Working with my characters T-Pose, I sketched out the proportions for my wooden model, including the lengths of wood that I will cut and what aspects will be split up to make up the limbs, so they are able to move.
I soon realised a problem I had made pretty soon.. My wood had been cut too thin. Because Davvid is thin, I wanted to re-create this thinness in my model, however this has come with consequences because when I drilled to insert wire to attach his limbs, the MDF split.
So I had to glue back the pieces and leave it in the vice.
This meant I could no longer attach my limbs with wire using the drill, so I had to use these hooks instead which were extremely fiddly and not very secure;
I then glued on a nose to define his features;
Then finally I had a finished putting together my wooden model.
So considering my armature is too stiff to move, and I am not happy with the robe, I have decided that I will construct my own fabric robe to adorn Davvid with.
Considering I have no experience with this aspect I read a few books to experience myself so I could make a robe for him.
Where there was a useful PDF leaflet with loads of techniques.
Firstly I tightened some of my armature because I wasn't happy with how it moved and added an extra wire which acts as a triangular pelvis for my character.
Then I began to test clothing dimensions. I tested my initial dimensions on paper and wrapped the paper round davvid to test if it fit his contours;
After I was happy with my fitting, I used the paper as a template to cut out on my cotton sheet. I then began to stitch my clothes. I unfortunately had to stitch the sleeves and robe actually on Davvid himself as I was unable to get the robe over his head.
These are the finished results;
I am extremely happy now with his appearance. Without the plasticine robe, he can now be moved easily. The robe really has that vintage feel that I wanted, considering he bought it from a charity shop. Complementing this is how it is frayed in places and looks pre-owned and worn.
Unfortunately the day didn't start on a high, where I realised that I had put my bolts on the wrong way, Instead of concealing them in the milliput I left them exposed out the top because I thought they needed to be visible for the bolt to go through the other end. For future reference I have learnt now.
Firstly I applied the skin toned plasticine, starting with the feet so my character isn't top heavy. I loved the toes I created on his his bare feet. Then I rolled a dark blue a light blue and a light green together to create his robe;
It was with this that I encountered a problem. The armature I had created wasn't coping well with his tall stance and the weight that was building upon it. The armature is very stiff and I struggle to move his limbs even slightly! When he is wearing such a large and drapey robe it makes him even harder to move.
So instead I limited his robe to make it more body tight so I can move him around easier. But it looked wrong with him having sleeves. I had also made his hair by this point.
End of day 2 what I achieved;
I am not fully happy with my character. The armature keeps bending over at the hips, it needs tightening and I don't really like his aesthetic. If I had known we would be taking our characters and modelling them I would of thought more about how the plasticine could inform his aesthetic. I feel his robes have been the hardest to achieve, I think I might have a look into buying some fabric as his cloak instead and draping it across him so I can move his very stiff armature easier.
Today was the first day of making Davvid come alive in skeletal form. Firstly I re-drew Davvid considering his actual size and proportions in co-ordination with the metal armature that will give him form and make him able to move.
Then I began crafting my armature. I used a 2 metre length piece of aluminium wire, bent it in half and used a drill to twist it together and make a stronger and thicker armature. Then to add some sort of form for his body I used styrofoam on his body and head. But a very small piece as it obviously will be bulked out with plasticine quite a lot and Davvid is a very thin character. Also to add form I wrapped masking tape round his limbs, but very little as Davvid is very thin and not muscular at all. Using Milliput on his feet I then put a nut and bolt in each foot so he will fasten to the base board securely.
Today we became familiarised with the machines in the wood workshop. The wood workshop can prove a vital factor for designing sets, and crafting characters for stop motion (most commonly). Having studying Product Design prior to my degree I was already very familiar with the machines and it was great getting to use them again to craft our base plate. I personally cut my base of wood, then on the pillar drill, drilled 2 holes 60mm apart where the legs of my character will situate.
With another piece of wood we tested using the ban saw to craft shapes, using relief lines to construct more difficult shapes. Then we took our wood and tested it on the sander.
Finally I have finished my digital render of Davvid spinning round. I love how I have made the textures change in each frame, it gives a nice sketchy feel which goes nice with the smooth and fluid turn around.
I have even uploaded my first dragon framed line test to compare how much I have developed my turn around;
Not only have I corrected errors digitally that I realised in this original line test, which were his arm perspective (which I found especially hard to animate), his feet, his hair flick etc, but I added extra frames to make the turn around ultra smooth and beautiful. I also added some character in the form of rendering him. His robe changing colour with each frame, reflecting his abstract personality (how he can see ghosts) and I like the sketchy effect, it also kind of connotes of everything thats going on in his mind, the abstract world he views.
I am very happy with what I have achieved and how I have developed my turn around.
So after doing my line tests I decided to scan in all my sheets of paper to create a digitalised turn around. With this, I found I wasn't happy with the fluidity so I decided to add some inbetween frames and ended up with these results ;
I am really happy with how this looks. I love the smoothness and the inbetweens draw out the turn around, making it go nice and slow so you can really get a feel of the 3D aspect.
With this , I will now start to digitally render my turnaround in an aesthetic manner.
Today I received feedback on my character, Davvid. Unfortunately when I was displaying my character design concepts I forgot to include my character backstory, so my piers had to guess at the backstory for Davvid by the sketches I had done. This was testing my ability to convey Davvid's persona through emotion sheets and model sheets, which to my surprise was actually very succesful.
I received loads of positive comments, one even complementing how they love the change in Davvid from the human world to the ghost world, meaning I have successfully projected this change in persona through my sketches which I am very happy about.
Some further comments were;
-great range of emotions and facial expressions
-good original back story
-very original, love the facial expressions
-really love the concept art
-really clear development work, great expressions and body language
-nice use of media and soft colours to show his personality
-nice colour use, light palette, very good range of expressions
-really nice expressions
-the facial expressions are great, can get an idea of his personality.
I had a lot of complements on my colour scheme which I loved to hear, im glad many picked up on the light, soft palette I had gone for, to create this ghost like soft vision. I also got a lot of complements on my emotions which I went in depth into and enjoyed doing it, I felt they brought Davvid to life. I love how my piers can feel so much of Davvid from my drawings, they can feel his personality as I intended, which demonstrates that I have been successful.
Finally after adding sound effects and adjusting the hues using RGB colour correctors I have finished my animation.
Aesthetically, I am very happy with it. I like the shading I have included on the astronaut and what the colour corrector has done in blending the shading, making it really smooth. In post-production I make the highlights light yellow, this adds a warm feeling to the animation and a slightly vintage sepia feel, as if it is undiscovered colour footage from an early (unrealistic) moon-landing, answering the reason why NASA never went back on the moon... I made the midtones a blue hue, this is a contrast to the yellow as the blue conjures a cold feel unlike the warming tones of the yellow, but within my animation they coexist nicely, these opposing colours create maximum contrast and maximum stability and create a nice blend and aesthetic in the shading. For my shadows I made a dark green mouldy colour to enhance the mouldy aspect of the alien and atmosphere of the moon where bacteria has evolved to bring rocks to life. I also added an omni lighting effect to present the inclusion of the sun, the light source in the animation, this in turn brings out a new complexion of colours in the galactic background, it exposes some light greens and dusky oranges, making it look like a more effective space scenery.
Animation wise I don't feel like I have pushed myself enough. I wanted to animate some more movement but my idea lacks greatly in animated movement, I focussed my storyboard in creating this air of tension, inspired by Hitchcock's theory in building cinematic tension. You don't see the alien till the very end, which is ambiguous.
In my animation, the alien is "The bomb" which Hitchcock discusses in this video. If the identity of the alien was revealed fast, the tension hasn't had time to build and it would be over too fast, you haven't reached out to the audience and made them "work", so I drag out the big reveal, making the audience work, making them think "what is this creature?! How big is it?! what does it look like?! Is it going to hurt him?!" This builds the tension. Further aiding this tension is the fact you see the astronauts back for the majority of the time, adding the sense that something is watching him, something is coming. I also included a zoom in scene, making the audience think that it is from the perspective of the alien (when in reality the shot composition is far too high) heightening the tension further as the alien moves in, as we assume 'to attack'. Also helping this tension build is the sound effects. When the alien darts past the camera we hear a high pitched SCREECH, like the sound of an astronauts radio which they use to communicate with the base back home. When the volume is up loud, it shocks you which is exactly what I wanted to achieve, yet again building this air of ambiguity as we think "what is it?". On the zoom in sequence the music heightens, builds, gets louder and louder, yet again building this tension. To create this scary feel, I recorded some clicking sound effects that I made myself, the clicks sound like little rocks tapping together, making it a perfect sound for my rock moonlings, it is also very sinister.
If I was to do it again, I would of gone out my way to capture more adventurous movements. From an animation perspective I have been very safe, however I decided early on the astronaut would possess quite inhumane movements, he would be mechanical and robotic because I thought the fact he was anonymous was quite inhumane in itself, but from an outsiders animation perspective it looks unadventurous and unintentional. This would in turn mean changing the story of my animation, which I would have done also to include more adventurous movements and show more of my animation skill which I feel I have unintentionally held back on and am quite sad now I have realised too late.
I feel I was greatly inspired by seeing a lot of the 2D animations at MAF, and wish I began planning my animation after such inspiration, but unfortunately it was too late to.
I feel I have learnt a lot in this module in terms of developing my own skills as an animator that I will 100% take forward into the next module. Focussing more on movement rather than aesthetic, rather than the other way round like I have in this module. I am happy with what I have done though, because now I have learnt and will now do better next time, after all this is like my 2nd ever proper animation, i'm developing and learning by the week in the world of animation.
So I was now going to turn the legendary Davvid 360 in the next brief 'You Spin me Right Round'.
First to aid me I drew out line markers so I can keep the structure of my character and don't end up distorting or adjusting features on the turn.
I also drew arcs in order for it to turn effectively. I started off drawing the feet turning head on, which was very difficult. With guidance from my tutor It was decided the feet would look most effective at a slanted angle.
This was my first line test:
As my first paper test, I was extremely happy and surprised at how effective it looked. The head and feet turn perfectly. However the body seems to jump somewhat, this is something I will develop further when I take my scans into photoshop, where I might add some extra frames for fluidity of the body movement. However I noticed one aspect that needed amending in this test, the bottom of his cloak looks too 2D and has sharp edges, I will correct this by making his cloak more rounded and 3D looking.
Next I will go over my line test in fine liner to define my character before scanning into photoshop.
As you can see my designs were of a very organic style, keeping in with the student individuality flair. I decided that the first robe's design was the best, I liked the tie dye style colour, which is a vintage design, a typical piece of clothing he could of acquired from his work, and how faded it is, if the colour was too bold it wouldn't really represent the dark side of his persona which is the fact he can see the dead. I decided that the 3rd along hair design looks the best. The brush I used had a perfect texture that fits really well. Considering hair colour, I feel the natural auburn coloured hair suits him, the redness hinting of his "wildness".
Using the same brush I used to get the correct texture of hair that I wanted I then elaborated on my original cloak design, Instead of making the colours more faded, I instead made them darker and more grotesque in aesthetic, using murky and muddy blues and greens.
I then decided to do a proportionally hand-drawn version, to get to grips with his height and dimensions.
I also did some hand-drawn renders of Davvid which showed even more of his traits and personality, really defining him as a character.
I also did a digitally rendered model sheet, with the render style I decided on, which included a 2/3 pose, T-Pose and side and back poses.
I wanted to make my character come alive in a series of poses
Here is my development of the body shape where I decided that he should look more lanky to fit his weird, student persona.
In these poses I unleashed his spiritual element. He is a very spiritual person because of his strong connection with the afterlife. He prays and contacts the dead and even has the potential to summon them through this.
I then decided to make 2 character poses sheets; one sheet sheet showing his personality when he is in the company of the dead and one in the company of the living, because I wanted to highlight this shift in persona he undergoes with whoever he is with.
In the company of the dead
As you can see from these poses, he is a confident being, he also is very flirtatious with how he "mingles" with them.
In the company of the living
In the company of the living he is more reserved, he uses techniques of meditation to contact the dead, he has this angst built inside of him and he is very defensive because he is wary of the humans. He also has a blindfold which is uses to shut out the world of the living and hear the world of the dead more loudly.
I also made a page of emotions, ranging from ones with the humans and with the ghosts.
With the face shape I was happy with I took to photoshop to play around with the features even further, rearranging them with efficiency as I could just drag and move around the layers. I decided on an elongated face shape with angular cheekbones and jawline. I also decided on an impressive and distinctive brow making a kind of T shape with the long nose, the monobrow also enhances this "weird guy" aspect I want to achieve considering he can see ghosts. I also decided on a little facial hair presented in a minimalist manner reflective of his age. I also thought the bags under the eyes complement this "crazy" aspect, like he struggles to sleep at night with all the ghosts.
I then looked at the side of the face and how the shape of his jawline and nose.
I did a few more sketches and began to bring him to life.
I tested some hair designs and accessories. I decided I liked the bandana design, it enhances this retro aspect.
I firstly started off testing initial native body forms, looking at shapes and curves.
Then I had the emergence of a character starting, this cloak guy with crazy, wild hair reflecting how he has been driven crazy and an eye that screams of the darkness he has seen. The creeper boots also show his individual side, as after all he is a student and the stereotypical student persona is expressing their individuality and finding themselves. Also I feel this sort of fashion connotes of his job in the charity shop, seen as he works there he probably gets loads of unsold stock, which would most likely be retro and vintage fashion.
With this character I then tested body forms and shapes, stretching him and building him.
I then employed the same aspect to his face, moving his eyes, changing their size, stretching his face shape, to finally come up with this character that I am happy with.
I started off with coming up with a background story for my character, which will influence the aesthetic of my character greatly.
I came up with the imaginative backstory that my character can see ghosts, but not in the macabre sense for a change, this has been done too many times, in a humorous sense. A character that loves the ghost world even more so than the human one, they "mingle with the afterlife", someone that is a big deal, confident and outgoing in the ghost world, yet sensitive and shy in the human world. However having such a close attachment to the world of the dead has driven them a bit crazy, which should be present in their appearance.
From there I thought, they could volunteer in a charity shop! Because there is a chance the dead could attach to their previously owned clothes, giving the character a chance to mingle with the dead whilst working. My character could work part-time at the charity shop whilst studying a degree, a degree in psychology as they long to understand the psyche of humans, and maybe to figure out an explanation to the fact they are on the same wavelength as the dead.
All these points considered I feel my character would be better suited to being male, and because of the degree, around the age of 20.
However I feel he should look older than 20 to expose how seeing the dead has had an effect on his mentality, how the stress of it when he was little has aged him somewhat.
So after deciding on what image to expand into a storyboard I began planning an appropriate narrative.
Because of the fragmented look of the 2 children because of the glasses effect, I developed this to represent a feeling of disposition the children have as a result of a negative circumstance, for example bullying and abuse.
I decided the storyboard would pan out a sort of advert for a child abuse charity, encouraging children to speak out about troubles at home, for help to be finally "seen clearly".
My narrative follows 2 children, one a young boy who is getting bullied at school, the other a young girl who is being abused at home by her father. At the end, both children seek refuge, the boy seeking his mums support and the girl seeking help via a childline, then the glasses get put on over the camera lens, and the line that splits them disappears, demonstrating that they have finally been seen clearly by someone.
