Red Panda Trust Animation Progress

This some of the work I've been creating for an organisation called The Red Panda Trust since November last year. I was asked to produce a short animation as a test by the company, so I chose a run cycle to show my ability.

The first video was the original run cycle I created. I wasn't sure if they wanted a different design for the animation, so I created my own design to see if it worked. I knew from the beginning that I wanted the animation to look quite clean, so I decided to use Illustrator to copy over the original drawing. It was also a lot quicker to draw the posing for each frame using Illustrator.

Unfortunately, it wasn't what they were looking for. They liked the red panda's design, but they felt it targeted a too specific demographic. They wanted the design to replicate their current logo. After some heavy modifications to the frames, I also added a bit more motion to the torso as well to avoid it looking too static.

This video is a current walk cycle I'm working on. I'm close to finishing, but I still just need to fine tune the smoothness of the legs.

Back after LONG Hiatus/ Sonic Mass Effect

Happy new year to everyone. Sorry about the lack of updates over the last few months, my life's been very hectic recently. Thought as it's the new year I'd start posting again.

I finished my degree in Animation last year and got a 2:1 (YAY!), and I've been seeking out various work opportunities pretty much everywhere. I volunteered at Bristol Encounters Film Festival and did some work for Social Enterprise West Midlands last year (I'll update about that later). I also got a part-time job at Primark for some extra money. For now, I'll show you some of the work I've done in my spare time.

This is for a project I've been doing in my spare time entitled Sonic Mass Effect. As their two of my favourite games to play, I thought I'd have a go at merging various characters from both series to see how well they'd fit together.

First up was Sonic, who's merge with Shepard was a bit of a no brainer as their both the main playable characters. Part of the challenge was blending N7 armour with Sonic's simple design. I then learnt how Sonic's shoes were based on the same ones Michael Jackson wore in the 'Bad' video, so I wanted to portray a similar effect in his armour design. I took major influence from the suit he wore when performing Billie Jean on stage, particularly the single glove he wore. I also gave the armour a blue tint so that it would look more natural against Sonic's spines. Theres still a bit more detail I need to add on the final image, but it shouldn't take too long now.

Original Sketch (A5 Paper)

Final Image (WIP) - Drawn in Illustrator, Coloured in Photoshop

Next up was Tails, who required a bit more thought as to which Mass Effect character he'd portray. It was a toss up between Joker or Garrus, but I decided to go with the latter due to their similar personalities (Slightly under confident, look up to main hero as a role model, tech savvy). Part of the challenge was still making Tails look cute in Garrus' armour, which wasn't particularly easy. I made the tails look feather-like to fit in with the Turians bird physique. This is my favourite one I've made so far, I just need to add the final details before he's completely finished.

Original Sketch (A5 Paper)

Final Image (WIP) - Drawn in Illustrator, Coloured in Photoshop

Knuckles was also fairly hard to figure out his character. He's cast the strong one in the Sonic games, so he could play any of the brute characters from Mass Effect (Grunt, James etc). After looking at various Mass Effect character sstory arcs to see if they share Knuckles' backstory, I decided to cast him as Wrex. This is mainly down to Knuckles and Wrex's roles as guardians (Floating Island and Tuchanka respectively), their initial hostility towards the main character and their transformation from pessimists to optimists. It took a while to include all the armour detail, but I'm close to finishing now. I also added a Pyjak (Chu Chu) for good measure.

Original Sketch (A5 Paper)

Final Image (WIP) - Drawn in Illustrator, Coloured in Photoshop

Hope you like them so far, I'll make sure to post again as soon as possible.