Rough-cut Composition

I put together some of my final footage (pre- colour correction and grading) with some finalised line animation and tried out some 2D tracking and masking:

The only thing apart from workload that worries me atm is the length this rough cut is coming out at... almost double my animatic- probably due to over generous time allowance when filming. I'm hoping this time will go down as i fully animate sections and have to cut the footage to match the animation.

Wolf research & development so far...

After doing a little observational research of wolves from tv and reality i’ve started to refine the original storyboard sketches of my wolf pup.

I will be hoping to strike a balance between human and canine- especially in the eyes, in order to gain the most emotional range possible from my wolf pup. I also want to keep him stylized but clearly recognisable as a wolf pup- i feel like in my original storyboard sketches, he more closely resembled a cat….

The final design is still to be confirmed

Animatic Complete!

The 1st draft of my animatic that i put together from my (new) storyboard and some recce footage and photographs. There’s no sound at this stage which is a shame as a lot of the audio that happens off screen explains the story. The timing is also very rough but what is encouraging at this stage is that i am sure it’s too long in places- and yet the whole thing is only 2mins 30 secs… so it can only get shorter with refinement :). I’ll be working towards a 2nd draft of this with audio and improved timing.

Model sheet WIP

I've been putting together a model sheet for ANNA as i go along. This is part of my pre-production process and also in partial fulfillment of my 2D masters brief, heres where i am with it so far. If i have time i will tidy up the lines and such digitally and put it together neatly. I will also use some poses i gathered from observational drawing at pre-natal yoga and life drawing with our pregnant model, Megan. When complete, the model sheet will act as a reference for animators on the form and personality of Anna.

Pre-Natal Yoga: Observational Drawing

Following on from drawing my friend Megan in some poses of my own choice this week, i arranged to draw in a pre-natal yoga class at the Olympia centre in Dundee city centre this morning. 

This was very interesting as i had no control or knowledge of the type of poses that would be involved here, it helped build an understanding of balance, weight and flexibility in a pregnant body. 

I will use the reference and knowledge gathered here to inform my character drawings and actual animation.

Finally! an Animatic...

Watch my rough animatic here!

I just made this with free sounds and music to try and give a feel for the story i want to tell, the drawings and characters are pretty rough aswell, almost everything was done on post-it notes while i was on holiday XD

Constructive feed-back welcome!