Short Animations

          Bridge - Ting Chian Tey

This is a story of Four Animals trying to cross a bridge, you have the two bigger and more dangerous animals the bear and moose not willing to compromise or lower themselves, i seen this as pride. Then you have the two smaller, cuter and loveable critters who are less aggressive about the whole thing. even by the noises they make you can tell that the rabbit and raccoon are friendly. The moral i got from this is that in life there are paths that we take but not always alone. and there can be disagreements on how things can be done but if you  are stubborn and let pride stand in the way it can have consequence and result in some disastrous way.

Pitch week / Progression

After sharing my ideas, goals and aim's i was given some really good feedback and areas to look into regarding my Project. From what i talked about it looked like i was leaning more towards what makes characters "Cute" so interested in this idea i will pursue it, however i still want to try create other characters to give off other feels and emotions. The areas i was told to look into was things like,

"Hello Kitty" A very well known character that is regarded as cute and loveable yet i know nothing about it personally, but i am going to look into it to try see how it all came about also the style they used. 

I am going to look into Shapes in relation to characters. The general idea that round shapes are good, square grumpy, triangle can be seen as evil or bad, a good example of this can be seen in "UP" which i am already looking into. Another aspect is Colour Theory which again i will be driving into, to try get the most from my characters a good colour palate is needed.

A good character needs a good story or background, so i will be looking into comics and how they are made effective. also Storyline and context to add to a character to give more depth.

Anthropomorphic, giving Human characteristics to Animals or other Objects, this was a really interesting idea and will be going into it a lot more.

A friend of mine told me about this idea of "Evolution of cute" that mothers that Nurture the young will have cute babies, while the young that is left alone or to fend for themselves at birth may not be as cute, this was interesting and i have been looking into it.

And lastly another area to look into was game characters that we may not know much back story on but are seen as amazing, examples given where, Mario, Peach, and Sonic but there are a lot of others. 

Aim And Objectives

Project Aim: To Investigate and  Develop Character Concepts through different artistic techniques and explore how relationships between the character and spectator are developed through the use of empathy, character personality and environment.

Objectives: 0.1 - Review and Evaluate existing character Literature on character designs.
                  0.2 - Explore and review different character styles through the use of different
                                                                    techniques.
                  0.3 - Develop, produce a range of character designs in regards to Empathy,
                                                        personality and Environment   
                  0.4 - Evaluate the relationship between the characters and spectators and
                                                           original Character Designs

Early Concept Work

Here I've been using a few different methods and styles such as a more Disney style to Animals then a mixture Japanese comic style combined with unique personal style. these are just early sketches to test out different feels and what i feel looking at each one against the other. it also allows me to see if I can bring through character and personality at this stage.

What Inspires, Motivates & Intrigues me / research and exploring ideas

I am inspired by many different types of art ranging from different cultures, im interested in fantasy art such as dragons, demons, other worlds all sorts of things but one of my most keen areas would have to be Disney.

Growing up to such Animations as these has inspired me, Aristocats, Tarzan, Lion king, 101 dalmatians, Aladdin, Mulan and. Hercules these titles alone are some of the reasons i am doing art now.

Here we can see what Inspires, Motivates and Intrigues me, as well as how i research and explore ideas through Words, sounds, images Style and Observations. with no limit in mind i just put down everything that came to mind, that could be considered useful.










To push myself even more ive been reading alot of different books such as

"Fantasy beasts"
"Hollywood 2D Digital Animation"
"Dragon Art"
"Fantasy Figures"
"The Art Of UP"
"Walt Disney Animation Studios The Archive Series Story"

all contain unique approaches to different aspects such as Story boarding, concepts of famous art work, how to draw certain things, poses and much more, which i can apply to my own studies to bring more out of each character I create.

Communicate, Interpret, define, story and Experience ideas.


I like to Communicate my ideas through the use of my art, as i am not really one for words. my research methods are my own and i get a lot of ideas through watching movies, playing games, and one of the biggest it Music, mainly Ost's. Interpreting ideas is one of the fun parts of being an artist as how you seen ideas is unique, not everyone thinks like you do or see's things like you do, and that notion alone interests me, however it can be hard to describe how you interest something as others might not always understand what you mean. I really just tend to write things down as im going along, playing a game, hear good music, i will write it down so i can come back to it later, things like that are really useful. Looking into all of this, i see it relating to our final Exhibition as all of these are what is needed to get across our ideas to others so that they know how and what we have done to get to where we are now,

Research on Animals

Using My own pets i took pictures of them to try further understand the "cute" factor that they have, and see if i could apply it to my work.

 Many different Poses and expressions of both cat and dog, this could be applied into concept art

 Trying close ups and angles to see if it improves on the factors.

pitch and crit sessions week 4

Moderating the students was not that hard, as the group where quite open minded and open with there ideas, they helped each other and took on board the advice i was giving them. as for time management that could have been worked out a little better as a few got more time than others but all got there modules across and received good feed back that they found useful.

Not being the best motivational speaker out there, my critical feedback could easily have been improved but what i was saying is what i learned from my own perspective and experience, and i believe that they found it useful as they are going through the same thing now. I tried to give advice on as much  as i could and a lot of it related back to research as this seemed to be something that could be given more time.

I think i did well in motivation the group to share there ideas more freely and share there thoughts as well as my own, but i could improve more on time management and being able to provide more help. For Future sessions i plan on developing my control of the group more, and again trying to manage the time a little better.

Personal Statement

AG1064A: Professional Practice – Personal Statement

Proposer:	Simon Chedumbrum
Student Number:	0704944
Programme:	Computer Arts
Specialism(s):	2D Art, Character Concept’s and design

Personal Statement

I plan on Investigating Character concepts & designs through different techniques and how Relationships / bonds and developed between the character and audience through the use of Empathy, personality, Environment and music

Inspiration and Interests

The idea of characters from different forms of media be it art or a novels, building a relationship with the person reading / watching interests me a great deal, that emotions can be conveyed by images or words. There are so many different art styles out there already from many backgrounds this inspires me, art is practiced in every culture and varies all over the world. The kind of project I would like to undertake would be to create characters of my own that can form this bond with people be it good or bad, with the use of Environments, music and other tools to produce emotions in the audience. Work such as “Ookami” done for the PlayStation 2 was inspirational as the characters where very memorable and the art style was unique Similarly “Dot.Hack//” was also really well made in terms of character development over time with the player as you get to mail them and learn more about them as you play the game as you would a real person. Many Disney, Pixar, DreamWorks projects are also great inspirations for me as it showcases many different techniques and the art and concepts are at such a level that you can’t but help admire them. At the end of the Honours year I would like to show case my characters and have either a sort of comic strip or minimal animation to help convey them, and see how people bond with them.

Career and Creative Aims

The Career I would be after would be one in Character Concepts or art work relating to characters of any kind, also animation them would be another aspect I would be interested in, bring them character to life, infusing them with emotions and watching it play out.

Current Skills and Abilities

Traditional Art, My skills in Traditional art is one of my strongest elements, in the regions of 2D art work sketches and designs.                                  Painting Acrylics, water colour etc., I am confident in my painting skills acrylics more so but over all I would say I have a good understanding and skill with them. Sound forge, Piecing music together through this program can be difficult at times but enjoyable, as skill goes I have a good grasp of it and the varies techniques that go with it. Photoshop / Sai, Having used this program daily my grasp on it is solid and my understanding and skill level are high, Maya, Confident in my skills of 3D modelling, rigging and skinning I could create a character and animate them with the desired results in mind. Flash, For animating and general use my skills base is good, a few areas could be improved but overall I can achieve a sound animation if desired. Movie maker and related programs, In the use of Putting together animations my skill level is average, I can produce a good looking and sounding animation but I have techniques and other uses for it to learn. Mud box, I understand and can use this program but I have a lot to learn about it, can create a working model but my area of expertise is not that high with it.

Skill Gaps

Traditional Art, I am always striving to push myself here and develop on skills that I know and want to learn. There are many techniques that I still don’t know, that could be useful to me. Animating Skills, The use of this would benefit me a lot and combined with my skills in other regions could help me in my passion of character work. And give me a more extensive skill set. Photoshop / Sai, A lot to learn with this and the use of tablets. Many skills still unknown to me or easier ways to do things. Sound forge, Music is another passion of mine and to be able to create my own and apply it to my own creations would benefit me a lot more, and increase my skill base. Movie Maker and related Programs, This is another program I would like to get to terms with a lot more as it has a lot of potential for my line of work and I only know a little about it, with so much to learn.

Research

Started with a image board to get across some ideas. Facial expressions, poses, styles also looking into not just humans but other animals, as they also get strong connections with audiences.

Here i have focused more on expressions, hair styles, and eyes to get across character personality through simple characteristics

The use of outfits alongside poses can be quite powerful. not only are we looking at the face here but as mentioned we are looking at different cloths coupled with some poses to try bring out some unique traits and personality

We have more poses here but i have made this page less cluttered to try capture the pose with its movement, so have been selective in this process. we also have a few different styles to see if they add more or less to a character, such as colour filter and design




after looking a little into the human element i decided to try something different, so i went with the "cute" look, having came across a collection on animals poster i thought it would be beneficial to the project as even i was drawn to them straight away.





I have also found short animations that achieve the kind of thing that i would like to be able to.

the short animations are "My First friend" short animation about a young lonely boy and his dog, but as they grow together they learn what love and friendship are, and as they keep growing it goes from the dog looking after the boy to the boy looking after the dog. this with the music create a powerful piece that you cant help but get imersed in. the style is colourful and unique which adds to its depth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlAmKsmLav8

The other is "La Maison en Petits Cubes" a story of a elderly man who is striving to live in what looks like the world filling with water or land sinking. but he has forgotten about all sorts of things so its a journey of self discovery and by the end you cant but feel sad for him as he has lost everything but still keeps trying.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6D3QbrV3pT8

Idea for Honours

So far the idea is still up in the air, but it is starting to take shape. I plan on Investigating Character concepts / Designs and how relationships and Empathy are developed between the characters and Viewer or reader.