Character Design- Getting Closer

I actually did these about a week ago but I forgot to scan them! I know, I feel like I have been holding out. Okay, so I am feeling happy about the first image below (which is actually a diptych with the second image). The other boy images below were progression sketches until I got to the top two. The last image below is my first attempt at the mom- having a general idea in mind for Mica.

This week I started my storyboarding. Man... storyboarding. Half the battle for me seems to be getting over the mental hurdle of dealing with the actual animation of my idea. But, I did storyboard the first 2 scenes and am feeling good about it. I will post when I am a little further along on that project.

Gaming and my animation

In my story, Mica (the boy) is going to initially be seen playing an interactive game in his room. I have been thinking about everyones great feedback on this blog, but particularly about the fact that my story might give the impression that my thesis point is about computers and technology being evil. Obviously this is not the case (otherwise I will be getting this master's degree as an act of masachism). However, I was thinking that one thing that might be good to do was to integrate his skills that he gains from technology (for example choice making and navigation) to help him through the garden in the later part of the story. I could possibly have a "game vision" sequence where the scene looks like a video game from Mica's perspective.

Thoughts? I think this might help shorten my story as well because I could take out other parts that aren't as necessary- maybe the part when Mica learns to garden (although I personally love it) because Mica will have a similar sensory experience when he touches the pond water.

Character/Concept Art

Since I have been mainly focusing on the story and script for the past 2 weeks, the drawings that I have done are mostly sketches on the subway. I did a few with color. I do feel that I am getting somewhere with the protagonist- boy character. Here are some sketches that I did. They are mostly the boy and the mother. They are from my sketchbook so the paper is a bit see- through.

Movement Study 1

Progress Report

Update on summer * deliverables:

• story
  
• script
  
• storyboard
• character sheets
• paper

I am happy with it, but it is DEFINITELY too long!
I'm getting there though. Baby steps.

* Summer just means that all of these are first drafts

Garden/ Outdoors inspiration and research- Part II

Garden/ Outdoors inspiration and research

Progress

Yesterday I finally sat down with pen to paper and wrote the story. I don't know why it was taking me so long to get what was in my head out. But, I will say this- it really does feel better. It's certainly not perfect and I have a hunch it's too long. If anyone feels like they have some free time, please let me know so that I can send you a copy. It would be awesome to have a reader. I know I am posting a lot of things here, but I feel funny putting up my entire document online.

The basic idea is this:

Mica and his mother live in their digitally enhanced "pod" life. They are hooked in, logged on, socially networking and computing- so much to the extent that they are barely communicating with each other in the physical realm. One day Mica notices that his mother's eye is frantically twitching and slowly before his eyes-his mother begins to morph into a robotic form. In a state of panic Mica runs to his computer and searches for a remedy to the situation- but nothing came up. He runs all over his house and despite the fact that his long lost father's room is forbidden, he goes in. His father's room is a relic from time's past. There are books and smelling salts and things that Mica had never seen. Mica rummaged through various books trying to find something that could help his mother- with not much luck. Just as he is about to leave the room, he lifts up a small book which in turn breaks open a bookcase to reveal a tunnel leading to a secret garden. Mica and his mother enter the tunnel. In the garden they need to find a seed to plant in order give the mother juice from the nectar of its fruit. This leads them on a quest to find the seed and in turn themselves.

As you might have noted- I also changed the gender of the protagonist. This decision was made for a few reasons, including the fact that I have now made contact with a young boy who is going to model for me and help me out along the way. (I am actually really very EXCITED about this fact)

Deliverables Progress:

• story- draft 1 complete
• script
• storyboard
• character sheets
• paper

And now for something completely different

well sort of different.

Style comparison

Okay- here are basically the two styles that I am considering using the same sketch.

a) vector- based off of drawing but not committed to it.
b) hand drawn, scanned and inked.

a)
b)

Another vector girl

This is a more vector version of one of my sketches (see earlier entry). Any thoughts as to if this works better as a vector image? I guess I should probably try coloring her in digitally so we can have a good comparison. I'll get on that. pronto.

You spin me right round....

Today I did a ton of sketches which I will scan in tomorrow am. But the quick and dirty vector version of what I am dealing with is below. Basically I am practicing drawing frontal, 3/4, side and all the hot mess of in betweens. I also quickly colored one of my sketches- it's a colored-in version of a low res crappy scan, but I wanted to get an idea to see if I should pursue this girl any further. Any thoughts?

Character Design_ Day 2

Today I didn't have as much time as I would have liked to experiment, but I did a version of a girl completely vectorized. I am not sure what I think in terms of style- one over the other etc. but this one definitely looks "cleaner."



and... here is a version with a tad more shading:

Character Design

I have been slowly revising my concept for my thesis. Long story short - I want to do an animation that deals with the issue of losing touch with authentic experiences due to the digital world. I am coming up with a concept for a story but it's not quite clear in my head yet. I do have a character evolving in my head and I did many sketches today trying to figure out where I am taking it. I also tried digitally inking one of them. This is the first time that I did that- it could use a lot more finessing and I think that the issue I had with this one is how I scanned it in, but other than that I am optimistic about this technique. The line quality was greatly compromised here- and I can go on and on about what went wrong with the inking process, but it's definitely a "first attempt".

First go

Here is my first go at a "look and feel" prototype. Some penguin action. Not sure about shapes, but I do like the palette.

Rio's Great Wall

Article from Wall Street Journal on a wall created in Dona Marta to protect trees.

Meeting with Ethan Silverman

Today I met with one of my professors- Ethan Silverman to talk about my thesis. The meeting was helpful because after running my idea by him he made the point that the action of my interaction is exactly what I am trying to help to avoid in reality. This is a somewhat obvious point, however it made me consider a few alternatives to my game concept. One thought is to have the game utilizes alternate worlds- or realities- so while we are doing something that happens in the rainforest (for example) we could see how it is directly effecting the life of a city inhabitant. (this would help me to localize the content maybe?) Another thought is to come up with a scenario where there are portals into the past present and future so that any time you can see how current actions effect the lives of humans, animals, flora and fauna in the different times. This is a little complicated but I am going to try to write this out and make the index card prototype.

Some resources that Ethan suggested I check out include:

• Rube Goldberg's illustrations
• The Sims
• Spore
• The Boston Science Museum
• The Manhatta project at the Museum of the City of NY
• Eco- tourism in Costa Rica
  

Going to the Library

I am in the process of making a reading list but since the overall topic of land preservation is HUGE- I am going to try to break it down to what I need to research in order to have a good enough understanding of the subject to build the narrative.

LAND PRESERVATION : specific details about the kinds of issues involved in preserving land so i can work them into the narrative
- what are the real threats?
-what kinds of environments are being threatened?
- is modernization an issue?
- is housing an issue?
- what kind of development is really happening?
- how are animals effected?


CURRICULUM: what are 8th graders learning on the topic?
- what is the current didactic materials being offered?
- what kind of in-class discussions are taking place?

REAL LIFE CASES: what is really happening?
- case studies?
- American case studies?
- statistics about virgin land in America?/ world?

PRECEDENTS: what has been done on the subject?
- animation
-psa's
- games
-literature
-art
- other

Cave of Time

I finished reading Cave of Time a few weeks ago and didn't get around to posting about it until just now. I think that I wasn't jumping to post this because I felt what Simon Cowell would call underwhelmed by the book. The book is a "choose your own adventure," "tree book", "game book" and/or "interactive narrative". The story was written in Each story is written in second person and so the reader became part of the story by dictating the choices and actions that the protagonist would make throughout the narrative. This was achieved by simple directives that followed at the bottom of a page where the character was at a crossroads- for example- if you choose to go into the cave go to page 5, if you decide to go on a horse ride to a castle go to page 11. In theory I thought that the concept was fun - but I felt that the resulting story was a little bit boring and sort of like clicking link after link in your browser following a whim. The plot lines were weak and I think the novelty of having say in the future of your reading is what added to the success of these books. I would also add that each reading of the book took 20 minutes maximum. Maybe this is what also appealed to its readers.

Although I am speakingly negatively about my experience, I do think that these are all things that are important to consider in regards to my potential audience. I need to remember that it is a game and that it needs to be fairly quick paced and to- the- point in order to be successful.
So, I do need to keep in mind:

• TIME: keep each portion of the narrative short and decision making limited
• PLOT: the plot doesn't need to be wildly complicated to be interesting/fun
• INTERACTION: a choice can be as simple as deciding to go left or right
• FUN: the novelty of the game playing interaction or core mechanic will provide a certain element of fun- not to be overlooked.
• AUDIENCE: keep the game appropriate to the age of your reader/player

I did read that some of the other books in the series dealt with more historical fiction and/ or political type topics. I am going to try to get my hands on one of these books, however I do feel that these books are like a one liner joke in that you get what they are about within 5 minutes.

Into the Wild Green Yonder

I recently watched a video that was made directly for DVD release called Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder. The movie was great not just because it provided the typical humor and creativity that one can expect in the regular Futurama programs, but also because it dealt with the serious topic of land preservation vs development. In the animation, this was achieved by an elaborate plot dealing with the father of one of the regular Futurama character's (Amy). He is plotting to rebuild Mars Vegas into an interplanetary "mini" golf course which finishes on a rare "virgin land" planet that has some of the rarest animals and plants in the galaxy. Although I am simplifying here, the story becomes a quest of sorts for the characters to save the planet from development. What is worth noting here is that in this treatment of the subject, in order to identify the need to preserve the natural land and associated wild life- they needed to also identify the "trouble maker" or direct cause of that problem being developers. While in this particular scenario the developers were creating a needless and somewhat questionable theme park, in reality the problem is more complicated. Sometimes land clearing/ loss etc. is done to make way for more prosperous development opportunities - for example housing, eco- tourism, park or recreational land.

I think that it is important to say that this issue is not monolithic and that is why I am leaning towards making a game- not an animation- to show that there are sides to every issue. Maybe the solution to recognizing this issue is to not make a linear "narrative" with a correct course of action but maybe having different endings that would allow players to come into a potential in- class discussion with different views that would assist a dialogue.