#curation activity

The pictures and media I usually re-blog vary from character art, to concept art or even GIFS from my favourite movies or games. Personally I love and prefer concept art, because I feel it helps give the viewer an insight on what and how these ideas were formed before the final product was made and decided. The content is normally aimed towards my personal love of animated characters and the animation behind them.

The board I created for this task is on Pinterest. Which can be found here:  https://www.pinterest.com/cjroles/curation-activity/

The media I have chosen to pin to this board varies from favourite and inspirational scenes to concept artwork. The reason behind selecting these images is to help express and portray my interests and what I use as as inspiration. (Starting from left to right)

1. Merida from the Dreamworks film “Brave”. I personally loved both the story and the animation that went into making this film. I loved the concept of Merida being this fearless and independent young woman. This fearless young woman who plays a large part in inspiring myself and hugely impacts my work, as her story helps influence the other character progression throughout. The design and the making of Merida’s character alone was what really drew me in, as her hair alone was made up of a series of hand placed, sculpted individual curls that together formed into her hair.

A article explaining how 'Brave' Features Hair-Raising Animations

2. Agni's Philosophy from Square Enix’s Final Fantasy. Final fantasy has played a extremely large and influential role, and I have been inspired countless times on what their next best thing is going to be as well as past games. Agni's Philosophy is currently a Final Fantasy tech engine demo and was revealed in E3 2012, showing what Square Enix’s Luminous engine was capable off. The real time computer graphics that were used throughout the demo, were awe inspiring so much so that I hope to archive something like this at that standard.  

An article explaining the engine that was used to make the demo.

3. Princess Mononoke from Studio Ghibli. Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki’s has inspired me since I was young.  Hayao Miyazaki character design, the animation and the worlds are amazing and awe inspiring. Some of the characters that have been created play a important role and story throughout each of the movies  Studio Ghibli creates- each of them giving a fantastic and insiders view as well as invaluable life advice and the choices that have to be made in order to accomplish something.

A video explaining the making of Spirited Away

4. Spyro the dragon. Is another huge inspiration for me when I was younger. Personally I was captured by the idea and concept of the character himself as well as the free roam and worlds that you got to explore throughout the game. Spyro’s unwavering will to help anyone in need, really plays a huge influence in inspiring me to create such strong, easy to relate characters. 

A website showcasing the design ideas that went into making Sypro

5.  Big Hero 6 (2014). Is a recent inspiration and one that really influenced myself personally into deciding what kind of animation I would like to work with. Baymax’s design and overall character was both refreshing and funny- a large white robot like creature that looks like a marshmallow. Other than the characters, the world and fluid animation that was in the movie was very interesting and caught my eye and really showed what can be done with today’s software.

A video of the Behind the scenes of Big Hero 6

6. Ōkami (Game) by Clover Studio and published by Capcom. This game inspires me in many ways. The unique characters, to the interesting and amazing scenes heavily inspired by Japanese gods, and to the woodcut watercolour style which looks similar to the Japanese ink-illustration (known as sumi-e). Throughout the gameplay you play as a wolf trying to archive and inspire people to believe in gods (namely her) while also trying to rid the world of the evil Orochi. I loved the idea of the main character being an animal instead of the normal human, trying to help stop a evil force.