Una Final Design

Here is the final design of Una, in all its glory. Really happy with this. 

Una's Body

Here are some body and outfit designs. I wanted her to have slight curves to give her a teenage look, without sexualizing her. Inspired by the cold war, I've given her a slight military look, with an ammunition strap around her shoulder, where she keeps her matches, She has a belt buckle on which she strikes the matches. The clothes are also slightly celtic inspired, with a Medieval feel.

Sculpting The Sun

Below you will find the sculpt that brought it all together. I had finally found Una. 

The Sun hair plus the over the shoulder plait works really well and really makes her hair into a feature. I made the curls more uniform in shape, all curling the same way and this avoided the Medusa look of the previous sculpt. The face shape is quite delicate, helping give her a melancholy, morose look. The bandanna gives her a bit of toughness, as I did not want her to appear feeble and delicate personality wise, I wanted her to be an explorer and adventurer that was trapped by circumstance and wanted to break free.

Another Rough Sculpt

I wanted to try out the Sun hair in plasticine too, but felt the way I did it here looked a little too much like Medusa, which is obviously not really the look I was going for. I liked the hair on paper though! I knew the Sun hair had something special about it though so I resolved to keep trying...

Big Or Small Eyes????

Definitely small eyes. I replaced the large eyes with dots, which I feel works a lot better, it makes the face more refined and sympathetic, I feel like I could have empathy for this character and actually care about what happens to it.

Experiments In Plasticine

I decided to do some quick rough sculpts in plasticine to help me develop Una's face further and choose which way I wanted to take it. I found bringing my drawings into 3D really helpful, especially since the eventual puppet would of course be a real 3D object. I really liked the plaited ponytail wrapping over the shoulder as a hairstyle, however the thread I used for the hair was very vibrant (I just used what threads I already had) so I would want the hair to be a much more subtle colour. Although I do like the big Tim Burton type eyes as a style I felt Una called for something more delicate... so more exploration was needed. 

Design Development For Una

I decided the previous designs for Una were too complex and I felt her character should be less disagreeable, with a more sympathetic look. I played about with a more abstract look but then drew back to a more human semblance, but far simpler in form than my earlier designs. On the last page of development shown I was beginning to feel like I was on the right track, with the hair being a defining feature.

There Was Once A Girl Who lived In The Sun....

I'm not going to delve too much into the plot of this story, as, as I say, I may well do something with this in the future. But basically it was about a girl, Una, who lives in the Sun. The Sun is a floating structure in the sky that is full of candles. Una's job is to light the candles at sunrise and blow them out at sunset, in order to create day and night, 

She has been doing this all her life, all alone. She has always dreamed of just taking a risk and leaving the Sun, venturing down to Earth, to freedom. Eventually she is tempted out by a boy on Earth who spots her in the Sun. But when she leaves the Sun and throws open the exit door (that has never been opened before) wind blows into the Sun.

Una goes down to Earth and has an amazing time, But back in the Sun all the candles are getting blown out. The Sun emits less and less light until everything goes dark. Una freaks out on Earth, believing her risk taking has doomed the world, throwing it into darkness. She runs back towards the Sun but trips in the dark and is knocked unconscious.

 In the Sun, there are only a few candles left alight, but instead of the candles getting blown out, they are knocked over by the wind. The candles set alight the Sun, the growing fire rushing through it.

On  Earth, Una regains consciousness as the Sun explodes in the sky, so that it becomes a big ball of fire that emits an incredible light, much brighter than the light given out by the Sun before. The Sun continues to burn happily in the sky as Una smiles: she can now remain on Earth as the Sun is lighting itself - her risk paid off.

So I then began developing Una, a sad, pessimistic, lonely girl.

I was inspired by steampunk, the cold war era and celtic art, so was trying to combine elements of these within my designs. Oh and obviously I wanted to make this in stop motion with puppets.

As you can see in these initial drawings, shown below, I enjoyed the prospect of her having hair resembling a stylized Sun. I also thought she could wear a fireproof suit so as to avoid burns and smoke. At this stage I wanted her to give off a fed up vibe as she is so sick and tired of being in the Sun.

Hello Again

Hi!! So despite a lack of posting over the Summer I have actually been doing lots of animation related things. I have been developing ideas for my third year film. I worked a lot on one idea, which involved the sun, a girl and a considerable amount of fire, but then decided that it was not the right time to make this story. I've put it in a metaphorical drawer in my mind for now.

I then came up with another idea, which just felt....... right. It felt like me, whereas the other idea always felt a little distant somehow.

So now will follow a dramatic explosion of posts, as I try to encapsulate at least some of the many thoughts that have been spiralling around in my head into tiny bite sized chunks of intelligible text.

Colouring!!

This is the last piece of work for my second year as an animation student!

These images really benefit from being coloured, it gives them a lot more energy and depth.