Thursday, 30 October 2008
Background
A quick speed paint I did with the fox in a surrounding area. It started off as a study for the style I'd use but quickly ended up being more focused on colour.
couple more sketches.
Couple of extra sketches, one to show size comparison of my characters and to see if they'd suit each other. I'm a little worried still about if the fox looks too plain.
More sketches
A collection of character sketches I've done of my two characters in the film. They are a jumble of all my musings of different aspects of the characters.
The fox:
I've mainly been playing around with whether I should open the eyes of my fox since I was having worries about whether I'd be able to get expression across to the viewers. I still prefer him with his eyes shut and I think he will have them shut for most of the film, but he will open them at points when it's called for.
I was also playing around with facial markings, like removing the circles above his eyes and giving him eyebrows and giving him a stripe down his nose. I felt that maybe he looked a little too plain since I am intending for him to be white. I am still unsure whether the stripe on his nose will be red.
I also tried him being a traditional red fox but I prefer him being white.
At the bottom of the page I was testing out how the mask would look on him, and also I did a quick mock up of him being stone. I was testing to see if I preferred the mask to be stone coloured as well, but I think it's more noticeable for the viewers if the mask is white.
The dragon/statue:
This was sketches for my dragon character. I did have him fully designed out but because of changes to the story, I've had to start to think about what his face would look like underneath the mask since he'll be removing it now.
I have done a few different mask designs but I still like the one I had originally.
I also did a few quick colour tests to see what he'd look like with the mask on and off. At the bottom I also did a few quick body shape tests to see which would suit him better. I prefer him being more elongated.
The fox:
I've mainly been playing around with whether I should open the eyes of my fox since I was having worries about whether I'd be able to get expression across to the viewers. I still prefer him with his eyes shut and I think he will have them shut for most of the film, but he will open them at points when it's called for.
I was also playing around with facial markings, like removing the circles above his eyes and giving him eyebrows and giving him a stripe down his nose. I felt that maybe he looked a little too plain since I am intending for him to be white. I am still unsure whether the stripe on his nose will be red.
I also tried him being a traditional red fox but I prefer him being white.
At the bottom of the page I was testing out how the mask would look on him, and also I did a quick mock up of him being stone. I was testing to see if I preferred the mask to be stone coloured as well, but I think it's more noticeable for the viewers if the mask is white.
The dragon/statue:
This was sketches for my dragon character. I did have him fully designed out but because of changes to the story, I've had to start to think about what his face would look like underneath the mask since he'll be removing it now.
I have done a few different mask designs but I still like the one I had originally.
I also did a few quick colour tests to see what he'd look like with the mask on and off. At the bottom I also did a few quick body shape tests to see which would suit him better. I prefer him being more elongated.
Wednesday, 29 October 2008
Thumbnails
My story is finally straightened out and I've started to thumbnail my ideas. (click on a picture to see bigger)
There are going to be a few changes made to the thumbnails, mainly changes in camera angles, and at the end I'm going to alter how he struggles with the mask and the pose he ends up in.
A summery of the story in case the thumbnails were not quite clear:
The fox steals a mask from a statue but unfortunately the statue comes to life. The fox runs off with the mask but is chased by the creature. Not watching where he was going he suddenly falls over the side of a cliff and falls to the ground below. Spotting the mask he took he quickly moves over to pick it up and puts it on. Unfortunately the mask isn't what he quite expected and it turns him to stone.
There are going to be a few changes made to the thumbnails, mainly changes in camera angles, and at the end I'm going to alter how he struggles with the mask and the pose he ends up in.
A summery of the story in case the thumbnails were not quite clear:
The fox steals a mask from a statue but unfortunately the statue comes to life. The fox runs off with the mask but is chased by the creature. Not watching where he was going he suddenly falls over the side of a cliff and falls to the ground below. Spotting the mask he took he quickly moves over to pick it up and puts it on. Unfortunately the mask isn't what he quite expected and it turns him to stone.
Saturday, 11 October 2008
The kitsune becomes a man
Kitsune are known for their ability to become human. This is where the next development in character came from.
This is yet another personal character that was created from my whole love of Kitsune.
About this time I had a number of possibilities for where my story was going to go, and decided to throw this into the mix as well.
I really liked the idea of him looking quite typically Japanese, I also liked the idea of him wearing a mask as well, in the shape of a fox face. I was also toying with the idea of his clothing giving him quite a bulky form, and I would like to push it further of his clothing making him even more shapely if I decide to keep with him.
He does have a little lantern in his hair. I figured it would be handy for if he was moving around when it was dark.
Interacting with a fox, this did happen to spawn yet more story ideas. I'm terrible haha.
Action pose! Was trying to get a feel for movement, that and I had a hankering for drawing his clothing all swishy like.
So thats as far as I am so far! My next plans are to concentrate on getting a story knuckled down and story boarded and to start work on backgrounds, as well as finishing up designs with the characters.
My story at the moment seems to be heading towards something along the lines of the fox heading to a temple where people worship the mask spirits. Once there he attempts to steal from one of the sculptures, which is the dragon mask. I'm guessing it would be a jewel or maybe he wants the actual mask? Well, the statue comes to life and escapes from the temple. The fox isn't so easily disheartened and sets after the mask, and thus a chase happens.
I'm still fiddling with bits here and there, and trying to come up with a decent ending. Some of which have been the idea that the mask forces the fox to become a mask spirit as punishment, and is forced to be a sculpture with them till he's summoned?
Or my lecturer was musing with the idea that his punishment was that he had to travel around the place telling his tale, and to take heed of trying to steal from the spirits, and that the story should be him telling this to the audience, through the form of a song (hence instrument playing) or something.
I was also playing with the idea of the fox going to destroy the mask spirit because he assumes he is evil, and thus chase scene occurs, but as the story progresses he discovers that the mask isn't evil, and that he's actually good, and nurtures the surrounding forest/creatures.
I'm still working on it and hopefully should have some updates real soon!
So please do check back soon.
This is yet another personal character that was created from my whole love of Kitsune.
About this time I had a number of possibilities for where my story was going to go, and decided to throw this into the mix as well.
I really liked the idea of him looking quite typically Japanese, I also liked the idea of him wearing a mask as well, in the shape of a fox face. I was also toying with the idea of his clothing giving him quite a bulky form, and I would like to push it further of his clothing making him even more shapely if I decide to keep with him.
He does have a little lantern in his hair. I figured it would be handy for if he was moving around when it was dark.
Interacting with a fox, this did happen to spawn yet more story ideas. I'm terrible haha.
Action pose! Was trying to get a feel for movement, that and I had a hankering for drawing his clothing all swishy like.
So thats as far as I am so far! My next plans are to concentrate on getting a story knuckled down and story boarded and to start work on backgrounds, as well as finishing up designs with the characters.
My story at the moment seems to be heading towards something along the lines of the fox heading to a temple where people worship the mask spirits. Once there he attempts to steal from one of the sculptures, which is the dragon mask. I'm guessing it would be a jewel or maybe he wants the actual mask? Well, the statue comes to life and escapes from the temple. The fox isn't so easily disheartened and sets after the mask, and thus a chase happens.
I'm still fiddling with bits here and there, and trying to come up with a decent ending. Some of which have been the idea that the mask forces the fox to become a mask spirit as punishment, and is forced to be a sculpture with them till he's summoned?
Or my lecturer was musing with the idea that his punishment was that he had to travel around the place telling his tale, and to take heed of trying to steal from the spirits, and that the story should be him telling this to the audience, through the form of a song (hence instrument playing) or something.
I was also playing with the idea of the fox going to destroy the mask spirit because he assumes he is evil, and thus chase scene occurs, but as the story progresses he discovers that the mask isn't evil, and that he's actually good, and nurtures the surrounding forest/creatures.
I'm still working on it and hopefully should have some updates real soon!
So please do check back soon.
Secondary characters
I had been toying with the idea of adding a second mask character and basing the film around them, but over summer as well as falling in love with masks, I fell in love with Kitsunes from Japanese myth. I had created my own characters and storylines separate from this story, and I will admit I decided to add these into the story purely because I liked them so much!
I started out first with these fox characters based on kitsune, they were merely doodles playing around with my own themes on the subject.
I really liked the shape of the fox and simplicity of the fox so I stayed with the style.
I began to think of them as a group of foxes that lived in a little community. I mused on the ideas that they'd be able to play instruments, and would wear hats and shoes etc. I wanted them to have quite a Japanese feel since that was where I was drawing my ideas from.
Yet more character sketches. The large ball that all my foxes have is something called hoshi no tama, which in Japanese myth are described as a large pearl and they are thought to store a portion of their power in it. I did try to keep close to how Kitsune were described. I was musing on ideas that they would play with this ball when bored, like balancing it on their nose. They also are able to produce fire, which is simply called fox fire. In one of the pictures below I was trying out a more stylized fire to fit in with my style of art.
I started out first with these fox characters based on kitsune, they were merely doodles playing around with my own themes on the subject.
I really liked the shape of the fox and simplicity of the fox so I stayed with the style.
I began to think of them as a group of foxes that lived in a little community. I mused on the ideas that they'd be able to play instruments, and would wear hats and shoes etc. I wanted them to have quite a Japanese feel since that was where I was drawing my ideas from.
Yet more character sketches. The large ball that all my foxes have is something called hoshi no tama, which in Japanese myth are described as a large pearl and they are thought to store a portion of their power in it. I did try to keep close to how Kitsune were described. I was musing on ideas that they would play with this ball when bored, like balancing it on their nose. They also are able to produce fire, which is simply called fox fire. In one of the pictures below I was trying out a more stylized fire to fit in with my style of art.
yet more characters
I continued to play around with the mask idea, and it was around this time that I decided that I wanted to use them for my third year film, so I started trying to come up with a suitable story to use them in.
I'd always seen the masks as being spirit/god like or a guardian of some sort. I'd been playing around with the idea of them being able to create things or have some form of powers, like in the two pictures below, the first, the mask is creating and manipulating fire, and something like a fire bird is rising up from it. The second is the idea of them having orbs that contain some sort of power. (This idea came from the ideas I was looking at for the secondary character, that being Kitsunes.)
The masked character is not complete yet, I think I may yet tweak bits and pieces here and there with it's design, but the two images below are the more complete forms for where I'm heading with it. I like the idea of it being some form of masked dragon. I'm also really fond of all the detail and I'm having a hard time wanting to simplify him down. I'm accepting that it'll be a lot of work but I feel that I'm happy to take it on since I feel it'll be very worth it.
I'd always seen the masks as being spirit/god like or a guardian of some sort. I'd been playing around with the idea of them being able to create things or have some form of powers, like in the two pictures below, the first, the mask is creating and manipulating fire, and something like a fire bird is rising up from it. The second is the idea of them having orbs that contain some sort of power. (This idea came from the ideas I was looking at for the secondary character, that being Kitsunes.)
The masked character is not complete yet, I think I may yet tweak bits and pieces here and there with it's design, but the two images below are the more complete forms for where I'm heading with it. I like the idea of it being some form of masked dragon. I'm also really fond of all the detail and I'm having a hard time wanting to simplify him down. I'm accepting that it'll be a lot of work but I feel that I'm happy to take it on since I feel it'll be very worth it.
now onto the good stuff
My story is still much in the development stages. I went a different way around things and had a character I'd designed first and as I went on formed a story around him.
The first design in question was this:
I'd had this urge to draw a creature all day with a human features, but by the time I'd sat down to do such a thing I ended up with this, rather then looking like human features it looked more like a mask, and so my fascination with masked creatures began..
I had begun to fiddle around with the concept of creatures wearing masks and this led me onto putting more detail into the masks, I liked the idea of them being quite unsettling looking by having big grins and almost tribal like patterns:
I went on to play around with the idea of the fact that the animal could remove the mask and became a person, I purposely kept the fur/hair of the person the same to try to get across that they were one, and that the mask was almost apart of them.
It was also while drawing these characters that I fell in love with this sort of swirly design, and having flame like wings on each of the limbs.
The first design in question was this:
I'd had this urge to draw a creature all day with a human features, but by the time I'd sat down to do such a thing I ended up with this, rather then looking like human features it looked more like a mask, and so my fascination with masked creatures began..
I had begun to fiddle around with the concept of creatures wearing masks and this led me onto putting more detail into the masks, I liked the idea of them being quite unsettling looking by having big grins and almost tribal like patterns:
I went on to play around with the idea of the fact that the animal could remove the mask and became a person, I purposely kept the fur/hair of the person the same to try to get across that they were one, and that the mask was almost apart of them.
It was also while drawing these characters that I fell in love with this sort of swirly design, and having flame like wings on each of the limbs.
the film
might as well get this rolling.
This year I really want to explore moving backgrounds, perspective and interaction between characters. I also want to play with the idea of having a large difference in size between my characters.
My influences for this film have been my own characters, Japanese myth, Okami, and some influences from films such as Studio Ghibli and Kakurenbo hide and seek.
This year I really want to explore moving backgrounds, perspective and interaction between characters. I also want to play with the idea of having a large difference in size between my characters.
My influences for this film have been my own characters, Japanese myth, Okami, and some influences from films such as Studio Ghibli and Kakurenbo hide and seek.
film thread awaaay
I'm in my third year studying 2d animation at university.
Last year I produced a short film which was selected to be in our universities film day, you can view it here:
http://vimeo.com/1055829
this blog has been set up to record my design process for my third year film. More will be added as time progresses.
Last year I produced a short film which was selected to be in our universities film day, you can view it here:
http://vimeo.com/1055829
this blog has been set up to record my design process for my third year film. More will be added as time progresses.
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