Animation Practice
1. Character Design Project
For this project we were assigned character traits for our characters. I got Elizabethan, sweet and small - But before i started designing my character I needed to do some research on Elizabethan fashion and culture.
Although I researched both mens and women's fashion I knew already that my character would be female and young, so I took more of an interest in what women as well as children wore during the time period.
I put together a mind map, of Elizabethan women's fashion, although many of the images I found focused on the wealthy - There is one element I wanted to include in my characters design and that is the red/ginger hair that was popular at the time.
I did some observational drawings of people for this project too - I also tried to focus on movement in these drawings, I wanted to try and capture the liveliness of a moving person in a still image. In a lot of my art I would just use pencil/pen but I tried using coloured pencils for rough sketches and later going in with more detail with ink for this project.
Character Design Concepts -
I had originally envisioned my character as a young human girl. I wanted to convey her sweetness through timidness, I gave her round features to make her softer looking but I also wanted her to be compassionate/brave so I gave her unruly hair which she'd hide under her head covering.
But as the project went on, I found that perhaps I should go for a non-human character. I had only ever created human characters for prior projects so I thought it was time to try a change - Taking the characteristics given to me into consideration I chose to make her a mouse.
Final Design -
In the end I created Annie Cheddar - A young mouse living in Elizabethan England. I kept her clothing plain and simple since she wouldn't be from a wealthy family, so I didn't attempt to give her the intense Elizabethan silhouette of the nobility. I kept the unruly red hair since I still wanted her to keep some sense of courageousness in her design, but I kept her personal colour palette light to convey her kind/sweetness.
2. Graphic Novel
After the Character Design Project, my next project was to create a graphic novel using the character I had made. Since her time period was Elizabethan I wanted to include historic elements like the Plague and theatre as Shakespeare had emerged during this era.
Research-
Her face and body shape are quite simple so I feared that she could look boring and stiff, but with these character sheets I found that she could actually be quite expressive, her ears play a huge part in showing how she feels and gives her some variety.
The mind-map above focuses on what I wanted my graphic novel to look stylistically, I envisioned the pencil/graphite texture and minimal colour palette - many of the colour schemes in this mind map have the atmosphere I want to recreate, the type of dream-like aura, to tie into the themes of Annie’s dreams of being an actor. I wanted the aesthetic of the novel to look as if it was a child’s storybook but still like a modern comic.
I also created a mind map of ‘The Globe’ the theatre house based in London that Shakespeare. I included this historical building in the graphic novel so I wanted to make sure it was recognisable.
I looked at many different colour palettes for the novel and I settled on the main colours being purple and yellow. I came to this decision mostly because they were complimentary colours and I thought it would make the novel more appealing/cohesive since I was planning a change in colour palette near the end so i really wanted the two palettes to contrast each other. I also felt as if purple and yellow were the most dream-like colours, which the richness of the purple and the warmth of the yellow, and I used t his to my advantage by increasing the vibrancy once Annie reaches ‘The Globe’ which is the place she believes she’d find her dreams.
Rough Storyboard/Layout -
When creating the storyboard for this graphic novel I had to make many revisions to fit the 4 page target, but I still ended up reaching 6 pages since I struggled to condense the story any smaller than that - Even though the two extra pages meant more work I feel as if it was worth it in the end. But once I finally reached a satisfactory storyboard I began to block in the panels with purple and yellow so I could see the tonal value of each page, for other pages I blocked the colours in grey scale. Even with how much I condensed the stories the final version still has some minor changes to it.
Final Graphic Novel-
Even though I’m pleased with how the graphic novel turned out visually I do think I could have done better in terms of the story since I see how it can be confusing, perhaps I was trying to hard to be abstract in my story telling that it ended up backfiring.
Storyboard -
Visiting Kettles Yard
Since I changed the story the original character design didn't really fit anymore. I struggled with her hair the most, but ultimately I decided on giving her long black hair, which suited the art-style much more. Since the style I chose was quite detailed I decided I wouldn't have the characters coloured in, so the solid black is effective in giving depth.
3. LipSync Project
For this project we were focusing on a lip sync animation, but we were also working with a live client - We had to deliver a short animation on an animal we could choose from list. I chose the Bermuda Petrel.
Research -
I started off my research with a mind map of the bird, I wanted to get familiar with the animal since it was the focus of the animation so I also drew a couple pages of the bird using references I found online - I also did some research by reading up on the bird on our clients website, since he specialised in animals which were thought to be extinct I wanted to make sure that my depiction of the Bermuda petrel was accurate.
I began drawing the Bermuda petrel digitally to see how I could stylise it, I didn’t want it to be too detailed since I didn’t want to make the animation process too time consuming, but through his I discovered what baby Bermuda petrels looked like and came up with a cartoon-style version.
Since this project is focused on lip syncing I created a character to fit the voice of the audio files we were provided with. I expected that many others would go down the old, researcher route, akin to David Attenborough, so I didn’t want to make my version of a researcher so old, or stereotypical. So I created a couple concepts until I found one I was happy with.
As for the storyboard - In the audio file I chose the narrator speaks of how the Bermuda petrels mating moan would scare off sailers in the past due to being confused with devils. I thought this was humorous so I also wanted to include a section with this scenario at the end of the animation. Upon reflection of my storyboard it was requested I add in another camera angle, which I included in the animatic.
Animatic-
In the animatic I made sure to include the extra camera angle and I think the advice given to me was really effective since upon reflection my initial storyboard had too little going on, it was very stiff, but with the change in angle it gives more emphasis on the Bermuda petrels mating moan that scared the sailors so much. This also ended up making the slow approach of the boat in the background more effective as it leaves in a hurry after hearing the birds calls.
Backgrounds-
For backgrounds I kept them rather simple as I was planning on having 2-3 more secondary animations occurring at once so I didn’t want the animation to look too busy. I still put detail into the scenery outside the window since I felt the composition allowed me to do so, since the left side of the scene would be busy with animation, the right side can balance it out in detail.
Final Animation -
I’m pleased with how the final animation came out. I enjoyed the process of creating different mouth shapes for my character as well as the head turn, I feel as if I utilised many of the skills I learnt in the past year for this animation within all the secondary animation. I also made use of layers and after effects in order to make the boat in the background of the scene to move gradually across.
1. Audio Project -
Research -
Visit to Kettles Yard
The focus of this project was on gathering your own sound clips for the animation. The animation for this project was based off of a prompt picked at random, the prompt I got was 'Love'.
Synopsis -
The story focuses on a young girl who struggles with finding romantic love - She is stood up on a date so she returns home disheartened, her mother notices and comforts her, by the end the girl is touched by the love of her mother rather than that of a partner.
Character design -
I did consider going for a romantic storyline for this animation at first so there is a lot of development in my main character - The original story I wanted to tell centred on finding peace within another person, how love can improve ones quality of life in terms of mental health. But ultimately I decided against it since I don't fully believe in this idea, I think it may have come across negatively, I didn't want the audience to think you need to be loved to love yourself. So with the change in story came a change in character.
I struggled with her hair the most, but ultimately I decided on giving her long black hair, which suited the art-style much more. Since the style I chose was quite detailed I decided I wouldn't have the characters coloured in, so the solid black is effective in giving depth.
Concept art -
I was very interested in the idea of there being a scene in the bathroom to show the unconditional love a mother has for her daughter. In asian culture it is common for some families to still bathe together/help eachother bathe, I wanted to use that as an expression of love for this animation.
For my concepts I was interested in doing a 'scratchy' art-style for the final scenes of the animation. Ultimately I decided against it, I think the time frame of which it would be introduced would be too short. I had considered changing the line art to blue but I didn't want to disrupt the flow of the animation too much visually so I just stuck with the same style throughout.
Taking inspiration from some of the objects at kettles yard I will be using a jug that that was displayed in the houses first floor bathroom. I will include this jug in the animation, the mother character will use it in the bathroom scene.
I did do some concepts for the background art-style, the tap is an example, but I had to change it in the end to a much simpler style.
Video Link - https://youtu.be/9QGTCIwZ3U8
In the animatic I wanted to figure out composition the most. I put a lot of thought into some shots such as the idea of the mother cooking in the kitchen and the daughter walking across the screen. The transition between the daughter walking away and the mother framed by the doorway after she left is something I wanted to put emphasis on.
Video Link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1xIgHvzOLI
In the end I am happy with the final outcome of this project. I think I got the story across without the use of dialogue quite well. As for the audio aspect I recorded all of the sounds myself besides from one audio (I used a copyright free white noise ambience to blend silence between sound clips).
2. Sense of Place - Concept art/background Project
This project is a continuation of the last project - The focus is on creating concept art for the animation I made during the audio project, as I already have settings/environments and characters I can focus more on the tone and atmosphere of my art. It is much easier to tell a story through animation than through a still image, so my main goal for this project is to convey the feel/mood of my animation within the concept art i produce. Even though the projects are linked, I will not be following the environments strictly since the majority of my animation has an indoor setting.
Mood board -
As my theme for the last project was 'Love' I chose to pursue a platonic love storyline instead of romantic. Because of this I wouldn't think the genre of my animation was Romance, I see it more as Slice of Life. So I gathered images that reflect the settings of the animation but also the atmosphere. As my character is stood up, I wanted to portray her loneliness and disappointment, so Im thinking I may create a gloomy out-door illustration.
I also created another mood-board focusing more on the scene I had in mind for the final concept art that it would be set at night with the street being illuminated by street lights. A very typical idea but I think it encapsulates the atmosphere of my animation well, as my character stands in the street alone the singular light will shine on her, singling her out from others on the street making her look even more secluded as she waits for her date that never arrives.
Thumbnails -
In my thumbnails I focused on the composition of the piece most as I was aiming to create a night scene in the city - Things I wanted to include was an arch/bridge and a movie theatre, I had always thought that the setting of my animation was nearby the sea, so that is something I wanted to include if possible. Since the setting is at night it also gave me a lot of opportunities to experiment with lighting, I could use the moon as a source of light or streetlights etc. I originally wanted the arch to be the centrepiece, as there were many ways I could use it in terms of composition. like using it as a frame or it would be interesting how it would interact with lighting. But ultimately I decided to focus more on the street and have the movie theatre the focal point, with the arch and sea as an after thought.
The thumbnail I chose to follow (very loosely) is the 4th one.
Process -
I started off with mapping out the perspective - I didn't plan out a specific type of perspective, but I'd say I ended up with a one point perspective.
Working further I realised that I had filled the canvas, so I shrunk the original composition and moved it to the left of the canvas so I had room to include the movie theatre and ocean.
I then started to plan out the scene in greyscale, I was originally planning to have streetlights at the start of this project, but I found that the natural lighting of the moon gave a nicer atmosphere. I wanted the sky and the majority of the left side of the piece to be the darkest so that the focus would be guided to the right, which would be the lightest and includes posters for the movie theatre.
After adding some more details like windows and clouds to the piece it
Final Concept Art -
Video Link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZ2fbQ8W_0Q
Live Project - Story of a £1
Synopsis -
This animation will focus on how a pound can help those in need, as the more people that make a small donation have a much larger impact than they would think. The opening shot is of a pound coin rolling past transitioning into bright sky. The camera pans down and shows a civilian making a donation, a charity worker throws the coin and as it flips it shows the variety of people the organisation can feed through donations. The people shown in the coin are; a university student, who receives a meal. A homeless man who receives a self-heating meal, and lastly a single mother holding a bag of groceries.
Storyboard -
The storyboard starts off with the name of the charity, a coin rolls across the screen with smoke trailing behind it. The smoke transitions into clouds and a coin is flipped into the air, the camera tracks the coins as it descends.
The coin is caught by a student who quickly donates it to a volunteer for the charity. After taking a quick glance at the coin the volunteer dramatically throws it into the distance.
The coin bounces and as it's ascending it slows to the centre of the canvas, it begins to spin slowly.
As the coin spins the sides show the different communities of people that can benefit from the charity, such as university students, the homeless and struggling families.
The animation will end with the final coin spin revealing the logo of the charity, the outline of the coin will fade as the logo enlarges and a quote from their website appears. It finalises with the QR code giving access to the charities website.
Concept Art -
Since I had envisioned there being many characters for this project so I didn't create character sheets for all of them. I did know that they would follow the same style as larger legs/shoes and simple faces.
For the concept art I put together I followed an art scheme of mostly blues and greens with a single yellow as an accent colour (to highlight the coin more). I wanted the backgrounds to be simple flat colours since there would be a lot of focus on characters/movement.
Production Development -
The pitch that was chosen from the group was Elizabeth's - Her animatic for the project shows how the donation of a single pound can lead to meals to different people as well as an emphasis on the gift card scheme near the end of the animation.
Elizabeth's Pitch -
Video Link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oej5RgktduE
Elizabeth gave all team members her concept art to use as references as well as the animatic - Using these as resources helped keep everything consistent even though we were all working on different sections. The work was split fairly between the team by Elizabeth.
Further Development -
Work was divided evenly among the group, I was tasked mostly with frame-by-frame animation and backgrounds. I first started working on a simple coin spin.
I had to develop the coin spin further by making it transition into a globe - It took a lot of trial and error to get it right, I included many techniques to get it to a satisfactory state such as ease-in and ease-out, smears and secondary animation. I also animated the zoom in frame-by-frame rather than on after effects since I thought it would keep it more consistent.
The next section I worked on was the five coins passing quickly on the screen, I also created a PNG of the gift card which was edited in on after effects by another team member.
I lastly animated the dinner-table shot of the family emerging - I created the background art of the table and plates of food.
Transparent PNG's -
As my teammates were using after effects for some of their sections of the project I created transparent png's.
Background Art -
Some of these backgrounds were edited to fit the final version of the animation, but I was tasked with drawing all of the backgrounds for this project - Many of the backgrounds didn't need a lot of detail, so I kept it simple and consistent, with a few bricks being coloured in to give some variety.
Elizabeth requested that I do some colour concepts for the street shot, I tried including all of the colours in the palette Elizabeth provided but we settled on a more limited version.
At the end of the project everyone came together to help finish off the rest of the street shot. Elizabeth did the majority of it so we only had to do some line work and colouring.
I was tasked with the typography of the project, I did a couple of versions but I ended up deciding on a simple and easy to read font.
For the final animation everyones work was put together.
Video Link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oej5RgktduE
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