Slavic characters01|Extended Practice

Before starting any serious character research (e.g. moodboards, thumbnails) I've decided to take out trusty markers and play a little bit with a Slavic theme.

I've created these concepts just for one purpose: fun. However, it also served as a great starting point when searching for style. I'm actually digging simplified faces and stylized anatomy.

At this point I'm unable to say which features I'll take futher from those drawings.

Story|Extended Practice

Below is an outline of a story I've created for this project. It's based on various Slavic folk tales, events take place during one night. Narrator (Boy) explains a story to a viewer from the first person perspective (his expirience).

• Action takes place during Kupala Night and tells the story of two kids who embark on an adventure to find fern flower.

Main Cast: 

• Vodyanoy (wodnik) - villain of this story, who leaves in swamps, rivers and ponds and becomes very active during Summer Solstice;
• Boy - young (10-12 yrs old), small nose, freckles, brown hair, brave, loves exploring; brother of a Girl;
• Girl - young (8-10yrs old), small nose, ferckles, blond hair, braids, scared of darkness, naive, trusty companion of Boy's adventures;

Story Breakdown:

• Boy and Girl are running across the forest;
• Adults are celebrating Kupala Night by dancing around the fire;
• Boy and Girl are still in the forest, crossing the river and move towards darker part of the forest with the rocks and swamp;
• Boy points out at the fern flower that blooms on the other side of the swamp and decides to climb a tree to reach it;
• Girl looks very worried and scared;
• Vodyanoy's reflection appears in a swamp water;
• Boy looses his balance and almost falls from the tree branch;
• Vodyanoy emerge from the swamp and look at Boy;
• Boy gets back on the branch and grabs fern flower.

 Story breakdown helped me outline story and pinpoint events, which makes writing script easier. Time constraint I've set (up to 2 minutes long) seems to fit nicely with the story created, allowing viewer to understand what's going on the screen.

Vodyanoy - Initial Sketches|Extended Practice

While working on a script I've decided to start exploring different ideas of how Vodyanoy could look like. As mentioned in previous post, he's got a frog like facial features, body covered in algea and muck and lives in swamps or rivers.

 

 

I've started with very basic shapes and forms to establish overall look of this character. These designs are still in very early stage and many things can change, but I like the direction they're heading.

Opposite to the other designs I've created digitally for previous modules, those drawings were made with pencils and fineliners. I found this approach quite refreshing, however I'll have to go back to Photoshop when making more finished concepts.

Vodyanoy|Extended Practice

For this project I've looked at various Slavic myths and folk tales. After futher consideration I've decided to go with Vodyanoy character, as he appears in multiple tales and leaves a lot of creative freedom when writing a script. Moreover, he is the villain of the story, type of character I don't usually work on.


Vodyanoy (definition from Dictonary.com)

in Slavic mythology, the water spirit. The vodyanoy is essentially an evil and vindictive spirit whose favourite sport is drowning humans. Anyone bathing after sunset, on a holy day, or without having first made the sign of the cross risks being sucked into the water by the vodyanoy. He can assume many different forms that enable him to deceive and trap his victims. The vodyanoy lives alone in his particular body of water and is known to favour rivers with strong currents and swamps.

Vodyanoy is usually presented as a naked old man with frog-like facial features. His body is covered in algea, muck and fish scales, has a greenish beard and long hair. 

This character appeared in many different source, e.g. China Mievielle novel serie titled Bas-Lag and Andrzej Sapkowski's The Witcher book series (and later game series under same title created by CDProjectRed). Vodyanoy is also a main character of a Soviet cartoon Wodnik Szuwarek created by Zdenek Smetana.

The believe in water demons like Vodyanoy is very strong in Slavic culture and is connected with a Kupala Night (also known as Ivan Kupala Day). During Summer Sosltice, when nights are shortest, taking baths in rivers and lakes were prohibited as it's the time when Vodyanoy is the most active. Kupala Night also connects with multiple folklore and religious beliefs, including being the only night when fern flower blooms.

Time management|Extended Practice

This is the largest brief we had so far, worth 60 credits which translates into around 600 hours of work. Therefore good time management is crutial. Before starting I decided to create a simple breakdown of milestones I need to beat in order to get this module done.

• by Mid Feb - done with research into Slavic folk tales and moodboard creation;
• by Mid Feb - complete script written;
• by End of Feb/beginning of March - character designs are established; work on props, scenery and other parts needed to create animation;
• by 5th of March - storyboard and animatic done, await approval, small changes are still possible to make at this point (presentation);
• by end March - any animation tests are completed at this point (e.g. puppet tool, parallax effect for scenery); physical booklet/scroll showcasing development should be done at this point;
• by mid April - animation done;
• by 23.4. - animation completed to presentable level (presentation);
• by end April - any extra adjustments to the animation are done at this point, writing any extra blog posts;
• by 7.5.15. - everything is done and submitted on disk (module deadline).

As mentioned earlier, it's a big module, but if I follow plan there should be no delays and everything will be done on time (I left myself extra time for animating because it's a time consuming process that requires a lot of tests and thinking).

Statement of Intent|Extended Practice

Statement of Intent for the Extended Practice module.

What exactly the project is?
- self-directed brief;
- aims to create a range of quality pieces that will be included in a portfolio;
- stylized, cartoon-y;
- story: interpretation of one of the Slavic folk tales;

What format it will take?
- up to 2 minutes long 2.5D animated video;
- range of initial sketches, painting, character sheets presented in a physical form (either small booklet or as a wall-based pieces);

Who the audience is?
- target audience: kids and teens;

Areas of research/theories to be investigated?
- Slavic myths and folk tales;
- folk tales related to Vodyanoy character, fern flower and Ivan Kupala Day;
- some basic information on Vodyanoy;

Style:
- shadow puppet-like (e.g. loading screen from Lego: Pirates of the Caribbean);
- cell-shaded or with the limited use of colours;
- comic book feel (e.g. cut scenes in inFamous games);
- thick outlines;
- art style of Don't Starve game;

Some initial testing of visuals or prototyping
- in my previous projects I've used After Effects to produce stylised animations;
- thumbnails, exploration sketches, rough storyboards will be posted weekly on this blog;

Evidence of planning and organisation of the project.
- regular posts uploaded on a blog (weekly);

For this brief I'm going to create a script based on a Vodyanoy, as this character appears in multiple folk tales (e.g. Ivan Kupala Day, fern flower) and enables me to create interesting story.