Character Design Inspiration Mood Board

 

Initial Story Premise

With my project now shifting towards an animated short my first goal was to create a basic story premise.  This premise is probably going to go through a few iterations before I’m finished but this is what I came up with:

A Lone Wanderer travels a barren wasteland devoid of life.  Crops are withered and frail to the point of disintegration.  Atop his steed he continues his long search for something alive.

 

Change of Direction

My idea for this Module took a change of direction after I spoke with my Module Tutor for Advanced Animation about what I wanted to do for that Module.  My original plan for Advanced Animation was to create an animated short but after that discussion with my Tutor for that Module I decided to shift the creation of that short to being my main focus for Creative Research.  I decided this would be the best idea as my Advanced Animation Module is already dealing with animation work flow and my Creative Research Module will allow me more time to work on completing this animated short effectively.  This also means that knowledge that I have gained from my Advanced Animation Module can feed into my Creative Research Project.

Line of Action Study

After looking more into line of action and realising its importance in creating dynamic characters I decided to study it in more detail by looking at its use in practice.  Having recently watched the 2003 animation Star Wars: Clone Wars I decided to deconstruct its use of line of action.

• Anakin’s Rage

In this scene Anakin snaps and gives into his anger.  The line of action assists in conveying this bending back like a bow facing the direction he is screaming, this even from just a still image standpoint helps convey the fact that he is really projecting his voice.  If the line, with the character still adhering to it, was flipped horizontally it would create the opposite effect and would look as if the yell was delivered flatly and almost sarcastically greatly altering the mood of the scene.  The positioning of his arms adds to this idea of his scream being loud and helps show his anger.  His arms are facing ever so slightly upward creating a cone or area of the screen, if you were to draw lines up from the arms, into which Anakin is screaming.  This shows the viewer that he is projecting his rage outward.  The arms are drawn at more sharp angles than the rest of the body showing that the arms are tense and that he is clenching his fists another sign of his anger.

• Mace Windu Preparing to Fight

The line of action here helps add dynamism to the pose of the character.  The line work of the animation follows the shape of the line of the action very well with the characters body shape following the line even when it realistically would be impossible.  This exaggeration is what aids the pose in being dynamic as it makes Windu’s motion appear more fluid an agile rather than the more static look of a less exaggerated pose.  The characters arms also could be said to have a line of action which they follow closely, continuing the pose’s fluid motion and also balancing out his silhouette.

• General Grievous Preparing to Fight

The use of the line of action in this scene helps create a feeling of threat and focus.  The character’s line of action is curved quite drastically and leads the viewer’s eyes directly to his face.  Grievous’ body follows the line of action very closely aiding in the guiding of the viewers eye.  The threat in the scene is projected by Grievous towards his off screen opponent with the line of action and the direction of Grievous’ lightsabers all add to this, pointing off screen in a threatening and aggressive manner.  The sense of focus comes from the fact that all of the lightsabers and the character’s face are all facing roughly towards the same place and creating an area of space on the screen, similar to the first scene I looked at.  This coupled with the forward position of Grievous’ head creates the feeling that he is focused on his foe.

• Mace Windu Using the Force

The line of action in this scene follows across the top of Mace Windu’s arms and is used to guide the viewer through the scene.  The line flows down from the point of action in the right hand corner of the frame past the characters face and across to the other hand.  Having the line pass by the Windu’s face is a good idea as it gives the audience a chance to see his mood and emotion.  The fact that the line travels from one hand to the other and the viewer sees the result of what he is doing, the droids in the background being pushed back by the force, they can assume that the same is happening to the droids that would be positioned behind the camera view without actually showing it.  This in my opinion is a piece of particularly economic direction showing the audience just enough that the scene is still clear and makes sense to the viewer.

Image References:

[no date given].Star Wars: Clone Wars- Mace Uses Windu Force.[online image].Available from: http://drewsviews.info/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Powerful-move-of-Mace-Windu-against-Super-Battle-Droids.jpg  [Accessed 2 October 2015].

[no date given].Star Wars: Clone Wars- Mace Windu Lightsaber.[online image].Available from: http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20070426124802/starwars/images/5/5e/Mace-bodcw.jpg  [Accessed 2 October 2015].

[no date given].Star Wars: Clone Wars- Anakin Skywalker.[online image].Available from: https://robertofontanaart.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/96164-clone-wars-769128.png  [Accessed 2 October 2015].

[no date given]. Star Wars: Clone Wars- General Grievous [online image].Available from: http://media.moddb.com/images/groups/1/9/8766/star-wars-clone-wars-2003-20081002111137818-000.jpg [Accessed 2 October 2015].

Animation Test

I created this animation test as a way to experiment with using the line of action in motion.

Line of Action Sketches

After studying gesture and line of action as part of my Advanced Animation Module I decided to try and add what I had learned into some of my work.

These were the sketches I came up with.

The red lines represent the line of action that was going for in each piece.

After looking into line of action and seeing its benefits as far as adding a more dynamic element to character poses and actions.  I think I am going to try and utilise it whenever possible in my future drawings and animations.

 

Creative Research Project Idea

 

From the beginning I knew that I wanted to focus on 2D animation in my Creative Research Module so I created a mind map to give me an idea of the areas of 2D animation and by extension visual storytelling that I wanted to focus on improving.

 

Ahab Mood Board

After looking into the art work of Moebius I decided to start to familiarise myself with Melville’s novel.  I began by looking into Ahab as he is the most integral character to the plot of the story, as its his rage and obsession with revenge that guides the characters into their situation.  I created this mood board to give me an idea of the general visual aesthetic that has been attributed to the character across multiple mediums over the years as well as to give me a grounding to start from.

My Self Evaluation Strategy

 

Moebius Style Mood Board

For my Computer Arts Practice Module I chose to do a brief based around creating a 4 page interactive graphic novel around the theme of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick set in Space.  The art style of this graphic novel needs to be influenced by the work of Jean Giraud (Moebius) so I’ve compiled a mood board of a variety of his character designs and environments to use as inspiration.