Character Design: Blond Girl

For each character I have tried to assign them a "shape". The blond girl is very pointy and sharp edges, she is a very sassy and selfish modern young woman, rolling her eyes at people and posting her every move on Instagram.

I ended up tweaking her hair colour from yellow blond to a more pale "silver" blond. I feel that with her new hair colour she looks more up to date with today's trend of silver blond hair... and boosts her ice cold attitude.  

SWEET TOOTH 3D environment

Sweet Tooth takes place in a nice, modern, but still rustic cafe. To use for reference, our 2nd year crew member Flo Green made this really nice and really helpful 3D model in Maya, by using my overlook sheet and some pins from my Pinterest board for Sweet Tooth.
By using the view finder and take screen shots, we can get the angles and perspective we want for different shots, so sooo helpful.

I've been working this way on some other projects I've storyboarded. Making a lot simpler 3D model in Maya (I'm not an expert in Maya, but I know basic stuff, and especially if it's only for my own reference use), makes it so much easier, and it is really helpful to find new angles by playing around with the camera. I then take a screen shot and just trace the picture, or the details I need, in Photoshop. It's not only helpful with angles and perspective, but also to realise the space you're working with. When I started to try some storyboarding for Sweet Tooth, many of the scene where lacking the feel of space, and the cafe often got the feel of a football field than a cosy cafe.

SWEET TOOTH The Story

After lots of brainstorming, discussions with tutors, guest lecturers and other students, a plan had finally started to slowly develop.

A quick summary:
Peaceful french cafe, were people are munching away. Suddenly, a cake had enough of this and screams, waking up his fellow cakes. Attack. One by one, the people in the cafe get eaten by the delicious cakes. The end.

Sweet Tooth has been an idea of mine since pre-production in my second year. In one of our assignments, we were given four cards with setting, character, type for film/show and art style, and had to come up with a concept and make a pitch bible. I was given horror film, patisserie, health inspector and a local artist of my choice. Luckily, these cards strangely fit together and a story of two rival bakeries and some infected flour was created. For the pitch bible project, this film was about 5 minutes long, but for my 3rd year film I wanted to make something that was only 2 - 2,5 minutes.

The idea of Sweet Tooth escalated quickly with trying to explain why do these cakes come alive? For me personally, I understood why the question of living cakes was brought up, but I thought, and still think, that in a short film the magic of animation can bring them to life, and it doesn't need an explanation of infected flour or aliens. Sweet Tooth is a simple idea, and it has been since the project got through, a struggle to keep it simple.

Cakes come alive, they eat everyone in the cafe, the end.

My purpose with this film is not to make a brilliant story that will touch people or an ironic look at society (if anything, it's probably leading more into that direction), it is suppose to be a fun 2,5 minute with good artwork and good animation, that will leave the viewer with thinking "Not really sure what I just watched, but it was really well made".

I'm not a script writer, I don't want to be a script writer. What I want to do is make an awesome film, that looks awesome. I chose to make a film with a fight scene, because I want to become an storyboard artist, and a fight scene is something I haven't storyboarded yet (and I find it really really complicated), but I like the challenge. I also want this film to focus on the art work; colour and lighting. I want this film to challenge and improve me and my crews skill set as animators.
And the most important point, I would rather complete making a 2 minutes film with impressive animation and artwork that might not have a story, than a half done 4 - 5 minutes short film with poorly animation and art, because it only focused on the story. Lets face it, I got one year, not even a whole year, and I want to graduate with something I can be proud of.

SWEET TOOTH Concept Art

SWEET TOOTH

It has been a while since I've updated this blog. Luckily, there is a good reason for it ( at least I think it's a good reason..). I've been extremely busy the last 6 months making my 3rd year film, SWEET TOOTH.

The start of 3rd year at Uni was like an unstable, dramatic roller coaster ride..
The end of 2nd year, us in pre-production was preparing ourselves for pitching our film ideas for 3rd year. After only a week back after summer, the day had come. I was pitching my idea Sweet Tooth, this idea I had developed through pre-production of a comical horror about a bakery were all the cake would come alive and eat all the humans, as a little bizarre, but funny short film.

The pitch it selves went pretty fine, I went into make-jokes-be-funny-nervous mode, instead of choke-on-your-words-and-forget-everything mode. The worst part of the pitch was definitely the waiting. The crucial countdown. Then, everything seems to be over, and you can relax.. until..

They turn you down. My project was not chosen, and this was a big disappointment, of course. Making my own film in my 3rd year at Uni had been my goal since I started, and through pre-production second year, it all seemed like my project was a go. Apparently not. I know this is how its going to be after uni, rejections and dreams crushed, but then the only thing is to try again, a new idea, a different project, something. I quickly tried to make a new plan for my final year, to make the best out of it and focus on what I want to improve, witch is storyboarding. So for a couple of weeks I was helping fellow students out with their own storyboards.

THEN, the tutors had a change of heart and gave Sweet Tooth the thumbs up after all. Now, all I have to do is to prove within 10 months that Sweet Tooth is an awesome idea and will be an awesome short film, maybe (hopefully) win some awards here and there. Again, hopefully.

So, let all hell break loose and let it be cake!
(more about the film will continue..)
   

Character Design Development Result

Here is the result of the Purity West and Arabella West for West Country.

Character Design Development

I started quite slow with this project, and in the first feedback round from James Henry, he said that Runepaw had enough contributions. I've only made a couple of few sketches of a viking mouse. So now I've gone for another idea instead, West Country. 

West Country is about a girl and her brother who moves with their mother, she's an author, to a village in Cornwall, Westmouth. The siblings go on adventures and meets ghost’s of past relatives who helps them on their task to find the sunken city. The TV show is aimed to be funny/spooky made in CGI/puppetry. What caught my eye with this idea was the “spooky” and puppetry, and I was inspired my Tim Burton and his animations. Looking at his films like Paranorman, Frankenweenie, Coraline, and even Corpse Bride and a Nightmare before Christmas, I want to make a spooky design that is still funny and friendly. 

A couple of the sketches of the viking mouse. 

 

..and again, some new moodboards! 

This for two of the ghosts Purity West: Puritan Witchhunter (accidentally burned), Arabella West: Victorian Werewolf Biologist (eaten). (From James Henry’s script ideas).

Purity West

Arabella West