OUAN404 : Captain character (III)

Finalising my designs ! :

Absolutely love the final design I came up with. The balance of colour distribution works very well with the more striking colour being at the top and below. As for the colour choice itself, I definitely used some of my trivial anime logic about the meaning of hair colours ( red here is typical of the tsundere-type character , one who seems brass, passionate and sometime hostile towards other but more than often would show their soft sides) . The Bumblebee combination of black and yellow really gives a 50s like diner vibe, which contrast very well to the blue pants , plus the added oil marks really give personality to the character. I also quite enjoy the pattern design on the hat and apron , but to be honest , it seems like if we are to animate it , it would be very difficult to replicate. About the process itself, drawing and colouring really came off as a natural instinct for me thanks to my digital art back ground, and the early sketches of the design in the sketch book really helps identify the volume of each accessories on the character. Overall , a very satisfying work , if I do say so myself.

Poses : 

Notes*: Really tried to create pose that gives of that sense of activeness, lightness and care-free attitude that is crucial to her personality

OUAN404 : Captain Character part II :

More design done for character ! :

For the hairstyle , keeping the same style as the body shape ( angular and pointy ) , I lean toward the more funky and messy hairstyles, some even boyish-looking to really indicate her hyperactive and bash attitude. Among them , I like the one with the beanie hat thing the best , as its inspired from a kitchen cap , combined with a regular beanie to create something that seems normal to be a every-day accessory but also identify what her position is ( a kitchen staff and waitress ) . The fact that even though a cap is supposed to covered your entire hair (so it won start falling off all over ) , yet her hair still pops out reinforce the idea of her being a slob at times. 

  

*Insert CAP-tion*

the many examples of waitress outfit , I definitely preferred the more tomboy-ish and casual look of the far left , as in this context , Marie is working at a family-run chip shop , so there is no need for proper uniform , and that is not mentioning her personality yet. However , the appeal of a dress plus apron is very alluring indeed !

  

The mechanic suit idea is actually pretty straight forward ,as it is such a recognisable image. On top of that , I didn't to over-sexualised the character by doing short shorts or rolled and tied shirt cow-girl style , so I tried with a very typical mechanic out fit , with the added goggles for the extra flair

The outfit design follow the general principles above. I tried to combine the "apron" ( waitress ) with a mechanic suit , as portraying her hobby of being in the garage constantly , and coming in the shop straight from it ( the oil marks really help with that !) . I think that would create a very unique look that identify with her personalities well . Preference is leaning for the first outfit ( middle page , far-left design) 

digital combination concepts !

On the side note , really love working digitally like this . It's probably because I'm so use to doing thing digitally that I found the concepts here seems much more appealing than the one in the sketchbook 

OUAN404 : Study task : Captain character

My character is Marie , a  waitress at a chip shop , set in a cyberpunk-like future where aliens live among us. She also has a major interest in mechanic and building thing, which would make her go into the workshop every free chance she gets , even during break hours. She's energetic, and fun-loving , but also a bit of a slob , and can have a feisty attitude , even towards customers ( who deserves it to be fair ).

Since that is her character , I build up her design to resembled a very teenage-like girl , with the shape consisting of mostly triangles , since from what I have learned, in character design, triangles can often represent speed and agility ( like sonic the hedgehog perhaps ) , and in turn a personality that is close to what I have in mind.

examples of using shapes in character construction 

Up

The shape is very in line with the character's personality , Carl being defined by squares  for his stubborn and conservative nature , while Russell being cute ,huggable and out there , is define by soft rounded shapes

Most of the element in my character design choices has heavy influenced from anime design , that being the slender figure and large head with a v-line face . With in the 2 designs above , I'd prefer the left in terms of the leg shape , as the more slender leg and small feet give more of a sense of lightness for the character , and had a more stream-line look to it . Moreover , the leading factor in the character would be her hip , with her back arched back and chest puffed out in most case , again , to portray that level of confidence 

For her head however , I wanted a bit of softness, just to increase that level of cuteness and adorability to make her more appealing , hence learning the classic anime tropes of big eyes , big heads and small nose and mouth ( eyes are the window to the soul, so it definitely would also help with portraying emotions later on 

I tried playing around with a large dress idea and the dynamics of it in simple shapes. However , the dress probably wouldn't fit her personality that well. On the side note , anime influence is demonstrated clearly in eye shapes. The strong thick eyebrows is really calling out to me , as it seems much more expressive .

alot of inspiration were taken form trainer designs from Pokemon , which utilise anime elements 

Environmental stories - background analysis : Phantom boy

After Spirited Away representing Eastern animation and Aladdin for the American style, It's only appropriate that we would move to the middle point between the two styles , metaphorically and literally : European animation , with Phantom boy , the newly presented French animation. Jumping straight to the point , the background of course does not compete , detail-wise , with neither Spirited away nor Aladdin , as it is done in a completely different style and method that requires less details and intricacy , that is being done digitally and using vector-shading. Of course , this is done to fit the whole style of animation the team was striving for , and in that sense , it had done so very effectively. 

 

First thing to mentioned , that the style really fits with the tone of the narrative - a light-hearted comedy with the face of crime drama ( at least it is that way in my mind ) .This is supported by the wacky building design, making windows of skyscrapers seems a collection of mosaic block , with lots of bright colours used through out the entire scene that make its seems like a collection of mosaic blocks, all together create a very light and uplifting tone for the story , even in the more serious scene, whether that is good or not.

For the scene above , the colours in my mind works very in a logical sense. It create very unique visual quality ( and that can be said for the entire movie ) , using bright and contrasting colours , and along side that , actually describe autumn very effectively , with the image of the yellowing leaves and the sense of a  cool temperature, coming off from the greens and yellows of the grass and the character's clothing . Fit together , it create a strangely contrasting but calming colour schemes , which gives of that mood of the character finally having a break at the end of the movie.

On the other hand, the Phantom boy , simple as it may seems , can actually have very detailed and intricate scenery like the one above, describing a 70s like New York that is alive and vibrant , taking advantage of billboard and signs to add colours to what can be described at rather "bland" buildings and towers. More over that sense of depth and scale really helps with portraying  the character to be flying high above, but not reaching over it yet ,emphasising on the grand scale of New York.

Environmental stories - background analysis : Aladdin

Here are some of the visual development art that were used for Aladdin :

  

  

Contrasting to the realism of Spirited away and other anime backgrounds, the ones for Aladdin ( also many other Western animation ) takes advantage on stylisation and exaggeration as a tool to deliver the fantasy element of the story. That of course make it less intricate and detailed than those of anime , however , that does not mean it is lacking in any sense, as demonstrated by the  art above, and of course , its succeeds in what it is designed to do. For example, the exaggeration of the size of the palace compared to other helps with the emphasis on power and authority for it, or the size of the rock entrance to push the idea of a significant present in the vastness of the desert. However , the enlarged domes of the architecture, does sometime feels like an over-done attempt on portraying other culture ( Islamic architecture ) , as contrary to the natural and subtleness of Japanese anime ( although to be fair , they are describing their own culture ).

  

One other point that is very interesting , is that in these art works , there's seems to be a focus on a specific palette for each scenery , such as , shades of blue for the night scene above , or the red and orange and white of the magma below, and it most of it make use of high level of contrast in each scenes. This is done with great effect, as it really helps to identified the mood of the story in each scene, like a calm , quietness of the Arabian night , with the extremely darken shades adds to that sense of mystery. Along that line, the magma picture below screams out intensity and rage , thanks to the pure white adding a luminous quality to the lava itself . Add that with the heavily contrasted rocks at the bottom makes it almost seems blindingly bright , which really add to the overall emotional impact of the scene - that sense of danger and urgency

   

OUAN404 : Visual Language : Environmental stories ( updates )

After as selection of pen and art-liner drawing , I decided to add some more colours into my environments. In my outside illustration works, I've always had an interest in warmer shades of colours , which often brings out a sense of closeness, tenderness and passion, as opposed to the distant and coldness of the blues and green. Which its why I found it pretty ironic to see autumn in the UK , a season that is define by warm shades to be surround by cold and bitterness ( my GOD it is cold). However , it didn't stop me trying some stuff out with those shades, and the products that followed looked really interesting. ( the watercolour texture really gave that sense of mysteriousness , almost a dream- like vision of the real scenery)

OUAN403 : Animation skill : test

Following the Animate it study task, I decided to produce a short animation gif to further experiment with 2D animation , in this is its a samurai drawing his sword. I have to say , the more I do this the more I feel that the straight-ahead form of animation fits me best , as it allows me to be much more flexible and creative in creating motion, especially ones that are complex like the drawing and sheathing of sword of a samurai (which on the latter I failed to do actual, as it is missing the sliding of the blade along the sheath before actually putting it in - which will be a quite confusing description for people who don't know how that works ) :

Animation-wise though , I'm actually quite please with it . the action is clear and shows a decent amount of fluidity ( agains thanks to straight-ahead animation ) even is the lines is constantly moving out of place ( boiling point style ). I'm also please to see that I have gained some level of understanding speed in animation , as the swift draw of the blade is exactly what I want to portray.To that end , what I would want to improve on it is first , like mentioned above is to produce a more correction representation of the action to real life and second , is having more movement variation is the different sections of body and armor , by doing so show that they are individual pieces that doesn't stick to the body but follows it , creating a more lively character and more realistic movement

OUAN403 : Animation skil - Brief 3 : Animate it ! further improvements

After taking a look at my animation , Michael suggest that the pacing towards the end of the animation seems a bit rushed ( the 3 final cuts when the character is sitting in his chair , sweating and blinking as the camera zoom out ). He suggested that there should be a smoother transition between the emotional stages , by making him blink rapidly at first and slow down as it gets toward the end. By doing this , it give the audience a bit more of a breathing room to comprehend the situation, which is a great advice after taking a look back at the original. The first solution was actually just to extend the time on each of the 3 cuts (therefore creating more breathing space ) but due to the time limit that was set in place (15 seconds) , it wasn't viable , therefore I resort to the plan above, along side that cut out the final scene so I can extend the play time on the rest. In the end though , it worked really well, and didn't alter too drastically any points I wanted to make in the original animation , which raises the question , did I went over-board a bit with my storyboarding , adding in too many scenes (that contributes little to the story-telling )without enough consideration for timing and pacing. ( which is actually quite a bit of a problem I have had - doing way too much ). It definitely serves as a good learning experience for future projects, where I should start putting some sort of a "limit" on myself, where I made less works . but within each of those works it delivers more content. (in this particular case , less scenes and cuts , but more action and animation in each one )

Environmental stories - background analysis : Spirited away

With their reputation in having amazing animation and colours in their production, it should came as now surprise that Spirited away , one of studio Ghibli's most prominent work would feature such wonderful sets of background

 
The first thing to mention , would have to be the colours. Michiyo Yasuda, the late Ghibli's colorist and background artist Kazuo Oga, did an amazing job portraying the youthful and fantasy tones of Miyazaki's story through the use of very vivid colours and contrast, especially in situation where there is a lot of light. Architecture wise, in the two pictures above , Kazuo created a sense of mystery to the scenery , and spirituality (which would be more apparent in the second picture, as the construction mimics that of a temple-like structure, combine with the vastness of the grassfield). When you look at the town, you can sense that it is a place of enjoyment and festivity , with all the lanterns,shops and stalls lining along side the street ( a main street kind of field)

 

This is even more apparent in the colourful designs of each building in the picture above, a sort of very theme park like environment. So having an effective background like that, means that even when it came to putting characters into the scene ( like the night time scene above ), characters don't have to be portray as doing anything much , but we would still get the idea that they are enjoying themselves in this holiday town, going to food stalls, shops and the bath house. The use of vivid lighting and neon lights in the nightime , combine that with traditional lanterns really gives off that vibe of an old 50s,60s , Shanghai-like town, where western style architecture are given an asian flair. It also helps the emphasise the idea of the shops being an active and moving place, that is welcoming in customers.

  

Again this is seen in the backgrounds work for the bath house itself. Even before going in , we can get that sense that this is THE place of town , the centre of attention to the story where there is something big going on. This is thanks to the scale and structure of the house itself, design as an large castle-like building that sits alone on an mountain ( very Hogwarts-ish). Its also help by the fact that most of the time, the characters are extremely small , compare to the building in each scene (like the one above ) , and also , that it is usually "framed" from an bottom up angle that further enhance the "grand" feel of it. And of course , in the night time , use of colours really makes the place looks like its bustling and alive ( kinda like a dance club actually ). Its also here that we get that sense of imbedding culture into animation that Anime is known for , through the utilisation of traditional place like bath houses and feudal Japanese architecture, which is unfamiliar to those who are outside of that culture, which in turn further create that sense of fantasy and mystery.

  



Another thats also very commendable is the use of colour to indicate time and space. In the pictures above , you have an idea of the time of day that picture is set in , thanks to the use of specialize colour palettes , like shades of purple and orange to indicate dusk, when there is an overlay layer of those shades on top of everything ( and even more so for night time when its becomes shades of blue) ,as contrasted by the brightness and distinct , vivid colours of daytime. This sounds easy enough to do but takes alot of colour theory understanding and real world observation

  

And of course , nothing speak more about the people than their interior design, as seen from above , where the decorated and detailed hallways screams out an aristocrat , or at least someone of high position while the old wooden room is that of your everyday life worker, even a bit worse off if we really get into it .

Overall , theres a characteristic that all Ghibli's films share , that is the attention to details within their background that includes everything from glamour hallways with decorative patterns to large expands of grasslands to a kitchen that is filled with cooking utensils and products. Although generally , less is more , (as it is sometime the case with Ghibli's character design ), A story could be better told to the use of tiny little details

 
 
 

Its beautiful !