For my Kite Animation I used Photoshop again, I started by sketching the rough path of the kite (titled ‘Draft – Kite Animation’ on my padlet), before doing cleanup (titled ‘Kite Animation’). In the latter stage I tried to make the movement of my kite tail more fluid, I also ended up adjusting the top kite form so it would look less jittery.
Though I did work on this animation for a while, creating multiple variations which I ended up scrapping, I am only somewhat satisfied with the result. I think this is because the motion of the kite doesn’t look very realistic. For this reason, moving forward, I think I should practice animating more in relation to forces (like wind) and make sure to use references for motion if possible. For example, I could have used references of actual kites.
After Effects – Compositing :
Monday 11/05/26: During the lesson I started uploading the files and components of my first and second scene to After Effects. I also created a shatter transition between the two scenes and used the key frame function to make the clouds in the second scene move across the horizon.
While I considered being more creative with how I could ‘shatter’ my image, I thought other techniques like collaging and stop motion would be less effective as they most likely wouldn’t have matched with my audio (which had sharp cracking sounds).
Wednesday 13/05/26: I spent the lesson using After Effects to ‘break’ the trees in my second scene. Though I had initially considered drawing this by hand, I thought it would be more effective to use the shatter effect on After Effects. To achieve this I had to re-import my trees on separate layers and then offset the timing of them breaking. I also tried to match the shatter noises with my audio.
Overall I am quite satisfied with my animation so far – I think having the repeated use of the shatter effect in the animation makes it feel stylistically more consistent as a whole.
After adding the second scene to my main composition, I realised that the duration of my second scene was slightly short (since my first scene shatters to reveal the next scene). After receiving advice from a tutor on how to overcome this issue I duplicated the front part of my wave animation and found an appropriate place to match up the waves.
After working on After Effects, I realised the colour palette of my previous ‘lightning’ pieces were not as consistent (with the other visuals) as I had hoped they would be. For this reason I decided to edit them further: I used my previous lightning pieces alongside the piece below and experimented overlaying them on different blending modes. This allowed me to create a more glowy nature to the lightning pieces.
The below is on the blending mode ‘Difference’ over the above cyanotype pattern layer.
The below is on the blending mode ‘overlay’ over the previous cyanotype pattern layer.
Monday 18/05/26: Transition – I spent part of the lesson testing how I could incorporate the ‘lightning’ pieces to my animation timeline. Though they felt abrupt after importing them, I decided I did want to keep an element of this abruptness as the concept of lightning is sudden and unexpected. I did, however decide to use the keyframe function of After Effects for the opacity so I could transition the lightning to the final scene. I ended up extending this transition over a longer duration as it felt like the progression of time which is what my overall concept is based on.
I also spent the lesson editing the trees into my third scene: I wanted the remaining trees that were broken from scene 2 to be inverted (in colour) in the same placement. To achieve this I used the key light function to remove any surrounding noise of the trees (left from the previous scene) and then I altered the trees to look black by using the ‘subtract’ layer mode.
During my lesson on Wednesday 20/05/26 I worked some more on my lightning scene: I created more variations which I added to my timeline – making them irregular in timing, I also experimented with scale. I feel this combination feels more flashy like lightning which I like. I did keep the opacity fade out for the transition to the next and final scene (3).
After completing my kite animation separately on photoshop, I then imported it to my third scene as well as my character boil animation:
I then decided to work on incorporating my dust video – After importing it and using the ‘Keylight’ functions (to remove the green screen) I realised I had several problems:
The dimensions of the video was the same as my existing canvas – but I needed it to be longer so that the dust would come in from off screen
If I used scale to solve the above issue It would make the dust/dried foliage particles too large
The video had some grain quality to it which was inconsistent with my existing scene
To overcome these issues with advice from my tutor I was able to use the ‘RepeTile’ effect to extend the side of my video, I also created a new adjustment layer above my scene and added a grain effect which allowed it to blend with the dust particles. I also used the blending layer modes ‘Overlay’ on my adjustment layer and changed the imported video file to ‘Colour Burn’.
I then tested how I could make the trees disappear from the scene – I adjusted the clip length so the trees would vanish as the dust blew over them (I found a frame to match this). Though I had initially planned to make everything from the scene disappear, after receiving feedback from my tutor, I decided having a slight cyclical structure to my animation would be better suited (so the character remains in the scene till the end).
Below is a rendered heart I did based on the images above (done digitally using the software Procreate):
I tried to make the heart look quite realistic like the reference images to create a feeling of unease (it will hopefully stand out against the 2D figure that I intend to draw for the first scene).
Here I drew the figure of my character – I deliberately made this sketchy as I think this will work stylistically well in contrast with the realistic heart:
Style & Composition Test: As shown in the below I created a new canvas on photoshop, added my new character sketch before loosely shading it and placing the heart I had drawn. I quite like the loose and sketchy feeling of the 5th step – I can imagine animating a boil effect in this style – It would be quite manageable (time wise) but also would be effective in communicating my theme from a stylistic point of view.
Scene Tests: Below I tried testing style for the first scene. Since I hadn’t done my cyanotypes yet I selected an image from one of my moodboards to test how I could use different layer blending modes:
Test A: Divide – opacity 23%
Test B: Divide – opacity 62%
Test C: Divide – opacity 63% (+ different colour adjustment of layer)
Test D: Pin Light – opacity 49%
Of these variations my favourites are B and C – the layer blending mode interestingly create the impression of overexposure which is something I was hoping to achieve.
Creating Cyanotypes & Photography:
Trip to Chelsea Physic Garden 30/04/26 :
In order to make my cyanotypes I decided to make a trip to Chelsea Physic Garden. I collected a variety of things such as fallen branches, flowers and ferns. My specific focus was on finding branches as I thought this would be the easiest to use to replicate tree shapes/forms for my second background scene.
Later I started the process of making the cyanotypes as shown below:
While I enjoyed learning the process of making Cyanotypes, the outcomes of my collected foliage were inconsistent; some impressions worked better than others as shown below. I assume this was because the branches I used didn’t lay flat so the exposure was less vivid. Moving forwards, if I were to try this technique again, I would like to try using photographs and sample different objects – perhaps with more fine detail.
Scanned Cyanotypes:
To try to combat my faint Cyanotype outcomes I decided to edit the scanned versions on photoshop so I could enhance the exposure:
I also carried out some photography whilst I was there: I collected some close up images of textured elements (shown below) such as tree bark, leaf detail, water and more. I am considering using these as overlays for my animation (using blending modes on After Effects to incorporate with my digital artworks).
In the below I tested how I could use my close up photos of nature as overlays – on various blending modes. I particularly like the second version where I overlayed a bark texture on ‘Vivid Light’ (opacity 20%).
I tested the overlays on the second background too – I quite like the second outcome made from using the water close up image on the layer mode ‘Lighter Colour’ (opacity 50%).
Scene 1:
The three designs below I created by playing around with different colour adjustments, layer blending modes, curves and more:
Pattern made from my cyanotypes:
2. Pattern made from my cyanotypes:
3. Photograph (taken at Chelsea Physic Garden – of water):
STYLE TEST: 1st Scene
Chosen overlayed version : I combined the three layers above to make the version shown below:
layer 1: overlayed with character on ‘Divide’ layer mode at 48% opacity.
layer 2: overlayed with character on 25% opacity.
layer 3: overlayed with character on ‘Divide’ layer mode at opacity 55%.
Below is one of my concepts from my animatic based on lightning – I made this by manipulating online images of tree branches:
To recreate this effect- I decided to use some of my own photography of trees and play around with inversion and adjusting colour and layer blending modes:
First Lightning Version:
Second Lightning Version:
Scene 2: Process
Background:
I started creating the different components of my second scene in Photoshop:
First I used my cyanotype outcomes to create the trees in the scene (on the blending layer mode ‘Lighter Colour’), I then decided on a brush to use for my waves: ‘G-Rutkowski 02’.
Next I explored how I could incorporate texture: I took the above and added one of my textured photographs on the ‘Divide’ blending layer mode (on opacity 15%).
I then drew my clouds on a longer canvas on procreate (I plan to add these to my second scene using After Effects so I can animate them moving across the horizon):
These steps allowed me to establish the overall style of the scene:
Using my existing components of my second scene, I quickly uploaded these to After Effects to test how they would work layered. I worry that the quality was much lower in the rendered outcome, so I will make sure to redo this step on After Effects with each of the components saved at their highest resolution.
On the 8th May I tried testing the transition I had planned: to have dust move across the screen for my final scene (3).
I used a camera and the recording feature on Dragonframe to do the below:
Afterwards I used After Effects and the ‘Keylight’ function to remove the green screen elements. While I notice there is a grainy texture to the dust/dried foliage, I unfortunately wasn’t able to remove this (hopefully this isn’t too noticeable on the final film).
I began working on my third scene by recreating elements from my initial concept (shown below).
First I drew a cracked ground texture on photoshop:
I then created a repeated pattern from this texture before using the transforming features to distort the perspective to create the ground of my scene.
Mock up of Scene 3:
The version below is my favourite out of the variations I created. I think the red tone works nicely in creating a sinister tone/aesthetic (rather than depicting blood as I had initially planned). I also quite like how the overlay texture makes it look like the remnants of water.
Composition test:
Next, I quickly tested how the kite and character would look in the scene considering the new colour palette.
Though the red undertone of the background does make the kite less distinctive, I think I could experiment on After Effects using the different blending modes to counteract this issue – as shown by the examples below:
Kite on ‘Colour Burn’:
Kite on ‘Linear Dodge (Add)’:
Plan – moving forwards:
Trees – the above version shall be altered slightly depending on how the trees have been ‘broken’ from the previous scene 1
Clouds – I plan to reuse the clouds from my first scene but on the layer mode ‘subtract’
Character – I will create a new character boil for this scene which I will composit with the other background components using After effects
Kite – I plan to animate this on photoshop before adding to the scene
Above is a moodboard I made inspired by the first half of my audio – I wanted it to be atmospheric due to the nature of the sounds which are quite dramatic. I am particularly drawn to making a nature based environment (a water/tree setting) with teal blues and murky greens as I think it would reflect the unsettling and eerie vibe of the audio.
I really like the overexposure in some of the photographs I selected above – the white trees/ a pale figure creates contrast with the vibrant colours – creating an almost dream-like/ ghostly aesthetic. I think it would be fun to reinterpret this concept for my animation.
The colour palette of some of these photographs reminded me of the process of Cyanotypes – so I may consider incorporating this technique within the creation of my animation – for example I could create cyanotypes of nature – such as dirt/sand/branches and scan these to help with the world-building/setting design. I could also scan these to create patterns digitally which could be then animated/edited in unusual ways.
I briefly looked at the ebook: ‘Cyanotype Toning: Using Botanicals to Tone Blueprints Naturally’ (by Annette Golaz) for inspiration:
2nd Moodboard Concept: Wasteland environment photography and some artworks by Chogiseok and smallwhitemonster on Instagram.
I think it would be interesting to have shifts within the animation from one scene (based on my previous moodboard) to another – they would be based on the same setting but one has experienced significant change: perhaps climate change/degradation/ an implication of a post-apocalypse world. I like the idea of creating this contrast with warm tones and liminal qualities.
To tie these two environments together I thought using one accent colour (of red) as shown below would work well – especially considering the sinister atmosphere of the music. The colour red could be used as a motif for death/blood especially as we hear a sound of water/ liquid throughout the audio. I quite like the idea of somehow incorporating a red kite as I can imagine this would juxtapose the scene in an interesting way; kites typically reference innocence, hope and freedom.
In the above I looked at how the two mood boards and colour palettes could work alongside one another – taking inspiration from the work of Chogiseok.
Rough initial test concepts:
In the above I took inspiration from my mood boards to quickly sketch out the two contrasting scenes (using procreate).
Note: I could create a dust effect for the last scene (using after effects) with 2 layers (the top layer could turn to dust and the layer beneath reveals a barren landscape).
Following feedback I received the previous Friday, I made alterations to my work which I brought to class on Monday 9th March and I then received further feedback from another tutor (outlined below):
Try using settles to make movements look more natural
Remember to consider easing – use timing charts to help
Consider arcs - especially for turns/wing movements
Could consider using smears
Order of work: cleanup keys, then do imbetweens cleaning up as you go along, then add mouth shapes
Remember that the brush needs to be same type and size – consistency
Rotate canvas to make lines smoother during cleanup
Scaling up and down – in closer shots the brush size will be larger – in wider shots the lineart will be thinner
Ensure you are drawing on the lineart layer
Considering the above notes I started doing my imbetweens. Since I knew I had limited time to do these I decided to prioritise the second scene where most of the dialogue happened (I plan to come back and do the imbetweens for the first scene and for the third and fourth).
The version Titled ‘Work In Progress – Friday 20th March’ on my padlet – is how far I got for the final day of the project – I did complete cleanup for the second main scene (imbetweened and mouth shapes), however I didn’t have time to imbetween the first scene or add mouth shapes to scene 3 & 4.
Feedback I received on Friday 20th March:
My peers liked the design of my first main background
My peers said my imbetweens were very smooth
They liked the bending of my birds’ legs when they were moving
They liked the character design of my birds and thought they looked different alongside one another – which was good contrast
Some suggestions for further improvement:
They thought it would be nice if my background was given longer screen time
I could have considered follow through – for example making the curl of hair on my pigeon character move differently to the body moving
I could try to add more imbetweens when my male character drops down
I could try to add more easing at the end of when she turns to look at him (with the raised eyebrow)
Continuation of Animation:
With my remaining time after my second elective I started to continue working on my bird animation:
I began adding mouth shapes to my third scene, however ran into some difficulty as the audio was unclear in parts and fast – to tackle this I tried to incorporate some frames on 1s as they were too slow on 2s and didn’t match my audio very well.
When playing back my animation I realised a few issues that I wanted to address:
the beak of my crow character in the second scene was inconsistent – sometimes changing shape and size slightly
the body of my crow character in scene 2 also was quite inconsistent – making the volume feel off
the tail of my crow character in scene 2 was curved and then flat at different times – so I wanted to make this more consistent
some of my character settles could have been softer
I sketched the above during class on Friday 27th March, my tutor suggested how I could tweak some of the mouth shapes to make them look more accurate which I applied to the final outcomes below. I also decided to draw my characters with teeth as this made it easier to distinguish their mouth sounds.
Female Pigeon character:
As well as the essential mouth shapes that we were tasked to complete, I decided to make an R and Uh mouth shape as my dialogue used these sounds a lot.
Male Crow Character:
X sheets:
Key:
Black: x sheet first draft
Red: side dialogue by Male Character (VA Harry)
Green: side dialogue by Female Character (VA Marianne)
Blue: edited x sheet sounds (after completing my mouth shape sheets and re-reading my x sheet I came to the realisation I would need to change some parts as often there was the same mouth shapes next to one another which wouldn’t contrast to show a new word being said).
Character Acting:
Task 1:
Through this task I realised the importance of character acting (to communicate and exaggerate emotions and dialogue); making characters feel lifelike and believable.
Notes:
Before doing imbetweens it would be useful to create timing charts between my keys (to help consider what spacing to do for my drawings)
when doing character acting an key poses try to think of think of live action and how an expression/emotion is acted, also consider what behaviours/actions match with your character and their personality
Think of the physics of action when doing key animation
Think of acting, are they immediately experiencing an emotional response e.g. do they immediately get angry or do they get angry slowly?
Work on 2s (24 FPS – but a frame holds for 2)
Use 1/3 sparingly for timing charts – it is easier to stick to halves
ToonBoom – Rough Keys
During the week commencing 2nd March I started doing my first draft of my rough keys (I brought this to class on Friday to continue working on before I received feedback on how to improve it (outlined in the slide below)).
Below is my finished background, I tried to consider three things in terms of style which I think I managed to execute well. These were:
not having proper lineart
using textures
using geometric shapes
I wanted to try these as they were key features I was drawn to from the artists I looked at for inspiration.
I tried to consider how the lighting would work at sunset time and how this would reflect off the windows too as bounce light. I hope this makes the mood clear for my audience.
I would say while I am happy with the composition (I think it works well considering the background is an establishing shot), I think the next time I work on a project I would like to try drawing from a different camera angle (rather than just a straight shot) as it would challenge me even more.
In the above I will need to draw my characters standing on the bench before the camera zooms in. I may draw them as silhouetted figures as the detail would be lost from the distance they are at, however since they are in the light this may not work.
Here is the final version of my first background. I decided to not draw my characters silhouetted. They are very small in this scene, however I don’t think this is a major issue as I don’t plan to animate them here – the dialogue only happens in the second scene (from a close up angle).
Background 2:
Background 3:
Background 4:
I based these backgrounds on my animatic close ups. They are supposed to be the bench from different zoomed in camera angles.
Responding to general feedback for pre-production (before 27th Feb):
During my group crit on Friday 27th about our moodboards, animatics and character designs I received some positive feedback as well as some suggestions on how I could improve my work. This included the below:
Positive feedback: My peers liked my colour palette analysis, mood boarding and thought my animatic had a funny concept. They also liked my background that I had started.
Improvement feedback: My peers did suggest altering my character designs again as they thought my male and female characters still looked too similar. They suggested either changing the shape language of my characters, changing one of the species of my characters (to a different bird like a pigeon/magpie etc.) or exaggerating the proportions further or a combination of all three.
I decided to alter my female character as shown and described below:
Overall I think through the process of changing and tweaking my character designs multiple times, I have been able to refine the design, so I am much more satisfied with this result above.
I feel I have already stepped out my comfort zone for this project as I usually don’t draw animals and typically I don’t draw in such a cartoony and simple style (I am more drawn to detailed and overly rendered character designs).
Final Character Designs:
Lineart Turnarounds:
After further observation I noticed that the height of the top of the wings was inconsistent in my turnarounds above. If I have time, I would like to fix this if possible.
Coloured Turnarounds:
Colour: Above are my coloured characters. I did consider using bright and bold colours so they would contrast with the background however considering my backgrounds after the first scene are just close ups of the bench I thought keeping them a similar colour palette to the establishing shot would create consistency throughout the film (their muted tones would also contrast with the warm hue of the bench). I tested this out below:
Audio : I decided to interview my flatmates for this project as I thought they would have interesting perspectives on the topic of London, it was also more convenient to carry out (rather than doing public interviews around London).
I first interviewed my flatmate Golf and then interviewed my other flatmate Marianne and her boyfriend Harry. I was grateful to have the two options as they ended up being very different; one was an individual interview with more definitive responses and the other one was more conversational and allowed for longer responses that deviated slightly from my questions (this led to unexpected and interesting answers).
I ended up recording over half an hour of audio which was useful as I had more options to pick from.
For these sketches above I tried to consider the line of action and how I could make positions of the birds in a more interesting way. I also approached sketching with shapes rather than thinking of definitive outlines. I found this process useful as it allowed me to consider how I could actually manoeuvre a character by trying different poses. For some of these poses I took inspiration from my previous bin animatic and my written beat sheet. I also found this task useful to consider how the wings of a bird could be used to express emotion (initially I found it difficult to know where the wing placement would be for some poses, however by the end I felt it became easier to figure out).
I used the below as a reminder of the main features of a crow are.
Following on from my pose sketches I tried to go back to thinking of character design and actively consider the points I had noted down previously about stylisation:
As shown above I tried to base the parts of my character around different shapes. I also tried to exaggerate features (longer legs and a larger beak) to make my character look more stylised.
Above is an unfinished initial test I made on Procreate (I wanted to get a feel for how the florist shop would look). I initially had planned to have the entire shop a fresh grass green colour however after testing this, realised a more warm earthy brown was more appropriate as would create better contrast with the plants that would be displayed in the foreground.
Some elements I was keen to incorporate were pattern and texture, warm lighting and an autumnal colour palette.
Hand drawn Stone/pebble floor:
Above I used Procreate to create a pebble like print – I then made it into a repeat pattern which I could impose into my scene (distort into perspective) as the floor in front of the florist shop.
Background 1 : Photoshop
Initial sketch by Berni:
First Version:
For the first background I took inspiration from the mood board’s I had created in the previous weeks. I was particularly interested in exploring the application of pattern and texture (a key feature of the style of Cartoon Saloon) so tried to use a variety of them, this can be shown on the plant pots, walls and door of the florist shop. I did draw in less flowers than shown in Berni’s initial sketch as we agreed that the setting of our story would be around the autumn season.
Overall I am quite happy with this background, especially the cosy atmosphere I was able to create using different layer adjustment settings for the lighting.
After discussing with Berni who was doing the rough animation for the first scene, we decided that the door needed to change so that our character Phool would be hidden when the door was shut (if the window of the door remained how I initially drew it, it would have required additional animation which would have been unnecessary for the scene).
This led to the Second Version as shown below:
Although I prefer the first version of the door with the longer window, I think it doesn’t make too much of a difference visually to the surrounding scene; the light seeping through the shorter window still gives it a warm and homely feel, even if it seems less than the first version. I decided to add a letterbox to the new door as the larger green space felt a bit unbalanced otherwise.
I was grateful to discuss with Berni about the background during the process of making it – as when it came to drawing the interior, I wasn’t sure what level of detail would work. I think the silhouetted interior allows for greater contrast with the foreground elements which works better considering the focus in on the exterior.
Background 2: Photoshop
Initial sketches by Berni:
Adjusted sketch by Sophie:
In the altered sketch above I lowered the chest level in front of the windows and added the tall plant pots so it would match the first background. I also added in the bookcase on the right side of the canvas so it would match the position shown in the following scenes of the animatic that Berni made. I thought this bookcase would have quite compressed shelves so phials, books and a few small plants and ceramics would be a perfect combination to fill the space.
The outline of the red box is a rough idea of where our character Phool places the mushroom box (indicated in blue). Initially this was going to be a table, however I decided a low chest was a better option, not only because it meant it was easier to draw from different angles in other scenes, but also because our character’s height is quite short, so it made the most sense.
Final Background:
Above is the rendered final background I made. I really like the small detailing I added like the gardening tools, lanterns, watering can and flower poster. Not only do these details create a nice welcoming feeling to the florist shop but it also adds depth to our main character.
The implication of the background on our main character Phool could be to portray his deep love for organisation and collecting items that draw his interest.
Overall I’m pretty happy with the composition of this background especially the tree as I feel it really ties the space together well, it also contrasts nicely with the surrounding green tones.
Foreground elements:
As shown above I drew some foreground elements that will move across the scene as demonstrated in Berni’s animatic. I made a second version where these elements are darker and shadowed so to create better contrast. I think this version makes more sense considering the camera placement too. A problem to consider is that the first version is quite bright so may draw focus away from our character Phool. For this reason the second version may be more appropriate. Alternatively using some adjustment layers during the compositing stage may fix this issue.
Updated New Version:
After comparing the first background that I had completed with the second, Berni realised the colour palette of both looked different; the first background showed the interior of the florist shop to be more glowy and yellow toned due to the lighting whereas my second background didn’t have this effect. For this reason she suggested adding an overlay layer. As shown in the above version I tried to do this – I used an orange and yellow gradient on the ‘overlay’ layer setting and lowered the opacity to 40%. I think this creates a much more homely feeling to the scene. It also allows for greater contrast with the blue toned exterior of the shop.
Background 3 : Photoshop
Initial sketch by Berni:
Adjusted sketch by Sophie:
Final Background:
This third background was much quicker to complete than the previous two. I also was able to copy in some elements which saved me time (the interior window plant pots, the bricks and some of the door elements). I decided to add wooden beams to the ceiling to create a rustic charm to the space. I think this also worked well to show the angle of the ceiling compared to the back wall.
Updated New Version:
In the above I added the same overlay I had for the second – (yellow orange gradient at 40%). It was quite time consuming cutting out the windows due to all the foreground elements I had placed in front (the plant pots). I do however think this step was necessary for creating a more cohesive colour palette in general throughout the backgrounds.
Background 4 : Photoshop
Initial sketch by Berni:
Adjusted sketch by Sophie:
In the above adjusted sketch, I tried to make the positioning of the different objects as similar as I could do the previous backgrounds, however I did notice some differences (e.g. the distance between the shelf and the chest is greater in the second background). Luckily I don’t think these elements will be too noticeable due to the character being the main focal point to each scene.
Final Background:
Updated New Version:
In the above I added the overlay again but at a lower opacity of 20%. I felt this better matched the previous backgrounds as at 40% it felt too saturated and a bit overwhelming.
Background 5 : Photoshop
Initial sketch by Berni:
Test adjustment sketch by Sophie:
I was slightly confused by Berni’s initial sketch for scene 5 – I wasn’t exactly sure where Phool knocks off the spray bottle – at first I thought it fell to the left of the room so I tried to adjust Berni’s sketch (as shown above) to match the previous backgrounds and their objects. After discussion about this matter with Berni, I realised the spray bottle actually falls to the right side of the room (the audience so far won’t have seen this side of the room). I therefore stuck to the original sketch as none of the plants needed to be the same as the previous scenes. I was grateful to clear up the confusion, and it also meant that the background was easier to create.
Adjusted sketch by Sophie:
Final Background:
Updated New Version:
For this scene I made the opacity of the overlay 15% – It felt too saturated at 40% like the previous scenes were and it seems to match better at 15%.
Background 6 : Photoshop
Initial sketch by Berni:
Adjusted sketch by Sophie:
Above is my adjusted sketch – after starting to render this scene I realised the width of the green shelves needs to be narrower than the above (so to match the previous scenes).
Final Background:
I found this scene particularly challenging due to the angle of the book case and the angle of the wall. It was especially difficult to draw all the objects on the shelves because of this reason. Moving forward I think it would be useful to learn more about perspective in my free time so things like this are easier to create.
Updated New Version:
For this scene I added the gradient overlay at 40%.
Background 7 : Photoshop
Initial sketch by Berni:
Adjusted sketch by Sophie:
In the above I tried to copy in the same plant pots as the ones shown in background 5. I decided to remove the corner of the room that can be seen on the right hand side of the sketch because this wouldn’t make sense considering the floorpan I made below (Phool drops the water spray right of the chest so the area above would be the plant pots in the bottom right corner of my floorplan).
Rough Floorplan:
Final Background:
Updated New Version:
This background has also a 15% overlay – to match scene 5 which is set in the same space of the room.
I really enjoyed drawing the flowers/plants for this scene. I think it makes the scene look very cosy especially with the floor shrub.
Background 8 : Photoshop
Initial sketch by Berni:
Adjusted sketch by Sophie :
In the above I tried to match the placement of the objects and the tree to how I had previously drawn background 2 since the angle of the camera is the same for this shot just zoomed in.
Reference from Background 2:
Here I copied a section of background 2 and positioned it on the canvas, I wanted to make sure the placement of my objects was the same as background 2 so I ended up tracing over the elements so create the version below.
Final Background:
The reason I didn’t just copy the background from 2 was because the quality would have looked blurry as I would have had to zoom in. I also needed to extend the top of the tree which wasn’t shown in background 2.
Updated New Version:
I made the gradient overlay 40% here.
Background 9 : Photoshop
Initial sketch by Berni:
Adjusted sketch by Sophie:
After creating the adjusted sketch above I realised that the actual angle of the camera on the scene seemed too left sided. It also seemed to contradict the previous scene where Phool is lifted up to quite some height (the above is quite a low angle comparatively). For this reason, I decided to make a new sketch (shown below).
New sketch by Sophie:
I think this angle works better for our character Phool as the perspective draws more on height which aligns with the fact he is being held by the creature.
Final Background:
I found the above challenging due to the perspective and trying to match the position, size and style of the plants to scene 2. I’m sure there are errors with the perspective, however overall I don’t think it will take away from the character animation which will be placed over the scene.
Updated New Version:
The gradient overlay here is at 25% however it may need to be adjusted during the compositing stage.
Background 10 : Photoshop
Reference by Berni:
Initial sketch by Sophie :
There hadn’t been an initial sketch for the background in the animatic. So I tried to visualise where the creature would be in this scene. It was quite confusing due to us not having made a floorpan and mapping out the movements of the creature and our character Phool. I therefore made an educated guess based on the previous backgrounds I had made.
The above is a sketch of the left back wall from the perspective of Phool looking up at the creature as he is held.
Final Background:
Updated New Version:
Credits:
Credits by Sophie:
Though our tutor advised against doing credits for the submission of our film as it would take away time from our story. I decided to make one anyway which I had hoped could be added to the screening after the submission. I think the design is cohesive with the rest of the backgrounds I made. I wanted to create an earthy and simple design that included the main tree in the backgrounds but also had the impression of the warm fairy lights. The mushrooms also are based on the neck colour of our creature – I did test the creature’s main colour (a vibrant blue) but it felt too distracting. I am satisfied with the fonts I chose too, the one I used for the ‘credits’ particularly matches well with the branches of the tree.
Unfortunately, during the final editing process we realised there wouldn’t be time to add the credits into the film as it had reached the 30 second duration. While this was a shame, I did think that making the credits and experimenting with the composition and font styles was a useful task (the skills I could definitely apply in the future for other films I work on).
Overall Reflection:
During the process of making my backgrounds I realised often after finishing each one that there were many inconsistencies. As the background artist the positioning of different objects and furniture was not properly established and this means there are flaws in each scene. The movement of Phool, the creature and the spray bottle doesn’t always match up.
For example:
Our character Phool walks in a straight line in the second scene – and he puts the mushroom box down on the chest. In this shot the chest is parallel to the main front door. This differs to the next scenes where the chest is actually closer to the left wall (from Phool’s perspective) and parallel to the left window (from Phool’s perspective as he walks through the door).
Scene 7 seems also to be incorrect when I look at my rough floorplan (which looking back It seems I made too late) – it seems too far away from the chest where we first see the emergence of the creature and also it seems far from where the spray bottle theoretically wold have fallen. I think this fault has occurred due to the lack of communication within the group and proper planning – we hadn’t discussed making a floorpan before the animatic, and started animating/creating backgrounds simultaneously meaning the angles of the animatic can’t be changed as my group had already begun animating the scenes and I had assumed the background sketches were mostly accurate.
In scene 8 – I think the size of Phool is also too small (when you compare it to the second background where he appears larger).
While these are not likely to be noticeable for an audience who only sees each scene for a few seconds, it still is something that needs to be addressed/reflected on so that in following projects I wouldn’t face the same issue.
For example in some scenes the furniture seems to be positioned in a slightly different angle /place. It was also unclear where our character Phool drops the spray bottle, at which point he is crouched on the floor, and where the creature stands (in each scene the angle of these things does not always align).
Improvement: Background work
If I were to redo this project I would make sure that a floorpan was created prior to the animatic so these issues didn’t arise and so the shots decided actually worked for the setting.
I think it would be useful to practice perspective more as this is something I struggle with (I struggled with drawing the same objects in different scenes at different angles and trying to visualise this without any references).
Reflection on my role:
For this project I think my group all decided to pursue roles that we were good at/felt confident doing. I think this was mainly because we were eager to create the best outcome we could as a group. I personally haven’t had much experience doing rough animation and felt unconfident after my previous rotation project ‘Making Character’ where I made many errors and worked at a very slow pace drawing frames. For this reason I volunteered to work on backgrounds as this is something I felt more confident doing, plus I have more experience in this aspect. I did wish to help with doing colour and lineart for this project, had I had time after my backgrounds, however I underestimated how much time I would need to complete the backgrounds which led to me not trying the other roles.
Considering the above I feel like for the next project I work on I should step out of my comfort zone as I know I won’t be able to progress my skills in other areas without practice and trial and error. Despite this I am still happy with the work I created for the project. I enjoyed ideating during the initial stages of the project (coming up with mood boards, character design, carrying out photography) but also rendering the backgrounds and bringing all the previous work I had done together.
Issues faced as a group:
I think the main struggle our group faced with was lack of communication and clarity, but also a lack of time and an incomplete production pipeline from the beginning of the project.
Some issues we had were:
Knowing what roles each person was doing
Factoring in that each of us have different styles of working and that each of us have strengths and weaknesses, different skillsets and work at different paces
We didn’t make expression sheets for our characters which made it difficult for some of my group who were doing rough animation as they didn’t have anything but the animatic to base their work from
We didn’t have a floorpan for our setting outlined
We hadn’t properly clarified colour palettes, or lineart type which led to confusion during the later stages of the project
Disagreements over decisions
Using different softwares for animation and trying to get them to match each other
We didn’t set enough internal deadlines for the progress of our project.
We didn’t ask for feedback enough from our tutors – which led to wasted time in the first week (when we had been set on our first idea).
We didn’t properly establish the height contrast /proportion of our two main characters. This might have meant our character Phool and the creature vary by different scenes.
We also didn’t properly clarify the height at which Phool is picked up to.
Strengths of working as a group:
We all worked really hard on each of our roles + played to our strengths and skillsets
We tried to make decisions as a group
We were able to overcome initial challenges (we had to scrap our first idea which allowed for us to come up with a better and more manageable second idea, that more of us agreed on)
We all worked together on the storyboard at different stages which led to a better animatic with a variety of shots.
Most of the group were able to work on character design, which we pieced apart and took ideas from to then redesign and develop. This led to more interesting designs.
We all had different visions for the aesthetics of our animation which allowed us to create a variety of mood boards that helped inspire us and create further ideas
As a group we experienced time management and scheduling challenges which resulted in the restructuring of roles in the final days of the deadline. This led to the incorporation of different softwares which led to inconsistencies in quality and colour grading.
Moving forward I now know the importance of discussing software compatibility and time management expectations with the group I work in especially making sure it happens consistently throughout the timeline of the project.
Overall I’m happy with how our animation turned out, however it was a shame the quality/resolution of my backgrounds dropped with the consistent moving back and forth of files and to different software’s (Photoshop, Toonboom, Procreate, After Effects, Premier Pro and Capcut).
Points of reflection I noted and took to discuss with my group at the start of Week 2:
we need to be willing to leave behind our initial idea
when you compare other groups and their storylines to our initial idea – ours is way too complex for a 30 second film. I agree with the tutors that it feels like a scene from a feature film and it doesn’t stand alone as a story in itself.
Our initial idea leant on a lot of background information and context and we need our story to be readable to a new audience who is given no other information beyond the visual + sounds played within 30 seconds
Most groups have either 1 character or 2 (pushing it). We don’t have the ability to consider more than this given the time (we would need to establish characters and it would take time away if we had 3)
Our initial idea was too cliche and predictable, not just the fact of the deal but our actual characters (their interaction was always gonna be cliche if he was a prince and her a creature/monster) so either we need to abandon them OR we reuse elements of our ideas to create a new character add to our work
Our story should have ONE action point or change not multiple because maybe that’s too much for 30 seconds – we don’t have time for multiple twists
Mushroom Research: by Sophie
Mushroom Growing : by Sophie
During the Christmas break I had the opportunity to test a mushroom growing kit. The kit was a Pink Oyster Mushroom kit and was very easy to care for. After cutting a cross in the plastic of the grow bag on the first day, I simply sprayed the opening (roughly 10 times) up to 2 -3 times a day. As shown in the photographs above the speed of growth occurred very quickly.
Overall I found this experience really interesting . I particularly liked seeing the intricacy of the mushrooms’ gills and how they developed over the time period. These can be seen more clearly in the final photographs I took on the last day:
Final Day: 9/01/26
Story Boarding & Character and Concept Development:
As shown below several members of our group tried storyboarding independently. This allowed us to visualise how our narrative would play out from different perspectives & angles (quite literally!). I think this task was useful as it allowed for greater variety and creativity of shots.
Below I created another initial storyboard – I combined different shots from our multiple storyboards as described above. This storyboard had too many different shots so was later cut down into selective shots (a maximum of 10).
In the animatic above, Berni took our selected shots and condensed them further to create a rough idea of the different scenes we could have for the 30 second duration.
As shown in the top left corner of the powerpoint slide above, I created a quick character design test. I was keen to use more desaturated colours as I thought this would create better contrast with the backgrounds (I planned to use vibrant colours for the backgrounds). Though our group collectively decided on a different stylisation (Berni’s), I was glad my test character helped inspire and shape our final design for the character Phool. Some features that were used were the mushrooms growing on his hat, the shade of his skin tone, his cream coloured beard and his rosy blush.
Our creature most likely will have a cooler blue toned colour palette – this will contrast nicely with the warm and cosy interior of the florist shop as well as our character Phool.
The slide above was a mood board I created to help inspire the way we designed our characters and environments. Cartoon Saloon has always been a major source of inspiration for me, I especially love the contrast of their characters which are quite simple and lineart based compared to their heavily detailed and pattern orientated backgrounds.
I was really happy with the final animatic Berni made above, I think the scenes and storyline are very clear to understand and the sound by Anushka really elevates our main character Phool’s emotions during the events that play out.
As the background artist, some elements of the animatic I will need to adjust when I render the different scenes, for example the placement of objects (so they match different scenes).
Background based Photography – by Sophie
Initially Ceren’s starting idea for our story was based in a garden. I had thought a florist shop could be more interesting and unique to design so I proposed this idea to the group. The main reason why I had thought of this was because of a florist shop I used to regularly browse around in Hebden Bridge.
I decided to revisit the florist shop ‘The Willow Garden’ to take some photography:
During my visit to The Willow Garden some things I was particularly keen to incorporate/use in the design of our florist shop was:
candles
fairy lights draped
flower bouquets
ceramics – e.g. jugs
flower print/poster
green furniture / book shelf / cabinet
wooden furniture
cosy lighting
autumnal plants
Background Mood boards & Inspiration – by Sophie
The above slides were Pinterest sourced images / artworks which I wanted to take inspiration from for designing the backgrounds of our animation.
After our first week of brainstorming ideas for our story, creating mood boards and starting initial concept and character designs my group came to the conclusion (after receiving feedback from our tutors) that our logline and plot was too complex for a 30 second animation.
After reflecting on our initial ideas we also realised it was also too predictable and required too much background information/context. For this reason we decided to come back on the following Monday of Week 2 to discuss potential new ideas for loglines which would be more manageable and realistic considering the limited time we had for the project.
As a whole I think our group found this feedback challenging as we all were very engaged and set on our initial story idea. I do however think it was necessary as we would have struggled to communicate to our audience the depth of our story (our tutors were unsure on the specifics of our story when we showed them our first draft of an animatic).
