Animation Test: Deer Walk Cycle

I decided to use a part of the Familiar storyboard in order to create the scene for the walk cycle with the Familiar in deer form. I wanted to experiment with tone, shape, and colour to give a sense of the changing seasons. I also used video footage to create a walk cycle. I'm not even sure if I'll include it in the film but it will be good for a show reel and at least I have it now just in case.

Original storyboard trees

This is the original shot from the Familiar storyboard that I wanted to use for these colour palette tests. I like the shape of the trees, they're very simple yet effective, and the perfectly straight trunks are quite striking.

Spring trees

I thought these colours were suitable to use for Spring as they are light and fresh. They're still somewhat cold colours as though the grips of winter has quite been shaken off, but the flowers help to signal the beginning of new life.

Summer trees

These colours are more vibrant rich, therefore perfect for summer. I would also like to see if I could create a sort of heady Summer haze or put a warm layer on top to show the peak in temperature.

Autumn trees

These reds, oranges, and browns are best used for Autumn to really showcase the beauty of the change in seasons. I may look at making the trees more sparse or have piles of leaves on the ground.

Winter trees

I used the exact same colours from the Winter forest for this palette as I think they're perfect. It's still a striking and beautiful image despite the cold colours and desolation of the coldest season.

I really like the use of these same trees instead of different ones. Although it's been nice to experiment with portraying the different seasons, I've decided that I want my film to take place over one day. I will utilise colours effectively to portray this, as I still think that similar colour palettes could be used for morning, afternoon, evening, and night.

Original Reference:

I found a helpful guide on Pinterest for a deer's walk cycle so I used that as my original reference for the test. Obviously it needs to be cleaned up and stylised so it's more recognisable as the Familiar, but I'm really happy with how it turned out - especially the tail flick.

Colour Test:

I'm really happy with how this turned out, he looks exactly like the coloured character sheet that I created for him in the deer form. I'd like to put this on top of the tree line colour tests and key frame him so that he walks across, I think that it would be a really effective shot. I'd also like to try playing with colours so that it would look like sun set in the background.

Spring walk cycle.

Summer walk cycle.

Autumn walk cycle.

Winter walk cycle.

Out of all of these cycles I think that the Autumn and Winter ones are the most striking and effective. However, as I don't want my film to have different seasons anymore, instead taking place over a day, I would interpret this into being sunset or an evening to night transition. I want to explore more with these colour transitions like the 10x10 mountain film that I made. I think that it's a really simple yet attractive way to show the passage of time within a film.