CHARACTER ANIMATION
Adobe
Dangerson
Axel
Concept to Motion
Location
Fort Lauderdale | FL, US
Brief
Create a 2D animated sequence from provided assets - voice-over, musical bed, background as well as the character rigs to create a cohesive narrative with a beginning, middle and an end. Add sound effects as well as produce animation storyboards and animate the character models.
Tools
Adobe Illustrator & Adobe After Effects.
Axel Dangerson was a piece of character animation, - my first foray into said character animation. This involved applying principles of animation in a completely different environment and process.
I created the concept and story which had to be done around the soundbed that was already set in tone which was a huge challenge. On top of that I changed some of the styleframes to give them more visual depth whilst still maintaining the pre-defined aesthetic.
“...In a world full of danger, what’s it's like to be afraid - of nothing? Ask Axel Dangerson...
Storyboard
Process
I start the pre-production process as I always do with a series of thumbnails sketches which is bet described as visual note taking. This involves scribbling out ideas which help to start to visualise what the piece and how it can work in a wider scope.
From there a series of smarter storyboards are created to crystallise the action more. At this stage and going forward I prefer to till keep the process fluid so things can change even from here as it will become more apparent what will and will not work - as well as including more ideas that my come up in the future.
Styleframe
Process
The original provided styleframe for the ending scene. On the left we can see the original styleframe with a more limited pallet and thus considerably alter it's appearance.
In the subsequent styleframe I had made a number of adjustment to improve the work to give it greater depth. This included atmospheric perspective as well as making the sun a larger element of the frame as it rose.
Animation
Process
With digital character animation the the process is identical to traditional character animation in that we create the keyframes - key poses in the action - but afterwards After Effects can take care of the inbetween posses (or tweens) and the animator can use After Effects tools to add staggered effects and stagger the motion so the animation has follow-through which adds masses of visual interest. Adding secondary animation also adds to the overall effect.