Back ground test

I wrote down 3 questions and asked people out side of my classes.

1. Does the story make since?

2. What could change About the story plot?

3. additional comments?

The story made since for the most part. Everyone liked my character design but thought the girls color design was a little odd (my thoughts too)

They said the animation could have more jokes, wasn't too clear what kind but the ones I have now are ok.

for additional comments, the hamster is really cute and the animatic needs to be timed out more.

Schedule

Week1-rough animation for mike

Week2-Clean up rough for mike

Week3- rough animation for melissa

week 4-Clean up rough for melissa

Week5-background

Re-Post 1

The Dream sequence in "The princess and the frog" was very stunning. All the figures were in a vector form and it had no out lines. I was actually considering doing a style similar to this in the flash back scene when Hamper gets sad.

With this image, I wanted a watercolor look. I'm going to use real watercolors tomorrow and see if it turns out better. I like It though, Using a dark out line seams a bit intense. This is softer to the eyes.

I'm rather fond of cartoon networks recent cartoon called "chowder" They use textures for their palette with solid colors. with my character I used a two different textures with some soft colors.

RAWR!

So I worked on the color of my characters and I've decided between these two

I was pretty happy with Mike's design and the colors he had so I didn't make a whole lot of changes. with melissa, I might have done a little too much. Blue hair with a green shirt...not very appealing to your eyes. When it comes to hamper, he was a little difficult because I wanted a bold color for a hamster for his bold personality. The blue is nice but I might stick with the orange.

here is a model of hamper I am working on. I need to get more sculpty clay though. hes a little to small (even for a hamster)

SKETCHES AND STUFF

http://www.vimeo.com/10571256

Hamster dance

So this is the first time I did a color test for these characters. I'm still going to test different colors and stuff because I'm not completely happy with it. I really like the colors I used for Mike but melissa needs some more work blah. the hampster isn't the size shown, he is much smaller (enlarged to show detail, just like cereal :D)

so other than that, I have been working on story boards and animatics for my layout and timing class. changing camera angles and different approaches to things.

Thesis

My thesis story revolves around a story about a teenage boy and his hamster. Hamper the hamster is excited to hear Mike come home and runns over to the side of the cage. His happy expression is quickly wiped from his face when he discovers that mike has brought a guest and didn't pay any attention to him. He gets sad and has a flash back of when they were in the bathroom doing mike's hair. Mike reaches down and gives hamper his own little mohawk and they laugh together. He snaps back to reality and gets determined and waves his little arms around. The two are too busy watching TV. Hamper then grabs some flags and wave them around. still nothing. Then he jumps around with pom poms and does a back flip. still nothing.

He then climbs his running wheel and puts on a blind fold, puts out his arms and dives into his little water dish. Mikes guest malissa whips her head around; very irritated, and glares at hamper all soaking wet. He shakes dry and his fur makes him look like a puff ball.

melissa turns her attention back to the television. Few seconds later, melissa is hit in the head with something. then out of no where she is being hit with food pellets. She covers her head with her hands, then hampers wheel hits her in the head, knocking her to the ground. Out raged, melissa leaves the room and slams the door. Mike looks back at hamper and he tries to look innocent. Mike has an angry face that stares down his hampster. Hamper then makes a puppy dog face and make his eyes tear up. Mike makes a cooing noise and hugs his little hampster friend that he could never be mad at.

ADVENTURE!!

I am very interested in the animation styles they have out today. some of them have amazing textures and the backgrounds may have a washed out look. with the television show "chowder" the animators use a mask layer for the characters and move around on a textured background. so when they walk, the textures on their clothes are changing. they even go as far as using mixed media like claymation, puppets, and stop animation for the transitions. Cartoon network also has another animation that follows the same concept but has a different style. This cartoon is called flapjack, It aso has mixed media but they don't use it as much. Their whole opening is a stop animation, which could be misleading if you have never watched it before. Flapjack's backgrounds are usually washed out watercolor and they use alot of dark colors compared to chowder.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hN4uhOWQrHU

"It's been a hard days night"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3KitxQJpZk

This animation inspires me because it has alot of detail in it. I love all the textures and the line work, I'm amazed it's an animation because it just looks like its a painting or
an illustation. I can't really find who was responsible for this animation yet, but every time I watch this video it makes me want to be an animator again because some times you need a reminder why you want to do what you want.

Other animations and images that inspire me:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ezSGqbuo0g

this is by carlos lascano, he not a well known animator but I really love this mixed media animation.

http://www.vimeo.com/7086181