Some Mime Design

It has been very hectic recently, Mat and I spent a lot of time developing one of his ideas, however after speaking with the lecturers and getting their feedback...we have decided to go with my mime idea.


We were very determined that the Alien idea of Mat's would work and look great, but after some brief development with the Mime storyline, it seems more realistic and achievable...also playing to each of our strengths, as it is now half 2D and half CG. This works as a sub plot within the story, helping to distinguish the 2 characters even more.


As mat said in his recent post, the Mime idea is yet to be named. We haven't actually brainstormed anything about this, but it's not greatly important right now.


What was important was the script we began working on 2 days ago...after discussing some aspects of the set design we were both totally confusing each other! It turned out we had 2 different set ideas in our heads...so we set about "rationally discussing" the designs we each thought the set would look like and how the divide of 2D and CG would work.


And here are the visuals we used to try and make the other understand...

We included camera angles and everything!!


As you might be able to tell from the image (though probably not) we saw the set and style split in 2 different directions. Mat's vision was with the bridge going across the view and the mimes working on opposite sides and the split being right down the middle of the river. I however imagined the same, but if the whole set were turned 90º, making the split go over the bridge as opposed to through the river...The drawing on the right above.


It took a while, and some more of those loud "discussions", until Mat drew out a new sketch with more detail that I definitely liked and made a lot more sense in terms of shots and the style divide.

As you can see the divide is through the river and the two sides over the bridge are different styles, 2D and CG... I think this is definitely the best way to go about it.

Bridges of Mime

Like Mat I've been pretty busy these last few days with various activities so I haven't had much chance to do much work. Here are some rough designs of how the setting might look for my mime idea. I like the top right and can see all of the action happening on the bridge, like a busy paris bridge.

(testing out some random signature placements...admittedly they're all pretty naff!)

It's quite wide as it has a road running through it, not just a foot bridge, over a river that runs through the city/town. Might be stone railings or iron railings, I like the railing idea on the bottom right sketch and may incorporate the 2 together...


Here's a quick sketch of the top right with a little more detail, with an idea of stone pillars that I researched.

If you're lucky I'll add even more detail, being strapped for time and all it may have to just stay as a rough concept sketch. Hope I could explain it enough for you to understand though.

So here is the rendered version, just turnarounds, set design and synopsis to finalise then I can get on to my series project!

Oh and here are some facial expressions I sketched out for the other mime character.

I like how you can tell how strong his emotions are without him having to speak

Clean Development

Forgot to post these yesterday. 


As I said in the comments of my last post, I would clean up some of the characters and choose one I liked to develop and produce in the realism style that I'm going for. 

Here are the 'cleaner' versions and I have to say I still like the third one along, I think he would fit well with the story I have as opposed to the other designs.


I'll hopefully sketch up a final render and turn arounds today, ready for some set designs tomorrow...fingers crossed!

Mime Development

After the style development post yesterday I thought I should probably post the development of the mime characters. I like the old guy with the cane, hence stylising him, I also like the tall guy in the centre. You might be seeing him in a realistic light as I am still not sure how the story is going to go ...we'll see...

My Attempt At THE New Style

So I got some inspiration from the animations I found late last night, and if I'm honest some of Mat's work. Using a similar method I produced this.

And I am very happy with the results :D It is just how I pictured it in my head. 

I should have saved it in stages to show my workings but I forgot...so here's how I did it...

- I started with the outline and then cleaned it up quite a bit (omitting the hands). 

- Then greyed the whole character in and worked on the tonal range on 2 different layer, one for highlights and the other for shadows.

- After this it was relatively easy to just add the colour on a new layer and I was nearly done. 

- And with some tweaks to the shading I was done...makes it sound easy but it took the most part of 2 hours to complete!

Oh and I added a photo texture over the top set to Difference and reduced the opacity to around 50%. this gives it a nice tactile look.

Now I know what I'm doing I feel more confident to be able to produce more work like this as I now have a proper working timeline.

Oh and the mime idea is back in the mix...if you didn't guess already ^_^

Byyyyyee

'The Girl is Mime'

Here is a great inspirational piece, the standard of realism is definitely something I would like to achieve.  The full animation has not yet been produced (at least I don't think so) so this is just a teaser trailer.

Another Idea!!

So I've been struggling hugely picking an idea I want to develop for my 3 minute animation, I surprisingly have quite a few ideas; from sasquatches to spacemen and fish to cavemen...but I don't feel that they're really up to par, but in a moment of inspiration I just had a great one! 

Mimes!

It looks great in my head but now to convert that to paper.

I've done a bit of research yet again and haven't found anything with a similar storyline, I have however found a few mime animations that I feel I can do better than. After furiously scribbling down notes and possible story directions I'm getting pretty into it. Expect some sketches in the coming days.

It is about 2 mimes fighting over a spot to work...maybe just beneath the Eiffel Tower but maybe that's too cliché. Lets just say in short, that they argue and fight with mime objects...that can only be funny right?


I'll leave out most of the details for now, but Mat, you will be receiving an email shortly!