404 Study Task #5 - 3D Character Posing

I had difficulty attempting to fix the eyes of the model, to no avail, but I focused more on the posing of the character, as that was the object of the exercise.

The first pose I modelled was a simple confused shoulder shrug, which affected the facial expression, head position, arms, hands, waist, and feet. This one was the hardest, as it affected the hands the most when the hands are being used for about as much expression as the face. Although generally I have no difficulty with drawing hands or using them for expression, doing so in a 3D sense was new and a challenging, but I always find working with hands to be the most enjoyable for that reason.

I then went with a more bored looking explanation pose, which affected the facial expression, arms, hands, hips, legs, and feet.

The final pose I modelled was a basic happy power pose type (more meant to be accomplishment or pride). It affected the facial expression, arms, fingers, and feet. This one was the easier to do in my opinion.

404 #4 - Escape the Hawk Pitch Bible First Edition

402 #7 - Love, Death & Robots

Love, Death & Robots is an adult animated anthology series. Each episode is made in different forms of animation, different styles, and by different teams (some crew worked on multiple episodes but it's mostly different teams). My favourite episode is actually a tie between two episodes, Sonnie's Edge and Good Hunting.

Sonnie's Edge is the first episode and is 3D hyper realistic animation (I actually thought it was live-action until a few minutes in). I loved the worldbuilding they were able to put in such a short amount of time, from the giant monster fights to the glow-in-the-dark tattoos.

The monster designs were amazing, taking some inspiration from real life animals, like vipers in Kharnivore's design and silverback gorillas in Turboraptor's design, but they only use it as a loose basis for the monster's abilities.

Since the designs are so different, the battle, which is the main part of the episode, is very tense and interesting to watch. The ending plot twist, which reveals Sonnie's consciousness to actually be in the monster Kharnivore after her human body is destroyed, was an amazing way to end the episode and is the reason I'd love to see this episode be expanded upon in a movie.

The other episode I really loved, Good Hunting, was 2D animated. It was set in an alternate past that was steampunk themed in China during the beginning of the English colonisation. The main reason I loved this episode was because the writing actually did something with the adult rating of the show rather than majority of the other episodes, which just made sex jokes and objectified nude females, but the nudity in Good Hunting felt more matter-of-fact.

I loved the steampunk world and found the background design to be absolutely gorgeous and beautifully animated.

The character design, especially for one of the protagonist in her fox form, both when it was an organic form and after her robotic form was upgraded by the other protagonist.

402 #6 - Felidae (1994)

Felidae is a German animated film from 1994. It's an adult rated murder mystery based around a town's cat population. The film is infamous online, which is where I first heard about it and later watched it.

I loved the designs of the characters. Every one is unique and it plays into their character, such as the strong brutish Kong having a very large, angular design rather than the more rounder, graceful design of the lead Francis. The designs actually play into the story which centers around selective breeding and genetics.

 

The art style during dream sequences also has a very scratchy style with few colours that help distinguish it from waking reality and show the protagonist's thought process as he tries to solve the mystery.

The film is also quite infamous for it's gore, swearing, and sexual themes. I can appreciate adult animated films, as there is a wide misunderstanding of animation being a genre, not a medium, and it being for children.

402 #5 - Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts

Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts is a 2020 series on Netflix based on a webcomic.

The entire main cast bar Kipo is African-American with Kipo being pink/purple (although technically she is mixed race since her father is African-American and the depiction of her mother is Caucasian). The younger character, Wolf, suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder which is shown later in the first season and another of the characters, Benson, came out as gay. I very much appreciated the direct way they revealed this, as most shows dance around the subject and never actually say anything that can be taken as canon, but Benson literally just said 'I'm gay' which is about as direct as one can get.

The art style of the show has a lovely sharp and colourful edge to it. Many cartoons have a rounder, chunky style (some call it the 'CalArts style') but this one has a unique look to it that make it more visually pleasing to watch. In addition the music is amazing. Lovely guitar songs with relaxing lyrics as well as very fast, upbeat music for fight or action scenes. I regularly listen to the music outside of watching the show.

402 #4 - She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power is a 2018 remake on Netflix.

The cast is majority female and has diversity amongst both its protagonists and its antagonists. There is a plethora of queer characters in the show, as the showrunner is a married lesbian who has always stood by representing LGBT people. Many of the main characters are lesbian or bisexual women and there is a non-binary character that quickly became a fan favourite.

It gives a lot of screentime to it's villains (such as Catra and Scorpia) to develop them and creates a more human look at them. Shows like Steven Universe attempt to create sympathy for its villains (which it can succeed in sometimes) but She-Ra is much more successful at this. It shows the cycles of abuse with characters like Catra that can build a lot more understanding and sympathy, but it never oversteps by trying to excuse her actions.

The colours are also very bright and varied, making it very attention grabbing and entertaining.

402 #3 - Steven Universe

Steven Universe was created by Rebecca Sugar, consisting of around 5 seasons with a total 160 episodes running between 2013 and 2019. The series also included a TV film in 2019 and a sequel series airing in 2019 and is set to end in March of 2020.

The backgrounds are very relaxing to the eye, using chalk style lineart and pastel colours. They're also very effective setting darker scenes.

The character designs are very diverse in look and writing, ranging in shape, colour, personality and mental health, as well as good LGBTQ+ diversity. For example, Ruby, Sapphire, and Pearl have been canonically shown to have attraction to the same gender. Lapis Lazuli and the titular Steven Universe have notably shown signs of having Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Depression, and Peridot and Pearl have shown a range of signs of Autism Spectrum Disorder. Every character uses different base shapes, so they all have a unique shape.

I've always loved the show for it's representation, as most shows, especially for children, never really show much of the LGBT+ community and those with different mental health issues. Even the majority female cast is a wonderful breath of fresh air for someone like me, who usually only finds one side character that might be one of those things, but the vast cast of diverse characters means I can find myself in so many of the characters.

One of my favourite pieces of the show is how they explained trauma with both the characters and through an actual doctor on the show explaining it. As someone with mild PTSD, it was very uplifting to see a show actually voicing both an explanation and examples so more people can understand what it's like to live with trauma.

402 #2 - Watership Down (1978)

I first saw the 1978 version of Watership Down when I was a child and it completely traumatised me to a degree I was afraid of rabbits, yet I still had this fascination with it that I have to this day. The  rough art style worked perfectly with graphic and bloody fight scenes and the character designs to create a perfect mix of unsettling visuals that traumatise kids. It still baffles me that people think that because it is animated, it is for children.

The character designs for the main characters had mostly cartoon-y styles, although many of the villainous characters or even just the more horrifying scenes were a more realistic style that would hit the uncanny valley, especially around the eyes.

The use of blood and gore in the film is something that makes it age rating very questionable. Personally, it half fascinated and horrified me as a child (the uncanny valley stuff more scarred me) similar to how one can't stop watching a car crash. Funnily enough, I later became an avid horror fan. Go figure.

The plot completely went over my head as a child, as the original story is a political drama, but I can appreciate the story a lot more now that I have more intricate cognitive thought.

402 Presentaion - Dead Sound's Autodale Series

404 #3 - Animatic and Storyboard

After putting together the storyboard, I edited the boards together with sfx to time everything out properly. The timing ended up being different to what was originally planned in the storyboard, but it worked much better.