Experimenting with Media - Sound Animations

After deciding which 10 sounds to choose for my project Take 5 I needed to try out different media and line work, to determine which drawings best represent the sounds.
I did this by listening to the tracks on repeat and drawing as it plays, then I further experimented with the same line work but in different media to see which lines look the best.

Dentist Polishing

Dripping Tap

Repeating Cat Alarm

Glass Bottle Breaking

Custard Pie

Frying An Egg

Sawing a Piece of Plywood

Hard Static

Fireworks, Screamer

Cartoon Bloop

After reviewing all 10 pages, I decided on my final 5:

Frying An Egg

The idea of having a central circle, which is wavy and moving in every frame, I think represent how an egg fizzles as it's cooking. I also added the pointy edges to show how it occasionally spits out while it's fizzling, I want to put it on a black background with white and orange lines, because I think that will allow people to focus on the drawing compared to the sound easier.

Custard Pie

I want this to be a simple motion, with smooth curves to represent the soft splat; so that's why I think a simple timeline would be best to represent the simplicity of the sound. Grey is a softer colour then black, which is why I would rather use grey to complete this animation.

Hard Static

I feel the texture of the line for hard static should be bitty and not bold lines, because it doesn't have one particular focus point and sounds as if it's surrounding you. After drawing both of these lines I've decided the grey would better represent the static, since it's slightly fainter.

Fireworks, Screamer

A black background with white lines, I think, is the best way to portray a firework, because they are naturally used at night, so going down this route will make it more obvious as to what I'm drawing. The line goes up at the start, because the sound rises then falls, so I want to try and emulate that in my animation. The small pop at the end with the ripples that follow should be shown in small lines that move quickly.

Cartoon Bloop

I think the best way to show the springy, recoiling sound is to have the lines curving around on themselves, such as what I've drawn above. I will have it appearing from the centre to start, and disappearing towards the end, as the sound calms down. The blue lines around the outside will represent the slight echo that plays around as it coils.

Take 5 - Responding to Sounds...

So for our next task for Visual Language, we have to create a series of drawings (experiments) eventually leading onto 5 short animations about our interpretation of particular sounds.

We had to choose 10 out of 30 sound effects/tracks provided by our tutor, and show how we would interpret the sound; these are the 10 I chose, and my first interpretations of them:

Fireworks, screamer:

Hard Static:

Cartoon Little Bloop:

Hand Saw:

Frying an Egg:

Custard Pie:

Glass Bottle Breaking:

Repeating Cat Alarm:

At the Dentist:

Dripping Tap:

I decided to draw them all out on A5 paper initially, because I struggled to visualise them at first... But I will listen to the sounds again and work on bigger paper to allow me to experiment with different drawing materials.

Adventure Time Backgrounds

I love watching the TV series 'Adventure Time' and can't help noticing the quirky backgrounds that go with the animations:

With the majority of these backgrounds I don't feel there's much depth within them - most likely on purpose because it's a 2D animation...

This is one seen regularly as the characters adventure over to the Candy Kingdom - there's usually a long shot of the city. The bright colours and simple shapes used make this a very stylised show; Aimed more to young children and teenagers. 

Interim Crit for Applied Animation...

This is the storyboard I presented in my interim crit:

I think a happy ending would send out a good message, because it will show that ChildLine can genuinely help with any problems someone might be facing. I also wanted to show a variety of issues that ChildLine deals with because not everyone will be aware of what they can deal with.

I want the black cloud to follow my character around, as a representation of the depression he feels; how it looms around him constantly putting a weight on him that he can't get rid of (until he talks to ChildLine). 

It was generally received quite well - they liked the idea of the black cloud, but my tutor suggested doing further research into the subject to find out exact statistics to see what storyline would be the most appropriate for a ChildLine campaign (is it male or female callers that are most common? What are the top issues that children/different age groups talk to ChildLine about? etc.) which will allow me to make some informed decisions about my work. I think this is a good point, to make the advert more accurate to the most/least aware problems.

I should think more about who I want to aim this advert at: young children or teenagers? Then choose character designs and a story most appropriate for them.

After receiving this feedback, I need to go back over my ideas and re-evaluate what story would be best for this campaign.

Character Designs

I did a lot of research into illustrators who have a particular visual style they use for their characters. Once I reviewed them all, I was able to try a few of them out:

I decided the best style to use would be the 'Adventure Time' character design; Since it's a TV show aimed at a wider age group, I thought this design would be easier for some of the audience to relate to, since the character will be vaguely familiar.
However, I will be making my own version of the character, so I experimented with different facial features:

Once I had tried a variety of features, I had my final design:

The simple clothes give my character a 'teenager' look, as well as his posture. 

Overcast - James Lancett

This is a really nicely animated piece by James Lancett and Sean Weston, about a man trying to fit into normal society, despite a raincloud that's following him:


Overcast from ADAA Gallery on Vimeo.

I could do something along the lines of this - the idea of a raincloud following a child around (representing depression or anxiety) then someone from ChildLine holding an umbrella over the child to shield them from the "depression".
The umbrella could come from the phone or the child's own head/mind, rather then an actual person, because the counsellors often don't meet the children; just make them feel better and offer solutions.

Idea written out:
"Child shown in a number of different situations with the raincloud over him (could walk past parents arguing on his way to school, or bullies shouting names at him in the background, anxiety for exams?), and looking sad whilst others are playing happily in the background - cuts to a shot of him looking at a phone, goes to ring ChildLine - then the umbrella appears (or rain stops) [sun setting in the background to show passing of time?] and the child smiles hanging up the phone, camera fades out into the ChildLine logo and contact details with credits."

It could start out as a grey cloud, getting bigger and darker as the problems grow in his mind (raining towards the end) then disappearing or at least getting smaller when he's on the phone.

The final shot could be filming the back of the child sat on a bench with the cloud in shot, and text fading in and out explaining briefly that ChildLine can help, and the longer the conversation goes on, the smaller the cloud gets.

There are a few different solutions I could use, so I will review them all and see which works best.

Laura Normansell

Laura Normansell's character style is very child-friendly.

The facial features are friendly and innocent, with basic structures for the body.

The colours are very pastel-like and the shapes are cut out, which makes them look as if they have come out of an illustrated children's book.

If I aim my final idea at a younger audience, this could be a good style to take inspiration from; since it will give a friendly appeal to young children who might not be happy, and having friendly faces on the screen could develop a sense of trust towards the ChildLine workers.

Erin Barker

Barker is an illustrator, whom I recently came across on Twitter. 

I really like her variety in styles, and how she explores slightly different character designs every time, depending on who she is drawing. 

Her use of background colour is interesting, because they go well with the colours she has used on the characters.

My favourite out of these is the bottom left photo, since I think the line work and colours work well together.

Lauren Child

This artist is best known for her creation of "Charlie and Lola" - a series of books and a TV show about two siblings, one teaching life lessons to the younger one.

She originally wrote a series of books following these two, and illustrations to go with them:

The whole concept is aimed at 3-7 year olds, and is recognised by many children of today. Using a style like this could be good for my campaign, since it might speak out to children more. If I used a style that they recognise then they might pay more attention to it, and realise they aren't the only ones with problems that can be dealt with at ChildLine.

The actual style is very quirky, with squiggly lines and wallpaper-like patterns for the materials.

Miranda Yeo

I found this 4th year animation student's work online recently, and I just love her visual style, and the slight variety she uses:

I think she's got really nice line work, and the facial features are simple, yet they work really well. The eyes are slightly anime style in most of them, but the shapes of the head and bodies are distinctive and more realistic.

She uses ink for a lot of her sketches, which I think gives them a really nice finished look.

Her use of colour is interesting, since it seems to reflect the personalities of each character she's drawn (at least in my opinion!) bringing them to life.

I will experiment and try drawing in a similar style to this, to see if I can use it for my final idea.