Author: Maria Beatriz Antunes Ribeiro

On Wednesday, the 21st of October, I was introduced to the concept of Object Theatre. I’d obviously had heard of puppet animation before, but never though of Object Theatre being an actual thing other than me playing with my knife and fork at dinner as a kid, whilst waiting for mum to feed me. After Shaun and Steve having briefed the class on the assignment for the day, a new world of possibilities opened up before my eyes. I started looking around my room thinking of every object as a character and it was fascinating!

When assigned the sentence ‘Contestants struggle to answer the questions on a gameshow‘, my group and I went through a process of creating a short 60-90 second narrative based on it.
We chose to began by creating our own individual characters. I created ‘Gertrude’, a shy, extremely intelligent but overly stressed and self-conscious USB cable.

Baring in mind the need to create a story through character-based movement, sound, mood and atmosphere, this lanky, flexible, thin object seemed perfect to me to portray the awkwardness of Gertrude. I added wool threads to show Gertrude’s gentle personality, but also to amplify her range of movement when she becomes anxious. In addition, I also added the marker-painted eyes to evoke a mellow and beaten up emotion to her.

• 

• 

• 

• 

Finally, when everyone finished developing their characters, we proceeded to write a quick script, even though we all agreed to improvise at the time of our presentations. The script served as a base for the dialogue that was going to happen between everyone and also for sound queues. We brainstormed ideas having in mind game shows like Family Feud and Who wants to be a millionaire.
Our goal was to create a fun chaotic environment involving slightly adult humour and some drama between characters (all in 60 seconds).

After practicing for hours, we finally presented to class and got some pretty good feedback! Overall it was a super fun experience I’d definitely like to repeat. Who knows, maybe Object Theatre is here to stay!

• 

In my spare time I take up Illustration/ Character Design/ Animation commissions. Therefore, I thought it’d be interesting to share my process. I take up these commissions not only to make some extra cash, but also to improve painting and designing skills, and to have character design portfolio.

Briefing

The first step is briefing. The client informs of what type of commission they’re looking for and I proceed to take notes and ask for as many photo references as possible. As soon as the brief is made clear, begins the research phase.

Research

Curiously enough, other than books/ online portfolios, etc., my favourite research platform when it comes to commissions is usually social media. Instagram and Pinterest allow me to know what is currently ‘popular’ in the world of illustration/ animation. Although, if I’m basing my work of a particular artist, I will directly go to their online portfolio and scroll through to understand their creative process.

In terms of the particular commission shown above, my main inspiration was character designer Jules Rigolle, whose work I found through Gobelin School of Image’s major films showcase.

• 

• 

Rigolle’s sharp artwork has inspired me continuously by its eye-catching contrasting colour palettes, quality of the line art, quick brush strokes that convey a range of emotion effortlessly, strong character features and distinguishable silhouettes. From a clean to a rougher kind of finish, the designer’s work always has solid weight to it. What I find the most fascinating about his many pieces is the ability to understand his character’s backstory/ mood/ personality/ interactivity with their surrounding by the proportions and movement of the drawing only.

That being said, I applied these observed principles on my own work.

Following up the research phase, I loosely start sketching many different compositions until I’m happy with the final one, which I go with.

Colour blocking + Shading + Highlights

Colour has been my least favourite part of any project. Although I love colour and colourful pieces, I find it very hard to create a harmonious piece that also conveys any sense of emotion.

That being said, I also spend a significant amount of time looking up many different artist’s work online and on books I have laying around my room. Below are some examples of work where colour plays an major role:

• 

• 

• 

In order to add dimension to my illustration and have it have a more three-dimensional human feel, I add a few highlights and shades, still preserving that sketchy-like quality in the painting stage. I keep the brush strokes quite rough. However, by using masks on Photoshop when painting, I can still make it look slick by maintaining each painting section inside the lines.

• 

• 

Image Editing+ Colour Correction

Finally, when I’m happy with my final illustration, I like to go ahead and add some textures and gradients here and there with ‘Multiply’ or ‘Overlay’ layers to give it an even look throughout all the characters.

If the client asks for some text or additional designs, I also include that on the final stage of the project and this sums up my character designing process!

Even though I’m still not 100% confident with the quality of my designs, I plan or continuing with an intensive research and exercising so I can become better with time.

• 

On the second day of this new academic journey that is a Masters Degree, I’ve been told to start a research journal.

On that exact moment, an eruption of ideas happened in my mind on what to write about: brief critical essays about animated series I’ve been binge watching during lockdown to get my mind off the mess the world has turned to; my experience as a newly unemployed graduate looking for a job that’ll pay the fortune that is my tiny London shared flat; the amount of time I spent looking at animation studios’ careers pages and then realising my mere Bachelor of Arts won’t do anything for me;… or something a bit lighter such as my favourite art movement, beautiful art I like to look at, animated series that make me chuckle or films that have had a big impact on the individual I am today.

I’m pretty sure this blog will be mix of both. It’ll be an attempt to organise my miscellaneous thoughts into useful pieces of information I can look at in the future and maybe pat myself on the back for.