Minor Project: Idea Development

Since my last tutorial on Monday, my idea has developed from my initial idea. Originally I was going to create an animation based on the short story Annika's Dream. Instead I am going to focus on animating a certain part of this story. So I have decided to focus on animating one of the paintings that coming to life. 

Below are Abstracts of the Description of the paintings from the story: 

• Since Annika was not able to dance any more  she started to paint her dreams, to make her wishes come true in this very special way instead. At first, she found it difficult to draw a ballet dancer. However, little by little, Annika’s drawing skills improved and it seemed  as if the ballerinas on her drawing paper came to life and were really dancing.
• Once, on a beautiful summer’s day, she dared to take a few steps on her own to the meadow nearby. The wild flowers were waving gently and softly in the wind. Poppies,marguerites and even bellflower's all seemed to dance to the tender music of the wind, which only they could hear. Again,Annika tried to capture this enchanting mood on her drawing paper. She portrayed red poppies, white marguerites, and blue bellflower's  In the middle of the meadow, Annika was dancing with all the flowers, butterflies, birds, and bees.
• Gradually she also ventured to other motifs.Cackling hens and a rooster swaggering around the house, and even the little white cat with silky fur were illustrated in her drawings. Jimbo was playing with a woollen yarn, lying in a basket.
• Once, during their frequent outings, on a warm summer day,the girls came to some jolly bubbling water. It was a small brook, a beautiful one! Laura and Annika went nearby and watched the quick lively games of the fish in clear water! “Look, Laura,” said Annika, “how gracefully the fish are moving back and forth.” It looked like they were dancing in the water.Laura and Annika sat down and watched nature’s wonderful play  the rays of sunshine reflecting off the waves: the sparkling fish with their eager activities. Both girls seemed very happy as they listened to the murmur and the babble of the brook. Coming home, Annika recreated all her impressions on paper as she usually did. As if by magic, she portrayed the dancing fish in the bubbling brook. By doing so, she captured this beautiful day on her pad, so it would never vanish from her memory

The painting that I am going to animate is the one where Annika is dancing with all the flowers, butterflies, birds, and bees. How I tend to do this, is to use both 2D and 3D techniques together. So the only 3D part is going to be character itself (Annika), the rest of the animation will be in flat 2D, animated  with after effects. 

Here is a quick initial outline of how the animation could play out:

Starts by moving in and focusing onto one of Annika's paintings.The one where Annika is dancing with all the flowers, butterflies, birds, and bees. The music starts to play and Annika starts to come to life,  by popping out of the painting and beginning to dance. As Annika starts to dance and move around the painting the painting itself starts to transform into bright, vibrant colours. As if Annika herself is bring the painting to life as she pass by the shapes of the flowers, butterflies, birds, and bee. As Annika continues to dance the background painting starts to move and before long Annika is dance with the  flowers, butterflies, birds, and bees. As the music starts to come to the end the background painting of the  flowers, butterflies, birds, and bee goes back to normal. Annika stops dancing when she realise that she is dancing on her own. And walks back in the painting and positions herself in her originally pose, just as the music comes to the end, the camera fades out. 

Here are some initial style influences maps 

Character & Initial. painting (3D) Influence Map

This first influence map is to show how I want the original painting and character to look like. I want them to focus on line art and make them feel like them have been drawn. Especially the character, I want her to look as if she is 2D and belongs in a 2D animation put is actually CG. 

Painting (2D) Influence Map

This influence map show the style of the painting when it starts to come alive, bright vibrant colours, simplistic shapes and textures. 

The next step is to create a initial storyboard and start experimenting until I find how I want my animations and character to look like.