Style, Colour & Font | Adaption A | Year 2

I want to take inspiration for the style of my 2 videos from some infographics that I watched during my research. The Power of Food Infographic and Infographic about Dare are 2 perfect examples of how I envision my work. 

They are simplified cartoon-like drawings that rely on colour. I don't really draw much like this so I think this would be the perfect opportunity to branch out with my art skills. These 2 videos have also shown me that more than one style of font is used throughout, confirming my earlier thoughts of combining a sleek, elegant font with a cursive or script-like font would be a great way to go. 

In regards to colour scheme, I’m thinking about having one video pastel colours and the others in bolder, brighter tones. I will try to look for complimentary colours but I think this would be a better way to distinguish between the 2 videos.

I have shown these 2 videos before but they feature in the screenshots above. 

Colour Scheme | Research | Adaption A | Year 2

As I’ve chosen to base my Adaption A project around a mini web series, choosing the right colour scheme is very important. I need to find a collection of colours that not only compliment each other but can either apply to all the infographics as a whole or a collection of colours that could be spilt down to help define the videos. 

I did some basic research using Google and Pinterest and I soon noticed a running trend. The pastel colour schemes were more pleasing to the eye and was also a reoccurring theme within many of the infographics that I watched for research at the start. The muted tonal range was also equally appealing. 

Before I go any further with the decision for a colour palette, I feel that I need to have outlined both of the script and have some of the art in the process of being made. I think this will make it easier to chose a complimentary set of colours for the 2 videos. 

Overview of Ideas | Adaption B | Year 2

For my Adaption B project, I started off with 4 separate ideas that all originate from books. Up until this point, their research and idea development has been separate but I felt it was time to compress the core ideas into one post and start choosing my final idea.

Skullduggery Pleasant

The idea surrounding my plans to adapt Skullduggery Pleasant is to combine the essence of the story with neo-noir. I hope to take direct excerpts from the series as a base to create a model of Skullduggery and have him pose in a classic film-noir setting before he creates a flame in his hands and the scene pops with colour. This is possibly the strongest idea that I have and I would love to create more than one model, even if it is Skullduggery as the Skeleton Detective and Skullduggery in his disguise. However, I would rather model another character to pose along side him. Namely Stephanie Edgley, the female protagonist or her kiss-ass fighting alter-ego, Valkyrie Cain. 

The Last Dragon Chronicles

The last Dragon Chronicles is based around magical clay dragons. I want to take direct excerpts from the books about 3 of the dragons and model them around a superhero concept. This could go 1 of 2 ways. A more realistic view based around the live action superhero films such as X-Men or the Fantastic Four or to go for the comic book look with the bold outlines and bright colours. Of course, they are initially clay dragons and I’m keen to stick with this but to what degree of realism is still debatable. I have some inspiration in the form of my 2 clay dragons at home but I don't want to be influenced too much, as this could affect their overall look.

The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness

The main concept for The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness is to create a 3D walk through of the map, taking influence from the Game of Thrones intro sequence. This revolves around the map illustration from within the cover of book 1. This is one of the more vague ideas out of the 4 but it does have potential. For this idea to work, it would take a lot of effort as the map is quite extensive. A lot of it is forest based before reaching different clan settlements and several different terrains including mountain ranges and the sea. These are modelling issues which would need research before committing to this idea, as the set would be large with many assets to it.

Artemis Fowl

Artemis Fowl has the potential to be great but comes with several issues. It is the only idea that has a prior adaption into a graphic novel. Although my idea to adapt it may be seen as another vague idea, I believe that the art style from the graphic illustrations and graphic artists Dan Mumford and Olly Moss create, I could really take the models to a new level visually. Making one fully rigged character in this time limit is ordinarily enough of a challenge but for this idea to reach its full potential, I feel that I would have to model the other 2 characters. This obviously has its drawbacks as I would be modelling not only a human boy but a centaur and a fairy. This could take a lot of time as they would need special attention and potentially look wrong with their level of realism compared to Artemis or even with aesthetic features.

The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness and Artemis Fowl are definitely the weakest ideas. They would take a lot of time and effort and ultimately at this time, I do not think that they would be possible to complete within the time frame. I think that Skullduggery Pleasant is definitely the strongest idea and has a lot of potential. It has the most interesting approach by including neo-noir and with no prior adaptions, it would allow me to put my own twist on the series. The Last Dragon Chronicles is another strong idea but the superhero idea does need refining. 

At this point, I feel that I should narrow my ideas down to Skullduggery and the dragons as they are definitely the strongest ideas. I feel that Skullduggery is the best idea but I don't want to jump straight into neo-noir with out taking this idea further in research and designs.

Further Ideas | Artemis Fowl | Adaption B | Year 2

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer is a series of books that features criminal master mind Artemis Fowl the 2nd. Although he's only a teenage genius, Artemis captures Captain Holly Short, of the LEPrecon (Lower Elements Police Recon) and he holds her ransom to exploit the magical fairy people to restore his family's fortune. Foaly is a centaur, a technical genius and a computer geek. He works for LEP and is in charge of “preventing humankind from discovering the fairy civilisation”.

The book itself is highly detailed and has many layers to it but it breaks down into the central premise of a boy genius in a magical world. Artemis Fowl is the only one of my ideas that has been adapted previously. The series ran not only as a book series but as a graphic novel as well. I personally have never seen these but I have seen a few pieces of artwork from it but they differ hugely from what I imagined the characters would be.

Initially, I wanted to model the three main characters from the descriptions I could extract from the book. When I learnt that there was a graphic novel, I felt that I should give this graphic look a spin for my work. When I was reading the books, I always felt that there was a cartoon-esque feel about the novel when I learnt about the magical side to the story. I saw Artemis and his bodyguard Butler as humans but imagined Holly and Foaly as cartoon like people as I’d never seen a film with a ‘realistic’ fairy or centaur at this point. 

I want to model Artemis Fowl but I feel that he would not be best portrayed if I didn't have at least one of the other main characters there; namely Holly or Foaly. When trying to take this graphic look into account for my idea, it reminded me of two artists who's work I have adored for several years; Dan Mumford and Olly Moss.

Dan Mumford is a British freelance illustrator. Over the years he has created designs for album covers, branding and screen prints, to new interpretations of classic film posters and albums. His work is unique and revolves around a cartoony feel with a classic tattoo feel. He also uses bright bold colours to accentuate the contrast between the colour and thick black lines. His style would be great to use texturally on characters and for background sets/imagery.

Olly Moss is another British freelance illustrator and graphic artist. He rose to fame reimagining movie posters. His work is regularly featured in Empire the film magazine. His work has a different feel to Dan’s but has equal beauty. Olly’s work is clean and clinical but also relies on colour and contrast. Olly’s work is more relaxed and has a minimalist feel. This approach could also work as well if I keep the lines clean with block colours. 

Ultimately, this idea is lacking but does have potential. It's the only idea with some form of pre-existing adaption and if I did choose this, then I would have to be very conscious of this pre-existing work. Although I have never seen this, I would have to be careful not to be influenced by it while making sure that I am not creating imagery that could be seen as replicating this work. 

Further Ideas | The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness | Adaption B | Year 2

The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness by Michelle Paver is a series of six historical fantasy books that follow Torak, a 12 year old boy and his wolf cub companion. They must battle to save their world as their journey takes them through “deep forests, across giant glaciers and into dangers they never imagined.”

I have 2 separate ideas revolving around this project. The first was to create models of the 2 main characters from the series; Torak and Renn. The other main character in this book is a wolf. Torak and Wolf are inseparable and I’m not sure if it would be possible to model and rig Torak, a young boy and a wolf in the time frame given. 

The map from the inside covers of the 1st book Wolf Brother.

My 2nd idea for adapting this series is revealed within the front covers of the book. There is a detailed drawing of a map to help the readers visualise Torak’s journey. I was thinking about taking some inspiration from the Game of Thrones start sequence by making a 3D model of the map from the book. It could start high above the set to replicate the book before diving into the map at head height. There are several ways that this idea can move on from there. It could mimic the way the the structures raise in Game of Thrones, it could be a walk through of the map tracing Torak’s trial in the books or it could even revolve around a series of camera shots that show the true extent of the set from head height. 

Further Ideas | The Last Dragon Chronicles | Adaption B | Year 2

The Last Dragon Chronicles is a series of books with a target audience for young teenagers. The book revolves around David Rain, a lodger in the Pennykettle residence. He soon finds out the clay dragons, scattered around the house are actually real and all possess special powers. I wanted to model 3 of the main dragons from the series: Gadzooks, Gretel and Grace. 

Clay Dragon Information

Gadzooks

An inspirational writing dragon with a powerful ability to make events happen simply by writing down words on the notepad he carries. Guides David throughout the series and is influential in all the major developments of the story.

Gretel

A potions dragon who casts spells in the scents of flowers. Initially made for Gwilanna, she later defects to Zanna.

Grace

A listening dragon. She has the ability to pick up and beam signals from and to humans such as Liz or David, or any of the other Pennykettle dragons.

At home I have 2 clay dragons of my own. ‘Smokey’ on the left is an incense burner. You put an incense cone inside and smoke trails from his nostrils. ‘Lumos’ on the right is an ornate lamp. I wanted to draw inspiration from these and input them into my own.

https://www.facebook.com/LittleDragonDesign

Little Dragon Designs, is a small company on Facebook. The lady sculpts her own dragons. They are truly amazing and a great reference point but they may ultimately be too realistic. Although these are sculpted by hand just like in the books, they may have too much detail which could be hard to depict in Maya. 

For this idea, I ultimately want to model at least 1 of these clay dragons and merge it with a comic book style. Due to their ‘hidden’ powers, I was thinking about making them into a superhero gang like the X-Men or the Fantastic Four. This may be down to the posing or the colouring, maybe even black outlines using the toon shader to accentuate the comic style or if more than one if modelled, it could be a ‘gang’ pose that is used.

Chosen Idea | Adaption A | Year 2

Upon reviewing all of my options for Adaption A, it has become increasingly hard to chose between the 2 ideas. I like the idea of using both ideas and creating 2 short videos in the style of a mini web series titled “What They Don't Tell You”. The idea behind this, is that they are weekly infographics released on a number of topics. This way, I can use the information from both the teacher and parents ideas and create 2 short infographics.

This means the art style has to flow between the two pieces. The colour scheme will also have to either be the same in both pieces or compliment each other. As the deadline is not far away, getting a voice over will be hard to do, I may have to rely on the typography and timing of the piece. The font would have to be clean and not a fancy script. The font I choose would probably have to be a running theme throughout both videos to add a sense of connection.

I would like to make both pieces short and snappy. When I was looking at infographics, I found that watching any under 1:30 minutes, I was left wanting more, any over 2-3 minutes could drag. This means that I will have to limit what facts / statistics / information I use for each piece. I will have to sort the scripts out for both videos asap to ensure that I have enough time to plan both videos out, create all the art necessary, conduct some tests in after effects and still have time to put them together. The turn around for this to happen is going to be tight but I feel that this will be a good way to help me with my time management. For this to work I need to set myself realistic daily deadlines and post regularly to the blog to show my progress and get any relevant feedback as I go along rather than just at the end. 

To summarise, I will be making 2 videos as my final piece as if they were part of a mini web series called “What They Don’t Tell You”. This will consist of “Things Your Parents Doesn't Tell You” and “Things your Teacher Doesn't Tell You”.