25K

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Final Animation

This is an animation I directed for Art&Graft reaching the 25,000 follower milestone on Instagram. My idea was to show a character working hard towards their passion.

I wanted to try and push my creativity and comfort zone on this project, so tried a lot of things that I haven't really experimented with in the past. For example this animation mixes 3D environments and objects with a traditionally 2D animated character. I also wanted to really push the camera and lighting, so there are some very contrasting shots, from the harsh sunlight to the wide-angle close-up shots.

Final Animation Stills

I worked on all the 3D and created roughs for the 2D character. The 2D character was then given to Sam Kracun, who first created a cohesive and consistent design, then animated him in TVPaint. Finally Jeremy Cisse and Stephen Middleton helped with the colour, comp and grading.

My original pitch/storyboard. I knew there needed to be an extra shot before the end, but hadn't figured it out at this stage, hence the [SCENE MISSING] frame.

3D Clay Renders from Redshift. I wanted to give the feeling that the character was working throughout the day, so the lighting starts with strong sunlight and ends with darker and more incandescent light.

My original character roughs. I animated these in Photoshop and Rough Animator for the iPad (so I could get some done on my commute!). Sam Kracun then took these to another level with her character design and cleaned up animation in TVPaint.

I also ended up finding the close-up sawing shot a bit too flat (especially coming from a similar shot before) so ended up widening up the camera a lot for the final version.

Rough floating limb I animated in Rough Animator for the iPad as a guide for the shot timing.

3D tools I modelled to be used as props and background objects

I modelled the 25K carving in ZBrush so I could get a bit more of a hand-made look. This was then imported to Cinema 4D and a Redshift wood texture was added.