studio4_comedic character design in animation

By Jessie Liu

this project intends to explore a comedic character design in animation. the investigation includes anthropomorphism and zoomorphism in character design during the golden age of American animation, body language and facial expression in the silent film era and some case study of Charlie Chaplin, Jacques Tati, Bugs Bunny, and Zoomtopia. the purple is to promote my character design and storyboard skills. the outcomes are a personal website and printed illustrated book.

website prototype: https://jiaxin-liu-8nnh.squarespace.com

*the structure has done. please ignore all the texts. I just put them there for layout.

Mid Year Presentation

in class feedback: have a look at Animation Acting,  that might mention comedy as a subclass. it good to show the process of character design development with new knowledge coming in. leave color harmony along and focus on storyboard and characters. keep in mind that there are only 6 weeks left.

the initial idea is using a stable camera to shot each item. with a suggestion from teachers, it would be better to let all staff bully one item. everyone uses the hapless guy to get to clear and leave away.

to make it funny, it necessary to review the history of comedy and collect typical pieces and directors. the current reference is Ren & Stimpy, a character-lead animation.

conversation_3:

a). think more about types of animation, types of damage, types of personality and reasons. the damage may come from other directions rather than above.

b). what's the worst damage? what's the lights damage? what's the biggest enemy? what is the smallest enemy? and who beats the protagonist in the end? 

c). is that an expensive item? if so it might have a price tag which it values a lot, it totally lost when the price tag is removed.

d). pay more attention to the variety of personality and actions rather than narratives.

task: draw possible damages and response as many as possible

notes: the shampoo might be dazzling, swaging, twitching，escaping， etc.

there is something missing in the conversation, the loop. how to connect the beginning and the end is the next step.

MAR 2018

in terms of loop animation, the script has developed

a). other items bully the shampoo because shampoo attacks them.

b). the shampoo attacks other items because they bully him.

APRI

When thinking about characters, I currently treat the shampoo as something else. its long neck reminds me of griaff, vulture and elephant nose，so I start to capture the features of these animations. As Stacy Alaimo suggests: "The social organization, communicative actions, and 'personality' of animals makes blurring boundaries between people and animals much easier than crossing the broader human-nature divide" (141).

• zoomorphism. it derives from the Greek, meaning 'animal', it is the art that imagines humans as non-human animals and the art that portrays one species of animal likes another species of animal.
• anthropomorphism (from Greek ). it is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities.
• personification. it is the related attribution of human form and characteristics to abstract concepts such as nations, emotions and natural forces like seasons and the weather. Anthropomorphism and Personification both have ancient roots as storytelling and artistic devices, and most cultures have traditional fables with anthropomorphized animals as characters.

the Chinese 12 zodiac

Anthropomorphism and Zoomorphism

they have similar meaning that they blur the boundary between human and non-human.  with Zoomorphism, I think I can do more experimental design on non-human staff, applying different quality to lifeless things(toothbrush/shampoo/cup/hanger/fire). cool!

Downloads:

Download File: exjesus.docx
Download File: studioi4-jessie.pptx
Download File: character-toothbrush.pdf