eras distinctive style will be remembered for centuries joyfully

As an aspiring animator and illustrator it was with great pleasure

 I designed a character in this style, a love letter to animations origin

Do you like my character Ja boe boe? Do you think I captured the 1920s style well? Let me know in the comments below:

Have a question? Want to get in contact? Email me at: Sickjujuu@gmail.com

Yorkshire gaming festival - From Vikings to orcs: Live talk from Creative Assembly!

Yorkshire gaming festival is host to live talks from various talented production companies, one such talk I had the opportunity to go and see was 'From vikings to orcs, how to prepare for total war to sell your game'. This talk was presented by Rob Bartholomew the brand director at Creative Assembly. 

Rob was a very informative and genuine guy, He had a great sense of humour and knows his industry well. His aim during that talk was to suggest ideas and methods for advertising a potential game with out having to spend too much money. The basis of his talk revolved around the idea of 'Influencers'. An influencer is someone that is popular on social media and showcases games in a way that shows there strengths and quality. 

He suggested methods of approach to influencers and how beneficial it can be too offer these people jobs to help branch out the popularity of potential games. As an aspiring animator and illustrator what I took from this presentation was potential methods I could use when approaching clients in the industry.

Thank you to Rob for such an amazing talk! The whole festival experience has been exhilarating and inspirational, I have taken a lot in as an animator and I am keen to utilise the knowledge I now have.

Did anyone else get the opportunity to visit the festival? Enjoy the event?

Have a question? Want to get in contact? Email me at ' SickJujuu@gmail.com ' 

Yorkshire gaming festival - History of Animation

Bradford's National Media Museum contains an exhibition showcasing the history of animation throughout time. The contents of this exhibition contain various different sets created from stop motion animation props. Wall mounts of celluloids taken from productions such as tom and jerry, Danger mouse and the BFG movie. An interactive Phenakistoscope (Which was amazing to use first hand!) and production material such as storyboards and sketches.

As an aspiring animator and illustrator I found this exhibition to be very compelling, having insight into the professional development of productions from all generations has filled me with knowledge and inspiration that I shall take with me throughout my future productions.

My favourite part about the exhibition was seeing a side by side comparison between the original frame sketch and the celluloid sheet from a Tom and Jerry production. As an aspiring animator I am extremely keen to create some Cel sheets of my own for experimentation and production, but having the opportunity to see this comparison has boosted my enthusiasm for future concepts!

Want to see more pictures from my visit to the Animation exhibition? Read on:

Yorkshire gaming festival - Retro games room

During my time at Yorkshire games festival in bradford I had the opportunity to experience the media museums 'Retro Games lounge'. This lounge showcased the history of many old arcade games as well as the consoles that had been released in the early 80s and 90s.

As an aspiring animator and illustrator is was inspirational and beneficial for me to experience and understand where games design had come from. This lounge was perfect example into the style that was popular in the late 80s and early 90s. The games in the lounge showcased well how the pioneers of the games industry 'made their magic'.

During the 4 days the festival is running, the lounge would present an opportunity for designers and students to get to know one another and create contacts for all parties.

SickJuju goes to Yorkshire gaming festival! - 9/11/16

Just yesterday I had the pleasure of going down to the National Media Museum in bradford in order to attend the first Yorkshire gaming festival! The aim of the festival was to give aspiring games creators unrivalled access to games industry talent in order to share and develop aspiring creators knowledge and experience. 

The festival was hosted inside of the national media museum home to animation and games exhibitions showcasing the history and understanding of both productions to date. During my trip I had the pleasure of attending a talk by Rob Bartholomew a leading member of creative assembly in his talk 'From vikings to orcs, how to prepare for total war'. 

Stay tuned to my feed and I shall keep you updated on my journey through the convention! :)

Macaho - character development!

Macaho is a free spirit, she is always running around getting the most out of life. She has never had true sight but can see though her enhanced perception of vibrations and hearing.

When angered she is a force to be reckoned with and like a fire she can be consumed in rage until there is little fuel left. The symbol on her chest is an eye with a cross though it, this is representative of how one can see more than with there eyes.

I hope you like my first designed character concept for the Sick Juju tribe! The idea and concept originated in my shape and form exercise. With the design in mind I sketched out some poses and ideas to flesh out the character. 

Thank you for staying tuned to the Sick Juju updates! If you have any questions please feel free to email me at SickJujuu@gmail.com

I have more designs and concepts to come and I shall keep you posted!

Contextual studies in character design!

Hello, after a short break for halloween I have returned to continue showcasing the progress of my development :) Currently at newcastle college we have began a unit called contextual studies. This unit seeks to involve my class in an investigation into the style of character designed in the 1920s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and present day.

As an aspiring animator and illustrator I am excited to develop character designs following these parameters. In the animation industry it is important to constantly develop character designs keeping in mind style, form, audience and influence. In order to demonstrate I understand these styles I am required to showcase a character design in each of the era styles mentioned. 

Over my short break for halloween I spent a lot of time drawing out character designs and performing idea generation exercises in order to identify and conceptualise character designs for this unit. One such exercise was a shape breakdown experiment:

This exercise was designed to help me develop analytical skills in order to assist in the approach of character development. In the first part of my experiment I Identified key shapes that made up the 'formula' of a character design, this process helped me breakdown the characters in order to better understand a complicated image is in its basic form. Reversing this process I created poses using reference in various forms in order to serve as a starting point for different character experiments.

Using the body forms as a starting point I created a series of idea sketches with a mood board for reference in order generate potential character concepts that i can further with development.

The next stage in my process is taking 1 or two of these characters further in development, I will keep you posted in the mean time! Any pointers for my design process ? Interested in having a chat? Email me at Sickjujuu@gmail.com

Fire watch case study - Flat landscape

Fire-watch is a game based around the concept of keeping an eye out for fires and managing the forrest. The game also become popular from a specific piece of concept art depicting a landscape wide shot created in adobe photoshop.

When I first saw the original artwork I had an epiphany that the artwork in this shape and form would be perfect content to use image manipulation techniques to create the parallax effect. With this concept in mind I created an exercise to develop a better understanding of how the artwork was created in preparation for animating the piece.

I really enjoyed the creation process for this piece, it involved generating a tree asset and defining it as a brush preset to create the trees. The mountains were created with a combination of the lasso tool and the fill tool. This piece stands to exemplify that when creating a flat landscape piece, less is more.

In reflection to my case study I used the developed style and technique to create my own original design outcome, I felt that this landscape represented greenland so made sure to include birch trees (I hear there most common tree).

Overall I enjoyed experimenting with new techniques in photoshop and I am keen to express the final result of the image manipulation technique next time! I'll make sure to keep you all posted!

Image manipulation - 3D Horror concept

During my time experimenting with Image manipulation techniques in my current unit at newcastle college, I created an experiment in order to understand how i can use 3D perspectives in order to digitise concepts for games, animations and movies.

The idea behind this experiment was to use Image manipulation techniques in order to generate a video that conceptualises potential level designs in a horror game. This experiment was also created to demonstrate how image manipulation techniques can be used in mediums outside of the VFX industry such as games design in order to convey ideas and designs.

Overall I enjoyed creating this animation and I'm satisfied that in coordination with the audio this experiment took full advantage of the effect this technique can have when digitising concepts and conveying intentions.



Thank you for taking the time to view my work! I shall continue to keep you upto date with current and future projects!

Animated banner now live!

Since the beginning of my pseudonym I have been experimenting and creating a short animation to serve as the banner for my blog. This animation would consist of a short loop of a tribal chief drinking some 'Bad Juju' causing him to puke up the title of my blog. And its finally complete! 

The inspiring style for this animation consisted of simple after effects animation with motion graphic traits. Due to my love of creating animation I wanted visitors to my blog to get a real picture of what it is i do and what I create. By designing this banner and having it greeting them when the page loads in, I feel it gives them a clear first impression of my work that i hope everyone enjoys!

The idea behind the content of this animation was from the play on words with 'Sick' and 'Juju'. Juju been bad energy consumed, and sick been the resulting expression. I found this concept to be hilarious and I hope you share in my enthusiasm :) 

If you cannot see the banner, you should be seeing this image at the top of my blog page: