This is a blog dedicated to the process of a 3D animation project I’ve been wanting to make for a long time. When it’s finished, click here to see the finished project post!
Until then, below is the current work in progress!
This project doesn’t have an exact start date as the story and character have existed in my head for quite a while. I can date the character herself to 2012 as that’s when I first started drawing her in the corners of my notes during middle school. But as I’ve grown and changed so has she. Because of this, no drawing of her then looks remotely similar to how she looks now, but it’s still the same character.
1-18-22
First pieces of concept art made for the style. After doing some research on colors I picked my color palette and changed the shape of the characters body to be shorter and rounder.
I also worked on and finished the story board during the week and have included it below. Although I make very rough storyboards so it’s probably difficult to understand!
1-26-22
Finished making my first proposal for the project and presented it to my peers for feedback. I began working on the animatic after recording my first rough piano cover for the project which is a piece called Moonlit Snow by Alfred Premier Piano 4. I’m a bit nervous about people hearing me play the piano since I haven’t played regularly since I was 14. I had to retake my recording SEVERAL times and edit a few together to make it presentable.
2-1-22
Had a final proposal due but didn’t make too many changes. The only alternations were an extra slide showing my current work in progress of the 3D model of the character which looks like this.
Also came up with the idea of having a 3D printed model of the character herself to have for the final project. I think it’s a very cool idea and would love to see it actually happen! Fingers crossed!
2-7-22
Finished the animatic after working on it for 3 days straight. It took a lot of time and effort and I’m not sure how others will feel about it. I’m quite content with it but I haven’t shown it to anyone yet but hopefully the story isn’t too abstract for some and is understandable.
2-9-22
Made some decent progress on the 3D model and have considered the idea of doing her face in 2D so I have more control over her facial expressions. I did a mockup of what that would look like and got positive feedback from my peers about it so for now that’s my plan.
2-16-22
Finalized the 3D model and began rigging it as well! Ran into some issues with the IK handles and orientation of the knee joint but I managed to fix it thanks to YouTube tutorials.
2-23-22 to 4-20-22
Animate, Render, Edit, Repeat!
4-23-22
Officially done rendering! This is definitely way off my original estimation date but it’s finally done! I’m now moving into fully focusing on the 2D animations. But before we get there I thought it’d be funny to show a few screenshots from videos I took back in March when I was animating. I took a lot of reference of myself to use when animating most of which I deleted after being done with the animation.
My dog Winston really wanted to be included.
5-3-22
It is finally up for public viewing! The final product can be viewed here!