Client: Professor Krikun, Westchester Community College

Artist: Juliet. Semel

Project Title: Cat in the Tree

Duration: 1 Semester

Description:

          In Westchester Community College, digital animation I (Art 147) class, Fall 2018, we were assigned to create an animation based on the concept of a cat and a tree. The class created their own project through Animation CC.

          The objective was with the concept of the cat and tree to draw, design, create and produce an original/ authentic animation piece. Using our past work over the semester as reference to help generate our final. Blog posts also showed how far each student has come in the class and is supposed to update their personal blog on WordPress regularly.

           For the animation/ project it has to have at least one scene fully animated, at least. Thirty seconds is recommended for how long your final should be. You needed your character designs, storyboard(s), sound effects or music and colored drawings. After completion of your project you must upload your final animation to your personal Youtube account, (must be public to view) and your WordPress blog.

Research:

          Constructing and forming my characters took a fair amount of time. I knew immediately I wanted to base my main character off of a strong woman or girl. It didn’t matter if she was fictional or non- fictional. In the end I chose a Korean comic book called manhwa’s that’s called Goong(2002). The main character is a woman and all day she wears a beautiful hanbok, (traditional Korean dress). I got found inspiration in that manhwa. For the other side character the cat I used the cartoon Garfield(1978) as my influence for my cat character.

Challenges:

Challenges I faced creating my final animation/ project were how I used my time, the Animation CC system itself and creating the storyboard. All three gave me a hard time and lot’s of stress.

I am a perfectionist, I tried to make the animation clean looking and sleek. However, I got frustrated many times. As much as I am a perfectionist, I also give up easily. If nothing was working after a good number of tries, I would give up and move on. This took up most of my time trying to do my project.

The Animation CC system itself had glitches which added to my stress. It would work one hour and then the next hour it was null. Especially the paint bucket, that gave me a lot of stress. It was full of surprises, I don’t like surprises.

Frankly speaking I don’t have much of an imagination. Trying to create something even with a concept already given was a hard task for me.

Strategy:

Steps of the process to make the animation final:

1. Brainstorm what will happen in your animation, make a script.
2. Make a rough draft of what you want your character’s to look like.
3. After you draw your envision, create storyboard(s) for your animation, emphasizing key parts.
4. Once storyboard(s) are completed, scan them and save to the art folder.
5. After saving the now imported storyboard(s), upload them to Animate CC and build a timeline.
6. Set the storyboard(s) as a layer and lock it.
7. Use links found on Professor Krikun’s wordpress to download sound files, that can be used in the animation.
8. Make a new layer and start to draw, color and or outline the storyboard(s).
9. Construct the characters with motion.
10. Add effects, if wanted
11. Import the selected sound downloads to where they are supposed to be in the animation.
12. Restore the animation as a video file and upload to Youtube, must be public viewing in order to see the animation.
13. Upload to personal WordPress blog.

Design Approach:

When I was starting to think about my character’s designs for my story board and project I thought of the theme, art style and colors I would use. Right away I knew that I wanted the design of the cat and my main character to be simple and clean looking. I drew a lot of inspiration from Korean manhwa which is the equivalent of Japanese anime in Korea. Manhwa’s use attention grabbing colors and has a tidy or neat art style.

After figuring out the art style and colors I wanted to incorporate in my project I then began to think of the theme of my main characters, ( the cat and the main character). For the cat I wanted it to be grey and cartoon like, almost like the cartoon Garfield. For my main character I decided to use my character from my walk cycle project. The character is based on a manhwa I used to read. It was about a girl who all the time wore a traditional hanbok or Korean dress, to solve crimes. That is why my main character wears a hanbok and is dressed in vibrant colors.

For the actual drawing/ animation I used a drawing tablet and tablet pen provided by the college. Then pen allowed me to design my character’s in a neat manner, especially when brush tool was selected. I used the brush tool the most other than the fill button, as it makes the lines smooth and flawless. If I had used the mouse it would have taken me way longer to get my work done.

Effectiveness:

Though aware and well educated about the techniques needed to make my project the best it can be, I wasn’t able to complete my final project. I had issues with time management and didn’t use some of the strategies given to me. Therefore I was unable to present a finished piece.

I was able to have a fully thought out concept and design. Because of this, I believe if I restrained myself with the design and concept my project would be done. Knowing this, I did succeed in the accept of having an intact plan for my project.

What this project taught me is that I need to plan my next steps better in order to have an the outcome I desire; finish my projects. In the future I hope to make corrections and complete my animation.

Budget:

None.

Pictures:

Animation:

Week 2) https://youtu.be/vUoTMfU1P8o

Week 7) https://youtu.be/BESIreXEnbs

Week 12:

Another classic anime, just like my week 8 post(Sailor Moon). The color scheme in Pokemon is so vibrant and eye catching. Straight ahead action, pose to pose and staging is present. Anticipation and squash and squish are not drawn.

Week 11:

This is a bit depressing, yet beautiful. It gives you this feeling of sadness yet calmness; great story. The drawing is solid, has anticipation and good timing. Not much of slow in and out in the video. Arc is present, so it is not rough or robotic.

Week 10:

Cute little love story. Simply made, not many details in the character itself. The actions were surprising as they were more anticipated and there are second actions. Not much Arc in this.

Week 9:

This has a lot of appeal, easy to read/ look at, solid drawing and a personality. Grabs your attention immediately. Secondary action and Arc is not in this. No emphasis on movement or action.

Week 8: This is an anime classic. I didn’t realize weirdly that this is 2d animation. This whole series and opening was so well done. The colors are really eye catching. There is not much follow through or overlapping actions in this. Exaggeration and solid drawing is present in this video. Also some Arc, so it does not present choppy or robotic.

My character is from the old days of Korea. She is wearing a hanbok which is a traditional Korean dress. She is young, around 11 years of age. She decides to take a stroll in her town/ village. She’s on the look for some flowers. The girl passes many different flowers, but none to her liking. Though she couldn’t find the flowers she wanted, she continues to take a stroll.