February Update

Quite a bit has changed for the Empty Skies project.

The first being that it may be entirely an animation instead. Once I wrote the script for the animation and timed it out, it came to around 2 minutes, the time that I should aim for. However, as I've been making the animatic, I find that it may actually be closer to a minute and 45 seconds long instead. I've a bit over one minute of the animatic done thus far. Here is the progress.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-hkPDJCa4Q&feature=youtu.be Here's the link just in case


So far the animatic is telling two separate stories. The rest of it will have the stories intertwine.

I also have a few proof of concepts. The first one is actually the very first shot in the animatic, which is actually a test of the void.
I received a good critique and will be changing it up a bit, but here is the first shot again

I've also a proof of concept for animating in flash in general, as the program is new to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBMpucQRmhU&feature=youtu.be Here is the link again just in case


Beyond those, I've done quite a few of sketches in my sketchbook of the characters during classes. I'll  be uploading those tomorrow. As for today, I have some minor updates to a few of the character sheets.

Seren's planet form has color, which I needed for the proof of concept. I also added a few layers of lighting to Seren's void form.

Marcelos has most of his color pallet down. It's honestly not too different from his old one though. I love his pants. They're just so bright and fun.

I have a sheet started for The Beginning. I may scrap it though. I had one sheet I made of her that was wonderful, then lost it. Since then every attempt I've made to like her look has... failed. 

Finally here is my production schedule at the moment.

I have the lines for the Beginning, though they're not in the animatic yet. Seren's were wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. Calamity I was going to record with Monday, however, I fell dreadfully ill with the stomach flu. This left me bedridden for several days. I was also weak the monday I was to record with Calamity's voice actor, and fearful of infecting him or any of my classmates. So I have to reschedule with him. 

For the most part I want to finish up the animatic, proof of concept, and character sheets so I can jump right into animation. The fact that the first shot is already mostly done is encouraging. 

Starting Artwork

Hello everyone. This is just some information to lay down the groundwork I have for Empty Skies, project and oh boy is it quite a bit.

Empty Skies is divided into two small projects:

A 1:15 minute character animation piece
&
A 45 second opening title sequence.

The first will contain four characters:

Seren Star

(Character Sheet WIP)

Seren is a quiet yet inquisitive boy with a monotone voice. This does not stop him from verbally stating his emotions. He is honest, open, and socially awkward. He has a thirst for knowledge for its own sake, and enjoys helping people. Seren is known as the current Keeper of the stars. When attacked by a chaotic creature, Seren lost all the stars. He must find them on the planet below, especially the sun, before the planet dies.

Here is his old character sheet from a year and a half ago. 

 

 I mostly showed this for how colors used to be in the past on the left outfit. He no longer has the bow, arrow, and quivers naturally with him. Instead it will be star based magic. The outfit was also generally simplified for animation. 

 Calamity - 

 

(Character sheet WIP)

Calamity is a chaotic and unstable (physically and emotionally) force. He searches the world taking forms from people in order to try and feel some form of stability and purpose. He often leads destruction in his wake. The form that intrigues him the most was one he took from the Keeper of the Stars, as it is the most stable. 

I have a lot of drawings of Calamity I could put. These just happen to be two favorites.

The Beginning -  

 (OLD character Sheet. Sadly the new one I was working on was lost. I wasn't able to recover it or make a new WIP in time.) 

 As the angel of life and destiny, The Beginning gives a purpose to all those who are to be born on the planet below. She also keeps watch over the Keeper of the Stars and the Keeper of the Planets up in the heavens. She is pleasant although a bit ditsy. She tends to get pouty and cries over humans who aren’t achieving the goals she set for them.  

Marcelos - 

(Character sheet WIP)

Once the Angel who kept watch over the Keepers, Marcelos broke the rules of not pursuing romance with a keeper. Thus he was cast out of the heavens. On the planet below, he garners power under the guise of a clumsy but helpful wizard. The praise he receives for his good works fuels his belief that he is greater than all in the heavens. 

Most of the animation will have Seren in the void, as he's suspended most of the time. So animating him is hardly more than breathing and occasional blinking. The camera will have to do a lot of the work for him.
Calamity will probably be the one animated the most. He will only be in the black sparky form (which I call his Raw form) for the entire duration of the animation. When he attacks Seren, it will also be in the distance only, so where there could have been an attack animation, there will instead be an explosion effect. The nice thing is that even though Calamity will be a lot of action and intense movement, he doesn't need to, and even shouldn't remain consistent most of the time.
The Beginning won't be in most of the animation, only the last 3rd. Most of her animations will be simple, except one scene where she flops down into a bed to relax.
Marcelos only has one or two shots where he maneuvers Calamity into the heavens. So animating him won't be too hard either.

There are three remaining characters, Kyros, Kiva, and The End. They do not appear in the main animation, only the opening title sequence. This sequence is mostly motion graphics, digital drawings, digital paintings, and a few simple animations.

I'll be making one character sheet for the three of them to share, but for an idea, here are their old ones.