Tutorial - Catch up with Paul and Gabrielle

Today I visited the studio for a quick catch up on my progress with my tutors. The last time we spoke, Gabrielle helped me to understand more of what the project was asking of me, and I began to re-think my idea.

I was originally set on creating a children's animation that would teach counting to 10. However, I was told that this brief was more set for us to develop our skills and direction based on our interests and not set ourself a goal as such, so I changed my theme to 'Characters' to give myself more room to explore.

I sat down with Paul and Gabrielle and showed my sketchbooks. They had a look through my work and how I have progressed and were happy with what they saw.

I presented them with my two final directions that my work could possibly take; Animating my 'Butterfly Dragon' book or animating my old storyboards I drew when I was younger. They had a look at both of the animations I had created, and the inspiration for both, and both tutors latched on to the butterfly dragon idea.

They began asking questions as to why my character is a butterfly dragon, and why I do not explore his potential in my story. They both agreed that he needs to utilise his 'dragon-ness', as he is way too friendly for what he is. Paul suggested to imply he is similar to Toothless in 'How to Train your Dragon' in that he is cute but can also be deadly and somewhat mischievous. They suggested a good idea would to be to explore the character. I should start working with the dragon, and a pear, and go from there.

In terms of my animating style, they liked it, except had a few issues with details, such as my linework being a bit scruffy and my line thickness not remaining consistent. They suggested I make note of what line width I use for my outlines and keep it consistent throughout. They also suggest I keep the wings of the dragon looking rugged, but keep his body lines being one line. Another thing Paul highlighted is that I do not need to show the whole character in the frame, unlike in the book, as in the animation I can show off his features in different frames.

Both Paul and Gabrielle gave me the idea that my animation should be a series of little shorts perhaps, relating to how the Butterfly Dragon is trying to get the pear. 

Gabrielle showed me a French animation called Cocoshaker, which is a series of little shorts about two characters fighting over a coconut tree.