Critical Review

I finished the animated comic strip and showed my client.

Animated Comic Strip

The animated comic strip came out very well in my opinion. The creation of the scenes was interesting and came out very well in my opinion. The good parts of the animated comic strip was the drawings, they captured all the action needed and the everything that was put in the script was presented in the images. The music that was given to me was good, it captured all the emotion and atmosphere needed in the animation and script, combining both the images I created and the music created an amazing aspect for all to enjoy. The only problem I had was that I think the script could have been a lot better then what it was, it was good but I think that it could have been improved, I think it would have been better changing the words used. I wanted a lot more time to be able to create a better design for all the background I am happy with what I got but I wanted it to be a lot better with more detail and this is only due to the fact of inexperience in the photoshop and with my Cintiq but if I had more time I could improve the drawings and backgrounds given. I showed the client himself and he said that he liked it but he wanted me to change a few things. He wanted me to change the credits and to fade out the music, which is easy to do, i was able to remake the credits in aftereffects and to fade the sound i had to bring it into the premiere, and using the pen tool on the audio to make it fade out at the end. Overall my client was happy and so was I. 

I have personally gained a lot of doing this project. I have improved my drawing and painting abilities I now know how to paint and how it make a good background with depth just using photoshop. I have learnt a lot more in Photoshop, I have learnt different techniques and different aspects of photoshop that I didn't know, I worked out how to create the right brushes that I needed and how to make it more like a air brush, I was also able to learn how blend the colours together and to make it look like it has depth and shadows. This project has given me and great insight to working with a client getting me ready for the real work, it was a good experience and I have been lucky enough to continue to work with this client for years to come. I really enjoyed creating a animated comic strip and I am happy I was able to experience creating one and I will use this technique in the future.

After Effects and Speech bubbles

Once all the images were done I then imported them all into the aftereffects to put together. The after effects process are the same as the animatic and lucky enough is was easier because I had done it before.

I had to continue the adding extra settings like changing opacity on each scene to fade in and out. To make the characters move into the scene I had to create a motion path to make the movement of the character to enter the scene and make they appear in the right place.

The main problem I had was getting the speech bubbles in the scene with no background so they could fade in and out. normally i would save them as a PNG for other software but a normal PNG wasnt working. I spoke to my tutor and he showed me a different way of making them a PNG and to make them work in After effects.

I had to save it in a different way.

I had to go to save for web and make sure that is a PNG 24, I dont know why but it worked, so I was able to import the speech bubbles and make sure the they can fade in and out at the right time that I needed. After being able to do that it was all easy from there.

Final designs in photoshop

When creating the final designs I just put a JPEG of the animatic scene and as a template on the page so I can draw on top of it.

I started with the final scene of the animated comic strip like I mentioned before I am going to start with the last scene first.

Using the brush window and the brushes that was mentioned on previous post, and with this I was able to create the painting of the background. I decided not to make it too realistic and more in between cartoon and comic to make it work with the characters.

I had problems from create the realistic effect of water, I looked into real life pictures to help me make it look right, and following the real life pictures I can see that the water reflects what is above it, so I decided that I would make the grass and stuff from above to with lighter colours to show it is a reflection.

This is what I came up with and it made it look more like water but not enough, and I need to add something to help. I decided that I would put in a rock in the water with a reflection to maybe help with it all looking like water.

I personally feel that it helped and made it look a lot more like water. I created all of this using the same brush, I am new to photoshop and it was the only thing I really knew but I personally feel it works.

I added to characters to finalise the scene and I like it I believe it works and now I know that I repeat this to create the other scenes, the dark green as the background and shadows, the green for grass. The clothing is all the same colour without, using the brushes I ended creating another scene like this.

I continued to use the same brushes to create all the other scenes.

Storyboard / Animatic

Today I started on creating my storyboard and animatic. I decided that I am going to create my work on photoshop using my Cintiq. I also decided that I am going to work on my hardest scene first and leave the easiest scene to last.

Scene one:

This is the first scene of the animatic, this scene was easy to do and easy to sketch out.


Scene two:

The second scene is of a close up of the man looking angry.

Scene three:

The entrance to the forest then the head of the man bobs in with his speech bubble then the girls head and finger with her speech bubble.

Scene four:

The forest is bright and normal and then the opacity drops with a darker version coming through and the characters running through the forest.
when creating the darker scene I realised that I could do one dark scene for the section in the forest, as you can see that one is better then the other, so I have decided that I will use the second one, it has a better design and will work better in the situation.

Scene five:

This scene you will have a gap in between two trees and the two character will fade in and out looking through the gap, this is one of the best scene, it was really easy to do.

Scene six:

The last and final scene will be the hardest one to create, I feel like painting this is going to hard and annoying. it was also annoying because I didn't know what I would draw because I had to create a nice and lovely background. I was able to come up with this but I realised that it would be the hardest scene to re create, which made me think of what scene to do first and what scene to do last. I have decided that I will create the last scene first and then the third scene, scene four, scene five, scene two and then scene one. By creating the scenes this way will be better for me, I will be able to get the hardest scenes out the way.

Once the rough scenes were created, I then went into After effects and created the motion and the animatic. I had lots of problems when it came to exporting at first the sound wouldn't export but I went through the render settings and saw that there was a box with Audio output so I ticked that and that solved the sound. Another big problem was that the file wouldn't play after I exported it, I think this was because the file was too big, the file was 9 GB so I then exported it again but at a lower resolution, the size dropped to 1 GB, and then it played. I will have to keep this in mind for the final export, I am going to try and finish the movie a day before. Drawing the animatic was easy and not a problem at all thanks to having the Cintiq. I also had a problem with creating the speech bubble. I created them in photoshop but I could get them in to aftereffects on their own, and I wasn't able to fade them in and out like I wanted.

Animatic

I sent this to my client and his reply was that

"The rough outline you created for the strip looks really good, I can't wait to see how it looks when its fully complete.
The fading in of the speech bubbles is best especially for the last scene."

Sketch designs

My Client and I have worked together before so having the design aspect of the characters has already been done. 

These images show the character designs and finished comic strips that I have done with the same characters before. As you can see that there is continuity between the characters and the colours used, and this will be the same for this animated comic strip. The last image above is shows me trying out the different styles, it shows the normal style, comic style, manga style and cartoon style.

I recently obtained a Wacom Cintiq tablet, this will save me the time of drawing and inking on paper and then scanning in the images. Now I have the Cintiq I am able to draw, ink, colour and paint straight into Photoshop so with this I have been practising on creating a character and testing out the quality of work.

As you can see there is a difference between the images from before and after me obtaining the Cintiq. The production process is now a lot easier and at better quality. I have use many different tutorials but Digital Tutor's gave me a course with a series of lessons on painting, sketching and inking. The tutorials also helped me learn more about photoshop itself, I learnt how to use the brushes properly and how to create my own brushes.

As you can see the screenshot, this is the brushes window, I learnt what different sections mean the main two I have ticked is Shape Dynamics and smoothing; I think I would use the Transfer section when I am shading, to help it blend. This new way of creating the background and the characters is helpful for my work. This was an amazing test with great results, and I can't wait to create all the scenes this way. 

Mood board 2

While doing some sketches I had a thought that my previous mood boards were for comic art styles and font but comic strips are different, so I decided to create a mood board on comic strips as well.

Straight away this is very different to the previous art style mood board. This mood board is all about comic strips, and as you can see these art styles are a lot more simplified, there isn't as much detail like the comic mood board in the previous post. These comic strips are not using a lot of colours and shades, they are also very small in size. Most comic strips are drawn quickly as they go into newspapers daily.

I will be sending this to my client and the other one to ask his opinion.

Script and Audio

I requested for a scripted and he was happy to do that.

 In grandmas home, will be in the living room so will have a sofa and picture frames in the background.

Dad "where should we go today" dad is looking happy 

Lisa "I want to go home" Lisa is looking grumpy 

Dad "No were going out" Dad is looking frustrated. 

Cut scene to the entrance of a beautiful looking forest. 

Dad "alright which way should we go" dad is looking happy. 

Lisa "umm that way" looking happy she points to the left. 

This goes to a scene of a dark haunting forest, large trees twisted in to strange shapes, with even stranger leaves on their branches.Dad and Lisa is running through this forest. 

Lisa "Follow me daddy" she is smiling 

Dad "OK" he is smiling 

The next scene is from behind them and shows them peering through the trees and small bushes. Dad and Lisa are now holding hands. This scene is still quite dark but has a light shining in from the water.

Dad "You see the water" 

Lisa "Yeah" 

The last scene is bright (sunlight) with a sort of angelic glimmer to it. Dad and Lisa will be standing on top of a hill. Below them is clear water all around in the center there is a rocky island with some trees and bushes on it. Further over is the other side of the river bank which has large but nice looking trees. 

Lisa "we made it" 

Dad "yeah" 

Lisa "its a beautiful world" singing. 

The image than fades out with the singing.

Here is the script. With this I can now make my own storyboard. The script is good and has given me the creative freedom. There will be a contrast of different shades and colour due to each section, for example while they are in the forest i will make it dark with lots of shadows, but when they emerge in to the final scene i will make the lighting bright giving a sense of sanctuary and peace. 

I wasn't just given the script a few days late I was given the audio for the animation. 

Originally I was going to create an animatic for the client to give to his producer for the music but it has been done the other way round now and he has sent me over the audio.



Audio





I think the music will go very well with the animated comic strip. The audio has all the emotion that we want and creates the right atmosphere. This music will match with what I was saying early about the script. 

Mood boards

I decided to create mood board to look at style, not just the art work but also the fonts.

This is the mood board for the art styles of different comics. The styles are very detailed and is something I want to do. I have had a look at both black and white with colour. I like both and I think both would be plausible. I think with the story it would need colour, but I had a thought that for the dark scenes you have it black and white and once the end scene appears it changes from black and white to colour.



Heres my font mood board.

I created this font mood board to help with choosing a font. With this I can find out from my client would like and which one would be more suitable with a comic strip. I personally believe that this is a really good idea because I always create a mood board for art styles but not for font but I have learnt that font is a main thing as well and there are so many fonts. I don't expect to pick one, there could be a few for different moods and different emotions.

One major problem that I didn't think about while creating this font mood board was which font is which. I don't know and with that I went back into photoshop and when editing the text it tell me what font I'm using, so I went through the mood board and wrote all the font names underneath.

I edited it so I now know which font is which.

Research 2

While I was in class one of my tutors showed me another comic strip animation for me to look at.

The walking dead Fan made intro

This is very similar to what I would be creating but using the walking dead comics by Robert Kirkman. The main thing that has changed is the lighten. This creates a dark sense of things. This create the illusion of movement using Adobe Aftereffects to create a camera to move in a out of screens. I have done something similar before. He would have had to separate each part of the picture, make them 3D layers and move each part slightly in the z axis and with a camera, they would have been able to create the illusion of movement in the scenes. I want to take this on board for the production of my own work. I personally find that this is the best way to create the animated comic strip.

I also found a website showing the making off to give me lots of tips and advice for my own production.

Making of the walking dead Intro (fan made)

Spirit Guard Udyr Comic - League of Legends

This is also very similar to what I intend to create but this is different, this animated comic strip is interactive, you push and slide to make the main protagonist active his abilities to follow the story. Unfortunately what I am creating will not be interactive, but what I can take away from it is art work itself. The art work is very well done and the length of time its on screen to either listen or read the text is perfect and this is needed for my production and is something I need to keep in mind.

Another thing I have noticed is that when a panel is being read it moves and is animated with the other panels frozen and darken. It reminds me of the theatre, when a scene is active the lights are on and when its finished the lights are off, this is is a wicked thing to add on my production because this can help the audience no what scene is on and which aren't.

The Woman Comic

My tutor saw what I was looking at and has shown me some work from a previous student. This is pretty much the same thing I will be doing, the difference is I will be having a background. This student created this using his artistic skills to create the still images and then moved them using Adobe Aftereffects. He also created the blood in Adobe Aftereffects. This is extremely effective and he also created the illusion of movement like I want to in my work. I love the art style it isn't as detailed as other comic strip animations but it really does work.

With all the research I have I now know different ways an animated comic strip is created and different art styles. 

Proposal

Executive Summary

David Anglin has requested a 2D animation for his comic strip series that will be posted on social medias and his website.

David has a comic strip series called 'Daddy's Daughter'. It’s about the stories of him and his daughter adventures. This is to help publicize the comic strip series itself.

David has supplied a basic comic strip for the creation of the animation, and has requested that both father and daughter needs to be in all scenes running through a forest. David has requested shading and tones for right atmosphere in the scenes and for transitions he has also supplied the music for the animation itself.

Current Situation 

David has a website that will be coming out to support the comic strip series called www.daddieslovetheirdaughters.com. This website isn't created yet and he would like a animated comic strip to help in gauge the audience to look at other comic strips on his website. The work from this project will go onto the website, It will not just be this piece of work. David has other comic strips to put on to the website but he wanted to have an animated one to create more impact.

Project Goals and Target audience

The goal of this project is to create an animated comic strip to help in gauge my clients audience on his website. At this moment in time my clients website isn't running but when it starts running this animated comic strip will be more unique so it can create an impact for my clients viewers.

The Audience for the animated comic strip is for all ages, but parents will understand and have more of a connection to this website then teenagers and children because the website is about creating comic strip of parents adventures with their children.

Creative Strategy and Production Process

Research will be conducted to look at different styles and different techniques that can be used to create the animation. A basic storyboard has been provided and a detailed script has been provided, with this a detailed storyboard can be created. With the creation of the detailed storyboard using Photoshop and illustrator and detailed and colour version of both the backgrounds and characters can be created. Once that is created using aftereffects or flash the movements of each panel and character can be created.

There will only be a little bit of movement as it will be an animated comic strip with more panels, speech and a little bit of movement in each panel.

Research

I know that my client wants me to create an animation from a comic strip design he has, so I decided to have a look at different ways to create an animation to show him, so he can decide what he wants.

I found three different types of animations, an animatic and an animated comic strip.

Avatar Animatic #320 act2

This animatic is a professional animatic created for the animation called Avatar the last airbender. The animatic is at amazing quality and it is a very good animated storyboard. There isn't much movement but it still works and makes a good impact. I thought that maybe this is something that my client would want. I want to use a the detailed sketch look from this animatic, There isn't as much detail like other images and animations but there is enough for it to look attractive.

Deus Ex: Animated comic Strip

This is a animated comic strip based of game called Deus ex. Its been created very well and the its different to an animatic. The visuals look like a comic and but has movement and music to create a attractive visual animated comic. The art style is good and still using panels instead of it looking like an animatic makes it different, unique and very appealing. This is something I believe David my client would want.

After showing him these two animations, David decided that he wanted an animated comic strip which I believe is the better choice. Now I am going to have a look after other animation to help with style and animation techniques.

Father And Daughter

I really love the art style in the animation. It isn't a range of colours and it focuses on shadows and its very effective. The movement is very smooth but nothing like what I am trying to do for David. The art style is good but I think it maybe a little too abstract for what I am doing here. Even tho this is a different form of animation to what I will be producing, I still want to take elements from it like it. I want to take away the shading elements, this will help create a dark and scary feel, giving the audience tension in certain scenes.

What the Duck Animated Comic Strip 483

The art style in this animation would suit what I am doing more than the previous one. It's colourful, simple and gives a good sense of life. The shadowing and the lightening suit what has been described to me by the client and I think create a scene like this, but different in colours and background could still give that dynamic lightening creating a peaceful and warm feeling. I really like the voices added to animation I think it really works and gives the sense of conversation.

inFAMOUS 2 'Opening Cinematic'

This so far is the best example I could find. I like everything about this. It is a comic art style and what the animator has done has moved the camera is such a way that it looks like the characters are moving, you still have slight movement but they are very snappy. It got more of an animatic feel but as a comic. This is different to the other one because the other one had the panels this one doesn't but the camera movements gives it a better sense of movement. This is something that I personally have wanted to create for a while, and I think that this would be very effective but I'm not too sure how long this would take; I don't think it will take too long because the story that I have been given isn't that long.

I will be passing this research over to David (my client) for him to have a look at the videos and to see if anything inspires him.