Infinitus Artificium - Scene 2 (progression and making of)

For scene 2 i wanted to look into different ways in which i could have the female character introduced.  I wanted her to tease the viewer be appearing and disappearing in the background and giving an inkling into what kind of character she is. I wanted the joyful and playful side to come out of her at the beginning.

As usual i looked at my two main influences; Erica Russel and Ryan Woodward.

I also looked into Norman Mclaren's work on overplaying and duplicating the figure to create a fan or ghost trial behind the leading character.

I also heavily relied on the artistic styles that you find within life drawings.

Due to the female character starting off this film i needed her to captivate the audience as soon as she appears.

Scene 2.1

To start off the scene i wanted her to appear in the distance and for her to run forward and disappear and re-appear much closer to the screen.

In doing this i had her roughly sketched out at the beginning to give an indication she was coming towards us and appearing from within the canvas. Then a lot like the very last scene in the joy section i wanted her to be dispersed in a trail of dots/particles. 

This then made me think of an exciting way to have her re-appear onto the screen with a bit of excitement  At this stage i had had enough of particles/ dots or anything that represented so to think of a new technique to have her appear again in the scene was a bit tough but at the same time a pleasant relief. Thinking back to life drawing i remembered that i loved to do quick lines to represent the body, I thought that introducing this idea to the scene could add a bit more character to the figure and make a nice difference from particles. 

This is were i introduced the curved trail which collides in the middle to for the new form of the figure. The trail drawn with scratched and rough line work to give a sense of an organic feel without making it look too scared and not very joyful  To help it not looking so sketchy i designed the figure in the same rough line work with her standing proud and dominating to show that she isn't scared at this point in the film. 

I wanted the collision of the two trails to collide forming her body to push through and take over the scene and produce a strong and determined posture.

This scene was incredibly fun to animate as i was different to the rest in a way and made me feel a bit more relaxed. I am slightly disappointed that i re-introduced the dotted particle effect within this scene but in order for this project to blend easily i thought it best, but only for a tiny period of this scene. I only wanted it to be shown at the beginning and end of the joyful scene.

Scene 2.2

Apologies for the corrupt file but if you watch version 2.4 and look at the inner design which is the same design as the rough line work of the trail that is what you would expect to fine in version 2.2.

This scene is very straight forward. With this i wanted the scratched line effect to disappear ready in preparation for an over lay on another layer. I had a few ideas on how i would have this technique disappear  A few ideas were to have it move outside of the figure the form an inverted effect were the lines form the outlines of the figure, a bit like a shadow. Another idea was to have it gradually disappear line/scratch by line/scratch but this would have taken a fair amount of time that i didn't exactly have as I was having to work on a very tight schedule.

In the end i decided to have it fade into the body itself, I think with the idea i have for the rest of the scene it would work nicely as its not too flamboyant and not too boring, It blends in nicely to the surrounding and gives enough character for you not to forget it was there.

Scene 2.3

For this scene i wanted to get the feeling of excitment running through her body as she emerges from her rushed line work. I thought about re introducing the green again as it would stand out amoungst the orange and yellow. I wanted this to feel asthough 'goose pimples' run down your body, I want the viewer to get the same feeling of excitment run down from their head to their toes.
In doing this i designed the trail to flow and wrap itself around her body, to give off the feeling of all senses.
Animating this was suprisingly soothing and a nice change from having to draw static lines, dots or anything that involved a lot of repetative design. This ran smoothly over the body and looked energetic and enticing.


Scene 2.4

Within this scene i combined what i created in scene 2.2 and scene 2.3.
Orgionally i wasnt thinking of combing the two but when i completed 2.2 i thought that to give it a bit more character it would be a good idea to combine the 2.2 which ends very blandly and needs an extra bit of edge witht he short but sweet caress of the fluid trail running down her body to depict the excitment and joy running through her body. Once the green trail had reached her toes the 2.2 layer evaporates as she turns which introduces us to scene 2.5


Scene 2.5

Following on from scenes 2.2, 2.3 and 2.4 I wanted to finish off this scene so it could easily blend into the following scene which i have now joined on with this scene to make it one.  Originally this scene was called scene 1.5 as it was a cross over between scenes 1 and 2 but in the end i decided to join the two togwther to form one.
In order for it to flow together i had to do a bit of work in stitching the two together so they would look like they were one. This was slightly harder than i anticipated as the ending of scene 1.5 ended with her arms at a 180 with her body whilst the beginning of scene 2 was at a slightly awkward 90 degree angle. I needed to find a halfway point so that they would work as one but due to odd frames i kept of giving a slight jolt in the running of the scene, Or it would just confuse the eyes all together as the end of this scene started infront of her and suddenly your above the figure.
To try and make this run smoothly i made sure the animations artistic style blended nicely between the two scene by using a standard style were it wouldnt confuse the viewer too much with so much going on a once. In the end i decided on using a basic outline around the body.
Not very exciting but it does its job.
Although as you will see im scene 2.7 the transistion between the two arent exactly brillinat but itll have to do due to the time we have left to work on this. But later on once this is all completed and out the way i will return to this scene and improve the transistion between scene 1.5 and scene 2.


Scene 2.6

For scene 6 i wanted to play all the layers i have been working on together before carrying on with scene 7.
In general working on this half of the scene was fairly interesting, I loved playing around with the trails and finding different way inwhich i could display and express them judging on her movements and speed.
Althought im slightly disapointed in myself that i ended the first half of the scene and beginning of the 2nd half of the scene with a fairly bland artistic design im still happy with the progress and outcome of this scene.


Scene 2.7

 

In this Scene i wanted to carry on from the previous scene (scene 2.5) with the wire type frame of the female body. I carried on with this styling to the end of the scene and used it as a base layer ready for a more interesting animation to go over the top with the same styling.

 

 

Scene 2.8

 

Using the stylings from Norman McLaren's 'Pas De Deux 1968' I wanted to create a sort of flower, formed by layers upon Layers of the female body revolving round, then running away leaving a ghost like trail behind her until she went off screen.

 

Whilst creating this scene i did find it tough trying to find the right amount of trails to make an interesting form where they all worked together. I tried showing between 4-7 layers and ended up using about 5 layers as you could still see each figure moving whilst at the same time be able to see an interesting form appear from them.

 

 

Scene 2.9

 

In completion to these two scenes put together as one, i think they work quite well. I understand that there is the slight jolt with the two sewn together but i did try my best in piecing them together with the amount of time i had left. I would like to revisite it and touch it up a bit after all my hand in and pay more attention to little details i may have missed.

 



Infinitus Artificium - Scene 2 (first half)

Here is a quick glimps into the current scene that i am working on =] more details with videos and behind the  scenes chit chat on this video will follow next week.

Infinitus Artificium - Progression and making of scene 6

 

Within this scene i wanted look into the transaction from 'joy' to 'fear' and how i can make it look fluid and exciting to watch.

I wanted to explore the colours and textures to best fit the scene and the movement of the figure. When researching artisits to influence me in this scene I found that i wanted to concentrate a lot more on the artistic influence from life drawing.

When looking into artistic designs based off of life drawing i wanted to look at the stylings from Erica Russel and Ryan Woodward into more depth. The way that they get the figures to move around the screen and the use of colouring.

 

 

 

 

Scene 6.1

 

 

The beginning of the scene starts off with the ending of the trail from the previous scene (5)

The intensions for this was that i wanted it to look like it hit an invisble object and as it hit the surface it leaked over the object to reveal the female figure. This took a couple of goes to find the right way to have the figure brought back into the scene aswell as choosing an art style to best fit the beginning of the new scene. This brought me to the previous art styles i have worked with for this section. I wanted to make sure that the art styles linked well together and actually flowed easily, but at the same time make sure that the art styles were varied and showed more aspects of it being experimental and not having to relay too heavily on the same artistic stylings.

Although this art style is used more often than not in this project but i beleive it works well. I looked into different way of using the block technique but showing the figure through diffferent shapes and sizes. Lukily this flows easily with the rest of the scene without it looking too awkward and un-linked.

 

 

Scene 6.2

 

 

With the ending of 6.1 i made sure that it ended up in her disapearing again so that i could have her appear in another dramatic entrance. My intensions for this version was to have a bright light spark up and for her to appear out of this bright light. This idea was influenced by Ryan Woodwards 'Thought of you' short were it has the female figure re-appear in a flash of dazzling light.

I looked at the frames individually to see how technique of how Ryan Woodward created the scene. But when it came to actually animating the flash of light in my piece it didnt look right, It was a rough concept for it and not exactly executed to perfection but it was enough for my to see that it didnt look right with the rest of the section. It may have been an interesting addition to the scene but it didnt look like it had a strong artistic flare. I did  try and adapt the colours to see if anythin made it seem a bit better but most colours seemed either too strong or too weak. I even tried experimenting with a varity of different brush strokes but it personally didnt work for me. I did find a few loop holes to make it appear as a more stylstic form or flash of light but it didnt seem to work for me. I asked a few fellow students on their view on the flash of light and i found a few mixed views. Some people said they liked it, and that i just needed to work on it a bit more whilst other said if i didnt think it worked move on and find another form and if i change my mind go back to it.

In the end i decided to bin the flash of light idea. Im sure i could have managed to perfect it but Due to time and a large lack in 2D animators on this project i couldnt afford the time which i would need for other scenes. However in the future i might work on it and fit it in.

 

 

Scene 6.3

 

 

In taking out the flash i was left with the green outline which was the under lay for the flash in the previous version. Although i have used this style before i decided to keep the outline of the entire figure. To make it more artistic i played around with different pen width and different pressures. When i found a. 'ink nib' I came to using that brush and drawing out the outlines of the entire figure and with a rubber tool, erasing sections or slimming down the line work to give it a bit more character. The clip that i have to show is the work in progress of me drawing the line work and erasing/ slimming it down. This version doesnt show much excitment but i had a few idead for the next version to really bring the artistic buzz to life.

Although this version isnt much to talk about i did find this usefull for me to experiment more with the brush tools on ToonBoom. and how i can play around with line work for future reference.

 

 

Scene 6.4

 

 

 With the 6.4 version I finalised the outlines of the figure that smooth easily in and out of the scene and slim down some sections to give it the inkky paint/pen brush effect. The next step was to introduce the next art style. This art style was influenced but life drawing classes. When i was in life drawing i used to find this technique really interesting and fasinating. This technique was created by drawing curvs around the figure to make it stand out on the page as if it was a rounded figure. It is similar to the wire mesh usually found in 3D softwares. the wires form the structure of the object and be molded over. I wanted this technique to show through as if the female figure had been stripped down to her coating and her freedom and ' joy ' still showed through regardless of loosing her colourful exterior.

This technique emergerges in the female figure swings her arms back dramatically. I wanted the wire mesh to be exposed here as if she is wiping away her surrounding form. This section in the scene orgionally would be the flash of light as explained in version 6.2. I love the dramatic swoop behind her and i thought it would be a good idea to embrace that movement.

The colouring used in this version is based off a sandy brown which still holds the warmth of the emotion.

 

 

 

Scene 6.5

 

In 6.5 I wanted to explore i bit more within geometric desings. Because i left the 6.4 version with line works i wanted to embrace those lines and see if i could experiment with them. This brought me onto forming a outlined body using the same colouring but instead of it forming the figures shape i used the line work to form as a sort of picaso outline, these outline the body through shapes and extended lines.

With the lines from the previous section i wanted them to join this 'Picaso' like line work as a form of shading. This shading then blends in with the outer lines and once they are all dispersed i drew the outer lines coming in and slowly forming into each other. As if she has sort of caved in on herself....but with a sence of artistic elegance.

This art design was more fun to draw in the sence of experimenting with the outlines and seeing how i could show the body form without actually drawing the body itself. Since this scene didnt move very much it did get a bit tedious having to draw the same frame over and over and not being able to see how far i could go with this new artistic style. Saying that i think it would be interesting to see if i could incorporate this into another scene. Not as prominant as this scene but it would be interesting to see what i could do with it within a more excintg scene.

 

 

Scene 6.6

 

This scene was fun to create. It did take a lot longer than any other scene or any other section as there were so many dots to be drawn. It did make me question why i decided to add dots to this layer but i knew the outcome would be worth it.

It generally was a fun scene to do as i had to work out were the trails would be going, see if they would form anything as they moved along. When to have the trail start and stop. Although im pretty sure i know have arthritis from drawing so many dots, i think its the most effective emotional artistic style as of yet.

During the dotting process i was asked a fair amount why i didnt do it in after effects. The reason why is because i wanted the traditional form of animating to start off this project. I wanted everything to be created and drawn by hand, without having to cut corners. I wanted that raw and natural feel to it.

The reason why i chose to display dots as the figure aswell as trails was because it was a nice contrast from lines. The everlasting supply of dots freely and fluidly moving around the screen gave a sence of freedom, that nothing was holding them down and keeping them compact inbetween lines. The reason why i thought this was because throughout 'joy' she was free but you got the sence of being held back, aswell as the little scares of fear creeping up. Scene 6 is th last scene in the joy section and i wanted her to feel that becasue fear is coming closer and its about to engolf her she turns to freeing herself to float in the air and not hold anything back. as a sort of last ditch attempt to re capture her joyful self.

I had the dots forms and from that form she would appear for a second. I wanted her form to show through as if she may have had second thoughts and were grounded but then for her to pick herself back up again and transform into the aray of swirling dots.

However 'Fear' has taken its turn and grounds her, blowing away the comfort of her free form only to leave her on the ground.

However you can just see the dusty outline of her. This links us into 6.7

 

 

Scene 6.7

 

For this section i wanted the figure to be displayed in a blue/green tone.

The reason behind this is to show that she is feeling fearful and that she has been stripped from her joyfull colours.

I wanted the figure to appear sad and washed out whilst the 'dust' or the 'joy' gets blown off her and flows out of her. The structure of her  figure is similar to the gemoetric/picaso line work as seen from the 6.5 version. However the brush lines are more rushed and leaked, a bit smudge like as if shes given into the fear and her strong dominance is starting to bleed out. She looks more stick like which shows a change from her more fuller and healthier look.

The new design, even if its not by much, was interesting to introduce, I found it exciting to see what colours i could play around with and how i could make her look the same but at the same time look as though she is slowly deteriating.

 

 

Scene 6.8

 

Within this version, i wanted the audience to get a much deeper sense of her fear, the fear creeping up and teasing her.

To get this extra emotion across i decided to use an ink pen with no texture to form a sort of cage over her. I wanted her to get the sence of feeling trapped.

In getting this across i had her previous form disapear and taking her place the the 'cage' which was were i drew geometric lines in the shape of her forms as it she is completly surrounded by this fear, that her fear is formed on her alone. The Cage then expands as if fear is teasing her, Like cat and mouse.

 

Scene 6.9

 

This follows on closly to the 6.8 version, What i wanted to add in this scene was for her to be released from this cage, the cat and mouse effect. As if the fear has just released her so that she can run away only to be recaptured (scene 7 by fear itself) When she is released from her cage she is completly stripped down, She only resebles a hollow frame only depicted though rough and harsh line work. The game being played by fear needs to start in this scene and leave its mark on teh female figure before the start of the fear section itself.

I want the audience to get a sence of how shes feeling and how fear acts before we even get to see its form.

This end was interesting to animate as i found it really interesting to get this sence across. The sence that she is trapped by this emotion and how it plays with her.

The animtion og the cage was fun to play with and being able to strip the female character down to her basic line work was a sence of releif for me as i didnt need to worrk too much about detailed artistic designs.

But it was still intriguing trying to find an artistic style that best suited.

 

Scenes 6.10 & 6.11

 

Ive combined these two versions as they are both exactly the same but with different back grounds. I wanted to experiment with how the background can make the emtions stand out more. I beleive the black is visually more interesting and more enticing but i dont think i can get away with having a black scene in a section that is meant to be based purelly of joy. Yet with the textured/paper background it seems too busy.

Im going to have to experiment with backgrounds a bit more to see which is best suited for both the emotion and visually enticing.

 

 

 

Scene 6 was probably the most exciting scene i have worked on so far. Scene 6 being the longest scene from all of the 2D scenes was a bit of a struggle to complete it on such a tight deadline but it was the best scene to experiment with. The ability to introduce the emotion fear was incredibly interesting and challenging at times but i found it to be rather exhilirating. Although im pretty sure im never going to animate with thousands of dots to soon it was great to see how far i could actually go with it.

 

 



Infinitus Artificium - Progression and making of scene 5

 

 

In scene 5 I wanted to explore different variations of movements for the figure. I looked at a variety of videos ranging from Norman McLaren (Pas De Deux 1968) This video displays two dancers displayed within a black surrounding and lite by carefully displayed lighting. This shows the outlines of the figures which are beautifully balanced. The main aspect which drew me to this video and influenced me was the overlaping images. As I have previously mentioned in scene 4.

I also looked into the artistic styles on Quayola and Memo Atkin (Forms) This video was based off of the movements of olympic athelets and the movement and sturcture of their movements depicted through geometric forms aswell as the movements of paricles formed and realised from the form of the athelets.

Aswell as looking into the fluidity of the 'Fire Bird' from the animatied wonders of Fantasia 2000. The way that she is able to form into a huge wave that sweeps over the landscape and disolve into a delicate ash formation when she is over powered.

 

With all of these artistic influences i still beared in mind the art forms of Erica Russel and Ryan Woodward who are my main artistic influences throughout this project.

 

 

Scene 5.1

 

With this scene I decided to start of with the basic line formation of the female figure. I wanted the life drawing aspect to show through the artistic styling. This was shown through a brown/orange shading and a thine line brush in the similar style to the brush used in scene 4. I wanted it to look like it was still a sketch but it had been given life and could move freely on the page. The outlines and sometimes detialed interior show the figure moving in a joyful dance and not letting the lines that form her stop her fluid movements.

The reason for the simple design was so that i would have to look into another art form to make it stand out amoungst the others and still hold a sence of beauty depicted through a life drawing style.

 

 

Scene 5.2

 

 

Scene 5.2 is mostly based of my influence towards Norman McLaren in his video Pas De Deux from 1968. The use over over laying amazed me in his video by the fact that an image was formed in the overlaying images of the moving figure(s). I wanted to try this style so much that I couldnt resist trying to include it in this scene.

As a test to see if it looked effective and if it actually worked as a piece. Instead of taking a segment from the 5.1 version I decided to create multiple layers throughout the entire compostion to see were it looked most effective.

In all there were 6-7 layers of the figure which played one after another to form a ghost trail after the orgional image.

When i had completed the layer and played it through i found myself excited to see some really interesting forms coming from the dancers multiple ghost layers. From these forms i looked into which section is best to fit. this will be discussed more in version 5.6.

 

 

Scene 5.3

 

Going back to the artistic design from version 5.1.

Before i procceded with the 5.2 version I decided to experiment a bit more with the beginning of the 5.1 version. As i mentioned in this section, i wanted a basic under lay so that i could feel more propeled into looking at different artistic forms that would boost up the line work shown through out 5.1.

This was a tricky start. I looked into other styles which involved disapearing and reapearing, making the line work static and even looking at colours but they seemed a bit bland. They werent exciting to view and made the beginning of the scene look a bit washed out.

Because of this i decided to not look at 5.1 as an underlayer but more as a structure that i could work as a template. This drew me to a video i viewed and saved in my influencial folder in this blog. The video was created by Quayola and Memo Atkin in their film called 'Forms' As i mentioned in the introduction to this scene, they based their formations off of olympic atheletes. This was displayed through a variety of geometric objects and structures which best suited the movement and speed of the athelete.

I decided to incoporate this idea into the beginning of scene 5 by using the 5.1 version as the base structure, a lot like they used live footage from the olympic athelets and over the top place the geometric designs.

In doing this technique i drew rough outlines of the skeletal structure on the base female animation.

I didnt take into account the timing of the geometric structures whilst animating as i wanted them to look rough and quite edgy. This in my mind was a symbolism of the fear slowly but surelly creeping closer and closer in the structure of the female figure.

I animated the geometric structure for about 20 or so frames as i didnt want it to over take the scene. It was only meant as an insight into what to expect in the middle section of this animation.

 

 

Scene 5.4

 

Carrying on from 5.3 I thought about not necessarily deleting the entire start section of 5.1 in scene 5 but rather cut bits out of it. I wanted the fear to really show its presence even for a slight second or two. In doing this i cut out bits from versions 5.1 and 5.3 and combined the two together to give it a more edgy look. The process in combining and detaching the two versions influenced me in other scenes which i will discuss in more detail later. The edgy look worked well with both the art style and the scene and since it wasnt very long it worked conciderably well in my mind. The geometric designs overlaying the outlined figure gave the effect of being caged and trapped yet still have the ability to look free within a formation.


Scene 5.5

In this section i did form a slight mistake whilst in editing. As you can see i have placed the 5.4 version into the 5.5 section again. In this section it is meant to display the green outline similar to the green outline design shown in scene 4.

 The green outline is visible in the 5.6 version.
The reason behind the green outline was to link scene 5 with scene 4. I wanted the connection to flow easily whic meant including some previous artwork from the scene before hand. I also thought that the green outline of the figure would fit in nicely with the artistic stylings from the previous versons of scene 5. Instead of having it appear and disapear like the previous scene i decided for it to appear when the geometric designs were showing and have it dissolve into the figure once the geometric desings were complete. this helps lead the artistic form into another new and fresh design. However they would still be linked.


Scene 5.6

In this version i wanted to re-introduce the 5.2 version, with the overlaping ghost trails. I chose to blend this section into the previous 5.5 version as i think they link well together without any awkward static connection. The ghost trails in this section made it more interesting out of the other frames as it formed a more interesting stucture and a sort of fran or stature formation.


Scene 5.7

Within this version i wanted to have the figure form into a sort of liquified form and fly over in a arc casuing it to blend nicely into scene 6. My main concern was looking at how to animate the figure transform from a female into a sort of liquid spirit like form. To help me with this i researched into looking at the movement of the trail left behind the mother nature figure in 'the fire bird' in Fantasia 2000. the beautiful fluidity made me want to try animating it. However it was tricky as ive never had a chance to animate something like it.
Whislt watching animation generally i noticed that the way that animators animate characters hair, specifically long hair was in a way fairly similar. This drew me to look at Glen Keans design work of the little mermaid. there is a particular image that i found from Glen Kean which was still images of Ariel twizzling her hair around and playing with it. This made me think of forming the female into a plait like formation and have it twisting through the screen to the top left corner.......However this was a tiny bit harder than i first thought. I either put too much detail into the formation and it looked a bit sore on the eyes with the amount of time i had left for that scene, or it moved too quickly it looked like just a jumble moving across the screen. A lot of trail and error was put into the ending of this scene. As you can see from the footage it just doesnt look right and looks incredibly awkward. Something was deffinantly missing from this movement.


Scene 5.8

I decided to investigate the ending of this scene a bit more and seeing what the problem was being caused by. I was very determined to have this scene end in an inky trail, trailing off into the top screen. I tested with size and speed but it always looked wrong.
After talking about it to fellow students and one of my lecturers we realised that the problem didnt fall on the trail so much. the problem lay in the antisipation. the moment before the trail. the link from the figure turning from a ghostly trail into a flying inky trail...instead of her moving into, and 'forming' into the inky trail she just whent straight into it without the antispation of it happening.
Going back to the end of the scene i found that she formed a strong arc around and it suddenly stopped. At this i decided to look back onto the live footage and see what could of happend. What i found was that the footage that i was following stopped meaning that the fluid arc movement was cut and thats what looked so odd. Using the live footage i followed through the arm movement then animated her arms leading back up infront of her which is when the form of the trail starts.
In this version you can see were the anticipation starts and end, just before the trail is formed. I also added a round trail coming off her arms to help me see the movement of the arc.


Scene 5.9

With the problem solved i looked into a different way inwhich i could have the female transform in to an inky trail. I decided to get rid of the plait idea and form a new inky design. I looked at many flamboyant designs and structures but because this lead into the last joy scene and the fear is starting to creep up on her, i decided to go for a more sketchy and fluid line. to start off the transformation i had her become stretched and less detailed. I wanted her to look as if she had just become spooked and wanted to leave that scene as quickly as possible. This lead into a thine line of ink which i was at the beginning hoping would look a bit like a brush stroke but i felt that the slight panic would look too elegant. I wanted her to act like a spooked bird or animal. This lead to rough and slightly jarred lines leading away from the scene. This ofcourse formes from her stretched body.


Generally this scene was tricky in some sections. Finding the right art style to fit the scene aswell as the emtion was tough but after experimenting a few times a found that the scene works well and blend nicely from scene 4 and blends nicely into scene 6 which starts off with the trail heading down from the top right corner of the screen. As if she has just formed an arc over the page and rests peacefully on a new side. Although the trail did take longer than i anticipated and not as glorious as the trails in the Fire bird, but i beleive it works nicely as a piece and shows a lot of character in itself. Although my favourite bit is deffiantly the ghostly trails part.
 

Infinitus Artificium - Progression and making of Scene 4

 

With the making of Scene 4, Because its so short I needed to find an effective artistic form that could hold itself and still blend well within the previous and next scene.

 

For the artistic Influence I looked into Erica Russels brilliant shorts films based off african dancings in an experimental artistic form.

 

I enjoyed the Line work overlaying the block segmants of the body and decided to incorporate this into this very short scene.

 

 

Scene 4.1

 

Keeping with the warm colours which help give a feeling of joy and happiness I decided to start off with a base colour of spiced orange and displaying in as previously mentioned segments. Making a sort of mix match of shapes which form into the figure of the body. Using no line work to depict the outlines I wanted the shapes to form the body and nothing els.

 

Using a brush which hopefully resembles inky stains or 'sploges' I started to work around the body taking into acount the timing of the live footage and motion capture footage but not relaying on it as i would if i were to rotoscope.

At the end of the scene I thought of experimenting a bit with layering the arms to cause a sort of onion skin effect which leaves a trace of the movements of the arm. This was pure experimental and after deciding it looked quite effective I stuck with it. Althought i did experiment with layering the rest of the body, to form a ghostly appearance behind the image but this looked fairly messy and since the scene is short, looked a bit odd. In the end only the arms were layered.

 

 

Scene 4.2

 

In this scene I decided to change the colour to contrast the orange tone which brought me onto the colour green. Also highly known for its resemblence of Joy and hope.

To make this mold easily with the segements of body shapes I looked at the way that Erica Russel outlines her figure aswell as Ryan Woodward. I noticed that they sometimes have a specific main line which runs the length of the body and sometimes doesnt line up the the actual curviture of the body. I decided to use the line mostly on what I would depict as the shadowed areas of the dancers body.

This was drawn with a bold inked pen with no texture. I decided not to use a texture on the line work as I wanted it to stand out amougnst the highgly textures underlay from Scene 4.1.

 

 

Scene 4.3

 

With scene 4.3 I decided to experiment with thine outlines in a sort of static animated effect but due to colouring you cant exactly notice the animation itself but if you look closly to the right hand side of the figure you can make out a very faint lime green aray of static lines. In the end i decided not to have this experiment displayed in the final scene. This is due to two parts. The first is the colouring, I didnt want to use orange or different shades as orange, aswell as yellow as its already highly used throughout the 'joy' section. I couldnt use green as it would clash with the line work displayed in scene 4.2.

The last reason why i cut this layer from the final scene is because it looked as though it lacked in skill and artistic talent. It Didnt resemble 'joy'. Hence it was cut out.

 

 

Scene 4.4

 

the last scene is all of the layers displayed in one final scene. When they are all together i beleive it works well. The scene is quick and simple with a strong artistic style. It can easily blend in with  the

previous scene aswell as the next upcoming scene. The colours are bold and show alot in such a short amount of time.

I.A tests

here are a few tests that i have created towards the aniamtion, Ive been looking at a lot of different art styles ranging mostly between Erica Russel, Ryan Woodward and Salvador Dali.

With each test animation i was looking at how to exagerate the body and how i can move the figure from A to B without having to relay to much on the figure itself.

This can range from over laying the image to different forms of displaying the figure and outlines.

Infinitus Artificium full test

test 2.5 - IA

Here is the final outcome to the test shot. Im still unsure about the end but i might go back to it later and re work it.
But i am happy with the choice of colours and brush textures and size.
I shall be working on another test shot and experiment with it a bit more.

test 2 - IA

In this faze I worked a bit on the colours of one of the trails and started to work on the end shots trail which was influenced by the fire bird taken from fantasia 2000.

test 1.5 - IA

Here is the second faze to the test shot. In this section i added the improvised outlines of the trails.

test_1 I.A

For this test shot, I wanted to test out how the body might be animated and how the trails would be animated.

The first thing i did was to import the Motion Capture footage into Toonboom and roughly outline the movement of the figure.

I also experimented with the texture of the background which a variety of textured brushes and colours . This was to try and get a water colour paper texture.