Rationale for final

Rationale: Assignment Two - Story and Narration 

For this assignment I created a nonlinear triptych based on the song Space Oddity by David Bowie. My Triptych follows the story of Major Tom as a British World War Two Major experiencing different situations according to the lines I chose within the song lyrics. In the first instance he is ‘Stepping out the door’ of his home, and off to the battle front with a somewhat positive outlook. In the second scenario he is nearly hit by an explosion while reaching for a communication radio: ‘Your circuit’s dead there’s something wrong, can you hear me, Major Tom?’ Lastly he is hidden away in a bunker contemplating the outside world and looking at a book containing pictures of Earth and Space. The bunker is in reference to ‘sitting in my tin can,’ and the pictures ‘planet Earth is blue and there’s nothing I can do.’ 

Aesthetically I decided to give the background limited colours and a washed out feel to evoke a sense of nostalgia and memory to historical context. The key scenarios are highlighted by different and slightly brighter colours to draw attention to them, with blue and purple on the scenes where he is undergoing more stress or sadness, and a warmer, friendlier orange over his home. I chose to add some stars in the sky in reference to the song ‘the stars look very different today.’  

For the animation of Major Tom I used a cutout style as it was easier to redraw and it stands out over the relatively detailed backdrop. He also has a slight white outline around him/is embossed, which I feel helps to separate him from blending into the background too much. He is moving slightly slower in the scenes than I had initially planned, but when trying faster movement the scenes felt a bit distracting an overwhelming to look at, so I feel the slower frame rate works better this way. 

In relation to the brief, the triptych is shown by the three scenarios, and the nonlinear aspect is that all of the situations are taking place in one scene, even if they are different parts of his journey taking place at different times.  

Final Composition

Here is the final composition, I will upload my rationale for more explanation, I also placed a semi-animated communication radio in the explosion scene:

Compilation Photoshop

From messing around with the Gifs I compiled them on Photoshop and played around with colour sizing and timing:

Originally my gif file size was really massive so i had to play around with the settings to save a downsized version for uploading.

Gif update for walk cycle

I needed to extend the walk cycle for the second leg movement, so that he doesn't look like he's only taking one step:

Here's the gif, again it needs tidying for the final as there are some little mistakes that need fixing but it looks relatively smooth for now:

Gif for reading scene

Here's the drawing development and gif for the bunker reading scene:

I added the table in here to make sure I have the right angle for him to be sitting and reading. This picture includes all pages over the layers, but not all of his arm movements. I planned to chuck a space texture over the book:

Here's the gif with added textures. It also glitches a bit on here but I can fix it in the final:

Gif for falling scene

Here's the gif for my falling scene of Major Tom:

The gif seems to add frames a bit but I will fix it for the final submission. I also chose to add a clipping mask to add texture to his coat throughout the animation.

Major Tom walk practice

For my walking out the door scene i did a basic walk cycle for major Tom. I really went with minimalist details here since he is an animated character and has to be drawn a lot so i decided to do simple blocky shapes so that he will be quick to redraw and show movement:

There is some minor cleanup that needs to be done also but I'm quite happy with the style so far.

background update

Here I've done the background with some minor animation and next I'll work on dropping the character in...not sure whether to put a waving flag on the house or make smoke billow in the background:

Character model ref

I've decided to model my Major Tom character after WWII Major Anthony Hibbert who saw action in quite a few operations during the war (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Hibbert_(British_Army_officer)
 this is so that I have an idea of the look that he will have:

(left)

Reference pictures for Major Tom/equipment and environments

I needed to research some images surrounding the uniform of British army Majors, I was going to focus on the WW2 uniforms, also because the technology of that time would be more suitable for what I wanted to portray in my pictures:

Equipment: The first image was the common British radio during WW2 but the 2nd and 3rd back pack radios were the SCR-300 model adopted in the late 40s by the British. The final picture is an American hand held model, so I might end up using the first image design or second as it would be more chronologically fitting.

Bunker photos: It was difficult to find interior photos of British bunkers so I included some French and German bunker interiors for wall construction or bedding references. But British bunkers seem to be built around mostly by bricks

Background wip

I started working on a background scene for the gif where I may animate the smoke in the background and sky. I used some silhouette brushes to build up the environment:

brushes credit:
http://www.deviantart.com/art/ruined-94382137 - silhouettes
http://soldatnordsken.deviantart.com/art/My-painting-brushes-Concept-art-speedpainting-415473881 - details

Gif practising

I decided it would probably be better to create a GIF for my final rather than an animation. That way the output may appear more non-linear. Firstly I needed to storyboard some shots for the GIF compilation:

Here is a basic GIF compilation of the segments of Major Tom's journey according to my lyrical interpretation:

After discussion in class it was suggested in order to make the story a bit less linear I could have the 3 events happening as GIF animations in one image. I felt like this was a good idea to utilise for my story so I might have a rubble city/town background like my middle image and have the GIFs as memories in different colours happening simultaneously on top of it.

Character style - experimenting

I want the character to look somewhat serious but I need to simplify him more because otherwise it will be very time consuming to animate. So far I've just practiced with this kind of aesthetic, and trying to colour my picture without using lines:

character development references

I made a mood board for the character and environment development. The environments I liked were by Star Wars environment concept artist Scott Wills and some various character designs from different artists:

I personally like the style of an online artist known as 'Phobs' because they have a distinct style which may appear somewhat disneyish but in a more serious sense: http://phobs.deviantart.com/

Here's some of their art:

Development of triptych - story idea

After discussing the ideas around my verses/chorus, I chose to go down a darker route for my story as I feel I'll probably do that more effectively. Some of the ideas suggested were that the story could be about:

• a hospital patient in a paralyzed or comatose state
• a person suffering from PTSD with a warped perception of the world around them
• a soldier/major whose journey and struggles are shown through the scenes
• a robot that goes to rescue its friend drifting in space
• a satellite that is about to be shutdown

I had a bit of a plan to use the idea of the soldier story in an 2D animated format. The story would go as follows:

1) Major Tom/Tom leaves on a ship that sets sail for the battle front in foreign lands, it is evening and the stars are out. He waves goodbye to to his friends and family etc.

• I'm stepping through the door/And I'm floating /And the stars look very different today

2)Major Tom/Tom is in a near death situation (after an explosion? or shot?) He is on the ground grabbing desperately for a walkie talkie which is trying to communicate with him (ground control reference) it appears to be just out of reach. 

• Ground Control to Major Tom, Your circuit's dead, there's something wrong, Can you hear me, Major Tom?

3) Major Tom/Tom is now stuck in a bunker as above the ground is being bombarded by bombs etc. We aren't sure how long he has been down there, or how long he will be stuck there. He is looking at magazines and posters in the bunker of space and Earth reminding himself of how the world above looks. The bunker is his metaphorical 'Tin Can.' 

• For here, Am I sitting in a tin can/Planet Earth is blue, And there's nothing I can do

Assignment 2 - Non-linear triptych based on song

For this assignment we are focusing on choosing a song from a list of 7 songs for the basis of a non-linear story which will be represented in a triptych style. The triptych can be in any format (sculpture, video or animation, painting etc).
I've chosen to go with Space Oddity  by David Bowie. The chorus and verses I've chosen to use are as below:

1)
This is Major Tom to Ground Control
I'm stepping through the door
And I'm floating 
in a most peculiar way
And the stars look very different today

2)

Ground Control to Major Tom

Your circuit's dead,
there's something wrong
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you....

3)

For here

Am I sitting in a tin can
Far above the world
Planet Earth is blue
And there's nothing I can do

Rationale final

Here is my rationale in reference to my final:

Rationale: Assignment 1 – Story and Narration

For this assignment I focused on conspiracies surrounding vaccinations. I researched a variety of conspiracies online regarding this topic, but chose to follow on with the conspiracy that some people believe that vaccinating is actually a satanic ritual. This is based on the idea that the solution inside the vaccine is sourced from aborted foetus tissue which is laden with viruses and administered to children or adults, and that injecting people with this solution is an ungodly act.

My final output narrative focuses on a child going to receive a vaccine from a doctor, and because of his innocence is unaware that a dark ritual is taking place. The onlooker uncovers the scene and exposes to the viewer what actually happens when people go for their vaccinations in the doctor’s office.

The child is high key coloring in comparison to his demonic counterpart as this emphasises innocence, the darker figure is low key and low contrast, giving a rotten and sinister atmosphere. The child is also in a state of surprise which can either suggest it is glad that the onlooker is witnessing the act and may come to the rescue, or it may suggest that the child feels like the onlooker shouldn’t be interrupting the ritual.

Apart from the contrasting colours of the child and demon I decided to use red hues, blacks and greys because it adds to the ritualistic theme. The red invokes mystery and is a sinister and blood-like colour often used in satanic emblems and scenes. The black here is also used in a similar manner and suggests a sombre and foreboding atmosphere. The composition of the picture focuses on the onlooker ‘uncovering’ the ritual or conspiracy, and I felt the demon vaccinating the child needs to be relatively central as it is the most important event within the picture.

I chose to do half of my picture with paper-cut collage and half with digital lines, light and shadow, because I feel the cut paper gives a kind of jagged and disjointed effect and the patterns add to the uncomfiness of the scene. It also makes it feel like the walls could be crawling/moving, which could reference back to ideas of bacteria multiplying, and the content of the vaccine solution.

Final image

Here is my final image. I wanted to keep it still quite dark so that the scene feels spooky and sinister, I also added in a poster regarding the flu in the background and a stethoscope around the demon's neck for scenery context.

Collage backing

Before scanning my image again I collaged the background, so initially it looked like this before I went to add linework, light and shadow onto it:

Digital development

After showing the class the developed thumbnails it was suggested that the stronger image was the one of the child in the doctors office with the satanic 'doctor.' The idea was quite clear so I only planned to make minor alterations. Suggestions were:

- fix hands (noted)

- make the curtain more asymmetric?

-add more occult items to the picture to make it feel more ritualistic

-focus on reds and blacks, kind of satanic colour scheme

I did a digital draw up of these ideas to make my final concept clearer:

Developed Thumbnails

Here is the Satanic ritual in the doctor's office - I realise the hands on the curtains are placed kind of oddly, there could be two people watching or in the final output i just adjust the placement to make it seem like one person. Also I'm not sure whether the kid should be looking towards the viewer or up at the demon, and whether the demon should be grabbing the kid's arm or not:

Here's the one of the needle siphoning the vaccine material from the depths of hell. I'm still wondering about the contents of what could be buried in the Earth and what kind of liquid should be in the needle. I'm also not sure whether there should be people plunging the syringe pump down or making some kind of machine do it:

For my third thumbnail I focused on the one of the looming satanic figure around the child with needles pointing towards it. This one was more simplistic looking and is quite effective but I feel it might need more context towards vaccination as for now it looks a bit like the needles could just have anything in them:

I used a bunch of various pictures from the internet for the composition in these pictures but I still plan to do the final output with cutout paper/card and digital editing.

More thumbnails

I did a few more thumbnails here, but I've decided to develop the thumb of the ritual set in the doctor's office, and the needle siphoning chemicals/viruses into the hospital. I'll add my mockups of those two to the next post for general reference:

aesthetic and final output choice

For my overall look I want to make it look kind of sharp/pointy because I feel the figures will have an ominous look. I quite like Jhonen Vasquez's style of jagged and pointy and often looming figures:

I'm also keen on making my final output in collage paper and going over it in photoshop for detailing. Some inspirational examples: