Edgar Wright's film "Baby Driver" is full of attitude and charisma, from its characters to cinematography. Noticing how similar these real-life characters behaved and felt compared to comic book characters, I decided to explore how actors could be transformed into 2D animation-standard models.

Although the project began as a design challenge, it grew deeper into a case study involving exploration of the relationship between real-life cinema and animation, and an inspection on how characters appear and function on each platform.

My preference on creating the first structures are in pencil. Because this process is the first step into character analysis and design, it made sense to use the most familiar medium.

Once the general structures of the characters were drafted, real-life actors' faces were extensively studied so that the characters would resemble the actors, but also carry their own life force. It was important to avoid realism, which could lead to loss of charisma; an essential aspect to any believable 2D cartoon character.

The warm retro palette was chosen to recreate its dreamy narrative and also to make homage to the film's iconic poster. Edgar Wright utilised many 50s, 60s influences in "Baby Driver" to create this effect, so illustrations from that era were used as reference. Line art was originally done with black, but it took too much power over the dreamy theme of the image. So it was colourised according each character's dress colour and personality.

To finalise the design into an illustration, title and effects were arranged. The shadow was later removed as it took focus away from the characters.

Since film, writing and animation are my greatest passions, this project was easily one of the most rewarding projects, and one that was very engaging. It was also a project that challenged my technical skills and improve weaknesses. But mostly, it was fun to base a project on a film and director who I have great respect for, and who inspires me as a storyteller.

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