Monday, August 20, 2012

Reinventing The Square

This is what I've been up to:

Character Designs: I've created a few new characters, but mainly have given the ones from the past new roles. I still keep this part of the process an 'uncalculated science.' In other words, I don't have a detailed map of what the character will look like in the final. I like the element of surprise.

Since I have a story that involves superheroes, the question comes, should they be realistic or caricature? You know, the hyper-extended chin? I prefer a mixture of both. This keeps my story from being overly serious. I want to keep it fun, too.

Scene Design: This is my absolute favorite part of animation. It's also the most time consuming. With two projects going at the same time, each new scene means creating the elements that will bring it to life. In the picture above, I had to create the scene for my character to act in, this means signage, buildings, and the vehicle placement. Camera angles also come into play, as well as the never ending use of circles, triangles and squares.

Lighting and Color: Both the character and the scene needed the proper lighting effect. Lighting helps the story setting. In the scene above, I went with a contrast of cool and warm tones with the lighting.

I look forward to presenting some new works soon.