Animation Test

Practice on the animation and background.

Background Style

I made this background to practice and determine the overall direction I'd like to take for the scenery. This is just a jpeg of the background I made, the actual file has been composed in such a way that it can work with parallaxing on After Effects. I'll be making a demonstration of that, including a moving character within the scene. There will be changes to various colours, shades, and brush sizes in the final version of this background.

As it will help with my art direction, I'll be making another background in a similar style, while talking through the process.

Step 1: (this part's optional)

I create a basic 3D model of the background and render it out at an appropriate aspect ratio, depending on how much the camera moves in the scene.

Step 2:

With a clear enough idea on the perspective and layout of the area, I then trace over the layer below, while adding minor elements to the scene, using a black simple circle brush - size 4px, pressure off.

Step 3:

Next, I add a solid colour to the layers below the line art layers.

Step 4:

Above the solid colour layers, I make a multiply layer and add a shade to certain parts of the scenery. I use the the same shade of colour from the solid colour layer for this. I then merge this layer with the Solid Colour layer.

Step 5:

I add textures to the scenery on another layer.

Step 6:

Next, I add extra shades by using two multiply layers, both at 50% opacity.

Step 7:

I'll add the rest of the well-needed details and colour/shade them just like the previous steps, and I'll avoid shading the less significant details, like the skirting boards or that light switch.

Step 8:

Finally, I'll organise the layers into groups so that as I'm compositing the scene in After Effects, I can convert them into 3D layers, which helps characters move in front of and behind the layers, as well as paralaxing.

Sillie & Millie Background Art References

Pinterest Board references for background artist.

Sillie & Millie Inspirations: Mother Series

This is probably my biggest inspiration of all. After playing these games at the same time as this pilot lingering in my head at the time, I began to evaluate what in particular about these games grabbed me.

Mother 2 (or Earthbound as you will know it as) is, on the surface, a parody of JRPGs with a very childlike art style and tone of voice, but is primarily a coming of age story, where the protagonist, Ness (a representation of the creator of the game as a child), by the end of a long and bizarre journey, experiences true terror and by remembering the his friends and family, counters the fear and ends up being a bigger man. The background music is similar to Adventure Time's in terms of how experimental, wacky, and tone-presenting it is. It has more of a nostalgic feel to it, opposed to Adventure Time, though, and I think is a stronger influence in that sense.

 

Mother 3 has the same kind of tone as Earthbound. A very vibrant and child-like art style, some random and wacky humour; the difference is that instead of getting scary out of nowhere, it has little snippets of very dark and sad moments throughout the story. On top of that, it deals with themes of family death and childhood trauma, a very daring move considering this is somewhat more of a kid's game than anything. Just like Earthbound (and to a larger extent Adventure Time) the transition between humourous to serious is both smooth and strong. The music in this one is not nearly as experimental as Earthbound's but it does have a strong nostalgia factor, the Love theme in particular being a powerful contender for most emotional theme in gaming. This is actually why the demo music for the main theme of my pilot is so sentimental, because it's more of a taste of the tone I wish to take on with my series, despite how the pilot looks on a surface level.

Sillie and Millie Inspiration: George Costanza (Seinfeld)

I was comparing Millie to different characters I enjoy and I realised that there was someone that really hit the nail on the head of what kind of character she is.

George Costanza is quite an accurate comparison, I'd say. I've always sort of related to this character, because he is so much of a jaded baffoon that you really want him to succeed just once. This is a remarkable trait for characters in slapstick comedy, in my opinion, because while the character is in a sense unlikable due to their immaturity, you still relate to the feeling of failure and that desire for them to succeed makes you like them. I figured Millie would be the same.

In the pilot, for example, we can relate to her stress and desire to be cured of her sickness and just have fun at home with her friend, but her attempts at having fun during her sickness and trying to cure herself are what make the slapstick. She's dumb and reckless, but lovable. In the same way George just wants to fit in with society, Millie just wants to fit in in general.

Millie is somewhat as much fueled by her arrogance as George is, in the sense that while she can usually be happy and accepting around Sillie, she is also rather cynical towards others. This doesn't come across well in the pilot, however, but I'd say Millie is the type of person who would try and recreate an argument just so she could use her "jerk store" come-back, or eat an eclaire from the trash because it was on top of a magazine.

Sillie & Millie Influences: Adventure Time

One of the many shows, movies, and video games that influenced Sillie & Millie was Adventure Time. I looked at that for inspiration for some of the humour but also for the fact that it manages to transition so smoothly to real genuine drama. That drama is backed up, of course, by the really grim lore, that they admittedly made up as they went along but works because it's a fantasy world so the backstory is open-ended.

It's the fact that they touch on such adult themes and don't pull any punches when talking about them, and yet the tone of voice is still child-friendly because of the simple and cutesy visual style.

On top of that, the music is very experimental and effective at establishing both the humourous and the surreal tone of the series, and it transitions nicely to the more emotional music.

Millie's House

As this is the main setting of the pilot, I should make sure the setting tells us as much about the series as possible, since the actual story of the pilot is all about the two main characters, I'm fairly limited on what I can show in it. I don't wish to hide too much, nor do I want to bombard the viewer with information, so I think visual hints at what might happen later on in the series would help.

I've always thought of settings as characters, meaning there is usually some kind of signifier within the mise en scene. This video explains it better than I do.

This is the kind of logic I wish to operate on. Now how the setting will establish the characterisation and situations of not only Millie but the whole family is another story. The house needs to:

A) Set the tone for the series
B) Establish possible story elements
C) Contain appropriate mise en scene for the characters

Main Theme demo

I contacted a man named James Wood, a composer and mutual friend of Cara, with the instructions I posted earlier. He sent me the demo track today, and I am utterly amazed by it. It really captures the more bitter-sweet and nostalgic tone of the series that I wanted. I can't wait to see how it gets remixed both for this pilot but in later moments of the series, should it get fully developed.

Here it is. Judging by the general surprised response to this theme (a lot of people were telling me they expected it to be much sillier) it's definitely doing its job right.

How Would I Describe Millie's World?

I am having a lot of trouble thinking of how to make concept art for Sillie & Millie and I can't find any examples of similar concept art. It might help if I describe with words what the world will is.
It's hard to explain really so I'll try and describe it the best I can.

Millie's world is based on a modern day English setting. There is not a specific year for this series yet so let's just say it's the year "201X". Even though this is a real-world setting, it's a vibrant and cartoony place, so weird and over-the-top stuff can happen (I mean just listen to the plot of the series, a toy gets possessed by a spirit). The world's aspects can be thought of automatically as the series goes along, depending on what the writers come up with, as long as they don't end up ruining the story or anything.

In terms of how the backgrounds look, it just looks like a more vibrant version of the real-world, kind of like The Simpsons, or Regular Show.

I think this helps get a proper idea. I'm probably just better off using examples of the aesthetic of other shows or movies to inspire me, or rather inspire the background artist (s).