Final Chapter- and the Murderer was....

More updates will land on here very soon! 

Keep Tuned!

P.S: Character pose by Ethan Shilling

Animation and rendering is going well at Atom pancakes, we almost done with all the scenes to animate however, is still a few bits to tweak.

Here are the scenes I (ruben) have been working on:

Tension Playblast Edit

After Credits Scene- Blocking

                                                              After Credits Scene- Final

Dream Detective- Blocking

Prepare Scene- Blocking

Also there is the idea butler scene which is not featured on here, but it is all animated. 

Character Animation Influence

Animation began here at the Atom Pancakes HQ. Having the character finished and his personality understood, it was needed to research comedy shows or animations, in which our character could relate.
Arthur Winters being a British character we mainly focused on British comedy, aiming to use the 'Britishness' so visible in this type of comedy.


Faulty Towers

The first British TV Show we researched was Faulty Towers, more specifically the character of Basil Faulty. Basil Faulty, played by John Cleese, is a great example to associate with our character. Firstly, as he is very "British", having most of the mannerisms we want to apply to our character. But also because he is very short tempered just like our character, losing the plot and acting funny when in that state.



Jeeves and Woosters  

Another British TV Series we have looked at was Jeeves and Woosters. In this case, the character of Wooster played by Hugh Laurie. Once again, this character is full of "British" charm. Jeeves is a very posh character who behaves in a proper English manner, however as he loses his temper he becomes rather silly.


Mr. Bean 

   
The famous Mr. Bean, played by Rowan Atkinson is another character we researched. While the two previous characters the main focus of the research was to find the Britishness needed to apply to our character. Mr. Bean was included in the research for a very different reason, he is a character who doesn't speak much, therefore all his comedy come from his acting. This way of creating comedy through only acting will help animate character, Arthur Winters.


Fast Show 

Fast Show was a British comedy TV Show which consisted in a variety of TV Sketches portraying funny situations in a wide range of places.We chose to look at these because it emphasizes the idea of one actor acting as numerous characters. This research is crucial to understand how Arthur Winters will behave when acting as  any of the other characters.

Character: Arthur Winters- Character Additional Designs

Last week, we had our first creative tutorial with Alan, and though i was not able to be present, the studio filled me in with the feedback he gave about the story and character. Overall the story it is going the right way and we began to storyboard it. We have also took some interesting ideas that Alan suggested and definitely we are incorporating them in the story.

For that matter, additional information on the character was needed. With the new elements integrated in the story. Instead of having 2d motion graphics to play out the daydream sequences, we are actually doing them in 3D, as well as changing the content of each one of them. On this new idea, the character will try to find who is the murderer, therefore he will in his thought sequence play out possible suspects. By getting a few props and acting like them.

Additional Suspect Sheet

Also we though of adding an extra gag in the after credits sequence, where we will see the character burnt and beginning to write something rather different. 

This definitely will allow us to work more on character animation, as we will have more scenes to play with.

Arthur Winters- Character Final Drawings

Lately, having the character information all gathered in a couple of sheets, the next step was to draw a few more drawings on the character playing with his maneirisms. So with no further ado here is the final pose on the character with the profile sheet explaining the character.

So now that Arthur Winters is fully presented, the next drawing was again playing with one of the situations on the short animation. Once again, playing with the personality of the character. I tried to create the situation and then behave as him.



Character: Arthur Winters- Character Colour Development

The character is pretty much designed, with all the supportive drawings such as face expressions, turnarounds and props sheet. However one thing was missing and it is a colour sheet, thus I began to play around with colour and created a few variations of the character for either body and head.

With these few variations, the next step was to find what could work better in any of them and then create a final colour drawing. Note that we are just exploring colour in the paintings and that any details were left out. 

So here I present the character coloured! Arthur Winters.

Character: Arthur Winters- Character Further Development

Last week I have began to develop further the character, by working around the silhouettes and the initial design of the face. I developed it just so it feels more like our "Arthur Winters".

Face and Body Development

With the character pretty much designed, I moved onto creating the turnarounds and apply even more detail. Having a clear idea what he should wear it was easy to fill in the missing gaps. 

Character Turnarounds

This step is crucial, because it will helps us model this character at a later stage.Apart from this I have also done additional papers to informs us of the design of the character.

Face Expressions

Size Sheet

Props Sheet & Reference Images

Character: Arthur Winters- Character Body Silhouettes

With the character defined and with more information about its body, I began exploring it. Having clear idea on my head of how it should be built I played around with silhouettes in order to find what it was working and what not. 

After trying out 4 different examples, I moved into creating a final silhouette with features that were working in all of them. 

Character: Arthur Winters- Character Profile Sheet and Final Influence Map

With the design stages going pretty well, I decided to get back and complete the missing information on the profile sheet, this will allow me to reference the character features. Also I have put together an final influence map where character features and clothes were researched and added. this again will help me reference visuals such as clothing or small details.

Character Profile Sheet

Name: Arthur Winters

Biography: Arthur Winters is a recognised novel author, however when he prepares to write his new book, ideas slip his mind and he is left with nothing. For an accomplished writer not having ideas is like a crime. After some time of reflection and gathering thoughts, he thinks he has yet another masterpiece, though the real struggle begins when he tries to write his ideas for the new book.

Age: 45

Race: Human

Height: 1.70 m.

Body Type: Skinny, Average Height, Waistline Above Normal,Long Hands and Feet.

Face Type: Skinny Body Face With Salient Cheek Bones, Small Eyes and Big Nose.

Complexion: Pale Colour With little Wrinkles, and a Mole ( Not Dark).

Eyes: Hazelnut Colour Eyes and Often Uses a Monocle.

Hair: 1920's to 1940's Hairstyle, Full Hair with Bald Sides.

Facial Hair: Well Trimmed Moustache, but as the animation progresses he gets also a stubble.

Clothing Style: On His Torso, He Wears a Well- Ironed Long Sleeve White Shirt a Tie Covered with a Sleeveless (Dark Green) Polo. (Maybe w/ Braces). His Trousers Are Beige and Slightly Short with Polished Brown Shoes.

Speaking Style: Calm, Polite, Formal (Academic Level).

General Demeanour: When normal he is excited about his books, when he has an idea he overreacts and becomes silly.

Career: An Acclaimed Novel Writer.

Prejudices: Loves to write books, but unfortunately he is not lucky enough to have an idea.

Best Qualities: enthusiastic, determined, polite, has common sense.

Worst Qualities: melodramatic, silly, sometimes frustrated.

Weaknesses: when overreacting he behaves silly, allowing gags to play on him.

Character: Arthur Winters- Character Facial Variations

Lately I have been concentrating in getting the character ready, so it can be modelled at any time. Previously, i was exploring different routes with the character, but after we had our meeting everything seemed so clear to what we wanted to achieve with it. 

So I began developing it further, Firstly, by trying different head shapes I moved closer to what I wanted to design. 

Next, I moved onto trying out different levels of stylisation for the character based on the art direction we were set to follow.

With the the right design chosen in terms os stylisation, what followed was a mix and match of different features on the character. From different specs to different facial hair to different hairstyles, I was able to provide 60 designs of different character features ready to be chosen by me and my colleagues. 

After our last meeting and discussing these designs we pretty much agreed in certain features of the character, while others were done by compromising opinions. but nevertheless, the character is in the right track. and here is the variation chosen...

Now I will further develop this one as well as concentrate on the body, which is have a clear idea what I want to go for, and the logic behind it. 

Characters Initial Influence Maps

With a new idea cooking in our studio, all our new condiments have to be fresh. With different characters in this idea, we have to research everything from scratch, however it is always an enjoyable thing to do as it allows us to better understand our characters and their surroundings. As much we liked the other characters they wont be in this idea so their research is part of the past, now the focus is on this character and to better understand him I have quickly created a profile sheet of the character with no descriptive content so it allows our designers to freely design the character, and also quickly put a few influence maps that can be used as reference when designing it.

Initial Profile Sheet

Name: Writer (Name to be Decided) (like Walter, Alfred)

Biography: Arthur Winters is a recognised author in literature, however when he prepares to write his new book, ideas slip his mind and he is left with nothing. For an accomplished author not having ideas is like a crime. After some time of reflection and thought gathering, he thinks he has yet another masterpiece, however the real struggle begins when he tries to write his ideas for the new book.

Age: 40-45

Race: Human

Speaking Style: Calm, Polite, Formal (Academic Level). 

General Demeanour: When normal he is excited about his books, when he has an idea he overreacts and becomes silly. 

Career: Novel Writer

Prejudices: Loves to write books, but lately unfortunately he is not lucky enough to have an idea. 

Best Qualities: enthusiastic, determined, polite, has common sense.

Worst Qualities: melodramatic, silly, sometimes frustrated.

Weaknesses: when overreacting he behaves silly, allowing gags to play on him.

An additional research on the clothes of the period so we have a rather accurate character.

Characters Initial Influence Maps

With the main idea cooking on one side, we have already decided what characters our story will have. I introduce shortly the characteristics of each character

The technology lover dad, who relies on it in most of his life, however he doesn't know how to use it. The Mum a rational character who relies on reason and common sense to resolve many cases. an then we have the robot pet, who for the holidays have lost his favourite toys, so he tries to sabotage the trip.

Being in charge of character design, I have created an initial research map for each character in which every member can see it for inspiration. By any means, these maps are not final and they will discussed tomorrow in our 3rd meeting.

Also I have created a quick influence map for the breed of alien. As you can see by the maps, they are quite they broad and have no conclusive look in which the aliens should fit, this will allow our designers to try new things and varied designs.