Category: Visual Narrative – Sonic Visions – Year 1

https://padlet.com/artslondon/sonic-visions-p9prsj0qulom3mv6

Starting Scene 1:

Screenshot of Scene 1 of my animatic:

References of human hearts from online:

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:

1. 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%.

I then made a boil animation in this style which can be found titled ‘First Scene – boil effect’ on my padlet: https://padlet.com/artslondon/sonic-visions-p9prsj0qulom3mv6

Lightning Scene:

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:

Wave Animation:

I then started creating my wave animation working at 24FPS on 2s using Photoshop. This can be found on my padlet: https://padlet.com/artslondon/sonic-visions-p9prsj0qulom3mv6 as ‘Wave Animation’ and ‘Wave Animation & overlayed texture’.

Notes: I plan to import all the components above to After Effects so I can layer them correctly and adjust any overarching elements if needed.

Character Boil:

Below is a screenshot of the character boil I made for my second scene – consisting of 4 frames looped at 24FPS. It can be found on my padlet titled ‘Boil Character Animation’ : https://padlet.com/artslondon/sonic-visions-p9prsj0qulom3mv6

Overall 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.

The second scene test can be found here: https://padlet.com/artslondon/sonic-visions-p9prsj0qulom3mv6 titled ‘Draft of Scene 2 (After Effects)’.

Dust Transition:

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).

Several takes of my footage can be found on my padlet: https://padlet.com/artslondon/sonic-visions-p9prsj0qulom3mv6

Scene 3: Process

Background:

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

https://padlet.com/artslondon/sonic-visions-p9prsj0qulom3mv6

Audio Creation & Adobe Audition:

Receiving Audio + idea generation:

Moodboard + Moodboard Animatic:

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).

Notes – planning animatic:

Initial Rough animatic can be found here: https://padlet.com/artslondon/sonic-visions-p9prsj0qulom3mv6

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).