Celtic Fairytale Lineup

Here is the lineup of final designs for the fairytale I'm working on.

Conception Of A Celtic Fairytale

In the past, I've only ever posted my final designs. I can't keep doing that if I want to work professionally as a character designer someday. Therefore, the primary objective of this post is to show some on my process work prior to posting my final designs for this project.

In the past two weeks, we've begun a colossal assignment. It's actually three assignments in three separate classes linked by subject matter, but I'm working on it as if it were one project. We're to choose a historic setting and create a cast of characters, a story, and layouts to work within the setting. I've chosen the Celts of the early centuries AD. We're allowed to use mythological elements that fit within the setting, so I've chosen to have a merrow as one of my characters.

The characters are technically due first. Originally, they were due next week, but they've been since pushed back to the following week. However, we're required to have a lineup prepared to compliment the story beats next week, so the designs should be resolved beforehand. We are required to have four characters filling four distinct roles in the story: the hero(ine), the one s/he loves, the villain, and the comic relief. Here was my initial brainstorm.

The first thing I typically do is develop the basic shape of the characters in relation to one another.

From the moment this assignment was assigned, I knew I wanted to do a Celtic fairytale. I also knew I wanted the fairy element to be a merrow, so Kyla was conceived more or less immediately. Following her conception, I decided that I wanted the hero to be an Everyman, and that the villain would need to be magical in his own right. I quickly learned that there is an impossibly small amount of hard information about druids. Luckily, there is enough information about the Celts as a whole to allow historians to fill in the gaps with educated postulation. As for the comic relief, I opted for a wolfhound to act as a companion for the hero prior to meeting the love interest.

Here is the lovely lady of this fish tale.

A recent development has rendered Kyla a cow. It's... Complicated.

The first try at the villain was almost perfect.

Once I have a clear idea of the direction the characters are going in, I refine the silhouettes.

Here is some of my research for story and layout.

Sketches

Spring break is upon me, but it shall be a break from classes only in my case. To begin the break, I've decided to upload a few select pages from the sketchbook I began earlier this month. With this sketchbook, my artistic goal has been to been to experiment.

There's no better way to begin a new sketchbook than w/ a pretty girl.

The day after I began this sketchbook, a flock of geese were loitering in my school's parking lot. I don't remember ever seeing geese at school before, and I took the opportunity to draw a few of them before getting out of the cold.

This semester, I've been going to DQ's Chalk Talks every Thursday evening. I've learned a lot more about animation and the industry from theses open forum discussions than any class this year. During one such discussion, somebody asked DQ to elaborate on the principle of anticipation.

He responded by singing the jingle from an old Heinz commercial.

Here's the commercial.

And finally, Western themed silhouettes. I recently read an interview with Jason Sadler, a character designer at Blue Sky Studios. What he stressed most was the importance of working from silhouette thumbnails. By starting a design in this manner, one can focus on the big shapes first without getting hung up on the details. We had a model in class yesterday, so I took the opportunity to practice drawing thumbnails with an ink brush pen.

When Life Gives You Lemons

My animation is starting to be watchable. I'm happy with how this turned out. I still have a long way to go before I can call myself an animator, but if nothing else, I'm moving forward. :) It looks like my next animation will be a bird. Stay tuned!

Beaks And Muzzles

In our design class, we were tasked with designing a beaked character and a muzzled character for use in future animation projects. These are the final designs I submitted. I should be posting my process work.

The Big One

The project is to take an assigned song, and develop a story from it. Our story is that of a fisherman who dies at sea. Each member of the group is assigned a scene, but the group has to work together to maintain continuity and ensure each scene hooks up to those around it. The first stage of the project was for each member to design the characters, and draw beat boards for their scene.

Here is my original character lineup:

And here are my beat boards for scene deux. In the previous scene, Dennis has signed on w/ a fishing boat. In my scene, he's rushed home to pack his bags. When confronted by his young wife, he tells her of his new job, and shares his dreams of success.

Following the beat board pitch, the group had to decide on a final character lineup, and assign the work of drawing one. I was given that honour since most everyone seemed to love my Cpt. Murphy (save the jacket). The other two characters were redesigned from an amalgam of appealing in traits in multiple group members' designs. These are due this coming week, as is the rough storyboard. I'll post my scene once it's complete, and approved.

Mermaid

I found this today whilst tidying up my files. I should have posted it earlier.