Category Archives: Palm Rot (thesis)
Style Frames and Character Design
Working on some style frames before I tart production. The final product probably won’t turn out exactly like this. But this kind of stuff is important because after 6 months of animation, after I’ve lost my mind, I’ll be able to remember some of my intentions.
I think i’m going to spend a lot more time on the clouds for the final product- like my old marker drawings. Here are some color variations and another frame:
Some thumbnailing in the sketchbook:
Sketches for a scene that I’m adding before the title card:
Now, for my own benefit, I’m going to write down what’s coming next:
Tonight I make my detailed production schedule. Tomorrow I do animation tests to figure out my production process and shading technique. Maybe do some marker cloud studies. If I do all of that before 5, I may have time to work on a gif to submit to loopdeloop.
Lastly- good ol’ Andrew is going to fabricate his puppets for his thesis. Here are some clean-ups I did of some of his puppet designs:
DESIGNING BILL
I’m already about week behind- which is a bad sign- but I have time. I HAVE TIME. This is a turn around I did for Bill- but it’s a little stiff. I’m not actually that interested in staying on model. I want to make stuff rubbery and gestural as I see fit.
Some color experiments:
Developing the engine:
Style frames to come!
THESIS STAMP
I don’t know why but I love stamps. I also love animating. I love stamps and animating. So for the past two years I’ve had this fantasy of designing a stamp that I could use to identify stacks of animation paper, folders of relevant material, contracts, ALL the clerical shit. Something about stamps makes clerical shit seem romantic. Anyway- for my thesis I’ve gone and done it:
I was gonna carve the stamp myself out of this linoleum kit my mom bought me a couple years back- but I’m pretty bad at carving- and I wanted a stamp that I didn’t have to roll with ink. When I decided to PAY for the stamp to be made- I thought I’d push the limits and add some real thin line-work in there.
It arrived today and I’m super pleased with the results. A cool stamp and a badass laser-etched? wooden block background to help me identify it.
Now I actually have to make my thesis so I can stamp it.
BACK FROM THE DEPTHS
I went off the grid for a little while to produce the animatic for my thesis. I usually never bring my animatics to this level- but Peter Chung and Jennifer Yuh Nelson have both infected my brain with the quality of their work and I spent an entire week in a chair drawing my thesis. Here it is in order:
And here it is ALL AT ONCE:
It took forever, but it was totally worth it. I feel like I’ve already finished my thesis- now it’s just filling in the spaces. Two days ago I showed it to the faculty, got officially approved, and I start production in JUNE. Here’s one of my favorite stills:
AAAAAAAAND the slides I used to present my thesis to the review board:
Another design for Bill:
Eventually I want to make it more simple and more gestural. I’m going to start animation tests and style frames on Monday. Right now I’m relaxing and collecting neck-wrinkle data:
LASTLY- I’m designing some stamps for my thesis. Don’t know why- I just like stamps:
