initial ideas
I built this whole idea based on this one scene I had in my head. The scene was how I wanted the story to end. It would be character A burying a body then character B would appear behind them and instead of freaking out from seeing the dead body, B would wrap their arms around A with a proud look on their face. Which would be the revelation that B is just as toxic and evil as A, and B is the master mind behind everything.
So, with this loose idea I created a moodboard for the character design I wanted as well as one for the environment and colour palette. From there I did some sketches and doodles of the character.
Once I decided the theme I wanted–Playing with Emotions–I made a rough draft of story which was mainly just random ideas and a loose timeline of the events that would happen.
The reason I choose ‘playing with emotions’ was because I wanted to show the negative emotions when it came to love. I wanted to explore the more toxic and codependent part of it, I liked the idea of the couple being infatuated with each other and as a result harm those around them.
Characters
After several colour and outfit combinations I finally reached a design I was happy with. I wrote a short sparksnote summary of the characters’ personality plus how they meet and ended up in this ‘relationship’. And I also did some more doodles of them.
Fun fact about Bali’s name, his full name if Ogbunabali which is the name of traditional Igbo deity of death.
Storyboard
I’ve always had the hardest time drawing storyboards, but compared to all the other storyboards I’ve done in the past, which isn’t a lot, this one is the better of them. Since we only had 45 seconds it was especially difficult to get the main points of the story across without it falling flat. I showed the storyboard to several of my friends, most whom weren’t in animation or have seen storyboards and they all said they understood it so I didn’t need to change anything.
Concept Art
I’m super happy with these concept pieces. It pretty much exactly the visuals I wanted and imagined in my head. The colours were the biggest challenge, but it worked out in the end.
Technique
For the animation I wanted to try out this puppet animation/live 2D technique which I had never done before. I thought this style would really suit the story and since there would be a lot of close ups it would give me the chance to add more details and have this slow very smooth animation. On top of that, this style can also make certain scenes more eerie, especially with the slow blinks and gradual smiling.