Character Design

 Character design for my version of Frankenstein's creature/ monster. I am still thinking quite allot about Lynd Wards monster and how I can incorporate the same kind of feeling within my own character. My style already resonates allot with hers with the black base and white lines creating detail. Due to the fact that my creature is essentially representing man I think it should be that he appears inherently human and his actions speak louder than his appearance. I also thought about having lightning to illuminate him and I really like the aesthetic of the green against the black.

Animating the book cover idea

 This started off as a book cover design but then I decided to animate it and see how it looked. Overall I really like it and think that it could tie into my animation really fluidly and nicely. In particular I am really enjoying the simple aesthetic and the revolving Earth. I planned to animate the design using adobe after effects but unfortunately due to covid-19 I am limited to using Procreate which means my animation frames are all hand drawn digitally. However, I am really pleased with this aesthetic and will definitely be taking this forward.

Animating the fish

I animated the fish by drawing rippled lines and then moving the fish along the lines. It’s not a natural fish movement but it makes the animation really nice and fluid which is what I am aiming to achieve. 

Inspiration and it’s influence

 

My Grandad recently passed away and as a result we inherited a number of his items one of them being this book he wrote “Global Climate”. Not only is this topic poignant to my own work but I also love the relevance of the design on the front being quite similar to my own Earth. I am now thinking about the colour scheme applied here and also the amazing white lines that illustrate the climate which definitely could be incorporated.

 

I am really interested in using some part of this cover within my animation whether it be the colour scheme or just the white lines covering the surface to give the appearance of chancing weather patterns and the effect climate change is having on the global climate.

Inspiration

Inspiration

The motion of this short animation sequence is really interesting keeping to a consistent panning up and down movement as the sequence transitions. I really like the half black and white aesthetic as well as the seamless way the shots change between one another.

 https://www.instagram.com/p/CC_lStABbpU/?igshid=1t8sd34tfcmmr

The below short animation appeals to me because of the contrast between the coloured sea and the black setting surrounding it. In particular its really interesting that the animation is still identifiable whilst only being two colours.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CH5lQc5qMwR/?igshid=hje7x9tcoltg

Currently I am struggling with how I can potentially reveal my monster character. However the animation below does it really interestingly by having "gloop" fluidly move around on screen until it reveals the lines of the character. This might suit my aesthetic as I do really like the idea of having a seamless and gloopy animation.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B-kIaDlAuUl/?igshid=1e2gtq4vnyua

Incorporating the penguin book award and thinking about how I can fit my designs to a book cover

 Sketchbook ideas of how I can make a book cover

Recently I was brainstorming ideas of how I can visually portray 'The Uninhabitable Earth'. Due to the fact I want to focus on more of the elemental consequences of climate change. I had already explored the idea of the Earth melting which I drafted on to a book template which made me think of other quotes from the book. One of which suggests how the world could essentially go under water like Atlantis. As a result I had the idea to have the fish swim past the Earth like its underwater. I also I thought that to highlight the uninhabitable nature of the Earth it would be interesting to have the fish turn to skeletons as they swam through the Earth to highlight the Earths deadly nature.

Figuring out the anatomy of a fish

Drafting rough book cover designs and mindmapping

Working out aesthetics for another book cover design

Adding colour/ mindmapping

Reading the uninhabitable earth

The Uninhabitable Earth

 'The Uninhabitable Earth' is a key focal point of this project. Not only is it the book I am illustrating the cover for, for the Penguin design award but it is also the focal point of my animation as a result of this. As a result it is important that I read the book and highlight key aspects of the text that might direct the focus of the project. I am also contemplating having sections of the text from the book narrate my animation. 

Animation progress taken from storyboarding

 I have now begun to animate from my storyboards starting by taking my already revolving animation of the Earth and animation the water coming out of it. I want to have this animation pan downwards so the gloop can reveal something but I am not entirely sure what that will be yet.

Story boarding

In the above storyboards I explore ways in which I can have the Earth morph within the animation. I began to storyboard my idea of having the Earth's water melt out of it which keeps in line with me exploring the elemental results of climate change. I also explored how I could potentially introduce my monster and potentially what he even looks like.

I plan to have allot of camera motions, in particular I storyboarded a panning motion downwards for a few shots. This one in particular would have the Earths water melt out and reveal the monster as a character introduction.

Above I was thinking about how I could reveal the Monster through his eyes which then transition in to more shots.

Above are a few character ideas for how my monster could look as well as some more ideas on how I could reveal the creature. One of which involved the fish from the melting Earth reveal him as they swam through him in a gloopy transition.

Research into animation style

'Son of the White Mare' is a really interesting animation. In particular I feel like the style resonates with my minimal style as well as really unique colour combinations.

Below are some of my favourite shots from the trailer, that I feel both suit my own style as well as inspiring me to extend it too.

In this shot my favourite part of the image is the snake, I really like how the character is clearly the villain in contrast to the bright yellow protagonist. This really makes me think about how I can utilise colour in order to present character traits and moods.

In this sequence the planet revolves whilst the protagonist walks on it like a treadmill with the trees passing him by. Technically this is a really clever way of animating a character walking without having them just walking across the screen so maybe i can do this with my monster?

In this shot I really like the character design of the 'Mare'. Its simple and bold and incorporates only two tones of blue and it comes across really strong. I also really like the contrast of the two characters within this shot and you can clearly see who the main character/ protagonist is as he is central within the shot.

Work in progress

Introducing the Earth

A little bit of animation work to develop more of a style, I used procreate on my iPad to hand draw the slides to create a simple revolving Earth. It makes sense to me to have the Earth as the centre of my project if I am exploring the ramifications of global warming. Currently my idea is to have the Earth revolving and cracking with some sort of toxic goo ooze out to demonstrate the toxicity of the Earth as a result of humanity.

 

Working out an aesthetic

Not only am I trying to work out a style but I am also working out how I can animate some of my initial storyboard ideas. This one in particular resonates with the idea of everything the monster touches becoming polluted. As a result these two images show the monsters hand touching water and the water becoming black, symbolic of man ruining the environment.

 

 I feel as though these designs certainly resonate with Lynd Wards illustrations of 'Frankenstein' with the mostly black setting with white lines adding detail. I also want to go for a simple animation style in order to create a fluid animation which seamlessly changes from scene to scene.

Additionally, I have recently been working on a project creating four designs to feature on merchandise for Louder than War. What I have noticed is how the style has translated across into all my other projects that I have been doing. Both of these projects have been running alongside one another. In particular what Is poignant about the correlation between my two projects is the idea of climate change, with this project I am exploring the consequences of ruining our environment whilst with Louder than War we are practicing good habits with biodegradable packaging and habits that should aid the enviroment.

Idea drafting

 

Initial Storyboard

In my sketchbook I storyboarded a few initial ideas for an animation. I explored the idea of everything the monster comes into contact with dying as a metaphor of humanity destroying the Earth. Essentially i am exploring the idea of my creature being the last thing left on the world exploring the chaos left behind

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Above are a few sticky notes I wrote on after a tutor session looking at books that may aid my research as well as potential ways my animation could go. It was interesting to learn that Mary Shelley had written another book called 'The Last Man' which made me think that I could potentially explore a dystopian world destroyed by man and the only creature to survive could be Frankenstein's creature.

The idea of exploring the result of global warming once humans have been wiped out is interesting. Allot of the illustrations In my research seem to depict worlds overridden by the elements with little to no humanity left.

Above is a small sketchbook study from the researched photographs I was looking at of ships stranded in the arctic. Although I don't think this particular drawing is what I am looking for within my animation  the style I adopted should be quite effective with the black image illuminated by white lines.