Animation Nation - Part Two

In this part I'll be looking at the cast of characters I created for my animation.

Rat and Ox

Naturally I started with the beginning animals of the zodiac. The rat is supposed to be the cunning, deceitful but also smooth and suave. So I tried to base his design on this as much as possible. I wanted him to look like the guy who would flash you his best grin and use smart words to get what he wants. As for the decision for his colour scheme, I based his hair and eye colour on that of an actual rat. The slightly elongated teeth was also based on a rat. As for the ox, its characteristics are strong and reliable but also naive and hardheaded. So I gave him the appearance of a farm hand. The shape of his hair took inspiration from the horns of an ox. I kept his eyes and hair brown which are also similar to that of an ox. 

Tiger and Rabbit

 The tiger took a lot of inspiration from an actual tiger, his wild messy orange hair, especially the points that seem to bunch together and  look like cat ears, came from the fur of an actual tiger. I even gave him feline eyes, with slitted pupils alongside their vibrant colour. As for his sport attire, that came from the zodiacs description of his personality. The tiger was described as someone who is sporty and hates to lose, so I thought a sports jersey was the perfect outfit for him. As for the rabbit, by now you might have noticed a common theme in that a lot of the hair designs came from the animals they were based off of. Rabbit is no exception, the long parts of her bangs I wanted to base off the idea of floppy bunny ears and although there were a few peers who thought pigtails were better suited to match ears, but I liked my concept and I thought it helped convey more of rabbits personality as rabbit is supposed to be shy and quiet cheery. To me pigtails didn't seem shy. Her bright green jumper was based on the colours of spring when you are more likely to see rabbits and her little carrot hair clip was the final clue that this was rabbit. 

Dragon and Snake

Dragon's design was a little difficult, there aren't very many real life dragons to look at and take inspiration form. So instead I based his design off standard Chinese dragons in mythology. As Chinese dragons have luxurious flowing manes, that's what I wanted to give my dragon and the thick wild looking eyebrows seemed to add a certain maturity and wisdom to him. Finally I gave him regal looking Chinese clothing. Now for the snake, the snakes personality in the zodiac was described as intelligent, dangerous and somewhat sensual, all together summed up as the original femme fatale. So I wanted to try and created a design that made her seem like a femme fatale without going completely femme fatale with her. The long hair was based on a snake's long body and her bangs were based somewhat on fangs. I gave her glasses initially but ended up ditching them in the animation as I felt she didn't really need them.

Horse and Sheep

Horse's design was supposed to make her seem wild and carefree. Her hair was based on a horse's mane and I'm actually quite pleased with her design. She was the right amount of rebellious and wild without going overboard on it. I also wanted her design to compliment snake's a little as the snake in the zodiac story did end up tricking the horse and claiming the sixth spot in the zodiac, leaving the horse in seventh. However, I'm not sure how well that went. As for Sheep, he was supposed to be a very shy, unsure of himself kind of guy. So I gave him the large hoodie he could use to hide in. That, combined with the scarf and seemingly warm clothes also brought in the feeling of a warm fleece, like that of a sheep. His short curly hair was based on wool and his pastel colouring I based mostly on the gentle aspects of his personality, as pastel colours feel much more gentle than standard colours. 

Monkey and Rooster

Monkey's character is said to be creative, energetic and well liked, so I tried to create quite a likable design. Her short hair was based on the way a monkey's fur frame's their face and, similarly, her hair colour came from a monkey's fur colour. As for Rooster, I felt like I was able to get a lot more creative with his design. His hair was based on the comb of a rooster and as for his clothing, rooster's personality is said to be somewhat aggressive but mostly misunderstood. What better stereotype for that than an angry teenager. So, a lot of his design was based off of the "misunderstood, angry teen" stereotype.

Dog and Pig

Our Dog is said to be loyal, hardworking and possessing a strong sense of justice. So his outfit's colour scheme was fitted with blue's that I felt represented "justice" pretty well. His wild hair and the fluffy ponytail took influence from a dog's fur and tail, and the colours used as well as the decision for different coloured eyes came from a Husky. Finally, Pig is said to be the most laid back member of the zodiac, so I gave him over-sized comfy clothing that he could happily settle down to take a nap in. As for his hair, I tried to make it somewhat curly, based on a pig's curly tail, and decided long hair seemed to suit a laid back attitude more.

Now that my characters were created, all I had left to do was create my animation.

Animation Nation - Part One

Oh yeah. New project and I ended up trying animation for the first time in my life! It was difficult but I managed (somehow). But let's start from the beginning. We were given a research project as the first part to this.

After visiting Pitt Rivers, I took a surprising interest in swords and looked a little more in depth at them, however my interests did end up shifting from swords during a trip to the Bristol Museum. During my trip, as my initial idea at this point was creating a character and designing a sword to go with them, I wanted to look at other objects to get ideas for sword blades, hilts and handles.

And I did get quite a few interesting shapes and ideas out the trip. Eventually reaching the animals my ideas shifted from specifically sword designs to other aspects such as armor and shields.

As I started looking more at the animals my idea shifted even further from armor and shields, to the animals themselves until eventually settling on the Chinese zodiac. This led to me creating my own cast of characters for the Zodiac, humanized versions of the animals which I will be looking at more in depth in my next part.

The Medusa Project - Part Two

Part two of the creation of my book! Otherwise known as designs, colours and story boards!

This was the final design element for me before I could move onto figuring our colour schemes. I decided I'd seen enough short haired Medusa's (as, that's all anyone seems to give her) and kept her hair long once it had been transformed to snakes, making it seem more like a transition from hair to snake. I also looked a little more at snake heads and at how I wanted Medusa's face and eyes to go, eventually settling on slitted pupils, rather like snake eyes, and longer fangs.

Now onto colour schemes. I already had a basic idea of clothing colours for everyone and so this was more focused on hair and eye colours. Medusa, and her sibling's gained light brown hair that worked particularly well for her hair-to-snake transition. I found a good blending colour that meant the brown eased into the green of the snakes. As for her eyes, she gained vibrant green eyes that would gain a yellowish hue when she became cursed.

Poseidon's design I quite liked, as I settled on light blue/green hair with a different shade of blue to add highlights. The effect I ended up with was almost like sea foam to me, and what better colour for the God of the Seas? His eyes stayed a turquoise colour, almost like the murky depths of the ocean.

Athena was given golden blonde hair after considering a brown-ish red colour. I felt golden felt better to represent wisdom as it gave her a more mature look that was missing with the brown-ish red. Her eye colour was decided on once her hair colour was sorted as I wanted a cold colour that still complimented her hair colour. In the end, between the grey and the icy blue, I found the blue suited the blonde better.

Finally, Perseus gained the brown-ish red as the colour to me felt young, inexperienced and even a little arrogant, which sums up Perseus. As for his eye colour, I liked the combination of red and green and felt it worked.

Next came creating the storyboard, which was pretty easy. I know Medusa's myth rather well and I know what I wanted to convey.

The difficult part came in attempting to make the interactive aspect of it. For me, a lot of the storyboard was figuring out what could go where, could this part have a flap, should it be a moving piece instead?

Certain parts I knew straight away what I wanted. For example, when Perseus beheads her I wanted a movable Harpe to be pulled towards her, as morbid as that sounds. I thought it worked well and would, possibly, add some remorse to the reader.

The Medusa Project - Part One

For our four weeks project, right before Christmas, I decided to expand on one of the workshops we did previously. Naturally, I chose Illustration and decided to make another book. The focus for me this time was on mythology and specifically a myth near and dear to my heart, the myth of Medusa.

But, I decided to put my own spin on it, by looking at Medusa's side of the tale, and make it a little more child friendly.

To me, and in the version of the myth I grew up reading, Medusa was always the victim. After being assaulted by Poseidon she was the one punished and made into a monster!? Doesn't seem fair to me. So, my version focuses on her story, her life with her sisters, a child friendly version of Poseidon attacking her (aggressive flirting instead of actual assault), and her downfall from then on.

To start with, I thought I'd get the characters out of the way! So, without further ado, here are my designs for the  characters!

Medusa

Naturally I decided to start with our main star! I decided to be different and give our hero turned villain long hair, as opposed to the short hair people seem to give her often. Her dress was based on Ancient Grecian clothing, naturally, and is slightly different to her sisters, more suited for her height and build. I also began a study on drawing snakes as, up until now, I had no idea how to draw snake heads and, considering Medusa's myth, I was definitely going to need to draw snake heads.

I'd hoped to make her look innocent and completely unlike the monster she's better known as.

Stheno and Euryale 

Medusa's (sorta lesser known) sisters! I gave them hairstyles similar to both each other and their younger sister, Medusa. I also decided to take some liberties with their characters, as not much is really known about their personalities, and make them a little mischievous, but ultimately care about their younger sister's well being. I thought that those traits embodied what an older sister was like and thought them suiting for Medusa's older sisters. There wasn't much else to do beyond deciding upon their outfits, two very basic Greek dresses.

Poseidon - God of the Seas

Time for our main villain. I wanted Poseidon to look powerful but also creepy. As he's one of the three biggest God's upon Mt Olympus, alongside his brother's Hades and Zeus, I felt like he needed something more than a basic outfit and, given his proud nature I also felt like he would be one to show off, hence why I decided to add the cape. His hair I wanted to seem like the ocean's waves so I gave him slightly curly hair. Overall, I felt like his design was very "Poseidon" and that he, thankfully, didn't come across as one of the other Gods instead.

Perseus

Now for our "hero" Perseus. Blessed by the Goddess Athena he took off to slay the beast Medusa. Even in his myth he was described as cocky and arrogant so naturally I tried to make him seem cocky and arrogant. His outfit was the same standard warrior outfit I gave each of my warriors in this, with belts to carry his weapon, Harpe, and the satchel Medusa's severed head was placed in, Kibisis. I gave him hair similar to Poseidon to hopefully portray the idea that Perseus is most definitely not the hero in this tale.

Athena - Goddess of Wisdom and War

Athena's design was quite plain as she was a very simple Goddess. I gave her an elegant dress yet not too elaborate and did a similar hairstyle. Not too elaborate but still with a sense of elegance. I wanted her to come across as stern as well as, considering she punished Medusa for "allowing herself to get caught by Poseidon" and for "dirtying her temple's grounds" I'd imagine Athena was indeed a very stern and strict Goddess.

Generic Warriors

Finally we have the generic warriors and their generic weapons! These guys were standard warriors that both attempted to attack Medusa when she was first cursed and also helped to spread the tale of Medusa as some powerful beast. They weren't very important characters but I thought my life would be much easier if I designed them beforehand instead of trying to think up hairstyles while trying to create my book at the same time.

Week Six And Guess Who's Back!

Back again! Little Red's back! And by God am I thankful these weeks are done. They were enjoyable but I am so out of steam by now that I'm functioning on sheer will power alone.

PRINT AND PATTERN

 So, jumping right into the meat of things, this week I decided to focus on pattern! Working on the assumption that my book from week three (still my favourite week!) had gotten published and was popular enough, I created a wallpaper based on it. The wallpaper features our happy couple together holding hands plus a slightly more "traditional" logo of the two.

The Design Sheet!

 The Design Sheet this time ended up looking majorly cluttered. Mostly because I made my background a repeat pattern of our two stars. Probably not the smartest move on my part. But, it still works pretty well despite that.

Week Five! - Can You Tell I'm Running Out Of Steam?

Week Five! This week was rather intensive because right off the bat we were handed a certain amount of cardboard and masking tape and told to just make something! Which leads me on nicely to what the topic was!

3D

The challenge here was cardboard. We could use any adhesives or extras we wanted but we had to construct it out of cardboard. So, based on the results of being handed a limited amount of cardboard, I decided to make a children's mobile but with the lungs and heart. The idea here was irony. A children's mobile is an innocent little thing to help comfort them. Visible lungs and a visible heart is most definitely not comforting! I created the basic shapes with cardboard and then coated them in masking tape before using string to dangle them.

The Design Sheet

This week's Design Sheet was really based on my final piece, but in my opinion still feels lacking. I don't know if it was the lack of energy at this point, personal reasons or if I still haven't gotten the hang of Design Sheets yet.

Week Four, Otherwise Known As Art Therapy Week!

So, after exerting all my energy on last week's project, what could this week's possibly be? Well, that's easy, it's...

PAINTING

See? Art Therapy. This week was Painting without a brush! I was completely clueless for this week until one of my teacher's started getting all philosophical and I ended up delving into my past! So, as a basic explanation, when I was a little younger, I was always happy. Always. But, as things such as stress and work and general sadness started piling up on me, I started feeling upset and down a lot more often. Being the moron I am, I tried continually to push on through with my happy persona and to continue always being happy. Which meant I was breaking down more often because it is so hard to act happy when you've got a dam of negative emotions that's already bursting. So, to use a line from a song as my way of breaking this all down: "You make it hard to smile 'Cause you make it hard to breathe." I was choking myself. I kept beating myself up every time I was upset, which made things worse in the long run. It really felt like I was tying my noose tighter while trying to choke out a smile. Hence the picture. As for how I did it, I had a basic idea down on paper for what I wanted, got the colours I needed and just dipped my hands in. I figured since this piece was extremely personal to me, what better way to show that than by using my own hands for it!

The Design Sheet

It looks cluttered and messy and was a damn good representation of what my life felt like at that point in time. This week really was Art Therapy! I also got the chance to work into some of my life drawings, which was an interesting experience.