Practice-based research
For this project, I chose to animate a classmate’s clown character, Pyrite. Pyrite is a creepy clown who is part of a homicidal clown cult, yet he struggles to participate in the violent acts that are expected of him. To incorporate this facet of his personality, I played around with story ideas that would play on his inability to intimidate despite being a scary clown.
Board 01
I started the project with the idea of Pyrite trying to scare a puppy, only to end up finding it cute and falling in love. However, when he tries to squish the puppy in a hug, he crushes it. This board didn’t have enough of a build-up or a good payoff. It also lacked an understandable beginning and storyline. The dog character was unexplained, and Pyrite’s reaction to it and subsequent actions seem too complicated.
Board 02
In this version, I try to replace the dog with a mannequin. Pyrite attempts to intimidate the inanimate model and ends up scaring himself when it just falls over. This was more straightforward compared to the last, but still had some of the same problems as the previous board.
Board 03
This is the final board I ended up going forward with. This version establishes Pyrite with his juggling, and allows the dog to enter and interact with the clown, thus prompting the ensuing action. The ending I end up going with isn’t finalized here, but it roughly follows this board.
Expressions and Keys
MORE… EXPRESSIONS AND KEYS
Here I attempt to add a reference for expressions beside the keys I’m working on, however, none of these get used in the final version as I drew Pyrite’s head WAY too small. There was no room to neatly add the detailed expressions I tested here.
Moving forward, I would make a note to frame my scene better so that the character is of a decent size. This way, tiny details like Pyrite’s cap and his clown facial details could be drawn in clearly and not have to be simplified like I ended up doing for the final.
Also, I would explore more open poses, and exaggerate the fluid movements between them. My timing, and the rhythm of the shot, need to be worked on a lot, so I would pay more attention to that as well.