Project 3: Week 3

Production and Planning

I have continued to add to my list the tasks that I intended and succeeded to fulfil this week.

Project 3: Week 3

Practical Work

Continuing with refining the character I had designed for my animation, I did a larger scale headshot with rendering to attempt to simplify a part of his outfit from the chest down, along with elements that may be more challenging to animate than I had initially intended.

I decided to refrain from drawing a full body as this attempt was more catered to figuring out whether I’d be able to render and colour my animated version or whether it would be too much work for the time period I have.

Comparison between main inspiration (Zhongli) and my original character

My aim for this character was not to copy the style, nor make him a ’lookalike’ to the Genshin character, but instead inherit small similarities and traits from the Geo God to drop into my design to make him completely original, but still very inspired by Zhongli through small additions, like the earring on the ear (which I was inspired by through a pin on my board, featuring a topaz earring set), similar colour palettes (altered by brighter and lighter colours through my own interpretation) and the two-toned hair.

After completing this piece, I decided that colour won’t be necessary for the character, and as long as the background has vibrancy and I can bucket fill the inside of my linework to make a solid figure through animating, I should run into no issues in terms of details. However, as my whole idea revolved around illumination for this character, I will be using several yellows and golds to represent a glow in areas such as where his gold is on his outfit and in his eyes, and potentially his hair (referring to Zhongli).

Although I won’t be using colour, or flat colours at most (no shading), I was able to greatly expand my experience with colour-theming, where I picked a few from the Zhongli palette and worked around the chosen colours with my own choices.

For example, I used the shade #c58241, which was a golden-yellow on the palette, to paint the gold on my characters design, mixed with #cfc2bf, which was a muted grey, to paint the silver of which the gold accompanied. For the half shirt that he wears (inspired by Arataki Itto), I used #3c2b28, a warm brown colour, and added my own golden gradient onto it.

Comparison between character refined design and concept

For the refined design, I tried to keep the hairstyle remotely similar as it was a design aspect that I was happy with, changing minor aspects like the position of the wispy flower-like headband. I decided to choose a more golden skin tone for him, and added straps to his half-top (once again inspired by Arataki Itto’s design). I removed intricate elements such as the sleeve patterning for simplicity when animating, and changed the two-tone hair colour to go from peach to gold, whereas the concept had the idea of an ombré that got darker, with the additional change of expression that I displayed on his face- he now looks more confident and snide, in comparison to the concept where I had envisioned him to be reserved and somber.

In conclusion, using the research I had collected previously, I have successfully created a refined character design that I envisioned and was able to execute through artistic capabilities to the standard that I had hoped for. However, I will have to consider the fact that I now need to simplify the rest of his outfit. This will be no issue, as I have already worked out everything else prior, so it shouldn’t take too long. 

Project 3: Week 3

Storyline plot for animation

The animation I wish to create will be equal or less than 10 seconds due to deadline restrictions. Although short, I wish to be able to tell a short story with what I produce.

First draft of plot

• Main Character has won a battle, hunched over in exhaustion with blood splattered across his face. Dark frames and background to represent an eerie atmosphere
• His eyes slowly gaze up, with his head still in the same position as before, to notice something in the background
• He sees his younger self surrounded by trees with light peaking through the leaves, happy and smiling. He is holding a strelitzia, which is a flower that is associated with freedom and immortality.
• His younger self notices his current self, and the flower disintegrates. His younger self stares at him with the same discontent expression, until he gets swept away like an old memory.

With a brief storyline/plot, I now have an idea of how the animation will go. I will need to do more research on strelitzia, as I only have limited knowledge, and I will create a storyboard to plan out composition.

Project 3: Week 3

Context

In order to come up with a solid complementary and pleasing colour palette for my character, I created several colour palettes based off Zhongli from Genshin Impact’s outfit.

Compiling my palettes into a single canvas, I now have access to the whole array of colours it chose (excluding a few duplicates due to the random generative nature of the palette creator).

When I am to create my refined and simplified character design, I will be swatching several colours from these palettes and applying them to my work, as I adore Zhongli’s colour palette in general, and I feel as though the earthy and desaturated colours mixed with the popping orange will create a nice harmonious design.

Project 3: Week 3

Practical Work

This week, my main focus was to conceptualise the character for my animation. After using the moodboards I had created previously, I went to work with creating the main design for my character.

What I came up with was a very rough sketch with a selection of scribbles layered on top to represent the clothing I envisioned. Using my Pinterest Board, I was able to design an illuminous oriental-styled regal-themed character.

In conclusion, I like the concept as a whole, but I would have preferred it if I had enough time to refine the initial concept sketch as a whole. However, I will have to move past this sketch and create a neater piece instead, simplifying this design for animation purposes. For my neater version, I will also be extracting colours off Zhongli’s outfit, but as this is a very sketchy basic concept, only the thought of ideal colouring and general aesthetic have been taken into consideration.