Demon: Where did you come from, when your mummy got you?
Boy: From the Shop
Demon: And how much did she pay for you?
Boy: One shilling
Demon: You were a bargain weren’t you?
Boy: Yeah
Categories
Living Voices
Category: Year 1
Concept Art
My character was based on the role of a trader or merchant in a video game, which offers the player a way to exchange a currency for items which can help them progress. The world is based around an anthropomorphic animal society, where the player can interact with different animal themed characters, possessing the key traits of their real-world counterparts, throughout a linear story. I wanted to create a character which could logically appear in multiple places around a fantasy themed world. Since the character had to be non-human, I chose the rabbit, due to its real-life ability to create tunnels interconnecting multiple areas. I wanted this merchant to be a kind of character guide, but still have a morally ambiguous feeling, so the player wouldn’t feel like they were relying on them too much. I chose to give a more mysterious/dark look as opposed to the normal ‘cute’ look of a rabbit, in order to fit this role. As I had decided to make him a potion seller, I wanted to use the bottles in the decoration of the clothing, and to clearly show the function of the character to the player, as somewhere they could gain additional aid movement through the world, for example. Adding to the character, I chose to make him more magical-looking by including elements in his outfit like crystals, his staff, and longer flowing robes.
Maya
Substance Painter
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Production Principles Final Submission
Beginning our final project for ‘Production Principals’, myself and my partner, Abby, selected the words ‘stars’, ‘boat’, and ‘moon’ to theme our story around. We decided that we should make a simple story with a children’s storybook feel, so as not to overcomplicate it, and to ensure it would fit in the 20 second time limit. The story we decided on was that a small character, based on an otter, would go out and put the stars up at night, but one day a space whale begins to eat them, leaving the sky empty. The otter then turns the whale into the moon to save the sky.
We had several variations on this story to begin with, and had to test out several endings, to make sure that the ending would be clear for every possible audience. To design the character, we researched several different artists which used animal characters in their work. We wanted to keep the design simple so that the character could easily be replicated in multiple frames, and wouldn’t be too complicated to draw in multiple frames. The colour scheme for the character was also based on the space setting, being predominantly blue and purple.
Deciding on our roles within the project, we wanted to work to our strong suits, so Abby focused on backgrounds, colour palette, and some of the close up animated work, such as the zoom in on the face of the otter, while I worked on the main animated areas such as the boat bubbles and flag, otter movement, and whale. After each element was complete I sent them over to Abby who would fit them into the background and order them in Adobe After Effects. The sound we used was a space themed music from a sound website. I enjoyed working with my partner as I think our skill sets worked well together, allowing us to produce a film that we were both happy with.
I chose to animate my sections in Procreate, as I am familiar with the programme, and can use the tools most efficiently. When animating the flag and bubbles, I duplicated the layers approximately every 4 seconds of animation, so that they would loop back to the start. To make this work within the animation, I made sure that the positions at the start and end were the same. I used the colour codes from Abby’s original colours for the otter, boat and whale to make sure that the colours stayed consistent throughout the entire piece. We ended up using greenscreen to add in the different animated elements, due to the limitations of file types. I would have liked to have learnt to use a programme for my animation which is used in industry, such as Photoshop or Animate, but due to time constraints decided that it was not wise to use a programme I was unfamiliar with.
When including elements that were the same as in the backgrounds, such as the stars, I made sure that they were cross-checked with the backgrounds so that the art style was consistent throughout. I think we both were able to change some aspects of our art style, such as my shading colours, and shapes used within the work, to make sure they aligned better with each other. I also think this allowed me to learn more in this project, by drawing inspiration from Abby’s work. It was also great practice as an example of what working on a team in industry would be like.
One thing I would like to improve on going forward from this project is stepping out of my comfort zone, as I feel I could have learned more from the experience if I had pushed myself more, and challenged myself to be more experimental in my work. Things like using stop motion, creating backgrounds or characters through 3D Computer or Sculpture modelling, or hand animating assets with many moving parts would have made this work more challenging, but may have also meant that we would have struggled to meet deadlines. I also think that this may have made the work more exciting to both create and watch, as ‘easy’ outcomes can sometimes not hold the attention of the viewer.
Overall I was pleased with how the final piece in this project turned out. Myself and my partner managed to work well together and create a film that worked with both of our visions, and I think well displayed both of our skills in animating and collaboration.
Categories
Introduction to Animation Final Submission
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Rotation 8 – Photographics
To take my photographs, I decided to go on a walk near my house, to capture shapes and places in my area. When I returned from taking my photographs, I realised my eye had been drawn to a lot of regular shapes – grids, squares, parallel lines etc. I had also taken several photographs of scaffolding, as I was interested in the depth that it created from the front of the building. I wanted to play on this, and began to place sections of different images into the grid created by the front of the scaffolding. I eventually realised I had a lot of images of pavement stones, grates and covers. Choosing to create part of a pavement over the top of the scaffolding, I filled in some of the gaps, but left enough of the building underneath exposed to still be clear what the original image was. I also removed the gaps in some of the grates so that the building beneath can be seen. I then moved out of photoshop and used a different app to change some specific areas of the values to make the pavement a similar range of values and appear to be the same level, and so flatter. Overall I was happy with how my image turned out, and would’ve liked to have been able to make a series involving different areas or different types of buildings.
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Rotation 7 – Traditional Animation
Rotation 7: Traditional Animation
For the traditional animation workshops, we had a number of task set over several days to learn how to work with different types of hand drawn animation; straight ahead, pose to pose, combination, and ease in and out. Beginning with the classic bouncing ball was a great way to practice the squash and stretch as well as work out timing, which is needed in every other type of animation. Drawing the pathway out on one page first was definitely helpful in visualising how the ball would move. I think I should have left larger spaces between frames in some areas, to show a bigger contrast in speed of the ball.
My personal favorite task was the straight ahead animation, in which I created a loop of a girl blowing away her hand. I enjoyed experimenting with how each aspect of a frame would move from the last, such as her face, hair, and hand all moving separately.
One thing I found difficult in this project was time management, as I felt that some of the animations were difficult to complete in the small number of hours we were given, leading to me either rushing or having to complete them in the weekend after.
Categories
Rotation 6 – Motion Graphics
I began my motion graphic project by sketching out my idea in a storyboard. I wanted to use a moving fire and then have the scene pan up the chimney, following a spark to a scene of rooftops, where there are many sparks. The concept behind by video was the idea that everyone’s lives are as complex and unique as your own, but we all go through similar experiences and life events, with the suggestion that each building in the scene has a fire of its own. I had not worked with After Effects before and had some difficulty getting used to the programme, so began with very simple elements, including some hand drawn assets and a few lines of moving objects. One thing I would have liked to do was replace the fire lines with flame-shaped objects, to make it more realistic. The art also ended up having two styles – one with white outline and one a more cartoonish look, but I think they ended up working well together. I primarily used the position transform, trim paths, and opacity transform, so as not to overcomplicate the project. I also used sound from a copywrite free track on SoundCloud, which inspired the fire imagery initially, as it has the crackling in the background.
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Rotation 5 – 3D Story Worlds
When creating my story world, I wanted to make a small garden that may be used for worship of a statue. I started by creating a base which I extruded and tapered to create a floating island base. I then made a second layer which I used the clay tool to add levels, making the ground textured. I added this inside the first island base, and then began to construct the statue in the centre. I used basic shapes which I pushed and pulled to create the rough shape. I originally planned to add texture later but decided I like the minimalistic look once I had added everything else. Starting to work on the trees, I made a simple trunk and branches, and the created stylized ‘leaves’ which were slightly transparent to give a more leaf-like feel. I chose to use very simple shapes for the rocks, and clumps of stretched cones for the grass. Working with Maya for the first time was a challenge since I had difficulty troubleshooting anything that went wrong. For example, a lot of the time the render view showed the camera off to the side. Near the end a lot of the shapes became black in the Maya default window, which I never worked out how to fix, and sometimes all my shapes would disappear, causing me to revert to previous saves. Despite this, however, I was very happy with my final model, and the style I managed to achieve was similar to my original vision
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Rotation 4 – Character Design
I began my character design process by researching other artists and media within my chosen theme – ‘Winter’. I wanted to look into different cultures that live in cold areas, such as the Inuit people, and how their environment affected their appearance. I found that often, they used animal skins to make tents and clothes. They crafted tools and weapons from the animals’ bones, antlers, horns and teeth. In summer, they travelled in boats covered with animal skin, called kayaks and in winter, on sleds pulled by dog teams, so their lives were very reliant on nature.
My first idea was based on a huntress who harnessed a wolf’s spirit in order to aid her. I wanted to combine some of the practicality of the Inuit with a more adventure/fantasy look, to add more interest to the design. I began by sketching out many ideas to experiment with different looks, trying out different silhouettes and shapes. I continued the use of furs and natural looking colours for most of this design process, but in the end decided to make use of blue colours to add contrast to the design, and make it match more with the winter/ice theme.
I finished my design process by asking for feedback on my artistic choices, in order to finalise some areas, and then drawing turnarounds of the character from the front and side.
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Rotation 3 – Creative Writing
Mary Taylor
I look down at the postcard on my doorstep. A woman’s vacant gaze stares back at me, her old fashioned black bonnet surrounding her face with shadow. Turning the card over, there is no note, only a signature: Mary Taylor
Through the glass pane of my window I see her on the street, consumed by a black shroud. She’s staring in now, directly at me. I turn and bolt my door, questioning ‘what could you want with me, Mary Taylor?’
I am on the bus. Through the window condensation I see a shadow, a white face standing out from the darkness. I stand from my seat but she is already gone, leaving the words on my lips: Mary Taylor
I hear a scraping outside my apartment door, like scissors on metal. The door clicks and creaks, and a tap, tap, tap, clicks along the hallway. She is here.
I wanted to use the image that I was basing my creative writing on, within the piece. I found an image of a Victorian woman, and based the character ‘Mary Taylor’ on her. The story itself is loosely based on the myth of Bloody Mary, which I wanted the audience to realise, hence naming the character Mary. The idea was that after seeing her three times (instead of saying her name) she would appear and kill you/the main character. I also chose the surname Taylor as I wanted her to have a seamstress theme. If I had had a higher word count I would’ve liked to explore the idea that she was a seamstress originally, possibly using sewing scissors to murder her victims. The word count did prove to be a challenge, as I could not offer much context, or description of the main character or the situation they were in, instead having to rely on more subtle descriptors. I also wanted the character of Mary to seem as if she didn’t really belong in the world, or was a supernatural character, so tried to show that she often blended in with the dark or could only be seen not in person (eg in on a postcard).