EL RETRATO

STUDIO MAIKA | 2020

Lead & key animator | 2D & 3D | character design | modeling

SOFTWARE USED

TVPaint

Maya Autodesk

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe After Effects

I and four others developed the concept and teaser for the series El Retrato. The series would be an interactive animated psychological horror adaptation of Don Quixote from Miguel de Cervantes. The story revolves around three characters within two worlds. One is a colourful dream realm in which a brave hero slays the monsters and saves the maidens together with his loyal squire; the other one is the disturbing reality in which a famous, schizophrenic writer spills his ink as well as the blood of innocents without realizing. The situation is perpetuated by his greedy editor, who makes sure everything is swept under the rug. Throughout the story, the viewer would get the opportunity to make several choices for the characters that impact the way the story develops and ends.

During this project I was the lead and key animator. I worked on both the animation of several 2D and 3D shots. Next to this, I also worked on some character designs and modeling. This was a collaborative project at the Willem the Kooning Academy.

Animated scenes

The parts of the teaser that I animated:

Animation experiments

Background tests

The story takes place within two worlds: the 3D animated grim reality, and the 2D animated, painting-like dream realm of the protagonist. To explore what was possible to do with animating this 2D world located beyond the bounds of reality, I experimented by making some rough animation tests. I was inspired by impressionistic and expressionistic paintings, for instance those from Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet and Edvard Munch.

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Animatic tests

I made several animated tests for the shots within the trailer. In these I tried out different kinds of movements, angles and concepts. The best ones were used for the animatic, and some as the basis for key frames. Here are a few.