Character Modelsheet, Expressions and Environmental Designs (04/03/2015)

CHARACTER MODELHSHEET

This morning I finished my turn-around modelsheet of my main character. I found it a bit difficult at first, figuring out how his face and hands work, but with the help of a few references I was able to figure it out. I based his hands off "Who's afraid of Mr. Greedy?" short film. The female hands in "Duo" were very delicate and pointy, so I think I might use those hands for the female character, but I think more square-like fingers fit my character better. I found this style quite a challenge for me, especially the face, so I did some Character Expressions to figure out how his face would move in animation.

CHARACTER EXPRESSIONS

I found his expressions quite difficult to get the hang of as his personality is quite repressed and more held back. I am used to over-exaggerateing a lot of my expressions that I draw, so it was a new challenge for me to make his expressions more subtle. I found out that his eyes and eyebrows are the most expressive parts of his face as they truly show what he is feeling. His mouth is more subtle, to show his repressed personality. I also experimented with angles for his head.

ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGNS

After Lunch, I started thinking about some "Internal" designs for my Circus trapeze scene. I looked up some circus images and created a moodboard, for the colours and the design I want to go for.

 I tackled the whole inside of the tent all at once, and it was too much to get my head around. I got a good understanding of how the inside looks and works, but I think in the future I should tackle one thing at a time and not all at once. I then played around with the lighting and mood for the scene. I want the spotlight to be on the girl' side and blue/dark colours on the boy's side. I tried it out a few times but I think I like my third design the best so far. I think the spotlight is more obvious and the blue looks more depressing.

I looked up some trapeze performances, just so I can understand how trapeze actually works. I found that in most catches, the trapeze acrobat is upside down, his hands free and holding on to the other acrobat. I also studied how the trapeze are usually set up, but I decided I liked the two platforms in the middle of the circus have a lot more impact. I looked at a few platforms and combined things I liked about them, I thought that perhaps the girl character's trapeze bar is yellow and the boy character's one is blue. The reason for this is that I think the yellow matches her personality and is also a warm colour whereas the blue has quite a contrast and is more of a cold colour, representing both character's contrasts.