Impresario: Clean up

This week I finished up my final clean up scene for Devons project. This took a lot longer then I initially had hoped, mostly because of how long the scenes is and the amount of characters it contains, but also because I was juggling it with multiple projects.

Though I feel that some of the line work isn't as clean as the previous scene I worked on, I feel that a lot of the animation is much smoother. Overall I'm happy with how this scene turned out and working with robber hose like animation was a fun experience.

Next I will be finishing up my scenes for Emma's project and pulling everything together for submission.

Impresario: Clean Up

Here I have completed one of my assigned clean up scenes of Lucy stepping onto the stage with the Impresario watching her.

This was an interesting scene to work on as it involved perspective with Lucy stepping forwards. I feel like the scene could have been smoother in comparison with some of the other scenes. However, I do believe that the line work on this scene is very clean and consistent and i'm overall happy with how it has turned out.

Next I will be cleaning up another scene that is much longer and contains more characters. This scene will probably take a lot longer and will be done in between me also working on visual effects for Emma's final film.

Impressario Update

Since the university is closed due to Coronavirus my ability to work on animation has been stilted, particularly with projects such as Impressario  which use TV Paint. Currently the only animation software I have access to is Photoshop which isn't my preferred software, but also can't open TV Paint files.

This has meant that any files i've currently worked on have been passed onto someone else to finish while I work on separate scene that I can start on in photoshop.

Here is a video of the progress I made on the lining of one of the scene before I lost access.

For now, the plan is to continue to work to the best of my ability despite the circumstances and get as much of my agreed work done as possible.

Finalising Characters - Extras (Impresario)

Here are the finalised versions of the extra characters fully coloured and shaded.

- Fairly set colour schemes to match the background with some slight variations.
- Characters in a featured set all have the same colour clothes with variation in the hair and skin tones.

Developing Characters - Extras 2 (Impresario)

Here I have been continuing to finish the outlines of the extra characters.

- The Valkyries are dancing viking ladies who similarly to the Maidens are a set who share a base design with slight changes to the hair and colours. They wear torso armour and have long flowing skirts. (EDIT: Need 2 more designs as animation now has 5 rather then 3)
- Seigfrieds extra is largely repeated design of Seigfried with changes to the hair, height and colours. He doesn't appear as much as Seigfried but as also a douchey viking.
- The Orchestra is a cartoon cloud with instruments sticking out of it. It is seen moving across the screen with the Conductor following behind.

Developing Characters - Extras (Impresario)

These are the clean outlined versions of the extra characters for Impresario including Seigfried, The Rhine Maidens, Brunhilde and Understudy, Conductor, and the Stagehand.

- Rhine Maidens are a set of three who's designs are mostly repeated with slight variations in the hair and colours.
- Siegfried is a Viking in the opera who acts kinda douchey and likes looking at his reflection in his sword.
-Brunhilde is a Viking lady who has a helmet with wings, a shield and a spear. In the animation we only see her in her underwear. She's very curvy!
- The Understudy has similar features to Brunhilde but ultimately is a man in a corset. His shoulders are wider then Brunhilde and he is shaving his legs in the animation. (EDITS: Give him less leg hair).
- The Conductor is very short but has the confidence of someone 7ft tall. His shapes are fairly pointy.
- The Stagehand has the last amount of screen time and is a young boy in a baker boy hat. He's around the same height of the Conductor despite being much younger.

Finalising Character - Lucy (Impresario)

This is the final design and turnaround for Lucy. After feedback from Devon we decided to work with colours that matched the backgrounds and to use the new style of eyes.

Unfortunately, i'm now working behind schedule as I came down with a week long illness that impaired my ability to work effectively. as such i'm going to have to pick up the pace with my work from now on to get back on schedule.

Further Development - Lucy (Impresario)

Here are further development boards of Lucy after the initial round of feedback from the group. I used the colour palette I was given by Devon for the background, and tried to incorporate those tones into the design.

I also created a board with the improved version of the eyes and with some variations of the skin tone.

I will be asking for feedback on these from Devon and will hopefully be moving onto finalising the design and creating the turnaround.

Developing Character - Lucy (Impresario)

This week I began drawing up the potential styles for Lucy. For this character i've been asked to use Eloise's design for Lucy in the present as a base and change the style to fit the 1920's flashback sequence.

Not knowing the colour schemes for the backgrounds I drew up a few versions with varying tones to test the design.

Devon gave feedback saying they liked the design that used varying tones for the shirt and shorts (design 2), and to try giving her eyes an outlines/whites. Due to her being next to the Impresario, her design can afford to be a little less rigid to the 1920's style but the overall stylisation is good.

A colour palette for the backgrounds has now been uploaded so I will be testing this with her improved designs next.

Finalising Character - Balthazar (Impresario)

This is the final edits board for Balthazar that has the changes Devon asked for in a few variations.

They really liked the slimmer waist and longer legs and chose the third design overall. The final change they asked for was to make the cane longer to make him appear taller overall.

The design at the bottom is the final design with all the changes made and has been approved by Devon. If any further changes are to be made it will be to do with the colour palette so I can move on to creating his turn around.

Developing Character - Balthazar (Impresario)

Here I worked on developing the initial sketches for Balthazar using the notes I received from the previous group meeting.

I created a few variations of the original design to test different features and different sizes. Devon decided that they preferred the options that had a longer neck and coat tails, and asked for the head and shoulders to be made smaller (to make the character appear more lanky), and for the legs to be longer and thicker while the waist should be smaller. The facial features were all fine so these don't need further editing.

Initial Sketches - Balthazar (Impresario)

These are my initial sketches for the protagonist Balthazar for Devon's project 'Impresario'. This project uses two styles to communicate a present time and a flashback, and it is the flashback designs that I will be working on. This will be inspired by 1920's animation and have predominantly black and white colour schemes with pops of colour.

We have decided to focus on the style in the top left as we liked the general structure. The main notes were to keep the hair short and pointed (possibly with a hat), keep them looking bendy, avoid having boots (characters legs can just be black), and to add a waist coat.