Animation Fundamentals: Project I - Pre-Production Characters & Layout Design

 MODULE GCD61104: Animation Fundamentals Project I

Tristan Vaughan Sleep - 0365120

Animation Fundamentals / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media

Project I: Pre-Production Characters & Layout Design

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MODULE INSTRUCTIONS:

“SEPT 2024 - JAN 2025: GCD 61104 / ANIM. FUNDAMENTALS MODULE INFORMATION BOOKLET”

Project I: Pre-Production Characters & Layout Design,

Project Ia - Pre-Production: Students of the cohort are expected to test their Digital Animation and Design skills by designing both a character and environment which will be used in later projects. Students should design a character which reflects their own personality or interest as well as design a be visually appealing to the targeted audience. Students are recommended to reference existing characters and use them to inspire their work. For the second part of this project, students need to create a rough sketch of the layout design using perspective. The sketch should show the placement of the background elements and characters in the scene. Students are free to use either traditional methods such as pencil and paper or digital tools such as a tablet and software.

Project I - Walking Animation: Students of the cohort are expected to utilise their previous character design as well their animation skills to produce a short animation of the students’ character walking. Using the skills mentioned within the lectures, students are expected to go through the gradual process of creating an animation with basic forms and sketchy strokes. A more refined image can be produced should the students wish. The animation should be in the recommended dimension and should be shot on ‘twos’ or 2 held frames/ 24fps. The final animation should then be posted to the necessary locations as outlined by the lecturer.

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PARTICIPATED LECTURES:

WEEK VI - VII: Character Design and Reference Sheet

Basics: For the first major project within the module, students are expected to explore their creativity in animation by creating a character which is to be animated in later sections of the module. Despite the expression of creativity, students are still limited to certain criteria, mainly encouraging them to design something of a personified nature which should make the future animating process easy to produce and clear to view. In addition, the character design should reflect its personality or its role within its narrative while remaining visually appealing to the targeted audience. To support students in this design process, the lecturer has recommended basing the designs on an existing character from any media - mainly as a means to have a point of reference when designing.

First Designs and Errors: When it came to beginning the project, I was mainly drawn to more action related media of the time which was more focused on martial movement and unique visual designs of said media. As a result, I originally wanted to design a character which was based on media while incorporating a design which suggests that they could exist in a ‘Retrofuturistic’ environment (A futuristic world styled on more traditional designs.) A majority of the visualised action and character was inspired by the ‘Main Character’ from the Video-Game Sifu and how they were mainly a static model with small additions such as cloth belts or jewellery which could be worked into secondary animation. Furthermore, the ‘Retrofuturistic’ was more inspired by the film ‘Akira’ as well as the character ‘Yoru’ from Valorant who also carries a similar design language. When mixed together, I felt that this could make for an interesting character who would be very focused on their end goals while still having an air of cocky-ness around them.

“Inspiration art and previous examples of style (Incomplete)”

With a rough style and reference material gathered, I first started the project by designing a very simple turn-around sheet in a sketch program which I would then transfer to a digital animation software. From here, I mainly began working on the character using a pixel-art software as I felt that this would make the animation process easier. The software in question (Aseprite) already had a built-in frame counter with ghost frames which would simplify the animation process. While working with this program, I was able to design a majority of the characters as well as some of the environment from the next section before discussing further with my lecturer. While they were surprised by the work shown, they reported that they were not the happiest with the medium and how it limited the design and thus recommended that I restart the process to hopefully produce a better design. I took this Restarting rather seriously and asked if I could be allowed an extension to re-design a new character which I could use for the animation which was agreed upon by my lecturer. Probably the best made in this project.

“The Semi-finalised work before being recommended to start again (for obvious Reasons)”

Second Design and Improvements: Following the advice of the lecturer and restarting the design process, the second (and final Design) would be focused in one medium which could easily be translated into the Adobe Animate System. As I was also limited by the amount of time remaining, I decided to base my second design on a model I had previously designed in the first semester as a majority of the design process was already completed. Not to be limited by my older work and limited art capabilities, I began tweaking my original design to make it stand-out more and be in line with its original concept. For this design, I was mainly inspired by the Video-Games, ‘Bloodborne’ and ‘Lies of P’ and how both games worked fantastical elements into Victorian era environments. Furthermore, I was fascinated by the character design in both games, having active fighting characters who dressed very formally at the time as well as the overly gothic building designs. The more ‘simple’ art style was inspired by the limitation set by the previous lecturer which saw students working with limited shapes and a ‘pokemon aesthetic’ end goal.

“Main Inspirations for the Final Design + Original Design (The Vormator)”

Parts of the inspiration can be seen in the design with the head possessing a large, built-in brim, cravat tie and leather boots being inspired from ‘Bloodborne;’ the prosthetic arm + brace and medals being inspired by ‘Lies of P.’ The body shape and design is more inspired by pokemon, mainly off pokemons with similar body language such as ‘Zoroark’ which would later help with the animations.  With the core themes established, I wanted to add more features to help break up the characters shapes to make each section more easily identifiable rather than relying on lighting. This can be seen in the redesign of adding boots and a more clear separation of the prosthetic (with an arm brace) and the neck (with a larger Cravat being added.)

“The finalised work of the character”

To close out this new design, I wanted to add more facial features to the character to make them more expressive and can open the design up to more dynamic poses. The first major part of the posing and faces was expressing the characters ferocious and tactical style, choosing to make itself more hidden in the dark (thanks to its brim) or utilising its sharp teeth for intimidation. However, with its role being inspired by some-what helpful nature of the ‘hunters’ from ‘Bloodborne,’ the character was also shown with more friendly and approachable faces to show that it is capable of friendly interactions. Although I had achieved a lot in design, I still fell short in some sections due to the lack of time to polish this second design.

Background and layout Designing: As previously mentioned in the last section, I was mainly drawn back to one of my old character designs because of the original inspiration behind it and how the environmental design looked in said inspirations. Carrying this idea forward, I wanted to design the background + layout of the piece to resemble that traditional European Victorian-gothic design but express it in a more simplified design to match the character. This process would require me to look at what makes the designs of the inspiration unique and then try to translate them to a style more reminiscent of the pokemon style. In my searches, I found that the ‘look’ of ‘Bloodborne’ was mainly tied to the taller structures which contained plentiful sharp edges and flat corners to create its over-bearing look which then would be complemented by the brightly coloured sky. 

This can be seen in the final product where the buildings are segmented with rough edges and sharper edges (such as the roof) are instead capped with large blocks to occupy more space to feel more ‘covering.’ The colour palette also played a large role as I liked the look from the original game where the brightly orange afternoon sky leaves a contrast with deeply shaded buildings, painting them in darker blues and purples. Overall, I’m rather happy with the final design of both the character and the environment however, I wish I had got it right the first time and would’ve not wasted valuable time which could’ve been used to clean up the scene.

“The finalised work of the Background and layout”