Happy Halloween

Last minute halloween painting, next year I'm going to be more prepared!

Minor Project - Animatic #3

I've adjusted the ending in the animatic now to follow the new storyboard I made, I still need to flesh out the bedroom transformation a bit more. This will help me understand how I can make it in Maya and help the animatic read slightly better.

Minor Project - Storyboard Ending & Boy Orthographic Changes

I got some feedback on my animatic from Alan and Mark Davies (Nexus) and it was apparent that the ending needed adjusting, so I storyboarded out an idea that could potentially work, I think it will be slightly more impactful.

Also during my tutorial with Alan it was discussed that the orthographic was slightly incorrect in the arms and because my character wont have shoulders we decided it will be easier to model him in an 'A' pose. This will definitely help with rigging so I am glad that it was an option.

Minor Project - Bed Thumbnails #6

I made the decision to make the furniture less suitable for a child and slightly more gothic, so here is some redesigns of the bed. I decided that the most important part is the front half, as that is all that will be seen in the animation. This means the back will most likely just be there as a mass as opposed to a refined model. 31 is my favourite and I think it is the bed I will take forward as the spider monster.

Minor Project - Furniture Thumbnails #2

I think that having the furniture slightly darker and more gothic is a good approach for the overall tone of the animation, almost as if the boy has been put in a room that wasn't meant for a child. I also started to sketch how the head board of the bed could look which means the monster needs some rethinking.

Minor Project - Animatic #2

I've got the full narration now and changed up some of the pacing and shots, I adjusted the ocean scene to try to add more tension in it.

Minor Project - Boy Expressions #1

The first batch of expressions for the boy, so I will be more prepared for Maya I made sure I kept all the elements on separate layers. I also have been thinking that the boys eyebrows will be geometry as opposed to drawing them on.

Work Experience "Proper - Tripl Stitched" Animation

This was one of the few projects I worked on while at Nexus, I can now share the final animation but I need to wait a while before I can show the animatic I did for it. The project was a lot of fun to work on and I was grateful to be welcomed back to Nexus to help with the shoot.

Minor Project - Furniture Thumbnails #1

Today I started working on the wardrobe and bedside cabinet for my animation, using samurai jack, powerpuff girls and upa animations as a style reference. I will continue to explore these objects as they will be the main hero props. I need to make sure that the top of the wardrobe isn't too complicated as the boy will spend some scenes on top of it.

Minor Project - Boy Orthographic

The side of the boys hair is something that I will have to figure out in 3D space as I am not quite sure how to draw it side on.

Minor Project - Bed Thumbnails #5

After my tutorial with Alan we decided that the bed still wasn't full fit for purpose, so with his advice I have started to redesign the spider form of the bed. Alan suggested bringing the body of the bed lower to the ground so it was on the same level as the boy, which I think works really well.

Minor Project - Parents Thumbnails # 3

The dad in terms of shape is working for me, it will just be a case of getting a colour scheme that works for him. Number 11 for the mum in terms of shape is working for me I think, I feel as if 10's shape doesn't read as a mum.

Minor Project - Animatic #1

I don't have the full narration yet but this is animatic at the moment, there is no sfx or music, that will be the next thing I work on. I think the narration is working well with the overall feeling of the story and I look forward to getting the full narration.

Minor Project - Bed and Parent Thumbnails

I followed Phil's advice with the bed and this is how it's looking at the moment, I think 24 is my favourite. I put a boy for scale, the bed obviously needs to be huge so it is more monstrous. 

I tried to make the parents belong to the world more than the last batch, I think 7 or 8 are working for me.

Minor Project - Bed Thumbnails #3

I did a few more thumbnails for the bed, 19, 20 and 22 are starting to work for me. I quite like the eyes being at the back as it makes the front look more menacing in my opinion.

Minor Project - Updated Storyboard Ending & Bed Thumbnails

I adjusted the ending of the storyboard following Phil and Alan's advice, I think it works a bit better now.

I also worked on some more thumbnails for the bed monster, after my tutorial with Alan today it was clear that I need to make the bed more shape oriented so it would fit better with the boy character.

Minor Project - Parent and Bed Thumbnails #1

Today I did some thumbnails for the parents and the bed, It was decided that the parents will only be legs as they aren't in the story much and it is more effective than me modelling full parent characters.

Minor Project - Storyboard

Minor Project - Poem Pitch

Below is the final version of the poem, an idea of what the scenes could look like and the boys design so far. The narration would preferably need to put on different voices for the different characters dialogues. It's quite a dark story so if that can be reflected in the narration that would also be ideal.

Minor Project - Poem Thumbnails #07

I think 36 is the closest to what I imagine the shot should look like, the monster reveal needs to feel dramatic.

Minor Project - Plan

Today in my tutorial with Alan we discussed a plan for my minor project, in it's basic form I will be trying to get everything ready for animation except the full environment. I will be aiming to create temp backgrounds that work for each shot and I will be trying to block out the key poses that are needed to tell the story.

So for the minor project I plan to have:

- Characters and environments designed

- Characters modelled, rigged and textured (animation ready)

- Temp environments made ready for animation

- Storyboard and Animatic

- Poem Narrated

- Music composed

- Planned animation (key thumbnails)

- Key poses blocked out in Maya

- Previs of the short (to test if the story reads and the poses work)

Getting all of this done will put me in a great position for the major project, I will then be able to focus heavily on animation. 

Minor Project - Poem Thumbnails #6

Trying to figure out a few different ways in which the boys room can shift from an ocean into the monsters lair.

Minor Project - Poem Thumbnails #5

I feel as if this scene will be the creepiest bit before the reveal of the monster. Next I really need to work out how the room is shifting, as it will be going from an ocean environment back to the monsters lair.

Minor Project - Poem Thumbnails #4

I'm feeling that during this scene instead of revealing the monster, the viewer will only see shadows lurking and the wardrobe could maybe be submerged slightly. I want the climbing of it to feel like an incredibly hard task, that becomes reflected by how the waves get more ferocious.

Minor Project - Boy Thumbnails #4

I tried some variations for the boy's pyjamas, I like D, F and J

I drew influence from 1950's Pyjamas, here is my influence map:

Minor Project - Boy Thumbnails #3

I did a few more thumbnails for the boy character today, I like most of these but my favourites are 37, 39.

Minor Project - Poem Thumbnails #3

I decided to re visit these lines as I had an idea about how the room could transform into the ocean. I basically think that the walls would quickly move, getting further away until they are out of vision and the carpet will become waves.

Minor Project - Poem Thumbnails #2

Second batch of story thumbnails.

Minor Project - Poem Thumbnails #1

I've started to thumbnail some of the lines from the poem, I think this should help the process of storyboarding easier. The boy and the objects are placeholders just to figure out composition.