Sarah Collins

LSAD 1st year

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Re-Invention in Storytelling: 25/4/2024

On the final day of visual work for the project, we worked together to create the final storyboard and mastershots for our pitch on Monday.

We split the work so that Roisin would draw the frames, Sarah would draw them in one consistent style that Gabs would then put onto digital and do the line art for. He would then export the line art as a transparent file and then send to me to colour. Here are the completed mastershots I coloured:

And this is the process video of me colouring them:

I made sure to reference both Animatrix, Beyond and Violet Evergarden while colouring.

I then helped Sarah line her storyboard drawings and here are a few examples of those drawings:

And to end things on a high note; I created the animatic for our storyboard using all the work we made together:

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Master shots and Story Board

This week we focused on getting the master shots done and re-doing the storyboard. We decided that I would do the drawing, and then for the master shots we had Gabs do the line art and AJ do the colouring digitally. I'm not used to drawing digitally so I did the drawings traditionally and we then imported them into the drawing software that way.

We decided on six mastershots, the establishing shot at the very beginning, the shot of the castle courtyard, the shot of the queen with her guards, the shot of the crowd in the town, the shot of the crowd on the bridge seeing the robots, and the shot of the rose being cut at the very end. (This includes drawings from previous post of the crowd gathering in the ton and the characters on the bridge).

After sending those on to Gabs to do the line art I started on the second storyboard.

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Character Design and Backgrounds

On Friday our group started on character design. We made a list of our characters which consisted of Mary, the robots, and the townspeople. We had decided for the robots that we should have two slightly different uniforms for them depending on their ranking, as we had robots in the town and then more important robots guarding Mary herself. We also had to look at the storyboard to figure out how many townspeople we would need.

I decided to do the townspeople and also work on the town backgrounds. To me the two most prominent townspeople are the character ringing the bell and the character holding the crowd back from the robots later on. I decided to work on these two first.

Because we had been looking at Le Misérables as a references for the townspeople clothing Yvonne recommended that I look up the costume designer for that, and see what they were referencing. The costume designer for that was Paco Delgado, and I found an interview where he said that he used paintings by Goya, Delacroix, Jacques-Louis David and Ingres as references. I looked at those artists too to see what people were wearing.

I ended up using the painting "Liberty leading the people" for two characters costumes. I had to be mindful though of how French these paintings were, so I tried to make them a bit more ambiguous but I don't know if I succeeded.

This is the development of the two "main" townspeople:

These are the other townspeople, I only designed their upper-half's as there aren't any shots where their lower legs can be seen.

I found it really difficult to alter my own style to fit with the reference. "The Animatrix: Beyond" has a semi-realistic style that I tried to imitate but it was really hard.

I then looked at designing a background for the town. I took a shot from the storyboard, where the crowd is gathering in the town to revolt against Mary.

I tried to make the buildings look a bit steampunk-y with different patterns that you wouldn't see in the actual 1800s. I also tried to make them look a bit more run-down with some destruction on the buildings. I might try and re-create this digitally to neaten it a bit.

I started working on a second storyboard today using our current visuals. We're only going to detail and colour the key shots for now.

This is the first shot, of the castle above the town:

This is the shot of the townspeople seeing the robots in front of the castle.

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Storyboard and Visual Research

On Monday our group had to make a storyboard for our animation. First, we all made separate drafts, then we read them all and picked out what we liked from them. We then came up with a finalised storyboard together. This was actually really hard to do as we had to make sure everything was cohesive.

We finished it on Tuesday morning and then talked to Paul about it, and he recommended switching some scenes around or taking scenes out to make it more fluid. This included putting the courtyard scene at the beginning, and taking out the scene of the robots being built in the factory.

We put the final storyboard together and then changed the script to match it.

We then started the visual research, where we looked at clothing, backgrounds, architecture, and incidentals.

We then had to pick an existing animation that we want to do our animation in the style of and we ended up looking at the episode "Beyond" from the Animatrix and the show Violet Evergarden. We picked these both for the character design and the incorporation of nature, as Mary's garden is a big part of our story.

Beyond:

Violet Evergarden:

We then worked on a moodboard to find a colour palette, using the three locations of the town, the courtyard and the castle. This helped us with creating a colour palette that would distinguish between the three locations. We tried to show the town as gloomy and lower-class while the castle and courtyard are bright and detached, unaffected by it.

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New Brief

On Thursday we got put into groups of 4 to start our new brief where we have to develop a plan for an animation. We were given a nursery rhyme, a genre and a time period to base it off. I was put in a group with Roisin, AJ, and Gabs. We got the rhyme "Mary Mary quite contrary" with sci-fi and the industrial era.

Our group brainstormed for a while and decided to base it off Mary Queen of Scotts, and go from there. We also started to lean towards a more steampunk aesthetic to mix the sci-fi and the industrial era.

We then all drafted a script each, based off the same idea of Mary being some kind of royalty, in her garden, and some kind of revolution against her happening. We then got our favourite parts from each script and put them together to make the final one.

We presented our script on Friday and Paul was happy with it so we're now moving onto storyboards. This is a draft storyboard that I did over the weekend.

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Trip to Fota Widlife

On Tuesday we went to Fota to do some life drawing of the animals. I found it really helpful and it was a lot better than drawing from a photograph as we could actually see how the animals were moving and their anatomy more clearly.

Here are some of the drawings I did:

It was definitely a lot easier to draw the animals that were staying still for a while, like the zebras and the bisons. Other animals like the rhinos and the kangaroos were lying out in the sun so I was able to spend more time drawing them. I really like the drawings I did of the kangaroos and the giraffes. I tried to focus on the animal's head shapes and their eyes as those are the more distinct features that make them more identifiable. It took me a few tries to get some of the animals right but I'm happy with the results I got.

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Mini-Me Finished Animation

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Photographing and editing Mini-Me

On Thursday I had finished my mini-me and creating the mouth shapes so I was able to photograph and edit them for Friday.

Unfortunately because I was unwell this week I wasn't able to do much with the outfit and ended up just putting black paper on it.

I made the mouth shapes based off of the sentence I was putting in so not all the sounds are there but I have all the basic shapes more or less.

I traced these onto a separate piece of paper and cut those out and used colouring pencils to colour them in. I probably should have outlined them in black pen or something aswell as they ended up looking weird with just pencil.

I also photographed my background using a ring light.

I then had to edit all these images on adobe photoshop by getting rid of the greenscreen and putting all the mouths on separate layers.

On Friday then we had to start animating it. We did a practice run before doing our own ones. I was able to get the mouths in but I wasn't able to change the audio, add the background, or edit the mouths without help so I'll have to complete it after Easter.

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Drawing Outside (Architecture)

On Tuesday we went out into town to do more observational drawings, this time focusing on architecture and buildings rather than nature. Instead of staying in one place like last time we did a route, stopping to draw different landscapes until we circled back to the college.

These are some of the drawings that I did:

Paul told us to focus on vertical views by drawing tall rectangles, instead of drawing across. This helped more with getting an idea of upward scale which is important when drawing buildings.

When we went back to college we were supposed to expand on these drawings but I didn't get time to as I wasn't feeling well and had to go home.

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Continuing mini-me

On Friday morning I continued working on my model and managed to finish the head. I decided to use coloured paper instead of painting onto it. I used lollipop sticks for the eyebrows and hair.

Yvonne then talked to me about making clothes and how they could match the background. We discussed making a pattern using a lino print for the clothes so I'm going to put together some designs over the weekend. I'm thinking of doing a pattern incorporating leaves or birds.

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Starting model-making and Finishing background

On Thursday morning we started assembling our models of ourselves. I found it a bit difficult to get started without clear instructions so I eventually just winged it. I got a little empty ox for the head which was handy and then stacked two little metal trays on top of each other to create the shoulders. I used lollipop sticks as a sort of neck to stick them together. I also taped some of the sides of the box to keep it from opening at all.

I then cut the box into more of a face shape and started adding features using folded up paper.

I then added some rolled up paper beside the trays to create more proportionate shoulders. It looks really lopsided in the picture so I might have to fix that.

I didn't really know what to do with it then so I just left it at that.

While I had been assembling the model I had also been finishing colouring my background. I decided to use markers and block colours to imitate the printing techniques used in the illustrated book. I would have liked to make an actual print but there wasn't really any time.

I decided to use a similiar colour scheme to the book, with reddish and brown tones.

I really liked how the gazebo turned out and used white pen to outline it so that it would stand out against the background. I don't know whether I should outline the inside of it too as it could pull too much focus but also the people blend into the colour of the buildings a lot without it.

Overall I'm happy with how it turned out and think it was a good first attempt.

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Observational Drawing Outside

On Tuesday we went to People's Park to do some observational drawing of nature to inspire our backgrounds. At first I focused on mark-making to just get a feel for my surroundings before I did more detailed sketches.

Paul told me to use more pencil for a while rather than pen so I did that and was more successful. I use pen and marker to start drawings sometimes just to make marks that I'm not able to erase and then feel less afraid of making mistakes.

I did a drawing of the gazebo with people inside it from a distance and it was my most successful drawing. It has a foreground (grass area), a middle ground (hill and gazebo) and a background (buildings outside the park). I chose this drawing as the one to develop more for a background.

When we got back to the studio I did some random development of different sketches before focusing on that specific drawing. I mainly focused on the shapes of the trees and how to represent that. I was inspired by the tree illustrations by Coralie Bickford-Smith in "The squirrel and the lost treasure" and how they were mainly solid shapes made up of block colours.

I then did a little sketch of the layout of the background and where the mini-me model would fit into it.

After that I was able to draw my background on an A3 sheet.

I was unsure what colours or materials to use yet so I finished there for the day.

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Introduction to Animation Brief

On Monday we were told the brief for the next two weeks which is "worldbuilding". We're going to be focusing on environments rather than just characters, and doing this by creating an animation of ourselves in limerick. We'll be making a 3D mini-me and creating a 2D background of Limerick.

We went to Limerick City Library to look at children's illustrated books to get inspiration from different authors and their styles, as a lot of them are set in nature.

I picked up three books that all had different elements I liked. The first one was "The cat in the coat" by Vivian French and Alison Bartlett which I really liked because of the the art style and how the edges are a bit fuzzy. I also really liked how the backgrounds seem to be made up of simple brushstrokes and the blue and green colours are really nice.

The second book I saw was "The squirrel and the lost treasure" by Coralie Bickford-Smith. I really liked this book because of the printmaking techniques used in it. I liked the clean lines and the block colours and some pages are almost monochrome.

What really stood out to me was how the trees were illustrated. They seem to be made up of prints layered on top of each other, consisting of a solid colour circle with the branches and leaf details layered on top. I liked how the trees were more like solid shapes rather than anything too complicated.

The last book I picked up was a book in Irish called "An sealgaire agus an crann éabhainn". I took out this book because it used photocopies of fabric for the people's clothing. This is something Yvonne had suggested for making our models so I thought it miht be useful for reference.

I liked the illustration in "The squirrel and the lost treasure" the most so I photocopied the pages I liked and stuck them on the wall.

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Movement Project Statement

I started my project looking at repetitive hand movements that people use to self-regulate. It started very literal but became more abstract as I went along. In animation I was very literal with a clay model of a hand, whereas in graphic design it was more abstract and pattern based.

I then mixed the literal aspects and abstract aspects together in printmaking by creating two images and layering them on top of each other to create actual movement within the piece.

To finish my project I looked at pulling the hand apart and destroying it. I wanted to show how the hand was being used for these repetitive movements so much that it just stopped working all together, like how my animated clay model became more deformed every time I moved it.

I looked at artists like Amanda Coogan, Lucy McRae and Rebecca Horn.

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Sketchbook for Movement

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Tuesday 27/02/24 (Printmaking)

Today I wanted to show the destruction of the hand again. I also wanted to include some typography as I thought it would make a cool effect with the print and I also wanted to show my general idea more in the piece. I drew a similiar silhouette off a hand that I did yesterday and wrote the word "Repeat" along each finger.

I then cut it out so that the words would stay white with the background and the rest of the hand would be a different colour. I wanted to create the effect of the hand being cut up into pieces by the words.

I then set up to print. Fiona showed us today how to register a page for screen printing. We used acetate and taped it onto the board under the screen so that it would work like a door hinge that could fold onto the board and away from it. After sticking my stencil onto the back of the screen I printed directly onto the acetate.

I was then able to put my paper down underneath the acetate and see where the image landed, so that I could line it up with the center of the sheet.

I made a few prints of this and put them on the rack to dry before washing my screen.

I'm happy with how they turned out but I don't really like the colour I used for it.

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Rebecca Horn

Rebecca Horn is a visual artist who makes body modification art. I really like these pieces and how they relate to the body and exaggerating bodily feelings.

A piece I really like is "Measure Box" which is supposed to illustrate the amount of space the body takes up. Before reading about it I thought it looked like the feeling of being trapped.

I also really like her piece "White Body Fan" which displays a woman with two large fabric wings. Rebecca Horn says that her fans are a "means of communication" which resonates me and the meaning of my own project. The fans are adaptable, folding up when the woman puts her arms down, and creating a circle wen both arms are straight up. The woman is also able to completely hide her face and body if the holds them out in front of her.

"Looking back at my first pieces you always see a kind of cocoon, which I used to protect myself. Like the fans where I can lock myself in, enclose myself, then open and integrate another person into an intimate ritual. This intimacy of feeling and communication was a central part of the performance." - Rebecca Horn (Quoted in Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum 1993, p.16.)

Her piece "Finger Gloves" stuck out to me when I first looked at her work as it involves modification of the hands. The actual gloves are made of wood and fabric with meter long fingers.

I thought this fit with how I want to deform and destroy the hand to end my own project. After looking at hands for six weeks they've become really weird to me and don't really look like hands anymore, they've almost become their own beings to me now which is a bit eerie. "Finger Gloves" shows that deformation that is impossible to ignore.

I really like her work overall and I find it interesting that her photographs are in black and white as it really emphasises the shapes of everything.