Anim8or Community
Artwork => Finished Works and Works in Progress => Topic started by: CoriDavis on May 25, 2016, 10:41:04 pm
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Hey guys, just thought I'd poke in and see who all is still around, and fill you in on my latest project.
I've happened to discover that my true calling is unfortunately not 3D, but in Traditional Animation. HOWEVER! Anim8or is still finding its way into this project!
Galacticats is an animated series I'm working on that will start out on Youtube. It's a Sci-Fi action-comedy series in a retro 80's/90's style that stars three Space Cat sisters: Galaxy, Vega, and Polaris, who are in a constant rivalry with the evil Space Dogs, constantly stopping them from wreaking havoc upon the galaxy.
The content will be entirely created by me and my team, so it can be monetized. I'm also formatting it to work on TV if I ever get "discovered" one day. I'm aiming for the episodes to be about 10-12 minutes each (30 for specials) to fit in a two-at-a-time episode slot.
I'm using Adobe Animate (Formerly Flash Pro CC) for the traditional animation, although I may move to OpenToonz if I decide I like it so I can downsize my Adobe package if I can for when I can't have the Student Discount anymore. I'm also using Photoshop for the backgrounds and many of the effects, and then Premiere to put everything together.
Here's where Anim8or comes in:
Since I can't draw a straight line worth crap, all of the ships will be in 3D and textured in cel style. Here's the cats' ship:
(http://img13.deviantart.net/bcca/i/2015/239/2/3/galacticats___the_cats__ship__final__by_anscathmarcach-d97d701.png)
And since I can't really paste the SWF previews here, here are some of the animated scenes of it:
http://anscathmarcach.deviantart.com/art/Ship-Fly-Opening-Animation-586304007
http://anscathmarcach.deviantart.com/art/Galacticats-Ship-2-Animation-611239144 (Just redid the first scene so it would exit at a better angle)
The dogs' ship is still in the design phase (and by design phase, I mean it's still not set in stone what it's going to look like at all), so I don't have a model of it. Here's the design I like the most so far:
(http://img07.deviantart.net/2ebc/i/2015/252/e/d/galacticats___the_dogs__ship_sketch_by_anscathmarcach-d990olw.png)
Here's my sketch animation. Kind of like a storyboard but slightly animated. I prefer this method over storyboarding.
And finally, if you want to see absolutely everything I have so far on the project, I have everything gathered in this DeviantArt group:
Galacticats-Show (http://galacticats-show.deviantart.com/)
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Very clever, Cori! Good luck with your pursuits!
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Love your work, Cori. Excellent concept and quality-wise it looks TV-ready to me! I'm more of a lurker than an active member these days, projects keeping me busy, but always great to see what folks are up to. Good luck with Galacticats :)
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Nice one Cori. :)
Galacticats is awesome.!
Looking very professional and proper, great looking characters, great concept and an excellent intro.
Congrats so far to you and the team. Looks like only a matter of time b4 you'll get 'discovered'. (http://s6.postimg.org/4y98eizkt/grywink.gif)(http://s24.postimg.org/o4uvmxwjl/Thumbs_Up_G1.gif)(http://s8.postimg.org/j64xwcx9d/Big_Grin_Gry.gif)
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got to admire your gumption! 8) i've done stuff in an episodic structure myself, but usually with episodes running around 2 minutes (max 5 or 6) rather than 11, so you've certainly got your work cut out for you... still, sounds like you've got more than one of you working on this, which i'm sure will make it much easier to achieve.
my only critique is, i think Polaris' eye colour is a bit unsettling. i kinda see where it's coming from in terms of the sisters' R/G/B thing, but to my mind it just shouts 'this one's a baddie!' - and i'm 28, so goodness knows how it'd read to a 7-year-old :o
anyway, all the best with the project!
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Actually by "Team" I mean me, and the people doing the voice acting and such. All the animation, writing, etc. is all done by me. However, once (if) I start making money from this, I hope to one day hire someone to draw inbetweens for me.
my only critique is, i think Polaris' eye colour is a bit unsettling
Yeah, I realized that when I made her. That's why I was trying to go for a more pink than bright red.
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Oi Cori!!! The animation is looking super-fantastic! I think it'll be sweet to see how this project develops.
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Actually by "Team" I mean me, and the people doing the voice acting and such. All the animation, writing, etc. is all done by me
ah. well, you really have got your work cut out then, haven't you... :o i suppose the trick is to be realistic about how many episodes you can make in a given time period; speaking from experience and going by your 11-min projected runtime, i'd guess 2 to 4 eps a year might be realistic depending how much free time you have and how many other projects you've got on the go. your format is certainly ambitious for a solo animator, but so long as you keep knuckled down to it, and you don't expect yourself to manage some unachievable workload (like, say, a 20-episode season within a year), then i'm sure you'll be fine :)
my only critique is, i think Polaris' eye colour is a bit unsettling
Yeah, I realized that when I made her. That's why I was trying to go for a more pink than bright red.
i can see the pinkish tint now you mention it, but i'm not sure it's doing the trick yet. i'd really recommend you tone it down to a lighter shade (maybe something around RGB 255 160 220, or even lighter).
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First off, this is awesome, second off I just saw your nyan video (congrats on that view count!).
Also are you trying for a retro cell shaded look, or are you aiming for the clean digital look that came from the mid 2000's?
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ah. well, you really have got your work cut out then, haven't you... :o i suppose the trick is to be realistic about how many episodes you can make in a given time period; speaking from experience and going by your 11-min projected runtime, i'd guess 2 to 4 eps a year might be realistic depending how much free time you have and how many other projects you've got on the go. your format is certainly ambitious for a solo animator, but so long as you keep knuckled down to it, and you don't expect yourself to manage some unachievable workload (like, say, a 20-episode season within a year), then i'm sure you'll be fine :)
I don't even have set timeframes to get episodes finished by honestly. They're just going to be released when they're done, and I may even wait to upload a week after I'm done (or know FOR SURE I'll be done), and then upload a trailer to my channel saying "Episode # will be released on (date)" to generate some hype for it.
Right now it's only me because I REALLY don't have the money to hire someone right now, knowing many animators will charge a LOT (one of my friends recommended I charge no less than $200 per minute of animation for any commissions I do). So I want to be absolutely sure the series will take off before I commit to hiring someone.
I'd also like to have a little help with brainstorming the plotlines for episodes. I already have several summaries out, but they don't have every single scene written out until I get to the script, and I often have a lot of trouble coming up with "filler".
First off, this is awesome, second off I just saw your nyan video (congrats on that view count!).
Also are you trying for a retro cell shaded look, or are you aiming for the clean digital look that came from the mid 2000's?
I just saw your comment!
And I'm kind of going more towards digital since that's what I'm working with and I do NOT want to go through actually drawing every frame on paper, nor do I have the equipment to do real cel animation. Sure I could use filters to make it look like paper, but I like how it looks now. It's still going to be traditionally animated, just digitally drawn.
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And I'm kind of going more towards digital since that's what I'm working with and I do NOT want to go through actually drawing every frame on paper, nor do I have the equipment to do real cel animation. Sure I could use filters to make it look like paper, but I like how it looks now. It's still going to be traditionally animated, just digitally drawn.
I was talking about style and not actual process.
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I was talking about style and not actual process.
Oh, well I'm not sure. I was originally going for an 80's/90's style, but it still has some pretty modern elements to it. Right now I guess it's kind of its own thing.
Also, the preview video has been updated!
AND!!! I just got the vocals TODAY!!!
https://soundcloud.com/cori-davis-1/galacticats-theme-song-vocals-draft
The song was written and played (by "play" I mean digitally created) by me, and the vocals were done by the worship leader of my church who will also be the voice of Bolt (one of the bad guys).
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The vocals are not too shabby, and fit well with the video! Definitely an 80's-90's feel.
Then again, I grew up in the 60's...
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I was talking about style and not actual process.
Oh, well I'm not sure. I was originally going for an 80's/90's style, but it still has some pretty modern elements to it. Right now I guess it's kind of its own thing.
being its own thing is always a plus, creatively speaking!
I don't even have set timeframes to get episodes finished by honestly. They're just going to be released when they're done
sounds like a sensible plan to me :)
I'd also like to have a little help with brainstorming the plotlines for episodes. I already have several summaries out, but they don't have every single scene written out until I get to the script, and I often have a lot of trouble coming up with "filler".
i have a bit of experience with episodic screenwriting and i find it a fascinating process, so i might be able to chip in on that if you wanted? probably worth waiting until i've seen Episode 1 so i can gauge style and tone and what-have-you, but i'd be up for it in principle.
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It's DONE!!! I just finished it last night!
So as of now, I might have that second animator I wanted! She's going to try it out and see how it goes. It'll be volunteer for now until I can actually make some money with this.
So this whole project took 7 months total. 2 for the sketch animation, and 5 for the full animation. There was the issue that I wasn't constantly working on it though, and if I was, it probably would have gone a lot faster. Hopefully the first episode won't take 77 months to finish! That would not be good. With a second animator and me getting more diligence, hopefully it will be done sooner than I'm expecting.
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Can I get an MP3 of that theme song?
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Yeah, sure: https://www.dropbox.com/s/bwo2kaodbiagvlv/Galacticats-ROUGH-TRACK.mp3?dl=0
It is only a draft though right now, and there will eventually be an improved version at some point.
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I love the talking cat in the mother ship screen, very funny. 8)
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I love the talking cat in the mother ship screen, very funny. 8)
That's their father. He communicates with them from a secret location where the dogs can't find him. He's very important. Both to the cats, and the planet they left behind that was taken over by the Galactic Canine Empire.
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Cool work! That's why I just love anim8or. Useful for any project :)
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It's DONE!!! I just finished it last night!
So as of now, I might have that second animator I wanted! She's going to try it out and see how it goes. It'll be volunteer for now until I can actually make some money with this.
So this whole project took 7 months total. 2 for the sketch animation, and 5 for the full animation. There was the issue that I wasn't constantly working on it though, and if I was, it probably would have gone a lot faster. Hopefully the first episode won't take 77 months to finish! That would not be good. With a second animator and me getting more diligence, hopefully it will be done sooner than I'm expecting.
That is slick! Love it!
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Hey guys! So after a bit of a hiatus of not having any motivation, I have finished the script for Episode 1, and started the storyboard! I also have a new design in mind for the Dogs' ship:
(http://img08.deviantart.net/05c9/i/2016/299/f/1/galacticats___new_dog_ship_concept_by_anscathmarcach-dambjm8.png)
(http://img15.deviantart.net/7fa3/i/2016/301/b/d/galacticats___dog_ship_model_1_wireframe_by_anscathmarcach-damisii.png)
It still needs a lot, but I really like this one.
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...I have finished the script for Episode 1, and started the storyboard! I also have a new design in mind for the Dogs' ship...
good to see you're still pushing ahead - i'm really looking forward to seeing how this turns out! :)
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Thought I'd post some updates:
1. I've finalized the theme song animation by updating the music and improving some of the animations I wasn't entirely happy with. This is what will be used in official episodes:
2. Some time ago (and I forgot to post them here) I also uploaded two storyboard clips with recorded lines:
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very nice!
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Now that I'm finally back to work on Galacticats, I'm trying again to design the dog's ship.
There were a lot of changes I wanted to make, but unfortunately I somehow lost the original file. It was just gone. I did a search through all the files on my computer on both drives, and it was nowhere to be found. I guess it got left behind when I changed computers, and then got wiped with what was left on my laptop. I think that by rebuilding the ship model, the overall shape has improved a lot.
(http://img08.deviantart.net/397e/i/2017/222/3/9/galacticats___dog_ship_attempt_2_by_anscathmarcach-dbjmjgd.png)
The idea is generally the same, but I added these opening ear flaps that reveal engines, which I really liked that my friend OrionShipworks from DeviantArt suggested:
(http://img15.deviantart.net/8917/i/2016/304/1/c/prelim_concepts_by_orionshipworks-damweza.jpg)
I also changed the color. The more I looked at it, the more I wasn't fond of that rusty orange color. So the obvious answer was to take the cats' ship, and invert the colors. And it looks AWESOME. Now I have a new color scheme for the dogs' ship (minus the green). I mean yeah, it's got pink on it, but it still looks ANGRY, you know? I'll definitely be adding some embellishments to it, possibly making a Galactic Canine Empire logo. But I'll probably brighten the maroon color so it pops out a bit more from the background:
(https://orig07.deviantart.net/1dbd/f/2017/222/1/b/1_by_anscathmarcach-dbjml95.png)
And finally, here's an animation of the "ears" opening. There are no outlines yet so it looks a bit weird, but you get the idea.
(http://orig10.deviantart.net/3a46/f/2017/222/7/6/ship_by_anscathmarcach-dbjmjnc.gif)
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I just found yet another use for Anim8or in this project!
So there's a show on Youtube that I watch called "Scribble Kibble", where she analyzes animations and explains how they did them. This past week, she talked about an anime where they would draw the background art on top of 3D models to keep the perspective accurate and consistent, and I thought... by george that is GENIUS!!!
Perspective and geometric shapes are one of my weaknesses, which is why so far only the ships are 3D. This method takes ALL THE GUESSWORK out of it! I just make a super basic 3D model of everything that's going to be in the scene, put the camera where I want it, and draw all the parts on top of it! IT'S BRILLIANT!
Here's a few shots of the interior of the cats' ship:
(https://img04.deviantart.net/d67b/i/2017/249/0/f/cat_ship_interior__background_art_guide__by_anscathmarcach-dbmmq8b.png)
By the way, work on Galacticats is about to move forward full force! With another Projects class this semester, I was worried I was going to go another several months without getting anything done. However, I had a genius idea! Why not kill two birds with one stone and animate a scene from Galacticats for my project?
AND IT WAS APPROVED!
So hopefully by the end of this semester (in December), I will have one fully animated and polished clip finished!
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Great work on the interior, and thanks for sharing the clip about 3d/2d background.
I animate in flash and use backgrounds made with anim8or, so it was inspiring.
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tbh, based on the title sequence, i'd kinda assumed you were already using this technique (or something similar) - the background geometry has been pretty consistent so far :D
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I had been using perspective grids before. It worked but it was VERY tedious and made background art a lot less fun.
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Here's the first background done in the new method!
3D:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/308058669671645186/357336859417903104/Scene01.png)
Painted:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/308058669671645186/357336922143588362/Scene01.png)
Compare to what was done with a Perspective Grid:
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/308058669671645186/357337132030885889/Ship_Inside_2.png)
If I had done this the old way with perspective grids, this could have taken me up to two days to finish. With painting over the 3D model, it only took me one hour!
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Hey guys, here's a finished clip! I actually posted this some time ago, but I hadn't posted it here!
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Very cool!! :)
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Cori, great to see you pushing forth with your works! This is an awesome and fun thread! Good stuff all!