Grief Poem Outcome

I used Lawrie Miller for the voice over which fits absolutely perfectly, the young male with a London accent I feel is someone that a lot of young men will be able to relate to.

Feedback

Really calming and beautiful
Voice works really well, especially the way he pauses allowing the words to impact

I feel it's tricky to get honest feedback with such a sensitive topic but I was really pleased with the overwhelmingly kind feedback, I plan to send this of to mental health / grieving charities, so hopefully people especially young men feel they could also share their experiences. If I had more time I would definitely make sure the floating petals loop as currently everything but these loop; I was worried it would really effects the outcome but it really doesn't, it's almost therapeutic the repetitive nature of it.

Production: Animating & Colouring

Unedited frame animation

I've started adding colour on Photoshop to the petals, leaves and Aloe Vera. I think I want to leave the marks picked up by the scanner, I really like the imperfect aesthetic, it's especially fitting due to the context of healing being imperfect. I need to obviously crop and align it so each frame matches up.

Initially I just had put the darker shade of pink in the centre of the flower, but tried it out with it spilling out onto the petal which I feel looks more organic like so:

It's scary getting to this point an realising I've left out the marks on this one petal... thank god for clone stamp tool.

Production: Drawing

Drawing

Once I was happy with my design, I had to start drawing quickly as it's always a lengthly process. I spent around three weeks for a couple of hours a day drawing this little AloeVera man. I find it really exciting because despite the fact you spend so much time drawing something repetitively, you ironically never really know what the finished piece is going to look like, until it's all scanned, animated.. you won't ever know until that final mouse click. I find something really rewarding in this technique and have found it so much more enjoyable than digital animation with say the Childline brief which was confusing and frustrating with error messages popping up for seemingly no reason.

So my process for drawing is simple, I have a cheap a4 light-box which works perfectly for tracing, I use layout paper and gradually build upon the design, moving the character/ tree a few mm/cm each time. I planned so the character moves quicker than the petals as I wanted to emphasise them being dainty and have more of a visual of them dancing in the wind, an extended metaphor for time attempting to stand still. I wanted the tree to constantly subtly change throughout so I altered the shadows every other frame.

To make things easier for myself when it came to the moving arm, I marked it out before drawing the rest of the image. I did this for the whole arm movement so when I got to each new slide, I could just plan around the arm movement; often when you're doing this so repetitively you tend to go into robot mode and have the habit of ruining slides just blindly tracing it exactly as it was the previous slide forgetting to add new motion.

It looks really beautiful the motion of the petals coming through from previous pages and is a neat way of highlighting how slow this process is!  

I needed to be wary as I wanted to loop the animation, to have the first and last frames as close as possible but naturally as things are drawn 22 times over they're bound to end up looking quite different (it's like Chinese whispers!)

So with the last few frames I had the previous image behind it on the light-box along with the original image, this was quite mind boggling at first but eventually I got used to it, all I have to do is draw inside both the lines, so the progression back to the original frame positioning is more fluid.

Before scanning in each frame, I made sure to number them just incase, I'll edit this out later.

Scanning them in I decided to pull them out the pad and scan them with a blank page underneath it, I usually just scan them with the other drawings just behind so you can see the progression of movement but I felt there was something symbolic in having a fresh start, a blank page.

Grief Poem Animation: Designs

Visuals

Blossom are used especially in traditional Japanese art, in Hokkaido plum and blossom trees blossom at the same time. I'm including blossom for more personal reasons as my cousin had blossom tattooed stretching all down her back, it also seems very fitting, not only is blossom blooming at the moment, it's a sign of spring and new life. Similarly Aloe Vera has healing properties (as we know).

It helps that these two colour compliment each other really well and seems fate they're both symbolic of new life to some degree.

I want Aloe Vera and blossom to be the centrepiece of this animation. Wether that means having these the only things coloured or just have the two entwined by themselves.

Initial Design Concepts

With this design I initially had envisaged a little pot of Aloe Vera dying but life always replenishing, this circle of life happening whilst blossom wraps around the plant.

The plant loops as it grows bigger and smaller. Perhaps the wind blows seed / blossom, things are planted and as things die, new plants grow.

I feel in practice this is too small and unambitious. I want something that really does justice to these two symbols.

I then thought back to my Aloe Vera Lazy Gear designs and how the Aloe Vera was personified (to some degree) even if the faces were on plant pots. Maybe I could create an Aloe Vera human...

I love this design concept, having a little world dedicated to the Aloe Vera man where he may grieve. To match this I want the voice over to be a man, my age. The reasoning behind this being I want young men to be able to relate to some degree, if they hear a voice / tone they recognise or are familiar with, talking about a 'taboo' topic they may be more open to share their own experiences. It's typically more difficult for men to express their emotions, a topic I've explored a lot recently, particularly in my dissertation. It would be beneficial for some men I know to hear this as I know some of my male friends are silently struggling with the loss of our friend however will not/ find it almost impossible to allow themselves to be vulnerable.

I want to go with this design and try it out in different mediums. I want the Aloe Vera to grow and shrink as I'd planned with the initial design, but to replenished this time by the Aloe Vera man's own single tear.

Image Trace Experiments

I want the image simpler, perhaps using fineliner as I did for my COP animation, I found this the most effective technique as it enabled you to create clean sharp edges which then better defined the subtle movements from frame to frame.

0.3 fineliner:

I've put the Aloe Vera man in trainers and jeans and a T-shirt so he's a little less alien. Not that people can relate to him with plant growing out of his head, but the implication he's a young man serves the purpose of further breaking down this barrier of fear of vulnerability.

I'm going to start on with the animation drawing stages as this is the most time consuming, I'm really happy with this design, I love the contrasting thicker black lines of the character contrasting the thinner dainty ones of the blossom tree. I wanted this to be representative in this microcosm as time and the rest of the world, while the character grieves and is stuck in time, weighed down, the world around him carries on, time (blossom) goes by. The shadow creeping up the trees is symbolic of the bad times in our lives that can cast shadow on our world, however i want them this shadow to flicker/ fade away highlighting things will always get better with time.

Grief Poem Animation: Brief & Research

Grief Poem Animation

Brief

To create a hand drawn stop motion animation for my poem 'Grief'.

I wrote this poem during my placement when I found out my cousin had died. I wrote a line every day on the tube in order to have a part of my day where I could grieve, whilst I had to hold it together during my placement. The whole point of this process is to heal myself. To express my emotions through my creativity in order to better understand how I'm feeling and be able to connect with my loved ones, friends and family as we have all lost these people together so need to stay connected.

My cousin had blossom flowers tattooed all over her back

Ned had Aloe Vera tattooed on his arm

These are the key visual elements I want to incorporate.

Research

How to help a grieving friend

I thought this animation on how to help a grieving friend really sweet, it's a good example of something with a universal audience which is what I want to achieve as I'd like my cousins kids to see it at some point, which this achieves well as you have the 

"Being heard helps... Acknowledgment can be the best medicine we have...

it makes things better even when they can't be made right." Megan Devine

Bluebird Animation, based on Charles Bukowski's poem

I love the subtlety of movement throughout this animation, his jacket coloured in swirls ripples, the background constantly changes as a combination of different mediums are used creating beautiful contrasts with the muted calming blue tones and parcel paper textures.

I too want my animation to have constant movement, I want winds blowing and blossom flying delicately, creating this sense of time elapsing, stressing the fact the world moves on around you as you grieve, time flies by regardless of what we're going through. This can be a comfort somewhat knowing that there is still a whole world waiting for us when we're ready, but quite a paradox as you question how life can continue. In the poem I focus on these contradictions as it is a natural part of the grieving process which I want to demonstrate visually.

Bluebird Animation, based on Charles Bukowski's poem

In terms of medium, I like this simplistic approach, keeping it all line-work doesn't take away from the poem, the simplicity elevates the poem and leaves you hanging on every word. I love the way this is spoken as well, I'm concerned I speak too quickly, I've read it over and over to my mum and she keep pointing out how fast I speak! I need to hang on every word, pause at the end of each line and take my time with it, it will feel a lot more powerful this way.

The subtle tones in this animated poem are really beautiful, the symbolic use of a toothbrush as a metaphor for a break up is a clever concept. I really liked the fluidity of pink/purple hues lighting up the character/ room details.

Gyal Games Photoshoot

Photography: Sam Greig @sg_0113

I set up my kitchen with all the stuff that is admitedly already in myh bedroom, a throw back with Furby, troll doll, Bart Simpson and a hello Kitty PEZ, as well as retro lighting a plant, and a weird chicken rabbit hybrid. The concept for the shoot was vibrant, playful and a lil tacky; with low light and movement. The addition of the claw like fake nails add this feminine, badass edge.

The high shutter speed captured this sense of movement, I love the bright hues blending and blurring outlines, the cards almost sparkle with colourful highlights. I edited them increasing the shadows and contrast as well as clarity, it really works especially with my hands as they're more in focus whilst the cards still capture this sense of movement.

Research Project: Card Front Covers

Going back to my research I wanted to use a different Goddess for the front cover. I chose Princess Liễu Hạnh as visually this aesthetic would be really impactful on the cards, especially if I manage to edit her with a cloak similar to the one featured below:

 

Thinking about it now however it doesn't seem right as she's more a meddler, an intellectual and not so much focused on destruction. 

Initially playing around with theme and layout... 

I then decided to use Circe, a greek witch Goddess who I've previously researched in this project, adding another dimension to the cards I already have, Circe's powers come with the use of potions, poison and magic (she is believed to be the creator of magic) which brings something new to the selection of Goddesses I've chosen.

I felt this design was too basic initially, and considered how I could incorporate more visuals embodying Greek mythology. The text I've chosen is Invasion 2000, consistent with the titles on the rest of the cards to maintain aesthetic fluidity. Using an outline for her, heavy shadows and embossing this tacky level of depth is created, I especially love the firey background, very 90s.

I want to include a 99p sticker as a nod to the original cost of Top Trumps as these Goddesses are very much part of history, as were Top Trumps...

I'm very satisfied with the level of tacky non-design perfectly matching the retro garish myspace aesthetic, bringing me right back to my childhood.

I need to also consider an umbrella slogan/ name for the card box, I originally thought Top Goddesses but I want to elude to the fact this is just one edition of many, non specific to Goddesses like the Top Trump brand, but don't want it to sound too similar. 

Gyal Games

Nostalgi@

Goddess Games

Deal Deity

Diva Deal 

Goddess Games

Asking my peers we agreed Gyal Games was the most appropriate, utilising current lingo and bring it back to the old school in the design technique with embossing, mimicking the Top Trump branding on their decks.

Typography

I was initially testing out other fonts I'd chosen from my font sheet (the tackier the better) but agreed with peer feedback it would look more consistent having the same header text throughout so I stuck with Invasion 2000.

Final Designs

Feedback

"Fun,

Educational,

Box looks real/ like a real product!"

My main question to the group was whether or not it was obviously 'bad-design' and had that tacky style or it was just plain bad design and awful. Luckily they all agreed it was good 'bad design!' and looked purposefully garish and such.

They said I should definitely print the cards out and have a shoot as an addition to just the digital copies, I thought this wasn't necessary but now see it would be really cool to have these in physical form and develop the product. I should also then extend this concept and make the game complete with a 'rules' side of the first card, as they do with Top Trump cards.

I want this design to be simple, consistent with typography and easy for all age ranges to understand.

Research Project: Kali Top Trump

This will definitely be the most challenging thanks to Kali's multiple limbs.. drawing inspiration from this image of the Hindu Goddess Kali:

I took different angles from the models and heavily manipulated them to fit what I thought would be a more modern day representation of Kali.

Looking at more imagery of Kali, there's many with her standing on her husband however I feel it would be too chaotic within the small rectangle format, it is already a squeeze with all her body parts!

I experimented with hair textures on after effects in attempt to simulate grass but it didn't look even, the darker shades also reduced the legibility of the text; so I used real grass with adjustment layers to blend it better.

For the background I chose an animated sky using turbulent displacement to get this stormy sky effect which I felt was suited to the battleground setting. I chose a deep purple, all the images of Kali had colourful backgrounds, i felt this galactic aesthetic was suited especially as the legend goes she almost destroyed the universe, giving this sense of sheer power.

In accordance with the legend of Kali's battle, she caught the blood of the demon in a bowl, spilling it would mean the demon could multiply so she collected and drank the blood. Incorporating this somewhat educational aspect I plan to animate this blood drop falling from the bowl off the edge of the black background, breaking down the illusion of this world being contained within the card format.