'A Boy and his Shadow' Minor || Submission

A story of a young boy and an unlikely friendship.

Reflective Statement

During this project, I have gotten a sense of how larger scale animation finds its foundations. I have worked on my management skills by using a timetable, though my work ethic still needs attention. Also I have found parts of the production phase that I have felt comfortable in.

'A Boy and his Shadow' Minor || Matt Paintings and Environments

I have made a few notes based on my storyboards and animatic attempts so far, though some events may change, the environments have always been the same, even props I have already made are supposed to fit into this space. Therefore I have begun matt paintings, orthographs, some modelling in proportion to my character, lighting experiments... which will be covered in this post.

Orthographs and Environment building

After blocking out everything the scale changed a bit to accomodate the fact this is a stage where characters are going to need to move about. I haven't done many models or textures yet as I intend to make my pre vis using this, and it doesn't need to be too elaborate for that purpose. When the space transitions, I'm going to use this specific model as a reference.

The memory photo

This was a vital storytelling element, and also an opportunity to use the original art style of my drawings.

The computer screen and the drawings that fill up the walls will be done soon enough, I have already begun creating some basic computer startups with the title incorporated into them. 

Matte Paintings

View from outside the bedroom window. I realised that it was supposed to be raining outside, so I decided not to use this one.

Skybox on the outside, perhaps it should have a more 'after the storm' sort of look to it, as it will look more dramatic.

One I re styled as a production art based on my storyboards.

'A Boy and his Shadow' Minor || Prop and Character Models

Square Eyes Model

Textured

Lambert

UV

Wireframe

Props

The Computer

to be updated with desk furniture during environment modelling stage (pens, paper, cups, other stationary ect...)

Plane

I am currently working on finalising the character rig, storyboards and animated pre viz ready for future presentations, as well as textures/matt paintings for the room and other environments.

'A Boy and his Shadow' Minor || Prop Design and Modeling Update Post

To begin, I started modeling some of the props in preparation for a initial test animation. Specificially I needed to scale the objects correctly so they looked natural for the main characters to interact with.

I added a nose! It looks completely different to the design I had before, so I suppose this is a lesson in 3D design and having some foresight into the modeling process. It does look a bit like a doll, but this suits the animation.

I feel like this is the most I'm going to do for this character as I have been working on the model for some four months, which is quite a stretch of time, however, it only took so long because the model kept getting updates to look more natural.

A start on the computer model, just need accessories and wires next. It's going to be immobile so no rigging required.

I've also been working on the logo as during the intro, the title appears on the computer screen before the boy walks in the room, so I wanted a more glitchy looking aesthestic going on to best represent the computer framework.

Going forward, I need to create a couple of matte paintings ahead of time to put outside the window in the first bedroom scene, and also outside for a more expansive landscape. I won't worry as much about the environment especially as I need to start getting into skinning and rigging models at this point in time, but I am assured in knowing that I have sound design ready, as it is a crucial point of understanding for the audience. 

'A Boy and his Shadow' Minor || Sound Design Research

Because of the importance of sound in the genre I'm working on, I wanted to investigate more about the sounds that each space had on a more earlier notice. To outline my thinking during the creation of these soundscapes, I had the idea to recognise the sounds that naturally emanate from each of my spaces and enhance them to best suit the tones of the animation. In particular, in the 'Blank Space' more metallic or bassy tones worked because they had a ominious sense of mystery behind them. I also included a rudimentary soundtrack which may or may not stay, depends on the responses I get. These soundscapes will make my second animatic make a lot more sense when I eventually finish the elemsnts in it to a satisfactory degree.

'A Boy and his Shadow' Minor || 3D Modeling the Boy Part 6: Fixing Geometry and Other Things

This is my original mesh, it requires more geometry, but the current structure doesn't allow it because the edge loops aren't going where they need to go. I wasn't aware of this initially until it was brought to my attention. 

This is the face geometry with a wireframe to show the fixes made to the mesh prior to smoothing. The nose resolution has been increased to better suit high quality animation, and other parts have more vertices in order to better support animation. I hadn't realised the knock on effect that the structure had of distorting the smoothed mesh because of all the points with more or less than four edges, so this is definitely something to bring forward from this project. 

'A Boy and his Shadow' Minor || Some Production Art and Animated Experiments

via GIPHY

I was thinking about animating the characters of my animation to see how they might move in terms of their habits or in the case of the ghost, how to shift and change form. The timeline window in photoshop helped me realise some of these movements when I was animating my production art. If I were to pursue this exercise, the final animations could benefit from the study and look less mechanical.

'A Boy and his Shadow' Minor || The Room and The Blank Space Part 1: Thumbnail Sketches

I fashioned these thumbnails after a theme of escapism. There are a few key props to consider; the computer is the impetus of conflict in the story, being the boy's key form of escaping real life but after the ghost makes contact through it, the red door becomes important as it represents escape for the boy. Both should be treated as key focuses while scene building. 

Also I began to consider the representation of Outside in the story. A green field is often seen as a metaphor for freedom, so this could be a possible alternate ending. I added a tree, just to see what it look like, though I'm not sure if it will stay. 

Please let me know what you think of these ideas in the comments, input is greatly appreciated.

'A Boy and his Shadow' Minor || 3D Modeling the Boy Part 5: Summer Progress Update

Over the course of the summer I have made some progress on one of my models, obviously it isn't done, but I will go over some of the developments as to make a record for future reference.

First of all the eyes have been remodeled as to more resemble an actual, albeit enlarged, human eye, which will give me more range of expression. This point is especially important since the animation has a horror aspect which covers a range of emotions.

The eyes were made using an old blender tutorial I used a few years ago called 'Creating Pixar looking eyes in Blender'. The eyelashes have a transparent blinn which can be seen in the viewport for reference while modeling, and has another arnold standard surface for rendering. I attempted a skin texture, but the sub surface scattering has made it look faded.

I think the normal maps for the hoody have worked out pretty well, I haven't done the underside of the hood on purpose so the difference is more obvious. The shoes and socks went through the same process. The oversized aspect of textures lends itself to the model, as it give a sense of scale.

From this point I want to work more on the hair strands at the back of the head, the skin textures, and generally just cleanup everywhere. after that, I'll start skinning everything. At some point i want to start working on the environments, so expect progress updates on that too.