White Butterflies

SYNOPSIS

In a Victorian era world where people’s dreams and aspirations turn into butterflies, Percival, a cold and dreamless butterfly collector, has seen and captured them all…except for one. One that is now flying outside his very window - a white butterfly.

ABOUT THE SHORT FILM

White Butterflies is a 2D animated fantasy and drama graduation short film created by students from the Animation Degree with a 2D major at U-Tad, Spain. The short film focuses on generational trauma and breaking the cycle through visual metaphors and a victorian aesthetic, mixed with fantastical elements.

WATCH THE SHORT FILM HERE

CONCEPT ART

The visual style of the short film was pretty clear from the start, but it still took some exploration to fully define both characters and locations.

CHARACTER DESIGN

Percival, the protagonist, and mostly Eudora, the second main character, were both intended to have an ambiguous design that made them look human and not like stereotypical "good" or "evil" characters. Muted colour palettes and recurring elements such as eye bags and wrinkles, made them fit into the melancholic and dark aesthetic of a victorian world. Their designs were kept simple to animate them with ease.

LAYOUT AND BACKGROUNDS

The layouts and settings of the short film were some of the most important and detailed elements of the whole project. The linework was both sketchy but clear, mimicking traditional pencil and ink drawings, and the colour palette of each environment aimed to give a distinct feeling. Light, empty and spacious rooms at the orphanage, contrasted with the dark, baroque and ornate rooms of the main character's house.

COMPOSITING

Compositing was an extremely important aspect of the short film, since the shadows, rain and butterflies were all added in this step. We combined several softwares, mainly ToonBoom Harmony for all shadows and lighting and After Effects for the particles, to create the final images.

Thank you!

We hope you enjoyed our project, and that your butterflies will fly ever higher.