Final Character Scenarios

As I created my previous character 'group dynamic' scenarios, I kept having ideas for more that I could make! The ideas that followed my last scenario, being the 5 part drawing in the flower bed, were that I could make a few related to seasons. My first idea was something related to fire and snow, and then leaves and autumn. 

My ideas for the characters are that the Blue Morph is the loud and annoying one, the Pearly Eye is the creative and timid one, and the Monarch is the clumsy leader figure of the bunch.

I aimed to emphasise these traits with my newest drawings. I started by planning out how to do the autumn scene, drawing up ideas for the Pearly Eye Butterfly Dragon's leaf outfit (I already knew what the other two would be doing, the scenario lends itself to their natures). I then moved on to the winter scene, showing the leadership role of the Monarch Butterfly Dragon. I decided to have the other dragons copy his unique ability of breathing fire through his nose to demonstrate this.

The scene depicting the dragons playing in the autumn leaves.

The scenario showing the dragons getting warm in the snow.

More Character Scenarios

As part of my final submission I aim to draw a load of different character scenarios, ranging from single up to 5 frames.

I began with the first idea I had, which was to draw the scene with the chicks. As I planned in my sketchbook, I would scenarios showing the natures of the dragons, in scenes of them admiring a flower bed and sleeping at night.

I also decided as an added bonus, to draw my dragons over my Volcano Concept art, as I love it so much and think it looks great with this addition.

This scenario shows the dragons flying towards the island.

This scenario shows the different positions in which the dragons sleep.

This scenario has 5 frames and shows the dragons admiring flowers, and the mishaps that happen.

Cinematic Concept Art

The idea to create a 'look book' for my Butterfly Dragons came about after my last meeting with White Lantern, in which we were shown examples of concept art which had been used for films. These examples showcased how the artists present their work to clients and this inspired me with my work.

Another thing we discussed is the use of framing for concept art. Most of my concept art up to this point has been framed in a photo aspect ratio, as I like my art to look like a photograph. This is incorrect however for cinema concept art, which uses cinematic wide to make the art longer as if being viewed on the big screen. This makes it easier for directors to see the vision of the artist. 

I have framed my concept art in the way in which it would look if being presented to a client.

The Dragon's Hidden World - Concept Art

Alongside my work on the characters, I have been working on concept art for the world in which they live.

I wanted to tie this work in to my previous work on the Butterfly Dragon to ensure that my animation and story involving him still stay relevant. Because of this, the Butterfly Dragon does indeed still live in a large pear tree. 

I started out with the idea that this tree was enormous in size and was home to many butterfly dragons, including the Monarch Butterfly Dragon who lives on the lowest branch.

I wasn't incredibly inspired by this idea, however, and felt that for a species as magical as butterfly dragons, they needed an equally epic home, in order for it to be believable.

A while ago I was playing around with the idea of them living inside a volcano, and this has since become the basis for their 'hidden world'. The dragons live in a forest which has grown inside an extinct volcano. The Monarch Butterfly Dragon lives in the largest pear tree, and the other trees are home to many different varieties of butterfly dragon, two of which being the Blue Morph Butterfly Dragon and the Pearly Eye Butterfly Dragon, who are the other two main characters.

My short animation that I will include in this project will show off the dragons and their world, so I have been working on concept art that I can use as background material for the animation as well as for my character 'look book' that I aim to create.

The concept art has been simplified for the animation, as the characters will not contain a high level of detail due to time constraints. I will add details such as moving clouds, dragons and water when I come to animate.

These are the three backgrounds that I will animate over. This is something I haven't tried yet as I usually create the backgrounds in photoshop as I animate, so I hope the risk pays off.

This is the concept art for the Volcano Island which I will be including in my 'look book' for this project.

This is the concept art for the inside of the Volcano, showing the little dragons that live there.

Character Scenario Illustrations

Alongside work in my sketchbook, I have been creating my final illustrations which I will present alongside my 'look book' and animation. As discussed with Joel, I will be drawing my characters in scenarios that demonstrate their personalities. 

I saw Joel briefly after our original discussion and showed him my work in progress and he suggested framing my scenes to enhance the dramatic effect and ensure that the focus is where I want it to be, which resulted in my altering my previous scenario and forming 3 frames from the original 2.

Not much has changed apart from the first frame being split in two

One point raised by the tutors was that my characters look too similar. Having designed the two new dragons based on the original one, this was intentional, however I feel that the three are easy to tell apart. I took to Instagram with a poll to see if people thought the same.

In total my poll got 14 votes with 100% in favour of yes.

I do understand why the tutors suggested making them different sizes, however my dragons are variations of the same species, and therefore are similar in size and shape. 

The background for my poll was created from a sketchbook doodle of the 3 dragons interacting. There were two sketches in particular that I decided to scan and colour on Adobe Photoshop. As I have been working on my characters, I have been doodling them in my sketchbook from time to time, and occasionally will take some and make them digital.

I particularly liked the fire breathing sketch as it shows another little quirk of the Monarch Butterfly Dragon - that he breathes fire from his nose rather than his mouth.

The sketch of the dragons breathing fire inspired me to create a scenario showing this off. I came up with the idea in my sketchbook to show the clumsy side of the Monarch Butterfly Dragon, which then leads to the destructive and silly nature of the Blue Morph Butterfly Dragon.

I'm happy with this scenario and I feel that it will be one I print as one of my final pieces. I am especially pleased with the colours and how exciting and vibrant they are in each frame.

Character Personalities - Critique with Joel

Today I had a quick meeting with Joel to discuss my project so far. I showed him my project from the very start, beginning with my initial dragon sketches and the 'Observers Book of Butterflies' that I painted in, to my latest animation and digital paintings. 

He really enjoyed how I had worked into the little book, and enjoyed my development of the characters. He also really liked my little animation of the flying dragons, and said it's something I should definitely include. 

However, Joel made the suggestion that I shift the focus of my project slightly. I was intending on producing a concept book, showing my character designs and their world, alongside an animation of the dragons flying around the world. Joel however favoured the idea of focussing on the group dynamic with my characters. He suggested I create illustrations showing how they interact, how they respond to one another and the mischief they cause together.

I love this idea, and straight away created a two frame illustration showing my characters interacting and having fun together, and this is something I really enjoyed making.

Group Flying Animation

Today I returned to Photoshop to create a quick animation to test out flight with my characters. In my previous animated work, I didn't do much related to flying, so this involved a lot of planning to figure out the movement pattern of the wings.

I began by drawing a circle and mapping the wing movement using lines, adding the details after. When I was happy with my movement, I added the other dragons, and I am pleased with the outcome.

Chris Haughton's Children's Book Workshop

Today I had a workshop with Illustrator Chris Haughton in which he showed us examples of his work and asked us to create our own work using his simplified style and palette. 

He explained that he starts every children's book with lots and lots of simple messy sketches of his subject, so that when he comes to create his character he's very familiar with it. He then cans some of these in and begins to experiment with them on photoshop. 

With 'Shh we have a Plan', he forced himself to simplify his designs by then making them as paper cuts, which eventually formed the final designs once edited in photoshop.

He asked us to bring in a photo which had colours that we liked, as well as a story line and reference imagery. I bought in:

This is the photo I chose because I like the colours

I chose this as I felt like I could create a storyline inspired by it

These were my reference images

I created a short story about a fox trekking through a snowy forest until he finds a clearing and can see the stars. I did this illustration using gouache and a limited palette of colours.