Final Assignment: Animated Series

 

Jump Link: 

Week 11 

Week 12 

Week 13 

Week 14

Assignment Brief:

In this final assignment, we need to produce a series of illustration and animate it in a 15-20 seconds video based on scripts chosen. Lecturer gave us 10 different scripts to choose from. Besides that, we need to do documentation and submit our e-portfolio at the same day. 

Week 11

We get our assignment brief in this week. After I read the assignment brief and references given, I first need to pick a script. I choose one that is something I want to remind myself to, which is:

“Do not stop thinking of life as an adventure. You have no security unless

you can live bravely, excitingly, imaginatively; unless you can choose a

challenge instead of competence.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

I found that some of the scripts allow me to straightaway think of the picture but I think that this means that everyone might be thinking the same thing. So, I choose something that won't straightaway remind me of a picture, so I have space for myself to do creative thinking. 

I have some inspiration when I was browsing the references and reading the scripts. I want to create something like art in art? I am not sure if this method or art has a name or not. But it is something using negative colour, contrast and box to create a whole illustration, it looks like a comic, but it's not. It consists of static art but when looking at them together, it creates a storyline or a motion, which I think is great way to do this project, to convey a message. 

Moodboard

Week 12

Progress

Description of inspiration

In this week, I start to compose my concept and do creative thinking. I use a mind map to help me think about little elements. I want to jot down my idea with a clear vision. 

Concept

I deliver this message through a character's eyes, her emotions and her inner world. Audience can directly understand the message, through the whole story. The scene starts with a thinking process, we dive deep into the characters' inner world, we see her life inside her head. She seems to be depressed at first as she lay on a surface and think to herself. Her adventures, her security got broken down, she got hurt maybe, but she protect herself again with her braveness, her excitement sparks the fire of her life again. And she starts to imagine different scenarios and is proud and happy, she got hold of her life again. She took the challenge and continue her life as an adventure. 

Storyboard

Script

I have developed the whole storyline but will explain in the digital storyboard as it has clearer visuals, kindly move to week 13 progress for this information. 

Consultation

During the physical consultation in class, I showed my progress to lecturer and received some very constructive advice. First, I should choose some artwork, that I really like, look up to and try to imitate the art style. This is for my own improvement. Just like the quote said, I should take up a challenge and be brave to make improvements. I need to trust myself to be able to create an artwork or art style that I look up to. Even though at the end, I might not be able to create something as beautiful as the original artwork. I still have improved a lot during this process. 

Some of my artworks are quite similar, using the same technique and etc. I stayed in my comfort zone. I should try to break the cycle and try out something new. Mr. Hafiz taught me a lot today. No one is able to create something magnificent in just one day, but with continuous exploration and improvement, we are able to create a really great product at the end. 

In my storyboard, my elements always in the middle, I can try to enlarge the elements, change a perspective to create a more exciting visual. I need to be able to explain what emotion I want the user to feel through this message and animation. 

This assignment is marked based on:

10% understanding of quote + how to present

10% visual reference 

10% process of using illustrator

10% final presentation + submission

Progress

Artstyle

I research for some time, and I decided to take a challenge to try this artwork. The most important elements are the eyes, I personally found these eyes very expressive yet humble. I wanted to deliver the message using these expressive eyes, this technique. These are the artwork from Saitemiss (Jhong Yi Ting), an artist from Taiwan. As you can see from the arts, the characters are always the focal point of the art piece, they are impactful, expressing different energy with their eyes. Her arts also contains very flowy elements, usually consists of flowy hair, clothes and a lot of small particles. The art style adapted from Japanese manga and anime style. A style that is popularized in the whole world. 

From this artstyle, I would like to learn about drawing expressive eyes and flowy, light art. I want to learn to draw in comic style. 

For more information about the artist and her works, kindly visit:

A balance of male weakness and female strength: Saitemiss captures fleeting moments in her anime-infused illustrations

Emotions

What emotions I want to deliver through this artwork? What emotions I want the audience to feel?

First of all, this quote reminds people about passion in life. Throughout the life journey, there will be a lot of challenges, some ended in victory, some ended in loss and pain. But, the most important thing is our experience, what have we learn and what we gain from it. Thus, don't stop having fun in life, be brave and go for adventures, it brings joys and wisdom. 

These are the messages that I wanted to deliver. The emotions are mostly inspiring, but with a hint of grieve, pain and sadness. Audience should feel inspiring with this animation.

Week 13

During the physical consultation in class, I showed my progress to lecturer and received some very constructive advice. First, I should choose some artwork, that I really like, look up to and try to imitate the art style. This is for my own improvement. Just like the quote said, I should take up a challenge and be brave to make improvements. I need to trust myself to be able to create an artwork or art style that I look up to. Even though at the end, I might not be able to create something as beautiful as the original artwork. I still have improved a lot during this process. 

Colour

I choose the colours from these 2 pictures, I want to create strong contrast with the use of colour. I think it can draw the attention of the audiences with each different colour pop at different time. I can use the colour and the animation to direct the audience to view the animation. Besides that, different colour show different emotions. The bluish colour shows more grief, sad, dark feeling while the salmon pink, beige is livelier and more energetic. I can express the emotions of the script by using these colours. 

Illustration

Step 1: Tracing my own sketch

Step 2: Shape builder/Clean the line

Step 3: Colouring

I extract the colour from the picture I mentioned before and start applying the colour one by one, adding shadow and lighting using different colour shade. I also compare different colour combo to get the best colour. 

Step 4: Apply texture

I apply grain texture for the lighter shade (pink and beige combo). This is to further increase the contrast between two different emotions. 

Step 5: Arrange Storyboard

After finish all of the illustration, I arrange them into storyboard, this is to guide me through the animation process, ensuring I did not left any part missing. 

Digital storyboard

Week 14

Animation progress

Export assets

First of all, I export all of the assets I needed for a scene. I group the assets together for me to reduce layers in the animation process, since that it will slow down the program and the layout will looks messy. 

Layering

Next, I import the assets into the animation software program. I use After Effect for this project. I layer the assets into the sequence of appearance or according to the illustration, for example the character layer must be above the water layer. I also exported the whole complete illustration for me to use as reference to do the layering. 

First Scene

Water wiggling

To make the water move like it's flowing, I use the puppet tool to move it manually. I originally want to use the effect/preset inside the AE, they have wriggling effect but when I apply on it, it doesn't look nice at all, the water looks distorted. Thus, I use puppet pin to pin on the location that I can move and move it manually while adding keyframe. 

Pop up art box

For this, I just adjust the transform part, which is the opacity, so when the art box will pop up at the time where I want it to pop up.

Typewriter

For the script, I use the effect/preset in the AE, which is Typewriter. Using this, the scripts will appear like it is being type out. 

Second Scene

Snow Moving

For the snow moving, I export a very large size of snow illustration that I drawn it myself. I move it across the screen and add keyframe to create snow moving animation. 

Bubble Shield Pop

I have drawn the complete bubble shield and a broken bubble shield. I just need to add it into the sequence using keyframe to create the animation. 

Fire 

I move the fire illustration from bottom to top and add keyframe to do the animation. 

Eye pop up

Using opacity and keyframe to create the eye appear in the middle of the animation. 

Third Scene

Leaves moving

This is the exact same process ad the snow moving part. Using keyframe and move the leaves illustration around to create the animation. 

Art box pop up

Add in the art box at the correct timeline using keyframe. 

Eye appeared

Adding the eye using keyframe and opacity. 

Star shine

Using opacity and add in keyframe to make it shine. 

Fourth Scene

My file go through the first crash this time. As my working file is getting more and more, with the other projects, my laptop didn't have enough space for the software to function properly. 

Art box rotating and moving

To create a floating like animation for the 3 art boxes, I move and rotate it around while adding keyframes to create the animation. 

Fifth Scene

Hair Flowing

I use puppet tool to move the hair around while adding the keyframes. 

Eye animation

Using keyframe. 

Throughout the process, multiple crashes appeared. And, I eventually lost most of my working AE files. 

Final compilation

Every time I finish a scene, I exported out the video instantly. Luckily, I did export straight away as most of my working files are gone. My laptop went into several crash, and the file saved in my hard drive are corrupted, including the AE working file in this project. 

I add in the videos according to the sequence and compile them together. 

Sound

I use Elevenlabs to create the voice over. I didn't use much prompt, but I let it pause several times and talk slow to create the clear and slow tempo voiceover. I am very satisfied with the outcome. I did try several times to get the results I wanted. 

Voiceover file link:

ElevenLabs_Text_to_Speech_audio.mp3

Background music files link:

608392__kjartan_abel__april-showers-sweet-lo-fi-piano-vibes.wav

748668__universfield__inspiring-and-energetic-vibes.mp3

Version 1:

Version 2:

Consultation

I ask for opinion from lecturer online. From lecturer, my illustration is good, I can add more animation into it, like eyes blinking and etc. But the problem is my working files are corrupted already. I am not sure whether I have time to redo or not. Thus, I leave it first, and if I have extra time, I will redo again, but if I don't have time, I can only leave it be. I am very appreciative for lecturer's advice, and I am sure it would be a better animation if I follow the advice. But due to time constraints and my laptop capability. I decided to submit the final version I created without any updates. 

Final Illustration

 

  

Final Animation

Reflection

In this assignment, I truly learn a lot about illustration and animation. It also sparks my interest in 2D animation. I found it so interesting, to be able to see my own arts moving, and it delivers a certain message to people. It taught me that arts are powerful, we can use it as a tool to express emotions, deliver meaningful messages and shows a person’s value. I have much more to learn in this sector, I would like to explore more about 2D animation in the future.

My biggest gain in this assignment is discovering different drawing techniques and art style. I have not yet formed my own art style. But I managed to discover yet another art style and it would definitely help shape my future art style. My illustration and drawing skills has been improved.

I only have some parts that I wanted to improved but wasn’t able to do so. Due to time constraint and my laptop’s capabilities, I wasn’t able to improve my animation according to lecturer’s advice, which I am sure would help shape the animation better. The software went into a lot of crashes while I am doing the animation. Most of my working files are corrupted and gone. I cannot adjust anymore animation unless I redo it. I also learned from this experience, that I shouldn’t put too much elements into one file, and do not save the work in a hard drive. Because once the crash happened, the file inside the hard drive would be corrupted instantly. There is nothing I can do.

I would like to thank my lecturer and also my friends who help and guide me through this journey. I have learned a lot from all of them. This journey has been tiring but extremely rewarding. I was not interested in drawing, my interest was just in 3D only, but right now, I have a new interest, I love to draw now! I never expect that one day, I might like to draw. This shows that this course and also this assignment, has help me find a new direction in life. I am truly grateful. Thank you.