29/07/15 - Scenery test

Messing around with Maya for the first half of the lesson today, I decided to see if I could create an ice crystal with a figure inside it.  Sculpting the crystal was easy enough with a cylinder primitive and adding a figure was just a simple matter of putting a transparent image on a 2D plane.  The two combined better than I expected them to, and I was able to create a small, illuminated diamond as a result!

You can see the actual video here on my tumblr, blogger won't upload it for some reason.

I intend to spend the rest of the afternoon working on an animatic, so hopefully that will be placed up here later on.

28/07/15 - Storyboards

Completed Storyboards for submission!
I haven't really deviated much from the original idea that I had for this scenario, but framing camera shots has never been one of my strong points.  Now that I have a basic structure down, I may experiment with conceptual shots and camera angles, and I also intend to make up a proper prop reference sheet and do some color tests.  I may also do an animatic some time in the near future, as our tutor has told us many times to work out the timing of our frames!

STORYBOARDS:

27/07/15 - Frozen diamonds and things

Sculpted a very simple crystal/gemstone/rupee model in Maya:

Though this isn't quite what I want for my prop, its good to know that making the general shape of the crystal is simple enough.  I could probably make a formation by adding a bunch of them together, though texturing that might be a little more difficult.

I've also drawn a page of concept art:
[[image pending]]

Which led me to looking into gemstones on matrix - having the idea of a cut and faceted crystal/mirror set in a rougher or more natural piece of ice.

27/07/15 - Storyboarding and Environment exploration

This week's goal is to develop storyboards for our scenario.  I've already set up a very basic one, seen earlier in this blog.  But here it is again:

• Tutor has suggested that I look at the source material for inspiration and observe how the shots there were framed and set up.  
• He also suggested that I compare the character and its color palette with my prop and see how the two of them look beside one another.  
• This would require me to design a model sheet for the prop itself - not required for this week but probably very handy to have around nonetheless.
• I need to look into how the prop and general environment will affect the character and its colors, as well as the way that the shots for my sequence are framed.  I'm probably going to need to sketch up a concept for my environment in order to help to establish this.

I do have a very quick pen sketch of how I would like the room to look, however:

[[Image Pending]]

A google search of 'ice room' led to the discovery of ice hotels, which have many rooms carved or built with ice.  Looking through them I can see a very distinct palette of cool whites, lighter blues and blue-green/aqua.  Greens, purples and occasionally pinks seem to provide a highlight or tint for most of these.

Elsa's castle from Frozen also presents a nice source of inspiration:

26/07/15 - Concept Development

Final notes for my scenario and concept!  All put into one tidy post for submission.

SEQUENCE:
The sequence is set in a frozen room, set into motion by Embry stepping into the bottom of the frame.  He walks forward. crossing the room as the camera pans up to reveal a large, icy mirror at the room's end.  Embry approaches the mirror in awe and wonder, his eyes widening in surprise as he sees his beloved trapped beneath the surface.  He reaches his hands out and rests them gently upon the ice, and a soft piano note plays out as the panel glows in all the colors of an aurora beneath his hands.  His fingers move over each of the mirror's facets, trying to find a way to reach Vasili as they all chime softly, lighting up under his fingertips.  As the glow fades away and plunges the room back into cold light, Embry looks helplessly at his frozen lover and tears well in his eyes.

CHARACTER:
Embry is a small golem who is searching for his lost love.  He is short and quite bottom heavy, featuring a slender torso and arms, but rather large, thick legs and feet.  He is made of clay and is textured appropriately, with a fabric wrap around his waist and a headband on his brow.  He has a smooth, rounded face with large eyes and a small nose.  A few shallow cracks are present in his clay, as he has been walking for a very long time searching for Vasili.  Though he is small, he is very determined and very emotional after having been separated from them for such a long time.


GENRE:
I am taking the Family genre of Big and turning it into a Romantic Tragedy.

26/07/15 - Character Model Sheet

Reposting a few things from yesterday, but here is the character sheet for submission!

CHARACTER TURN AROUND:

CHARACTER POSES AND EXPRESSIONS:

COLOR AND PATTERN SWATCHES:

25/07/15 - Character Development

Trying to work towards the submission deadline on Monday.  Here's the finished expression sheet for Embry!

• As I wanted him to be a very expressive character, I've tried to include a lot of poses here with a decent array of expressions.
• The ones I'll be using for the scenario are mostly going to be surprise, wonder and sadness, but I thought it would help to add things like disinterest and anger in as well, just to show his range of motion.
• The design of his eyes was specifically chosen to express his emotions - in most of these, they're a pretty clear indicator of how he's feeling.  His hair adds to the expression as well, changing shape depending on his moods.

Also here's a few poses of him doing various things:

And a color sheet featuring a variety of swatches and patterns that I thought would suit him.  All swatches have been taken from Colour Lovers.

• Solidified the idea that Embry was going to be a golem, and so picked out color palettes that would suit him.  Most of these are earthy colors that remind me of clay and clay formations.  Embry was made with clay or mud and I wanted his colors to reflect that.
• After asking for my classmates' opinions on facebook, it was decided that the bottom middle palette was the best choice for his final design.
• I'm still rather fond of the top middle and right palettes however, and feel like they look more appropriate for a man made of clay.  I'm sticking with the popularity vote for the meantime, though adjustments may be made in the future.
• I also experimented with a few simple patterns, as clay comes in a variety of colors and tends to marble together.  I feel like it gives Embry a very tribal or primitive look, which fits in with being a simple figure made of clay.

24/07/15 - Concept update

Not much interesting today either, just posting a WIP of my character's turnaround:

There's still a lot undecided about Embry, especially in terms of golem characteristics, but I do feel like his design here is a lot like the pop'n music one.  

• This may still change for future development, but as a golem I want him to have a grounded and steady feel to him, but still feel human.  
• This is the main reason why he's thinner on top and more solid towards the bottom.  The triangle motif that repeats from the points of his feet to the designs on his wrap, as well as his nose.
• His face is full of organic teardrop shapes.  His dreadlocks, eyes and overall face shape have the curves to suggest softness and youth.
• Future developments will probably contain a lot of texturing, as he is a small figure made of clay.
• I might also add a flower somewhere on him to suggest a link to the druid in the ice crystal.

23/07/15 - Backstory and Prop development

Not much of an update today, just tweaked a few things for the backstory of my scenario.

UPDATE NOTES:

• Embry has made the transition from a mundane human to a fully fleshed clay figure.  Following an idea from a previous entry, he now has a space in his chest where a clay heart is missing.
• Vasili, the figure encased in my frozen mirror prop, is still his lost love and holds his heart. I wasn't sure what I wanted to make them, but have decided upon a forest druid.  I would like their design to be ambiguous, with lots of cooler greens, purples and dark browns.  They would be clothed in things reminiscent of leaves and flowers and incorporate bark inspired textures where possible.
• The fact that I don't have to render them in 3D means that I have a little more freedom with their design.  However, this means that the texture of my prop might be a tad on the intricate side drawing-wise, seeing as they will be encased in it.
• Tutor also suggested that instead of having the ice mirror flat on one side, I make it faceted like a diamond.  This way I could have Embry touch the faces of the crystal and have them light up instead of him running his fingers over a flat surface.

REVISED STORY:

 The Story now goes that a forest druid named Vasili grew lonely roaming the forest on their own and longed for someone to talk to and share the history of the woods with.  They fashioned a small golem out of clay and breathed life into it, naming him Embry as he sparked a fire in their heart.

The two became inseparable and the creator found themselves falling in love with their creation.  They promised the clay figure a heart and set about making one, but before they could bestow it upon him, a jealous frost witch swooped down and imprisoned the druid, taking them away to her citadel of ice far over the mountains.  

Embry was left with a hole where his heart should have been, realizing that he could only feel complete if he was reunited with Vasili, that he could only love them back if he found them and the heart they had made for him. The little golem set off for the frost covered tundra, determined to win his beloved, and his heart back.

Upon reaching the Citadel. he finds Vasili at the end of a frozen corridor, encased in a vast icy mirror.  Upon touching the mirror its faces light up beneath his hands, shifting and glowing in an aurora of colors as soft piano notes echo about the hall.  He can see that the druid has his heart in their hands, but there is no way to break the glass.

PROP:

Some inspirations for the frozen druid/ice mirror prop were aura quartz and crystals in general, cut diamonds, and flowers in ice:

In terms of characters and pose, it made me think of the Shiva Summon from Final Fantasy, as well as Elixir from episode 10 of King of Bandit Jing:

And some palette ideas for the Vasili part of the prop:

22/07/15 - Character Development

After speaking to tutor, I have decided to really buckle down and do some visual research concerning my leading character, Embry.

• Embry is a young man who was initially nothing more than a mundane human.  He is on the search for the love of his life and has come to the frozen citadel in hopes of finding them there.  He dresses in warm colors and has large, expressive eyes and a fierce determination to find his lover.  He also sports dreadlocks, as they're a feature that I both love and that relates back to the image drawn by baruyon.
• I have considered making him more along the lines of a clay golem or based on the sun, with his lover Vasili representing ice/air, or the moon.  With this idea, he would appear topless, with a heart shaped hole in his chest, adding to the theme of 'searching for completeness'.  His heart is encased in ice, clasped in Vasili's hands.

Character-wise, I have a few inspirations.  There is the afore mentioned inspiration art done by baruyon, but also a piece by butterpaws













Style-wise I have drawn inspiration from the Pop'n Music franchise style of art, and the host of characters that come from there

Model-wise are two games that I would like to use as a basis for developing my character model.  The first is the mii population from Tomodachi Life for the 3DS - I have recreated the character from the original inspiration drawing here.  The second is the silent protagonist from a game called The Neverhood, who has a very curious and innocent personality and a rather unique design.

I also browsed through Colour Lovers for a few palette ideas

21/07/15 - Permafrost Proposal

Big is a family movie that follows the adventure of a boy named Josh, who wishes he was an adult and gets placed in the body of a 30 year old man.  The key scene in this movie is when Josh finds an enormous keyboard in the floor and proceeds to walk all over it, awed and amused as it lights up beneath his feet and plays charming piano notes.  He grows excited and taps out a tune with his feet.  It is a very lighthearted scene, full of childlike wonder and amusement, and features bright bursts of color against a relatively white and colorless background, highlighting the important elements (the keyboard) and characters (Josh).

My proposal is to take this scene and change the genre to Romance/Tragedy.  Permafrost (working title) follows the adventure of two lovers, separated by jealousy and circumstance.  It takes place in a modern universe with touches of fantasy elements, following the journey of a young man named Embry as he travels through an arctic wasteland searching for Vasili, his lost love.  The scene I intend to create is something of a climactic moment as Embry enters the icy citadel where his beloved is being kept, walking up a long and frigid corridor to find a vast, icy mirror at its end with his Vasili suspended inside in peaceful slumber.  He approaches the mirror in wonder and grief, reaching out to touch the faceted surface, fingertips trailing over the faces of the icy diamond as they light up like an aurora beneath his hand.  It would seem that there is no way past the glassy surface, and as the realization strikes him, he rests his hands against the image of his lover's heart with tears welling in his eyes.

---

Both the characters and the idea were inspired by a piece I commissioned from baruyon/barukurii:

source: http://baruyon.tumblr.com/post/103768120810

The image itself inspires feelings of being very warm and comforting, and the two characters seem to complement and complete one another in the way that they are portrayed as opposites with light/dark tones.  I would like to base the characters for this assignment on these two, incorporating the similar theme of light/dark and the idea of completeness through opposites.  The color palette would be nothing like the one featured in this image, however, focusing more on overall much colder colors and presenting a more sorrowful and melancholy atmosphere.

For the character models themselves, I have been considering something similar to the mii characters from Nintendo.  The models are simple and charming with customizeable faces, heights and colors, but the most interesting and intriguing part about them to me is how their facial features (eyes, nose, mouth) have flat, 2D elements or textures that seem to sit just a little way out from the actual surface of their faces.

Here is a screenshot I took a while back from my Tomodachi Life game.  The distance between the features and face is somewhat noticeable with the mii on the left in blue - particularly on the glasses and lips, but I've noticed the outline of the nose does it too.  I'm thinking about perhaps incorporating something similar into my own figures, so that I don't have to worry so much about sculpting eyes and lips on my character model.

20/07/15 - Modelling character

Began designing character today.  Sketches pending.

Though I did sculpt a head/torso in Maya, just to see if I could remember how to do it.  If nothing else, this assures me that what I want to sculpt is quite possible, even at such an early point.

I also began to draw up a few character concepts, but I'm still a little lost on what I'd like to see from the characters themselves.  For now though, I have a few sketches that use Nintendo's Miis and the art style from the Pop'n Music franchise as a point of reference.

I focused a lot more on how the polygons would look and work rather than on the actual design for the character, but if nothing else, at least I have some idea of his proportions and how I'd like him to look.  Further development is necessary, of course, but I think I need to sort out my proposal and run it by my tutor before going any further.

15/07/15 - Conceptual art/development

After putting more thought into the two scenarios, I planned out storyboards for the both of them to try and figure out which one I would rather work with:

LOTR:

Man approaches bed --> Expression changes to shock and dismay --> Matte painted woman wearing 3D belt --> You shall not pass

BIG:

Boy approaches glass --> Rests fingers on glass --> tries to touch his lover through glass --> looks sad and hopeless


Comparing the two of them side by side, I've decided to go with the second option and use the Big scenario.  As a sucker for tragedy, I feel like it invokes a better emotive feel than the comedic LotR scenario, and is one that I'd prefer to work with.


I've begun thinking about designs for the prop; a large ice mirror/crystal that encases the character's love interest.  I intend to draw up a mood board later, but for now I have a few concepts:

14/07/15 - Setting up: Genre ideas

First project for the semester is to take a well known scene from a list of movies given to us and recreate the scene as a different genre.  Admittedly I haven't seen a lot of movies on said list, but have gone mainly with audio cues in order to produce the following ideas:

• Pulp Fiction ==> Drama/Comedy.
  Recreate the scene as a person stubbing their toe on a table.
• Psycho ==> Comedy.
  Someone playing the violin really badly while another person screams with how terrible it sounds.
• The Shining ==> Family.
  A man throws open a door with a beaming smile and announces 'Here's Jonny!'
• Say Anything ==> Horror.
  Change the woman's reaction to a fearful one as the guy gets closer and closer every time she looks at him and looks away.  Like a weeping angel, I suppose.
• Monty Python ==> Horror/Action.
  Blow up something like a monster or creature.  Innards everywhere.  Eating a grenade or exploding into a swarm of eggs/bugs/larvae
• Lord of the Rings ==> RomCom.
  A guy tries to go down on his partner only to discover that they are wearing an enchanted chastity belt that screams 'YOU SHALL NOT PASS'
• Big ==> Romance/Tragedy.
  Two people on either side of a glass wall trying to touch one another.  Lights/color spring up under their fingers each time they meet against the glass, followed by piano notes.
• Star Wars ==> Family/Comedy.
  A child looks up at a poster that says Santa Claus isn't real.  'No, its not true!' he yells, throwing a tantrum.  His dad comes up behind him and says Vader's line.

Since writing this list, our tutor has given us further things to consider, and the following are my thoughts on how scenario and attributes would play out for my two most likely scene choices.

LOTR ==> RomCom.

• Scene - A man approaches a curtained bed with a very voluptuous silhouette behind it.  He rushes forward eagerly and pushes the curtains out of the way to find a bikini clad maiden waiting for him.  The camera suddenly zooms in on her crotch where an enchanted chastity belt screams 'YOU SHALL NOT PASS'
• Character - A man on the hunt for a maiden to love.  He stumbles upon this establishment and finds the chastity belt's owner.  Alternatively he could be a knight or prince due to the enchanted nature of her underwear.
• Prop - The chastity belt.  It probably looks a bit like Gandalf.
• Visual - Rather comedic/cartoony in nature.  Lots of cartoon hearts, squash and stretch, typical eye bulging and heart beating out of chest like what you see in early cartoons.  Eagerness leading to disappointment and dismay.
• Color - Lots of reds, pinks and gold.  Warm, romantic colors.  Contrast this with the cold steel/metal of the chastity belt itself.
• Background - Matte paint the bed, curtains and woman.  The chastity belt and main character are the only 3D objects.
• Establishing Shot - Wide shot of the curtain covered bed.  Character steps into shot from the bottom/bottom right and approaches the curtains.  The bed itself might possibly be on a raised dais.
• Audio - Soft, swelling music or an epic battle score.  Music that implies action/anticipation or softness/intimacy or that skeevy kind of 'we're going to do the sex' music until the chastity belt gets in the way.  No dialogue other than the chastity belt's line.

Big ==> Romance/Tragedy.

• Scene - A man approaches an icy mirror in a cold and empty room.  He sees his lover frozen/asleep in the ice and runs to them, pressing his hands to the cold surface with a hurt and longong expression.  When his fingers meet the ice/mirror, a soft chime plays and his fingerprints leave softly glowing marks as they shimmer with the colors of an aurora.  He moves his hands desperately over the mirror, trying to find any possible way to open it up and reach his lover.
• Character - A young man trying to reach his beloved.  He is determined and clearly upset with the turn of events.
• Prop - A large ice crystal/mirror.  Big and ornate, flat on one side but shaped like an iceberg/crystal on the other.
• Visual - More expressive, could lend itself to being stylized or realistic depending on the direction I want to take it in.  If it were 2D I feel it could benefit from being stylized, but as a 3D production, simplicity might be a better option.  Also very sad and serious.  Stronger proportions and expressive eyes.
• Color - Lots of blue and green/cold colors.  Muted palette/blue filter to imply everything is dull and freezing.  Warm but muted colors for the character to suggest symbolism/fire to combat the ice.  Really light/soft colors for the aurora-like glow of the fingerprints on ice.
• Background - Icy blue, with lines to suggest a room and texture to suggest the area's frozen nature.  The secondary character can be painted into the prop via texture map.  Skydome or a cylindrical map can also be considered.
• Establishing Shot - Similar to the last one.  The character steps into frame from the bottom of the screen and walks forward as the camera pans up to reveal a long corridor with the frost mirror at the end.
• Audio - No music.  The only sounds should be footsteps, chilled breath and the soft keyboard tones that play when he touches the ice.