Minor Project Proposal and Timetable

There is a lot that I have planned for this minor project. Getting my head around it was a task but I have come up with a strategy that I am happy with at present.

Below, you will find my project proposal and a timetable that I aim to follow during this project.

Sir Pea Greene Studio's Minor Project Proposal


The Type of Project: I aim to design and create characters for an animated short about Edward Lear's poem, The Owl and The Pussycat. I then aim to use these characters in the animated short for my major project.

Area of Study: 2D/3D animation in a 1930's style

Potential Ideas: I want to create an animated short about Sir Edward Lear's poem,'The Owl and The Pussycat' in the style of a 1930's animation. It will be an interview of the owl and cat when they are older and they will tell the tale of how they met (which will be the contents of the poem) . The interview will feature the 3D characters that I aim to design and model for the minor project. The flashbacks will be in 2D, hand-drawn animation.

Outcome:  Two 3D modelled characters of The Owl and The Cat with character bibles

Goal: I want to achieve a good level of character design and create good-quality 3D characters to use in an animation.

A Timetable of Study:

Weeks 1-2: Propose idea along with research of style - looking into musical animations of Looney Tunes, Steamboat Willie and Betty Boop.Create a finished animatic for the animation of which the characters will be a part.Create storyboards and create environment sketches.

Weeks 3-5: Research cats and owls, look at forms of the creatures. Look into the anthropomorphic characters of the 1930's. Design the characters with positions, expressions, age sheet, different costumes. Test characters in ink (2D).

Weeks 6-11: Begin modeling the characters in Maya. Experiment with the textures regarding fur or feathers. I also want to see if I can give the 3D characters a 'claymation' look. Get two fully textured characters along with rigs and controls.

Weeks 12-14: Create turnarounds of the two finished characters and possibly examples of lip syncing as the characters will be talking in the animation a lot. I want to try and put in walk-cycles and poses as well.

I am really excited about this project...it's already week 3 and I've got a finished animatic on its way but I aim to get started on creating the character sheets this weekend.

Thanks for reading!

-Sir. P. Greene