#creativeproject

May is Family Month in Korea.

With many meaningful days throughout the month, it can be a time when we find ourselves thinking a little more than usual. Still, I hope it becomes a season for giving and receiving love.

As someone who has primarily worked in a realistic style, I felt the need to spend more time observing and practicing  in order to understand the techniques behind a stylised workflow and to develop a stronger sense of what makes stylised pieces stylised. As mentioned in some of the earlier posts, I explored a wide range of stylised animation pieces, however, I wanted to also try and replicate this side of production within 2D context.

 I have always been impressed by how appealing and dynamic characters can appear when animated by 3D animators who began their journey in 2D. There is clearly a strong connection between drawing an appealing pose and achieving the same result in 3D. Ultimately, all 3D work is viewed on a 3D screen, so it is important to consider how it reads in a flat format.

The artwork of Greg Baldwin has been a major source of inspiration for me and I wanted to try and create Bulbul in the similar style. What stood out to me was the dynamism of his line work and the way he exaggerates shapes while maintaining a strong sense of appeal.

Artworks by Greg Baldwin

His work almost feels like an invitation to break the frames of realism and create. I particularly admired how energetic his pieces are, as well as the clarity and strength of the poses. In my own work, I feel I may have remained slightly too restrained, but I did enjoy experimenting with bolder line work. Moving forward, I would also like to push exaggeration further and achieve a stronger sense of movement and action within my pieces. 

Artwork by Author

REFERENCES

Baldwin, G. (2025) Always Remember to Stretch! Available from: https://www.instagram.com/p/DOwxQ-TjQeU/ [Accessed: 10th March 2026]

In order to better understand stylised shapes and poses I've done an exercise in which I studied realistic references and then translated them into stylised characters. For this, I chose painterly shading as I felt it would best convey the softness and fluffiness of bulbuls. Following advice from a fellow animator, I explored the idea that stylisation can be achieved by taking a pose from a reference and pushing it by around 20%. I edcided to first experiment with this approach through drawing.

One of the most challenging aspects of this process was adjusting the poses so they appear stylised rather than distorted. I also spent time figuring out how to move away from realism in the eyes and facial proportions as each adjustment intially resulted in a slightly uncanny look. Through this experimentation, I developed a small set of checks to help achieve a stylised feel.

Artwork by Author

As I’ve mentioned before I’m planning to use a great variety of red-whiskered Bulbul chirping sounds in the short as it will not only add the expressiveness to its character, but also in a way convey the atmosphere of bird sounds on this Espanola Way. I wanted to make a film which would feel nostalgic and I think that surrounding sounds are as essential as the visual side of it. 

The wind sounds would also be an important part of the narration. Not only would they add up to the general feel of the scenery, but also reinforce the presence of the wind, and support the dynamics of the characters.

As a soundtrack I think I’d want to go for smth in the style of the short films that inspired FLAPS, maybe with a shade of Spanish music. Perhaps, the jazzy and peaceful music in the beginning will eventually turn into a Flamenco which would accompany this sort of sky dance. Indeed I might add a slight hint for a flamenco move during the race part, as the dress of the flamenco dancers often resemble wings. This way, there would not only be an intrigue of the race, but also a set up choreography.  

REFERENCES

Some time ago I came across an interview with Disney animators who worked on Zootropolis. They’ve shared how they went to Safari and explored the different types of animal locomotion, their characters and habits which they can then translate into biped animal motion in such a way so they preserve the animality of the characters and avoid looking like humans in the animal costumes. And while I didn’t have a task of translating animal behaviour into a biped form, I thought it would be nevertheless useful to look into Red-Whiskered Bulbul character traits and bring some of them into the animation. Some can make the animation look more interesting whilst others can simply help up with the birdy-ness of the motion.  

Red-Whiskered Bulbuls have a very distinctive appearance. It is difficult to confuse them with any other species. Having a bright red spot right under the eye and a crest, they have a rather appealing and unusual silhouette. Elegant on the outside, Bulbuls are often characterized as explicitly charismatic, curious and energetic.  It is for a reason that in many cultures these birds are associated with happiness and vitality, while in some parts of Asia Bulbuls are considered to be the harbingers of good fortune. It is due to his appearance and character that Red-Whiskered Bulbul is favored in many different forms of art as the combination of its character and artistic appearance. 

In FLAPS I’ll aim to convey their curiosity via constant head tilts and add up some sounds as they’re famous for their high-pitched pips and long buzzy notes. 

REFERENCES: ImRootvik (2022) Red Whiskered Bulbul. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/MjmKRT8AKyE [Accessed: 13th April 2026]

During the whole pre-production process, I was exploring not only  the works of other artists, but also observing and looking for some real-life references. I wanted to capture as many similar locations and lighting scenes as possible in order to then recreate the same atmosphere as there was during that time. Luckily there were a lot of sunny days in the past month and all I had to do was to get out and collect the refs. I was looking at pretty much everything: the shadows their length, the light direction, its reflection, the shades of green during different times of the day and simply at the sky, however all these were in one way or another resembling the atmosphere me and Diana (the Environment and Lighting Freelance artist) wanted to see in our film.