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