IOL: Week One Idea Brainstorming

Experiment: The Planning of Comic Style Movement

I started this experiment by brainstorming how I would like to create a character movement style that matches the aesthetic of a comic. I came to the conclusion that animating characters on different frame rates might create a distinctive style that adheres to the look and feel of a comic.

To test out this idea, I created a short narrative (storyboard and notes). It tells the story of the shadow of a bird trying to run away from its owner. The shadow will be animated on 1’s while the bird (owner) will be animated on 2’s. The shadow runs away by tripping the bird onto a rock. It then starts its adventure of wanting to explore and interact with the world. However, as the shadow is moving faster than the world, it can’t interact with anything at all. In the end, the shadow goes back to its owner where it can at least play with its owner.

After creating the storyboard, I reflected on how it could be further connected to the comic look. I think that instead of animating the characters on 1’s and on 2’s for the shadow and the bird respectively, they could be animated on 2’s and on 4’s or even on 4’s and on 8’s. It is to create a bigger difference between a normal animation and a comic-looking animation.