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Character Design
The Pendant of Hyacinth
Here we take a quick dive into my beloved personal project. Though The Pendant of Hyacinth is officially a book series, I've taken on the fun side project of creating a pitch packet for it, as if I were creating an animated series for a studio instead! Maybe I'll get the opportunity to pitch it for real one day, who knows? Either way, it's always wise to have something ready! I've loved applying the skills I've been gaining at SCAD to something I'm passionate about outside of the classroom.
Here, you can see the character turnarounds for the main three protagonists. Arael at the top, Thalia in the center, and Hazel at the bottom. These characters mean so much to me, and though their designs have seen many incarnations over the years I've drawn, animated, and written about them, the one thing that never changes is how close to my heart they, and the world I've created for them, are!
The trilogy is now a complete and published book series, and you can learn more about "The Pendant of Hyacinth" under my projects tab; art, writing, and marketing materials all included.
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Susan Vance: Full Process Breakdown
Susan Vance
"Bringing Up Baby" is one of my favorite films from old cinema, so when I was given the assignment to redesign a classic live-action character for 3D animation, I leapt at the opportunity to breathe new life into the plucky young heiress who leads the action of the film, Susan Vance. I was also tasked with designing a variety of props for her, which I pulled directly from the film and then stylized to better suit animation. This was only my second time diving into design for 3D animation, but I fell in love with it, and know that I would jump at the chance to work in this style again.
Free Range Imagination
These designs were created during a summer job designing characters in the style of a predetermined artist in order to create animated promotional shorts for the Free Range Imagination website, which are currently underway. Because they were designed for this purpose, and will be made into simple puppet rigs, I designed them with all appendages already separate and ready to be rigged the second files were sent to the next artist in the pipeline. I learned a lot from designing with this type of motion in mind. This was also my first opportunity to work with multiple teams on an international scale, and having such diverse feedback definitely enhanced the work I produced while employed to help bring the original concept to life.
Donut Look Up
A hybrid 2D/3D animated short I worked on as character lead and art director. This project absolutely pushed me out of my comfort zone, encouraging flat, graphic silhouettes and simple color palettes for the tight schedule we needed to fill. I also had the pleasure of animating some of these designs later on, and if you watch the film below (it's only two minutes, I highly recommend the watch if you need a laugh!) you will get the pleasure of watching me take a donut to the face at who knows how many miles per hour.
Courage
For the short film Courage, I was in charge of early visual development of the beast the protagonist is forced to face. For this project, my goal became to balance the appeal of the director's soft, friendly style, and the uncanny features of monster. The animals I was requested to combine definitely added to the challenge and the intrigue of the assignment! The director and I collaborated to find the most entertaining ways to combine comedy with horror to create a beast that could terrify our lead, while still endearing itself to the audience. The beast's open mouth was my favorite part to tackle, because I was requested to come up with something surprising for when it roared. I'm excited to see how the team continues to develop this design!
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