Animation Fundamentals — Project 1A & 1B : Character & Environment Design

04.10.2023—11.10.2023
Rachel Madeline Purwanto / 0356994
Animation Fundamentals / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media
Project 1A & 1B


LECTURE 

WEEK 6 — STAGING AND EXAGGERATION

Fig 1.1 Week 6 Notes

Fig 1.2 1 Point Perspective

Fig 1.3 2 Point perspective

INSTRUCTIONS 


TASK 

TASK 1A — CHARACTER DESIGN 

In this task, we are instructed to design a character based on the character description (Age, Gender, Weight, Attitude, Personality) from Film Studies and Cinematography class. The character should reflect his or her personality in the story and be visually appealing to the targeted audience. 

We are to submit three sheets : 
  1. A turnaround sheet (front, side, back and perspective)

  2. Pose sheet (Various poses in different emotion) - 5 poses

  3. Character facial expressions  - 5 expressions

  1. Study the references on the design elements application such as:

    1. Shape language
      Example: The character's shape language should reflect her personality, with soft and curved shapes to convey kindness and rounded edges to suggest insecurities. The shape language can also include angular shapes to convey determination and strength.

    2. Proportion
      Example: The character's proportions should be proportionate to the age and gender, with emphasis on her eyes and facial features to convey emotions and expressions.

    3. Silhouette
      Example: The character's silhouette should be distinctive and easily recognizable, with a clear and readable design that stands out from the background and other characters in the scene.

    4. Line of action
      Example: The character's line of action should convey movement and personality, with dynamic poses that suggest the character’s attitude. 

    5. Colour
      Example: The character's colour scheme should be vibrant and appealing, with warm colours and cool colours to convey certain meaning.


    1. References
    The character I made for the story for film studies and cinematography are inspired by a couple of short animations as well as characters that I came across in pinterest. Its also inspired by the main character from the game called "Omori" who is composed of two designs, one being a character that Omori created in his head as a figment of his depression and the other being the actual person.

    Fig 1.1 Character Analysis Notes

    1. Shape language
      The character is mostly made up of rectangles and has soft curved edges, representing melancholy and gloominess throughout the game.

    2. Proportion
      The character is 12 years of age and has a proportion of 5 heads height. Since he's still considered a child his bone structure is not developed therefore the length of the shoulder is equal to the hip.

    3. Silhouette
      The silhouette of this character is simple and has most of his hair straight down which is contrast to the other characters having their hair up and longer, emphasizing his character as the main protagonist.

    4. Line of action
      Throughout the game, the character's line of action is considered

    5. Colour
      The character's colour scheme throughout the game remains black and white which reflects how his life is dull and pretty melancholic and gloomy. He is the only black and white character which also emphasizes him as the main protagonist as the game compared to the other characters which are in vibrant colour schemes.


    Below are the short animations I also took inspiration from for the story and the character. 

    Fig 1.2 Missing Halloween short 

    Fig 1.3 Koruma's animation


    2. Character Details 
    1. Reiko

    • Age : 15

    • Gender : Male

    • Personality traits : Pessimistic, Cold, Introverted, Stubborn

    • Internal features : Low self-esteem, attachment, guilt, sadness

    • Reiko wants her friend who is no longer in his life anymore to come back into her life but she needs to move on from the past and live in the present. 


    3. Drawing Process & Colours
    I began the sketching process of the ideas and came up with 3 drafts and kept the age of the character in mind. The third one has a unique shape for the hair instead of keeping it as a round oval which adds more personality for the character as being blunt and cold.  

    I had to come up with 2 colour schemes according to my story as the character changes colours throughout the story after its character development arc. The images below are draft sketches of experimenting with the clothes and the colour schemes of the character. 

    I wanted the colour scheme of the happy version of Reiko to be contrasting with vivid colours so I went with the first one. 

    Fig 3.1 Sketch/Draft 1

    Fig 3.2 Sketch/Draft 2

    After deciding on the final colour scheme and design I did the turnaround sketch. 

    Fig 3.3 Turn around Pose Sheet

    For the poses, I made sure the line of action was expressive enough to convey the emotions that the character is presenting. 

    Fig 3.4 Sketch and line of action of poses sheet


    Fig 3.5 Lineart of 5 poses

    Fig 3.6 Poses sheet
    According to Mr. Kamal's feedback my first attempt on the expressions could use some more exaggerated expressions such as the angry one, where I could make the head extend from the body and make the shoulders go up to emphasize the emotion and changed the expression of the mouth.

    Fig 3.7 Draft of attempt for expressions

    The sad facial expression also needs more expression on the eyebrows so I lowered the eyebrows closer to the eyes and tilted it more. The happy expression looks a bit bland with the mouth on the first attempt so I decided to fix it on the second attempt to make it look more expressive.
    Fig 3.8 Lineart of 5 expressions

    Fig 3.9 Final Expressions Sheet

    TASK 1B — ENVIRONMENT DESIGN 

    For this task we are to create a background that is well suited for our character using perspective grids and the knowledge of framing and what we learnt during class. The colour and the background must be fitting with the mood and the tone of the scene. 

    For this particular background I will be drawing one of the scenes from the story that I've written for film studies, where I'd imagine one of the scenes where Reiko and Nyx are admiring the colourful atmosphere meaning that the scene would be in colours since it is expressing a scene in which Reiko is in awe of the atmosphere and is appreciative of his surroundings thus being in his character development arc. 

    I decided to use a low angle and use the one point perspective to capture the scene. 

    Fig 1.1 Lineart

    I wanted the buildings to be around the same hue in different shades so I coloured everything in monochrome to get the a rough idea of the values and the shadows of the scene. 

    Fig 1.2 Progress of Colouring

    I added some bushes and used clipping mask to colour the shadows and the lighting of the bushes then adjusted the colours for the buildings and coloured the sky using gradients. I then drew the lineart for the characters.

    Fig 1.3 Lineart of characters in place in the background and colour

    I added more layers with blending modes of overlay and multiply to set the tone of the scene and to make the colours of the character fit in the scene. For the characters I tried to use colours that are contrast with the background since the buildings are composed of strong and contrasting hues. I also used clipping mask to add the lighting for the characters. 

    Fig 1.4 First draft of the final rendered and coloured

    After receiving feedback, I had to make the distant buildings more of a dull and desaturated colour and balance out the darker part of the sky across the scene. I also adjusted the slant of the pole since it was too slanted and not parallel with the lines of the buildings. I adjusted the female character to be smaller to follow the perspective as she is further from the boy. I also added more blending modes on the characters to make the colours slightly more striking and contrast from the background. 
     
    Fig 1.5 Final Rendered Environment Design

    FEEDBACK 
    Week 4 
    - The drawing for the angry expression needed to be more exaggerated on the shoulders. 
    - The sad face could be more exaggerated by adjusting the eyebrows

    Week 7
    - The pole is too slanted.
    - Make the buildings further away to be more desaturated and dull or faded as it is further from the camera. 
    - The girl should be slightly smaller than the boy or shorter as she is further away from the boy, following the perspective grid. 
    - Make sure the sky has a gradient spread throughout the whole top of the canvas and make it equal.


    REFLECTION  
    This task was pretty fun to do considering we get to make our own characters and draw the background and this was my first time drawing and colouring a background for the character. This assignment also gave us a lot of freedom on what we would like to create thus enhancing my creativity and observed how people often make character sheets in a professional way. Essentially the background is also important in setting the mood and tone of the characters and the whole atmosphere during that specific scene.


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