Minor Project: Character Sketches

For my character, I have decided that I would like to have her curvaceous and chubby so I've started some initial sketches to explore her in different clothes and shoes. 

I've also sketch some expressions to give myself a sense of her character.

Minor Project: Animatics Version 1 (Part 1)

I've spent some time looking into the poem further like how old was Jenny when she wrote (She was 29) and how as a middle age woman, I tried to interpret how she would see herself when she's old. In my interpretation, I see my character to be a stylish old granny (around the age of 60) but youthful at heart. So this is what I've got so far as how the animatics would go. 

I don't quite like the opening shot but I am thinking  if should have the start and the end of the whole animation as a loop.

In terms of the character design, I have narrowed it two types of women:
1) Short and chubby
2) Tall and awkward

Autodesk Maya Class: Practicing Poses of a Character

For today's lesson, we were tasked to use the rigged characters we've downloaded off the internet and pose them into 5 different action poses. Here's my action poses.

With this chubby character, I did find there were limitations because he had short legs, big feet and extremely huge tummy. However, I did enjoy the lesson as I learn to try work around with the limitations I had and improvise. I especially love the yoga pose!

Minor Project: Character 1 (Old Lady Sketches)

When trying to come up with designs for my first character (The fashionable old lady), I had her characteristics in mind.

Her Characteristics:

- Chatty

- Cheerful / Light Hearted

- Confident

- Expressive (Always smiling/ Making silly faces)

I wanted to push the designs in terms of the face shapes and these were the designs that I had came up with. 

I quite like #4, #15 and #18.

Minor Project: Inspiration for the world

In terms of the world for my animation, I was thinking of incorporating both 2D and 3D. Examples as per videos.

Minor Project: Character Influences

To help me with my design in creating an old lady character, I went to search for fashionable old lady as I did not want my character to have the stereotypical look. I have also looked at how my grandma dresses herself to give me the inspiration I needed.

Minor Project (Post Tutorial)

After talking to Alan, it was suggested that I focus my animation around the "Stay Young at Heart" theme. So it would be like 5 characters, doing 5 daily things but one character's action opens the window to the next character's action. Example would be an old woman dancing in the rain and jumps on to a puddle of water. When the water splashes, it brings us to the next character singing in the shower and so on. However, I had an element that was lacking to tie everything together so I had a chat with Phil to get his perspective. In our conversation, he suggested that I looked into Jenny Joseph's Poem titled "Warning".

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple

With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.

And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves

And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.

I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired

And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells

And run my stick along the public railings

And make up for the sobriety of my youth.

I shall go out in my slippers in the rain

And pick flowers in other people's gardens

And learn to spit.

You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat

And eat three pounds of sausages at a go

Or only bread and pickle for a week

And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry

And pay our rent and not swear in the street

And set a good example for the children.

We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.

But maybe I ought to practice a little now?

So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple

I think in this poem, I was able to find the element that was lacking in my initial idea and hence, I have decided to do an adaptation of this as it both visually descriptive and it still has the "Stay at Young Heart" vibe that I want in my animation.

Below are the parts I've extracted from the poem which I would like to adapt and create an animation on. 

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple

With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.

And sit down on the pavement when I'm tired

And eat three pounds of sausages at a go

And run my stick along the public railings

And make up for the sobriety of my youth.

I shall go out in my slippers in the rain

And pick flowers in other people's gardens

And learn to spit.

But maybe I ought to practice a little now?

So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple

To make my character characterful, I will be looking into Margaret Rutherford, Betty White and the sitcom - The Golden Girls. In terms of the design aspect, I've looked into Belleville Rendezvous as I have envisioned my character to be a stylish old lady.

Minor Project Idea Development (Pre Tutorial)

Of the last three ideas I had, I gave a deeper thought for the topic I wanted to look deeper into. So I came up with the possible things that an old man would still be doing that is still childish as I am going for the "Stay at young heart" vibe.

The two videos below were my inspiration of what I could possibly have in my animation.

 

Possible Opening Scene: A framed note and picture of a boy pasted at the corner hanging on the wall that says "Dear Future Me, Please remember to stay youthful and act as a kid sometimes. It's healthy. Love, your 10 year old self." The setting of the animation would be in the house where this old man does silly things eg: Sweeping the floor and have his socks on. Slides across the living room and when he sees his reflection, it's the little boy.

More Ideas for Minor Project

So after having a chat with Alan, I went back to look at my ideas and because I kept thinking I needed a story to make sense of my animation when what I really needed was more of just a structure. The one that helped me to come up with a few other possible ideas was the introduction of editing techniques (Crossfade, Split Screen etc) and how I am able to piece the idea together. I want my animation to simple yet effective and I think between this two ideas, there's a room full of possibilities for Idea 5.

Idea #5 : Dear Future Self and Dear 13 year old me (Parallel Universe)

30 year old self walks out of her posh apartment building and heads up the hill, overlooking the city skyline.

13 year old self walks out of her house and goes to the beach, overlooking the sea with ships docked at sea creating similar silhouette to city skyline.

The both write a letter, addressing to each other. 

Idea #6: No to Racism

2 girls, of different ethnicity grows up disliking each other. Cut backs and forth between both of them styling themselves and when they meet each other in school, they realise they are actually the same with the dress themselves.

Idea #7: Imprinted

A dear friend of mine passed away early this year and he did play an important role in my life so I thought I could create an animation to pay him a tribute. So, the idea is essentially similar to the big art attack. The location would be at the beach where the character starts dancing, crawling, rolling, etc (I want to show the true characteristics of him because he has 2 young children who would grow up not knowing who their dad was, so this would help them so) on the sand to make a family portrait of him looking down at his family. The character himself would be my friend so it will be a message to tell his family that his okay on the other side and always watching over them.

There will be a lot cuts with variations of shot sizes but only at the end would be the big reveal of what he has actually done.

Ideas for Minor Project

I took sometime to think of what I really want to do for my project and I've come up with several ideas.

List of ideas:

1) The Forgotten Watch

 The story revolves around a pair of limited edition watch. A girl begs her dad to get it for her birthday. The watch and her are best friends and she would wear it wherever she went. However, one day, she accidentally hits the face of the glass on her hard surface, leaving it cracked. She did not want it anymore and decided to have it sold in a garage sale. The animation would be back and forth between the watch’s POV and the girl’s character.

2) Put a Stop!

An advertisement kind of animation about Human Trafficking to raise awareness of the current rising problem in the world. It’s a factual/ inforgraphics type of animation

3) The Opportunity

In a visit to the yearly summer garage sale held within the estate, the character bought a pair of glasses from an old lady who had an entire table of antiques. Little did the character know that those pair of glasses were nowhere ordinary. Every time he wears them, he would see an integration of this world and the next. He was initially scared but got over it eventually as he saw this as an opportunity to say his final goodbye to his sister. As an older brother, he was in charge of his sister’s well being. One unfortunate afternoon when they were hanging out at their pool, he took his eyes off her and she walked into the pool and drowned. The guilt ate his soul. With these glasses, he wanted to tell how sorry he was and see her for the last time. End shot would be the sister touching his face and say “It’s not your fault. I love you” or an action that’s able to translate the same meaning.

4) Celebration

The character goes to visit her grandparents in their village over summer. As a city girl, she always finds it fascinating to be living away from the hustle and bustle of a city. During her visit, she learnt to rediscover herself and the culture she almost have forgotten. She got the chance to celebrate a Muslim Festival, Eid Mubarak the kampong(Village) style.

As I look at my ideas, I feel idea #2 is more of an "off the shelf" sort of idea. Though I am keen in doing such animation, I have given a thought of what I am able to be able to achieve from that. Would the animation be able to successful to put the message out there?

So, I gave it a bit of thought and I’d like to do both Character and Environment animation in the future. By the end of an animation, I would like to evoke sentimental emotions and I believe idea #3 has a lot of potential in this prospect. 

Also, I have looked at a lot of animations and as per the examples above. In Tamara, few lines were used and in Alma no narration was needed. Yet, it's a successful animation as it was able to tell the story visually. I would like to able to achieve as such for my animation too.