ANIMATED NARRATIVES WEEK 3

By Eugenia Cynthiaputri

Animated Narratives W3, 2022

These illustrations are exploring EMIT (External Manifestations of the Internal State). Through these concept art illustrations, I am able to show the characteristics of the teddy bear, specifically on the personality which is influenced by their motivation or inner conflict, their action and also their reaction to external stimuli. I am using the premise of “a teddy bear is thrown away and gained a life.” The two illustrations are able to show the story behind and personality of each character through facial expression, pose and mannerism, as well as the environment. Some really great and extensive concept arts for characters and the story world can be seen in the Final Fantasy XIV concept arts, whose one of the concept artists is Hiroyuki Nagamine. Through this week’s exercise, I was able to learn how a well-planned character is made.

EXTENDED EXPLANATION

The upper illustration is showing a sinister teddy bear, which can inform the viewer that the teddy bear is full of anger and is possibly planning a revenge to the ex-owner. The environment, the deep forest full of darkness with mysterious fog implies that the teddy bear was thrown away in an eerie forest, far away and isolated from the society. This setting is one of the external stimuli, which the character reacted to, and in this case is creating a vengeful, resentful expressions and actions of the character. The physical attributes of the character also play a big role in expressing the internal state of the character. The teddy bear looks ragged, dirty, its fur is unruly and its face stern and evil, which suggests the hardships that the character has been through, for example not being taken care of and has become a sinister being especially through its flashing red eyes. The walking pose, with the character’s head tilted down while the eyes is looking forward shows the readiness of the character to fight any obstacle along the way and is determined to fulfil his revenge. 

To show contrast with the previous illustration, the lower illustration is showing a teddy bear full of patches beside a working seamstress, with his face looking happy and elated. This illustration suggest that the teddy bear experienced a very different treatment after he gained a life, which was given a home by a seamstress, cleaned and repaired, hence the fabric patches. In addition to the teddy bear’s facial expression, the body language, the pose also suggests that the character enjoys his new life, which is mostly watching the seamstress working.