I find that for my Final Major Project at College, I am the only student out of the Access course Art Class that is basing their work on Animation, so it could be difficult for me to collaborate or get any ideas from them.
I have chosen do to Animation as I would like to study this in more depth at University, and ultimately, get a career in something like storyboarding - which is why I am going to produce a storyboard as the main part of my Final Major Project and am looking forward to working on it.
The reason I like Animation so much is that you can really bring your art to life and give it extra meaning by telling it's story. This should help the person viewing it to gain a deeper understanding of the subject and also project a bit of myself through the story writing and character design.
So... I have started this project, and it wasn't easy at the beginning; with no title or topic being given I had a chat with one of my Tutors and decided to base it on my interest in myths and legends. I have a couple of ideas relating to the horoscope and the changing seasons of the year. Both will involve quire a bit of research and also a lot of work. this is what I need to focus on:
* Choosing a topic for my story
* Create a suitable title (that fits the story)
* Write the story
* Design the characters
* Draw the storyboards (a lot of work!)
* Design some backgrounds that fit the story timeline
* Draw a couple of 2D animation frames (if I have time)
Although this will be a lot of work, I feel sure that I will enjoy doing it!
It's a little later on and I have decided that the story I will tell will focus on a mythical creature in an enchanted forest / woodland and their appearance will reflect the changes in the natural environment. It will tell the story of a young being and how they grow through the year.
I've had a chat with my Tutor, and although I had decided to feature woodland fairies for this project, he wanted me to choose a more challenging subject for my characters. As such, I have decided to feature a centaur as the main character - I have never studied horse anatomy before and this will prove to be both interesting and further develop my previous animal / human metamorphosis studies.
Bearing this in mind, I will have to watch Disney's film, 'Fantasia' which features Centaurs in a pastoral setting (to Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony). This is one of my favourite films - I love the way the centaurs are portrayed and the artists' use of beautiful colours to create visually dramatic backgrounds and characters. I hope also to watch 'The Chronicles of Narnia' for further ideas on background design and how animals with human characteristics behave. I will also have to practice drawing horses and study their anatomy and movement. This can probably be best seen by using the internet and YouTube as well as looking through some of my animal anatomy drawing books / nature reference books.
OK, so here is my story.....
The Scene is in an enchanted woodland, and the main character is a female centaur. The story startin in the Spring and the centaur is a young foal. She is made out of bark, leaves and flowers to mirror the changes in the world around her as the trees change with the seasons. As the year progresses, she grows into a teenager and then as Autumn arrives, an adult, where she produces seeds and loses her leaves, before turning grey and white and being completely bald in the Winter. As Winter starts to lead into Spring again, one of her seeds starts to sprout and out pops a tiny baby foal centaur - the cycle begins again. I think it will look great visually and tell a nice story too.
I have my story now, so time to design my character. Like most creatures, when very young, their anatomy and coat / skin are much different to when they are fully grown. Foals have very long legs and fluffy tails for example, unlike an adult horse which generally has flowing tail and mane and the legs are more in proportion to their body. I have practiced drawing both foals and horses so that I get the look right. My drawings will form part of my final exhibition. I am quite pleased with the five designs I have come up with and will choose which I like best before I start working my the storyboards.
I have designed several backgrounds for each season of the year. I decided to go with the woodland clearing as it would show off the character at the foreground much better (a lot of trees in the background would have looked a but busy and confused).
Character design now chosen, and it's time to start those storyboards. This is going to be a lot of work.
I found the storyboards to take a bit longer than I thought they would. Although I enjoyed doing them, they involved a lot of work. However, I took time and made sure that I didn't have to re-do anything, rather than rush them and have to re-do whole boards. I have done them roughly (as professionals do) and coloured them with pencils. I am quite pleased with the end result - my Tutor seems quite happy with them too. The other students in my group didn't really have much time to look at them and give me feedback, but if my Tutor is happy, then so am I!!!!
I wish I had time to draw a couple of 2D animation frames, but I really don't have time left as I have to complete an evaluation and organise my exhibition of work. What a shame... however, I shall be going to study Animation soon at Nottingham Trent University and will learn how to do it properly by a 2D animation specialist - how good is that?????
Can't wait! Bring it on!!!!!
