2 weeks of... BLANK

I haven't posted in two weeks... that is because i haven't done anything really in two weeks...

in fact... i have hit a annoying snag in the form of one of my professors. He feels that i and my fellow students have no idea what we are doing... we just "think" we do. So long story short, i may be in a rut until this class is over.

It is incredibly frustrating...

So i apologize for no major update right now... when serious work is allowed to continue on my thesis... i will be able to show you more substantial stuff.

In the mean time... i hope the following will interest you. This is the walkcycle i created for the original EMO character.

[NOTE: I usually just animate other pre-made characters. But for this, I designed, modeled, textured, rigged & animated this character... as i will most likely do for all the characters and objects in my thesis]

Enjoi!

Early Development and Design

So here is the dealio...

I started early development back during Winter quarter... During that time i tried to come up with an idea that i thought would not only be fun for me and hold my interest, but also be something that others could invest in... i didnt have any character in mind and i needed a stand in that could still convey the idea i wanted to get across...

Since i live with a wonderful artist who i have collaborated with before, i optioned to use a variation of his characterizations as a stand in until i came up with a character of my own...

So in brief... i started with a rough story idea... barely outlined with no solid characters... i then drew up a rough storyboard and 3 concept images... that way i, and others, could get an idea of the direction that was forming in my head and what it might look like later on.


With that finished i went into Spring quarter and "Studio I"... a class designed specifically to help nurture budding thesis ideas...

it was during this quarter that i began to solidify what concepts i was working with, the character id officially use, and really start hammering out early workings of my paper as well as fixing up the story for my film.


It occurred to me that i should go back through my sketchbook and see what characters i had already designed. The first major hit was a guy i call, "EMOticon". A year or so ago i had come up with this guy, and had actually taken the design off the page, through a variation and brought him unto fruition so to speak. But the direction i had gone had made him bulky and he didnt quite fit in the world i was imagining...

HOWEVER... looking back at his original design... i realized that i had found my character! I had always wanted to use him for a larger story than i had... and this was my chance.
It was suggested on multiple occasions that the story was missing something. An interaction with other characters... so i delved back into my sketches and found a little guy i call "Bip" (i dont know why i call him that... i just do) But I found with Bip... i had the dynamic i was looking for... and i could think of a thousand new ways that these two characters could interact and in turn, beef up the story through their relationship.
I then proceeded to model them in 3D... and work out size comparison and personalities and such... but more on that in the next post... for now... enjoy the final renders...

Below, is what they looked like "finished" (they still need some work) and an early idea i had for their introduction (which will most likely change)...

The First of Many...

So... because people are always asking, "How do you do, what you do?" and because others. for whatever reason, love to keep informed of my progress... i have decided to try and keep a production blog for my thesis film (& paper... possibly).

That way, all you wonderful people out there on the interwebs can keep abreast of my happenings and what not, and HOPEFULLY, give me timely feedback to help me create a wonderful animated film.

To kick off this wonderful little experiment... i give you... a tiny little treat in the form of a tiny digital poster... enjoy!