Extended Practise: Kingdom of Masks Scene 21

 Extended Practise
Kingdom of Masks Scene 21 Keyframes

• This week:
• I worked on the keyframes for Scene 21 for Khoa and Amy's project.
• What went well:
• I found this scene particularly difficult because of the angle and timing of the poses, which Khoa wanted. I used the roughs which Khoa provided for me and added some breakdowns to try make better sense of the timing and feel of the sword.
• Despite the struggle with timing and spacing, I believe that I kept the lines consistent and the line-weight variations appropriate for the poses.

Keyframes Attempt 1

Keyframes Attempt 2

• I still felt that the weight wasn't there. I posted this into the group's Discord for further feedback. I slowed down the turning of the sword, to make it feel more weighted. Khoa also reminded me it was in water and this is supposed to be a moment of hope in obtaining the sword. 
• I added a splash of water upon removing the sword and a sheen as the sword lowers. I hoped that this would indicate the swords' importance to the audience.

Keyframes Attempt 3

Keyframes Attempt 4

• I believe that with the inbetweens timed, the weight will be felt much easier, as these are just the key poses.
• What could be improved:
• I think that there could have been a more fluid pose or motion for this shot, which could indicate the power and feel of the sword much better. I think that next time I would maybe re-adjust the roughs or interpret them myself to try recreate the feeling the directors wanted from the scene. This is something to consider going forwards, especially if working freelance or in a studio, which is being able to give creative feedback or input of possible ways the scene could be further improved.
• Next time:
• I will be doing clean-up and colouring for Scenes 3 and 4.

Professional Practise 3: Study Task 2 - Scan the Horizon

 Professional Practise 3

Study Task 2 - Scan the Horizon

• Work Roles and Where?
• I have no preference for either Studio work or Freelance work. I want to develop a 2D animation portfolio, which will give me the freedom to work in either areas. Long-term, however, I would prefer to work in a Studio, but I would like to keep my options open, if I can. 
• Some specific areas would be studios based in the UK. I would like to try for an Internship at Bluezoo, however their internship programme is only for Students. In this case, I would apply for their entry positions. Brown Bag Films also allows for some entry positions, however their studio in Manchester is not accepting any new job applications at the moment. 

• Dream Role Requirements
• My dream role would be a Lead Animator or Art Director in a Studio. In order to achieve this goal, I will need to start by getting a position in a Studio and then work my way up, with experience and networks. On the National Careers website, it recommends to start as an Animation "runner", then work your way up. It also suggests to seek opportunities and possibly take part in voluntary work which may help in acquiring future jobs in studios or with clients.
• My dream role has several required skills. When looking at BlueZoo Animation's job listing for Experienced Toon Boom Animator, the job lists several skills required:

• For a general 2D Animator, I believe that these skills would definitely overlap. On CGSpectrum.com, there is a section about careers in 2D Animation and what is required of you as an animator. Here is the link: https://www.cgspectrum.com/career-pathways/2d-animator

• It states that the average US pay for a 2D Animator is $31,139 for Entry Level and $82,286 for senior roles.
• In order to get a "foot in the door," I had a look at the entry requirements for the ToonBoom Harmony Animator (Entry Level) on BlueZoo's website and the requirements consist of good drawing skills, knowledge of the Principles of Animation, good communication skills and an added bonus would be having cut-out style animation on your portfolio.

• Kate Landers' talk also provided a lot of information about working requirements, especially if I wanted to become a 2D animator. She explained about having good transferable skills, from working in other part-time jobs, as a team or good organisation skills. In addition to this, she listed the possible options for going into a career in animation. These consisted of exploring:
• Apprenticeships:
• She explained Storyboard Artist and VFX Supervisor Apprenticeships were now available at Level 7, which I would be eligible for.
• Internships
• Entry Level positions
• I would like to consider applying for any of these positions. I think that possibly looking at a Storyboard apprenticeship could also offer me experience in working within the animation industry and allows me to build skills and a network, which could get me a role in 2D Animation further in the future.
• Here are the notes I made on Kate Lander's talk:

• Networking Opportunities:
• Due to the impact of coronavirus there are limited networking opportunities at the moment. Despite this, there are still online networking opportunities available, such as messaging animators on LinkedIn and asking for advice.
• Other opportunities for networking would be applying for Festivals via. FilmFreeway and regularly checking the Skiwgly and Animation World Networks' events pages, to see for any networking opportunities.
• One way I could network is joining Animation Groups online. I have joined the 2D Animation group on Facebook and occasionally post there for feedback. I am still looking for a Discord group I could join, but there are the Skwigly forums, which contain many networking opportunities.
• Eventbrite also have a lot of free networking opportunities, when you specifically search for animation. Some of these could provide insight into particular animating techniques, tutorials, but also allow for opportunities to speak with professionals:
• https://www.eventbrite.com/d/online/animation/?q=Animation&mode=search 

• Further Considerations:
• Upon researching animation opportunities in the UK, I came across this article with every studio listed in the UK. It's additionally worth exploring some of these studios for possible internships or entry level positions, in smaller workplaces:
• https://onelightvfx.com/studio-list/complete-list-of-2d-3d-animation-post-production-and-vfx-studios-in-england/
• I have considered having to move countries, to Denmark, in order to live with my partner. This would be quite difficult due to current circumstances and Brexit, however I can explore jobs and networking ideas in Denmark.
• In addition to this, I will need to consider the impact of Coronavirus on my future working opportunities. It may allow me to apply for roles which will be remote work, so this is something I could consider if I were to work in a studio.

Extended Practise: Final Film Keyframes Progress 3

 Extended Practise
Final Film Keyframes Progress 3

• This week:
• I continued working on the keyframes for my final film.
• What went well:
• I was able to complete three further shots, keeping the line-work consistent and considering the timing and spacing for Caitlin, who will be inbetweening.

• For Shot 11, I used myself as reference for the typing animation. Initially, his hands were going to remain still, but it felt stiff and lifeless, so I added the typing animation. The laptop angle was made far easier, because of Josephs' Maya models, allowing the lid closing perspective to be accurate.  

• Once I had added the keys to the keyboard, the shot works really well. I additionally focused on adding drag to the Air Hostesses' neck tie and her poof on her head. With these breakdowns, it allows the inbetweener to understand key timing and the added bounciness of her movement, in contrast to the slower, even movements of Geoffrey.
• Furthermore, I took note of making her head move back in an arching motion, which looks much more pleasing to the eye.
• I additionally worked on Shots 12 and 13, following this.

Shot 12 Keyframes

Shot 13 Keyframes

• Again, with Shot 12, it was initially going to be animated in post-production, with flashing lights, however I thought the little animations of the seat-belt, the smoking sign and wifi signal adds a lot of life to the shot.
• For Shot 13, I made note of what I had understood animating the Air Hostess in Shot 11, thus keeping the bounciness of her movement, the drag and expressions.
• What could be improved:
• I think that Shot 13 could be timed a little bit better, as I feel that it pauses on the middle frame for too long. I'll have to note what it looks like when Caitlin in-betweens it and whether it needs to be adjusted.
• When the wing comes in to close the laptop on Shot 12, it doesn't look like its in time with the laptop, therefore I will need to adjust this, before I upload the Toon Boom file for Caitlin to in-between.
• Next week:
• I will be working on the final keyframes and starting in-betweening.

  

Extended Practise: Kingdom of Masks Test Inbetweens

 Extended Practise
Kingdom of Masks Test Inbetweens

• This week:
• I worked on the inbetweens for Scene 1 of Khoa and Amy's Project 'Kingdom of Masks.'
• What went well:
• As Emily was having issues with Toon Boom Harmony, she key-framed Scene One in TVPaint. Thankfully, in my last project, I had learnt how to import videos into Toon Boom Harmony and convert these into Vector lines. Upon doing this, I had Emily's key-frames then in Toon Boom, ready to be betweened.
• I struggled a little with the betweening process, as the way Emily had keyframed meant that several poses were held whilst the arm was still moving. This meant that when I fully betweened it, the character was jumping between poses, rather than having one fluid motion. When I made some adjustments to the key-frames, such as just moving the entire character on the canvas, so that there would be an easing motion, it felt much better. Despite this, Emily's linework was incredibly clean which made in-betweening much more efficient.

My Inbetweening, with Key-frame adjustments

Further adjustments to the last pose, to ease into the final pose

• What could be improved:
• It was hard to consider easing and timing with the way the keyframes had been timed, so I will be thinking about discussing with Emily any adjustments that need to be made, before I begin inbetweening scenes.
• The animation still feels like it jumps a bit, because of the keyframing having held body poses, but the arm moving or leaves moving. This is something I will discuss with Khoa whether I should make changes or upload ready for colouring and just consider this for the next shot.
• Next time:
• I will be working on colouring some of the stills in the animation.

Extended Practise: Final Film Keyframes Progress 2

  Extended Practise

Final Film Keyframes Progress 2

• This week:
• I worked on the key-frames for my final film.
• What went well:
• I was able to complete Shots 5, 7 and 8 ahead of schedule. After making note of improvements from last time, such as using the stabiliser at a higher setting, to keep the lines smoother. Here is Shot 5, as an example of this:

Shot 5

• I think I got the perspective of this shot really well composed, in comparison to the shot where this is viewed at a side angle. I have also continued to add breakdowns of the keyframes, to help those inbetweening understand the easing of the head movement. 
• It was tricky to add an "eye-roll" when Geoffrey's eyes are just black dots. For Shot 7, I needed to experiment how this could be done, so I utilised the eyebrows, shoulders and eye-movement to try suggest an eye-roll. I think this was done quite successfully!

Shot 7

Shot 8

• I additionally kept the linework and model quite consistent for Shot 8, showing my improvements in this area of work.
• What could be improved:
• I think Shot 8 needs the most improvements with the timing of the walk to the seat and when he sits in the chair. I added breakdowns here to try to time this out for those inbetweening, but I think it still needs some adjustments before I finalise it. I will look over this next time and make adjustments to the timing and spacing.
• Next time:
• I will be working on Khoa and Amy's project and continuing key-framing for my final film.

Professional Practise 3: Manchester Animation Festival and Visiting Professionals

 Professional Practise 3
Manchester Animation Festival and Professional Presence

• To develop my professional presence and my specialism, I had attended a series of events at Manchester Animation Festival. I wanted to mention these, as it will be impacting my work going forward and I reference the notes from the festival often, when thinking about my social media and work in the future.
• Here are some of the notes I made on Manchester Animation Festival:

• Prior to Manchester Animation Festival, I also took part in a group commission, with Joseph and Caitlin, to animate for a 4 minute music video, for the group OMGCollective. Joseph managed and directed the whole project, whilst I worked primarily on the rough animation, colouring and compositing. As we only had six weeks to complete the video for them, the animation quality reflects this. Going forward, I think that I would have either charged more for my time, or attempted a different style of animating, to reflect their budget. Puppet-style animation would have probably worked much better, but I have learnt a lot from doing that project of how to value my work. 
• I will be considering this heavily if I were to become freelance, as the project was a real experience of valuing my time and skills.
• Here is the final animation we were able to produce:

Extended Practise: Final Film Key-frames Progress

 Extended Practise
Final Film Keyframes Progress

• This week:
• I started my keyframes for my final film.
• What went well:
• The producer for my project, Emily, made a well-presented, organised Gantt Sheet for us to follow, for production. It contains a list of all of the shots and the roles distributed evenly between Axel, Caitlin and I. This week I intended to work on the key-frames for Shots 2 and 4. 
• I decided to also add some breakdowns between the keyframes, so that those who are inbetweening can understand the timing of the action and it additionally helps to understand the movements of the character.
• Here are the keys for Shot 2:

• I think that the brush we decided on works really well for the animation, as it's similar to that used for the model sheet, but it has good weight variation. It is also slightly textured, which is a visual we decided to go for.
• I had a lot of fun with the expressions and acting of the character. I think that a good decision was made in allowing Geoffrey's eyebrows to raise above his head.
• I also worked on Shot 4:

• This is a much shorter shot, of Geoffrey looking out from the queue. It may only have two frames, however I did spend time considering the line weight and expression. The first frame is only intended to be a breakdown.
• Axel suggested adding a tail flick to the cat in front, so they dont feel as stiff/stationary.
• Here is the improvement:

• We intend to blur the cat in post-production, so that the focus is more on the Goose.
• What could be improved:
• Some lines are a little bit shaky and inconsistent. This is something I need to practise, especially for key-framing. Whilst I have the line weights understood pretty well, I need to either warm-up before, by doing some sketching, or make more use of the stabiliser in Toon Boom Harmony, to ensure my linework is much neater. I will do this for future scenes.
• Next time:
• I will be working on Shots 5, 7 and 8, into the end of the week and into next week.

Extended Practise: Final Film Animatic

 Extended Practise
Final Film Animatic

• This week:
• I worked on the animatic for Aviation Aggravation.
• What went well:
• Using Reid's storyboards, I found it efficient and easy to follow these for the animatic. They had also numbered actions within the shots, so I could time these for the animation. 
• I was able to learn more with Toom Boom Storyboard Pro to create this animatic, which helps broaden my knowledge in different software. I already have some prior knowledge of Storyboard Pro, but I learnt how to adjust the camera and how multiple scenes work in Storyboard Pro. I also learnt how to export the storyboard as a PDF, so that roles could be assigned based upon shots and it helped visualise each scene better.
• I found that, whilst I'm not a storyboard artist, my sense of timing was tested a lot in doing this, as I needed to judge how long a movement might take and how long it needs to be held for. This was particularly helpful for me to understand, especially when I need to practise timing in animation more. 
• Here is the animatic I created:

• I also made another version of the animatic, which the group preferred. The ending is altered slightly, as I believed that the build up would work better with an abrupt cut to a peaceful scene and I made some adjustments to show Geoffrey Gooses' panic. In the second version - one that strays slightly from the script - he curls up in panic and brings out a pillow. It also cuts to the Air Hostess pouring tea, which I thought was a funny addition. I wanted to show a contrast to another character, indicating his panic is either over-exaggerated, or all in his mind.
• Overall, the group chose this as the preferred animatic:

• What could be improved:
• The animatic just needs music now, for it to be completed. I will be contacting the musician and sending this to him. Here is evidenced contact:

• Next week:
• I will be starting the key-frames for the animation!

Professional Practise 3: Ben Waddleton Talk

 Professional Practise 3
Ben Waddleton Talk and Online Presence

• Ben Waddletons' talk was very informative about how impactful social media is, as an artist and how it can allow you to get your work noticed. I found his talk to be helpful for me personally, to understand the meaning of my social presence, in order to decide what I want to do with it going forwards. 
• I asked him questions about how to cope with imposter syndrome and staying motivated when posting online and his advice, which was to post things that you enjoy and engage with, rather than trying to jump onto trends, was extremely helpful. I want to continue this going forwards.
• Here are the notes I made:

• An example of this is my most recent Instagram post of my own character, Sahara, grabbing some leaves and bounding off-screen. Whilst it isn't perfect, it is something original and allowed me to practise using Procreate. I also want to establish myself as a character animator more on social media and through animating and drawing things which I enjoy drawing, I will continue to grow and learn new skills.
• Here is the animation I made and Instagram post:

Extended Practise: Aviation Aggravation Further Concepts

 Extended Practise
Aviation Aggravation Further Concepts

• This week:
• I worked on further character concepts and exploration for Aviation Aggravation
• What went well:
• I created some character sketches for Geoffrey and the Air Hostess to get a better feel of the characters, before I start animating them. I also wanted to experiment a little bit the style and shading. I think this helped a lot with establishing the style and how I would like the outcome to look like.
• Here are the quick sketches of the characters and environments:

• Here are some quick rendered concepts of the Air Hostess and Geoffrey:

• What could be improved:
• I need to establish what kind of textured brush we will be using and additionally, the animation style needs to considered. I need to think about how much "squash and stretch" will be applied to this world and how the characters might interact together. This could be established in the storyboard or further testing.
• The softer shading used on the characters might be tricky in Toom Boom Harmony, so this is something I may need further research on to see what it could look like.
• I will not be producing more concepts for the background, as I would like to focus on the characters and animation, therefore I would like Joseph to continue with the concept for the backgrounds.
• Next week:
• I will be continuing the Pre-Production for Aviation Aggravation.

Extended Practise: Final Film Turnarounds and Model Sheets

 Extended Practise

Final Film Main Character Turnarounds and Model Sheets

• This week:
• I continued working on the main character turnarounds and began working on model sheets.
• What went well:
• After talking with my group and getting general feedback from Mat, the turnarounds were completed. The colour for the Goose turnaround was finalised, and the group approved of the final colours, as they were simpler and Joseph found that they work really well with the current background colour tests. We wanted the colours to be a little darker and muted, in contrast to the other characters, as this reflects his personality.
• Here is the final turnaround:

• When exploring the model sheets, I tried to keep the poses simple, but enough to express the character personality. The model sheet also acted as a great test for pushing the body movements and testing the malleability of the characters. 
• Here are the final model sheets:

• What could be improved:
• I need to consider and experiment with the line styles. This is something that Mat brought up in feedback, as I wanted to use a sketchy line style. I will need to look at and explore the vector brushes in Toon Boom Harmony, which have the rough texture. I would like to make the style more fluid and lose, so this is something I'll need to explore.
• I think that the model sheet poses could be more fluid and exaggerated. This could be developed possibly by exploring facial expressions, from the storyboards.
• Next time:
• I will be working on the animatic, from the storyboard Axel created.

Extended Practise: Final Film Character Turnarounds

 Extended Practise
Final Film Main Character Turnarounds

• This week:
• I continued working on the main character turnarounds and visual development.
• What went well:
• After reviewing the drafted turnaround of the Goose and getting feedback from my group, I found that the overall shape of the character was too wide. Reid noted that they found the “tear-drop” shape of the character better, therefore I changed this when I refined the character.
• I believe that this shape works better for the character, as the rounder shape felt a little more stiff. Here are the changes:

Turnaround Before:

Adjusted body shape and neck:

• After this, I worked on the turnaround for the Air Hostess and we had decided on the design with the puffed cheeks and small body. I believe this design will work really well for animating, because of its’ simplicity. It is also based upon the bird design I made for Mimo, for COP, which means that I already have the knowledge for animating them - which saves a lot of time.
• Here is the turnaround:

• When thinking about the colour, I tried two colour designs for the Goose, as these were the two most popular colour styles I was seeing in my research. I will be sending these designs to my group to have a look over and decide which is best and whether it needs adjustments.

• What could be improved:
• We discussed the possibly of slightly adjusting the Air Hostess design, as we felt her silhouette was a little too similar to that of the Goose. Therefore, next time I work on them, I'll adjust her design.
• We also discussed that the Goose design needs the colours simplifying, however the brown palette works best. This is an additional thing I will be adjusting, by reducing the amount of colours used and testing to see if they fit well with the backgrounds.
• Next time:
• I'll be finalising the turnarounds and starting model sheets.

Extended Practise: Giffgaff Brief - Editing

 Extended Practise
giffgaff Brief - Final colour and editing

• This week:
• Joseph assisted with the colouring and compositing for the giffgaff brief.
• What went well:
• We were able to finish colouring the full 20 second advert and add the backgrounds, which really brought everything together. 
• Overall, the character fits well with the background, the line style works for giffgaff's brief guidelines and the story of "Sell your old phone, get cash" which giffgaff wants to tell, shows through very easily. The colours work well together and the blue and orange-ish yellow compliment each other quite well. 
• During the editing process, Joseph added a soundtrack and some effects which bring the animation much more to life. I believe that we followed the brief accurately for the 20 second ad and utilised all the research for giffgaff's previous ad campaigns. We were also very risk-taking with the process, as I decided to do a frame by frame animation, which is something giffgaff have never done before. 
• Here is the final edit:

• During the final editing, we also created a series of Digital Ad Banners and Joseph worked on an Instagram story post of the character falling in an endless loop. I found this article which explains the sizing for banners, which I referred to when editing them.

• We had a lot of technical issues with the colours, as the colour HEXs and RGB codes provided by giffgaff didn't produce the same colour, depending on the code you used. We also found that we forgot to consider the 4 primary colour limit, plus black, white and skin colour, which meant we had to re-colour the pinks used, to blue, to keep to their 3 primary colour limit.
• Here's what this looked like before:

• I created 5 animated ads, as when looking at their Twitter pages and other digital advertisements, the ones which were animated are most appealing. The idea that they are digital, also, allows the freedom to be either animated or still. Therefore, I wanted to give more animated advertisements, which can also work as still frames. Here are each of the edited ads I created:

• Here is Josephs' Instagram loop, which we will also be submitting:

• What could be improved:
• I believe that the animation of the character could have been more consistent and that I could have kept more on-model when animating. Additionally, we might have benefitted more from exploring more character ideas, before, as we settled on a character quite quickly.
• Furthermore, whilst the storytelling works well, I think it could have been better with more idea exploration and refining, despite the difficulty of trying to get the animation to be under 20 seconds. This could have been done with idea generating and maybe testing animatics to see which works.
• Next week:
• We will be submitting the final animation and set of digital advertisements to the D&AD Competition.

Professional Practise 3: Review Your Presence

 Professional Practise 3
Study Task 1: Review Your Presence

• This week:
• I considered my online presence, my current skills and what I need to do to improve in the future.
• What I found:
• My specialism in Animation is 2D Animation and Illustration (Concept and Design). I enjoy 2D Animation the most, because I find it the most rewarding when I am able to make something move believably and bring it to life. Also, a lot of my inspirations are 2D Animators. 
• Despite having used TVPaint, Adobe Animate and software such as Paint and Windows Movie Maker, in the past, I find that Toom Boom Harmony is the best software for my skills and is also industry-standard software. I understand a lot of the interface for Toon Boom, but I would like to understand more short-cuts and industry skills in the future.
• I use a screen tablet (XP-Pen) for animating, as I find my workflow to be much quicker than using that of a desk graphics tablet.
• I have several things I would like to do, once I finish the course. I would like to travel, or try get a job in a studio. I wouldn't mind taking up freelance animation either, therefore I need to review my online presence a lot more.

• My Online Presence:
• I need to review my online presence. I would like to take a different approach to social media, such as changing my brand name - as it still has ties to older accounts, which aren't as professional. I would like to only use Instagram and YouTube, possibly Twitch. I would need to rebrand my current YouTube account if I were to start posting there again. 
• I've considered changing my online brand name to "Alinaydra" from "Faye Scribbles", as it is a less specific name to art, it would fit a particular branding theme and style I'd like to go for. This is something I will consider with my new art account on Instagram.
• I think that my old showreel still reflects the style and genre of 2D Animation I would like to try, however it will need updating with the newest work I have completed, as I have since improved greatly from older work!

• Portfolio:
• After a portfolio review from Head of 2D Animation at Brown Bag Films, Erica Lack, I noticed that she only viewed my showreel on the first page of my portfolio. She also gave me advice on how to improve my showreel, such as only including fully rendered animations, as they stand out.
• Here is the email screenshot of our planned meeting time:

• Here are notes I made during the meeting:

• How will I improve going forwards:
• I need to update my CV and Showreel and start producing business cards.
• I need to update my online social media presence and start posting art and animations more frequently, engaging more with my audience.
• I need to update my portfolio: https://alishafayelittle.wixsite.com/portfolio

Extended Practise: Final Film Character Refinement and Exploration

 Extended Practise

Final Film Further Character Exploration

• This week:
• I explored possible designs for the main character and side characters of my short film.
• What went well:
• To finalise the Goose character, I put together a comparison sheet, which compares the two designs which the group and I had decided on, before. I found that the added dynamic pose really helped solidifying the decision of which face shape would be best to use. 
• I additionally gave him a laptop bag, to add more to his character and it felt logical, as he pulls out a laptop whilst on the plane. 
• Here is the comparison sheet:

• I additionally started on the exploration for the Air Hostess character. Using Reid's designs of the bird in their storyboarding, I explored several design concepts. I tried to keep to a smaller and stumpy shape, similar to that of Mimo from my Context of Practise module, as I already had knowledge in animating that body shape. 
• Here is my initial visual inspiration page:

• I produced two pages of shapes and poses, to-which I asked my group again for feedback. They liked poses/designs 2, 3, 7, 10, 15 and 16 the most. I was able to then take these designs and try to come up with a final four designs for them to choose from. They particularly liked the designs with the feather tufts on the chest and the chubby cheeks. 

• With these designs I believe that I was able to capture the personality and appeal of the Dove Air Hostess. I wanted to portray a friendliness and enthusiasm, almost acting as a contrast to the personality and expressions of Goose.
• What could be improved:
• The design for Goose still needs a turnaround and model sheet produced. I started to draw out the roughs for the turnaround, however after feedback, I felt that the body felt too large in comparison to how I was drawing him before. I also need to make the neck slightly longer, as it loses the "goose-neck" he had before. This is something I will work on over this week.

• Furthermore, a final design needs to be settled upon for the Air Hostess, as her shape needs to fit right with her character. I will continuing with this, this week, by getting more feedback from peers and correcting her shape to fit feedback.
• I did tend to stick towards a specific shape when designing the Dove, as I leaned more towards a rounded, soft shape. I think in the future, I should be more experimental with body shapes to really explore character silhouette. This is something I will consider with future designs and projects.
• Next time:
• I will be finalising the turnarounds and  main character concepts.

 

Extended Practise: Final Film Character Exploration

 Extended Practise

Final Film Character Exploration

• This week:
• I explored possible designs for the main character of my short film.
• What went well:
• I started by creating a visual board for bird characters in media, specifically geese and ducks. I found this particularly useful when designing characters, as I had initially struggled to stylise Geese. It also gave inspiration for designs that are much more simplified and those that are more complicated, allowing the character design process to be fully explored. 
• Here is the visual board:

• I kept my initial designs very lose and experimental. I didn't have a particular style in mind, other than something that could be animated quite easily. I found that my first page of designs were quite varied and allowed for a lot of further refinement.

• I sent this to my group for feedback. Some things they noted were:
• As a majority, designs 1, 2 and 4 were favourites, as they felt this looked more like a goose and had a better balance in design.
• The floating eyebrows of design 5 were also appealing to them.
• They found the larger, bushier eyebrows more fitting for the character.
• They preferred webbed feet, over the smaller feet.
• Taking on board this feedback, I made another page of designs, with some variation. Some designs took on board their feedback, such as the thicker brows and webbed feet.

• Of these designs, I found numbers 12, 15 and 16 most appealing, although I did consider number 14, also. From feedback, my group believed that 15 and 16 were the most fitting. Despite their similarities, their face features are different, so I drew them side by side in similar poses to compare.

• What could be improved:
• Taking on-board the feedback previously given for the designs, I need to refine these final two further or find a compromise which balances them both. 
• The designs also need to be considered for animation purposes and whether they could be simplified further or could be more detailed, depending on feedback and how I choose to finalise them. This will be through more experimentation and adjusting poses.
• I also need to consider whether the character's design fits the personality and the world, which will be discussed alongside the storyboard, script and background designs.
• Next time:
• I will be refining these designs and starting concepts for the Air Hostesses and background characters.