The Bond of Four - First Tutorial Session

    After rushing up that steep hill (This is probably one of my most informal blog posts, but then again, how often am I actually ever formal?) and taking some time to catch my breath (Having just left my home 10 minutes before 9.30am)... I wounded up having a very progressive discussion with my lecturer and covered quite a few things during this first session (And as usual, went over the time limit, ehehe...), while she approved of my plan to make a short animation and a concept book to go along with it, she had quite a few tips and suggestions I was more than happy to take up on.

   Having finally shown Celles et Ceux des Cimes to her (Seeing as it is one of my biggest inspirations as to why I wanted to go in this direction in the first place), I was told that I could bring the animation duration down from 2 and a half minutes to 1 and a half instead. If there is time, I was also suggested to work on some animatics for scenes that will not be featured in the animation itself (Though, I am beginning to wonder if these particular scenes might require some voice acting in them... if so, professional voice acting wouldn't be required, right? Or should I go that extra mile and find some experienced folks that will be willing to do just that?).

   Aside from the content one would expect of any concept art book (Such as character, setting designs and storyboards), the book will further expand upon the story, character biographies and the world design of The Bond of Four, I was reminded to give my character designs from big, strong action poses, and now to stay too hung up on the concepts as compared to the animation itself. Seeing as I am taking a lot of influences from eastern cultures, the colour palettes should also be driven by them, and so quite a bit of research into these cultures is required (Such as the symbolism as to why certain colours are used in some of their costumes).

   Speaking of the eastern cultures that I will be looking into, I was once again told to narrow it down a little more instead of attempting to squeeze zillions of asian cultures all into one design, something that I am actually pretty relieved about being told to do, actually. Still, it wouldn't hurt to include some references from a few others and subtly incorporate them into my character design later on, if it works that is.

   The last bit of advice that I was given before I was chased out was to attempt to follow the same practice as Cartoon Saloon and develop concept art boards that closely (If not almost exactly) present what a final frame would look like in the animated trailer itself. And... just be smart and learn how to utilise whatever concepts I have into the animation itself (As well as reuse a few things such as tree designs when possible).

  

   And oh... try to use a back up drive during this entire project (Especially since this project is surely going to grow to ginormous proportions as I progress over the next few months, my poor laptop), and especially if I am intent on using one of the college's Cintiqs.

   AND OH! Other inspirations I had wanted to include to the bibliography and moodboards were Samurai Jack, Secret of Mana, Bee and Puppycat and Steven Universe (I am just going to list them down here for the time being until I get the chance to add them to the list).

   ... And also take a refresher course on After Effects so I can fully utilise it for my animation.