Major Project 1 - Task 2: Design Proposition
Chan Wan Qing / 0350928 / BA of Design (HONS) in Creative Media
Major Project I
Task 2
INDEX:
1. Task 2: Design Proposition
2. Feedbacks
3. Reflection
INSTRUCTIONS
Task 2: Design Proposition
In project 2, the task is to focus on design exploration, project planning and technical research part. In this phase, we have to refine and expand our initial concept into a comprehensive design proposition.
Task 2 Deliverables
After we presented our proposal, we started task 2 immediately. Adriena and I listed out the deliverables and divided them into different part so we can have an idea on how to proceed. We divided the work into 4 parts and the deadline for each part so that we can finish them on time.
Final Script
Project Timeline (Draft)
After that, we had a meeting to divide our work. Before that, in the meeting, we discussed through the script that Han wrote and finalised it together. After completing the script, we divided the work for the research part.
Final Script
Research:
- Technical Feasibilities - me
- Technical Research - me
- Case Studies and benchmarking - han
- Characters (Industrial examples) - chaoran
- Characters (Proportions, color schemes, costume design, and personality traits) - chaoran
- Environment & Layout (Study professional layout techniques) - adriena
- Environment & Layout (Composition Studies & Lighting Setups) - adriena
- Research (modeling, texturing, rigging, animation, and rendering) /
- Software and pipeline choices /
- Justify choices based on industry case studies /
- Study relevant animation techniques /
- Compare different rendering engines /
- Research software tools /
I started with doing research on 3D modeling, texturing, rigging, animation and rendering. I searched for different sources online that explained the techniques. Since we planned to do a hybrid style, I also searched for techniques of 2D rigging, animation and rendering. However, we still need to decide and finalise the animation techniques on the animation after the research and justify them.
Animation Techniques (3D)
Next, I did research on the relevant software tools including Blender, Maya, ZBrush, Substance Painter and Houdini. Since we had only used Blender and Substance Painter before, so I reckon we will focus on using these 2 software during the execution phases. I also did some research on the 2D animation software.
Software Tools (3D)
Software Comparison Table (3D)
2D Software
Rendering Software
Software and Pipeline Choices
The first animation I chose is a 2D animation, "Klaus" since I wanted to study the human character animation in 2D. In 2D character construction, each character is designed with distinctive shapes to convey their personality. They will introduce turnaround and model sheet for the characters to maintain their consistency in different poses.
Klaus - 2D
The next 2 case studies, I chose 3D animation, including "Coco" and "Spirit Fright". For Coco, it is our reference in Project 1, so I think it would be helpful if we studied its animation style, techniques and software. The other 3D animation is Spirit Fright, where it's released by Blender. All the animation including modeling, texturing, rigging, animation and rendering are done in Blender. And since we are familiar with using Blender, I think this will be a good study for us to use Blender in our project more comprehensively.
Coco - 3D
Spirit Fright - 3D
I also did a case study on the animation "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse". This animation used hybrid animation techniques 2D and 3D for their animation style and also rigging. It can act as a reference for us if we stick to using hybrid techniques.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
After that, I came up with a justification for the software choices. For 2D animation and its software, I decided to discuss with my groupmate first since from what I know, we are familiar with different software for drawing and frame-by-frame animation.
Justification
After consulting with Mr Kamal in week 5, we had to start getting into sketches of the characters and environment. Additionally, there are many aspects we need to identify and refine in the technical section. I need to conduct further research, particularly on the character animation process, to ensure a solid understanding. For the other aspects, we will mainly use Blender since we are all more familiar with it.
Before that, we planned to do the environment and characters in 3D, except for the spirit. But, after consulting with sir and discussed with our group members, we planned to do the characters in 2D using Grease Pencil in Blender. However, I will need to do some research on the 2D animation software first.
Therefore, I started to research on Krita, Grease Pencil and also rigging and rendering part in Blender.
Krita
Grease Pencil (Blender)
Rigify (Blender)
Rendering in 2D (Blender)
Software and Pipeline
Character Analysis
After completing the research, I continued to work on the character analysis before we started on sketching. I found several existing characters with similar ages and personalities to Liang, Yun, and Xu Chen. I analysed their designs and proportions to gain insights into how to refine our own character designs.
For Liang, I analysed on 4 characters, including Ketchum (Pokemon), Mei (Totoro), young Hiccup (How to Train Your Dragon) and Kubo (Kubo and The Two Strings). These 4 characters have quite similar personalities with Liang, they are adventurous, curios, intuitive and kind-hearted. Their ages are about 7-11 years old except for Mei, 4 years old. From the analysis, I developed a design concept for Liang, incorporating elements that align with his age, personality, and role in the story.
Liang - Character References Analysis
Liang
- References: Characters that are similar with Liang's personality (energetic, intuitive, kind-hearted) and age group (7 y/o)
- Analysis: Proportions, face features, colour palette
- Final design idea:
- Proportion: 3-4 heads
- Soft Facial Features: Representing innocence
- Big eyes: Excitement and curiosity
- Chubby and balance limbs: youthfulness and energetic
- Colour Palette: Bright - red, yellow, blue
Next, for Yun, I did the same. I found a few existing characters and did analysis on their design and proportions. The characters are Haku (Spirited Away), Norman Babcock (ParaNorman), Hogarth Hughes (The Iron Giant) and Violet Parr (The Incredibles). The characters are all rational and more reserved, which is similar to Yun. Similarly, I came up with a design concept based on the analysis.
Yun - Character References Analysis
Yun
- References: Characters that are similar with Yun's personality (Skeptical, logical, rational, calm) and age group (7 y/o)
- Analysis: Proportions, face features, colour palette
- Final design idea:
- Proportion: Around 4 heads (Taller than Liang)
- Slightly rounded face (A bit angular but not too exaggerated): Mature, logical
- Smaller eyes: Rational and reserved
- Skinnier and balance limbs: inner hesitation yet steady presence
- Colour Palette: Muted, neutral colour (gray, navy)
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Xu Chen (Human Form) - Character References Analysis
Xu Chen (Human Form)
- References: Characters that are similar with Xu Chen's age group and presence
- Analysis: Proportions, face features, expressions, colour palette
- Final design idea:
- Proportion: Around 5 heads
- Sharp but Soft Facial Features: Hold warmth and sorrow
- Expressive eyes: Show sorrow and longing gaze
- Colour Palette: Muted earthy tones - deep brown, dark blue, faded red
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Xu Chen (Spirit Form) - Character References Analysis
Xu Chen (Spirit Form)
- References: Spiritual Characters
- Analysis: Proportions, face features, expressions
- Final design idea:
- Proportion: Similar to human form, maybe shorter
- Minimal facial features
- Hollow eyes, small mouth, big stomach
- Skinny limbs
- Colour Palette: Cool tones, desaturated colours
After I'm done with the analysis, I passed them to my teammate for sketching. ChaoRan then came out with a few idea sketches on the characters. We all voted for the most suitable art style and sketches for the characters.
Characters Idea Sketches
After we voted, ChaoRan continued to sketch on the turnaround sheet on the characters and later passed to me to colour. Following what we analysed for the colours for each character, I tried to match the colours for the outfits and the skin colours. I did the turnaround sheet for Liang, Yun and Xu Chen (human form).
Liang - Turnaround Sheet
Xu Chen - Turnaround Sheet
Yun - Turnaround Sheet
Meanwhile, Adriena did the environment layout and han did the thumbnail sketch. After the consultation, we amended some of the details in the story. Therefore, we edited some part of the script and han will amend the thumbnail sketches. We also chose the render style - hybrid cel shading, as we need to render the characters.
Render Styles
Edited Script
After Han finished the thumbnail sketches, we divided the boards into 4 parts and did the storyboard. We have 16 boards, so each groupmate takes 4 boards.
Storyboard delegation:
- Storyboard 1-4: (Chaoran)
- Storyboard 5- 8: (Wan Qing)
- Storyboard 9 -12: (Han)
- Storyboard 13 - 16: (Adriena)
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Storyboard 5
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Storyboard 6
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Storyboard 7
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Storyboard 8
After we finished our storyboard, we compiled them into pdf and our slides. Since we can't put everything into the slides, we put all the research and images into Miro and Google Drive as well.
Final Project 2: Design Proposition
Final Script - The Forgotten Spirit
Miro Board: https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVLhyOKW8=/
Gann Chart: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1WN018eDqmO-ZcYG10pHEVVnF7iho2X2kTTp8ur7yJYE/edit?usp=sharing
Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1zSaxNf31JeGuEaziokF8XKm4Yft1Vxjp?usp=sharing
Final Project 2: Presentation Slides
FEEDBACKS
Week 5 / Project 2
- Do character line up - can tell based on the silhouette
- Yun -
Taller, skinnier
- Summary of personality, physically, races, age
- Find similar characters - observe - justify how you come out with the
design
- One board one aspect for presentation
- Visual Art - Sketch of
concept art
- Storyline - Thumbnail Sketches
- Final - Concept,
Technical
- Research on
- Krita -
animation
- (Blender) Build in 3D,
render in 2D
- Grease Pencil
- Rigify
Week 6 / Project 2
- Scene 5 - straight cut
- Can write dialogue on the thumbnail
- Need to show the name (Chinese + romanisation / subtitle) on the lanterns - audience can relate
- Lantern - light slowly dim, and fall down \
- Being transported to the human world with other ghost...? - being thrown to his own grave
- Interact with people cleaning the grave
- Kid running passed, follows the kid
- Graveyard beside the park
- Getting hungrier, show his form fades away more
- Transition / show the spirit is fading? - opacity (need to be clear)
- Show a blink (scene becomes brighter then back to normal) when Yun remembers his uncle
- Show expressions of the kid when the tree grows
- Transformation - use motion blur, light on lantern
- Redraw the hair of the spirit like the human form
- Can render in 2D for the bg
- Work on the final concept art
- Show the graveyard with Xu Chen's empty grave
REFLECTION
From task 1 to task 2, it was really hectic for me since we have a lot of things to discuss, clarify and justify. Therefore, after we discuss, we quickly delegated the tasks to each of our groupmates. First, we did researches, then we discussed with each other and consult with sir to decide which direction we want to go. Doing technical research was so hard for me since there are a lot of information I has to take and summarise them. Not only the animation techniques, but also the software we decide to use. Of course, there are many choice, but considering our time, computer/laptop power, skills and so on, we decided to stick to Blender. Another challenge during the research stage is to decide whether to use 2D or 3D for the characters. We were going back and forth since we were afraid that the style will look too different when we put them into the 3D background, which we choose because of the lighting, wide shot and more. After discussion with sir, I realised that we can render in 2D style. Therefore, I did more research in this area. Thankfully, during that hectic time, my groupmates continued with their work including the sketches and so on. After I completed the research, I quickly started to do analysis on the existing characters. This step helped us a lot on designing the characters and to justify them. After I analysed them, I passed on to ChaoRan to come out with a few sketches and we voted on it. Then, she drew the turnaround sheet and I coloured it. I realised that teamwork is really important since there are a lot of work. We need to delegate tasks effectively and support each other throughout the process.
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