Minor Project: Designing the Erlking

After getting the first draft of the animatic done the time has come for figuring out and developing the characters, as the one's used in the animatic were only temporary. 

I (Samantha) started with the king himself as in my opinion he's the most challenging and also a leading character, which means he deserves a lot of time and attention. 

The theory behind the king is that he's the entity and somehow a personification of the forest, or it's rotting and decaying part rather. He's also an elf, more or less; he definitely posseses few of elvish values which makes him even tricker to design. 

The influence map has been done some time ago but it's still up-to-date. 

INITIAL SKETCHES & FIGURING OUT BODY SHAPES: 

The body of the king had to look royal yet slender at the same time. In few different sketches I tried different body shapes and the ones that looked the most promising had been taken into further development.  

DIFFERENT FACES & CROWNS: 

As the term "forest" is really broad, designing the crown was quite tricky. The amount of possibilities was quite overhelming; looking through branches and mushroom to flowers, horns and rocks. 

FULL-BODIES:

FINAL DESIGN (1):

For now the drawing below can be considered as the final design (however still a draft..in a weird way of saying "final design draft"). Me and PG both agreed that his face and the crown could actually remain in this state, however the outfit is yet to be discussed. 

Minor Project: Proposal

The minor project is a collaboration between me and Peta-Gaye Brown. It adapts the poem written by Johan Wolfgang von Goethe (1782) The Erl King, which will continue into animated short in the major project.

For me this project is really important, not only because it's a final year piece, but also because the poem influenced my life in many ways when I was just a teenager. I waited many years to be able to use its potential and the day has finally come. I am going to make the most of it and not waste that amazing opportunity of bringing the erlking to life.

The minor project will be focused on the preparation for going into animation.

Goals: Both of us have different goals for the project and would like to gain distinctive abilities. My goal is to improve 2D skills, broaden Maya knowledge and reall focus on modelling. One of the side goals is to perhaps understand what gives me to most satisfaction in the process of creating an animation, and focus on it in order to able to carry it on after graduating.

The style that we are aiming for has been influenced by a cinematic Ryse: Son of Rome (2013) made by Platige Image. We are aiming for a romantic and paintily style with an emphasis on dynamic brush strokes and creating an engaging story.

Minor Project Goal: 
- completed pre-production;
- character models ready to animate
- environments completed

Detailed view upon the Ryse:Son of Rome:
Platige Image - Ryse:Son of Rome on Behance
Ryse: Son of Rome - Cinematic

The Erl King - Storyboard Draft .01

For some weird reason blogger decided to resize these sets, so whatever's written beside panels is not readable. However it will all be clear once the animatic is done and the voice over artist found.

Misty Road Studio - START!

I am happy to announce that Misty Road Studio, which is a third year collaboration between me and Peta-Gaye Brown, is finally launching!

We will be posting the minor and major projects progress there, as well as on our personal blogs.

Sketchbook #6

A rather short post with sketchbook doodles and drawings which, I personally think, haven't really tought me much. They worked more like stress-relievers than actual studies. Anyway, here they are : )