Costume Change // Design Exploration

Costume Inspiration

Character/Personality Inspiration

Male Character // Thumbnails 83 - 88

Today we got together and discussed the design for the characters, this resulted in quite a few changes that I've started to sketch out, he still needs some work.

Male Character // Thumbnails 64 - 82

I created some variations of the hair and the key for the character. I like 70, 75 and 76 out of these thumbnails.

Environment // Concepts #2

Just as a reminder, we are planning on having the tint of the short change as the story progresses. At the beginning, the overall colour could be as follow: a cold blue ― a dull, military, toxic green or even just black and white values.

The factory shifting into a cityscape:

Male Character // Thumbnails 60-63

I took one of the thumbnails that I thought was strongest from the last page and sketched him out a few times.

Female Character // Thumbnails #3

Environment // Thumbnails

Some thumbnails for environment ideas. Quick sketches first and then a more worked-on version at the end. Will work on these further.

Male Character // Thumbnails 40 - 59

I started to explore more into some of the thumbnails from the last page i did.

Female Character // Thumbnails #2

Male Character // Thumbnails 19 - 39

We distributed the required elements between the group today, I will be working on the male character from concept to a fully resolved 3D model. Here is a page of thumbnails that I did tonight, still early stages but I quite like 23 and 37, I'm still playing with shapes and proportions.

Thumbnails and Reference images

These are a few character ideas I'd had. Because they are toys I liked the idea of using simple shapes. I see them as made from wood, quite elegant with painted faces. Their clothes would be very bland at the beginning of the story, but as the characters change, I imagined their outfits more flowing and colourful and made from fabric, rather than painted onto the body of the toy as they are at the start.

Quick environment sketch to show the inside of the factory. Needs more work.

 For a bit of research and something to springboard from, I gathered some images together of how I imagined the style and look of aspects of the animation. I went with a Russian theme as this is something the group have dipped in and out of throughout our discussions. 

Russian costume, once the characters have transformed during their dance. I see this kind of style with patterns which could be mirrored in the environment once the mood of the story changes.

Some quick reference material for factories. These show both men and women at work, what they would have worn and the working conditions they would have been subject to. Lots of monotonous lines of machinery, lots of repetition.

A quick look at some Russian architecture for when the couple are dancing. The buildings and scenery would change and grow as their love builds. Again, I've gone with the theme as the colours and style would all complement each other. I like the shapes of these buildings, which would tie in nicely with the cogs and twirl of the female character's dress as she is dancing.

These images are Russian designs again which I thought could work well in transitions, or in the costumes or music box design. The image middle-right is a Bird of Freedom which I thought also links to the story nicely, though I can't easily see how we could include it in the animation.

Environment // Thumbnails

I did some environment thumbnails today, trying to create a big cluttered factory space.

Character 1 // Thumbnails

I started making some thumbnails for one of the characters today, I tried playing around with his shape and proportion while trying to make sure it still resembles a wooden toy.