Group Tutorials - Practical Progress

During our first group tutorials we were asked to discuss the progress made so far in terms of the practical side of the module. I felt quite confident about this because I had spent two days prior to this focusing on my design work. By this point I had begun to develop ideas in regards to not only the physical and emotional design of the characters, but also their backstory.

Since I had decided to develop two of the design I had produced over the summer, I already had something to build up from. I continued on by simply sketching and experimenting with face and body shapes. Since I now knew that I would also need to consider aspects such as culture, ethnicity and religion, I felt it was important to consider this when sketching.

The two characters currently being designed are not supposed to be compatible with one another, since they would be from completely separate stories, the only thing that they would need to have in common, is that they are both animateable in both 2D & 3D.

At this point, I was able
My research so far, has really helped me thunk deeper about the design of these characters, not just their appeal, but the importance of simplicity. I have toned down on the design and simplified the clothing of these characters because I need to be realistic with my time, and I believe that if they are well animated and are able to perform well, it will be perfectly acceptable for them to have quite simple clothing. Especially after reading "Producing Animation" by Catherine Winder and Zahra Dowlatabadi, it was brought to my attention, the importance of not making things complicated if it will not offer anything extra for the production of the animation, and aspects such as time and money must always be considered, before going ahead with complex designs.

Also, I am not massively experienced in the area of 3D modelling, so I need to avoid giving myself an un-realistic amount to model, because I still need to be able to animate these characters.

Tutorial Outcome

After this tutorial I felt really positive about the work I had produced so far, because not only did I get to discuss the practical developments made, but also the developments in gathering primary research by contacting practitioners. My tutor seemed pretty pleased with the contacts I had made so far, and actually asked what my methods were in terms of getting people to get back in touch with me. Something I have realised since starting to contact practitioners and studios is, they may not always reply, and that is okay, also I find it much less stressful to draft my emails to day before so I can simply do one last proof read and then click send the next morning.