Cerys Ford Computer animation arts

 After getting a better idea of the witches character and where she lives through figuring out the storyline, I worked on ironing out the witches design more. I wanted to get a good mix of traditional "witchy" clothing (lace, embroidery, flowy clothing, victorian esque clothing, etc.) and modern day clothes, to get across the idea that she is a witch in a modern era. I also wanted to have her clothes make sense for living and working within a forest. I decided to get a general idea of what face shape and body type I wanted her to have, and then use that almost like a dress up doll to try out different hair and outfit combinations, along with tattoos. This resulted in these 4 designs: In the end, no 3 was the best option out of these 4 to take forward because it captures the mix of witchy and modern that I wanted, and would be the easiest to model later on. While I like the silhoette of the dress/skirt, it would prove difficult to rig and animate later on. The top on number 2

 Based on what I didn't like about my first attempt at the storyline and discussions with my tutors, I tried writing the storyline from the main POV of the witch. I also decided that it would make the story more interesting if the werewolf is mute, as it would add to the werewolves desperation to transform back, while also making things easier for myself later down the line when it comes to things like lip syncing. I also think the witch and the werewolf work better if the werewolf can't speak.  Storyline revision - Start with a fade in to the Witch walking through the woods (maybe show her crossing a road to establish the modern setting) to collect potion ingredients. -She finds some mushrooms. As she bends down to collect them, the bushes in front of her begin rustling and a large shadow rises from them.  -Witch uses wand to shine a light towards the shadow, revealing the werewolf. -The werewolf reacts to the witch in a scared manner, tries to run away from the witch but stum

 After choosing the Maned wolf as my main inspiration for the werewolf, I decided to play around a bit more with the proportions of the werewolf, particularly elongating the limbs. At first, I tried just making the arms longer:  While I like the look of the longer arms, I needed to make legs just as long to balance out the design, as having just the arms be really long makes the character look comical, which is bad as she's supposed to be taken seriously.  Next I tried having all limbs be longer, which I think looks much better. Having her slightly hunched over seems to make a lot of sense as well. I also tried making her slimmer with this one. At this point the design was coming together nicely, and with a few more tweaks she'd be done.

This is my first try of figuring out the storyline for my short. After discussing with my tutors, I realised that not only does this storyline require more time and resources than I have, but also that it isn't the type of story I want to tell.  Storyline -  - Short starts with the Werewolf waking up in a forest clearing. - She rubs her face, noticing her hands. She then tries to remember what happened to her last night, getting brief flashbacks of being chased and falling into a magic lake under a full moon. - She gets up and looks around, noticing a path in the forest, which she starts stumbling down -Cut to the witch, who is enjoying some tea outside her house. She looks up and sees the stumbling Werewolf in daylight, and immediately goes over to help them and get them inside where they can't be seen. -The werewolf initially acts tough towards the witch, attempting to say she doesn't need help. -Witch makes it clear that the Werewolf needs to stay hidden, and the best wa

 Next, I wanted to figure out how I wanted the witch to look. The storyline is set in the modern era, so I wanted to get across that the witch was from a modern era whilst also still having a witchy appearance. Character wise I wanted her to be dependable and slightly motherly, whilst being strong willed. I tried to convey this in the first concept sketches. I also had to bear in mind that she lives deep in a forest, so her clothes had to make sense for that environment.

 After the last set of exploration sketches, I went and looked at more unique Canine species for inspiration for my werewolf. After a bit of searching I came across the Maned Wolf, which is known for its large ears and extremely long legs. I really liked the long, thin and overall exaggerated look of the maned wolf, so I've used the Maned Wolf as my main inspiration going forward. I also like the look of a Foxes head, which I think suited the look I was going for more than the wolf's head. Here is the next set of exploration sketches, using the Maned Wolf as the main inspiration:

Although I wanted a project primarily based on character / creature design, I wanted the project to cover a little bit of everything so I could use it in a portfolio for a range of jobs in the future, so I decided to do an animated short.  After a lot of thinking, I came up with the idea of an animated short that would be like a pilot episode or the beginnings of a big storyline, revolving around a werewolf character who has just transformed (Possibly from being chased and bitten by another werewolf, or chased into a magic lake under a full moon, which transforms her). She either seeks out or is found by a nature witch, who offers to help her find a cure and transform back into a human. The animated short would focus on them meeting. The main focus of the project is the character/creature design of the witch and the werewolf, and a little bit of environment, with a little bit of story.

 The next step of the project was to continue to explore how the werewolf should look. I tried out different proportions, along with trying out different ways of doing the legs. 

 Over summer, I realised that I probably wouldn't be able to take my premise project any further, so I decided that it would be best to start a new project for minor.  I started out by thinking about the main elements I wanted my project to cover, which was Character / Creature design. I wanted to do a project that would strech my skills, and decided to look into one of my biggest inspirations for a project idea, which is folklore/mythological creatures. From this, I decided that I wanted to do a project involving Werewolves, specifically designing my own Werewolf. In the beginning I didn't have a full idea for the project, so I started out by exploring Werewolves by drawing them.     after this first attempt, I decided that I wanted something more unique from the typical large, muscular Werewolf, and that I needed a better understanding of canine anatomy, so I did some studies of different canine breeds of varying shapes and sizes:   From there, I focused on exploring the look