The main ideal is to entertain - mainly by making people
laugh, aiming for the teenage crowd, as well as people in their early 20s. I am
aiming to make an animation, and if that’s the case I will probably aim for a
simple, perhaps abstract style for ease of animation. I haven’t ruled out
making a book or comic, and if I made either of them I’d be free to make it
more detailed. Regardless of what I settle on, I think I’ll aim for a sort of
surreal style to it as well.
One of my main inspirations for this includes ‘The Reward’
by Sun Creature Studio (1):
Sun Creature Studio was founded by students from The
Animation Workshop (2). ‘The Reward’(3) is the result of their course at The
Animation Workshop, being their Final Major Project, of sorts. ‘The Reward’
helped establish them, after which they held a Kickstarter Campaign (4) to fund
an entire series called ‘The Tales of Alethrion’.
‘The Reward’ is a fairly formulaic story of two heroes who
go on a quest for treasure and in the end they find out the real reward was the
adventure. It’s an old cliché, but ‘The Reward’ manages to present it in such a
good way it seems fresh and new.
I chose to look at ‘The Reward’ in preparation for my final
major project, because although I wouldn’t say it’s had much of an influence on
my work so far, it is one of the main contributing reasons as to why I want to
make an animation for my final major project, and I would certainly try to
emulate certain aspects of it
One of the big things is that the animation has no speech
whatsoever. Everything is either communicated through the character’s body
language, facial expressions, or grunts and laughter. If I make an animation,
that is something I will definitely consider emulating. It would save me a
great amount of time if I had no speech in my work, as I wouldn’t have to spend
time lip-syncing the characters, and I wouldn’t have to record much, if any
audio. It would also make it more easily viewable for non English speakers,
broadening its appeal.
Another thing I found interesting is that the characters are
never truly still. They might stand still for moments, but even then they
aren’t static, unmoving objects like you see in most other animations. There is
a small twitch to them, which I think is caused by the animators redrawing the
entire character on each new frame, as opposed to simply redrawing just the
things that move in those situations (such as the eyes). It adds a lot of life
to the characters and a touch of realism too, as no one is ever truly standing
still.
Another thing I found interesting was the cuts to highly
detailed close-ups of the characters:
Regular shot.
Detailed close-up.
It is by no means a technique unique to ‘The Reward’, having
been used by other cartoons such as ‘Ren and Stimpy’, ‘The Simpsons’ and
‘Spongebob Squarepants’. However, in the vast majority of cases, I’ve seen it
being used mainly to amuse viewers by disgusting them:
 |
| [From ‘Spongebob Squarepants’ Season 9, Episode 189. First Broadcast by Nickelodeon on 9/11/2013] |
‘The Reward’ just uses it purely for comedic effect though,
making it seem more endearing. I originally thought the detailed close-ups
could only really be used to disgust cartoon viewers (so I didn’t really
consider it as something to use on my final major project), but ‘The Reward’
changed my perception towards it. I don’t know if I will end up using them in
the end product, but I will certainly experiment with the technique.
 |
| [From ‘Chew’ Vol.1, Written by John Layman, Illustrated by Rob Guillory, First Published on 8/12/2009 by Image Comics] |
I’ve only been aware of Guillory’s work for a few months,
but I feel it has already had an influence on my work. His style was the main
reason I even picked up ‘Chew’ in the first place, mainly because I could see
some similarities between it and my own style (mainly his characters, use of
thick, sometimes messy outlines).
 |
| [From ‘Chew’ Vol.1, Written by John Layman, Illustrated by Rob Guillory, First Published on 8/12/2009 by Image Comics] |
 |
| [From ‘Chew’ Vol.1, Written by John Layman, Illustrated by Rob Guillory, First Published on 8/12/2009 by Image Comics] |
As for the research project, I aim to focus on improving my skills at drawing backgrounds. Whilst I feel that I could ably illustrate any characters and objects, my backgrounds could do with some improvement.
When it comes to illustrating backgrounds, I would say my biggest influence is Moebius:
Moebius (6), (real name: Jean Giraud) was a French illustrator, responsible for ‘Blueberry’, ‘The Incal’, ’Arzach’ and the creation of the ‘Métal Hurlant’ magazine (known as the ‘Heavy Metal’ magazine in English speaking countries). He also worked on concept art and storyboards for renowned sci-fi films such as ‘Alien’ and ‘The Fifth Element’.
In 1955 he spent eight months in Mexico, where the flat, desert landscape greatly influenced his style (7). A lot of his illustration involves surreal, desert landscapes, sometimes incredibly detailed, and sometimes quite minimalistic. I think his simpler style of background has influenced me more, but I really want to emulate his more detailed style.
To me, the background is often a chore, something I simply feel obligated to do to finish an illustration. I feel that I should visit a truly interesting landscape and draw from it, much like Moebius and the deserts of Mexico.
The end results of all of this will be:
- For the Final Major Project I shall produce either:
- An animated short at least five minutes long, along with storyboards, animatic, character designs etc.
- A comic/book at least 24 pages long in full colour, along with a front and back cover, end papers, promotional materials etc.
- For the Research Project I shall explore the illustration of landscapes in detail, to better my skill at drawing backgrounds. I’ll observe and draw from landscapes in the field, using them as reference for more fantastic illustrations.
References:
(1) http://suncreature.com/
(7) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNas99oEXBU
(At the 7:14 mark)
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