Character Animation | Project 2 Girl in the Candyland Scene

I have attempted to create a rough draft of the original girl within the Candyland scene. She does not fit at all along the pathway, so I removed it, but I did attempt to get her to pick up candy. Because her anchor points are wonky, there was not a lot I could do.

The girl in the scene also has had a little bit fixed. I fixed the speed of her left arm, and I fixed the way her right hand waved.

Character Environment | Beginning Solutions

Project Name: Candyland

Project Description: This is a combination of the new project and the last project, character animation. I am given the task to take my character from the last project, and create her environment. In this environment, she needs to interact with an object, which is something I left out last time. I also plan to give her a different movement, and her perfect some of the problems from last time.

Brainstorming:

I had many ideas for this project, and I am still brainstorming exactly what I want to do. I was originally inspired by the idea of her being a Korean pop singer, a K-Pop Star. I once took a sexy k-pop dance class while I was on a vacation, and it was definitely an inspiration behind how I originally built my character.

Unfortunately, I was unable to completely mimic many k-pop dance moves when creating my character. 

Because of this, my original idea for her environment was this sketch:

It was supposed to be her concert stage.

In a previous environment I had created for another class, I was taught to heavily rely on background, middle ground, and foreground, and I felt the concert stage did not have a lot of this, and was kind of flat.

I believe I will use photoshop and mesh some images together for this project.

I also believe I will have my character pick up a piece of candy.

Here's some image inspiration:

Character Animation | More Work

Here is some more work on my character animation based on some feedback I got. I worked on giving her a second expression, and I also gave her actual legs and feet. I slightly corrected some of her movement.

I will be using this same character for our next project, but I will be changing her animation to bend down, and possibly her facial expression.

I also got some feedback on this character. Some said her eyes seemed a little wonky. I will be working on this before the final environment scene is due.

Character Animation | [ROUGH] Storyboard + Notes

Here is an image that has my very rough storyboard, sketched horribly with notes all around of the ideas I want to create. I never created a storyboard directly of what I wanted the character to do. This storyboard was created long before the character was created, and I feel like it did not have the best direction. Notice their are mutliple ideas noted.

Character Animation | Collection of Inspiration

As I began designing my character, I looked at a lot of different inspiration, which can be seen below in this post. My character was very much based on a "lolita anime girl" even though she looks very cartoonized in an american style.

Here are some really basic sketches of girls that she was developed from. I feel like my drawings were not very clear and did not convey a lot of emotion.

Girl, Upper Body and Legs:

The legs for the girl were developed after the rough draft of my animation, and I plan on going back and adding them before turning in what I consider a final animation:

Original sketch of girl used mainly for some inspiration, pencil and water color pencil:

The following are some images of cartoon girls that heavily influenced her look.

INSPIRATION

(Style wise, not including legs): 

(Style wise, legs):

(Hair, limited to my drawing skills):

(Personality type):

Her animation was mainly based on my skills, and what I understood how to do. I did not base her on much other than a previous work of mine, which can be seen here:

Character Animation | Work in Progress

THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS.

THIS IS NOT A FINAL.

Here is my character animation's work in progress. I feel she is very stiff. Upon asking some colleagues for critique, they said that I need to finish her feet, which is something I have found myself procrastinating on. Also, they commented on the unnatural motion of her legs, again something I have to fix. Finally, they commented on speed of the arms, something I have always struggled with. These are things I am all going to try to fix before even working on what I consider the final.

I would love to hear anyone's opinions of the background colors, and if they are okay and not to contrasting to the main character.

WATCH HERE: https://youtu.be/PGykZOHyats

Character Animation | Personality

(Edited this post on March 5th, 2018 to include definition of project, and character name)

This project can be described as designing a character and communicating her personality through the movement created with her. The latter of this project will include adding her to an environment to demonstrate a certain feeling.

I have given my character the name of Poppy! I chose this name because many japanese fashion statements can be described as pop, and that is very much what she is based off of. She is also given the name because her color is supposed to "pop". Finally, I gave her this name due to the poppy flower. I hope I am able to characterize her based not only off her names, but the movement given to her.

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In class we were asked to think about the characters we had started designing. We were to think about the aspects of the character, how the personality is seen through the interactions of the character, and how the perspective of the character may change. What emotions describe your character? Who is your character?

I wrote a quick description during class:
My character is a sweet, poppy, happy type. She may be similar to the Japanese pop singers. She is happy, perky, young, innocent, and very very positive. I picture her falling in love easily. Very cute - kawaii - and she likes to have fun and enjoy those around her. I really picture her being a popstar or a cheerleader. She is supposed to be young and dream like. For a defining reaction, she would say "you should try out for the team," or "totally" and flash her peace sign.

We were then asked to think about the clothing, how her clothing might help define her personality. For example, someone shy might have a scarf.

I wrote a quick description:

Her clothing is cute, perky, and movable. I want her arms and legs to move to show her happy, open, and agile. Her shoulders would be open to the audience, and her long arms allow for reactions that talk with the hands. Large eyes with glitter and sparkles that show her interest. I chose the color pink for the feminist qualities, and the lighter shade to achieve the innocent look. 

I have to really focus on how the design of the character will insist the movement. I have begun pulling apart the character on to separate layers.