For my animated short I wanted my poster to reflect on the story without giving too much away. During the end of this I will also be showing my end of year show design and talking a bit about that as well.
My first stages of this project where to find what type of poster will I be creating, after consulting my tutor during a Tuesday class they suggested I stick to 2D as my project is going to be fully animated in 2D, for my project I will be using Clip studio EX, so I will also be creating my posters within the same program as well.
Here are just some of the posters from big titles relative to my project that I looked at to gain a sense of understanding in how to create a poster for my work.
Delving more into the style and feel of these posters I felt I gained a grasp on what I wanted my poster to look like; so I began to concept some designs, here are the first few drafts;
During my time doing these various drafts I was really drawn to Three and four, I really liked the personality shown within the image as my story circulates around Tyra, the little blue Tyrannosaurus who is searching around to make friends and ultimately befriends a lonely larger animal named Rex, I felt the fourth definitely shown their personality more, and so I went through colouring them to see what they would look like semi-rendered.
After I had completed these two I took a few days to compare and get feedback from family and friends, I am still on the fence with either as I feel both show the characters individualities fairly well, however the second Image is what I will be going for, as the smaller rex isn’t a baby, but an adolescent dinosaur new to his surroundings, I feel the first is too “Childlike” and doesn’t present him as accurately as I’d have hoped for.
For my colour choices I wanted to keep it fairly simple, I didn’t want the poster to be too over-complicated as stated, I wanted to show off the characters in frame, Overall I feel I did a good job in keeping the simplicity with the poster in terms of colours and have it not clash with the pallets of the main characters, as stated in a post regarding my project I actually created a pinterest board in which I was finding inspiration regarding a background for the animation + Poster, you can see those here: https://pin.it/3xE8gBO
Self-Promo Instagram:
For promoting my project I created an Instagram to post mini previews of the project in hopes to garner views and spotlight for my project, you can view my page for my project here!
I have also been posting about my project on art station for more publicity as well as my Twitter profile, you can check those out here as well: https://twitter.com/clovercollie_
Character Design for Portrush Heritage project 2019
Storyboard Artist
What does a story board artist do?
A storyboard artist could be described as a director of sorts for an animated show or film. A storyboard artist needs to be trained in emoting and acting out scenes with a good sense of camera placement within their drawings.
Storyboards are used to gain a visual on the storytelling by individual hand drawn “scenes” to give others a sense of story-direction and emotion, storyboards do not have to be the most extravagant pieces of work however you need to have a firm understanding of story-telling to be able to produce work that others can view at first glance and understand immediately the story being told.
How much does a Storyboard artist get paid?
Major feature film: £2,00 – £2,650
Medium/Small feature or International TV: £1,600 – £2,100
TV Drama: £1,550 – £2,000
Commercial (Day): £513.
Many Storyboard artists are freelance, so pay may vary.
I also looked into a few Youtube tutorials to help broaden my knowledge if Storyboarding is what I wanted to do, after a while of research I had found that with my love of expressing through art, that Storyboarding would be the most rewarding job for myself.
Why I feel this job is for me?
I love to create and tell a story through my art, throughout my time in University when it came to groups or solo studies, I really enjoyed to create and take a written story and produce it into images.
I feel this job would be for me as I hit all the skill sets needed for the role, I have an accurate sense of camera placement, can work in a timely fashion and produce quality content in a small matter of time; while this can be a downside I find it is important to create quality over quantity.
Local Job Research
To further my research I looked into a few local studios and what they where doing currently and what they had to offer in terms of what future job I am interested in.
I will be asking four main questions to research behind the studios I will be looking into, as we go through, I will be choosing three local studios.
Throughout my research I will be asking myself if I was to search for jobs in the future, Will they require my talents for what I want to do e.g. “Will they need a storyboard artist for future or current projects?”
Italic Pig
What products do they make?
Italic Pig is described as an award-winning game studio within Northern Ireland, they specialise in game development and as their twitter bio states, “known for sarcastically-epic plotlines, quirky characters and snappy dialogue”.
what are some of their released products?
Italic pig has released a handful of games, one such being “Schrödinger’s Cat and The Raiders of The Lost Quark” a fun puzzle platform game, with a Steam positive rating of 72%.
what are some of their current projects, if announced?
They are currently working on their new upcoming exciting game named Paleo-Pines, a cute Dinosaur game they describe as “sim where players can become dinosaur ranchers. In a wholesome, friendly environment, dozens of dinosaur species are befriended, cared for and ridden into the wild to search for more and expand the ranch.” Paleo Pines is still in progress but is scheduled for release soon!
what do you like about their work?
I was introduced to their work through twitter, ironically through their upcoming game named Paleo-pines! I have a great love for everything dinosaurs since I was young, I have always wanted to have a simulator where I could own and raise dinosaurs, it’s very exciting to learn !
I love the round cartoony style of the project, it’s very colourful to the eye and very appealing, the soft round shapes of the modelled dinosaurs is very nice to see in comparison to other dinosaur simulators which focus on the harsh reality aspect.
while researching as I browsed their Twitter and Instagram, I really enjoy the overall friendly setting the studio gives off, I enjoyed going through the posts and enjoying the friendly nature of the replies or posts.
Sixteen South
What products do they make?
Sixteen South is an award-winning animation studio located in Belfast Northern Ireland, first founded in 2007 they have an array of different projects under their belt, mostly focusing in 2D children’s animated tales they have been producing children’s television shows around the world.
what are some of their released products?
Sixteen south has produced many shows, I will be bullet pointing them below
Claude
Wildwoods
Pinkalicious and Peterrific
Lily’s Driftwood Bay
what are some of their current projects, if announced?
Sixteen south have currently two new projects in the works. Both 2D animated shows named “Ivory Towers” and “Spaghetti sisters”
Ivory towers is described as an original 2D animated show celebrating ageing and importance of generational relationships; it is said to be set in a home with elderly animals where much mischief ensues. It will follow a four-year-old elephant named Erin who visits her grandfather where he tells her stories of the residents making new memories.
Spaghetti sisters is also going to be an original 2D animated show focussing around two sisters working hard together to revive their family’s restaurant, it is up to them to put their place back on the map.
what do you like about their work?
While looking through their work I really enjoy the family feeling I gain from many of their shows, I enjoy the bright colours and, in their work, specifically with Claude I really enjoy the colouring-book feeling of the style used, I love animation that draws you in and I definitely feel Sixteen south Is very much a family-oriented studio striving for producing family-friendly content that helps the younger generation grow up with learning to love and understand themselves. I feel hat is very important in any studio or work.
FlickerPix
What products do they make?
FlickerPix describes themselves as a “creatively driven animation studio. We offer a one-stop shop from concept origination to delivery, including scripting, character design and storyboarding.” Many of their tools used includes programs such as Maya, Adobe creative suite and Cinema3D.
what are some of their released products?
Some of FlickerPix released shorts include
Zig & Zag
Macropolis
Five Fables
Horn OK Please
This is just only a handful of the animated shows/shorts they have done, they also have worked on various advertisements from brands and companies such as O2, Progressive and forest feasts.
what are some of their current projects, if announced?
As I was going through my research, I noticed that on their main twitter from December 2020 they have currently released their upcoming short amply named “Da Humbug” was one of the many shorts that was shown on RTÉ during Christmas, it was to show the hardships the elderly had went through during the continuing COVID pandemic.
what do you like about their work?
What I enjoy about their work is the differencing styles but it all ropes back to the same premise, I love the look of some of their shorts, specifically Macropolis, I love the character designs and the ways in which they have animated them, you can feel the heart put into every piece created by the studio which for me is important in any project.
During my time researching these local studios I realised Storyboard work is a very big part of them all, specifically FlickerPix in which they state on their site they create many storyboards.
International studio research:
I wanted to broaden my horizons with researching different studios, I wanted to see if what I wated to do would translate into their studios as well.
I will be asking and answering the same four questions I presented above, I will continue to think about the career path I want to go forward into.
Dreamworks:
What products do they make?
Dreamworks is a studio based in the US that specialises in 3D animation but has also created many 2D films in previous years.
what are some of their released products?
Here are some of their released projects in no order or year created, I wanted to add their 3D work as well as their previous 2D animated films along with this list to fully invest my time in the research behind this studio.
Spirit of the Cimarron
Shrek
Kung-fu panda
How to Train your dragon
what are some of their current projects, if announced?
Currently it is unknown on what they are working toward however further looking into various social media I noticed they are making a sequel to the film “Boss baby” which released in 2017 with a 53% critic score on rotten tomatoes, will be a surprise to see how they move the series forward, the sequel is scheduled to release sometime in 2021.
I also noticed in 2020 they released a sequel to the acclaimed film titled “The Croods” the new movie, named “The Croods: A New Age” Saw the characters meeting new faces and a new habitat to live and thrive in, the movie received a high score of 77% on rotten tomatoes, following this I have also found that they are working toward a movie named “Spirit: Untamed” said to release in June of 2021.
what do you like about their work?
I have always found myself drawn to Dreamworks, I loved their 2D animated films when I was younger such as Spirit and The Prince of Egypt. The studio helped push my creativity when I was younger to draw and create my own stories, similarly to a lot of how people come to be in the animation film industry.
Within recent years I have also taken a liking to their more recent works, such as the How to Train your Dragon series, I found it very enjoyable and the message behind each film always has you thinking and feeling the emotions of the characters on screen.
Pixar
What products do they make?
Pixar is another studio based in the US, which is a branch off from Walt Disney studios, Pixar specialises in 3D movies, animated shorts and television shows as well. Much of Pixar has a dear place in our hearts for creating some of the most iconic films to date.
what are some of their released products?
Pixar has created a wide array of different animated films, here is a list in no particular order of just a handful of what the company has worked on:
Up
Cars
Inside Out
Monsters INC
The Incredibles
what are some of their current projects, if announced?
Pixar has released a handful of animated shorts during the past 2 years, that being Float (2019) and Soul (2020)
Their most recent up-coming film is titled “Luca” it is stated to be a “coming-of-age fantasy film” centered around a young boy named Luca and his friend Alberto, however they are hiding a secret that they are both sea monsters ! scheduled for release sometime in 2021, looking into the information surrounding this film is that the artwork created is colourful and bright, I am excited to see this future project and hope it does well!
what do you like about their work?
Like the previous research post, Pixar is another studio close to my heart, they have created some amazing films over the past years in which I grew up with watching countless times over, I am always excited to look further into studios to gain an understanding of their work, I have always been interested in the behind the scenes and have always looked into many different films make-up, such as buying art books which is also amazing as I can then look further into the project being built from the ground up and see where they where going to take it vs where they ended up.
Cartoon Network Studios
What products do they make?
Cartoon Network studios is a studio again based within the US, they describe themselves as an “award winning, artist driven studio actively seeking a diverse array of international talent to work on a freelance basis”.
what are some of their released products?
Here are some of Cartoon Networks shows in no particular order;
Adventure Time
We Bare Bears
Steven Universe
Samurai Jack
The Amazing World of Gumball
Cartoon network has created some of the most diverse childrens television shows in a while and is always producing more content for its viewers to enjoy.
what are some of their current projects, if announced?
Looking around it was hard to find some up-coming original Cartoon network series, however looking further I found a few to talk about!
We baby bears is an new spin-off from the Cartoon network original “We bare bears” in which described by then will “focus on the baby bears and will explore fresh and fun stories with the show’s most beloved characters” the show should be aired in spring of 2021!
Another few shows that will be coming sometime in 2021 will be titled “Elliott from Earth” and “Unicorn: Warriors Eternal”, Unicorn has an uncertain release date however it may be during the end of 2021 to the beginning of 2022.
what do you like about their work?
Cartoon Network has an amazing array of talented people working behind their shows, specifically in Steven Universe I can tell the love that went behind in creating that show, It is a personal favourite of mine with its creative music and character design to its intricate and detailed character development throughout the show; you can really tell how much love and drive has been put behind a show and I feel cartoon network is one of the top pioneers of the animated television show industry.
Overall my research has been very insightful and made me realise many of these studios will need storyboard artists and thats the main driving force along with creating a good story, Storyboard artists need to have an acute sense of story-telling and can understand the camera and emotional tone of either surroundings or expression, after doing this research I have fully decided I want to further look into gaining a job in a studio as a freelance Storyboard artist or more, I love animation but I also love visual story-telling with my work, I will have a lot more to think on but over all this project has really helped open my eyes to the options around me as a future animator and artist.
For this module we where assigned to create a sturdy CV along with professional looking Business cards. I will now be going through and also conducting a small amount of visual research reference.
——————————–
During my time last year I had previously created a CV and Business cards, however looking back I can see the differences I would make to both currently as of 2021, you can see both examples here: Previous CV:
Previous Business Card
As you can see, in both works I have went with a clear colour pallet, in which always consisted of peaches, pinks or darker reds as I associate those colours with myself, I still want to try and use these colours in my newer more updated versions as I feel these colours are very “me” as stated, it may be a personal preference but I love the colours used in my previous works. I think I will be removing my character from future projects but I do like them being on the business card as again, I feel it is apart of myself which I always feel its important to add bits of your personality and talents into any professional setting as it gives other people an idea of how you are as a person, I always feel you can tell a lot about a person that has a colourful outlook on life, as I feel you can get a feel for an individuals personality by how they present their work via use of colour schemes etc. That is what I wish to achieve with my newer files.
as stated I wanted to portray my personality through my CV and business cards, so I started with thinking about ways I could do this, as I’ve had prior experience with creating CV’s I felt confident with what I had prior, so all I would need to do is update and shorten the words so it read cohesively and had a easy flow for the viewer to read, for this I looked at previous years CV’s and a few examples from other artists online which you can view the examples I browsed through below:
CV Reference Research:
To help create my CV I looked into various template website, I then found Canva.com and as soon as I opened it I was pleasantly surprised at its many helpful features to get you started in creating a professional looking profile of yourself. As I continued on in my research I found a template I was happy to use and felt it was simple yet professional, when I first opened it I felt a little overwhelmed with what to do, but soon noticed the website takes you through a “tutorial” like procedure where it shows and indicates how to edit, change fonts, change colours etc… It was then very easy to navigate and soon enough I was not looking toward the tutorial to help me and was doing it myself; I am very proud of my progress through these last few years with looking into various CV’s and business card designs, being worried and over thinking too much I am pleased with my growth in University and how far I’ve actually came and improved, I feel more confident and happy with my progress and can see a visible improvement with how I critically think about various things.
Here is my Final CV:
As you can see I followed with what I sought to do, simple yet professional and informative CV for myself, I am very happy with this final product! I feel it slows well together and is easy to read with the dark text with a white background, it’s not too straining on the eyes and is not text-heavy as my last one was. Overall I am pleased with my CV this time more than my previous one from last year.
Now I will be going through my Business card research and how I came to my final decision on what to use as a design. I went through various thoughts when creating my new cards, I wanted to follow a similar theme but also have it be cute and colourful yet professional looking, I feel my last one was a bit too bright and it all seemed to meld together and didn’t read cohesively as I’d have wanted it to.
Firstly I went and gathered some references of other Business cards that other animators or artists have created to see what I would like, I looked and found a running theme with all of them, I also decided to look on YouTube for any advice or tutorials I could use, and found this which I found very informative and helpful
Business card reference research:
As I rewatched the video again, I felt very confident in starting to begin my reworked newer Business cards, I was happy to begin. I was debating if I should use Photoshop or Clip studio, ultimately I chose Clip Studio EX as I had recently upgraded to EX from Pro for my final animated short project, I wanted to get the use out of the program!
Here are a few examples I created along with a quick sketch of an idea I wanted to try and implement but ultimately scrapped due to not feeling like I would personally use it in the future;
All characters used in the business cards belong to me, as you can see in the final tile, these are the quick sketches I did to gain an understanding of the cards I wanted, The vertical one was something I saw some artists do and I wanted to incorporate that, but ultimately I chose the one beside it, I felt blue would be a nice contrast of background at first, but I then realised it drew away from the forefront of the image, which was a cartoon version of myself with my cat, working at my desk. I really wanted to incorporate myself and my cat into my cards as My cat is very important influence behind my work, as I look after her she gives me inspiration and motivation to push on to complete tasks and I feel she has became a big part of my art and animation skills as a whole.
Final Business card product:
This would have been my final product for my business cards, however when talking with a tutor in a one-to-one catch-up I re-thought some aspects of the structure to the back of my card that had the information regarding my contact details and socials. I then went back and took a look at them, I then restructured the layout along with make a few colour adjustments, in which you can view below;
As you can see I played around with various colours as it was suggested to maybe stick with a theme to match my project posters, I first used my front of the card to see what colours matched well with the drawing, I liked the colour of green used but ultimately I proffered the grey-blue tone overall which is what I went with when restructuring the back of my card.
As you can see I feel this colour scheme meshes well together, I feel now the character stands out better on the piece and it would cause you to pick it up and have a look. Overall throughout this module I have gained experience in researching studios and how to incorporate their workflow and understand how to apply the information to my own work ethic, I am going to continue in educating myself on how to improve as an artist and to use what I’ve learnt to continue my way in the industry.
LazyPuppii Art! 