Le Patissier- Animatic Ver.1 with footage

After a lot of delay, I have been able to work on the animatic, by taking Alan's advice of using footage from other animations and films onto mine to use as a choreography for my piece, I began editing scenes that I felt that i wanted to add into the animation. So with no further ado here is the 1st version of the animatic.

I have added a few notes for more information.

 

 Meanwhile I have been working on the initial sound effects that will be added on the beginning of the animation, before the character enters the cake/ abstract world.

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Major Project: Le Patissier Title Experiment

As a working title, my animation has as title Le Patissier, meaning the Pastry Chef in English. With these working title, I began experimenting with fonts in order to get the title designed.

In my opinion, the titles which work best are number 1 and 2, however I'm more inclined to number 1, as I really like the curvature of the font, it is interesting that it also reminds me cake writing with the piping bag.

**EDIT:

After receiving some feedback about the font, I decided to explore the many effects on the first font design, from the page above I really like number 2, the bold version of it. As it keeps the simple but chubbier.

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Major Project: Olivier, the Patissier, Head and Body Ortographs

To understand the character it is crucial to create turnaround model sheets, this allows us to to understand how the character looks from front and side views, as well as to know if the proportions are working.
Another advantage of a model sheet is that it is a crucial drawing that helps translate the 2d design onto 3D.
Therefore, here is a separate model sheet for the head and the body.

EDIT: I have experimented with the hair as suggested, and i really liked the results.

This extra detail on the hair, allows the silhouette to be more interesting,  and to follow the idea of the whipped cream shape.

I have quickly edited the ortographs also.

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Major Project: Olivier, the Patissier, Initial Alchemy Sketches

With research pretty much finished, (within this stage), I have began moving onto the next stages of the pipeline, on one hand, I have started to sketch designs for the character, on the other hand, developing the performance of Olivier, the Patissier.

As part of my pre-production design workflow, I like to approach in a particular way, before I get too stuck on one design, I begin by exploring various possibilities, for this matter I use software such as Alchemy, this software allows me to create fairly quick abstract shapes, which then I interpret my own way.

With this shapes I then take to Photoshop, and try to visualize characters. while normally you develop the character and then check the silhouette to see if the design works, This method allows me to work from the silhouette and de-construct what I can possibly fit inside.  This approach is very beneficial in many ways, firslty allows me to explore any designs without restrictions, it helps me see form and understand it within the shape, and quickly brainstorm possible designs for a certain character, ohh and it is very fun!!

With this said here is what I came up with. One the Left you can see the final sketch, based on the shape on the right. (although rendered this sketches took me maximum 30 mins to brainstorm.)

From the designs I came up with, some of them, for instance 1, 3 and 6 are closer to what I want to achieve with Olivier, though all of the designs have something I either like or will add onto the final design of Olivier.

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Major Project: Animation Style- Transitions

As I am planning to show my animation, I will have to add transitions to when the character is in the real world or doing an action to the next. For this matter, I want to use smooth transitions, just so the audience will be taken from one scene to the next, to one action to the next, without losing the flow of animation. This method of animation and more precisely editing, will allow me to shorten the way I want to portray the action of the animation.

To better understand this method, I looked at Bill Plympton's work.

In terms of animation style, his animations are unique, firstly because of the visuals, which are very beautifully crafted, second because of his distinctive animation style. In terms of animation, by drawing less drawings per second, his animations are often jerky, however this style is contemplated by the use of crafted and detailed drawings.
For this research I have looked at some of his early works. such as 25 Ways to Quit Smoking and How to Kiss.

I have also looked into his 1992 feature film, The Tune.

My observations:

Animation:
- Exaggeration in the animation.
- Squash and stretch character action.
- Animating to an extreme, impossible movements etc.

Transitions:
- Transitions via morphing.
- Scene transitions based on the form of objects. e.g: an object in that scene will have the same shape that other on the next scene,
-Smooth transitions
- Scene transition to abstraction, close-up's or abstract elements.
-Music leads the character actions, animation and transitions.

With understanding Bill Plympton's animation, I have learnt that in my own short animation, I want to smooth transitions between scenes, employing the same or similar methods perceived in his works. Although, 2D animation can be more organic than 3D, I found a great example of smooth transitions in the latter.

Supinfocom School- Love Recipe

These smooth transitions help the narrative of the story evolve faster and in a flowing way.

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Major Project: Audio Analysis

Recently I went on analysing the audio sample, just so it will help me develop the story, in terms of staging, mood and key scenes.

     Paul Mottram- Capriccio5

I firstly drew a audio graph, of my interpretation of the audio, and added my observations on it.

This drawn graph helped me understand how the song develops allowing me to add key points of the short film in certain places. Also, by drawing a type of waveform it also helped understand how important each of the sections of the song is. 

To better explain this analysis, I have found a few things with the audio track , firstly and most important it id divided in 4 major parts which derive in terms of duration, secondly and according to the graph, the audio starts slightly slow but rapidly reaches high pitch, where I may add a key moment in the history, then it decays in mood , however rapidly the second stage of the song quickly picks up, however this time, it suggests that it is some struggle or delay to get to high pitch. On the 2 last parts of the audio, the duration of each section derives the most, by having a longer section which quickly is high in notes and slowly and "confusingly" climbs down, it suggests a certain form of confusion or conflict. On the last section, it picks up quickly to high pitch, however as short it may seem, it is suddenly cut to the end of the track. To conclude this analysis one may perceive eahc section is being parts of the short films, for instance the 1st section, the introduction of the characters and the situation, the following 2 sections may be associated to layers of the wedding cake. and the last section the conclusion of the animation. 

Finally I have taken the actual waveform from the song and divided it in sections, just so I know that the track is divided in 4 major parts which have variable lengths and moods. 

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Major Project: Props and Cake Assets Research

Being my animation revolving around the world of cakes and sweets, I have decided to research props that i will be using the most in my world. As I chose the patissier to decorate the most fabulous wedding cake, I focused this research on understanding what is used to decorate wedding cakes.

Indeed wedding cakes are available in many shapes and forms, and have numerous assets that can be put on to add flavour or merely decorate the cake. However to be more specific, I had to decide how my cook would look like, and what additions it would have. 

By having the base of the cake already cooked, which would consist in a simple vanilla or chocolate batter, I will add the following components: 

- Icing or butter cream to coat the cake base, plain and chocolate, this will allow the cake to lavished in white and brown cream as the preparation for the decoration.

- Fruits such as cherries or strawberries.

-Adding flavour with nuts and chocolate sprinkles.

- Icing sugar decorations such as petals or doves.

- The most iconic figures on the cake, the wedding toppers, the bride and the groom.

Alongside researching the components that are in the decoration of a wedding, i have also looked at the way of decorating it, I found a few videos, which showed a step-by- step how to decorate a wedding cake. this will help me to stage the animation, as well as understanding how each step is done. Although, I wont be showing an exact replica of each step on my animation, it will help me decide on which movements my character will want to convey. 

As you may see to decorate a cake, everybody follows the same steps in the same order:

- Apply icing or butter cream onto the cake.
- Add ribbons.
- Decorate with frosting around the cake.
- Apply fruits, nuts and chocolate sprinkles.
- Add icing sugar details (doves and petals).
- End by adding the wedding toppers.

Alongside these videos, I found slightly different one, which works as a gallery to showcase different wedding cakes.

Wedding Cake Gallery

After such a delicious research, I just feel like stuff myself with a lot of sweets, ohh.... the sacrifices of research!

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Major Project: The Beginning of the End

Indeed, It is finally the final project of my education career. Looking back this 3 years went so fast that i still remember the first project when I hadnt have any experience in Maya software. I think the veterans of the 3rd year are getting old.
Thus, the last project begins. Since the middle of the 2nd year, I found what I want to do as my career, character designer and ultimately a character animator. Therefore this project will serve to improve these same skills.

Here is the initial proposal list for this project.
This proposal list explains the things I want to achieve and focus in this project and how I am attempting to do it.

What do I want to do ?

Character Design, Character Modelling, Character Sculpting, Character Animation.

What I do not want to do?

Detailed Storyboards, 3 Act Structure Narratives, Vast environments.

What is the focus ?

Character exploration, design, production and animation of maximum 2 characters. They will be modelled, rigged and animated according to a transcription of a speech, a monologue or music.

What will be the main learning skills?

Perfecting my character design skills , as well as modelling and texturing. Understand and learn fully the character production pipeline, emphasizing on character sculpting and animation. Time spent on the project will be concentrated on designing the character and having the character giving a performance.

What will be the outcome?

Ultimately, the main objective of this project will be, to have maximum 2 characters fully designed and transported into the world of 3D, who are able to give a funny performance and entertain the audience.

With this list presented, here is an example in order to visualise my idea.

The 11 Second Club Competition

Via: 11 Second Club, Youtube

Via: 11 Second Club, Youtube

Similarly the 11 Second Club, I am aiming to get a movie scene, speech, monologue or music, either audio or written, and interpret my own way. I want to focus on a 30 second fully animated performance giving by one or 2 characters. Unlikely this competition, my character will be fully designed and produced in 3D by me.

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