Christmas holidays research

Having watched the techniques of Carlos Huante, a creature designer I mentioned in my earlier research, volumes 1&2 of his DVD demonstrate his development process from initial concept through to digital rendering. I found his drawing methods more abstract than mine as he had no reference material for his character creation, simply making it up as he went. This DVD was less relevant to me as his creature was non-human, incorporating many influences from plants and animals.

However, his use of photoshop for cleaning up a drawing and applying colour was very similar to what I have been doing. He suggests selecting areas and using the mask tool when applying colour to make sure your paint brush does not run into other sections of the drawing. He also shows how he uses an overlay of transparent colour to adjust the overall tone to finish. I have then applied these points to my own drawing in Photoshop. In particular, his method of re-rendering outlines and applying highlights to make the colours "pop" made a difference to my second attempt of rendering in photoshop.

Developed character designs

Oil pastel and watercolour applied to a scanned image of the outline shown below:

For these poses, I referenced photographs of the singer Paloma faith sitting for a photoshoot in a graveyard. I felt her Gothic, vintage appearance reflected similar aspects to Esme's character.

Photoshop applied to initial sketches

To place my character in a context, I used images from the end credits of A Series of Unfortunate Events as a backdrop for my animated character. I have tried to tie my style of drawing and use of colour in with the background art designed by Jamie Caliri, Todd Hemker and Benjamin Goldman. The full animated sequence is my favourite aspect to Brad Siberling's film adaptation of the books and can be viewed at: www.watchthetitles.com/articles/oo19-Lemony_Snicket_s_A_Series_of_Unfotunate_Events.

The Lord Of The Rings Gollum, how we made movie magic by Andy Serkis

Weta workshop's creation of Gollum proved a landmark in CG character generation. The development process is described in this book by the actor who not only voiced but provided a reference for movement and expressions, the director, cast and crew:
"We went through pencil drawings, maquettes, design after design. Even after shooting had finished we were still redesigning him, because the films evolved as they were being made.
(once Andy had been cast) - I tried to keep the proportions similar but incorporate a lot more of Andy's facial features. And it is a lot more effective, because now we have merged all those elements together, hopefully when people watch it they are wondering if it is a puppet, CG, or if it's a freaky actor in make-up."
- Christian Rivers, Designer, Weta Digital

KNB, founded 1988

makeup for Lemony Snicket's A Series Of Unfortunate Events: http://www.knbefxgroup.com/knb_alt2.html

Another tip for designing characters from Aaron Sims:
"I quickly discovered that Photoshop is a fast way of creating design options. I could sculpt a Marquette in clay, photograph it, and then come up with a number of different paint schemes for the director to look at."
He also recommends software called ZBrush:
"I'm used to complex modeling techniques that produce 3D meshes, but ZBrush is almost like taking a step backwards because it's so "untechnical". Anyone coming from the traditional sculpting world will find this software really easy to learn."

Going back to designing movie creatures and characters

One case study in this book has particularly caught my attention as there are crucial differences between this example and how I have decided to carry out my character development. Spectral motion, formed by Mike Elizalde started up through a career change from the navy into makeup for the Dave Miller studio. Mike explains how the film An American Werewolf in London (1981) and the book, Techniques of three dimensional makeup by Lee Baygan were his initial inspiration. Where as I had believed that film production teams are usually split into different, specialist groups, Mike had to cover many aspects of modelmaking, including sculpting, molding, casting and painting. Here is what he has to say on the character design process;
"If you're designing or sculpting characters, everyone has some input and you're essentially piecing together someone else's ideas."

When he moved more into the film industry, another crucial influence to his characters was the actor who would be playing them. As I will not have cyberscans of people to work from, I feel my character will be best suited for an animated film. I could reference an existing animated feature's style used at the end of A Series Of Unfortunate Events film for continuality.

Another interesting storey is that of Patrick Tatopoulos, starting as an illustrator in Greece before sending clay models to American film companys. Working at MEG, Makeup effects Group he progressed from making molds to designing characters for Star Trek, The next generation TV series. He describes how he works as follows:
"When I'm asked to design a character, all I need to do is read the script. Then I sit and draw. To be a good designer I think you need a wealth of knowldege about artisic and cultural styles, about biology, anatomy and different types of animals. You are constantly observing these things. Then, when you draw, you don't need to think about these things, they will inform your work almost instinctivly."

odd research

If you already own the artwork and character design, then I would suggest that you take advantage of the progress in computerized animation software and produce your own short preview of your proposed show. You can post it up on the internet with your contact information and try to reach potential buyers (all the major studios, agencies, and networks scour the internet daily looking for new talent).
http://en.allexperts.com/q/TV-Industry-2497/pre-Production-company-businessplan.htm

Film production occurs in five stages:^[1]

• Development—The script is written and drafted into a workable blueprint for a film.
• Pre-production—Preparations are made for the shoot, in which cast and crew are hired, locations are selected, and sets are built.
• Production—The raw elements for the finished film are recorded.
• Post-Production—The film is edited; production sound (dialogue) is concurrently (but separately) edited, music tracks (and songs) are composed, performed and recorded; sound effects are designed and recorded; and any other computer-graphic 'visual' effects are digitally added, all sound elements are mixed into "stems" then the stems are mixed then married to picture and the film is fully completed ("locked").
• Sales and distribution—The film is screened for potential buyers (distributors), is picked up by a distributor and reaches its cinema and/or home media audience.

Development

In this stage, the project's producer finds a story, which may come from a book, play, another film, a true story, original idea, etc. After identifying a theme or underlying message, the producer works with writers to prepare a synopsis. Next they produce a step outline, which breaks the story down into one-paragraph scenes that concentrate on dramatic structure. Next, they prepare a treatment, a 25 to 30 page description of the story, its mood, and characters. This usually has little dialog and stage direction, but often contains drawings that help visualize key points.

The production designer creates the visual conception of the film, working with the art director^[5].

• The art director manages the art department, which makes production sets
• The costume designer creates the clothing for the characters in the film working closely with the actors, as well as other departments.
• The make up and hair designer works closely with the costume designer in addition to create a certain look for a character.
• The storyboard artist creates visual images to help the director and production designer communicate their ideas to the production team.

-Wikipedia

Learning Agreement

I have started looking into the character of Esme Squalor, a villianess created by Lemony Snickett for his children's books, A Series Of Unfortunate Events. The first three books of the series have been made into a film featuring Jim Carrey as the book's lead villain Count Olaf, guardian to the Baudalaire Orphans and intent on stealing their deceased parent's fortune. Esme featurers in seven of the series of books that follow those used in the existing film, so I would be developing her character as intended for a potential sequal film adaption.

I now have to consider this decision when writing my learning agreement. Working from notes taken during the lecture yesterday I have filled out a planning table and proposal form that outlines how I will meet the learning criteria for each Level's requirements. The final Learning Agreement will be presented next week.

Going back to the Visual Language and Character Development brief, 08 first year brief

Due to the similarities between what I am now working on and this brief, I have been advised to look back over it, pick out the key learning outcomes and expand upon this to form my own brief.

This brief "explores the conceptual development of character through creative and critical analysis, interpretation and 3D realisation." There was also a digital outcome but I am purely focusing on the first three requirements.

From the syllabus I can draw this point from when deciding what character to produce:
Critical analysis of character, stereotyping, archetypes from literature, art and popular culture.

My outcomes should follow this template:
Use a variety of media, methods and strategies in developing ideas through creative research and interpretation,
select appropriate materials and processes to interpret and realise solutions in all media. (Here I should refere to how the character concept would be presented to a film production team.)

This unit required observed drawing, sketchbooks, research, digital images to show how your character has been developed. The final 3D realisation made up for the other 50% of the grade.

Finally, this brief requires self-evaluation and reflection - something that I will continue to record in this blog.

Reading recommendations given here include:
A nasty piece of work - Spitting Image, Booth-Clibborn Editions,
Star Wars- the essential guide to characters, Potter, Cherry, 1990,
Cinefex and FX journals,
The Puppet factory CD,
www.henson.comjimhensoncompany
www.Kultureshock.co.uk

Deciding a brief

I will now be specifically looking into the processes behind character generation and development for display, cinema and the gaming industries. I will produce designs, a character history, a story board and a model to illustrate my concept. So far I have looked to Insomniac games and several animated films for inspiration. The character development in these fields work from a given concept, description or background story so I feel that I too should choose an existing work to interpret a character from.

The level of research into the concept and appearance of a film or game is often far more in-depth than what will appear in the final production. Depending on the scale of the concept, entire fictional worlds have to be developed in order for the modelling team to understand exactly what the director or author visualises. A good example of this process is the Jim Henson film, The Dark Crystal, taking five years in total to complete. The artwork and characters for the film were actually created before the plot, with their strong look and feel inspiring the puppet makers and director to bring these to life.

Project Mickey - Talk by Nick Rose

The author wanted to create a children's book around his Microlight Aircraft and his experiences traveling around Australia. He talked through the processes that helped him to reach the final look of his book which he hopes shows a unique house style, able to compete with existing children's characters around similar themes. To help him produce this he employed animators, computer designers and a key girl who initially designed the characters and ended up seeing them through the whole process as she learnt.

From the drawings he gave her, she worked in her preferred medium of watercolours to create initial sketches based on Nick's description of what Miro should be. Her style won her the contract as it characterised the plane in a way that would appeal to children and look distinctive. It had to be friendly and cute so the structure of the plane was softened with the front wheel appearing to be held in place by two arms to bring in a human element. Her style proved so populer that she then went on to sketch out the landscape and overall look of the book, experimenting with bringing in computer graphic elements into her drawings. The final look of the book uses her watercoulor images mapped onto digital elements. This softens the harsh block colours typical of computer generated imagery.

When submitting her final character layouts, they were all mapped out with the arms aloft to later allow the animators to see how the character should be digitally rigged. Moving turnarounds of the final CG characters were also submitted so you can gain a better understanding of how they would move. This is also very useful when it comes to 3D realisation, allowing an outsider to prduce 3D models to display and take to potential television producers and toy companys should the book prove successful.

Cracking Ideas - Wallace and Gromit exhibition at the Science Museum

This interactive exhibit aims to encourage children to look at the history of both good and bad design and invent for themselves. Also on display were some remaining sets and props used in the more recent Wallace and Gromit features, The Curse Of The Warerabbit and A Matter Of Loaf And Death. These animated characters are very simple in design, consisting of a wire armature with Plasticine over this so that they can be positioned for Stop Motion capture. Any imperfections such as finger prints in the Plasticine are later removed with a computer, along with the animation stills made to flow more smoothly.

For display purposes, the models in the exhibition appear to be covered in a glaze to look like porceline wich I presume protects them from the hot lighting. Larger scale replicas were also made for this event as they work well for kids to interact with.

Designing movie creatures and characters - Behind the scenes with the movie masters by Richard Rickitt

Related comapnies

The best insight into my chosen interest can only be gained through a company visit and possible work experience, wich I am trying to secure over or after the Christmas period. One comapany's site caught my particular attension as it clearly layed out all the projects they have been with and appears open to anyone aspiring to work in this field through

stating what they look for in their employees. They define themselves as:

"A curious mix of artists and engineers"

who mainly work freelance and are chosen for a particular specialist skill they have. In the careers section of the web site they look for a strong portfolio and suggest relevent University degrees. As a person, they warn that potential amployees must be willing to work unusual hours and are prepared to travel as they are an international company and are often required to visit and work alongside their clients.

So - lets write a brief

This is what I have gathered so far:

This project is heavily research based, drawing reference from how companies operate in a specific sector of the modelmaking industry. From this I will learn about processes, what employers look for and be able to self-evaluate my personal strengths and weaknesses.

This blog should cover what I have drawn from my research into the film and television companies who work with character creation and realisation. My learning agreement made with the tutors should support why I have taken interest in this aspect of modelmaking and the project should finalise in my mind whether or not I would like to take this up as my own profession. I will later present this information along with my own example of character development. The model should be kept simple to be completed within Thursday and Friday sessions across four weeks whilst effectively demonstrating the processes and techniques I have learnt.

The second aspect of the project requires an illustrated report on my commercial visit or work experience. As I have worked with Hothouse over the Summer, I would like to compare this with an insight into another company. I must justify if I feel this visit was successful or if I felt is wasn't for me.

Commercial exploration - the joys of the second year await

After reading an article from Imagine Magazine Sep/Oct issue 2009, I have picked out some common themes and issues within present stop frame animation techniques. The supervising modeller and director of photography are interviewed, both sharing experience at Aardman studios and Laika. The other members of their team consisted of silversmith sculpters, mold makers, armature makers, latex and silicone people, painters and illustrators all working at the "Puppet Hospital" in London. What interests me here is how these people can all relate to modelmaking, yet are divided up to work on a very specific section of the overall process. Team work and passion for the project are invaluable traits here as the team are discribed as:
"a big family of gypsies all getting together in a room and having a good time, communicating and cross-referencing with each other."

The director of Fantastic Mr Fox is Wes Anderson, who had previously only worked in live action film making. The main issue to production team seemed to have with him was that he was physically remouved from much of the process, communicating to his team via Email. His desire for attention to detail required much re-scaling of each character, depending on the camera shot. Most of the Modelmakers time was dedicated to producing around six different scale replicas of each puppet , meaning 500-600 models were completed in a relativly short amount of time.