Trio of Character Animations

Two Fish Dialogue Scene

Analysing the Dialogue

Before I started to animate this project, the first thing I did was to listen to the dialogue multiple times in order determine where the emphases were in each sentence and also get a general sense of its rhythm and pacing.

Performance Reference

Once I was comfortable with the dialogue, I recorded myself performing both sides of the scene in order to give myself a clearer sense of how the characters should look whilst delivering their lines.

Character Designs

I decided to make the characters fish as I had never animated fish before and thought it would be a good challenge for myself. I decided to use shovelnose sturgeons and goliath groupers as the main source of design inspiration as I thought they fit the personality of the characters/original actors the most.

Scene Staging

After finalising the designs, I planned out how the characters would emote when delivering their lines and how they'd move in relation to each other.

Background Design

I created an underwater scene with a boat in the foreground for the fish to hit whilst delivering their lines. This way, I could match the moment in the dialogue when one of the characters hits the roof of their car whilst speaking.

Key Poses and In-between Animation

First, I created the key poses to determine the spacing, timing and expressions of the characters, then I created the rest of the animation. I created the animation on ones (one drawing on every frame) in order to make the final scene look as smooth as possible.

Colour, Shading, and Effects

I decided to make the two fish orange and light blue. This way, they'd somewhat resemble the fish they were based on whilst still standing out from the background.

I then added an artificial light source, lighting and shading on the characters, water shimmer effects, bubbles, and camera movements using the various node features in Toon Boom Harmony.

Cloaked Wizard in the Forest

Design Planning

I created this animation as a means to challenge myself with techniques I had never tried before such as animating flowing clothing, hands moving in perspective, and fire. I also wanted to improve my skills in character design and animating 3D rotating objects.

I collected photographs of cloaks and hands and replicated them until I was comfortable drawing them. I also collected images of Richard Burton for character design inspiration as I felt his facial features matched the intense and mysterious traits I was aiming for.

Fire

Before animating the fire, I created a path for the fire to follow that would allow the fire to grow in size whilst oscillating back and forth.

I then created three key poses for the fire (the fire at it's smallest point, the fire at it's largest instance, and the fire starting to dissipate). After which, I created the rest of the fire animation around these three poses.

Animating the Wizard

Once I was comfortable drawing all of the individual elements, I started to animate the wizard. I drew the key poses, timing charts and arcs for guidance and then created the rest of the animation (again on ones for maximum smoothness).

Background Design

I created a forest background as I felt it fit well with the wizard character and created a consistent fantasy aesthetic.

I ensured there was a clear light source on the left hand side of the scene in order to make lighting the character simpler and also to add depth to the scene with the trees getting darker as they recede further back.

Character Colour, Shading, and Effects

I wanted to make sure the colours I used for the character would stand out from the background but still be muted compared to the crystal and fire. I shaded the character using the brush tool and blur node in order to create more seamless shading.

I used the glow node for the crystal and fire, ensuring the glow wasn't too bright so as not to lose the form of the fire and crystal.

King Monologue Scene

Analysing the Dialogue

As with my other dialogue animation, I analysed the dialogue in order to get a sense of its rhythm, pacing and changes of intonation. This would help when it came to creating the key poses.

Character Designs

I used various sources of inspiration for the character design. I used the original actor who performed the dialogue (Peter O'Toole in the film Becket) as well as characters from The Secret of Kells and Wolfwalkers to capture the medieval aesthetic.

I also used character models from The Prince Of Egypt as inspiration in order to challenge myself at creating a character with a sense of volume and tangibility.

Animating the King

As with my other animations, I first sketched out the key poses and timing charts before moving on to the rest of the animation (once again on ones for added smoothness).

Character Colours and Background Design

I drew direct inspiration from Peter O'Toole in the film Becket when colouring in the character. The only major change I made was to make his cloak red instead of green as I thought it would better exaggerate the imposing nature of the character.

For the background, I added a wooden throne (as seen in the film), a stone castle wall, and a wooden table in order to maintain the medieval aesthetic.