Assignment 2 - Production Design
Character/Model Packs
My chosen lymerick has three main characters that storyline revolves around - 'Old Man', 'Euphemia' and 'Thief'. For my production I have also added a supporting character for the thief, Trulé, this character could instead be classed ore as a key prop for the thief rather than as a supporting character. This character's name is Orbe (pronounced as Orb).
To begin the character design process I first reviewed my initial concepts and ideas, thinking of modifications that would be beneficial to the design. I had previously started to stray from following methods learnt in class for concept ideation, however after coming to a creative block I revisited previous material and realised how I was deviating from a well thought out and structured pipeline.
An example of this: I was not using much reference material and found myself struggling to create anything substantial, after speaking with Dr. daCosta in class and receiving feedback on my work I started to look for more reference material. Dr. daCosta pointed me to the artwork of 'ParaNorman' produced by Laika, from here I browsed their works and was able to draw new inspiration from their works. My style has slightly shifted from previous iterations, the key difference is I have made the characters slightly more stylized than before.
Main Characters
Character Model Pack - The old man: Ago Radius
BACKSTORY:
Childhood – born into a wealthy family Ago started life off in comfort and love, smart and educated family who had butlers and maids his first 5 years were that of bliss. Not knowing the true nature of his parent’s wealth Ago’s life changed when suddenly their home/mansion was attacked by the organization whom his father was a part of. Staff and relatives living in the mansion were killed and beaten, the entire property and everything there completely destroyed. Ago’s father was violently murdered in front of him and his mother. Their possessions destroyed and both suffering from severe shock and trauma, Ago and his mother found a small place on the outskirts of the kingdom to hide.
His childhood would no longer be easy from here on out, being treated by the town as scum and an outcast his mother and him were treated horribly and they struggled to get back on their feet. Their resentment and anger were fuelled by any misfortune and as the years passed, they grew into colder and more evil people with no sense of morals.
Teens to young adulthood – Ago grew into a resilient, intelligent man fixated with control and revenge masqueraded underneath the façade of friendship and kindness; he excelled in the use of magic and mystic arts. He came to the realisation in his adolescent years, that power, manipulation, and deception were key to getting ahead in the world.
Adulthood – A pure evil mastermind, Ago had planned since his father was killed to become a person of power and position that no one would be able to defy – the country in which they resided was riddled with conflict and misfortune throughout all the towns and Ago thought of this as an opportunity. His first objective – wed the daughter of the reigning Minister of the kingdom. The Minister was also a head counsellor of the ‘Mystic Ministry’, and his daughter was rumoured to be one of the strongest and most proficient mages the kingdom had seen yet little else was known about her as she was hidden away from the public (this is due to her childhood and the acts she had committed).
Soon after his first objective, Ago infiltrated the kingdom’s council (government) and his genius plans unfolded, perfectly as he had wished. A realisation that shocked Ago was that the woman he married as part of his plans, turned out to be a woman whom he discovered to be almost as brilliant as him, with a dark deceptive side to her sweet, caring persona – he had found a perfect partner for his plans of country domination.
He quickly climbed the ranks of the council, his perfect plan put into action. Deception, brainwashing, manipulation, sabotage, and murder, he became powerful and feared.
His wife fell pregnant and began suffering unusual effects due to the baby, their baby was draining the life and magic force right out of his wife – conflict arose but nonetheless the baby was carried to term and born at the expense of the wife’s life. Ago now had a daughter – Euphemia – who’s magic powers were a mystery and unexplainable since birth, but he saw her as a new tool, that broadened his plan to even greater heights and would help secure his victory.
Character Turn Around
For this character I created several iterations, although Ago rarely removes his cape it is good to have a clear understanding of how he dresses and stands behind/underneath his cape.
Reflection: upon feedback from my peers I would like to enhance Ago's silhouette, making it more distinct - for future redesign I would broaden is shoulder span, making the point shoulder pads on the cape to be larger. This redesign will affect how the character would be able to animate placing some restrictions on movement.
Ago Radius - Colour Palette
Character Poses
Expression Studies
Character Model Pack - The Daughter: Euphemia
BACKSTORY:
Childhood – Her mother died from the toll of the pregnancy; however, Euphemia has never been told of how her mothers death came about, she has yearning to have a mother as growing up sees many other children with their mothers. Showing great promise in the mystic arts since birth, her father has strictly guided and trained her to harness and excel in the field – she I viewed as a prodigy amongst the town – counsellors and governments completely in awe at her capabilities.
Her father was kind to her, but Euphemia did not know any better – there was no love from Ago due to past trauma and the loss of his wife his view was distorted, and he saw Euphemia purely as a tool.
Adolescent years - Euphemia was put through rigorous study and training, she was admired by many peers however she had no connections and began to struggle to see people weaker than her as no more than burdens to society – thanks to her father’s teachings and manipulation. She admired her father, and would do absolutely anything for him, she believed she was doing what was best for the town and for her father. She soon quickly became the youngest person part of the ‘Mystic Patrol’ who enforce and govern the town. Due to her deeds and actions involving this cohort she was now feared by many within the town and loved by many others for her status and power.
A particular mission affects her views, and she begins to have internal conflict where she doubts what she is fighting for and how her actions are affecting those within the kingdom. Euphemia is sent on another mission shortly after this, her goal - to retrieve a mystical 'object’ that will help their kingdom flourish and aid in the rehabilitation of city affairs. Euphemia is stricken with confusion and conflict during the climax of the mission, she almost fails but overcomes her internal conflict and completes the mission – thus leaving her slightly traumatized and even more conflicted and confused than before. Her father, Ago, realising this internal struggle and how it could inhibit his grand plans for world domination would segregate Euphemia in their mansion with him and begin a rehabilitation process to ‘cure’ his daughter’s suffering – his true intentions unknown to Euphemia. Six months into this rehabilitation is where the story begins.
Character Turn Around
For this character I received feedback on the silhouette and how it was difficult to distinguish her from that alone - the cape and hair creating a very standard silhouette that had little defining features as the key components would be covered depending on the scene the character would be drawn for.
I did a quick silhouette sketch that led me to fall on the iteration above - removing the large cape and styling her hair to be more distinguishable as well as redesigning her hair ornament to be more simplistic but creating a more definable outline.
Euphemia - Colour Palette
Character Poses
Character Model Pack - The Thief: Trulé
BACKSTORY:
Childhood – Trulé is born in a town on the outskirts of the countries border. Her childhood is filled with hurdles as she grows up an orphan in her town. The owner of the orphanage treats Trulé as her own daughter and Trulé grows up with the love and kindness from her and the others of this small town. The towns people are hard workers who grow and hunt their own food, they are also very proficient in magic and the mystic arts. Trulé grows up in this town that is hidden away and a little out of touch from society.
Adolescent Years – As Trulé grows a mystery shrouds the small town, with no idea what could be happening many people start to become ill and no matter what pass on – the most awful part is it seems to be affecting the youngest and weakest in the village, infants grow weak and do not survive and those who have history of illness or are just in general not a prime specimen are taken ill and pass on – nothings seems to help or cure them and it is labelled as the ‘Disease of Death’ in the town. This affects Trulé and how she views life – fleeting and worth being kind, making people happy as no one’s time is certain – she loses many close friends in this time. As the years pass Trulé becomes a proficient mage with outstanding abilities however due to the town’s curse many big feats and achievements are overshadowed by death and hardship.
This once flourishing town, is now cursed. As each year passes more and more people are getting sick with no explanation and no cure. Infants are not surviving more than 8 – 10 months, this sees many towns people leave in hopes of being free from the curse and sees many towns people get plunged into despair and depression. By Trulé’s sixteenth birthday, the town is practically deserted besides the few who refuse to leave. In a turn of events Trulé‘s mother figure succumbs to the ‘Disease of Death’, Trulé is heart broken and leaves the town in hopes of finding new meaning in life.
Trulé is truly a kind and wonderful person, she puts others first and is the first to help when needed. Trulé has suffered a lot and carries a lot of emotional baggage but she is a strong willed girl and been raise to the make most of what is given to her. The dark secret that Trulé does not know – and is a main climax/ breaking point is the fact that Trulé’s powers and body is the cause of her towns (and some future) misfortune. Her body naturally absorbs the magic and life force of those around her – it is how she her body lives – plant life, animal life, and even human life is sustenance for Trulé , this slowly absorbs but as Trulé grows – her body and in strength – her body requires greater amounts of sustenance. Theoretically this could result in complete world destruction.
Four years pass as since Trulé left her town, in that time she has discovered the country she lives in is in turmoil with the main kingdom preying on towns and other countries. Trulé joins a rebellion to rectify the country, she is openly welcome as her powers turnout to be stronger than anything many others have seen. However, Trulé’s power is a mystery, and her full potential is unknown (and will never be known fully by her) yet the rebellion helps her discover new outlets and ways to use her power.
The rebellion’s goal to overthrow the evil syndicate behind the scenes of the kingdom’s and countries governments and councils. Trulé is part of a mission to retrieve a powerful mystic gem/crystal/monster egg that the kingdom stole from a foreign land to potentially use to overpower other kingdoms and countries causing grave war and unnecessary conflict and loss. On Trulé’s journey to the Main Kingdom she saves a mystic creature whom she names Orbe, and Orbe follows her/joins her as thanks for her saving its life, however, there is more to Orbe’s and Trulé’s encounter than just pure chance. This where the story begins.
Character Turn Around
For this character I received positive feedback from my peers, as I was drawing up her key poses I reiterated her design slightly - making her proportions more stylistic than accurate to real human proportions.
Trulé - Colour Palette
Character Poses
Supporting Character and Key Props
Support Character Model Pack - Trulé's Sidekick: Orbe
BACKSTORY:
A mystical creature. Orbe was born into existence with the natural desire to explore but felt as though there was something it was missing or needed to do but just didn’t know what. Since Orbe came into consciousness, 50 – 60 years have passed with Orbe learning and exploring the world unsure of its purpose at it was so different from anything else there, Orbe is capable of understanding all life – human, animal, plant, even static life such as rocks etc. One day Orbe starts to feel a little different, at first Orbe doesn’t take not of the feeling but as the years pass it the feeling or urge gets stronger. It is an instinct that begins to awaken (it takes about 19 years before it is fully awakened). Orbe has a drive to find ‘the power’ it does not know exactly what the power is but knows it must find it. Orbe sets out to find it and on Orbe’s journey it runs into trouble and is attacked by monsters – Orbe was careless and stumbled right into a pack of ferocious monsters. Orbe p[uts up a fight however because it was caught off guard and unable to collect itself it struggles to fight back. This is when Trule stumbles upon Orbe as she is travelling to the main kingdom.
Character Design Elements
Concept and Design
Orbe - Colour Palette
Key Props
The main props for this story Euphemia's Hair Piece and the Magic Crystal (this is not including Orbe mentioned previously).
Environment
For my projects environment I wanted it to be situated in the mountains with vast open areas of towns, land and mountains and trees. The story is also situated in Euphemia's abode which I drew reference from mansions and palaces .
Environment Concept and Design: To begin this process, I blocked out the environment that the characters would engage in a lot in the storyline. From here I created the line work and refined this eliminating unnecessary items and then adding in detail to assets that remained.
Final Environments
Beat Board and Colour Script
The overall feel of the story is meant to give a sense of unease and uncertainty - for the initial story arc. For this reason I used a lot more muted tones of colour adding in some vibrancy to help highlight differences in personality or in the mission drive of the character. Upon further deliberations, I realise this idea may be not be cohesive and that with further feedback I can readdress this idea for future reworking.
I found creating the beat boards challenging, I was unsure what key scenes to create to convey the feel and look of the story. I also would keep confusing a beat board with a standard storyboard, this took me a little bit to understand the distinction between the two.
Beat Board Ideation References:
BEAT BOARD & COLOUR SCRIPT
Character Size Comparison
Week 6
Genre and Designs Styles
This week we were introduced to genre and design styles. Genres are flexible entities and can be reinvented - you can incorporate a single genre or you can combine multiple genres together created what is referred to as either extended, mixed or a hybrid genre. Genre has a lot to do with situating a time and place for a story, it is a useful tool in providing guidelines for reference.
We were introduced to film noir, and shown how it can be used for an intense dramatic effect. It amazes me how production was done before having access to all these new technologies and advancements. It has broadened my scope and understanding of the techniques used in production to achieve great results.
Production Genre
My production is mixed genre, I am hoping to successfully combine fantasy, comedy, and a hint of horror. The world in which my story takes place is fairly developed and will have a combination of machinery and digital equipment, however, that will be contained within it's own realm. This story will not incorporate highly advanced technologies or machinery into the setting at this stage.
Atmospheric Perspective
In the tutorials this week we were introduced to atmospheric perspective. Atmospheric perspective refers to the way the appearance of objects change as they are viewed at a distance. Generally areas will become lighter and bluer as they recede into the horizon (vanishing point) and the more pollution within the air, the greater the atmospheric perception.
There is also 'reverse' atmospheric perspective, in reveres atmospheric perspective the roles are reversed - cooler colour come first and slowly blend into warmer colours as it moves further into the distance and outlines become thicker and more prominent.
One more thing that is important to note is edge fluting. Edge fluting is our optical response to closely valued abutting colour hues. One constraint for this to work is that one edge of the colour has to be darker than the other colour. If an edge of a darker colour layer is next to a colour of similar value, but this second colour is lighter, than than our eyes perceive the colour as blurring and mixing together forming a gradient. This perceptual response creates a concave illusion as the colours fade off from darker to lighter.
Atmospheric Thumbnails
Trulé
Week 5
Understanding Visual Language: Signs, Symbols and Icons
This week the lecture covered connotation and denotation. Connotation is defined as "something suggested or implied by a word or thing, rather than being explicitly named or described" [15]. Whereas denotation is defined as "the explicit or direct meaning or set of meanings of a word or expression, as distinguished from the ideas or meanings associated with it or suggested by it" [16].
Similar to what was taught last week, this week we are introduced to Stuart Hall - a man who was a cultural theorist and sociologist. Last week when we learnt about semiotics we touched on the need for awareness in relation to cultural differences of signs and symbols. Having a sound knowledge of connotation and denotation will help aid production designers to create work that can be targeted for a specific niche demographic or it can be aide in implementing design that is targeted for a broader demographic. No matter what the cause, having sound knowledge on techniques will be beneficial to any production designer.
For part of our homework this week, we were asked to research "things that used to be cool but aren't anymore" and write 20 dot points on it.
Surprisingly, I have found it rather difficult to find some reasonable resources to compare, list or even mention habits or activities that used to be cool. Smoking is a common one that seems to be showing up however the rest all seem to e very inconsistent and quite subjective to the poster of their blogs.
Here is what I was able to compile: [5,6,7]
- Smoking - once the social norm now is deemed a disgusting and costly habit (in more ways than just your money).
- Baggy Pants - Fashion at its height, baggy pants was the cool craze, the lower that pant waist the more badass you were (or one could say 'bare'ass).
- Spanking your child - This punishment for a misbehaved child was nothing more than common sense, however nowadays there is a lot more to it than first thought and is a very big no.
- Tattoos - It is not that tattoos are becoming less cool or frowned upon but quite the opposite. Tattoos are a reverse token, becoming more socially acceptable amongst people and no longer a novelty or symbol of rebellious nature.
- Libraries - Once the life of the party, where all the cool kids would go to pick up a book these facilities have started to dwindle in usage now primarily occupied by families with young children, encouraging a hub for learning and socialising.
Character Design
This weeks tutorial focused on character design and key steps in designing a good character. To design a good character you need to consider the 'End Game' before starting. What is the character for? will it be turned into merchandise? Does the character need to be animated? What medium is the character to inhabit?
After going through the pre-step, you can begin the steps in designing good character/s:
- The Brief - check the brief with a fine tooth comb. Highlight key words and aspects, make notes of descriptive words or phrases. - Who is the audience?
- Personality - What is the characters personality? Their design should reflect this.
- Backstory - Create a backstory for your character. What's their main driving force? What goals do they have? What life changing moments have made them who they are? Give them a name. Give them needs, desires and motivation.
- References - What style are you going to introduce them in? What's been done before? You want inspiration but you need to be careful no to copy.
- Cute aggression - Where you love or appreciate something so much you are accidentally being too forceful and painful and end up hurting the thing you love without realising?
- Exploration - Don't get too caught up in details.
- Review the brief - don't get side-tracked or caught up in the what ifs.
- Shape & size - Shapes help distinguish a characters personality. Create a silhouette that is memorable, works from any angle.
- Signifiers & accessories - Add these things for a reason, not because it looks cool.
- Review the brief - Keep staying on track.
- Colour - Use colour to reveal character traits.
- Uniqueness - what makes this character unique?
- Character study Checkpoint - Make sure they can achieve the tasks set out for them.
- REVIEW the Brief.
- Feedback - get feedback from all sources.
- Model sheet - Create turn around, hero pose, activity poses.
- Release it into the wild.
Change of Direction for Characters
With a focus on this week to develop our characters and create some key/signature poses for them, I was very motivated to reassess and address my characters as I was not happy with the outcomes. I finalised what genre, story and setting to use for my project.
I will be using option 3 - mentioned in last week - I am changing the gender of the thief from male to a female character, she will be accompanied by a mystical creature who she rescued from a swarm of monsters. Unlike the limerick and my initial thought process, there will not be a definitive romance. Instead, it will be based upon admiration and kinship, with the two characters forming a pact/contract for the next story arc.
Updated Character Concept
For the old man, I am thinking to use more angular and sharply defined features, such as his nose, chin, fingers, hair and the overall silhouette. This is to portray his sharp personality, also indicative of the fact he is the villain of the story.
For Euphemia, I am using a combination of sharp and pointed with rounded features - she is at heart a good person (this is what causes her to realise she has been used), however, she has been raised in a way that she will find difficult to break free from her thought processes and patterns. Her character arc, is one where it seems like she's making progress and then falls back to the first step; vice versa, she can appear to not be making any progress and then she surprises her companions with new moral/kind/considerate/unexpected behaviours. (Technically, it will be like she is in rehab for her morals). Euphemia is one of our main protagonists - a classic example of evil to good, although with a lot of hiccups and learning curves along the way.
Initially, the thief was the one with more angular features to demonstrate evil. I then decided that I did not like the direction of that storyline, and swapped the thief to be one of the protagonists of the story. On top of this change, I also decided to swap the thief's gender. The thief(hero) is a good soul through and through, her first instinct is to make sure her comrades are safe and will help if anyone is ever in danger. I have given her rounded features to imply approachability and kindness - and contrast the evil - she is shorter than Euphemia but proportionally has long legs. I am thinking to use a round theme for clothing and accessories. This will relate to her abilities as a mage, as her abilities relate to the spheres of the world - geosphere (land), biosphere (living things), hydrosphere (water) and atmosphere (air).
The thief's powers have potential far beyond anyone's in the world they inhabit, however she does not know this and she is unaware of what her magic truly is and is capable of. She will be forced into moral dilemma at some stage when she realises her powers relating to the biosphere - note: one of her abilities that she is unaware of is she lives of of other things within the biosphere's life energy, therefore she can not die ( unless certain circumstances are met). She does not know this though because the stronger she gets the more energy she will require to function, hence leading into a dilemma later on. She lives to help people only to find out she harms them just by existing.
Key Character Pose and Concept Progression
Week 4
Understanding Visual Language
Perception and Culture were covered this week in the lecture, I feel like I gained useful insight and new ideas for how to approach tasks. A key topic in the lecture was semiotics and how to communicate through the use of semiosis.
Charles Sanders Pierce adopted the term 'semiosis' and defined it as a relationship between three aspects - a sign, an object, and a meaning. Semiosis refers to the signs processes; Semiotics is the study of these processes. The sign represents the 'object' in the mind of the interpreter and the interpretant is the effect a sign has on the person who decodes its.
It is also quite important to be mindful of cultural interpretation. When designing your production, you need to be aware of the symbols you plan to use and how these are received in differing cultures. A symbol in one cultural may have a complete opposite meaning within another culture.
Isometric Drawing
Isometric drawing is commonly used by engineers and illustrators who wish to create technical drawings. This type of drawing is a 3d illustration that uses '30-degree' angles and lines run parallel. This results in a type of drawing that is axonometric and creates a non-distorting illustration.
This was my first time drawing isometric shapes and illustrations. The beginning exercise I found informative and simple enough to complete, however, when starting to draw a house in isometric view I had a lot of difficulty. Instinctually I would try to shift the perspective as it would look unproportionate and skewed, this took a lot of repetitive practice to overcome - and I still have a long way to progress - but have gotten much betters since this weeks lesson.
Limerick Research and Story
After a few rough sketches I came to a conclusion on the style of my art - stylistic cartoon/comic book/manga/with Disney influence - however, I am wanting there to be a contrast depending on the mood of the scene, therefore I intended to combine this with a filter of timed realism. The genre I have decided on is a horror/comedy/romance. The story and setting is currently amongst the following short excerpts, with one being my primary choice at this stage:
- Situated in the 1990's of Europe (as Bohemia is in the Czech republic) an elder man and his young adult daughter live together, the daughter his acting as a part time care taker and her father has mad a decent fortune for himself. The story unfolds as a string of robberies have taken place in recent months and there house is the next target. Euphemia the daughter happens to return home just after the robber ( and his gang?) enter the premise. There is an altercation, and Euphemia manages to stand her own and scares the burglars away but not without having an impact on our Thief, who is smitten. He then spends the story trying to win her over as she does not know who he is, but in true fashion she finds out after she falls for him and then is left with a hard decision. Stay or Go?
- A world of it's own, these humanoids thrive on physical movement - somewhat like sharks, although they do not cease to exist if they stop moving but go into a sleeping state until someone moves them around. These people (aliens?) resemble humans to a degree, there races are distinguished by elements/energy sources as each having a somewhat unique trait (uniqueness similar to 'My hero Academia' quirks but only that each trait is unique to one person) . This story is similar to that of the previously mentioned, however, key differences are: Euphemia is not a care taker, the thieves are a guild or a syndicate and they steal peoples unique traits (which is their life energy) - hence committing murder.
- A fantasy realm called Bohemia, Magic and power is the norm in this world. In this story, the roles have somewhat reversed slightly. Euhpemia's father is head (or just part) of a crime syndicate, and also a high authority within their realm, who is set on controlling the realm and then the world. Euphemia adores her father and believes they are doing what is best for the world, she is unaware of her fathers true nature - mixed in with some slight brainwashing and emotional manipulation - she is her fathers right hand man. In recent months, they have acquired a relic/gem/seed/magic-thing/ from another realm (stolen) and this item is giving off an unnatural (for that world) energy or magic pollution, which is tainting those who come into contact with it unless proper measures are taken. The thief (who is nameless for now) is part of a rebellion against Euphemia's father and the realm (turns out the whole realm's government is under Euphemia's fathers orders) and the thief tries to steal the relic/gem/seed/magic-thing and has a confrontation with Euphemia. the thief is unsuccessful in his endeavours the first time and manages to escape. The thief plots to try again. Euphemia assures her father she can handle any further altercations and issues, however, the second time around she fails, and worse yet, the thief has now opened Euphemia's eyes and mind to what has truly been happening in the realm. Euphemia abandons her father and flees with the thief to join the rebellion and fight against the evil of the realm.
Style Reference Board
Week 3
Setting the Stage: Multi-Point Perspective; Interpretation of Words
This week we were introduced to setting the stage for our production. Key considerations while undertaking our tasks:
- Start inside the box and then you can work on the outside of the box.
- Control Focal Points.
- Use Angles - Take advantage of different angles to support and convey a feeling or emotion.
- Research.
Making use of different perspectives to establish interesting angles that support your story. We performed exercise to help understand 3-point perspective better and to also help us experiment with different focal points and angles that we can take advantage of for our production. We were also briefly introduced to 5-point perspective - in 5-point perspective there are no parallel lines, this causes the image to distort in a fish-eye effect.
I found 3-point perspective the most challenging to get an understanding of how it functions, and its rules and limitations. I unfortunately would keep messing up the distortion of my 3-point perspective illustrations. I did not keep the image inside the cone of vision - the cone of vision can be thought of as a frame that the viewer's vision is restricted to - and this was causing unwanted (ill-behaved) distortion to my illustration.
Interpretation of Limerick
During the tutorial this week we discussed how to interpret the limerick that we had chosen. Firstly, it was recommended to read the limerick and write down thoughts and ideas that come straight to mind, even sketch simple thumbnails to help get ideas out. Once I began my research on the topic I was sketching small pictures to get out any ideas.
I have chosen limerick fifty-five from Edward Lear's Book of Nonsense.
The poem that caught my eye was number fifty-five, I also had several other poems ( No.4, No.33, No.38, and No.54) which I thought might be a good fit for this assignment. I read through the poem and wrote down key aspects that stood out to me and also noted several ideas for the storyline.
Out of these initial ideas I am having trouble imagining how to execute them, so I am undecided. For now I am leaning towards creating a story true to the poem. The art style is also undecided at this moment, I would like to try a stylistic approach however I am not sure if that will suit the story. At this point I believe it best to keep generating ideas and concepts and see what eventuates.
After researching I discovered that Bohemia is in fact part of the Czech Republic, its history is quite fascinating. Edward Lear wrote his poems during the 19th century, unfortunately the attire of that era is not to my liking - and would be quite complicated to illustrate - unfortunately I can not envisage this aspect of the idea to go any further.
A hurdle I am struggling to overcome is not killing the story before it even begins. My current decision is to generate some concept characters based on a literal translation of the poem - no magical worlds, sci-fi robots or historic kingdoms. My concept (test design) will be based on a setting of late 20th century in a bustling area just outside a main town - such as Brisbane, Sydney or Melbourne - from there I will see what eventuates in the coming week.
Week 2
Introduction to Colour Theory
I am fascinated with colour theory and the different ways you can use it to your advantage. I took this opportunity to research how it interacts and works. Colour, for many people, is a part of everyday life and for some it is a primary focus of their work or daily activities, while others may not necessarily realise the impact in which colour affects their routines.
Colour can be thought of having different temperature qualities, colours that are warm in tone - red, orang, and yellow - create a visual illusion of feeling closer and visually stand out more, whereas colours that are cool in tone - blue, violet and green - have the opposite affect and visually appear to recede or flatten amongst other colours and brings a sense of calm to an environment. These attributes can be used to help evoke or portray emotions and feelings within a production, whether for film, tv, or video games. While researching further I found that colours will have both positive and negative connotations attached to them, however may be more of a subjective view point than an agreed consensus.
Here is a list of some positive and negative attributes for certain colours: [1]
- Red - strength, energy, intensity, lust; danger, aggression.
- Blue - Calm, trust, coolness, serenity; coldness, unfriendliness.
- Yellow - joy, confidence, friendliness; anxiety, fear, irrationality.
- Green - harmony, rest, safety; boredom, blandness.
- Violet - Wealth, luxury, authenticity; inferiority, introversion.
I found it even more fascinating when we started to learn about tints, shades, and tones of colour theory. I have never really thought too much about what different shades achieve or how best to use a tint of a colour hue. Learning this has helped me broaden my scope and view colour in a new light.
This also leads me to mention that something else I found very interesting and important is the different colour models and system depending on your medium. Understanding the use of the CMYK subtractive colour model for printing and painting compared to how the RGB additive colour model is used for visuals dealing with light - digital devices.
Perspective - Can you see it?
Learning about perspective and how to correctly implement the techniques for 1-point and 2-point perspective was very beneficial. These are techniques that I have learnt previously during highschool, but taken them for granted.
During this weeks tutorial we practiced 1-point and 2-point perspective drawing. First beginning with a simple box exercise in 1 and 2 point perspective; then proceeding on to more complex activities finishing with homework of us drawing a room in 1 and 2 point perspective. This was a fantastic refresher for my perspective drawing. These activities helped clarify the importance of visualisation and that preparation is necessary if you are wanting to creating illustrations that make sense by the end product.
Week 1
Introduction to KNB136
This week was an introduction to KNB136.
Production designers are responsible for creating and managing the visual aspects of a project. They work closely with directors and producers to create an entire cohesive style for the project. Visuals help to create the feel of the story it enables the viewer imagine the setting, therefore production designers can be seen as 'enablers'.
As production designers, we should make it a habit to study and scrutinise scripts:
- What action words stand out?
- What picture do the descriptions paint?
- How would you bring this to life?
- What descriptive words bring the story to life?
- Conduct intense research, source ideas.
"The hand of the director. My [the production designer's] real job is to understand how the director reads the script, and what they visually see and want to accomplish. The [Production designer,] enabler of the creative vision."
Dr. da Costa. 2021.
REFERENCE LIST
Reference for any material that is not mine on this site
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[2] Worqx. (n.d.). Worqx.com. https://worqx.com/color/color_systems.htm
[3] Matisse. (n.d.). Matisse.com. https://www.matisse.com.au/hue-chroma-tint-shade-and-tone
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[12] ZeroChan. (n.d.). ZeroChan. https://www.zerochan.net/1620829
[13] Simon & Schuster. (2021). Simon & Schuster. https://www.simonandschuster.ca/books/Seraph-of-the-End-Vol-1/Takaya-Kagami/Seraph-of-the-End/9781421571508
[14] Simon & Schuster. (2021). Simon & Schuster. https://www.simonandschuster.ca/books/Seraph-of-the-End-Vol-2/Takaya-Kagami/Seraph-of-the-End/9781421571515
[15] Dictionary.com. (n.d.). https://www.dictionary.com/browse/connotation
[16] Dictionary.com. (n.d.). Dictionary.com. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/denotation
[17] Debravanwindergarden.blogspot (n.d.). Image URL: https://debravanwinegarden.blogspot.com/2014/10/animas-city-mountain-8161-out-back-door.html
[18] Patriot Getaways (n.d.). Image URL: https://patriotgetaways.com/blog/10-best-smoky-mountains-towns-need-visit/
[19] Reddit (n.d.). Image URL: https://www.reddit.com/r/MostBeautiful/comments/4w4miw/abandoned_mansion_foyer/
[20] PhillyMag (n.d.). Image URL: https://www.phillymag.com/property/2018/11/15/on-the-market-huge-beachfrontlakefront-mansion-in-rehoboth/
[21] Pinterest (n.d.). Image URL: https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/459719074466148879/
Credits:
Created with an image by coyot - "white paper texture"