A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning

The following illustration is part of an assignment for Illustration at uni. We had to illustrate a character, in this case Count Olaf from a children's story- Lemony Snicketts A Series of Unfortunate Events. This is the illustration only, I still have to work on layout for the page as if it were a part of a picture book. The following extract will accompany the visuals:

                  "What?" Count Olaf asked. "No roast beef?"
                  "You didn't tell us you wanted roast beef," Klaus said.
Count Olaf slid toward the children so that he looked even taller than he was. His eyes grew even brighter, and his one eyebrow raised in anger. "In agreeing to adopt you," he said, "I have become your father, and as your father I am not someone to be trifled with. I demand that you serve roast beef to myself and my guests."
                 "We don't have any!" Violet cried. "We made puttanesca sauce!"
                 "No! No! No!" Sunny shouted.
Count Olaf looked down at Sunny, who had spoken so suddenly.

The idea was to use descriptions from the book to guide your character design, there's a movie as well- but I've not seen it and from what I have read of the books, this would be my first and last encounter with the series. Created in photoshop on wacom.

Rationale:

I have never read the books, Lemony Snicketts: A Series of Unfortunate Events, therefore my first task was to become familiar with the writing style and target audience of the novels before commencing any type of sketches. I was an English teacher for 10 years prior undertaking my current degree and do remember that this series of novels was most popular with both boys and girls in grades 6-8 (approx aged 11- 13). With this knowledge I knew that any illustration had to contain an element of the ‘ick’ factor to bring to life a character that is written to be cold and repulsive in the eyes of the orphans in the novel. It is this vision of Olaf that is most aligned with the sympathies and ages of the readers themselves.


The layout of the illustration was inspired by the accompanying text wherein Olaf seems to tower over the children, I wanted him to seem almost spectre like rising up and over them in an intimidating manner- this also helps to display his role in the narrative. He is reaching out towards Sunny (as stipulated in the associated text) but his attention has been briefly focused towards Violet as his beady bright eyes rest on her for a moment. There is something almost dismissive in the way that his body continues on its original path towards the crying baby, yet pauses for a moment to hear the other children protest (as per the text).

The colour palette in this piece is decidedly cool, blue greys and shades of green add to the sense of coldness in the character of Olaf. Black outline in keeping with a cartoon style enables the character to be drawn in a scary spectre manner without forgetting the sensibilities of the target audience aged 11-13 years old. The description in the novel identifies Olaf as wearing a grey coat complete with stains. Upon further research I came up with the idea that he was clearly a flamboyant individual (evidenced by his passion for the theatre) but that everything he owned was old, broken or in disrepair. This is why I have included gold-threaded brocade around the sleeves of the coat, as it gives me the opportunity to show a faded jaded character- the brocade is faded and threads are coming off it as if it had been worn every day. The stains are badges of ‘dishonour’, they reveal the lie of his character in that he craves to be wealthy and to embody his desired social class- yet everything about his appearance is cloaked in unkempt eccentricity (unshaven, dirty, no socks).

The orphans have been deliberately illustrated in a reversed negative style to echo the way in which Olaf sees them, as orphans- not as individual children with personalities and identities. Their colourless appearance helps to convey to the reader how Olaf interacted with the orphans and additionally conveys the orphans role in the narrative at this early part of the first novel wherein they are predominantly reactionary to Olaf to set up the over- riding conflict for the series.

Photoshop and Wacom were used as these are most pertinent to my animation skill set.

To Catch a Dragon

Some Draco sketches looking at how the body of a dragon moves when catching or throwing- opening scene sequence will comprise of  some sort of game.

A little too 'showgirl' perhaps?

Flat Out at Uni

So it's the last few weeks of semester which means that our other subjects have massive assignments due and that of course is edging in on film making time. Progress on Draco has slowed as we attend to other classes, but I have no doubt that it will pick up once again.

I've been exploring character and doing pages of character emotions with good old pen on paper- liberating lol.

Draco Test Walk

Very basic test walk for Draco. Really focusing on creating that vintage look and the sense of weight in the character.

Final Character Turn Arounds

Final Character turnarounds- built for walking :)

When they stand next to each other (height comparison chart coming soon) Draak (the red one) is taller and leaner. 

Draco Character Colours Finalised

Final character colours- love the desaturated colours, perfect for the vintage look of the film- so different from my usual style. Can't wait to see it all falling into place :)

Subtle Animation

One of the things I have found challenging is making the transition from what I would call full bodied  animation to a more subtle animation based on limited movement, smaller lines of action and a focus on creating empathy between the character and the audience.

Here are some of my thumbnails for a piece to be completed later this week. The sound will be from the film, The Hours and consists of two basic lines-

"I'm living in a town I don't want to live in, I'm living a life I don't want to live."

I deliberately chose something that would challenge me to be more refined.

Character Sketches Draco

Character Designs Draco

Working on creating 'animate-able' character designs based on a vintage inspired Draco. Want to establish a character that is both flexible and able to be animated effectively whilst retaining volume and shape; essentially staying on model.

New Online Folio

Can't believe that we're about to go into our final year of the Bachelor of Animation, the last two years seems to have vanished. In an attempt to maintain momentum and motivation over the holidays, I've started working on my online folio. Sat in on a lecture given to the third years about the importance of online folio presentation and have given it a go, Check it out

Everything's Peachy

Spent the other day in at uni working on a collaborative project with other keen animators. Organised by lecturer Joe Brumm we worked from a base character which we adapted to suit our own style. Each animator did about 7 seconds of animation depicting the character in a typical teenage situation.

I'm excited about the result and think it will look fantastic as a complete film. It also gave us practical experience in working with a model sheet and in a studio format wherein deadlines were strict (one day!!) and everyone did only a small piece on a larger film. A great idea that I think will do well if entered into festivals.

Speaking of competition, I also entered the James and the Giant Peach comp on Deviant Art. My entry below. Check out my full folio at Deviant Art.

Wolverine Commission

Commission done for a toddler's room, which is why this Wolverine looks a lot friendlier than the original lol.

Commissions

 Photoshop and Corel Draw on Wacom Tablet.

Characters Enter Stage Left

This week i've been finalising camera shots, madly learning all about toon boom and putting the characters in their places. So far things are going well and Im liking the way the characters seem to 'fit' in their settings. Finishes a couple of scenes with the little imp today and got a little thrill when i saw the imp blink......'HE'S ALIIIIVE!!!"

I'm also pleased about the type of animation i have chosen to tell the story of the muse and her imp. The narrative drives the animation, rather than it being animation for animations sake.

Got about a week before its due. Will update when i can :)

Imp Design

This so far has been the most trying aspect of this project. The idea of Malvenia was sorted earlier during another assessment piece, but the Imp character was a challenge. I struggled with coming up with a design that would be complimentary to the protagonist. Other Imp designs can be seen in earlier posts, but the one below is the design that will be used.

Malvenia Moves

Gesture and Key pose study of Malvenia.

Creating an Imp

Right, now to get down to the nitty gritty stuff. I'm edging closer to Flash as a medium for my Final 2D assignment. With this in mind I'm working on my character design for my secondary character, Malvenia's Imp.

I've started reading, 'How to Cheat in Flash,' which can be found in my google library (link sidebar) in an attempt to get my head around streamlined character design practical for Flash.

I have included progressive illustrations of the Imp character from conception to almost Flash ready. The final version of the Imp reflects my focus on the Flash method of animation by symbols. Colour and style have been chosen to compliment Malvenia.

This character is low in status- especially in relation to Malvenia. The Imp is so low that he does not have a name as such. He is like Malvenia, a product of the ancient mythological world, but he is a reject, a joke the gods played when they had left ove parts of other mythological creatures. He is an outsider, as is his mistress Malvenia. The double ears and tiny mouth indicates his role in the relationship as the subserviant 'sidekick'who is reactionary in his interaction with Malvenia. He is sly and when out of reach of his mistress, is cheeky and manipulative- he goes about his 'work' of creating havock with a nasty sense of glee. He is bound eternally to his mistress and serves her loyally.