13/12/2010 - Formative

Today we had our formatives and I stood up alongside my group to present what we had done so far in 'Smitten'.

The general feedback was very encouraging, people seemed excited about our idea and liked the direction the art was headed, there was no critique to speak of concerning that. The only thing we were advised on changing is to cut to the princess during different scenes of the animation to show that she really doesn't want to be rescued (frowning at the noises the Knight is making as he dances round the castle and enjoying being asleep in bed at the beginning).

Over the winter break myself and Yuki are going to keep working on concept for backgrounds which I will update here, and I might also do some animation background tests for Matt so he can begin animating.

Until then, I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year :D

Next piece of Concept Art

Using Maya blockouts for help;


I have completed the second piece of concept art in the Mary Blair style;


I've tried to add in new things that relate to her personality but will have to check with Matt tomorrow whether he wants those things in there and whether the colours are correct as well.


Also added the princess into the scene to try and see what that would look like. The first has stronger lines and the second weaker;


Also went back and added Don into this piece, two different line qualities;


Will get feedback tomorrow!

06/11/2010 - Monday's Lesson

Mike was very pleased with this Mary Blair-esque concept work attempt;



So we are going to try and use this style for a couple more pieces of concept art to see how it looks and also place the characters in them to give an idea of the finished look!

Also just want to mention another source of inspiration that I have been using, the BBC drama series 'Merlin'. It is set around the same time period as our animation and so I've been watching it and taking into account the kind of objects they have in the background for instance.



Next one is the Princess Tower and then the entrance hall..

Matt has also updated the Princess' profile so that we know more about her and can therefore decorate her room more accordingly;

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Not much is known about how she came to live in a tower, but rumour has it that she was raised and educated by the guardians that live there and over time they have formed a loving brother-sister bond.

After realizing the intellectual shortcomings of her guardian teachers, and with a lot of time to spare in her isolation, she set about educating herself. It is through learning that she has found an escape from the monotony of her environment.

Having surpassed her teachers she now spends her time educating them, reading and playing chess - quite content with the sheltered life she leads and has no intention of being rescued.

She is smart, pretty and although she has tried to teach herself the proper etiquette of the time, many of the habits of the guardians have rubbed off on her since birth so she doesn't share the typical interests of a medieval teenage girl.


So I want to add in little details that will convey her personality across :)

01/12/2010 - Trying out Different Styles in SAI

Tried to re-create my last concept piece using simpler shapes and tones;


Have also gone back to using SAI to see if I can get a new spin things;


And a quick attempt to be similar to Mary Blair's work.. but I don't think it looks as good as the above two attempts..


I think I will need to get Yuki to help me learn SAI... everytime I look at her blog she's done some amazing new picture with it and I have to say I'm quite jealous hahahah XD it pushes me to work though, I love the 'Smitten' team!! Team Smitten = awesome.