Character and Narrative: Study Task 4

Character and Narrative

Study Task 4 - The Art Of Coconut Conundrum!

• For this task:
• I researched a series of Art Books in order to understand the layout and style in-which other studios approach showing the process of their work. I looked at 'The Art of Steven Universe' and 'The Legend of Korra - Book 3: Change, The Art of the Animated Series,' for my research.
• One of the first things I noted from both books, was the use of sketches and fully rendered ideas on the same page, illustrating the thought process of creating the worlds and characters. 'The Legend of Korra' artbook included a lot of storyboard ideas and had individual pages for characters and backgrounds.
• As a group, in creating the art-book, we set out a structure which follows the pre-production, production and post-production phases.

The Legend of Korra Art-Book Sample:

Steven Universe Art-Book Sample:

• Unfortunately, we had only one character, so a lot of the development work was just creating concepts and expressions for them. We also only had one location, so the environment concepts focused on beaches and tropical landscapes. This is something which can be improved upon in the future, exploring more ideas for character designs and being more creative with environment concepts.

Here is the art-book:

Character and Narrative: Study Task 3 - Article 2

Character and Narrative

Study Task 3 - Article 2

• For the second article, I decided to explore 2D Concept Art and briefly cross compare using predominantly 2D concept art, as a comparison to using 3D tools and 3D Concept Art. The research I conducted helped develop the reasoning behind creating loose and brief sketches and concepts, in comparison to using 3D tools to create more advanced and developed concepts for ideas. I decided to explore this, as part of my contribution to the groups' project was a lot of concepts at the beginning.

Figure 1

When producing concept art in a 2D medium, a concept artist can produce a variety of quick and simple ideas, on paper. It additionally allows for the exploration of style and the way in which a character or environment is created can be adapted at this stage to fit the narrative and the visual direction of the director. This is something my group had initially explored, at the beginning of Studio Brief One, when creating a character. Concept designer, Urschel, J (2017), who had previously worked for Ubisoft and LucasArts, states that concept art is the, “artistic impression” of a brief, “in order to provide a visual guide for production artists. One limitation to using just primarily 2D for concept work, is that complex forms and structures may not be able to be visualised as quickly, as what using a 3D software would allow. Concept artist, Feghali, W. (no date) states that, “3D renders provide a fantastic plate to paint on, reference model figures that you can design on top of, automatic perfect perspective for scenes, and tons more.”  The 3D tools can help provide perspective and is being used more predominantly by professional concept artists, to quickly visualise more complicated ideas or to have a rough guideline for creating environments. In order to create concepts for 2D mediums, the use of 3D tools can help with perspective and simplify complex structures for animation and should be used in future projects and studies to help refine current skills. Arguably, 2D Concept Art works to help establish initial ideas, which don't need to be fully rendered and additionally provides a medium which allows for faster idea generation and an artistic response to a brief, as evident in Figure 1, which is a series of background concepts, which can then be adapted into 3D work. The 2D medium allows for quick renders, to establish a colour palette and mood for an animation.

Urschel, J. “What is Concept Art?” The Ultimate Concept Art Career Guide. Ed. 3Dtotal Publishing. United Kingdom: 3Dtotal Publishing, 2017, pp 10-15, Print.

Feghali, W. (no date) Using 3D in Concept Art. Available at: https://www.evenant.com/design/using-3d-in-concept-art/ (Accessed December 8th 2019)

Little, A. (2019). Environment Concept Sheet1. Available at: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVu9s7WBALKUTXA_8qOJCeweAO4iBxrtQuZAMmvIpt-yvucZMVeK5KfkDOm_XZKUAJ9JShfallSxpyVx2QRxmhP1-bAZ_mmUX7kPBENJfxfP06zHTovGVEkK9WdJiMM1HXs2gkeQEfSGQ/s640/Environment+Concept+Sheet1.jpg (Accessed: October 19th 2019)

Character and Narrative: Shadows and Colouring

Character and Narrative

Shadows and Colouring

• This Week:
• In order to try speed up the colouring process, I went into all coloured files and made sure that the colouring was neat and that the file contained shadows, which was some feedback from the weekly.
• What Went Well:
• I managed to add shadows and finalise the colouring, such as in Scenes 2, 3 and 6, which was what I needed to colour. I additionally finalised the inbetweens for scene 6, to speed up the process, which Mark was originally needing to do.
• What Could Be Improved:
• I think that I should have taken more initiative and was a little harsher when it came to giving deadlines to people and then distributing the workload of things that hadn't been yet completed. I have learnt this for future projects, however and will try to be more assertive with deadlines.
• During the weekly, we are told to adjust some timing and framing on Scene 5, which I went and adjusted, as the background wasn't properly in place and the timing needed changing.
• Next Week:
• The editing process will begin!
• I will be making an improved soundtrack, further concept work for the art-book and finalising any scenes that may need redoing or adjusting.

Scene 6 - First Half - Colouring, Shading and Coloured VFX based upon Rachel's flickering gradient idea for the fire in the second half

Scene 5 with shadows and timing/background adjustments, based on Weekly Feedback



Scene 2, Shot 3, an example of added shadows this week

Context of Practise 2: Video Essay Improvements

Context of Practise 2

Video Essay Improvements

• After receiving peer feedback from Caitlin, she suggested to just add a few slides of context to my video presentation. I added some additional slides and also some movement to the images, so they're zoomed so you can see them better and to make the video more engaging.

• The previous video was still and didn't fully underpin my ideas:

Here is the updated video presentation:

• I added more slides showing some text to collect and briefly demonstrate my ideas and made changes to the way images were displayed to made it more engaging.

Character and Narrative: Study Task 3 - Article 1

Character and Narrative

Study Task 3 - Article 1

• For the first article I decided to research storytelling/narrative and the use of aesthetic and visuals. I started by looking at how the 2D animated aesthetic affects the narrative and found a lot of research into the Synchronic Narrative. A lot of what I looked at was more theory based than analytical, which provides an in-depth exploration of narrative theories and they could be applied to future animation projects and to the current main studio brief.

 Figure 1

Figure 2

Due to the 2D medium chosen for our response to the main brief in this module, the aesthetic and style decided for the medium must reflect the narrative and appeal to the audience. Herhuth, E. (2017) references chief creative officer at Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios, John Lasseter, stating that, “Lasseter’s emphasis on believability over realism echoes the “illusion of life” approach articulated by Disney animators Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas,” meaning that the visuals of the characters and their movements are believable and captivating, that audiences are able to forget that the world and narrative is fictional. This can be done through synchronic narrative, which is a theory developed by Levi-Strauss, C. (1955), which is demonstrating all narrative contexts at one time. Collington, M. (2016) states that, “Animation studios often use [...] synchronic methods for devising a range of alternatives for a single image to best represent [...] an overall sequence, scene or even a narrative stage.” It represents the narrative or series of events which can be established in a single image. An example of this would be in Figures 1 and 2, as the aesthetic and elements of the scene is conveying narrative in a single screenshot from the short animation. The best storytelling and aesthetic can encapsulate narrative and appeal to audiences at the same time, which can be done in the 2D medium. 

Sources:

Herhuth, E. (2017) Pixar and the Aesthetic Imagination: Animation, Storytelling, and Digital Culture. Oakland, California: University of California Press.

Collington, M. (2016) Animation in Context. London, United Kingdom: Bloomsbury Publishing.

Lévi-Strauss, C. (1955) ‘The Structural Study of Myth’, The Journal of American Folklore, 68 (270), pp. 428-444.

Context of Practise 2: Study Task 9

Context of Practise 2

Study Task 9 - Evaluation

• This week I finalised my evaluation and conclusion for my essay and made a separate document fully evaluating my process in the theoretical research and visual research. 
• I additionally did evaluate a lot of my work in a short video essay, however, more critical analysis of my work in comparison to the research I conducted could have been implemented during this evaluation too.

Separate Evaluation Document:

Final Script for the Video Overview Essay

Character and Narrative: Colour and Improvements

Character and Narrative

Colour and Improvements

• This week:
• I continued work on colouring the final scenes and updated the Scene List to keep up to date with the workflow.
• What went well:
• I was able to work on the colouring very quickly and can continue to do this into next week, once Mark has completed his inbetweens.
• What could be improved:
• Rachel pointed out that some of my colouring wasn't consistent and sometimes, there were white gaps where the colour meets the lines, so I fixed this, by going back over those frames and using just the brush tool to fill in any gaps and make the colouring neater and more consistent. I will remember to do this also, when I colour further scenes.
• In addition to this, we decided as a group to add shadows during the colouring process, under Teddy and the coconut, so they feel more incorporated into the background.
• Next week:
• Ill be adding shadows during the colouring process and making sure that the colouring is neater, so that there are no gaps with the line work. I will be doing this once Mark has finished his inbetweening.

Initial Colours:

Improved Colours, with Backgrounds and Shadows:

Context of Practise 2: Final Practical

Context of Practise 2

Final Practical Outcome

• For my final outcome, I produced a short mock-up video, compiling everything I had learnt into the short animation. I used After Effects to compile everything together and I learnt a lot about creating effects and compositing through this process.
• If I were to improve on this, I would have made the video longer and included more rooms, which Ozwald will enter and explore, however as this was just a mock-up and exploration of aesthetic, I will possibly explore this in the future. I had acted upon the feedback received both from in the formative and peer feedback, to look at lined backgrounds, create an animated character and compile this together for a short animation. 

Here is a video idea for using the puppet tool:

Here is the final animation:

Here is a video essay exploring my final outcome!

Context of Practise 2: Final Character and Environment Development

Context of Practise 2

Final Character and Environment Development

• This week I finalised the mock-up video for the 2D video game idea, representing my research and visual analysis throughout the project. I found it difficult using After Effects, as I hadn't used the software for a while, however, I used my notes from last year in order to understand it again. Using tutorials from Adobes' official forum, I was able to learn what I needed to in order to create the fog, lights and composition for Ozwalds' movement.
• I created a final attack animation, however I think this could be improved further by adding some VFX to the swing and I would adjust the movement in the future if I was to change this.

Ozwald Attack/Dash One

Background asset sketches

Final Background

Context of Practise 2: Working on Practical Feedback

Context of Practise 2

Working on Practical Feedback

• This week, I began redrafting my essay, alongside working on my new proposal from my feedback. I will still be producing a video talking about the "Making of" process, which will be written based upon my formal essay, however I will be making a "mock up" video, rather than a cinemagraph. I think this will fit the research a bit better.
• Here is the feedback I received after the first walk cycle:

• Based on my feedback, which said to create a series of further animations for Ozwald, I finished the walk cycle, produced a jump animation and will be making a simple attack animation for the video. I have also started on making the background, which was advised to be fully lined. I also need to brighten them and compose them a little better, so I'll be focusing on that.
• I also finalised my research document for COP2, which can be viewed below.

Walk Cycle

Jump and Fall

COP 2 Research Document

Character and Narrative: Keyframes and Colour

Character and Narrative

Keyframes and Colour

• This Week:
• I finalised the scenes I needed to keyframe and also spoke to Rachel about getting all of the other keyframes done. I also began the colouring process this week!
• What Went Well:
• I managed to get my keyframes completed and throughout the process I continued to improve on my consistency with the frames. I was also able to time the coconut fall well, despite not being sure how it would crack and split when it fell. Using the "bouncing ball" references and timing, I was able to create the impact.
• What Could Be Better:
• We ran into a problem, which was that the TVPaint at University was not the professional version and therefore, we couldn't utilise the Inlay Texture effect in TVPaint. This was going to be used to add a texture to Teddy's shell. 
• We will continue to try and find a way around this, however we may have to just stick with the paper texture in After Effects, as we may be short of time.
• I noticed the last shot, that Teddy's cheek spots disappear, so I need to add those in to post into the drive.
• Next Week:
• Mark will be working on the final betweens, whilst we colour each scene! We can then get onto exporting the files in the last week.

Context of Practise 2: Developing a Character 2

Context of Practise 2

Developing a Character 2

• After my research playing both Hollow Knight, INSIDE and Ori and the Blind Forest, I decided to make a walk cycle test, with Ozwald, taking notes of the animation styles used for the protagonists of all three games.
• Before I produced the walks, I also needed a finalised lantern design, which I developed here:
• My walk cycle uses elements from Hollow Knights' animation style and from INSIDE. The walk was simple, to fit with the light and small character. I also added a tail flick and lantern swing, to add interest and a feeling of life in his walk.

Walk Cycle Test

Walk Cycle and Turn Test

Attack Roughs

Context of Practise 2: Developing the Main Body

Context of Practise 2

Developing the Essay Main Body

• In my sketchbook, I created a detailed overview of how I would go about writing the main body of the essay, joining and triangulating my ideas together. Once I had finished writing my first draft of the essay, I would then be able to go back, read through my ideas and then add more sources if needed to triangulate my ideas.
• I received some feedback on the Introduction and possible areas to then go on to explore:

• I, then, produced more thumbnails for possible cinema-graphs and game visual mock-ups, however a lot of my focus was on producing a quick walk cycle which reflects the simple style I had been analysing between all of my case studies.
• When exploring more thumbnails for cinema-graphs, I found some more sources I could add to my essay, which are the books Color and Light by James Gurney, specifically the section on using blur effects. The other book I explored was Digital Encounters by Aylish Wood. Despite that I couldn't find much on sentient beings, I found a lot of useful sources on narrative and aesthetic, to reference in my essay.

More Thumbnail Tests and Environments

Character and Narrative: Study Task 2 - Improvements

Character and Narrative

Study Task 2 Improvements

• In order to improve my work done for Study Task 2, which was the lip-sync animation in After Effects, I decided to spend more work animating a character in TVPaint and then added the lip-sync in After-Effects, if the frames/sounds repeated.
• I used the same Dope Sheet, however, changed the appearance of the mouth shapes, with some of the frames are 1.5 and 2.5 etc. as in-betweens of the mouth shapes.
• In addition to this, I changed the characters' design slightly, with the red eye and metal enhancement around the eye, just as a small homage to the source of the sound clip, from  Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). 
• One improvement I could make, would be to temove the additional head bounce when he says "anything," as it's a little bit too expressive for the voice speaking. I found it difficult to add expression to a very flat voice, so the first part of the lipsync works well, but I would remove the head bounce next time.

Here is the first lipsync

Here is the improved one:

Character and Narrative: More Keyframes and Animated VFX

Character and Narrative

More Keyframes and Animated VFX

• This week: 
• I worked on trying to get the keyframes done for more scenes, so that Afnan can continue inbetweening them. I also did come test drawings in my sketchbook, for one of the scenes I was going to key-frame next.
• What went well: 
• I found that I was getting better at keeping consistent with the style for Teddy and the smoothness of the linework. When working on Scene 6.5, I had a look at Elemental Magic, Volume II: The Technique of Special Effects Animation by Joseph Gilland, to understand how fire can be animated with 2D techniques. I also looked at a series of references, such as the scene in The Lion King, where the final battle takes place and the land is in flames. I also looked at YouTube tutorials on animating explosions and bursts of fire. These all helped me to try to understand 2D VFX.

• What could be better: 
• I need to improve on my timing a little bit, especially with just teaching myself the VFX side of animation. Some parts could have been a bit slower, to allow the viewer to exaggerate the effects more.
• Next week: 
• I will be continuing finishing key-framing my final scene, then start the colouring process.

Context of Practise 2: Environment Analysis and Design

Context of Practise 2

Environment Analysis and Design

• When approaching my research into the environment design of my case studies and how this aesthetic affects the atmosphere of a game, my main source of research was from playing the games and analysing them. However, I looked a lot into the concept art of the games and how the environment design was impacted by this. The concept artist, Simon Kopp, who worked on Ori and the Blind Forest, created a series of environment assets which could be duplicated in game. I decided to use this idea myself, looking at plants and possible assets amongst the environment.

My Concepts:

• After watching "The Animation Process of Ori and the Blind Forest" on YouTube, I found that a lot of their environments were inspired by Studio Ghibli. I researched the style, looking at the art book, "The Art of Miyazaki's Spirited Away (Studio Ghibli Library)." I tried to recreate the painting-like style and found that I did prefer the lined style of backgrounds, which are used in Hollow Knight. I did, however, use the light and particle effects I had learnt watching INSIDE and the colour choices I had investigated, when I researched semiotics.

The first initial painting test:

I, then, produced a series of colour variation tests, looking at mood and atmosphere, in relation to the time of day and colour palette chosen.

Character and Narrative: Keyframing and Mock Cover

Character and Narrative

Key-framing Scene 3 and Mock Cover

• What I did: 
• This week I also began key-framing scene three of the group animation. 
• What went well: 
• Learning from my mistakes from the first scene framing, I was more consistent in shape and in the line-work, by taking time to look back at the turnaround for reference or redrawing frames if I needed to!
• I sent the work in progress to the group and they told me to continue with what I was doing, therefore starting work key-framing the next scene.
• I additionally produced a "mock cover art" for the animation, using one of my background concepts. Overall, the concept worked well and I looked at a variety of cover-art online, for childrens' animated shows, such as Steven Universe and Gravity Falls and they incorporate a lot of the final style into this. 
• What could be better: 
• Unfortunately, we had not produced a logo/title card for the animation yet, so Rachel said she'd like to try create one!
• What I need to do next time: 
• Produce the key-frames for the next scene I am assigned to!

Scene Three Key-frames:

Mock-Up Cover Art

Character and Narrative: Keyframing

Character and Narrative

Production: Key-Frames Week One

• This week:
• Rachel created a second spreadsheet on the Gantt Chart document, which is a scene and shot breakdown. We added to it, gradually, when we met together as a group to look over it. It looks at timing and roles for each scene.
• I started key-framing my first scene, in TV Paint!
• What went well was:
• Our teamwork and communication was commented on during my Formative Feedback. Additionally, keeping on top of work, documenting and critically analysing the entire process.
• Next time:
• I need to be more consistent in my key-frame process. I am still a bit rusty from not doing it for a while, and I need to be more consistent in the line work so that it's easier for Afnan and Mark to in-between.
• I need to look at using references of turtles to help with the movements!
• For the rest of this week I will be working on the second set of key-frames and developing a slideshow for the weekly presentations.

The first scene:

Here is our scene list for organisation:

Context of Practise 2: Sentient Enemies

Context of Practise 2

Sentient Enemies

• Following the seminar on Sentient beings and my research playing Ori and the Blind Forest and Hollow Knight, I found that a lot of the enemies in the game are either much larger in scale compared to the protagonist, or have some form of sentience among the environments of the world. Therefore, I decided to create some concepts for enemies which could be found in the world, based upon this idea.

I then took several enemies and coloured them digitally, using Hollow Knight and Ori and the Blind Forest as reference. The sections of the game I analysed are here:

Kuro at the top of the Ginso Tree (Ori and the Blind Forest):
 
 https://oriandtheblindforest.fandom.com/wiki/Kuro?file=GinsoTreeKuro.png

The Green Beast, located in The Queens Gardens (Hollow Knight):

https://hollowknight.fandom.com/wiki/Queen%27s_Gardens?file=Screenshot_HK_Queen%27s_Gardens_07.png

My coloured enemy designs: