Recent Work

Here's some  design work Ive involved myself in which was for a chance to work for an indie iOS game studio.  We each  had to design and animate a character performing a movement that would be present in the game.

As I do, I overlook the possibility that as an indie company they probably want 'cutting edge' animation graphics rather than a 'classic' design although there was a mention of being quite Disney-Esq with the design process. Despite this it seems that cut-out animation and texturing won the battle here which I didnt even consider as it is something I dont and havnt really been properly introduced to as an animator. When its done properly it looks amazing (The girl who actually won the job is a perfet example how to do it right!:)) but I also feel it plagues the animation industry like... a plague! Its everywhere and this is partly why I havnt tried harder to adopt this method of animating because, lets face it and I think some may agree; it saps the life out of the character's performance and corrodes the soul of the animator in the process (when its not done to a high standard).

However, its always handy to learn new things so I must try to go with whats popular now and again (Urgh I just told myself to conform, now I feel dirty) to increase chances of employment. Im always hoping someone will like my 'cartoony' sometimes retarded looking characters next to something that is getting to be a little over-done but never-mind..I'll have my day!

Pencil designs:

 

 

  

  

 Them's some daft lookin' bears son! I had ALOT of fun drawing these guys and to be fair all I thought about all week was,'how can I make this guy look even more dumb?' It really was a labour of love (something I do more often than Id care to mention) and I really thought that from these designs that I would at least come 2nd in the design side of things. But! It wasnt to be but it did indeed 'flex my design muscle' and feel this was a great mini-project of 243MB to kick start what I will soon be working on; my mini-short film :P

Some Inked and Developed designs:

Being a natural queen of indecisiveness (sometimes not all) I decided to choose two characters to develop. This guy:

 

 And this was my real choice:

 

 

These guys came in a hot third place (the 1st and 2nd designs)

 If theres one thing I love and thats goofy characters with over-bites and a vacant expression of stupidity on their happy happy faces. I love playing with body-shapes and generally creating wacky designs. I thought they worked pretty well in colour too.

The Animation:

 It really was a joy to animate and stretch that design and create some interesting movements and character performance. Im in the process of adding this guy to my showreel along with a few other updaterees so watch this space and watch for him when you see the updated version. Hope you enjoy and feedback is always welcome:)