Tracy MacLauchlan Now on Tumblr

http://titosjams.tumblr.com

 

Hey All! Things are quiet here because I recently moved to Tumblr. I like the interface a ton more and I find it easier to upload my images and animated GIFs in an aesthetically-pleasing manner. I get my posting done in half the time I get it done here on Blogger. The only thing I miss is the ability to comment without "reblogging"!

Would some of you prefer I try to find a way to cross-post here on Blogger, or have you made the switch too? You can visit me at:

 http://titosjams.tumblr.com

They Think I'm An Automaton

 

They Think I'm an Automaton

Veil from my project, The Taffetas, sporting a hypothetical tat. The idea is that it would symbolize there is more to him than you expect, but he hides it a lot. The image itself was also just something I dabbled with whenever I had the five minutes to spare, purely for joy and relaxation.

Process: 

Speaking of Taffetas, we have a new update on our to-do list for concept art. Awesome! We're also on the lookout for background artists who would be interested to collaborate with us, as well as your opinions on which episode(s) you would most like to see mock screenshot(s) of.

Fate Saga Animation

As promised, every other Sunday I'll be posting a new blog entry- showcasing some of my work, sketches, insights, and a tutorial or two.

Today, I'm doing a little catch up and showing off what I contributed for Dana Corrigan's 2010 senior thesis, a trailer for her project, Fate Saga.

Dana was my roommate in college, and since I am a bit of a cartoon and anime nerd, I was excited for the premise. I did the color design for her film, some matte painting, and of course, animation.

I got to animate shots of Cyrus, the villain of the short/trailer, who is a manic, scythe-weilding fire mage.




It was a lot of fun!

I did everything from thumbnails to rough animation by hand using a cintiq. As always, I referenced a video recording of myself to study the motion and acting. I even made a double-bladed scythe by taping cardboard 'blades' to the base of a broom (my dad later found these videos of myself and laughed his ass off for about two hours).

Clean up was by Dana Corrigan herself (she also animated the first shot to the scene on the left- I always keep it in because my shots after don't make much sense without it), colors by Jay Miller, and fire effects by Zelda Vinciguerra.

All in all, these were a blast to draw, especially the smears:

New Update Schedule & Taffetas Work

Yes, it has been another month since I updated this blog! Eesh!

I enjoy updating my blog, so I'm going to start a more consistent update schedule. After this post, I will post another post next Sunday, and from there on out I will be updating every other Sunday with sketches, drawing, artwork, animation, tutorials and hopefully insights into my professional work as well, now that some are starting to go public.

Okay, let's get started!

Taffetas Work

 

 

Co-creator Yesenia and I are hard at work on our proposed animated series, The Taffetas. In the past month and a half, we finished our episode synopsis, character bios, setting description, and today I'm happy to announce that we finally finished all of the writing for our pitch (the last bit of which goes live  on the blog Wednesday, July 4th, for critique). Our upcoming job is now the artwork! I'll be hitting the character designs, mock screenshots, illustrations, etc. as hard as I can. Up until this point, I've been leisurely sketching between all the writing and brainstorming.

L: During an informal brainstorm for season 2 episodes, Jess and I came up with an idea where Gemini gets her and her boyfriend turned into kids again (Gem maybe ~11 and Veil ~13). more information on my deviantart upload.


R: Various Taffetas doodles!

Sapphire Sketches & Taffetas

Sapphire is the main character's best friend (and sometimes worst enemy) from my animation series project, The Taffetas. She's a young, confident gargoyless who acts as a love guru, even though she can't hold down a half-decent relationship herself.

 

I draw her a little too 'cute' at times and I have a lot to experiment with, but I'll continue to explore through drawing and get it finalized. Since co-creator Yesenia and I are almost done with the writing for our pitch book for Taffetas (which concludes all of the character/story revisions for our proposed show),  I'm gearing up to produce polished concept art for our presentation material.  It's pretty exciting!

Also, a cold and angry Veil Taffeta.

Things at work and at home are hectic, and I find it difficult to find time to update this blog. However, I still draw every day!  Today I'm showing off some work I did for (or inspired by) my and Yesenia Carrero's animated series pitch project, The Taffetas.

 

Right now I sketch just for fun for the project since we're not in concept art, but I'm always happy that these doodles double as exploratory sketches or decoration for our blog post . I enjoy how they help our readers connect with the characters in a way words can't.   

As far as the project itself, Yesenia and I recently released our first public draft of The Season 01 Episode Synopsis. 

The synopsis marks the tail end of all the research and story revisions we did these past months. I think the story we want to tell is a lot stronger and closer to our hearts now than it was when it first started. I'm excited to wrap up all the revisions soon and start concept art!

Dioysus' Little Helper

Made in celebration of The Taffetas' Facebook Fan Page update! Yesenia and I (mostly Yesenia) worked hard in our free time to see this to completion. The work included completely new art, writing, and a whole mess of coding and design work. Check out Yesenia's blog post about it.

Goals

 

 

The decision to become an artist is sort of like finding God.  You wake up one morning and realize that this is something that you cannot not do.  You will be an incomplete person if you do not give it a go. 

- Ed Hooks, Why Do You Animate?

When I was a senior in high school, I wrote a goal for my future and a plan to achieve that goal. Five years later, I failed at a lot of the things I thought I would do and I'm way behind because of it. I'm not where I thought I would be by now.

So, a new list is in order.

My new Goal List
 I want to make my own quality animations and be recognized for them.

Eventually, I would like to win awards and possibly sustain myself on my own content.

[this is the same as it was five years ago]

Tools to Achieve Goal

Productions
 - The Taffetas
 - Short Animated Films

Networking
-Conventions
-Volunteer work
- Social Media

Experience
- Art School
  Figure out strengths, weaknesses, and preferences. Improve basic skills and use as a "jumping off" point.

- Internships
  Gain professional experience in the animation field. Learn to work with art directors, co-workers, and clients. Come to understand a more commercial aspect to art and animation.

- Work
Become comfortable with an animation and illustrative process and learn from other artists. Gain new, unique skills to combine with animation.

Artistic Growth

- Learn from Job Experience
Gain knowledge from co-workers and art directors, become inspired by and implement critique and advice.

- Self-study
 Life drawing, art and animation history, seek out new artists and open mind to alternative styles.

- Stay on top of the business
Know who, what, where, when, why. Subscribe to magazines, newsletters, and websites.

Exposure

- Film Festivals
seek out festivals and submit productions

- Online Presence  
online portfolio, deviantart, linkedIn, Vimeo, and Youtube

- Artistic Contests

- Money
Get a job. Put a little money into a production fund every month. Look into grants, kickstarter, etc.

The Short-Term Plan
1. See Taffetas to completion
(~1 year)
- Finish the pitch
- Make animated shorts to supplement pitch and gain support

(~2-4 year)
- Pitch
- Submit animation work to Conventions and Film Festivals
- Gain acclaim
- Gain revenue/distribution opportunities for project

(~5-6)
- Production

2. Expand artistic horizons, gain illustration and storytelling skills
- Produce personal illustration and animation work, experimenting in style
- Study art books on subject matter
- Learn from alternative illustrators at work and within the art community

3. Continue honing animation skills
- Treat e-cards and other animations at work as short films and portfolio pieces
- Volunteer/Freelance animation for other productions
- Personal animation work (non-Taffetas)

4. Sell self as an independent filmmaker
- production of personal short films (Taffetas and non-Taffetas) 
- portfolio update (once to twice a year)

5. Gain more popularity and a small name in the artistic/animation community


I put down a few things down that I already did (school, internship, etc.) because if it makes me feel less intimidated and more accomplished ;).

It's good to take a deep breath and feel like I'm on the right track again. There's still hope.

Moving in, Taffetas, and Drawing

I realize about a month passed me by without updating this blog!

 When is Tracy going to update her blog?!

January was crazy. I moved to another state, settled into the new house, started my job, got in a car accident with a hit-and-run, developed a mild case of whip-lash, fell into an exhausting and frustrating sadness, snapped out of it, worked overtime for a big project at my new job, worked on Taffetas, and cooked homemade jam for my co-workers, among other things.

 The beginning of my cherry jam! Yum!

So just to give you guys a bit of an update:

My Job

I mentioned before, but I'm a multimedia designer/animator working in the illustration department at Hallmark Cards. I interned there over the Summer as well. To be honest, sometimes I still wonder why I was offered a job, since the company is made up of extremely talented, seasoned artists that I can only dream to live up to.

But I'm learning a lot and I realized today that I love my job. I mean, I knew that during my internship, but I had that moment again where I was aware of the fact I spent an entire day drawing and that I was paid for it. The frustrating part is that I can't show off my work until it comes out (if it comes out), so unfortunately there is a decrease in artworks to post online.

The Taffetas

 If you aren't keeping up to date with Taffetas, you probably missed my recent posts:

• Taking A Stance On Our Story
• Drawing Characters
• The Outline - Part 1

We update every other Wednesday. Our posts are about what Yesenia and I personally learned while working on the project, or just our new developments on the pitch. The outline - Part 1 I'm particularly excited about because I feel like the story is finally coming together again.

Beyond that, I did light sketch work for our upcoming revamped Facebook page. Above is the sketch for the ID picture and its earlier variants. I may not always get it right the first time, but I can rework it until I do :).

 

Etc...

Did I mention I have another friend who is not Jess, my roommate/co-worker? She is totally real and I'm not making her up. 

Her name is Dana Corrigan and I worked on her senior thesis in college. Now adays, Jess, Dana, and I skype every weekend to critique each others' work from our projects, we call it our "brain-jam".

This week, though, Dana couldn't make it. Is it because she's imaginary?

NO.

It's because the poor dear had laryngitis.

 

I felt bad that she was sick on a weekend, so I dreamed up a few comic ideas on what her project's main character, Cain, would do if he had her same ailment. I did not finish the full six ideas that I wanted to before the weekend was over, but I feel like I did okay for the time I had. Dana liked it, so I'm pretty happy!

 Though I really wish I finished this one! 

(text is omitted so that you may put in your own using your mind)

Jess arranged the type and word balloons for me, as well as designed the backgrounds. I also know this won't make as much sense if you're not in the know of her story, Fate Saga, but hopefully it's enjoyable to look at anyway.

Coming Up from me will be, inevitably, more Taffetas artwork and a long over-due Christmas art. Hopefully it won't take another month to post...but I better not get anyone's hopes up :).