Improved version of Initial Plans Powerpoint

1. Initial Plans
William Anderson

2. Initial Reaction• I am very excited to begin my FMP as I have been creating my own original work over the course of the last few
years. This mainly consisted of character sheets, but as of last Christmas I began to incorporate short animations. I
am deeply passionate about completing this project to a high standard, as not only is it animation, an area of which
I am focusing in, but also based around my own work. Because of this, I have had plenty of experience drawing
these characters, putting deep thought into their designs regarding both the shapes used, colours and clothes-
wear.
• When hearing about the project, I immediately looked to existing examples of what I would like to create, an
opening for an animated TV show. This included shows from both Eastern and Western influence, as well as some
non-animated shows such as Game of thrones. Additionally, I looked online for music that would fit an opening, as
being able to sync up the visuals and audio plays an important role in creating an impactful opening.
• Thanks to the experience I have gained throughout the year, I feel confident that my written work for this project
will be sufficient enough as to not lower my grade. I will make sure to spend extra time on each area of my pro-
forma, creating an organised layout for my work beforehand to ensure that I don’t miss out any important details
whilst simultaneously allowing the pages to have a less cluttered aesthetic.
• Additionally, my time spent working on creating animations in my video game section of my course has allowed me
to gain experience in creating said animation. This, on top of the animations I had created in my own time, helped
me to learn different skills and techniques as well as to see what aspects of animating I particularly enjoy. Whilst I
will definitely make sure to incorporate different skills that I have learned from my video game project into this
one, the overall style of the two productions is completely different. As opposed to a side-scrolling platformer
game with retro-esque graphics, my FMP animation will resemble an opening for a TV show. This will feature more
detailed drawings as well as movements that involve three dimensions rather than 2D. I feel both excited and
intrigued in creating these more complex animations as I was to push my abilities to their limits and see where I
stand. I have been specifically influenced by 2D animated openings from both Western and Eastern shows.
However, openings to shows such as Game of Thrones have influenced me in terms of colour design.

3. Initial Reaction
• Furthermore, I will make sure that I have all the necessary equipment and
software that I will require to create my animation. This will include
setting up my drawing tablet on the college computers before I begin my
production there. However, I will also dedicate parts of my free time to
creating additional frames for my animation, allowing for an increase in
quality. This will leave less pressure on me to finish work at college and
will also allow me to spend more time on my written work, ensuring it is of
higher quality as previously mentioned.
• I am fully aware of who I can talk to at college if I have any issues in
creating my project. Because of this and everything mentioned above, I
am looking forward to creating my animation and feel secure in the feeling
that I can overcome whatever obstacles may present themselves.

4. Initial Reaction – What will I make?
• I am fully aware of what I want my project to be – a 2D animation created digitally via my drawing tablet
and a piece of animation software (Adobe Photoshop). My animation will be an opening to a show based
around a story of my own creation. As previously mentioned, I have create different products based
around said story, meaning I have plenty of experience in projecting the world and its characters.
• Whilst I have previously created some animations for this story, most of my experience lies in still
drawings. This means that I will need to spend extra time practicing even more different animations to
ensure my final piece is of good quality. However, because of my experience in drawing still images, I have
greatly improves my skills in line-work as well as colouring/shading. I can incorporate these into my
animations, even if I do need to drop the quality of the drawings a bit to allow for smoother animation.
• On top of my animation, I will create accompanying media to support the main product. This will include
box art, concept art and character sheets. The concept art will include both characters as well as settings,
building and objects.
• Expanding on the animations that I previously created in my free-time are the animations I made for my
previous college work. Although these were video-game based animations, they greatly helped me
improve on my animation skills as well as my knowledge of Adobe Photoshop. Thanks to this, I can focus
on creating quality animation instead of having to learn how Photoshop works. Furthermore, the fact that
the animations were based around games allowed me to experiment with differently shaped creatures
and thus a vast array of animations. In my previous project this included a floating pig head boss enemy
which attacked the player by slamming and swiping with its fists. This in conjunction with animating my
playable character, who was a human, allowed me to greatly improve my skills in animating completely
different movements.
• Because of everything mentioned above, I feel confident that I can create a quality piece of work as long
as I put the time and effort it, which I definitely plan to do.

5. Features of my Project Mind Map

6. Mind Map - Movements

7. Mind Map - Movements
I want my animation to involve more complex and interesting movements that those found
in my video game animation. The nature of my animation allows me to do this by utilising a
3D depth to my drawings. A part of creating interesting animations is including realistic
movements. I note this down in my mind map where I mention the movement of hair and
clothes with the person’s body. How these move with the person can show a lot about what
is going on in the scene, including which way a person is moving and with how much
momentum. Furthermore, how an article of clothing reacts to said movement will give an
immediate idea as to what material it is made of. For example, clothing made from silk will
show less resistance than clothing made from cloth.
I also wanted to make sure that I gave myself a variety of choices for potential animations
that I could create, such as with my rush attack animations. This will allow me to decide at a
later date which one I will choose to include, if not both. Which I decide to include will
change what transitions and overall movements I will use in the shot.
I made sure to try to include as many small details about the movements as possible. For
example, when talking about the gunshot, I made sure to mention the factors of recoil and
bullet spin. This will not only add more fluidity to my animations, but will also make them
more realistic.

8. Mind Map - Colours

9. Mind Map - Colours
• The colours included in this mindmap are ones that I plan to include in the
backgrounds. I plan to involve a night sky in my animation, so the black
and blue mentioned here will be used to create it. It is important that I
maintain consistency in these colours as to create a constant theme for
the sky’s look. White can also be used here to create stars and the moon if
desired. Brighter colours, such as the gold and red mentioned, will mainly
be found in the character designs. This will provide a contrast between the
fore and background. However, it is important that the colours that I use in
my character designs reflect their personalities. I have created a separate
area of the mind-map to talk about this in more depth.

10. Mind Map - Themes

11. Mind Map - Themes
By planning out what themes I intend to include in my animation
I can ensure that it remains consistent in its style. This will create
a connection between the different shots and sequences in the
animation. How I incorporate these themes in different parts will
change their meanings. For example, someone trapped by chains
shows that they are trapped by something, whilst somebody
breaking chains shows them finding freedom.
The consistent features that I plan to include all have a meaning
as mentioned in the mind map. These meanings will add more
depth to the animation, adding more authenticity to it.

12. Mind Map - Character Designs

13. Mind Map – Character Designs
• The main importance of a character’s design is to make them
distinguishable to the audience whilst also giving an instant
understanding as to their personalities and roles in the story. A
good way of showing off personalities is through colour and type of
clothing worn. For example, to show of a more confident
personality the character may wear tighter clothes with brighter
colour schemes. A character’s silhouette is also important as to
making them distinguishable. This will ensure that the audience
doesn’t get confused in how a character looks. The shapes used in a
design will make the character’s personality more easily
understandable. For example, a rounder character will typically be
friendlier.
• I made sure to include some aspects of my own artstyle in the mind
map to ensure that I maintain consistency in how I draw. This will
prevent different shots and sequences from feeling out of place.

14. Mind Map - Backgrounds

15. Mind Map - Backgrounds
• I want my animation to include both backgrounds made up of
actual structures as well as backgrounds that focus on colour.
Which I decide to use depends on the shot. For example, I
plan to use more colour focused backgrounds when showing
off characters, as this will put the focus on them. As for my
detailed backgrounds, it is important that none of them feel
out of place whilst ensuring that backgrounds aren't repeated.
A way to do this is to use a consistent colour scheme for the
sky, as this will show that the events of the animation are
taking place at roughly the same time.

16. Pre-proposal

17. Skills Audit

18. Process of animating
Step One:
Using a blue brush, create a skeleton sketch for each frame of this portion of
my animation. This will give me a rough outline of what I want the animation
to look like.
Step Two:
Draw the outline for each frame using a black brush, Initially sketch, then
proceed to go over said sketch with a thicker brush to create smoother and
more defined outlines.
Step Three:
Add the base colour to the drawings using a different layer below the outline
layer but above the blue sketch layer. This will prevents the colour from
covering the black outline.
Step Four:
Using a faded brush, add shading to the colour layer. Ensure that the shading is
based on a consistent light source. Additionally, add shine onto the drawing
where required e.g. eyes.

19. Mood Board - Background

20. Mood Board - Background

21. Mood Board- background Analysis
This blue is used consistently for
colouring the sky in order to keep it
consistent between shots
Mixed colours of different hues are
blended together to create vibrant
backgrounds for when characters
are shown off. These colours change
for each character, with smooth
transitions between them either
through gradual colour change or
from the character covering the
screen for a short duration allowing
for a quick change that doesn’t
appear to be abrupt.
Background images will include features of a metropolis. Whilst this will
mainly consist of buildings, there will also be natural constructs e.g.
mountains in certain shots. Brighter colours will be used in the city
settings to match the rest of the animation’s colour scheme.
Furthermore, the mix of modern and traditional buildings will allow me
to incorporate mixed aesthetics into my work.

22. Mood Board – Background Analysis
Throughout my background mood board a recurring theme is that the
colours found are very vivid. Furthermore, these colours are found on
the buildings, providing strong contrast with the darker backgrounds.
This is similar to the colour scheme I used for my videogame animation
project, meaning I already have experience creating animations in this
style. I feel that by incorporating this into my own work I can add more
meaning to my backgrounds by having them reflect certain ascepts of
my story whilst simultaneously being aesthetically appealing. One
thing I will have to make sure of is that the backgrounds do not take
attention away from the primary motif of each piece of animation.
The backgrounds that focus on buildings can work well due to their
distinct designs, which will give the audience an immediate
understanding of the setting of the animation. An issue that I have
noticed with these is that a lot of the buildings utilise a lot of vibrant
colours, which If I were to include myself may clash with the colours
used in the characters’ designs.

23. Mood Board - Creators
Creator of ‘Jojo’s Bizzare Adventure’, Hirohiki Araki ‘s
artwork has heavily changed over the 30+ years the
series has being occuring. His later artwork has
heavily influenced my own, leading to my use of
smaller eyes and more defined facial features as well
as cross-hatch shading.
Alex Hirsch is an animation series director who is most
famous for his work at Disney. Unlike most people in the
animation industry, he went straight into directing his
own series instead of working on another. This was due to
impressing the higher ups at Disney with his portfolio,
which included work towards his show that he had
created himself. This influenced me to to actually create
projects centered around my own stories as a way of
practicing and refining them whilst simultaneously getting
my own work out into the world.

24. Mood Board Analysis - Creators
• This mood board is limited in the number of images due to there only being a
couple of creators that I take inspiration from. I instead substituted putting in
pointless images by adding text discussing why I am inspired by these people. I
made sure to include some images of the actual creations themselves to give a
visual representation of what features inspire me. For example, as mentioned on
the previous slide, the later art-style of Hirohiki Araki’s work has inspired my own
art. Furthermore, by looking over his artwork from beginning to present time and
seeing how he has improved, I feel inspired to keep on working to further improve
my own work.
• Whilst it is definitely a good idea to take inspiration from creators, it is also
important that I ensure my own work has its own identity and had its own unique
features. Focusing too much on what these people have created has the potential
to lead to my work feeling unoriginal. To counteract this, I will make sure that my
character designs are all of my own creation and whilst they may involve features
inspired by other works, will be unique enough to stand out in their own right.

25. Mood Board – Art/Animation

26. Mood Board Analysis – Art/Animation
Colour theory greatly
influences the designs of my
characters, as I can utilise
different colours to
complement each-other or
contrast depending on the
character’s relationship with
others. Furthermore, they
can be used to give an insight
into the character’s
personality alongside the
types of clothes they wear
Real life images are used as references for my artwork. This means that although my art is 2D and
digital, the drawings connect to real life objects and creatures. Furthermore, it allows me to mix
different styles together into my drawings (e.g. different patterns on different clothes)
My art-style has been heavily
influenced by the long-running
series ‘Jojo’s Bizzare
Adventure’, specifically the
more recent parts 7 & 8. This
influence includes character
proportions, eyes, colouring,
clothing and cross-hatch
shading style. I also looked at
the animated adaptation so
that I could study the different
movements created and audio
used.
Due to learning to draw
people by practicing
drawing models, my
characters’ looks and
poses are heavily
influenced by them.

27. Mood Board Analysis – Art/Animation
• To organise this mood board I seperated the different images into groups based on
whether they were model references, clothing references, hand drawn art/animation or
colour related. By doing this, I am able to quickly find any inspiration I need from the
page.
• Something I noticed about the images in the clothing section is that all the clothes have
very distinct features and patterns. These make the clothes appear more unique, an
aspect that I can incorporate into my character designs to make them stand out more.
On the topic of character design, the model images I have all have a common theme of
using interesting poses. I can also use this idea in my work to further make the
characters stand out.
• I noticed that the images in the hand drawn art section incorporate both the interesting
poses found in the models section as well as the interesting clothing designs. This gives
proof that these can work in animation, and furthermore can give me an idea of how to
transition the real life images into my own art style. Additionally, the images show the
clothing being positioned on the person realistically, e.g. moving with the character’s
momentum. Furthermore, little features such as folds and crinkles on the clothing can
be shown, something that I can use in my own animations to give the character designs
a more realistic feeling.

28. Mind Map – Character Design 1

29. Mind Map – Character Design 2

30. Mind Map – Character Design 3

31. Mind Map – Character Design 4

32. Mind Map – Character Design 5

33. Mind Map – Character Design 6

34. Mind Map – Character Design 7

35. Mind Maps – Character Designs
Analysis
• These mind maps are useful for giving a rough outline of how I want
my characters to look. Even though these designs may change later,
they allow me to have a basic starting point for my animation, and
thus I am able to build the rest of my project around them. The
designs will have a big impact on what colours I can use in the
backgrounds of my animation.
• It is important that my designs are distinguishable, and so I made
sure to create designs made up of different colour schemes and
clothes types. These can also work to reflect the characters’
personalities, thus giving the viewer an immediate idea of the
characters.
• The mind maps look at a variety of different factors of character
design, although an improvement would be to go into more depth
as to why I decided on each factor of the designs. This would allow
me to expand on these ideas with more features or by changing
older features to better reflect the characters.

36. Mood Board – Character Design #1

37. Mood Board – Character Design #2

38. Mood Board – Character Design #3

39. Mood Board – Character Design #4

40. Mood Board – Character #5

41. Mood Board – Character Design #6

42. Mood Board – Character Design #7

43. Mood Boards Analysis
• These mood boards work as good ways of visually representing what was
mentioned in my mind maps. Additionally, they allowed me to explore
more details of my characters. For example, I was able to display factors of
their personalities, such as the confidence show in the mood board of
character design B. This will allow me to refer back to these to incorporate
these aspects of the characters into animations that involve them. They
utilise both photos of existing images which can be used as influence for
my designs as well as my own artwork of some concepts of the designs.
This allows me to compare my own past work the real world examples of
what my updated designs could have.
• An improvement on these mood boards would be to simply get additional
images, as the more images I have the more examples I have to refer back
to when creation my project. Additionally, a wider variety of picture types
would give my inspiration a greater field of background, thus adding more
complexity to my designs’ influences.

44. Key Influences
The colour theory wheel has heavily influenced the designs of my characters, both in terms
of how the colours on one chracters complement eachother as well as the relationship
between the colours used for different characters. Furthermore, the meaning behind the
colours as also influened my art, as I purposely had them reflect the characters’
personaties. This will also be used for when I create the coloured background in my
character introductions, as these colours will need to reflect said characters whilst
providing clear contrast between it and the character’s colours.

45. Key Influences
• As previously mentioned, the artsyle of Hirohiki Araki has been a heavy
inspiration when developing my own art –style, and thus will have common
features with my own work e.g. cross-hatch shading. I have had previous
experience with animating whilst using this artstyle so I feel that I will be
able to create a good quality animation whilst maintaining it. Furthermore,
when creating posters, character sheets and other still images I will be able
to focus more on the quality of the art rather than the animation, meaning I
can add even more detail to the drawings.
• The use of adding folds, crinkles, marks and other details to the character’s
clothing has also influenced my art, which will allow me to give the
characters’ designs more realistic aspects. Additionally, the colour shading
used by Hirohiki Araki has helped me gain an idea of how to create
smoother transitions between darker and lighter colours, something which I
could do with pencil but always struggled to do with digital art until
recently. On top of shading, the use of beta (jet black) to create darker
areas is something that I have incorporated into my work, a feature which
again obtained by researching Araki’s artwork.

46. Key Influences
• The clothing styles that I have researched have
heavily influenced the clothing worn by my
characters. This includes the type of clothings,
the design on it, the colours and how the
material works in terms of having folds, crinkles,
etc.
• The main thing I need to keep in mind when
designing my character’s clothes is to not
directly copy an article of clothing, and instead
take inspiration from it.
• My clothing research also includes accessories
such as watches. These are smaller details that
can potentially be added to designs as a means
of further expressing a character’s personality.

47. Box-Art/Posters
• My box art and posters will be created digitally using my drawing tablet and Adobe
Photoshop. When creating these, I can use already existing posters as references
for posing my own characters. I can also create completely original templates for
my drawings.
• I will make sure to heavily research existing posters as the details on them can be
incorporated into my own work e.g. how the title is positioned.
• Similar to how I plan to create my animations, I will create my posters and box-art
in steps, beginning with a rough sketch of the piece’s design. Using my own
drawings for reference, I can add my characters to the image, using real posters
and box-art for inspiration.

48. Box Art/Posters Mind Map

49. Pros & ConsAnimation:
I feel confident that I will be able to create a good quality animation following the planning
and ideas that I have created. I have the necessary equipment to produce this and provided
I spend time outside of college working on it, which I fully intend to do. Additionally, as I
already have a good idea of what I want to create and the context behind it, I will be able to
focus my time on the actual production of the work. However, one potential downside is
that this will be my first project working on an animation of this style. This means that I will
have to rely on experiments to practice different techniques and check for any problems
that may arise.
Character Designs:
Through my experience in drawing these character designs I have been able to maintain
consistency in them. This will allow me to draw them in different perspectives whilst still
making the designs recognisable. The designs all have distinctive looks that reflect the
characters’ personalities and traits. A downside of these designs is that they have a lot of
detail, which means that they will take longer to animate. A way to counteract this issue is
to allocate extra time to animating them.
Poster/Box-Art:
I plan to work on these after my main animation is complete. This will leave me plenty of
time to assure my animation is of high a quality as possible. This could potentially results in
not having enough time to properly work on my still-art, but by producing a schedule I will
be able to plan out my time in a way that will allow me to finish everything properly. By
creating this still-art, I will be able to produce promotional art similar to that found in most
forms of visual media. This will improve the authenticity of my production.