Your concept art and character design possess some really nice qualities; this is an instance when what is naive about your art style (your inexperience in terms of drawing) is contributing very positively to this project. The knack will be to ensure that you can translate the qualities of your paintings into Maya - in this regard, I want you to work very closely with both Jordan and Simon to ensure you can produce this translation effectively. Personally, I think both your characters could do without their actual legs - I also think that, in terms of facial animation etc. you could use 2D expressions and animate between them. In short, you could keep your Maya forms strong and simple and nicely textured, and achieve some of the more complex elements via 2D effects - take a look at the animation below (it's a bit rude, but you'll get my point I hope)
Notice how the forms are kept nice and simple, and how the expressions are achieved using 2D elements. In terms of your animation looking and feeling like a game... all I'd ask you to think about is how that might limit your choices in terms of putting sequences together: games of the kind you describe have a fixed camera view and unless you're playing a game like that, the experience of watching could be too linear and a bit boring. For example, I'm looking at the fight scene between the antibiotic and the bacteria in your concept art, and can already tell you that it would be much more exciting is you could use a variety of different shots to create excitement and tension. Personally, I'd think very carefully about limiting your approach to simulating game play, because I think it may result in an experience that is more boring for audiences than you think.
So - in summary, I like how your style is shaping the approach to your environments and your characters. That said, my advice would be to simplify your characters still further (as you're showing how bacteria mutate to become resistant to antibiotics, I'm presuming you'll have to design more than one version; you'll have to show the evolution from the basic bacteria through to the 'ultimate'?). I also want you to think about the 'gaming' approach - is this going to help you 'tell' your story? Personally, I think your audience will engage just fine if you put a well-crafted animation in front of them.
Something else you need to think about: how are audiences going to learn about what they're being shown? Will there be text elements on screen, will there be a voice-over? Remember, your audience won't have had Peter Klappa's lecture so they'll be watching it 'fresh' - what are you going to do to ensure they can follow the action?
OGR 03/03/2016
ReplyDeleteHey Sam,
Your concept art and character design possess some really nice qualities; this is an instance when what is naive about your art style (your inexperience in terms of drawing) is contributing very positively to this project. The knack will be to ensure that you can translate the qualities of your paintings into Maya - in this regard, I want you to work very closely with both Jordan and Simon to ensure you can produce this translation effectively. Personally, I think both your characters could do without their actual legs - I also think that, in terms of facial animation etc. you could use 2D expressions and animate between them. In short, you could keep your Maya forms strong and simple and nicely textured, and achieve some of the more complex elements via 2D effects - take a look at the animation below (it's a bit rude, but you'll get my point I hope)
http://www.stashmedia.tv/balls-wall-project-consent/
Notice how the forms are kept nice and simple, and how the expressions are achieved using 2D elements. In terms of your animation looking and feeling like a game... all I'd ask you to think about is how that might limit your choices in terms of putting sequences together: games of the kind you describe have a fixed camera view and unless you're playing a game like that, the experience of watching could be too linear and a bit boring. For example, I'm looking at the fight scene between the antibiotic and the bacteria in your concept art, and can already tell you that it would be much more exciting is you could use a variety of different shots to create excitement and tension. Personally, I'd think very carefully about limiting your approach to simulating game play, because I think it may result in an experience that is more boring for audiences than you think.
So - in summary, I like how your style is shaping the approach to your environments and your characters. That said, my advice would be to simplify your characters still further (as you're showing how bacteria mutate to become resistant to antibiotics, I'm presuming you'll have to design more than one version; you'll have to show the evolution from the basic bacteria through to the 'ultimate'?). I also want you to think about the 'gaming' approach - is this going to help you 'tell' your story? Personally, I think your audience will engage just fine if you put a well-crafted animation in front of them.
Something else you need to think about: how are audiences going to learn about what they're being shown? Will there be text elements on screen, will there be a voice-over? Remember, your audience won't have had Peter Klappa's lecture so they'll be watching it 'fresh' - what are you going to do to ensure they can follow the action?