Today's class focused on talking about what our strengths and weaknesses are, both in terms of the industry work and as applicable to the capstone. Here's what I spelled out.
My Strengths:
World Building
Materials, UV maps, texturing
Character Design
Sound Design and Music
Symbolism, Mood, small details that contribute to story and deeper meaning
My Weaknesses
Writing and planning the actual story
Decision making
Shortening something, "killing your darlings"
Sculpting (depending on what the model is)
2D animation
What I want to learn
3D animating with different programs; Maya & Zbrush (I’m currently teaching myself blender)
Better sculpting techniques and setups
Story planning (beyond just world building)
Better storyboarding
More organized planning and documentation
Being more patient with myself!
So far I'm already improving on documentation if this blog wasn't proof enough. Regardless I'm super excited to be diving into concepting next week, so hopefully that momentum will keep rolling into next year!
After the strengths and weaknesses, we were asked to write out the pros and cons of our current project ideas. At this point, I've narrowed down the ideas between the MLP parody and the God kangaroo dream.
Project Idea #1 - God Kangaroo
Pros
1. This is a story I think fits my brand of “really weird but also charming and makes you think a little”
2. I think the mood and general aesthetic of the whole story would be very fun to play around with from scene to scene
3. The plot is something that I could include a message more dear to my heart in.
4. There’s a lot of imagery I have in my head that could make for some really cool and unique visuals that are easy to experiment with and spend more time designing.
5. It’s got a good balance of silly and serious
Cons
1. Really abstract. Starting from the ground up on this one. (Not always bad!)
2. The plot, at least at some points, can get really heavy and emotional, and spending a long time on story building could be a little draining (probably worth it anyways tho)
3. The MLP one kinda has a pre-established style, whereas with people models I don’t have an “art style,” and being consistent with that would take a lot of work that I’d want to put into that.
Project Idea #2 - Knockoff MLP Episode
Pros
1. A lot of the world building is already done, which would allow me to better explore characters, story, and design
making anything related to it
2. I really really really really really love this show and I would have a lot of fun
3. If I ever somehow land an interview for a job with hasbro it’s a great portfolio piece
4. Would be able to play with textures, kitbashing, and mapping a lot with the models because of the subject and the consistent model
5. Bright colors! Child like and fun, but still able to cover a topic that's important or more adult without it being too heavy to spend a lot of time on
Cons
1. Pre-established brand - would require humor and parody which i'm not a fan of creating, nor am I great at it
2. Typical format is already laid out, as well as too long for me to use for this
3. As far as character designs go, the models are pretty stagnant and not a lot of room for experimenting or changing shape between characters
4. Simplifying an adult idea into something fit for a short children’s story would take a lot of reworking to keep it something important to me. It may lose a lot of meaning in the process of whittling down the plot
5. This is kinda personal but because it's a hyperfixation of mine, the obsession of working on it might take over my life in more of an unhealthy way; though I would enjoy working I could very easily overwork myself.
After all of this, I nailed down which idea I'll be following for the forseeable future!
DRUMROLL PLEASE!
My capstone animation will be on... the god kangaroo dream!