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.