For this project, we have been asked to develop a concept that will work as an advert within a series of adverts created by the class, this will have an element of collaboration and will be used to promote and give insight into the animation course available at SEC.
Below, I have attached pdf’s of the final version of my pitch presentation as well as the script that went along with it:
FINAL VERSION PITCH:
FINAL VERSION SCRIPT:
Here you can see one of my reference videos, which I took screenshots from to use in my presentation:
I also tried walking in boots on a few different surfaces to see what sound I liked better. The footwear chosen in the below exploration had an affect on my character design’s footwear:
In terms of design itself I wanted a character that authentically represented my personal style. Over the time spent here at SEC studying animation, I have developed a love for drawing clowns. I also tend to lean more towards the knobbly appendages (knees and elbows) and have done since day one, so I knew I wanted to incorporate these elements into my design. Of course the animation is to be based on personal experience, so who better to base my character off of than myself.
Above, you can see all of the stages of design for my character. I tried to incorporate a lot from our market research. As a class we interviewed some btec students who had an interest in animation and possibly joining the university course later down the line. We asked them a series of questions based on their preferences and what they think would attract them more to the course.
I noted that a lot of the students preferred a more ‘cartoony’ appearance in terms of stylistic approach – to incorporate this I decided that thicker black outline would be perfect for the character in my animation.
As a group when discussing the brief with Ben Allen, he expressed that the style we use for the art within the animation, should be representative of who we are and should focus on our own individual style.
I also decided to incorporate my newly diagnosed Bell’s Palsy, which is essentially ‘temporary’ facial paralysis on one side of the face. Usually I would look at my face in the mirror, as most animators would, in order to develop accurate expressions that are accurate as well as personal – especially when drawing themselves. Now what I see is only half of an expression, which has been such a strange experience. I thought it would be an interesting personal touch, that is quite subtle in terms of design, but effective in what it means to me and the change of experience it has made for me in my third year.
Additional Research:
I think I get a lot of inspiration from existing animation in my designs but subconsciously; I sketched my character without anything in mind other than the fact that I wanted it to represent myself. After lining and colouring the character and taking a step back I can recognise clear influence from shows like Bob’s Burgers, The Great North and even much older connections from my childhood like Mona the vampire. I even gave the character squid-like arms, reminiscent of Futurama or Spongebob. Although this was unintentional, I think it is important to note as there are so many things that inspire me and influence me in terms of design. As we discussed the style of our own individual adverts and how they should represent us as artists, and be as personal to us as we can get them, I really wanted to explain what I see when I look at my work.
On looking into this with Lawrence, I was sent some great references that I looked into. One of which being Loren Bouchard, who is an American animator, writer, producer, director, and composer. He is the creator of several animated TV shows such as Bob’s Burgers, Lucy, the Daughter of the Devil, and Central Park. He is also the co-creator of Home Movies with Brendon Small as well as the executive producer of The Great North. I really do love his work and thing that in terms of style and design, I take a lot of influence from them.
I was also shown this video which has similar stylistic elements:
(Directed by Jim Dirschberger and the art director was Jay Howell) They work for their own animation studio https://forestcityrockers.com/
I thought it would be beneficial to me at this stage to look into some existing walk cycles, I like having lots of examples and references to work from and seeing them in animation form is quite helpful when in this pre-production stage. Below, I have attached some of the videos I liked best when looking online:
Gantt Chart
Timetable
I have developed a time table that covers the projects we have due over the next couple of months for 301 and 302. We were asked to ensure that we gave ourselves substantial breaks and considered time for a contingency plan in case we have unfinished work that we wish to complete at the end of the week.
As you can see, I have added in travel time for days that I attend uni. I share a car with my mum and so staying until 5 on days that we attend uni is complicated. Most days I would like to stay until 5, but just in case I have put travel at 3:30. If this is not the case, the travel time will simply be switched with a break.
I have also added a few sections that states ‘choice’ I think that when a timetable is too packed or too planned out, there is not much room for creativity and the work can sometimes feel like a chore. I thought it would be good to incorporate a little more choice, this way I can work on whatever I would like for this day, after having spent an equal amount of time on each project throughout the earlier days of the week.
I am due to have a baby on the 5th of November (or there abouts!) and so after the birth, my timetable will change slightly. I will only attend uni on days where necessary. For example, if there is a workshop to attend or if I need to come in to present anything for an assignment. Below I have attached my ‘post baby’ timetable:
Obviously it is unlikely I will be able to follow this timetable as exactly as I can follow my current one as there will be a newborn with no understanding of my schedule, so I look at this one as more of a rough hope, rather than an exact plan!
Planning my Animation
I thought I would begin the animation process for this task, with the hope of creating a rough animation that communicates my concept more precisely. If not, then simply by prepping it to this point, as accurately as possible.
I started by opening toon boom and creating a guide for my characters path of movement. I drew a straight red line for the head and the feet to follow, this will allow me to keep my character’s up and down movements with each stride taken, more accurate and realistic.
For the time being, I have set my frames per second to 12, this may change later down the line but I want to see how it looks first before being certain. From my guidelines I was then able to replicate my sketched plan which was included briefly in my pitch.
As you can see I have tried my best to map out the head bobbing movement that will go with each stride. I have spread it out across the page in blue, pointing to my key frames (labelled; contact, down, pass, up) This is not accurate in terms of animation for movement across the screen. I have spread it out so I can see each step clearly, they will likely overlap a lot when animating and I the purpose of this, is for it to be a nice clear plan that I can easily follow but also manipulate if I need to make alterations to the sequence further down the line.
You then have, in the center of the page, my ‘stationary’ movement in green, with the key frames highlighted in red. This maps out the head movement for when my character is walking on the spot.
From here I began thinking about the character design development; how simple do I want the initial appearance of the character to be?
As explained in my pitch, I want the character to start off as a sort of stick figure, before progressing into the final full colour design and representation of myself in my own style. I wanted to consider the transformation between stages and how many stages there should be before the final character design appears.
In order to do this, I transferred my final design, as seen in my pitch, to toon boom, I then copied this and applied colour, eyedropping to match my design. This represents two stages.
From here, I stripped the design way back to basics, creating the figure that will appear first.
Digital Animation 