Evaluation
I feel as though I have been very productive this week, producing main/key frames to animate around. All I have to do now to complete the animation will be to create any sort of fluidity between frames in order to pass off my work as an actual ’animation’. Along with adding in the backdrop, I will need to figure out a frame hold cycle for the hair flow I would like to portray in my work.
Next week, I will finish off my animation and write up my evaluation for what I have produced.
Practical Work
This week, I have been working on frames for my animation. I have assorted a selected few frames to show in this post.
Pre-timeskip main character holding a strelitzia
Although the framework is very simple, this has allowed me to draw several frames without burnout. I have set the background as green to substitute for the background based on the Zhengjiajie mountains, which I will add at a later date.
Finished Animation: Product and Review
https://drive.google.com/file/d/14mxl0wb3c9HCc859iEwAvBVWScXEHh5U/view?usp=sharing
Linked above is my final piece for this project. Here, we see the animation I have planned and created this project.
I had planned for it to be a rough sketch animation (as I lack the capacity and time to create a full-fledged neat animation), and for what its worth, it is definitely an animation!
Unfortunately, due to time circumstances, I was only able to comprehend creating a 4 FPS animation, lasting 14 seconds. The animation is far more choppy than I wanted, but as a single person working on this with a 2 week deadline and limited long-term animating skills, there is still motion and each frame was hand-edited by me.
The storyline follows my written plan, and conveys what I wished for it to.
I was not able to add in a white fill-in for my character (to stand out from the background) which ultimately gave it the feeling on pencil sketches on a piece of already coloured paper. My reasoning behind not doing it was due to the limited animation features in Procreate, where one layer is equal to one frame. Therefore, I could not add a variety of backgrounds or colours without them showing up seperately.
Although poorly done, I animated his hair to move and used frame delay to give it the effect of swaying back and forth in the wind. I had previously watched a YouTube video on hair physics in animation, learning the infinity/8 cycle seaweed exercise of hair movement, but once again, due to limitations and my way-out-of-my-proportion expectations for my own work this project, I was not able to follow the video as I did not have the time to overly animate one singular aspect of my character.
YouTube Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kZlbMPSw0c
I tried my best to match my designs for my characters, with exception to complicated areas of design on my timeskip design (the flowing feather in his hair and earring). Asides from that, I think I was consistent with my designs.
In conclusion, there are many MANY parts I can improve on for this animation, but I believe I have done my job to my current best of abilities. Instead of aiming for a massive project like this, next time I will focus on smaller work with more detail, which will open up opportunity for me to figure out more about Procreate’s animation tool.
Planning and Production
My final task for this project is to start on the actual animation. For this, I will need to crack on and create an animation of over 50 hand-drawn frames and compile them into a fluid flip-show.
For my animation, I will be using my pre-made assets, such as backgrounds, my story line (verbal storyboard) and my character designs to bring everything I have done so far to life.
What have you chosen to investigate and why?
I have chosen to focus on 2D concept work and animation due to my interest in designing characters and bringing scenes to life.
Strengths
Weaknesses
In order to have a solid start for this project, I created a list of my strengths and weaknesses in order to decide what to base the premise of this work on. I decided that I would much rather focus on the artistic side of things, but switch it up a little bit and attempt a 2D animation, as I intend to place this piece of work into my portfolio for University.
As I specialise in still image artwork, an animation will be a lot harder, as I will need to work out the art of fluidity and motion.
For this project, I would like to focus on creating an animation based solely off a character I design, following a made-up storyline/lore. However, due to time restrictions, I will have to consider the deadline I have and input it subtly, but enough to get the idea.
Animation Storyline (change)
Through an analysis of what I have and haven’t done so far, I have decided to simplify my story to make the animation easier in order for me to be able to finish it.
Starting frames will be my main character’s younger self standing on top of a mountain, holding up a strelitzia in awe/happily, signifying his childish innocence.
As he continues to admire the flower, he realises it is wilting rapidly in his hand. Through my previous research post on the flower, the strelitzia signifies freedom, being a symbol for how his freedom is stripped away from him.
The frame will go black for a second, and it will switch to the current main character, standing on the same mountain. However, the scene will be darker and murkier, signifying the change in atmosphere and life itself after he grew up.
He will stand there for a few seconds, opening and closing his eyes. At the end, his eyes will glow, as if possessed by some strange power.
This story line will be a lot easier to animate within my time frame in comparison to the last, and it will still maintain the story aspect despite being not as detailed.
Practical Work
Backdrop Art
After using my Pinterest board dedicated to the region of Zhangjiajie, I quickly sketched up and designed a backdrop inspired by the images I had collected. I created a single and rough sketch (since I am not too experienced in background art) that I could add a gaussian blur to to add full focus to my character, who would be centre stage.
I proceeded to colour balance and change the hues of the scene, to create a murkier darker version. This version will be what I use to transition to my characters timeskip, to signify the darker version of himself.
I am not fully satisfied with this piece, due to the fact I was experiencing art block at the time. This meant that my art was more sub par than usual, due to the lack of motivation. However, despite the messy colouring and half-done job, I believe I have managed to create a scene background relevant and familiar to my inspiration.
Concept Work
Main Character (Pre-Timeskip Design)
For my characters younger self, I have decided to create a concept sketch through purely line work to decide on his design.
I chose to give him shorter hair (a contrast from his long hair in the timeskip), vision in both eyes (contrast to the singular uncovered eye in the timeskip), and I gave him a tângzhuāng, additionally known as a tang suit- a formal piece of clothing worn in Chinese culture. I decided to choose the tângzhuāng to fit him into societal norms, where he wouldn’t stand out as a child, resonating with his ‘normal’ lifestyle. This changes greatly as he ages, which is the contrast I am trying to portray.
Research
Zhangjiajie (cont.)
Following my previous research on Zhangjiajie, i have created a Pinterest board dedicated to the National Park, giving me references for my backdrop.
Pinterest board: https://pin.it/6fpzNG4
Games Design Y2 