As early exploration starts to move into solid preproduction, it's time to start organising what we have and getting some jobs done. The plan ahead is to create a comprehensive art bible of sorts, that conveys keyframes, environment and character design ready for storyboarding. There's a lot to be done, but it's really exciting to develop from a script that has so much life and character.
This post will act as a developing breakdown of what we need to cover for design. One big lingering design problem I think we need to explore, is regarding the art direction of the environment itself. How are we going to convey these cityscapes? How do we encapsulate them whilst still staying true to a specific, minimalist art style? Lots to explore.
- Ep 1: Outside the Overture
- Initial Staging
- Ep 2: Inside The Overture
- Doorway and Environment
- Diagram of the Orchestra
- Platform (Red in the crowd)
- The Lifts (Departure) Interior / Exterior
- Ep 3: The Flute District
- Cloud Descent
- Silver Spires
- Ep 4: The Oboe District
- Gondolier / River
- Towers / Shimmering Waterways
- Abstractions of Surfaces and Details
- Leaving the Oboe District / Tunnel
- Ep 5: The Clarinet District
- Building Design / Signage
- Red seeing his companions
- Yellow and Red sequence
- Spiral Staircase
- Ep 6: The Bassoon District
- Red and The City Workers
- The Train
- Ep 7: The Violin District
- Train entering the district
- Strings / Rails / Cables etc
- Red in the bi-colour environment
Character Design
- Red
- Yellow
- The City Workers
I know I must sound like a slapdash person when I keep saying 'let's not pipeline it to death' - I just mean, let's see how simple we can keep things while conveying the necessary impact and sense of immersion.
ReplyDeleteJust a few more examples of what 'simple' might look like:
http://67.media.tumblr.com/39bc3f8537e82d97546fd94b2659deeb/tumblr_nex97j6Zq51qg9c7xo1_1280.jpg
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qIuNo5m4ndQ/VSp6CjCaZQI/AAAAAAAA2G8/bQY9EJK2xHM/s1600/PICNICS%2BARE%2BFUN%2B(1).png
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/7f/b0/7c/7fb07cd6760cd92d2a603387889a61aa.jpg (I love this one on account of its 'flat 3D-ness' and it's fab use of colour as an actual shape too - the hard wedge of the fire-light, for example. It's an immersive spatial composition - but comprised simply of line and careful use of colour to create the illusion of depth).
http://archives.frederatorblogs.com/talk_to_the_snail/files/2008/04/bg730.jpg
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-A2cQoYYaqw8/U0EfbT4iISI/AAAAAAAAuQg/7mFpOWUUOWI/s1600/REALLY+SCENT+BG.png (love this one too!)
http://www.indiewire.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/jazz-club.jpg?w=682 (character design ref.)
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/8a/fe/27/8afe27220eaf90d4d93996d8ea3ba255.jpg
I know exactly what you mean Phil. And I'm trying not to over pipeline the whole thing. But we do certainly need to work out structures and design. These notes aren't so much a "we need to design all of these things." I certainly don't want to create a million design pages that kill any excitement in this world.
ReplyDeleteI guess it's more of a shopping list, keeping in mind the things that make up these districts. I've got a post coming up that I think will explain things a little better :)
Yep - I get this exactly - a simple list of all the things that need to exist in the world and need to be apportioned to willing hands - I just meant that some of the things that need to exist can exist as very reduced, deconstructed forms, where the line art is doing a lot of the work. I think I was trying to be reassuring, as there's lots to think about and it's going to look a bit daunting at first!
DeleteAhh Ok, that makes more sense. Thank you for those links btw, they certainly are a big help. Is that all UPA stuff? Or are there other movements / studios worth looking at?
DeleteI'm deconstructing a few paintings as we speak so hopefully some results soon. I guess the difficulty for me is that I natural fill in a lot of detail when I paint. So deconstructing that to simpler forms and line art is the big goal. And then from there, maybe I'll find it easier to construct with simplicity, rather than deconstruct from complexity.
I just looked under 'UPA animation backgrounds' as a first search term and lots of goodies popped up! I think, as rule, if we think of deriving the detailed elements for objects as much as possible from musical notation (as per characters) but also from line art reductions from the various instruments - an example of this would be for the 'train' which derives its shape from line-art detailing derived from the front of the violin bow - likewise the Gondolier - your basic bath-shape enriched with the more baroque cures of a treble-clef etc.
Delete