Favourite Characters

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7n8vJWzDq8ORFhKNzhaYXpTZlE



Word Document writing about my favourite animated films and characters, the animation and everything that makes them good.

Characters owned by Disney, Image: http://cdn.wallpapersafari.com/69/77/3B4p9J.jpg

What makes a good model?

    When it comes to modelling, i believe that a character should be modeled in a way that it has good topology. It is important for getting a finished model that is structurally sound for when it comes to the rigging and skinning stages. A model should be checked for any issues like holes or triangular problems that could cause complications later in the process. If you are creating a character that is meant to have a lot of movement or facial expression then it is important to add extra edge loops in the model in order to allow for this movement during the later processes. This is also good practice for joints such as elbows and knees to allow for more flexibility in the deformations. Good deformation and good topology work together. Models should be checked and issues fixed before moving on in the animation process. It is good practice to do this as it can be a complicated process without this. A clean model is a good one. A good model takes note of a character as well and conveys that character. A good model must be also appealing visually, almost being able to tell a story from its look and style.



                                     

good topology images.   https://uk.pinterest.com/betopra/character-topology/
image used here:   https://tomparkersartdump.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/topology_breakdown.jpg

A study of "Sadness"

Looking at research on emotions. Originally i had intended to look at anger as the emotion as this is the emotion that the snake charmer will be doing in my animation but changed my mind as this had already been done in the lecturer's presentation so for the purpose of this exercise, I will look at sadness as an emotion and try to relate it to animation.

First of all, sadness can affect us all for many reasons, it is an emotion that can stem from pain, loss, homesickness, rejection, displeasure and undesire towards something. Many use the term "Blue" as a colour to refer to sadness. It is a calm, cool and often dark colour. This was used for the colour of the character of "Sadness" in the film, "Inside Out".

Sadness is typically associated with down turned mouths, tears and slumped postures. Frowning can express it. Emotions like this can be exaggerated in a character, which becomes useful in animation.

Here are some examples of characters who experience sadness in animation.

 

According to microexpressions website, these are expression signs of sadness:  

 -Inner corners of the eyebrows are drawn in and then up

                                          -Skin below eyebrow triangulated, with inner corner up

                                          -Corner of the lips are drawn down

                                           -Jaw comes up

                                           -Lower lip pouts out

    

A form of excessive sadness, is depression which affects people all around the world daily. This is something that can be treated but overall it can be a lonely and painful experience. Animators need to be able to replicate and tackle these emotions in a realistic but respectful fashion in their work. By studying an emotion such as sadness, an animator can exaggerate it to fit a scene, create an impact with an audience or add characterisation to a character. Emotion is important in animation and it can make an animation identifiable and more powerful to an audience.    

Websites used for research:  http://www.emotionalcompetency.com/sadness.htm
                                              https://www.quora.com/Why-is-blue-identified-with-sadness
                                              http://www.scienceofpeople.com/2013/09/guide-reading-microexpressions/
                                           


Images:   Inside Out, Pixar:  http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/pixar/images/0/06/Io_Sadness_standard2.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20150425021239

Disney, Mickey Mouse, http://cliparts.co/cliparts/kTK/nB4/kTKnB4GEc.jpg

A. A. Milne, Eeyore: http://cliparts.co/cliparts/riL/go8/riLgo844T.jpg

Pixar, Monster's Inc,  http://i.onionstatic.com/avclub/5864/97/16x9/960.jpg

Posing a character to convey emotions

Model downloaded from here:   http://www.turbosquid.com/3d-models/free-obj-mode-dummy/662719

Rigged by me using human IK auto rig in maya

The first image is of the character. Followed by poses of anger, "someone looking down on someone in an authoritative fashion", sadness and joy. I find these three emotions to be very expressive with the first one being a little vaguer but still clear to anyone who was to see them. The emotions can be made out without the need for facial expressions. This has helped with creating emotion without facial expressions and goes to show that body language does in fact make up a large part of a character's traits. I left the rig visible in most of these in order to highlight the basic shape of the skeleton and how this further breaks down the character's movements. The idea behind this exercise was to try and convey the emotions in a way that could work later for the semester project. In the next post i will look at an emotion in depth and learn more about it so it can be used later for my snake charmer animation.   

Model of the USS Enterprise

Render of a model i made in my spare time of the USS Enterprise from Star Trek. Rendered with Mental Ray. BACKGROUND:  Night sky, Star trek stars, https://i.ytimg.com/vi/dlGOyxvrx2A/maxresdefault.jpg

    This worked out much better than I thought it would so i'm glad. I like the illumination that i added to the light rim. Tee back sections look slightly gummy though but it is all part of a learning experience and i aim to get better. 

My pinterest board and visual research for my project

https://uk.pinterest.com/josephlearoyd/visual-and-animated-research-for-module/



   Project Brief and my character and animation idea.


   My idea for the brief is to use the idea of performing a circus trick and the emotion of anger to tell a story. I took a fairly obscure circus trick, snake charming as the trick and main with an anthropomorphic lion as the snake charmer. This character is inspired by a variety of things. I like the overall interaction between Prince John (The Lion) and Sir Hiss (The Snake) in the animated Robin Hood from 1973.

      

   This similar interaction was used in "The Jungle Book" with Sher Khan and Kaa. I looked at snake charmer images and some old animated episodes of Sandokan: The tiger of Malaysia as well as characters from the film Aladdin to come up with a character idea that i like. This visual research board also allowed me to look at lots of 3D character designs of hands and lion/feline faces which can be found via the pinterest link above. I will continue to look at further design elements and build on this snake charmer character. I like how there is simplicity and complexity in the character's here and I aim to do something cartoonish like this. I don't think that there should be an awful lot of detail on my character though as it could prove difficult to animate. I will still work on it and see where the process takes me. My rough character design can be seen as part of my storyboard on the post prior to this one.

       I chose anger as it is a very expressive emotion that could lead to some powerful poses, breaking things etc. I look forward to this project.




Image references

       Disney, Robin Hood, https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/2f/93/0a/2f930af7385cff154cba75a27bd85586.jpg, 1973

BRB International, Sandokan, https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/28/1f/6c/281f6cc6027d7d50798df56ec2ee48ab.gif, 1992

Storyboard for this semester's animation using "performing a circus trick" and "Anger."