THE MISSING INGREDIENT
Concept art | background design | animation | clean-up
STUDIO CHICKEN LEG | IN PROGRESS
SOFTWARES USED
TVPaint
Adobe After Effects
Adobe Photoshop
Blender
I am currently working together with four other animators on 'The Missing Ingredient': a 2D animated short film that revolves around a witch who realizes she misses an ingredient for her potion, and sets off on a search to find it. The project started of as our graduation project at the Willem The Kooning Academy.
Animation
I contributed to the animation for several shots in the film, with a primary focus on portraying the protagonist's vibrant personality, emotions, and attitude through her acting and facial expressions. In animation, female characters are often portrayed as less expressive than their male counterparts for the sake of keeping their impression beautiful. However, in our film, we aimed to challenge this double standard by presenting a more expressive and authentic portrayal of our female lead.
House design
I designed the house in which the protagonist lives. We liked the idea of the roof being shaped like a witch’s hat. Next to that, we liked the idea of round walls, following the shape of the cauldron and emphasizing on its importance. I experimented with various materials like wood or cobblestone, as well as conveying different moods. For example, I made use of sharp angles and shadows to make the building seem threatening. I took inspiration from rustic and old cottages and cabins.
Colour experiments
I worked on the colour palettes for the scenes. To determine which colour palette would suit a scene the best, I took panels from the storyboard and coloured them in roughly. By utilizing certain colours I aimed to evoke the desired atmosphere for a scene. For example, by making a sky red, I wanted to give the audience the feeling that something dangerous is going to happen.
House | interior design
We wanted the interior to feel lived-in and reflect the interests and personality of the witch within her home: she likes plants, nature and working with magic, is a bit messy and has a collection of seashells. I took inspiration from the goblin-core aesthetic, where homely elements of cottage-core are mixed with elements from nature, including ones that are not typically considered to be beautiful, like mushrooms, animal skulls and snails. Next to that, I included a couple of obscure-looking elements within the room to create moral ambiguity. I didn’t want to portray the witch as evil, but I did want to give the viewer the option to continue looking at the protagonist through this lens, as we were aiming to let the viewer misjudge her as such within the first part of the film.
Backgrounds
For the style of the backgrounds, we had decided upon a cartoon-like style for the line-art. I have developed the style in which the backgrounds would be coloured in. I have chosen to make use of subtle brushstrokes to add a sense of texture and give them a hand-made feel.
Background lay-outs:
Backgrounds I have drawn and coloured in:
Backgrounds drawn by teammembers that I have coloured in:
familiar concept art
I have made concept art of the witch familiar that is introduced at the end of the film. The creature is a mix of a cat and a dragon/wyvern. We envisioned the familiar to have wyvern-like anatomy instead of dragon-like: the wings would be attached to the forelegs of the cat instead of being separate limbs. I took inspiration from the “Nargacuca” creature from the game Monster Hunter: this creature had similar type of cat-wyvern anatomy we were looking for. I experimented with multiple types of horns, spikes and tails.
Camera movement tests
I made some simple animations and a 3D block-out to test the camera movement of a very spatial shot within the film. Within the shot, the protagonist seems to hunt down two unsuspecting children. The goal of the scene is to make it seem like she is evil and about to hurt them. I experimented with the vertigo effect to increase tension.
