Jenny Berisford @jennyanimates - Tumblr Blog

Week 8 summary

This week I did two 9-5 days in the media lab to completely finish and polish the character design tasks for submission. Although this was tiring to do I feel that it payed off and I was really happy with the results of my digital work. I still feel as though there is definitely room for improvement in my digital pieces but I am proud of them, especially considering the fact that I am new to drawing digitally, I’m proud of the progress I have made thus far.

I finished the essay earlier on in the week, I think I’ve managed to compile the information I’ve gathered into a succinct essay about archetypes and cultural representation. I did feel at times that the essay didn’t flow quite right as I was tackling two topics, but I hope it reads well. I am a little concerned at the size of my bibliography, but an awful lot of the information I used in the essay either came from the director’s commentary or me analysing certain scenes myself.

For life drawing this week we focused on portraits and attempted draw them both rough and detailed. Although portraits are probably my favourite thing to draw I felt as though I really struggled with getting the proportions quite right and therefore I felt as though as though I took too much time trying to make it look perfect, which arguably isn’t the point of portraits at all.

#week 8 #weekly summary #character design #narrative #life drawing

In this scene Maui is vulnerable again, his large body hunched and back toward Moana as he mourns his loss against TeKa and the loss of his hook. This emphasises Maui’s love for his power and how much he feels broken without his hook. Note how the colours are unsaturated, sucking the life out of the scene and the fog on the ocean is a layer of sadness upon the scene.

#narrative

In this scene, Maui who is usually big and imposing is now small in comparison to his rival Teka. I think this scene visually represents the bravery of Maui, and shows the scale of the fight; going up against something so big when he looks so small is a big power move. This action makes him look heroic. Is Maui arguably the hero of Moana.

#narrative

In this scene the directors spoke about how Maui has to be incapacitated in order for Moana to take over and for him to teach her. It’s using a plot device to convey a characters personality and growth. Worth noting is also the calmness of the ocean and the happiness and warmth portrayed in the sunset, happy colours for when Moana and Maui are working together.

#narrative

This is one of the scenes mentioned by the Disney directors in regards to Maui being the most vulnerable. While describing his backstory, this is one of the heights of Maui’s vulnerability. This is also the longest scene in the film and the sea is at its calmest, the colours are slightly warm as well, this was done on purpose as they described the scene as “warm but slightly sombre”.

#narrative

This is one of the scenes I want to use to reference Maui’s character. In the beginning of the film, Disney wanted to portray Maui as more of a villain and I think this scene emphasises that point. This is one of the first scenes we see of Maui (as a human), so it is thus our first impression of him. His facial expression looks menacing and he is backlit for the colour green. This makes him appear evil and menacing, also making his face appear almost grotesque.

#narrative

This is my finished cast model sheet with the silhouettes at the bottom. I felt as though this piece took the longest perhaps and I found it the most painstaking as I kept changing my mind about the look of the two end characters. I’m pretty pleased with how this has turned out! I think I still need to have a further experimentation with Photoshop so I can discover a style that I think will work for me, but I am pleased with this for my first attempt at Photoshop. I think I really managed to get a diverse visual rhythm in my cast as well as they are able to be picked out purely from the silhouettes.

#character design #cast model sheet #week 8

This is my character design sheet filled with ‘8 dynamic poses’ for my character. I tried to use the poses to display the playful nature of my character. As the brief said for the sheet to be finished to ‘presentation standard’ I decided to colour and shade it. I think the colours and shading makes the poses more exaggerated and definitely made the piece look better. I think I still need to work on exploring poses and coming up with more ‘exciting’ ones, but I’m happy with how this turned out.

#character design #character design sheet #week 8

This is my character model sheet! I spent some time in this really working on the concept of my character and considering how he would look not only in shape from all angles but also his detailed features like his feathers and the placement of them on his body. I’m actually really pleased with how this has turned out especially considering my inexperience with Photoshop. I spent a fair amount of time and effort on this piece and I hope that that is evident.

#character design #week 8 #character model sheet

This is my final walk cycle for my character! I decided to add the squash and stretch to his head slightly to emphasise the hit of the contact step and add a sense of weight into the walk. I feel that it’s uneven, but I also think this adds character as it looks almost as if he has a sort-of limp. I do think this piece could be improved and it isn’t perfect, but I had worked on it for such a long time that it felt like it was time to step away and leave it as it is. I may even come back to work on it after hand in, but for now I am happy with the way it looks, and pleased that it is done.

#character design #walk cycle #week 8

This is the turnaround for my chosen character! I’m not too happy with how thick the line looks on this and the linework is thinner on my other corresponding works but I don’t think it looks bad by any means. I decided to not add the characters feathers as I just wanted to focus on the shape of him and getting that to look smooth throughout and accurate.

#character design #turnaround #week 8

week 7 summary

This week I actually managed to finish my dynamic exercise! I managed to find quite a wealth of reference videos on YouTube and videos to take inspiration from. I decided to go for a hand drawn animation in the end as it was difficult at times to find a space in the media labs and with deadline getting so close I didn’t want to risk running out of time. Hand-drawn was more time-consuming, but I do think the end result was worth it and I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out.

This week has been mostly working on perfecting my walk cycle for my character and attempting to finish all of my photoshop sheets. I already have the turnaround down so at least one of the tasks was under my belt. I think I shot myself in the foot by not giving my character knees and giving him an oddly shaped head-piece as I felt I had too many things to consider whilst trying to finish the walk cycle. At the end of this week I had the line-work done for all of the tasks, and had managed to colour my cast model sheet and character model sheet. I just need to knuckle down and really focus on getting the digital work done next week before hand in.

By ways of essay, I have an in detail draft finished and I’m still currently working on compiling all of my research onto the blog. I think next time I need to be slightly more organised and proactive in this respect as it would have been easier if I typed up the research to my blog as an d when I found it rather than leaving it in big chunks towards the end. Not the end of the world but it is more time-consuming this way. I still need to come up with the exact wording for my question but after the group tutorial with Lyndsey, I feel confident that I am going down the right path with my essay and I’m feeling enthusiastic about writing it.

#week 7 #weekly summary #dynamics #character design #narrative

One side says Maui's size stereotypes Polynesian people, the other side says he's merely strong, and haters are bodyshaming Polynesians.

Another article that furthers the discussion of Maui’s build, bringing in the topic of body-shaming. Includes quotes from a Labour MP and rugby player both of Polynesian descent, who believe the film is perpetuating stereotypes of Polynesian people being ‘fat’.

I think this is a really intriguing argument and it will be interesting to discuss Maui’s shape and the impact of it in my essay.

#narrative

This is the final edit of my Dynamics exercise! I’m really pleased with the way it looks especially considering the fact that each frame is hand drawn. I think had I done it digitally I would have saved time, however it felt nice to hand draw it and I’m pleased with the end result.

#dynamics #dynamic action exercise #week 7

The Hawaiian demigod is extra large in Disney’s new animated film. His creators explain their departure from previous depictions.

This article has been a massive wealth of information for me as it almost hits the nail on the head in terms of what I wish to discuss in my essay. Many take issue with Disney taking cultural myths and putting them through a process of ‘Disneyfication’, especially when the features of the original character have been erased.

“And in animation, we’re not literal. You’re trying to find the essence of the character. We always felt that the audience needed to know right away, visually, that this guy is stronger than anybody else.” - David Pimentel

Here I think is a thoroughly interesting argument of appeal/accuracy. Would Maui being lithe and athletic affect the way we receive him visually? Does his build help to further emphasise his ‘Yin and Yang’ type of relationship with Moana? Interesting points to discuss and important points nonetheless.

#narrative

Learn about the Origin, History and Tradition of Polynesian Tattoo Art in this in-depth article

I did a quick look into seeing whether I could find information about significant animals in Polynesian culture as I wanted to understand the reasoning behind Maui turning into certain characters and ascertain whether they were culturally symbolic or characteristically symbolic. I cam across this article that discusses certain motifs in Polynesian tattoo culture. This may come in handy for my essay but it may also not be part of the discussion; an interesting read either way.

#narrative

Disney is being accused of racism after revealing its new Moana fancy dress costume for children.

Here is the original article discussing the outfit. An interesting point is made in the article:

‘The New Zealand Human Rights Commission has issued a statement calling on the company to "listen to the views of the communities and people whose cultures their movie is based upon. “Disney is yet to comment but others have come to their defence saying it represents "a character, not a culture".‘

However, Maui is not just a character, he is an actual part of Polynesian myth and culture and holds massive cultural importance for people of the culture.

#narrative

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Jenny Berisford