Simulated work experience report
For our simulated work experience project with the 2nd year students, I was paired up with Chris. I drew the backgrounds for the opening scene. We only had two weeks to work on this project, on top of finishing up our own animation tasks and other assignments for the March deadline.
At first, I was given the choice between backgrounds or inbetweening, I went with doing the background because I knew I would be able to do more. The first three shots of the opening scene would take place in the character’s living room, so I was assigned to start with those and since it was only three shots my personal goal was to do all three. Which I was able to accomplish.
To make the workflow easier for myself, I started with the establishing shot—shot three—before the other two, that way I already knew the placement of all the furniture and items within the living room for the other close-up shots.
MOODBOARD
I had quite a bit of creative freedom for the background design, the main thing I was told was that the living room should be cosy, and a balance between rigid and relaxed to reflect the two main character’s opposing personalities. So, I started with searching for inspirations and ideas, and used the concept art and animatic that was provided as a base for the placement of the couches.
SKETCH
Once I had a better idea of my plan, I started with a sketch of the living room. To make it more homely and look as though it is being lived in, I made sure to add random books on the coffee table, mugs, snacks, and a single pillow. (Normally, sofas come with a pair of pillows, I deliberately added just one to add ‘imperfections’)
After each sketch I would send it to Chris for feedback before moving on to line and colour. For this shot, the only feedback I received was shifting the TV to the middle (I didn’t notice it was off centre)
LAYERS
FINAL
When I finished line and colour, he also said to change the lineart colour from black to a dark brown/red. I didn’t add any shading because he said he would do that himself once he decides where he wants the light source to come from, so I stopped after the base colours.
As I worked on the line and colour, I grouped the furniture and walls in different layers to make it easier in post-production in case he wanted to edit the characters behind something or shift things around.
BEFORE
FEEDBACK
FINAL
I went through the most back and forth feedback with this shot, mainly about the perspective of the furnitures. He guided me a lot with this part, and I picked up somethings to look out for when it comes to perspective—it was mostly the table that was throwing me off. Once that was sorted, the rest of process was smooth
FINAL
This was the final background I did. It was the first shot, it would be zooming out, so I made the frame 2520 x 1680 to give space for the zoom. I didn’t receive anything to change for this shot, only a note to make the tv screen size 16:9. I had the most fun working on this background, I think it’s really cute.
Throughout the two weeks everything went smoothly, and we worked well together. I learned a bit about perspective and ways to add life to a space, and the most unexpected thing I learned was how to draw books in the correct perspective—I struggled more than I thought I would with it.
What I would like to improve on for the future other than my perspective, is my speed, I think I could’ve gotten more done. Background artists in the industry draw a lot of backgrounds in just one week. I believe if I didn’t have other work to do, I could’ve gotten one or two more done.
Overall, I really enjoyed working on the backgrounds for this film, especially because I had a lot of creative freedom for the design and colours. Plus, I really liked adding personality and the little details to them.