like many briefs, it was left completely open, so I had free reign over what I could with it.. and in turn it made the brief all that more difficult to come up with something completely original, full of heart and that the audience would connect with...
the more I researched into what cartoons where out there, the more I realised there wasnt that much room for originality.. I shouldnt worry too much about having a completely new idea AND story (after all I'm not a writer too) but that if I can create a character with "heart and optimism" then the story would develop...
Im not 100% sure where the lightbulb as a character came from to start with, but looking at the animated shorts produced by Pixar (such as Tin Toy, Knick Knack, Red's big dream and Luxo Jr mentioned in an earlier post...) the premise of an inanimate object being injected with life would be more interesting than trying to imagine a character from scratch... the Faces In Places blog jumped straight to mind and how we interpret shapes into recognisable features such as the eyes, nose and mouth of a face. Referencing Scott McCloud's 'Understanding Comics' also points out how we can boil down the complex features of a person's face (in real life or a photograph) to a universally understood symbol of 2 dots for eyes and a line for a mouth.
Anyway, here are some of my development sketches of the character as I worked out how complex or simple I should make the character... I was messing around with keeping the drawing loose but it somehow distracted away from what the character actually was and even things like whether to have a mouth on his face or not. Im not sure if I mentioned this earlier but the reason I didnt give the character legs was that it just looked wrong... but it meant I then had to come up with some way for him to walk and move. Effectively, "He" (the bulb, or Bulbio as I've nicknamed him...) was like a tripod.. he had the base of his body and his 2 arms to walk on. Almost like walking on crutches he would throw both arms forward, then bring his lower body swinging through his planted arms to progress.. (this also reminded me of Parkour and a Monkey vault)
Im not 100% sure where the lightbulb as a character came from to start with, but looking at the animated shorts produced by Pixar (such as Tin Toy, Knick Knack, Red's big dream and Luxo Jr mentioned in an earlier post...) the premise of an inanimate object being injected with life would be more interesting than trying to imagine a character from scratch... the Faces In Places blog jumped straight to mind and how we interpret shapes into recognisable features such as the eyes, nose and mouth of a face. Referencing Scott McCloud's 'Understanding Comics' also points out how we can boil down the complex features of a person's face (in real life or a photograph) to a universally understood symbol of 2 dots for eyes and a line for a mouth.
Anyway, here are some of my development sketches of the character as I worked out how complex or simple I should make the character... I was messing around with keeping the drawing loose but it somehow distracted away from what the character actually was and even things like whether to have a mouth on his face or not. Im not sure if I mentioned this earlier but the reason I didnt give the character legs was that it just looked wrong... but it meant I then had to come up with some way for him to walk and move. Effectively, "He" (the bulb, or Bulbio as I've nicknamed him...) was like a tripod.. he had the base of his body and his 2 arms to walk on. Almost like walking on crutches he would throw both arms forward, then bring his lower body swinging through his planted arms to progress.. (this also reminded me of Parkour and a Monkey vault)
First character developments:
yes that is a quick sketch of the Milk carton character from Blur's Coffee and Tv video.. another inspiration to this project..
As I kept working on the character, people asked me why I had chosen an old fashioned incandescent bulb as opposed to the newer energy saving lightbulbs... then a story of my bulb being replaced by an energy saving one started to develop.. how my bulb would still want to shine and bring light to the world but he now had to find a new place to "fit" in.. ahahah :)
in trying to sketch ideas for a possible animation, I ended up going down a kind of advertising route.. sort of... Old Vs. New, and then creating a retro styled advert for my bulb.. I wanted to make a poster depicting the bulb as a character that would bring light to our everyday lives.. like a brand mascot more than anything else. I even started to create more characters based on the type of bulbs available as if they could be other cast members to the animation etc..
in trying to sketch ideas for a possible animation, I ended up going down a kind of advertising route.. sort of... Old Vs. New, and then creating a retro styled advert for my bulb.. I wanted to make a poster depicting the bulb as a character that would bring light to our everyday lives.. like a brand mascot more than anything else. I even started to create more characters based on the type of bulbs available as if they could be other cast members to the animation etc..
whilst looking for lightbulb character inspiration, I came across this guy.. so.. there goes my originality out of the window but at least mine has a little more heart/optimism.. but the character is acting more like an idea than a bulb... a sign of inspiration... which got me thinking of something else for my animation... maybe my bulb would be lookin for a place to fit in but instead he becomes the bulb of inspiration for a human character :)
Thinking about mocking up a "retro-styled" advert I began sketching ideas, looking at existing adverts from the 40's and 50's and finding visual reference for creating a "weathered" aged look off set screen print effect. Branding mascots are created to put a friendly face to a product, making them instantly recognisable amongst their competitors.. but they are also meant to encompass a companies ideals and qualities.. so i played with making my bulb strong, bold, friendly, approachable, happy and bright.. but then i also played with some ideas of him being replaced.. hence the coffin shaped shadow in one of my sketches.. and the spirit of a energy bulb ghost leaving the incandescent body :)
Although technically successful, showing i can use digital programs and recreate a feeling of "vintage", i dont think the idea is as strong as it could be.. maybe its the proportions.. the hand and bulb could fill more of the poster or it needs more slogans, text and "retro" fonts added to it...
These were possibly my main source of inspiration.. purely for the off set effect and colouring.. but now it looks like a poor imitation and not as strong as my other image.. (to follow)...
i feel like i have just taken aspects, such as the offset print, the colours, a smooth outline, screen tones and the faded quality and jammed them into this piece rather than using them to emphasize the my design/idea...
i feel like i have just taken aspects, such as the offset print, the colours, a smooth outline, screen tones and the faded quality and jammed them into this piece rather than using them to emphasize the my design/idea...
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