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Who knew drawing starfish could be so fun?
In my video for "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi," there will be starfish in the background moving to the music. I'm not sure if the designs for the final animation will have so much detail. It might make more sense for them to be simplified shapes. The song very much describes a dream, or an escape to another plane, so appropriately, I want the visuals to be more abstract. I'm aiming for life that comes from the "Id." I want everything to look like the product of someone's imagination, or how the protagonist will perceive things in another existence.
Still, I enjoyed drawing them. Starfish always had a creepy quality for me. They're so quiet and unassuming, but they're predators. I wanted to explore a "deadly beauty" design for them.
I'd like to have shellfish scurrying along the bottom at some point. Again, I don't think these are strange enough. I really want them to look different, but getting some ideas down on in my sketchbook lets me see what works.
Now, if I can stay awake, I'm gonna watch "Paprika" and see if it gives me any ideas.
I've decided to enter Aniboom.com's In Rainbows Music Video Contest, in which you pick any song from Radiohead's new album and make a music video for it. The band is involved in the judging, which is pretty awesome. Doing a project like this by yourself is a little daunting, but I'm an animator, and Radiohead is my favorite band ever, so how big of a loser would I be if I didn't at least try?The great thing about this contest is that the first entry is a storyboard submission, after which you submit a minute-long animation to the song you choose. The winner of that phase get $10,000 to make the entire video.So I've started some ideas in my sketchbook, and hopefully soon I'll have a rough storyboard together. The song I've chosen is the excellent "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi."
My initial ideas for the lead character were very non-specific. I didn't really know what I wanted him to look like, just how I wanted him to move ...
I then tried a robot design who has some of the characteristics of Thom Yorke, since I'd like the character to exhibit some of his movements ...
I finally decided to use a more realistic character ... based on a homeless guy that lives in my neighborhood. I plan on using a more abstract design in the final animation, but I like starting with something grounded in reality, so now the character automatically has a history and story behind him.
Here are some ideas for "worms and weird fishes," which are described in the song. I think my final fish designs will be more "weird" than "fish," but I drew these without looking at any real fish. I'd like them to look like they came out of someone's imagination, but these don't look strange enough to me ...
Below are some quick compositions of what the scene might look like. I still need to put down a lot more ideas as there needs to be much more going on in this scene, but for now, this helps me get an idea of the direction I need to follow.
It was one long pose during Saturday's life drawing session. Below is my second try ... not too happy with it. I made her head a little too big, and her face should be thinner. Her facial features look a little funky to me. Better luck next week ...
I'm trying to spend most of my energy on the main character. I know how I want him to move, now I just gotta decide how best to achieve the look I want.
I probably won't post again until I get some preliminary stuff modeled. I still have no idea what to do about the backgrounds ...
In my video for "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi," there will be starfish in the background moving to the music. I'm not sure if the designs for the final animation will have so much detail. It might make more sense for them to be simplified shapes. The song very much describes a dream, or an escape to another plane, so appropriately, I want the visuals to be more abstract. I'm aiming for life that comes from the "Id." I want everything to look like the product of someone's imagination, or how the protagonist will perceive things in another existence.
I finally decided to use a more realistic character ... based on a homeless guy that lives in my neighborhood. I plan on using a more abstract design in the final animation, but I like starting with something grounded in reality, so now the character automatically has a history and story behind him.
Here are some ideas for "worms and weird fishes," which are described in the song. I think my final fish designs will be more "weird" than "fish," but I drew these without looking at any real fish. I'd like them to look like they came out of someone's imagination, but these don't look strange enough to me ...
Below are some quick compositions of what the scene might look like. I still need to put down a lot more ideas as there needs to be much more going on in this scene, but for now, this helps me get an idea of the direction I need to follow.
