I have made a few text imagery from my first character. I used different modes such as screen and darken and I also just used the parchment on the characters clothes.
The first design I used the modes of the screen to determine what looks the best for the character.
Parchment character 1
Parchment character 2
Parchement character 3
parchment character 4
Parchment character5
The text is too harsh on the characters face on parchment 4,2 and 1. Parchment 5 sort of works but the text is too faded. Parchment 3 works the best in this type of mode.
I also tried adding the text just to the characters clothes to see the effect and if it looks better.
characters clothes
This works really well, especially the out lines that I have added. Without the outline the characters face stuck out too much.
Lastly I thought about adding the parchment texture to the characters face to see if it all blends in well enough.
face and hair texture
Even though the character blends in the outline of the hair looks wrong and will need re working. Between the tests I believe that either Parchment Character 3, text clothes and the last image all work well. I will need to decide which one to choose so I can then work on the poses tonight.
I notice that I am not keeping up with schedule and with few weeks to go I thought now would be the best time to start my time limit.
24/11/2015: Finished rough animation. Finally decided to use Cinematic approach. Will design character poses in text imagery. Will try and scan in text to draw on OR create a parchment on Illustrator with old text and then characters on top. I have done something similar to this and I can edit the fonts as so. May Use Lorem Ipsum for paragraphs of words or copy text from Brothers Grimm book. Lorum Ipsum site : http://www.lipsum.com/feed/html
Previous character imagery from a few years ago:
Alice in Wonderland text Imagery. Outlined parts of the book and used a path pen to create the shape. Got the shape of Alice from Lewis Carrol book with Illustrations
I will need to create at least 5 main character poses, 1 Wolf pose, 1 goat pose and 2 character expressions. I enjoy creating expressions and changed my style as of today to make the expressions work. I used the reference of Chris Sanderson's ( Lilo & Stitch) character work for my main character and looks less robotic than before:
More expression and interesting than before. Brighter colours and appropriate size for a younger character.
I will try to reduce the opacity of the fill on the character for text to come through. If it doesn't work then I will leave the text imagery to the Wolf, Goat and background.
25/11/2015: Work on the background layers. This consists of a few trees, a log and the sky. I decided to leave out the lightening to show inside the wolf. Movement of the wolfs paw is enough as well as audio that will be added later on. Trees will sway, and the head of the wolf will move as well. Once I completed the background I will add text Imagery characters to the rough animation, keeping the key frames. A simple replace exercise of the rough concept.
28/11/2015: Have the animation completed with light effects. I will look online for free sound effects to add to the animation. I will also look for a battle like sound track similar to Kingdom Hearts games when introduced to a boss battle but with a more playful concept such as Pokemon or Mario games.
Kingdom Hearts boss battle soundtrack
29/11/2015: Have the animation completed with sound effects and hopefully a soundtrack. If I can't find a sound track I can try and make one myself on Adobe Audition
After I lost an image to the animation I couldn't fully function DUIK. Even though DUIK is great for character animation, it was a program that I wasn't familiar with and with the deadline at a close I had no time to learn all functions.
So I decided to go back to the original Cinematic idea and implement it with my newest storyboards from previous blog. Lynn showed me how to mask a parts of a drawing and then how to animate in after effects. I finally finished with a rough cinematic of a cut scene.
I will keep the idea of text imagery of the characters so my next step is scanning in text from books and then illustrate on top of them in Illustrator. I will then replace the mask drawings in after effects with the text drawings, thus creating an actual story. The background will also be text but slightly larger. The light tool can light up the character, just so that it doesn't blend in with the environment.
My plan for this week is to get the animation finished, in time for touch ups and adding audio. I think the audio will just be sound effects with a soundtrack.
I've updated my storyboards and decided to go with a cut scene rather than a trailer. It will still have th previous boards but I've added more and took out the witch and close up of the character. I have also designed my main character as a girl and will be using book text as a background. As though the player is playing the game inside the Brother Grimm book.
I am in the process of designing the background so the storyboards are quick but clear sketches. It will also be a cinematic but might have the same pace as American McGee Alice games.
Main Character
I used any books with long texts to experiment this process. I will print off text from the Brother Grimm to draw on so that the players can see some of the stories.
Storyboards
Opening is the same as the last animation. Dark forest with branches swaying. Will be in the same style as main character
Main character walking through woods. Puppet like
Goat runs past her. She calls to it but the goat replies to RUN!
Everything in the woods starts to shake. A large shadow then looms over the girl
A wolf appears (same as the last animation). He growls that he's going to eat her next. Lightning flash and you see skeletons of 6 goats in the wolves stomach crying out
Girl takes out her weapon. Silhouette of the wolfs jaws in a grin appear and goes towards the girl. The cut scene ends with a swirl black.
I think instead of using the lightening flash to see the goats skeletons, the wolf might either have all 6 goats in one and flips them into his mouth, the goats are in a cage or if the goats are already in his stomach when the wolf growls or shows his jaws you see the goats inside his stomach. It might be something to think about on how to involve other goats.
I was also told of a software called DUIK which is a more simpler tool to use than the puppet tool in After Effects so I'll download that on my laptop.
I've looked through YouTube for a tutorial on puppet tool rigging and have found one that will move exactly how I want my characters to move. I will keep on looking for more tutorials but once I gain enough I can then start animating.
In the college I wasn't taught enough about the puppet tool so I had to teach myself through YouTube videos a few years back. Now that After Effects is becomming more popular I will have more tutorials to watch and study.
