Showing posts with label concept art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label concept art. Show all posts

Friday, March 15, 2019

Animated Short Film WIP: Succor Forlorn

Concept Art Color Mock-Up
HOW THE HECK DID I GET HERE????

Well, THIS is HOW; It started LIKE THIS:

I'd already gone through all the trouble of blogging my goals out on my Main Art Blog when when my #ArtVsArtist/#ArtVArtist/AnimationVsAnimator


Meme videos were still charting on Twitter, plus the fact that Pokemon Go suddenly hit an all time HIGH in user-ship and my Pokemon Go Tweets were also charting still, so my friend Roland & I were discussing stuff, and I had been wanting to re-cut the stuff in my #AnimationVsAnimator meme video into an actual animation/artist/Filmmaker/Dirctor's Demo.


I never got to actually do my final After Effects VFX final edit because the program kept vetoing the clip no matter how compressed I made it, but had no problem importing other videos... this is an issue I often get with Adobe CC and Windows updates, the updates also screwed up my entire iTunes, and my audio/sound card in my computer which was already going bad. (I litterally just started to sort that out FINALLY since last night and all morning today, for the ba-jillienth time trying)

So, not only had I done things like spruce up my Vimeo, portfolios on ArtStation, but I felt this desire to work on JUST a Demo that was a Director's Demo but as a DP (Director of Photography for Cinema).

Here's the HD version from my Meme Clip:



So, I'd started going through my video clips & B-Roll I shot Spring, Summer, and Fall. I wanted it to be a "Video Portrait" but a "Self Portrait" style as a Director/Filmmaker but with just regular camera work and maybe a few VFX thrown in, or some fancy edits.

I found a number of clips I shot of myself, experimental stuff... and at the time, I hated all of it, but, I'd ALSO hated the stuff I actually ended up using in Self Portrait clip I used in my Meme video. So, I decided to try some VFX experiments with the video clips I had. It actually went incredibly well, and was much easier than I'd thought. I'd been so frustrated with After Effects for a week on my Animation/Artist/Filmmaker Demo that I had no expectations for anything to work....

But, THIS is what happened in the 1st one:




Then, I figured, what if I tried this with Trapcode? SO, I did. I did a number of experiments with my B-Roll using Trapcode form...

I had also been suddenly on a 90s/Y2K/2000s Techno kick, and kept finding all sorts of goodies there, with another uptick in my tweets & follows just for THAT stuff on Twitter.... So, I posted more....









Then, a few Techno/Eurodance oldies came up:















Anyways, those were just a FEW of the things that I'd dug up on YouTube, or in my own archives... I'd also even found out that there's a NEW Winamp, and even spent a about 1-2 days making my own Winamp Skins, which ALSO made me VERY interested in 90s & Y2K EVERYTHING all over again! I also got a Skin maker program. If you want some of the Skins I made you can pretty much download ALL of them HERE.

And, since I had been doing VFX Animation Experiments with my B-Roll, I kept stumbling into other things I'd originally wanted to try doing using After Effects CC so then THESE happened:


(BTW: These clips are Creative Commons if you want to rip them n use them for ur own projects)


We had also been hit with so many kinds of weather, and despite this Pokemon Go was going crazy with events, so I often wanted to participate in as many as I could even tho all the PokeStops & PokeGyms are a long walking distance in both directions from my home. Some days I went out, and other days I was stuck inside. Either too cold, too windy, too much snow up to my waste, floods, road construction, power outs, you name it. Not a fan of living in New England AND NEITHER IS MY BACK.

But, it just so happened that on a Thursday evening I was outside playing Pokemon Go trying to do these Pokemon Go event tasks and it was, really cold, I had all the music in my head.... and, I started to realize that maybe a Demo wasn't really the way to go with what I had just made...

I mean, LOOK at all of that stuff!

So, as I was walking around that night I started to have these concepts come into my mind, and it reminded me of some things I had done as a teenager... only more EMO. I didn't usually do EMO sad stuff.... except THIS: (-and maybe some other stuff I no longer have, which I don;t have this one either... )

Fathoming Oubliette

It's titled "Succor Forlorn"

I started to have this concept for a video art piece, the themes, and all of that... so, I sketched up a rough Concept Art which I am hoping to animate starting within the next day or 2:



Also on DeviantArt: Sketch & Color Mock-up

I also wrote a Poem of how I wanted the themes to go. I spent an evening writing it in my paper notebook, then reworked it the following day, and then I also typed and reworked it on another day for about half a day.

The Poem is called "Stargazed Yearning"

You can read the Poem texts HERE.


Then, I wanted to record the audio of myself reciting the poem, but also acting it out... it was a very frustrating endeavor because my spouse was on Spring Break from MASS ARTS Boston, and my daughter also kept having days off, or half days, and I can ONLY record it with NO ONE AT HOME.

I was REALLY feeling it when I 1st wrote it, but couldn't record it due to all the home/house noise. My friend also kept making & breaking his plans with me as well... so, I finally just gave up trying to re-record it after the 3rd day of trying because I just couldn't into the right groove again to connect with the FEELINGS I wanted... and I mean, I tried EVERYTHING like digging up old songs that used to make me cry after a teenaged break-up, dug up photos of ex-boyfriends, or dudes that rebuked me... but, I was just so fed up with wasting time, and since I had recorded at least 7 full long takes, and multiple spot takes of certain segments, I just spent 1-days just chopping & Frankenstein'ing everything until I fore-fit it to work... hopefully it sounds LESS like a hack TRYING to read word-for-word out-loud, and MORE like someone actually abandoned on a planet.

But, anyways, the feedback I got was pretty positive. 

I wanted it to be this kind of fantasy theme, because she mentions she's been stuck on a planet for "1000 orbital planetary years".... So, how long is a year on that planet's orbit? And, how long is 1000 of those years???? So, u start to get a sense that she's not "normal".... as far as Earth goes.
Is she a ghost? 
Is she an alien humanoid? 
Is she an immortal?

So, it's open to interpretation...

The Audio Version is called 
"Stargazed Yearnings" (plural)


This Final Audio Design version took me about a whole day and evening alone:

Also on NewGrounds for Free Download HERE
The short film will be called "Succor Forlorn".

There's a number of discrepancies about the pronunciation of the word "succor". When I was in high school we were taught this words as sounding similar to Olde French and Lantin original pronunciations like "soo-kor" however, online a number of dictionaries tend to list the pronunciation as sounding like "sucker" and is the origin of a baby's pacifier and lollypops & hard candies which were originally all called "suckers". The word originally means to soothe or comfort, but also can mean solace, safety, haven, help, aide, relief, respite, assistance, etc.

But, it's also a pun for "sucker" as in being gullible, mislead, or duped.

She keeps on hoping that when she was left on the planet by someone to save her that they would come back for her, so she keeps on calling out for him to return. 

Anyways, I want to start animating it, hopefully within the next few days. I'm really tired from working on the audio this week, so I didn't work on anything today.

Thursday, January 12, 2017

"Eyewitness" Concept Art: Not Quite Storyboards Yet

I totally thought I could have this either done, or mostly done by now, since I wanted to have this storyboarded for my animated short. But, a number of things popped up. First I realized I needed to have a working character design for the little wild fox character, which I still haven't nailed down yet, but it definitely reachable.

A BIG one is my confidence, since I'm so frustrated with my drawing skills. my anatomy, proportions, etc. are just NOT up to the level I want. SO, not big deal, just do the Life Drawing stuff, or Croquis Cafe... but, I'm almost out of paper.... so, I'm guessing that's a cause for anxiety in the back of my mind... I also got sick. My lungs are infected right now, but at least I can see now.

I guess I'm trying to be as honest as I can with myself. I actually WOULD like this short to be a short, showcase of WHAT I'm capable of... however, I still need to rebuild and regrow back what I lost, and then go from there.

Then, I when I sat down several times to try and do some rough thumbnails for storyboards, I realized my vision of Lively look in this wasn't actually set... I usually have her more sleek, or sporty, even tho' she can also be VERY whimsical, and fantasy.


When I sat down for the first rough thumbnail this was what came out:


So, there she is, entering the savanna, but she's in a more sporty sleek look, which does tend to be typical of her that's skin tight.  I haven't decided on the final look for her satchel/bag yet. 

But, I'm definitely keeping the Thigh High "Pretty Woman" early 1990s boots! They will be flat tho', and EARTHY BROWN.



But, as a I sat down to work on another sketch for the Seven Days of Artworks Challenge THIS came out:


So, the old early 1990s poet blouse look kinda came back. This is what I called "the Hedroll look" since Lively originally used to be 2 girls in the early 90s.

I'm torn between the 2 looks... the Poet Blouse will actually be a LOT more work, even if kept simplified. It would require layers of animation. However, it WILL make it look & feel better....

So, I'm torn.






Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Little Wild Fox Sketch Scans

Here's the scanned/somewhat-cleaned rough sketches practicing drawing foxes for coming up with a design for storyboarding my Eyewitness animated short.

There's just mostly practice. They're NOT the greatest, hence why I need to get doing some croquis practice SOON. I kept putting it off the past 2 weeks. So, if I DON'T get to the gym or watch Rogue One tomorrow, then I WILL most likely do it tomorrow. *crosses fingers*















Sunday, December 4, 2016

November Djehkäujaa Sketches

November was NON STOP busy for me!

I did get to do some sketching practice once in a while, whenever I wasn't doing something UMASS related or hospital related, because my kid could've bled to death, and still has this issue ongoing.

Djehkäujaa was especially on my mind for most of November. I would very much like her singing voice to be someone like the late Melanie Thornton (La Bouche), who's anniversary passing just occurred. It was interesting because I'd totally forgotten it was that time, and my art practicing with Djehkäujaa was way surpassing my expectations out of no where, and I kept thinking about Melanie. I know I'm such a baby over it, but it stings.
Miss u Melanie!



Here's the sketches as I got them going last month:


A photo posted by Kandice Kathleen Zimbleman 任思麒 (@blackunigryphon) on

A photo posted by Kandice Kathleen Zimbleman 任思麒 (@blackunigryphon) on


A photo posted by Kandice Kathleen Zimbleman 任思麒 (@blackunigryphon) on

A photo posted by Kandice Kathleen Zimbleman 任思麒 (@blackunigryphon) on





A photo posted by Kandice Kathleen Zimbleman 任思麒 (@blackunigryphon) on

A photo posted by Kandice Kathleen Zimbleman 任思麒 (@blackunigryphon) on






If you want to see the full version on DeviantART of Djehkäujaa's nude sketch it's HERE but u need to be logged in because it's censored due to nudity.




Wild Fox Character Rough Unfinished Character Designing

I still want to continue practicing sketching, human anatomy, and continuing working on developing & refining the characters for "Zenith", but as things come to me, sometimes I need to take advantage of what is happening and go with it to make the most of my times. I definitely still plan on developing more with Djehkäujaa and Ao Xingtao, but I really want to try to push through these storyboards before February.

I'm not sure exactly how this this little wild fox character will turn out yet, since I just started last night by sketching from wild life photos on Google of foxes, but I need way more practice.

It's a VERY short animated short concept. So, I want the characters to look n feel exactly right. I am thinking about keeping Lively much the same, or similar to, way she is in the charcoal piece.


As you can see, the little wild fox is crouching beneath Lively, freaking out over the throng of flying horses landing in the savannah.

As I think about it now, I think I might've actually chosen BLUE charcoal paper due to Erasure's song "Blue Savannah". At the age when I worked on this concept, I owned a moderate stack Erasure CDs (and some tapes) and when I worked on the charcoal picture at home I was playing mostly Erasure's "I Say I Say I Say" album, along with Disney music probably Aladdin, as well as music by Real McCoy, and Fun Factory. I also listened to Soho's "No Hippy Chick", and tracks by Stereo MC.


I'm thinking I probably want to may the fox's paws & legs as black, or dark brown. But, I think probably black. The ears with probably be black. I'm not exactly sure what color i want the fox to be. I wasn't sure if I wanted it to be a brown fox, or a typical red fox. Or, should I go off the wall n make it cherry red?



Anyways, I've consulted my daughter to come up with some concepts & designs herself also for the wild fox. I like a lot of the designs she comes up with. So, I want input from her.

I want the shape & form of the fox to have more geometrical shapes to it. I don't know how to explain this. I want it to be pretty and somewhat cute, but not TOO cute. Not too round like a baby face, and not doofy. I also want it to dart around, and be streamlined.

This could take me some time.

The bulk of my time for now is finishing my film at UMASS this month. Also, today I have VIP tickets to watch The Moscow Ballet perform The Nutcracker in Boston w my daughter thanx to Yelp Elite (because I'm Yelp Elite 2016).

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Story Board Ideas Hopefully Comming

I want to Storyboard this short story and all the scenes in sequence, hopefully in a decent quality of the story I came up with when I was in Middle School in the 90s.

This Charcoal Illustration was exhibited in Congress ("Eyewitness") when I was 15 years old, and it's my most beloved piece from that time period. It's weeks worth of work EVERY DAY.

The story is STILL very clear inside my mind, altho' even tho' I made this on pale cyan blue paper, I think I would probably go with a warmer tone.

I also have a whole sequence in mind for the little fox with Lively. The fox is freaking out from shock & awe of giant  flying creatures coming out of the sky, and cowering beneath Lively's legs.


Even tho' I'm so critical, and so frustrated with 3D animation, this is something I would LOVE to do a hybrid using 3D modeling but with semi rhodoscoping over top in traditional animation.

It would NOT be long at all. It would be a very short story.

I've been mulling it over in my mind, and I'm divided on whether I would like this with electronic music, or more of a symphony, or a hybrid of both. If i went with an orchestra score I would want it to be similar in style to the film score by Klaus Doldinger and Giorgio Moroder (which DOES actually have small bits of electronic synthesizer fusion in it) for "The Neverending Story" but I could just as easily see/hear something just as nice done electronically like Erasure's "I SAY I SAY I SAY" album or their self titled album following that one. I am also fond of the hybrid sound in the 2 albums by "Akara". 


THIS:

I just LOVE the energy in that! The strings and the horns!

I also like a bit of the old Dune soundtrack by TOTO but, probably NOT that.


I do feel it would be better off if I went as much as possible with a higher grade of quality in my storyboarding as suggested by experts like this:



I know most people whom I PERSONALLY know actually have a deep love for THIS ONE:


I suppose I could stortyboard this one also, but I don't want it to be a total rip-off of the first one.


I'm hoping that once my semester is over by end of December, I can work on trying to come up with the roughs and thumbnails for the animated short. I do not know whether the short would, or could, actually EVER be produced, but it is my dream to do so hopefully before I die.


Sunday, October 30, 2016

Drawtober Sketching Practice n Character Development

Rough Concept Character Development
Many times this month I kept having strong urges to sketch, draw, or practice, and #Inktober & #Drawtober were a very popular thing this year way more popular that previous years. I didn't really have time to do #Vlogtober this year either even tho' I'm studying video at UMASS this Fall.

I was researching quite a bit of Mongolian stuff for some parts regarding Djehkäujaa's story line. But, I wanted to practice more anatomy, which I haven't always been able to do, but I was practicing trying to draw some stylized art, and practice my skills because I wanted to develop Ao Xingtao more. I haven;t really settled on his final look yet, but I often feel like I'm getting there.

When I was practicing male human heads I often felt I was getting close, and I didn't want to go to sleep.

So, I was trying to study some stuff from Hogarth, whom is amazingly good, but it wasn't really helping me do what I personally wanted to do. I also often referenced some work by Heise. And, some various actors or models online.




At some point I actually started looking for classic animation model sheets, and that was the best idea I'd had all month! Google had WAY more stuff than they'd available half a year ago, and I found so much good materials! I actually prefer animation artists' way of doing things, breaking stuff down,... well duh, I'm an animator at heart... so, that makes sense! 


Oh my! I especially loved all the Sinbad stuff! I just nabbed anything I could find on those! those were crazy good! And, those actually REALLY helped me out a lot! I want to focus more on structure, shapes, and form anyway. I also got other characters' model sheets from the Sinbad film! Yowsah! I haven;t seen that film in such a long long time! What a fun and sexy looking character! Right? 

Meh! I need to practice more!




Somewhere in my doodles this month some other content kept coming out of me, and it was on my mind, even tho' I was enjoying the Mongolian research, which I still want to find more stuff on, and I haven;t been back to Mongolia since 2008 briefly where I almost died of streptococcus in May. I was healed by relatives/in-laws of mine whom were all multi-scholars of not just Western Medicine, including the Russian versions and the Western European forms, but also were multi skilled experts in Chinese traditional medicines (there more than just acupuncture in case u didn't know) as well as their own personal studies... It also snowed, even tho' it was nearly June and all the crops had already been sewn. They also could talk to birds, and were friends with wild creatures... I kid you not. Many of the relatives were also incredibly tall due to high protein and calcium in the diet, and yes I ate copious amounts of MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT and all kinds of dairy products including platters of cheeses and many kinds of yogurt anything and everything dishes and beverages.

Anyways, Mongolian tangent aside, I doodled stuff I wanted to develop, or at least set into images and design concept that had been in my mind for years.

I originally did this one a short while go:


And then I wanted to go further with it. And develop it more, and test out how it looks, how I want to depicted... still not totally there, but getting closer... probably because I still need to practice and improve my skills.


I've mostly drawn, or depicted this character as more pleasant, and romantic, but actually in the story he starts out rather scary at times, and is often impetuous. He often screws up, and does the wrong things at the wrong times, is brash, selfish, rude, arrogant, impulsive, insensitive. He's not always this way, but it just happens. His feelings override his ability to think clearly, and he doesn't think things through, which is messed up because he's actually very intelligent.

He will also be going through some changes and in a weird twist he will end up too strict, conservative, and in many ways the opposite polar end of this... that won't last forever either.

But, for my own life, I often found many men whom would grope me, or girls I knew, often when no one was around. I personally hated being treated that way.

It's different if someone is giving you attention you want but also WHEN you want it, and WHEN its appropriate. I find that usually younger men can't understand this, and in some older men whom have pushed and pushed and gotten away with all kinds of wrong doings they actually don't view view you as a person, but as a thing, and don;t have the ability to empathize, or feel empathy for you at all.

Altho' he's guilty, there's a kind of innocence with youth... but, Lively won't have it. So, she resists him when he's disrespectful, or tells him off. She has mixed feelings about him because when he's in his better side or moods he's so likable, and they flirt like crazy, but he often overdoes something, or becomes consumed by his feelings for her, like a brute or a brat. He's also very intense, and physically forceful, and he often regrets his impulses, yet also has trouble understanding her reactions when they don't go as he assumed they would.

She is actually quite taken with him, and if he'd just calm down, and adjust his pace just a little, it wouldn't have been a problem at all. But, his lack of self control often pushes her away, hurts her, frustrates her, annoys her, and aggravates her. She's also in denial about her feeling for him, which are still developing because he's so rude, impulsive, brash, and impetuous at times, that it forced her to rethink whether he's likable at all, or worth her time. yet, whenever he lets up, and calms down, and stops trying so hard she can't help liking him so much because he's very funny, and fun, and also very handsome.

I do not know if nor when I'll be fully able to work on more with this, since I have a project due on Thursday for my video class, then I have a final. And, everyone seems to have some dire issue, like my daughter almost dying, my daughter getting sexually harassed and assaulted, killer flu, the US VP in town screwing up traffic for days, multiple injuries to myself, government paper work, doctor appointments, hospital appointments, 911 calls, ambulances, minor fights, and tons of other crap that just turns up EVERY FRIGGIN' WEEK!

So, whatevz...