P Number: 1322992x
Email: sarah.wright7@email.dmu.ac.uk
Project Title:The Story of Thumbelina
Brief
To take the story of Thumbelina and re-imagine it for a visual development portfolio for animation and games, with a focus on character design.
Hand in format
-A physical book, with a supporting PDF of any extra work produced after printing, and general Sketches/development work that may not have made it to print.
-FMP Blog
Overview
for this post mortem overview I've organised it off into several sections:
-The Book
-Research
-Characters
-Environments and Props
-Evaluation QA
I chose Blurb to print my book having seen that students from previous years had had good experiences with the company. It also seemed to be the best choice for bespoke/short run books. Most other printers required a larger order of books to even be considered for print.
I Used Blurb's software "Bookwirght" to produce the book with a total of 40 pages to the book, around double my initial target set out in the brief. Working with a test print at the half way point of my project helped a tonne with my projects development, firstly because I could clearly see an end in sight for this project, which helped me feel less overwhelmed with it all. Secondly with the rough layout in place I could also see where the gaps in my project were so I could then plan for what work I could produce to fill them in. I also applied for, and was lucky enough to receive the Vice-Chancellors Bursary for Art, Design and Humanities students so I could fund both my test print and final book. A week before printing I asked a few people to proof read and received feedback on layouts and general spell checks.The final book has a nice balance of final renders and development sketches and printed great. If the opportunity arises I would defiantly print more books of my work in the future.
Research
Characters
So I went back and fixed some issues with her design.It took working and reworking her for awhile but that ended up pulling me too far away from my initial designs. Eventually I did a minimal over paint of her rather than making a completely new character.Which ended up with a simple design for the main character.
Something that I didn't really touch on with this project is the costume changes that Thumbelina goes through, I hinted at her final wedding dress in the final sketch of the book, but I'd like to go into more detail with different outfits.
I struggled with this character quite a bit, especially when finding a face for her Though I like how she turned out she doesn't fit as well with the other characters. I'd simplify her face and make her more exaggerated like the sketch below. The rest of her design, especially her colour pallet I'm really happy with, and would like to give this character more development time, and finish the sketches of her interacting with Thumbelina.
A minor character in the original book, the Butterfly is mentioned only in two lines before it disappears. My interpretation of the Butterfly is more prominent and serves as a guide character to Thumbelina. She is introduced shortly after Thumbelina escapes the toads. Feeling hopelessly lost and sad that she is far away from home, the Butterfly cheers up the little maiden by dancing with her sash, and later on teaching her how to do the same. With her design largely based off Victorian era circus performers her movements are graceful and deliberate like a ballerina.
The main villain of this story and my favourite character, the Toad Mother is a devious and selfish character. Her aggressive nature combined with her with her pushover of a son means she's used to always getting her way. When she sees Thumbelina she has no problem with uprooting her so she can marry her son.This character is defined by her flamboyant movements and facial expression, emphasised by her large set of teeth. I referenced the looks of Lattice Royal, Divine and Elaine Stritch to get the feeling of unapologetic eccentricity that I wanted in the mother, with features from Victorian criminals to make her unsettling. Given another chance I'd go back to an initial idea of having her adorned with dead flowers (to contrast Thumbelina's mother, the avid gardener) something I scraped as it distracted a bit too much from her face.
A reluctant bystander to his mother's pure evil, the Toad Son is as passive as they come. Though not a complete villain, he is certainly not a hero, going through with his mother's plans without much protest. Bug eyed with bad teeth it's never known how he truly feels about being married to a stranger, as all he can do is croak.
I designed the Toad Son at the same time as the mother to make sure that they were always contrasting. Since his mother is confident and aggressive I settled on the design where he is small and fearful. Dressed and told how to act by his mother the Toad son is permanently skittish. I don't think there's anything I'd drastically change about his design unless I find a new way to make him seem even more uncomfortable.
"He had a gold crown on his head, and delicate wings at his shoulders, and was not much larger than Tiny herself. He was the angel of the flower; for a tiny man and a tiny woman dwell in every flower; and this was the king of them all."
The Fairy Prince was the final character I designed, who Thumbelina meets at the end of the story. Hailing from South Africa, where the Swallow bird (not designed due to time) takes Thumbelina the Fairy Prince is based off a Snake Gourd flower, something that was decided in the first week of production, during my initial research gatherings.
The Book
For my hand in I specified printing a book (and producing a PDF of my work, but that was just conversion of the book file.)I chose Blurb to print my book having seen that students from previous years had had good experiences with the company. It also seemed to be the best choice for bespoke/short run books. Most other printers required a larger order of books to even be considered for print.
I Used Blurb's software "Bookwirght" to produce the book with a total of 40 pages to the book, around double my initial target set out in the brief. Working with a test print at the half way point of my project helped a tonne with my projects development, firstly because I could clearly see an end in sight for this project, which helped me feel less overwhelmed with it all. Secondly with the rough layout in place I could also see where the gaps in my project were so I could then plan for what work I could produce to fill them in. I also applied for, and was lucky enough to receive the Vice-Chancellors Bursary for Art, Design and Humanities students so I could fund both my test print and final book. A week before printing I asked a few people to proof read and received feedback on layouts and general spell checks.The final book has a nice balance of final renders and development sketches and printed great. If the opportunity arises I would defiantly print more books of my work in the future.
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| Test Print |
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| Final Print |
Research was always ongoing with my FMP, I took a lot of inspirations from Art of books including:
The range of books I gathered for this project covered all of the aspects of design that I wanted to go into. colour,mood, characters, environments, props, and book layouts. These books laid the foundation for the end product of my FMP and I constantly referred back to then whenever I felt lost.
Characters
Thumbelina
The title character Thumbelina was naturally the first character I designed and she went through a lot of iteration. There were always two versions of Thumbelina in my mind. The first was the spunky, ready for adventure girl. The second was this timid, delicate creature who struggled daily with her size. I kept those two characters in mind and eventually both of them combined to make the final character. For a long time I stuck with this design, but half way through FMP I couldn't shake the feeling that the design was off.
Thumbelina's Mother
After wishing for a child Thumbelina’s mother is blessed with one the size of her thumb. Despite this she loves Thumbelina and spends as much time with her as she can. She also crafts tiny possessions for her child and decorates their home with beautiful flowers. I imagined Thumbelina's mother as a seamstress and a gardener, to give her the skills needed to craft her daughter's clothes and knit knacks, in addition to keeping the theme of flowers meaning safety for Thumbelina. Her main look and feel was based off the painting “View from the Loft of the Grain Store at the Bakery in the Citadel of Copenhagen” by Christen Købkeone
I struggled with this character quite a bit, especially when finding a face for her Though I like how she turned out she doesn't fit as well with the other characters. I'd simplify her face and make her more exaggerated like the sketch below. The rest of her design, especially her colour pallet I'm really happy with, and would like to give this character more development time, and finish the sketches of her interacting with Thumbelina.
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| I'd try the left design |
The Butterfly
A minor character in the original book, the Butterfly is mentioned only in two lines before it disappears. My interpretation of the Butterfly is more prominent and serves as a guide character to Thumbelina. She is introduced shortly after Thumbelina escapes the toads. Feeling hopelessly lost and sad that she is far away from home, the Butterfly cheers up the little maiden by dancing with her sash, and later on teaching her how to do the same. With her design largely based off Victorian era circus performers her movements are graceful and deliberate like a ballerina.
The butterfly became a mascot for this story and her gesture drawings are my favourite pieces of work that I produced for this project. Which is surprising because I initially scrapped this character and wrote the design off a a failure, when I had a bad start
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| It's funny how things work out |
I if I ever design a character like her again I'd simplify her down, Her Butterfly wings and multiple arms are enough to contend with, adding the details of ruffles and stripes made drawing development drawings difficult.
Toad Mother
The main villain of this story and my favourite character, the Toad Mother is a devious and selfish character. Her aggressive nature combined with her with her pushover of a son means she's used to always getting her way. When she sees Thumbelina she has no problem with uprooting her so she can marry her son.This character is defined by her flamboyant movements and facial expression, emphasised by her large set of teeth. I referenced the looks of Lattice Royal, Divine and Elaine Stritch to get the feeling of unapologetic eccentricity that I wanted in the mother, with features from Victorian criminals to make her unsettling. Given another chance I'd go back to an initial idea of having her adorned with dead flowers (to contrast Thumbelina's mother, the avid gardener) something I scraped as it distracted a bit too much from her face.
Toad Son
A reluctant bystander to his mother's pure evil, the Toad Son is as passive as they come. Though not a complete villain, he is certainly not a hero, going through with his mother's plans without much protest. Bug eyed with bad teeth it's never known how he truly feels about being married to a stranger, as all he can do is croak.
I designed the Toad Son at the same time as the mother to make sure that they were always contrasting. Since his mother is confident and aggressive I settled on the design where he is small and fearful. Dressed and told how to act by his mother the Toad son is permanently skittish. I don't think there's anything I'd drastically change about his design unless I find a new way to make him seem even more uncomfortable.
Fairy Prince
The Fairy Prince was the final character I designed, who Thumbelina meets at the end of the story. Hailing from South Africa, where the Swallow bird (not designed due to time) takes Thumbelina the Fairy Prince is based off a Snake Gourd flower, something that was decided in the first week of production, during my initial research gatherings.
For the prince I would change his casual clothing design. I made him unnecessarily complicated with his accessories, something that I fixed with his royal wedding outfit. Besides I really like his design, and his rendering set the benchmark for the rest of the characters, with more time I'd drawing some full body gestures for him, and his interactions with Thumbelina.
Environments and Props
Thumbelina's Home
Thumbelinas room
The props for Thumbelina's room turned out very well and did not give me as much trouble as I thought they might, considering I'm new to designing props. the Interior of the room benefited from a 3D blockout base,. Given the chance to go back I'd play around with scale a bit more and make some of the items in her room larger, as they're all around Thumbelina's size right now.
Plate props and Scene
There is a specific scene in the book, where Thumbelina is singing and rowing herself from side to side on a plate full of water, decorated with flowers. Before I began painting this scene a few props needed to be designed. A plate that matches the tastes of Thumbelina's mother, plus the boat and oars Thumbelina uses to row herself across this makeshift lake. I'd like to go back and refine this illustration later on and maybe show more of the plate, but besides that I'm happy with how this scene turned out. If I did this again I'd go out and buy a bouquet of flowers to arrange on a plate for better reference.
Evaluation Q&A
Q: How well did I manage my time?
I think I was on schedule 70% of the time. My initial plan fell through which was to be expected as I'd never planned a project over this long of a period before. I found that giving myself weekly targets and day to day lists kept me on track for the majority of this project. Half way through the project I did evaluate my work and re-planned the rest of the project to something more manageable. Rather than going through the whole story and illustrating it in order I chose a few key moments from the book and designed assets and characters around those. Looking back what I initially planned was way too ambitious. and in many ways it did not need to be. I was too focused on quantity to justify the 20 weeks period that I'd be spending on this project. If I could do this again I'd either take this story, or pick another with fewer characters, around 3-4, then spend more time on telling the story through illustrations rather than just designing for it. I think focused too much on the quantity of work because of what I saw in the at of books I used for my research and inspiration. I should have been looking at portfolios of artists that I admire and take cues from them on their individual projects rather than what a whole team of people produced over several years.
Q: Did my end result represent what I wanted for this project?
Yes, the book turned out better than I could have hoped for, and really made a difference to my whole outlook of this project. Having a tangible product at the end of my work is great and I'd definitely want to print books again.Though there are things that I'd do differently I don't see the work that I have produced as wrong, it's just the result of one of the many paths I could have taken with my FMP. I appreciate the design practises I've used for the Thumbelina Project, and there are some that I think I'll keep using for a long time.
Q: Strengths I found during this project:
Though I'm my own worst enemy when it comes to my strengths, I have to admit that I can draw a lot better than I thought I could. Looking back on previous projects, or even to the beginning of this project I can see how I've improved , and I can see myself getting better in time. Which wasn't the case before this project, as I thought I had plateaued with my work. My strongest work came after the design phase of my characters were finished and I could go into gesture and expression sketching. I also noticed that I am considerably faster with my sketching and painting than before.
Q: Weaknesses I found during this project:
Consistency, I found myself doing a lovely piece of work, but then having to go back to previous work to make sure everything still fit together. This only became a problem in the rendering stages of my work, because I didn't have a set system for how I painted my images.
I struggled with painting the Illustrations for Thumbelina, I didn't manage to go past the colour stage for a few of my images and I'd like to fix that. I also need to work on my compositions and general environment work.
Q. What stressed me out the most during this project?
Designing Thumbelina's home took the most out of me, as the design did not work for a very long time, and even now I want to change it. Also feeling like I hadn't done enough work to be able to move on from a character messed up my time management quite a bit. I really should have put a cap on the amount of images I produced for each character, so I didn't end up with some characters having a lot of development, and some barely having a page.
Near the end of FMP producing illustrations for the book, caused me trouble when trying to get everything to harmonise well.
What's next?
I'm hesitant to call this project done just yet. There's still some work I'd like to do for it, mainly producing illustrations for more of the story, and I'll aim to complete those before Degree show in a few weeks.
As for new projects I have a few ideas knocking around for both 2D and 3D, it's just figuring out which to do first. Finding a job is also up there in my priories. A break is in order, to take some time to refresh, but then I'll be back to drawing and painting!
