Weekly Blog Post 8

 I had to rethink how to design the baby bird. I couldn't get it to look cute and like a dinosaur. I looked at some more references and want to do something similar to how Tom and Jerry drew baby birds. 

I still cannot decide on how to make a baby dinosaur look cute. I would like some feedback before finalizing the design.

It was confusing while drawing the beak from a front view.

This upcoming week, I want to start thumbnailing the story based on my script. I might cut out some parts if I feel they are unnecessary.

After I finish the storyboard for this story, I have some friends who want to help me come up with more ideas. They want to voice act so I told them I would 3D animate or storyboard their ideas depending on the complexity. It will also help me practice character design more. 

Weekly Blog Post 7

 This week I worked on my animation for 445.2 and it took a lot of time. After finishing, I worked on character designs for my Dino story. I worked on the script last week so once I complete the Baby Bird design I can start thumbnails for my storyboard.

Weekly Blog Post 6

This week I worked on the script for my story so I could translate it into storyboard shots.

Weekly Blog Post 5

 This week I worked on my characters and paid more attention to the anatomy of dinosaurs. I also worked on the story.

T-Rex

Baby Bird

The story is about a baby bird dinosaur that falls out of his nest when he practices flapping his wings. He falls out of the tree and tries to climb back up but is too weak. He waits at the trunk of the tree calling out for his mother. Dangerous animals nearby hear his cries and start to get closer. He notices them and believes them to be friendly until they bare their teeth and try to eat him. He runs away from the nest to escape the predators. He hides in an old log or small hole in the ground as the creatures run past. Now lost, he asks a brachiosaurus (long neck dinosaur) to help him find his tree but he quickly realizes the trees in this jungle all look the same from the top. He asks for more help but the dinosaur does not think he will make it back home. The brachiosaurus tells him to ask someone else for help. The baby bird is scared of asking someone else since they could eat him in one bite. He goes back into the log to wait and see if any bird-like dinosaurs will help him. The next day, a T-rex is attacked by a group of Archaeopteryx. He goes to yell for help and then they notice him. He knows they are the same species and he thinks they will be friendly. However, they could easily eat him since he is a baby. The group leaves the T-rex to target the baby bird and the T-rex quickly steps into action and scares away the group of bird-like dinosaurs. After saving his life, the baby bird trusts the T-rex. He hops onto the T-rex's snout and asks for help to find his way home. A friendly T-Rex helps him find his way home and the mother bird thanks him.

I also had a friend call me recently to ask if I could animate their audio. I hope to add this to my portfolio since I want to work on character animation and lip-syncing. I do want to focus more on storyboards so I will try to incorporate that into the process as I move from the reference and audio my friend gives me to thumbnails/storyboards to 3D blocking to 3D animation. With my friend creating the audio, I will not have to worry about thinking of a story.

Weekly Blog Post 4

 Week 4

I worked on research and character concepts. I need images of a bird-like dinosaur and a T-rex for reference. I have a basic plot of my story which I will work on more next week as I flesh out my characters. The story is about a baby bird dinosaur that falls out of his nest before he can fly and a T-Rex helps him find his way home after the baby was chased away from the nest by predators.

For the baby bird, I wanted to base it off of a real dinosaur. Either a Microraptor or an Archaeopteryx. I do not know a lot of dinosaurs that lived in trees or flew so I hope to find a good design from these references.

For the T-Rex, I want to make my own style of a friendly one. I was inspired by the shapes of the We're Back character right below because of how they transformed him from a mean-looking dinosaur to a friendly reptile with a curious and easygoing personality.

This is some practice I did for the T-rex to get a feel for how big the jaw and shape of the head should be. I want to finalize my character designs by next week so I can begin the scripting soon.