Project Duncan Snyder: Week 4

This week I was planning on getting the basic thumbnails down for the opening title sequence, ideas for classrooms and continue with characters.

I am possibly going to do a yearbook style post of my main characters, including a picture and some information on them. Here are some examples, unfortunately in my year of Photoshop I have never experimented with making textures so I decided to give it a go on Prof. Bearcat and Binton (first time without the hat). They didn't turn out the best but certainly more interesting than flat color. I will continue to experiment with this technique.

And here are some sketches of how the Bearcat's and Crocodile's classrooms might look. The bearcat has a stage in his room and different height levels of seats for students and nets to climb to them. The Crocodile has a shallow pool around his workspace as well as a small waterfall behind him to keep him tranquil.  Halfway through designing these I realized I don't even know if they are indoors or out.

Crocodile's room is outside, shown from 2 separate angles.

And here are some messy pen sketches of what I'm aiming for for my final animatic.

First, we see Aves jumping from tree to tree in a hurry (panel 5 is crossed out).

The branch she's standing on snaps and she falls into a net set up by Bin who greets her.

They are hurrying still, when Aves hears something and it sneaks up behind them SO SHE KICKS IT.

It turns out to be just another classmate (Dillion) and just as she is about to yell at him, a bell rings and they all rush off to class.

Obviously these will look MUCH better when completed and will have more interesting angles and all that, I was mainly just trying to think of ways to get their personalities to shine through somewhat without any words spoken.

And lastly, here are a few more classroom and character pen sketches. Just for fun.

Things I could use suggestions on:
-Names for Professors
-Location of school: Indoors or out?
-Ideas in general on classrooms, character design, etc...
Thanks!

Project Duncan Snyder: Week 3

So for today's update, I planned on finalizing unfinished character designs and adding any more I want to focus on.  I think with the time allowed, 3 teachers and 3 students to represent them will be my main focus and I will add backup characters as necessary.

So here are Aves (Owl) and Binton (Bearcat)

A finalized version of Mr. Bearcat (professors' names still to come, I can't decide if I want them to be humorous and punny ((ha)) like the kids' names or just average names).

And here is my final student, Dilian (Crocodile).

As for the story, I have already explained some details, about how the children dress up to represent their class and each class is chosen depending on the childs' attributes at a young age.
The bearcat students are generally laid back, clever and kind. (Teaches drama, gathering and basic survival techniques)
The crocodile students are usually brave, spontaneous and persistent. (Teaches swimming, advanced survival and self defense)
And the owl students are hard working, athletic and adaptable. (Teaches english, spotting and botany)

Instead of going to this school to get an education toward getting a job in a company, they go in order to get an education on the planet. About the planet, how to survive in the wild and most importantly, how to save the Earth. All the while participating in the same types of physical activities and daily school challenges that we had to put up with.

I might also mention that there are schools like this around the world and in different parts of the Earth, different teachers attend.  For example, in the arctic there are Polar bear and seal teachers, but our kids are in a basic forest environment.  However, they will have a few foreign-exchanged students, because I'll be darned if I don't get to make an armadillo character.

Project Duncan Snyder: Week 2

So here is my basic schedule for these last few weeks:
Week 1: Basic idea/Character concepts
Week 2: More elaborate character concepts
Week 3: More story details/Still more characters
Week 4: Scenery/Background Design/Thumbnails for intro
Week 5: Elaborate on everything (characters/background etc.)/ Basic storyboards for intro
Week 6: Storyboards
Final Week: Animatic for intro

And here are some more character concepts that still need some details hammered out.  I'm basically just trying to give last week's characters some more personality but I promise there will be a larger cast eventually!

Birds. I need to be better at them.

Project Duncan Snyder: Proposal

So for our final project I am going to return to my very first ever D4M idea, using my animal kid characters here, if you recall. (with the addition if a few quick sketches)

I plan on taking these characters and branching off of them.  Basically by creating much of the kind of artwork you might find in an "Art of..." book. This will include character concepts/costumes, backgrounds, basic plot details and hopefully a full animatic of a scene or intro by the end of it.

The basic story is about children who go to schools taught by animals, who learn basic survival skills, knowledge and ways to help the Earth.  There are different classes based on personality (much like Harry Potter) and the children wear special uniforms to represent their class/status as well as aid them in the wild.

Here are a few more character concepts for some professors.  I haven't completely decided of I want them to wear clothes or not...

Project Ron Saks: Week 4

And here are a few more images I drew for the finished product.

Yay!

The Red Riding Hood Times

Group project! And I've been assigned character development! The fun fun times for me!

So as a group we sort of decided on a more stylized look than realistic, which is neat because I need to do that more often anyway.

The story is a fun twist on Little Red Riding Hood and here's just a few ideas of what they can look like.

Red:

The wolf puppy: Which *spoiler alert* turns out to be evil wolf puppy!

And a few woodland critters: Thanks to a friend, the squirrel's name is Cindy-bun by the way.

and some more development sketches.

Project Ron Saks: Proposal

My idea is to make an animatic for a 3-5 minute music video!  I love music and while I listen I love to think about how music videos for certain songs would go. :)

I would need about 6 people for this, 2-3 artists to do storyboards/cleanup work, perhaps someone to add some color or shading and 1-2 people to work in either AfterEffects or Storyboard Pro (preferably Storyboard Pro as I know that much better but if someone knows a lot about AfterEffects I'm willing to learn)!

I love all kinds of music and haven't settled on a song, I figure we can do that as a group.  Anything from something as mainstream as Lady Gaga or LMFAO to lesser known like The Kooks or Library Voices.  I love it all, really!

The best songs to use would probably be ones that are a little more obscure and can be interpreted in many ways.  I prefer cartoony/comedic concepts but we can discuss the plot of the video after we settle on a song.

Here's some quick sketches of some silly ideas that can obviously use some expanding on.

But it's always subject to change!

And of course, here's an example of what I'm thinking by one of my favorites ever. Gorillaz!

and here's an example of one I did myself last year, much more serious than what I plan on doing for this project and in a very experimental style (that I don't plan on using again anytime soon) but you get the idea.

That's all! Fun times!

Project Hiroshi: Final Adjustments

Okay! I dealt with the font a little better this time, making it a little less blah and more form-fitting.  It definitely looks nicer but I really need more practice with fonts and kerning and such.

Just so everyone knows why I chose not to include the other band members in my composition I have included that version here for all to see.  It looks very awkward but I suppose as far as the assignment goes, this one is actually more appropriate.

Looking at it now though, I'm sure a horizontal composition and again, better font, would have helped immensely.  But anyway! Colorful poser is colorful.

Design for Media: FINAL

Well, it vaguely ended up how I planned but I am happy with the finished product!

Here were some of my original compositions in my sketchbook.

And the basic outlines.  I was so bummed, I really wanted to use ALL the band members because Ben and Andrew are really the only ones who ever get attention but it just didn't work.  Maybe it was my drawings, maybe the composition but they just didn't fit properly in the background. So they were abandoned. It made me sad.

Here was some progress on coloring the frontmen.

And here is the finished product! Designed to make it look like they are performing in Columbus... I want to go to there.

Pretty! I also had one with slight colorization that I preferred but everyone I asked didn't.

So that's it! Fun times!

D4M Update

So I've finally settled on the band idea but I'll probably end up coming back to the other in a later project.  Here's some examples of my renditions of that band members with this picture that I honestly found AFTER I drew the caricatures.  Pretty close, maybe?

So here are a few random things I have thrown together while brainstorming.  A few compositions and Andrew and Ben as doggies...

I think a lot of my first compositions were more focused on fancy backgrounds which is good for me (I've never been one to think too much about those) but bad for the project since is supposed to be character-based.  Here are the ones I thought had the best design but all may not be appropriate for the project.  The design that gets chosen will obviously influence the characters' design complexity as well as the color scheme.

So in case anyone doesn't know, MGMT is basically a band from the future playing music of the 70's... or is it the other way around?  Either way, the colors used on the final product will be very reminiscent of a 70's style.  Here's a few examples I made.

That's all for now! I feel like it will come together really fast once I get my composition down.

D4M Update

Still torn between my 2 ideas.  Part of me wants to be creative and come up with a whole new cast and story and go all out.  While another part just wants to draw the MGMT guys because they are so much fun.  Also, I think I would be a lot more motivated to work on a project involving them, they are just my favorites ever.  But here's what I have so far.

And in case you don't know what a bearcat (binturong) looks like, kind of like this only much darker.

And here's the MGMT parts I have so far, no color yet, just sort of getting the caricatures down first.  But I can tell you this, the end result will be very colorful (use your imagination for now).

Andrew Vanwyngarden (sporting some sweet shades)

EDIT: And colored.

Ben Goldwasser

and Matt Asti (looking slightly hungover AND using an invisible chair!)

Of course this is only 3/5 of the band, I will update as I progress because this is more than likely going to be my choice.  I like them a lot.

Design For Media

First post for Design for Media and I think it's safe to say I have the "failing" part down pretty well.

In my case, the assignment was to come up with a concept for multiple characters that work well together in the same environment... Too many ideas, too less execution of them.  I can never stick with one idea because I always think of one that could be better (until I draw it) but then I change my mind completely and well, here are the results...

At first, I had the idea to make up a band.  I enjoy music and making music so I can relate, but I also like dancing so why not make a dance group?  But I know more about music than dancing (you can only learn so much from a Kinect) so back to the band.

 Let's go for a more stylized route though, let's focus on making the characters vary in shape and style rather than personality... never mind... back to the band.  But why do they look like a Maroon 5 cover band?  Why not make them resemble the musicians I mainly listen to.

Now we're getting somewhere... kind of.  Why not completely go out on a ledge here, just ONE more time.

Small kids dressed as wild animals, where have I seen that before?  I'm going to continue to work on the costumes as well as the children to make them more unique and develop stronger personalities.  With color and better drawings I think this may end up being the winner.  If not, I'm thinking the band will be my plan B.  I'm sure that once either of these ideas get some tweaking (and color) they could both be acceptable.

Also, I love bearcats.

A lot.

The end.