Andi Expressions

Fabric of Andona

Hi everyone,

Have you had a good Easter weekend?

I've barely begun eating my chocolate!

For the last couple of weeks I've started to really get back into my Andona project, which was my second year project at University (see here and here).

I didn't feel I had done enough thorough character designs and haven't dedicated my work to finer details.

To begin costume designs for the people of the planet Andona I created textile samples.

I really enjoy creating patterns, something I only realised a year ago.  There's something quite therapeutic about creating them.

I've already sketched a page of characters ready to use these patterns on them.  It creates a very quick and easy way to make variables for each character design.

So, I'm getting ready to leave for Paris tomorrow morning for 6 nights with L.H.!

I'm very excited to make some artistic discoveries!  But, like the art geek/workaholic that I am, I'll miss working on my projects.  I'm taking obligatory moleskins and camera, of course :)

Au revoir for now.

J.x

Andi Again

I looked over my graduating project from last year to remind myself of how I can and have improved.

 
Andi, the young one-handed miner of my Pied-Piper-in-space Andona story acted as a sort of psychological mascot throughout the whole process, keeping me amused and affection for the project high.  So, one night, I started to redraw her to solidify her in my mind:

I'd like to practise more gesture drawings of her.
I'll probably continue to draw her for years!  She's pure fun and sweetness.

J. x

Graduate Exhibition '11

The Graduate Exhibition at the University of Cumbria ended two weeks ago, but it feels like years!

The Exhibition Preview Night:  Me (black dress, no glasses) with my class and a few of their friends and family

I completed three of the four images I had planned, making the fourth my concept sketches.  One of the three I completely re-started and did it in the two days before the hand in.  It was a bit of a mad decision but I pulled it off with very little sleep, encouragement from friends and a lot of relief.

It was really satisfying having my work put in frames and hung up for all to see, but I was doing my usual thing of telling myself "you can do better".  Which is true with every piece of work.  I think that's why I love drawing so much, it's addictive, each attempt I make at it is always different and hopefully better than the last.

  

I've just got a CGSociety account and I uploaded my original images on their if you'd like to see them!
J. x

Sneaky Peek

No one outside of class has seen any of my exhibition work - and not everyone in the class has seen it.
So, as the exhibition is looming, I've decided to give you all a glimpse as to what my work is looking like.
To jog your memory: 'The Pied Piper of Hamlin'.  I adapted the story so it's set on another planet and in space to be developed as a feature animation film.  I selected four scenes from my story to digitally paint mock animation cels.

Click image to see it in glorious full resolution!

Let me know what you think!  What vibes do you get?  What does it remind you of?  What can be improved?   Though from this small crop it's hard to get a good idea - the original images are A2 sized and look like widescreen film stills.

When it's all over and done with I'll most probably put up all four of my images.  Until then!

Hello, caffeine, my old friend...

J. x

Super Doodles!

Sometimes you have a little bit of creativity going on inside itching away that you need to get out, whether it has a 'higher purpose' or not.  These are this weekend's doodles and designs from one of my sketchbooks.  I've been keeping character animation pre-production especially in mind.

And moustaches. 

I have a couple more from another sketchbook too - for some other time :)

J. x

More Green Pencil!

Andi lovingly clinging on to Piper's leg!
J. x

Catching up on Andona

I was meant to post this a couple of weeks ago!  Yikes.  Time is just slipping away...

So, I had to present all the final major project work I had so far to my class and lecturer, in an effort to pitch my planned exhibition pieces.  It has been well received, and I got some good grades which is big a bonus!

After trying to imagine every aspect of the world I'd created, and writing the whole story, it all boils down to four images.  The four pieces I'm creating will (hopefully) look as if they're stills taken from an animated feature film.  I'll try to present each image on multiple layers of acetate to give the illusion of being from a cel animation, or a single print out on photo quality paper, A2 size.  It's a lot harder than I imagined it would be!

Finalising Andi

Piper Design

Visualising the Princess of Andona

Andonian Housing

Concepts for my final exhibition pieces

Developing the throne room scene

Designs for the palace guards and handmaids

Piper capturing the rodents on Andona

Andi dragging an unconscious Piper post-explosion

Drafting the scene on the Odd-Job Space Station.
The crew have just got the Andonian children on board

No doubt I'll put up images when they're done.
I'm excited to see mine and my class' work framed and displayed!
The exhibition will run from June 1st to 8th.

J. x

'Andi'

So, this week hasn't been a complete waste!  I have missed all my classes and been a big snotty lump on the couch for the past four days... But I got some drawing done!  And, surprisingly, it's exactly what I had wanted to create all project long.

Maybe my brain is fuddled from lack of sleep, but I actually prefer the character pictures I've done this week to all the ones I've drawn while in good health.  That's why I feel comfortable posting these up online:

    

[Pencil drawings.  Dodge and Burn Tool in Photoshop to shade and strengthen lines]

This is the orphan that Piper will meet on Andona and can't get rid of.  She doesn't have a name, so he comes up with one for her from 'Andona', settling on 'Andi'.

You might have noticed that I've taken away her left hand - the cruelty!  It's all a part of her back story and will tie in with how the story plays out.  Not only that, but I got fed up of looking at how gorgeously perfect female and child protagonists are in animations - either looks or personality, if not both.  I wanted a sense of realism, and what's more real than admitting life can be cruel and unfair?

I'm toying with a few ideas at the minute; making her a boy, less cute, short hair....

What do you think?

J. x

"Less Disney, More Grimm"

The Games Design course I'm on has given me the liberty of deciding what I personally want to do for the year's final project, which is fantastic as I'm already growing weary of 3D modelling.  I think self-directed projects are the easiest to motivate yourself for, it's what you want to do.  I'd say if you're not finding it easy to be enthusiastic over it, then don't be afraid to change direction.

My proposal is to create pre-production work for a would-be animation, then storyboard several sections.  I will finally produce four final images, taken from the storyboards, to look like film stills.

I instantly wanted to adapt a fairy tale or children's story, as if it were going to be a feature film in the vein of Dreamworks and Disney - a classic 2D animation!  I looked at the usual suspects; Hans Christian Andersen, Brother's Grimm, and classic children's literature.  I knew I didn't want to do anything that has already been famously adapted, even if I were to put my own spin on it.  It took a lot of strength to step away from the original Little Mermaid story!

I finally decided on The Pied Piper of Hamlin.  When I told people this it was greeted with mixed reactions, from, 'oh, how boring' to, 'wow, how creepy!'.  This actually made me convinced I was on the right track.  The Piper tale is so vague, the ending so mysterious, and the amount of historical theories over what really happened makes it easy to work with.  Furthermore, I'm not adapting it precisely.  The end of the original story is not the end of mine.  If anything it's the central event.

So far it's been a lot of fun!  Researching, deciding on settings, costumes, characters, and writing it all.  I've completely made a new story, a new world, set in space, with Hamelin becoming the planet Andona and the Piper a space traveller looking for work wherever he can find it in the galaxy.

Planet Andona Concept

Here's a brief idea of what I've got so far:

Synopsis

Piper, a part-time pest controller, part-time musician, comes across the desert planet Andona infested with an alien vermin.  The Andonian Princess employs him for the job of ridding the planet of the infestation, promising a large sum.  During his work he sees the poverty of the Andonians and begins to doubt the Princess' word.  Along the way, Piper meets an orphan who he can’t shake off.  Job finished, he returns to the palace where the Princess refuses to pay Piper for his work and is escorted back to his spaceship where the orphan has secretly stowed away.

Piper flies back to the Odd-Job space station where he resides with all manner of characters.  Piper tells of his misfortune and his want for vengeance.  The Andonian orphan reveals herself giving Piper the idea that people will pay anything to get their children back.  Together, with the orphan’s knowledge of the planet’s people and the help of the Odd-Job space crew, Piper comes up with the idea to hold the Andonian children hostage until the Princess pays up - but not all will go to plan…

I've been working on it for about 4 weeks now, and I think my enthusiasm blinded me from just how much I have/want to do.  Designing each location, costume, vehicle, animal, character...  EXHAUSTING!  But exciting and really enjoyable.  The story's world has become more in-depth than I had ever hoped, and possibly not what anyone would expect.  Less Disney, more Grimm.

I'll post visual work soon.

J. x

P.S. Happy birthday, mum :) x