For this Do It In 10, the theme was Defeat. Straight away I wanted to do it about a Jousting match. Although horses can be a real struggle, I wanted to at least start sketching to see if they were something I could attempt. These images bellow are from history, showing jousting and how it used to be used for entertainment for royalty to enjoy.
This is a diagram from Eadweard Muybridge who I have studied in the past for his contributions to looking at movement and motion. As he did a lot of imagery for horses and how they walk and run, I will need to look at how a horse looks in the different positions as well as how the legs move and look.
This is a simplified version of his imagery showing just the horse and what his legs are doing at each point. This would make it easier when getting to animating as I can map out where the horse will move to next.
In the movie 'Knight's Tale' this angle is used often to create a dynamic overall look and show that each of the contestants are heading to the centre with their lances ready. If animation, I would have used this angle to create a visually interesting animation.
This was one of the initial sketches of a horse showing its movement and where its legs are going yet the head is too small so it throws of the overall look so would need to be improved.
These are two more sketches that I am a lot more proud of, they look more correct in terms of alikeness to actual horses. These were done so I can improve my drawing skills, so even if I cannot animate, I have still learned new talents.
After looking into the history of how the lances used to look and the shapes of the shields, these would be the designs in the animation. The lance is simple yet follows the pattern many of the lances used to follow with the spiral effect and turreted end. The shield were designed to cover the body, yet leave room for the arm to come forward as this is where the lance comes across, so the body can be protected but the shield wont be in the way of the lance. It also has a very basic pattern as many were house sigils that tended to be simple or very complicated in design.
This is a basic design showing how the Knight comes along the fence and the other Knight comes towards him on the other side before they collide.
This was again all I wanted to do for this project as the time it would take to complete with the horse and Knights, it would exceed the allotted time for the competition. Yet it was interesting researching about jousting and how a horse moves and the movement that goes into their legs as they run which look very complicated before being simplified.
For this character design, I have been looking at what I would think was a bad costume and what shapes work nicely. The eyes seemed to have a big impact on the overall look which you can see by how they vary from sketch to sketch. Some seemed too creepy, like the lower right. This isn't what I want so i'm looking for designs to look more cute but silly.
This is the design I'd like to go ahead with. Including Chewbacca accessories, like his sash with ammo, It lets the audience know it is supposed to be a rubbish attempt at an outfit. I've replaced the cross-bow gun with a child's crossbow with sucky arrows that children get given. This paired with stains, rips and patches furthers the terrible costume and the attempt to pass as Chewbacca.
Further skethes have been done to show his face close up as well as a side view and back view. This gives the character more depth and size as you can see how big and flat his head is. In the storyboards, only the front view is being shown but this gives a further look into the costume from different angles.
These were my attempts at drawing Harrison Ford. One more cartoon and one more realistic. The cartoon one really didn't work, I was looking at when Harrison Ford was younger but then it didn't look enough like him. The cartoon look also doesn't work with the costume as it would look to primitive next to the costume done in more detail.
I like how the Harrison Ford design looks at it does hold some resemblance, yet would take way too long to animate when having to move the facial features when taking which would also be very difficult as I have still never tried syncing mouths with sound.
This page is looking at more parts of the costume as well as accessories in more detail. The top two are design of the clearly visible zip and large patches, furthering the rubbish outfit design. The next two were designs of bows with different sticky arrows.
The bows are different subtle designs but I like more of the curves on the edges of the tips. This would just be personal preference and just to show the cheapness of the character. The arrows are more different, the first plain, and the second and third are more like robin hood style arrows. The end design would be the one to go for as it also suits the bow nicely.
Finally the satchel in more detail. It has different badges, showing the unprofessional aesthetic. Showing the different angles also lets me see the shape and how it looks from different view points.
This is another, more clear storyboard. The meeting is full of intended awkwardness as this is the feeling I am wanting to create with such a strange character. Sadly this is as far this animation went. Time caught up to me and I didn't have enough time as Character and Narrative was coming to a close and needed more attention. This is something I will be improving on to next animations can go further and hopefully be completed.
As like most briefs, I started out doing a mood board. As this months challenge is to do a Hippie, I was looking at bohemian styles as well as the motion on dance from old images from the 60's. I then started thinking of doing a chilled out ram hippie which is why I also put them on this mood board.
This was the first sketch I was thinking when I got this project. I loved how it was coming along and I will defiantly go ahead with this design and finish it, but I needed more time than what I had and I wanted to put more effort into this design as I have never done this animal before. This is why I went for a human as this would take a lot of time to do the fur well.
Here is the female character I designed. I am not sure about her overall pose but I am still happy about how the torso, face and hair turned out. This was fun to do as I got to work with a lot of colours and flowers to create her. I am proud but I can defiantly see room for improvement but doing these challenges are really helping to let me create characters to different briefs.
This is the proof of submission. Because of the sheer amount of people who enter this competition, it is a Facebook group that thousands can enter into. This is a good place to also see different peoples interpretations to the different briefs given.
As I wanted to be more hands on this project, I have painted using watercolour, for a lot of the pre-production designs so I can get a feel for colours, designs, shapes and positions. This is an air ship that I would like placed in the background as it will be floating in the sky and the llama will jump onto it for the apples.
Here are some of the apple designs, I couldn't decide what they should look like so I decided to do a huge range of different designs, colours, shapes and styles. I loved how many of these turned out yet I can only use on design for the animation so the audience can see they are the food that the llama needs to go for. I think one of the red ones will be the one to go for as they stand out and look cartoony. Along with these apples, I have tested some of the platforms that the llama will jump on and over on the map. I like how these all turned out as they all show a different aesthetic yet since i'm doing this animation digitally, this will affect which design to choose.
This is the first digital sketch done for the background. As I want it panning with the character, the background needs to be long and show enough background to keep the interest of the viewer. Sadly this is an animation challenge, but I think the would overall be a good game idea for phones as it is small and easy to do. In case I want to test doing this idea at some point.
This is the final digital version of my background. I love how it turned out as it is a different aesthetic than what I have tried in the past. As an arcade game, this layout works as it gives the audience different views to look at as the camera pans. The background is showing different terrain that the llama will pass, like a flying land mass, an air ship as well as smooth hills. The sunset feel also adds a warmth to the overall scene and setting.
These llamas are to show the front movement as well as the back as the llama will be walking like Mario used to with minimal leg moves, just a front and back motion. The llamas are a soft pastel that came from my designs at the beginning as well as the mood board. They do look cute so hopefully they will work in the scene with the motion.
Here is just an image from moving the llama and making him eat each of the apples he passes. So far it is going well but taking quite a while as I only have Photoshop to work with on my computer so all of the panning, after effects and sound all have to be added here.
This is the make-shift menu screen needed to make it seem like the viewer is playing the animation. I wanted it to fit the background, so I am designing it like an old power switch in a factory so this should add to the overall aesthetic.
Here is the menu screen, I am very proud about how this looks and turned out as it looks like it is on metal with real buttons. The handle in the middle also turns when the animation starts so this adds to the immersion into the mini game.
Here is the final animation. I'm not happy with all of the elements of this but for the effort put into it in the time frame, Im happy it got done and is complete.
This is sadly the email I received from my submission. Although this did really make me sad and want to no longer submit to competitions, over time I realise they were right about it not looping yet the rest is their own opinion so I cant be deterred from someone who just didn't understand what I was creating or the meaning behind it. This is why instead of stopping, I am going to create another animation and enter that too so show I can create what they want.
As babies are obviously cute, but so are teddy bears, I couldn't decide between the two so I sketched two out and I preferred the bear as it is a style I haven't tried yet. These were both rough sketches but it was nice working in a light colour as I usually only use blacks.
This is how the final animation turned out, Im happy with how he looks as he is still a soft pink so he looks more cute and appealing. He is cheekily pressing a 'do not press' button which also adds to the cute-ness of him. This was more motion than I have created in a while so it makes me want to do more digital, not just stop-motion so i can learn how the body moves more.
This is a confirmation that Loopdeloop liked this animation and posted it to their page. This was a big personal goal as it is awful to be rejected by a competition for your work so I am happy to have stuck with it and added another submission before it was too late.
For this animation, I am doing a short that will look like an old arcade game with a character running through the map. My character is a llama going after red apples, but this is no different than Mario going after coins. I want the animation to look like the beginning demo before the person can actually play. As this opens up the opportunity to take the animation further and turn the elements into a real game for a phone.
This is another 2D arcade game showing how the levels looked and the background. I have a different style to this, but it was interesting to see that all of their elements look like they belong. This is why it works so well becuase no matter how pixilated, it wont matter to the audience if that is the style it is going for.
This is the two motions that Mario mainly does. I have been thinking about this for a while as a llama has 4 legs, so I will have the characters legs together and moving forward and backwards, oppressively to each other. I have looked at many character walking from pixelated games and they all look different but very much so the same and simple compared to todays games. Yet this seems like the best way to do it for me as it is the first time I will be attempting this.
I will also add in a menu screen which will enter the person into the game and set the character off. This is Mario's, but I want mine to be like an old switch that looks slightly steampunk, to match the lighting my animation will have.
This research has let me understand what I am wanting to do more for my animation as a whole. I have never paid too much attention to how the characters have moved becuase when playing you are too busy looking ahead so this was a really useful experience as it taught me to pay more attention to the small things.
To start this project, I did a spider diagram to get an idea of which ideas I can think of and which I like best.
Doing mood boards always help me to visually see what interests me and which ideas go together well. Cute is quite a difficult one to think of as there are so many things yet trying to think of something new can be challenging. Here are what ideas I have composited together so far, hand holding, octopus toys, turtles, dancing, llamas and a lot of pastel colours. Cute is very personal so it is difficult to figure out what others can find cute also.
Llamas are an animal I have animated in the past yet they are one of my favourite animals and are something I hold quite close to me from home. This was when I decided to do an animation like an old arcade game with a Llama eating apples as it goes.
At this point the project is getting off to a good start, I want to put a lot of effort into his project as this will be the project I use as my larger animation task. This means I will put a lot of time into designing, storyboarding and creating a detailed plan for the game.
As my aim was to be more hands on with this design, i've done some watercolour tails to show how the colours can merge together and create depth within the tail. The different colours create different overall looks so colour will be important when choosing the tail designs and colours.
I like this shape the most as it creates more of a feminine curve drawing the eye down to the tail shape. The greens and yellows also look really nice compared to the blues as they may blend more into the ocean blue background. This also gave me time to experiment with the watercolours and different effects as I really love the layered up effect.
These were experimentations for the face and what style I should be designing her in. As mermaids are that deep in the ocean, scientists found that if they would be real, they would look similar to the first design, with no hair and no noses but large gills. This intrigued me but the hair created in Harry Potter seemed too different and unique to leave out. I also wanted to make sure it could still be seen as a Harry Potter creation. (as this was in the rules)
The final piece will be digital, this is becuase I have becuase comfortable with this medium but I would like to try and do a hand drawn piece for one of these challenges. For this design, I will stick to using Photoshop. I was experimenting with brushes and effects that could be created to try and give different overall textures and looks. This was a watercolour brush used on the tail as well as using the blending brush, which I didn't know about, to merge it all together.
This is the final design. There are elements of this design which I love, like the hair and tail. The tail was different textured brushes which create a scaled look as well as letting it seem like the ocean is creating different fragments of light within the tail. I loved doing the hair and face. As these are elements I feel to look like the Harry Potter mermaid and i'm pleased with how they turned out. The hair has different tones and colours that adds a full look to her locks with different highlights and lowlights where needed to create this look overall.
The one main thing I would change, would be the outlines as they look childish to me. This was becuase I used a paintbrush, whereas, I think when a pencil is used, the lines can be thinner and have a more smooth overall appearance. This is all things to go towards future designs so I can improve and gain different aesthetics and effects that make my designs look better.
For the Character Design Reference Challenge, the theme was Harry Potter and as soon as I thought of Harry Potter, the fourth movie Goblet of Fire. This movie had a scene where Harry went into the lake to save his friends. This lake had mermaids within it and I really wanted to re-design and draw these creations.
A few years ago I went to the Harry Potter studio where they showed the concept designs for these creations which were immaculately done and showed the different looks they could have ended up having. This is what also inspired me to do this character design.
Here is a mood board and reference sheet to show what they looked like and what other interpretations of mermaids are. Some beautiful and colourful, others dark and evil. I think I am swaying towards the darker overall look.
This was a quick sketch of the pose and trident I would like to include on the character design. This project I would like to use some paint as I haven't done many characters in watercolour so far so this is something I really want to get back into doing.
