Concept Art & Robot Animation

For a possible robot character I researched int robotic characters, toys and actual build robots. If can pull it off I intend to make a robot character for my animation using a method of rigging that requires the parenting of individual shapes (i.e. arms, legs, fingers etc) to the individual parts of a skeleton rig. This way I do not need blend shapes or any weight painting should the tests succeed and I can pull this off.

Story Ideas

Below are some ideas of duo acts that I could use acting against each other in my story in some format.

1) Robot Hunter & Alien

2) American Stickman & Soviet Stickman

3) Small Robot & Big Robot

4) Policeman & Crook

5) Ant & Elephant

6) Caterpiller & Butterfly

Stick Men

A new idea would be for me to try and animate 3 dimensional stick men (which facial features). This style would be simple and not too difficult to rig and weight.

(Much thanks to Yaniv who gave me the idea)

Chibi Design Style

'Chibi' is a term used in Japan to describe a drawing that is small or childlike and simplified in appearance and size. Many people take existing characters and design them in such a way and I think this style could be of a good influence towards my design style.

Below are some examples of Chibi, using characters from the Naruto manga and anime series, taken and redesined in the Chibi style.

Spy vs. Spy

Spy vs. Spy is a black and white, wordless comic strip about two spies called Black and White who are constantly waring with each other and coming up with very sophisticated and creative ways to outdo the other.

Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends

A simple and very 2 dimensional style of character design.

Klonoa

From the video game series of the same name

Megaman & Robotboy

Megaman from the game series of the same name and Robotboy, also from the series of the same name.

MegaMan (above)

Robotboy (below)

Astro Boy

Another simply designed character. Astroboy was created by Osamu Tezuka in the 1950s, Japan and appearing in his latest incarnation in 2009 as a CG film.

Character design

Below is an image I found of a minor character called 'Starman.exe' from the 'MegaMan Battle Network' game series. The design is another fairly simple one, though less so than Rex the Runt and could be used as influence for one of my characters.

A design style

Looking for a design style, I wanted something that was fairly simple and cartoony. This way I'd have no problem producing something with the time constraint that this project has and will hopefully have less complication than I had in the previous project when it comes to rigging.

Below are some images and and clips of a short series called 'Rex the Runt', a clay modelled animation created by Aardman that tells the story of 4 dogs: leader character 'Rex', cynical 'Wendy', junkie 'Bad Bob' and random 'Vince'.

Other comedy duos

Other examples of comedy duos or hero-villain pairs...

Laurel & Hardy

Zig & Zag

Mario & Wario (Super Mario series)

Crash Bandicoot & Dr. Cortex (Crash Bandicoot)

Lou & Andy (Little Britain)

Batman & The Joker

Batman (above) and The Joker (below)

From the Christopher Nolan incarnation of the Batman series (Batman Begins and The Dark Knight).

Batman, the dark hero whose loss his parents caused him to become the defender of Gotham, a city riddled with crime. The Joker, a psychopathic, anarchistic clown with zero empathy and a desire to test Batman and his 'rule' to never kill.

Blackadder & Baldrick

Blackadder (left) and Baldrick (right)

The two most well known characters from the British sitcom series 'Blackadder'. Edmund Blackadder is a cynical, sharp-witted and self-serving opportunist concerned with only himself but is also set with such bad luck that he is almost always taking one step forward then two steps backwards. The frequent form of comedy comes from his articulate and creative insults and descriptions.

Baldrick, Blackadder's sidekick is an unintelligent and disgusting 'peasant' who is always coming up with very riduclous 'cunning plans' to get him and his master out of trouble. Often Blackadder, with no other options left relucantly follows through with these plans and while on rare occassions these plans aren't stupid they (and Baldrick, plus anyone else) are frequently insulted by Blackadder.

Rick & Vyvyan

Vyvyan (above) and Rick (below)

From the British sitcom 'Young Ones', Rik is a hypocrtical, tantrum-throwing, self-proclaimed anarchist college student studying sociolgy who always tries to impress people with non-existant wit and interlect.

Vyvyan is a punk rocker and medical student who is psychotically violent and loves fighting, hitting people and overall hurting people, mostly Rick. The two always have constant arguments and fights with each other with hilarious results.

Sonic the Hedgehog & Dr. Eggman

Sonic the Hedgehog (above) & Dr. Eggman (below

The blue and faster-than-the-speed-of-sound Hedgehog, Sonic and his arch nemesis the ingenius and often infantile Dr. Eggman (Robotnik in some cases). With the goal of conquoring the world and remaking it in his own image, Dr. Eggman's many plans have been constantly foiled by Sonic and his friends.

Even with armies of robots and giant destructive machines thrown at Sonic Eggman has always failed in his conquests often leaving the doctor defeated (sometimes by his own plans) and the blue hedgehog to clean up his mess or thrown into another problem.

Popeye & Bluto

Popeye (right) and Bluto (left)

Popeye, hero of the series of the same name and his arch enemy Bluto. They are both 'Sailor Men' with abnormal physical prowess who compete (often violently) for the attention and affection of Olive Oyl. Popeye always coming out on top after eating his trademark tin of spinage making him immensely and even comically stronger leaving Bluto beaten within an inch of his life.

Chico Marx & Harpo Marx

Chico Marx (left) and Harpo Marx (right)

2 of the 3 famous Marx Brothers comedy group from the early 20th century. Chico Marx (real name Leonard Marx) takes on the role of a smart-mouthed, piano playing, loveable Italian con artist.

Harpo Marx (real name Arthur Marx), Chico's mute, slap-stick and cartoony side kick (and real life brother) who is almost always by his friend's side helping him with his cons, ideas, plans and tormenting actions towards other, sometimes with disasterous results (largely for Harpo only).

The Pink Panther & Inspector Clouseau...

The Pink Panther (above)

Inspector Clouseau (below)

The infamous, suave and well-known Pink Panther and the bumbling and incompetent Inspector Jacques Clouseau of the French police force. These two characters are dipicted at the beginning of several Pink Panther films during the opening credits in animation. In these sequences Clouseau begins searching for the Pink Panther only to be constantly outsmarted, hurt or in many different ways hindered in the most unluckiest of ways from doing his job.

Double acts...

First things first, to get a good understanding on how characters interact I have decided to research into the different duos in cinema and gaming history. These could include a comedian and his foil or even a protagonist and his arch nemesis.

By looking at these I can develop a design style for my characters as well as some forms of ideas of how they could interact with each other in my animated animated piece.

And so it begins...

After reviewing the brief I have decided to work as an individual and to do option 2 on the list of output possibilities.

The objective for option 2 of this project is to create a character based animation piece. Using this piece I will be able to take advantage of the Musion set up that will be in place for the Rave On Air on the 3rd June.