Animation Direction 1: Assignment 1

Here's the full description of the 1st assignment. Please let me know if you have any questions.

ADIR1136 Assignment 1: Concept Design 

% of final grade: 20%
Assigned: Thursday, Sept 8th
Due: Sunday, October 2nd

Please submit all work via FTP

SAVE your work uncompressed (PSDs recommended)

SEND me only JPGs

Please keep file sizes under 2MB

Filenames:
tdonovan_char_001.jpg

tdonovan_env_001.jpg

tdonovan_stry_001.jpg

tdonovan_stbd_001.jpg

Description: 

Create a concept pack for a virtual independent game complete with design sketches for the character and environment, a story outline, and one storyboarded sequence. The sequence should be planned around the walk, run, and jump cycles to be animated in the second half of the course. It should show how the character will interact with the environment. Drawings need not be clean but they should be clear, dynamic, and detailed.

Keep your ideas simple. The graphic style should be very easy to sketch so all your ideas can be presented within the allotted time. Consider that you will be modeling and rigging the character when you design it. 

(1) Character design: your character should be a robot or insect.  Keep the joints simple and mechanical so they require less time in skinning. Draw your character from several different angles and in a few key poses. 

(2) Environment: Design a simple location where your character would live in your virtual game. Show the scale of the character to his environment.

(3) Story: 1 page. This should be a simple premise, followed by some escalating complications and a final resolution. You may describe other characters you wish to be in the story.  By reading your story synopsis we should get a sense of what it would be like to play the game as the character.  What kind of game is it? What is the tone? Who is the hero? What are his goals? What obstacles must he overcome? How is it resolved? Add any drawings you wish to explain or augment the concept of your game.

(4) Storyboard sequence: Keep it brief -- 6 panels is sufficient. Pick any section of the story you like and show the action graphically in clear, greyscale boards. Use text to further describe the action.  This should center around the action that you'll be animating in the weeks ahead: the walk/run/jump cycles.

Rubric:

Exemplary - Highly polished concept pack showing a unified style and an inventive premise. Designs for  character and environment show deep exploration of design challenges presented by the original story.

Excellent - Detailed, visually interesting and well-organized presentation describing a clear and consistent design style well-suited to a creative premise.

Acceptable - Simple collection of required sketches showing key design features and a solid premise.

Not Acceptable - Sparsely detailed and/or incomplete collection with an unclear concept.

Click here to download the rubric for this assignment