My inspirations for creating this animation were a lot of the entertainment that I watched as a child. I have always enjoyed fantasy stories, taking a normal person and throwing him into a insane new world. I started working on the story concept when I was Twelve and the original idea has changed a lot, first that characters were just going to be superheroes as it was also something I enjoy however I wanted a story that could break away from reality so that there could be more possibilities.
As I got older the story changed as my knowledge of story telling improved, I thought of more backstories for the character that mad more sense as a whole. After some trail and error I ended up with a solid story that I was happy with, I had developed two main character for the story.
I had been creating and drawing these charcters for years so as a result i didnt need to do much reseach of the characters for this small animation.
My art style has been heavy inspired by comics and illustrations were the characters have very expressive faces that convey there emotions. Over the years I have looked at many comics and animations that have helped me develop my style, as I would ofter trace the drawing first to get a feel for how the artist would draw a certain thing, then change it to a way that I could draw it. My style is always changing as I am always finding new artist or new style of animation to look at and help me improve.
Stuff I watch for inspiration:
I grew up watching old animated shows such as Winnie the Pooh (1969) which to me has the feel of an Animated story book, and Thunder Birds which was more like a stop motion animation using Puppets. I a kid grew up watching the classic Disney movies such as, Bambi (1942) and Dumbo (1941), Peter Pan (1953) which I loved as a kid as they were some of the first Disney movies that I had watched, I enjoyed the stories that they told and the Disney magic that they had.
Some over Disney movies I enjoyed were Oliver and company (1988), The Little Mermaid (1989), Aladdin (1992) and the Lion King (1994). All these movies had great animation and great music to compliment it, both of these features helped create some amazing movies that I still love to this day, Mulan and Tarzan Also achieved this.
As CGI and 3D animated movies became more common, Disney continued to make Traditional animations such as Lilo and Stitch (2002), Treasure Planet (2002) and Brother Bear (2003). These three movies are some of my favourite animated movies of all time, as a they have such emotional and lovable stories that I just enjoy and these movies helped inspire me to make interesting stories that leave a lasting impression on the viewer.
After I finally started watching some 3D animated movies such as Big Hero 6 (2014), Brave (2012) and Tangled (2010) I have always enjoyed superhero movies, so finding an Animated superhero movie by Disney was amazing, I may not enjoy making 3D animation but I can always appreciate the detail that goes into it. There is some much care and detail added to the characters and the backgrounds. Tangled and Brave are my favourite Disney Princess movies as there not the typical Princesses, there tough and can fight back, I love how there not defenceless and can move the story along with out having the hand held. They have inspired me to write more intreating female characters and even lead female characters for my own stories.
Later I started watching over animated movies that weren't done by Disney, at first I hatted them as a was so used to Disney movies but once I sat down and watched them I really enjoy the different between them and Disney. These movies include Spirited Away (2001) and Howls moving castle both done Hayao Miyazaki, I love the animation in these two movies as it a changes from Disney as it looks like a water colour painting which I loved, the stories were similar to Disney as the still had that sense of magic but with a unique twist.
Synopsis -
The strange adventures of two very unusual friends, a young human boy and a aggressive creature of darkness going through life, uncovering secrets, making friends and finding a family.
Animation Research-
Walk Cycle-
I created this test Animation by looking at cat walk cycle Gifs on google and then taking look at Eadweard Muybridge's photos of cats running to help me gain a better under standing. Muybridge was an English Photographer and was known for his studies in motion, he produced hundreds of photos capturing the motion of various animals and people, and people later uses his photos to create moving images in a Zoetrope.
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| Cat walking GIF |
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| Eadweard Muybridge's Cat run |
Rebecca Sugar- Is an American Animator and songwriter of the show steven universe. Born July 9th 1987, she is 31 years old and is the creator of the show steven universe. Sugar was inspired to create the shows main character Steven after her little brother steven who also helps creat somof the background line art for the show. Her show is full of heart and lovable familys that I really hope to capture in my own work.
Alex Hirsch- Is a America Animator and voice actor who created the show Gravity falls, he was born June 18th 1985 and is 33 years old. Hirsch came up with the idea for his show in college where he wanted to create the perfect summer, and he was soon noticed by disney who hired him to make his show Gravity falls. I really in enjoy the imagination and comedy in Hirsch's work and I love where his idea came from, make the somthing he had always wanted to come true.
Butch Hartman- Is and American Animator, Born January 10th 1965 and is 54 year old.Hartman has created many shows for Nickelodeon inculuding Farily Odd Parents, Danny Phantom and Tuff puppy. I love that he creates unique and intresting shows, and he has helped me unlock my own creativty.
Jaiden Dittfach- Is Known for her work as Jadien Animations, she was born September 27th 1997 and is 21 years old. Jadien works as a storytime Animator on youtube, she is a very inspirational and funny self taught animator, who inpired me to be more confindenet with my work.
Jazziah Brooks- Is an Austrilain Artist, born April 20th 1989 and is 29 years old. He has made his career on youtube making art tutourals and Art challenges. Brooks is a very inspritional person who makes informative videos teaching kids to have fun with art.
Looking at Animation
I looked at many of the of the animations I watched as a kid and looked behind the scenes of how they made it. I had always enjoyed the look of 2D animation more as I was never god at making my own drawings look 3D. Many of the 2D animations that I watches had very basic looking characters with no shading but had very detailed backgrounds which is the style that I wanted to use in my animation.
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| Background from Gravity Falls |
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| Background from Steven Universe |
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| Turnaround form Steven Universe |
Method
The program I used to make the animation with photoshop as I am more confident with the program and I felt that would create a better animation using a program I knew.
First I would think of the whole animation idea in my head, start making a story board and thumbnails. Once I had the basic idea in my head I used Photoshop and started to draw the rough frames of the first scene,I used a pencil brush tool to draw the rough sketches.
Next I do the inking, though one of the characters their ink lines where done in a much higher colour to make them stand out more against a dark background.
After inking I would do a quick sketch of the background and I would quickly ink and colour it. I also added a texture over the top of the background to give to a more traditional look. Once that is done I colour the character after erasing the rough sketches.
I repeat the process until all the scenes are finished, after I went through all the frames added in all the effects, such as the glowing eyes.
Finally I created an credits scene using little concept sketches of the characters. I did this to mimic credits from other Animations that I have watched.
