Animation Update

For this scene I was having trouble trying to get the drawing to look right in this upward 3/4 view so I searched for reference. Eventually I downloaded a 3D model of a raptor and positioned the camera in the 3D viewer to the angle I wanted and used that as my frame of reference. 

(Model from Autodesk library)

Background Comp

I sent DG some notes so we could work out what way we wanted to do the comp for the under water shots. I also did some rough drawings of  possible looks/Effects with the characters and assets included.

(BG Comp mock up's)

Background Development

DG has decided that he is not doing the P.O.V shot anymore so I sent him some notes and asked that he connect these shots and make that pan longer so we can show off more of the city. The reason for connecting the shots is because it would look odd or as if the animation was skipping a section.

Background Development

I got some Backgrounds off DG today but the was some problems and certain things we talked about having in certain BG where missing so I made some notes to help speed up the progress.

Animation Update

For the dinosaur roar I used this clip from "The Good Dinosaur" as my main reference. I liked the way the jaw twitches to emphasis the roar and did the same in my animation. I also want to try adding a shaky motion to the camera in comp to exaggerate the scene even more as the Dinosaur roars, intensifying towards the cut.

Animation Update

Over the last 2 weeks I only managed to get a weeks worth of work done because DG unfortunately got delayed again but one of the complex scene's in done and I have a run cycle that will be reused so this will help us save some time. I have also asked DG to bring in his background work on Monday so that we can try see if there is anything that we can reuse that will help save him some time.

(Example that breaks down the the animation process I did for the short.)

Background Development

DG sent me some backgrounds today but I felt that they could be fixed up we some small changes so I made some notes and he agreed that the changes where a good idea and did them.

(BG Notes)

Animation Unpdate

Unfortunately over the last 4 weeks I have only been able to do about 10 seconds of animation as there was another delay with the Backgrounds and I cant do it without them. However,  DG finished some of them today so I can start to focus on the animation more as he continues to do the backgrounds

(example of the animation)

Background Development

Below is an example of some images that I sent DG that I think could be helpful to him for doing the city backgrounds with some notes.

(Akira, Atey Ghailan )

I also suggested that DG look at the film Akira (Video One) for design reference. I think the film has some really amazing background that show the scope and lived in feel of a city. 

Then the "Easy" music video (Video Two)  has some solid reference because its design was inspired by Akira but it has a similar colour palette to our city BG's.

Video One 

Video Two

The last thing I sent him was this video by the Nerdwriter who breaks down the city scene in Ghost in a Shell. He discusses how it expands and draws attention to the viewers perception of space within the BG's and everything in the city is an echo of and emphasis the themes of the movie. I think DG could do something similar with the Evolution theme we have and  draw attention to something that helps echo the characters attributes depending on which stage of evolution he is at, for example Human=intelligence (have things in the city the show intelligence and draw attention to them) and so on. This is something I have tried to think ahead with when coming up with the shots so hopefully he can work off and improve upon this idea.

Video Three

Background Development/Comp

I've sent DG some images that I though had good under water lighting. We've talked it over and are going for a peaceful, calm but beautiful feel in this scene, similar to the reference.

(Hachiimon, Kiarya, Dane Madgwick [@tokotewhero])

Background Development/Comp

Today I sent DG some images of effects that I was thinking about for the Desolate lava locations. I think that a more subtle approach would be better as there is a lot going on in some very quick scene's. 

I also had a look at some video tutorials for various effects and although I might not do exactly what is shown because they are very realistic, I feel I got enough information to work off.

Video One

Video Two

Final Animatic

Today I went  over the animatic with DG and we have decided its good enough to move forward with as our Final edit. As of now I am ready to begin animating but DG is still working on the backgrounds so I have asked that he hand them off to me as he is doing them and focus on getting background that have the animation interacting with them done first if he can. This should allow me to start as early as next week which would put us a week ahead of the schedule!

Asteroid Prop

For the asteroid I had to make sure there was a place for the amoeba to come out, originally I was just going to have it crack but a lot of the images I looked at displayed pore's on the asteroids. I decided having the amoeba swim out of the pores would be better and it would help define the design a bit better. 

(My artwork with photo reference)

Character Design

(Reference)

(My Design's) 

For this character design I wanted to find some common features that both dinosaurs and chickens had as I wanted it to be very clear that it was the same character in the different stages. I also made sure to use the same colour palette for the characters and the egg to show the link between them so that the viewer knew that the egg belonged to the Dinosaur/Chicken.

Character Turn Arounds

Character Drawings

Character Turn Arounds

Character Drawings

Character Art Direction

Below are examples of the character reference I used for this project. I tried to stick with a similar style range of vibrant colours and simple shapes but I also chose some outside the range that had a design that I though would look well adapted to the style I had in mind.

The human character is mostly naked so I wanted hair that would stand out and make the design less boring. I also wanted a skinny body type because I think it is a good contrast to the previous design form of a strong ape.

 (Pablo Hernadez, MarssArt, Sarah Harper, Jermaine Jose)

For the Ape I wanted to focus on the huge ears and feet for hands aspect of the design. The top left image got me thinking of making him a bit more beast like in design almost like a Yeti.

(kevin merriman, Jamie Hewlett, MarssArt, Andre Maier)

For the Dog stage I wanted the design to look a bit like a Tasmanian Devil. I like the front heavy shapes in the bottom two images and wanted to go with a similar build. I also want to try capture the quirkiness of the character in the far right.

(Hollie Hibbert, Melissa Van Der Paalrot, Partrick Osborne)

For the sea creature I wanted to have a design that was both ugly and cute, something your not quite sure of. I feel having both elements in the design will help add to the scenes with this character. (The beautiful opening when life is being created and the scene where the character devours a helpless egg)

(Hollie Hibbert, Juan Casini, Sam Nass)

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