18 latest tasks

• Edditng and adding to animatic 
• envriomental conceptual development
• chracter concepts fully explored

17 enviornmental concepts so far

Here I was experimenting with different environment styles, from a textured look reflecting that of a chinese scroll type painting to a more Matt painted style.  I personally feel the textured one at the bottom and the black and white picture are most effective as they are more simple which makes them more effective.

I will further develop this style at a later stage. 

16 second pich

The Pitch we had all worked extremely hard and had made a good start to our film, We had some animation tests some render tests and the story line was fine. However the film was in its very early stages and we needed to improve and develop the entire film. The tutors feedback was as followed, We all need to slow down, take our time and get the film right e.g. the character concepts and design could have been improved.
We listened and took all the comments on board and decided to rethink the design of the film.

15 animatic

The Animatic was a bit quick and more needed to be put in please find a detailed description of all the animatics and storyboards here. http://davidleggeba.blogspot.com/p/production-plan.html

14 storyboards from the top to the bottom

Link to animatic and story boards.

http://davidleggeba.blogspot.com/p/production-plan.html

13 redesign chracter

Redesigning the character.

Firstly thinking of him skinny trying to make him more stylized, less lines and was going for quite a sharp look. This Guy looked more Chinese still, The hat I placed on him was referenced from Mongolian images I found, But is still similar to a Chinese style hat. I think you need clear identification to make it Mongolian which was lacking with this character.

Slightly More Mongolian looking, I think this is down to the large fur hat, the thin slit eyes and the facial hair.

The following Images are based on references from Mongolian people, I wanted him to look cold and hungry. I felt Diego's style of character was really simplified and tried replicating that style. Here I experimented with different styles of texturing, and a cell shaded look.

The texture worked nicely but was a bit to high res.

We as A team felt the cell shaded style could work as short animation it could bring a sense of style, However everything in a film has to be done for a reason, the cell shaded style wouldn't create 

the old kind of look we were looking for since I have based this film in the medieval period of history, I think old style textures like that of a scroll would work better.

First sketch.

The eyes were to square and later I sorted them out.

 

A more completed and color version of the first sketch but I decided to scrap this design. 

I believe the following images are strong and have potential, but probably not for this film, This style of art is closer to what I am comfortable at doing, rough and realistic art. I used the pen tool in photo shop which looked like Ink and I was using a Japanese samurai book for reference. This type of painting would be found of scrolls or wood blocks. The reason why I say it wouldn't work for this film is because It's to real and the warrior here would most likely ctach the Mongol and kill him in a few seconds. The texture works well though and we will try and incorporate this in the design of the character.

From this the character is almost there I need to make him slightly more Mongolian still in shape, e.g. rounder face, shorter legs and a more stout shape. the modeling will be simple so I will further simplify the character.

chicken

include artisk hanz bacher

the styl ein which i want it to look like why? oriental art work chinese tapestrys?

11 new character designs

After my old designs I tried changing him a bit, I was trying to get in finished quickly as my team needed to begin modeling him.

Here he is placed in the T poses.

However the designs were basic rushed and not very good. I did look at a lot of Mongolian people but I tried to make it cartoony which I'm not very good at. I do believe It will work better If it the design looks playful.Mike told me they were week, and looking back at them I agree. The next time I redesign Them I'll be more experimental. and reference other styles. Also Ill spend more time getting it right rather then rushed.

I'll Ask Diogo a fellow student who has a particularly strong cartoony character style to give us a hand.

Research (Images / Videos / information )

Background Knowledge 

I have always had an interest in Asian culture, mainly Chinese and southeast Asian culture, but in the past few years have become increasingly interested in Mongolian traditions and history.

 I already had some knowledge of Mongolia I have traveled to china and seen the Great wall which was built to divide to great nations the Chinese and the Mongolians. I also read the three books by Con Igulden which focused on the life of Genghis Khan. The book explained that the people were tough the land was extreme and explained in detail how the people lived. These books are the main reason I wanted to make a short animation about this particular culture.

Mongolian Lifestyle

The Mongolians lived in Gers which were like tee pees of the native Americans, they are like huts. Their diet would consiste of milk blood and cheese. The people would be continually on the move following their herds to new grazing lands, this mean the people were physically fit and were quick on their feet. The people were warlike and would be very possessive over their possessions, as they were a people who acquired little therefore would aggressively protect what was there's. They were known to have a thirst for knowledge and an insatiable  curiosity, From a simple life the people traveled as far as Europe Mongolian people would travel with the army therefore witnessed many different nations. 

Religious Belief systems

The Mongols believed in one main God named Tengri, but also believed in spirits like the native americans and many shamanistic belief systems.  

What did they look like? 

The mongols were short, with heavy stout bodies and often bowlegged due to the amount of horse riding. they would have prominent cheek bones and often had large round heads the skin was tanned by the harsh weather.


Mongolian Landscape
The lanscape consisted of blistering winters and boiling summers. The sky is often a rich blue and the land consists of large mountain hill, forests and some of the land is desert.


Applying research into the film
The research often forms a basis for the story and characters, By doing this it give reason to the context of our film. Providing reason to why this Mongolian is hungry, why he looks like he does, and why he is so possessive over his tiny piece of chicken. 

 Film Reference 
 I was also inspired by the film Mongol. Which was a russian made film depicting the life of Genghis Khan . 

These are a few images depicting medieval Mongolia, The paper style background could be integrated to our film, to give the movie a traditional feel. We could also match these rustic, earthly colours to the movie.

I started researching, various characters of the film Mongolian men, Marmots and Eagles, as well as some of the props such as the Mongolian hut (Geer) 

Mongolian landscapes. 


The following videos, I found during the research process. I wanted everyone to get a feel and understanding of Mongolia, none of us had ever been to Mongolia so we were all trying soak up as much information as we could at this point. 

Ok guys the one above with Sm's style renders it would be good if we could combine Matt painting to get a really nice feel like this!! GO TO 0:09 GREAT TONES.



Hayley Posted this a while back. Its good for texture references and for Art styles.



Its good to remind us all what Mongolia is like.



More Scenic Reference