Walk Cycle

(Ignore the faded lines!!)

I have worked on Walk cycle today. No arms, still a bit jumpy.

Field Trip - Landscape and trees

 I went to West Common in Lincolnshire to take some pictures of trees as I wanted to improve my layout design.
Unfortunately the weather was not the greatest so I could not go around as much as I wanted to, but I have managed to take a few pictures of trees and landscape.
According to the map there are an Ornamental Pond in this park, sadly I could not get to this pond so next time I will go to this pond and take some pictures...

Animatics...

Animatic developed.

Music Research 2 - James Galway

James Galway is a Flute player from Northern Ireland. He is one of the first flute players to establish an international career as a soloist.

It was a bit of coincidence, but I was searching through some classic music to find a good piece of music for my animation and found his music.

This music is called O Liszt:Consolation. I thought this music would work well with my fairy pond scene. It has the feeling of magical but beautiful, these feelings have been presented well with flute. Flute makes beautiful, soft sound but I always had a feeling of 'fragile' towards to the flute sound. Fairies are small, beautiful and Fragile so flute might go well with the theme.



Also I have discovered this music.
I cannot find the creator of this music, but really nice music, it would also go well with the fairy pond scene. This music is almost sounds like a game music.



Research - FernGully : The Last Rainforest

I have watched "FernGully : The Last Rainforest" (1992).

This film is about a fairy girl, Crysta, who lives in a Rainforest FernGully.

This film has really nice art work on layouts.

The art style for this film is similar to what I am looking for, not overly detailed but detailed enough that it won't look like a flat image.

This film's lighting is brilliantly done to show the sun light between the trees by just adding the light streak, I think I might do some experiment on the light streak once I have my final layout.

Also then the fairies flies they leave a fairy dust which is shown on the bottom image, I would like to add a similar effect on my animation, maybe when the butterfly is flying around.

The perspective angle on this film in general is also well done, the perspective part is something that I really need to work on, so this film was a good example to improve my layout design.

Overall, I enjoyed this film and I am hoping to create a film that gives the similar feeling of magical theme.

Research - Pokemon Movie 4

Pokémon Movie 4 (2001) is a film from Studio OLM.inc. This film is one of my childhood film and during this pre-production I've noticed that this film has a good amount of inspirations which would definitely help to develop my film.

This film is based on forest, it has beautiful layout designs of the woodland.
This film also involves a forest lake, which is very similar to what I am looking for.

Beautiful perspective

Trees and leafs



Woodland layout with characters







Clean Lake

Lake with fog

Research - Butterfly Wing movement

I wanted to do a research of the butterfly's wing movement. Since I have never animated butterfly before I was interested to see their movement in show motion.

Butterfly wings are different to bird wings, Butterfly wings are fragile, almost like a tissue paper. Their movement is very fragile as well.

To animate their movement smoothly I will need to practise a lot of their movements as I want their movement to be as smooth as possible in my final film.

A quick practise of their movement from 45° angle.

Research - Rose O'neill

Rose O'neill is an American Illustrator who created the Character called Kewpie, which has became very popular in Japan since the character has been used for one of the most famous Mayonnaise Brand.

Kewpie is a small cupid, their body shape is round so almost like a baby body shape.
I guess this art style is different to my characters but I thought her work would be a good inspiration.

A few example of Rose O'neill's work:

Research - Margaret Tarrant's Fairy

Margaret Tarrant is an illustrator who draws beautiful fairies in the woodland.

Some example of her work:

 She draws very inspirational drawings of fairies and woodland in perspective, I am having troubles with drawing in right perspectives so these drawings will be a good reference ideas for my work.

She also drew flower fairies, which is similar to my ideas of the butterfly fairies. This would also be a great inspiration for my future progress.

Animatics again with effects

Added the practise effect of the bright shine.
Also I have slowed everything down slightly so this should be the possible length of my final animation. (approx. a minutes long) Possibly longer if I extend some of the scenes.

Music Research 2

For the other music (early scene and last scene) I wanted to have a nice quiet piano music so here are some list of my ideas:

"Largo" by Handel - This music has very quiet but beautiful melody, reminds me of peaceful location. I thought this would be really good for the scene where my character is sketching flowers in the peaceful location.

 

"Waltz in #15 A Flat" by Brahms - This music is also quiet but has nice melody. Maybe this music is too slow, maybe too calm? But I thought it would be good for the last scene when she returns from the fairy pond.

  

 

 "Waltz #2" by Brahms - This music is faster than the 2 music that I have mentioned above, but still has nice calming melody with nice rhythm. Also would be nice to use for the sketching scene.

Animation sounds research

For the fairy pond scene I had this music in my head.

This music is from the film "Whisper of the Heart" (1995) from Studio Ghibli.

The name of this music piece is called エンゲルス・ツィマー (天使の部屋) (天使の部屋) (Engel's Zimmer - Angel's Room) (Yuji Nomi has composed this film's music) 

I thought this type of music would match with the fairy scene, In Whisper of the heart this music is being used when the protagonist, Shizuku is looking at a cat statuette, The Baron, and this statuette has beautiful eyes that has been made out of stones that shine with the sunset light. 

Animatics Progress 2

Updated version of my animatics. So far this is just over a minute long. I think if I start to animate with details and adding in-betweens would extend my animation hopefully for another 5-10 seconds.

Animatics progress

I have done the animatics through the end, so far it's too quick so I will need to re-think of the timings. I think my animation would be about 1 to 1 1/2 mins long. I will aim for 1 1/2 mins.

Colour Scheme

For the colour scheme I want to use natural warm colours and soft shadings.

The reason for this is because I wanted to keep my theme soft touch, the season for my animation is Spring so I thought the soft warm colour would match with the location.












Also, a few of 2nd year students have volunteered to help my work, mainly layouts and possibly animating in the second term. I will be discussing them the plans for the completion of my work and hopefully I will be able to provide them with enough information that I needed them to help me.

Final Storyboard

 Final Storyboard.

Animatics (first part)

Working on Animatics...

Feedback

After the presentation I had a feedback from my tutor.

☆Story is too simple - Simple is good, but my story is too simple so add a bit more to it.

 I will combine my original storyboard to the second storyboard to make my story a bit longer, and I will be thinking of perhaps another scenes to add more twist to the story.


Also my tutor has suggested me to look into this:

Fairyland Luster

Images example:

http://fineestateliquidation.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Wedgwood-Lustre-Fairyland-Cup-Sold-By-Skinner-Auction-with-Link-Follow.jpg

http://p2.la-img.com/378/18076/6131926_1_l.jpg

http://img.carters.com.au/80021.jpg

Fairyland Luster is the type of Art mainly for pottery, with beautiful fairy and woodland designs. 

More research on Butterflies

More research on Butterflies!

(Details will be on soon)

Butterfly Sketches

I have sketched some of the butterflies to get some ideas for my animation. I wanted to use the real butterfly as a reference so here are the 6 Butterflies that I have researched.

Swallowtail Butterfly - size 35-60mm
You can see this Butterfly pretty much anywhere, most commonly found.

Papilio Bianor - size 45-80mm
You don't get to see them in the city area, you will most likely see them at the wood area, especially wet area.

source - http://www.insects.jp/konbunrinageha.htm

Ornithoptera Alexandra - size 280mm (Guiness Record)
Rare Butterfly, biggest butterfly in the world. Lives at the warm area, Asia mainly.

source - http://mushitabi.lolipop.jp/homepage/hanameguri/toribanechou.html

Panchala Ganesa - size 27-32mm
Mainly lives in Asia, small wings. Lives at the wood area, quietly drink water from the water side.

source - http://www.bunka.pref.mie.lg.jp/haku/osusume/149ru-misshijimi.htm

Taraka Hamada - size 10-17mm
Lives aroung the bamboo area, very tiny butterfly.

source - http://www.insects.jp/kon-tyogoisisi.htm

Byasa Alcinous - 42-60mm
Poisonous Butterfly, fly quietly, you can see them around the field area.

source - http://www.insects.jp/kon-tyojyakou.htm

Character Design & colour & Profile

 This is the design that I have decided to use for my animation, I have done some experiment on her hair colour, I will be working on the colour of her clothes later on.

 







Character Profile

Name : Melissa (from Lycaeides melissa samuelis, one of the butterfly's name)
Age : Between 19-21, Young Adult
Gender : Female
Height : 5ft
Weight : in good proportion, not too skinny, not too chubby
Hair : Straight above shoulder length with two hair clips
Personality : Active, Independent, Innocent, Easily distracted
Hobby : Sketching, Hiking, Exploring, Discovering

Main Obstacles : Trying to catch the Butterfly, entering into the fairy world

Storyboard development

I had a short discussion with my tutor about the storyboard, the base of the story and the visualisation works for the final project. However the storyboard will need to develop more to add impacts to the audience, since my storyboard is very basic, not so much of an interesting events happening in the story.

My tutor has suggested me to look for more reference ideas, one of the inspirations are this video :

http://www.studioaka.co.uk/OurWork/statoilgoodnight (Studio AKA)

This animation is about a girl who listen's her father's fantasy adventure story based on her bed duvet. This animation shows the wonderful imagination towards to the audience by using duvet, which is something that anyone can reach into.

More research is needed, which I will be looking into it this week.

Storyboard (take 2)

 New Storyboard here.

Story Development

After I have created the storyboard I realised that I need to develop more to make sure my storyboard is clear to the audience. I had my friend, Arika Kondo from University of Worcester, doing a Performing Art who has helped me to develop my work.

• A girl sketching flowers at the beginning - Symbolic sign, Audience would know that she likes to draw since she is holding sketchbook and Pencil, so I may not necessary need to show the part where she is sketching flowers etc.

• Mythological world should not be seen easily - Maybe add a key Item/object to let a girl enter into the world that human can't enter normally. E.g. Jewellery, Animal etc

• Something should happen -  Not much happening in my storyboard, so 'something' should happen. E.g. Strong wind blows into a girl and takes her to the magical world. Story is too simple.

• Entering to the Mythical world - She should enter the world without realising, so maybe close her eyes and when she opens, she's there. Something like that.

• Camera part -  Not necessary since she already sketches.

• Fairy is sensitive - Maybe fairy will notice her and spell her to put her into sleep? Sensitive to noises so maybe they will get scared easily.

• Ending - Instead of returning next day maybe she just returns back to the forest after the magical experience

• Simplify, but deeper story -  To explain and fit everything in under 2-3 minutes of short film I will need to simplify the story, but think about adding more details.

My next task is to re-create the storyboard.

Initial Story plot

Here is the story plot of my storyboard in order.

1. A young adult girl, who loves to draw, is sketching a flower in the forest.
2. After the sketching she wonders around the forest, enjoying the natures and taking pictures of the wildlife.
3. She finds a beautiful butterfly, she tries to go closer to it but it flies off. 
4. She follows the Butterfly, focused only on the butterfly
5. Butterfly stops, she hides behind the tree and slowly poke her head out, then she discovers the beautiful pond, where the Butterfly is resting
6. She then discovers that the fairies are flying around
7. She takes her phone out to take pictures, but hesitate, puts her phone away because she felt that she should not disturb them.
8. Instead she sketches them in her sketchbook
9. She slowly walks off the place after the good stare at them
10. Next day she goes to the same place but the pond is gone.
11. Looking disappointed, but sees the sketch of fairies and the pond in her sketchbook and look happy, her secret discovery.

Initial Storyboard

 Initial Storyboard.

Concept Art of the Fairy Pond

 I have worked on the concept art of the Fairy pond with a great support from my friend, H.Suzuki who is a Illustrator.

Images shows the both version of the pond, one without fairies and one with fairies. The one with the fairies (bottom image) shows the clear water with flowers, glowing mushrooms with glitters around the pond to show the mythical theme.

Research of Fairy pond

I wanted to design the place where the fairy appears, so I have came up with the idea of Fairy pond in the forest.

This sketch is a draft but I had this idea of having a small pond (clear dark blue, see-through) with green grasses and flowers around the pond, surrounded by a tree (sort of protecting the pond?)













Inspirational Images

http://www.scenicreflections.com/files/FAIRY_POND_Wallpaper_p50v2.jpg
http://images.redial.net/princess-frog_0004_Layer%201.jpg
http://temp_thoughts_resize.s3.amazonaws.com/9d/78c392ebc59f843c108b9932e690b2/small-Pond-Faerie-By-David-and-Michelle-Wilder.jpg

Video Research

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aL6T8U6HRlE　Final Fantasy X

Research on Fairies

Before I start properly design the Fairies I wanted to do a bit of research of Fairies so that I could hopefully understand their species more.

FAIRY

One of a class of supernatural beings, generally conceived as having a diminutive human form and possessing magical powers with which they intervene in human affairs.

 

PIXY


In the folklore of southwestern England, tiny elflike spirit or mischievous fairy dressed in green who dances in the moonlight to the music of frogs and crickets. Its favourite pastimes are leading travelers astray and frightening young maidens. Pixies also delight in rapping on walls, blowing out candles, and playing in water. Pixies were first discussed at some length by Mrs. Anna Eliza Bray in The Borders of the Tamar and the Tavy, 3 vol. (1837)

 

NYMPH 

One of a numerous class of lesser deities of mythology, conceived of as beautiful maidens inhabiting the sea, rivers, woods, trees, mountains, meadows, etc., and frequently mentioned as attending a superior deity.

 

Source - http://dictionary.reference.com

I felt that the these all 3 creatures are all similar, but nymph was the one I thought it would match in my layouts since it is based on the woodland first. Nymph is a beautiful little creature who lives in the woods, I thought it would go well with the whole idea of Grotto. 

However, I wanted my mythical creatures to be 'small', Nymph are not always designed to be small, so probably the woodland fairy would match with all the points that I wanted to get.

Inspirational Art

 

http://www.josephinewall.co.uk/wood_nymph.html

http://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/upload/yuiupload/173787776.jpg

http://www.elfwood.com/art/a/l/alenalazareva//_1092_1077_1103.jpg

http://www.wallibs.com/gudang/magic-forest-fairy.jpg

Initial Ideas

 Initial Ideas of the character of a girl. 19-21 years old Art student who loves to sketch things that she's seen. She gets distracted easily, e.g. when she's drawing, she will be proper 'in' to it, or when she finds something she will mainly be focused on that object.
Carries sketchbook and pencil everywhere. Kind, happy, active and gets curious with things that can't be explained.

Shoulder length hair with a hair clip on one side, 3/4 sleeves V-neck shirts, shorts and walking boots.

Initial ideas of Fairy. I will be doing some research on fairies next to get some inspiration.

New Ideas

After the cancellation of the last project I have committed that I will be working independently from now. I will need to look for someone to help me with the layouts and possibly animating since I am not too sure if I could cover everything on my own.



Here is my new initial idea.

A young adult female (possibly age between 18-21) who loves to sketch and photograph the wild life and nature in the forest. She discovers a secret fairy grotto in the forest with real fairies. She sketches them and decides to keep her discovery to her self, after that she leaves the place without disturbing them. Next day she returns to the same place but there were no longer any fairies or the evidence of them being there. 



I came up with this ideas from watching the film "Princess Mononoke"(1997) (by Studio Ghibli) when I saw the Kodama which are the spirits of the forests and born from the tree, I came up with the idea of creating an animation based on the spirits/fairies that secretly live in forests and woods, which human has not yet discovered. I always had a dream that the mythological creatures actually existed in secret and I wanted to create a story that a human see the mythological creatures. 

The theme of this film is innocence and respect. Even though I want my character to see the mythical creatures I want their existence to remain secret. Also I feel that if the human interacted with the mythical creatures it would ruin their lifestyle and habitat, so I want my character to keep their existence a secret and leave their habitat and life style the way it is. This also sends out a message about leaving real animals habitat's and lifestyles alone and not disturbing them if people see them in the wild, they shouldn't try to catch or interact with them at all.



I will be doing a research of mythical creatures and also the wildlife that could be found in a forest so that I could possibly include them in the film.

Project Cancellation

After a private presentation with the tutors we have concluded that the story was too intricate and long to use as a short final piece and we got advised to scrap the ideas and start all over again.

The storyboard did not make sense since there was too much information to explain the story. We could not simplify without changing the entire story and it was something that we were not hoping for. Also I feel that the lack of communication between the group was another issue. I was confused with the storyboard and felt that we could not go any further without changing the project completely which has lead us to the emotional issues which was definitely interrupting the progress of our project. We had many discussion in the class but minimal communication outside the classroom had possibly caused the main emotional issues.

After the long debate with the group we have concluded that we could no longer work as a team to produce a film. Instead we have decided to be independent and work on our own project as we felt that this would be the best choice for all of us. I feel nervous about working on my own, but definitely feel better than where I was. We will still be supporting and helping each other and work our way towards to the final show.

I will be thinking of my own ideas from now. This is going to be the new start of my final year of the course. I will need to work harder than I have ever had to catch up with the rest of the people in my course and make sure that my work will be able to stand beside them in the final show. 

Storyboard - Initial

 Initial idea of the storyboard.