Maya Tutorial - Pipeline 1 Part 4

Maya Tutorial - Pipeline 1 Part 1, 2 and 3

This screenshot was taken at the conclusion of the 3rd tutorial of pipeline 1.

Film Review (Opposing Characters) - Guardians of the Galaxy (James Gunn, 2014)

Fig 1. Guardians of the Galaxy Poster.

The two opposing characters in this film are the protagonist, Peter Quill (also known as Starlord) and the villain, Ronan the Accuser.

The beginning of the film neatly sums up the backstory of Peter Quill. It begins with him witnessing his mother's death in a hospital bed due to a long illness she had. Shortly after this, in his distress, he runs out of the hospital and collapses on the grass outside. A huge spaceship appears above him instantly and beams him up. The film then jumps ahead 26 years to present-day Quill where the main narrative begins to take shape.


Fig 2. Peter Quill (Starlord).

Ronan is introduced not long after, he is revealed as a fanatic of an alien race known as the 'Kree'. He has a twisted sense of morality and as such he is shown to be exceedingly dangerous. Not much is revealed of his backstory apart from stories of his previous exploits, mass killings and murders across the galaxy.

These two characters oppose each other in various ways. At a base level Quill is shown to want to protect whoever he can along the way of his own adventures. Ronan however, wishes nothing more than the complete and total annihilation of a race known as the 'Xandarians'. Peter Quill wants to protect and Ronan the Accuser wants to destroy. In this way their opposing traits are completely clear. Quill is however a more complex character in many ways whereas Ronan's character seems to be limited by his overbearing character values of hatred and fury towards his enemies. The simplicity of the villain in this film makes sense though, as you are of course never meant to feel any sympathy for him.


Fig 3. Ronan the Accuser.

Their differences do span further than what is on the surface. Throughout the film, Quill is shown to be the voice of reason whenever their is a dispute among his allies. He is in many ways, a guide for the others. Ronan is yet again, the complete opposite of this, driving everyone away for his own selfish desires. In some ways these characters are difficult to unpack thoroughly but they do without a doubt mirror each other in almost every way.

Illustration List

Gunn, J (2014) Figure 1. Guardians of the Galaxy Poster. http://6fja9beiwb2o4svf.zippykid.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/GOTG-A4-Keyart.jpg (Accessed on 19/10/15)

Gunn, J (2014) Figure 2. Peter Quill (Starlord). http://i.ytimg.com/vi/k8ntBdvvQRU/maxresdefault.jpg (Accessed on 22/10/15)

Gunn, J (2014) Figure 3. Ronan the Accuser. http://www.cinemablend.com/images/news_img/69151/Guardians_of_the_Galaxy_69151.jpg (Accessed on 22/10/15)

Character Session 3

In this session we were put into groups of three and given a piece of paper detailing the premise for a game. We then had to design characters for this game and discuss how this game might function. I found this session really informative and useful. 

 

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Maya - Posing a Rig

In our last maya class with Alan we were asked to find five action images on the internet and pose a rig to match the images. This exercise was supposed to get us used to posing properly for future animation work.

 



 Reference Images

 

 Yoga Pose

 

 Falling Pose

 

 Rugby Pose

 

 Parkour Pose

 

Tennis Pose

Character Project - Ink Silhouettes

As I am sure about my card game idea, I have begun to create silhouettes and line work using ink in order to generate ideas for my bizarre little alien critters. This batch of thumbnails are very rough. So far I am not drawn to many of these but I intend to do more. I want my creatures to be very simple and bold, as that is what would work best on a card. I think that using ink to create these designs was definitely the way to go.

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Narrative - Small Sketches

Below are some more sketches to start to think about our environment and how the fish will change over the course of the animation.

 

 Sketch of the 'underwater ravine' environment.

Sketches of the fish getting covered in its environment.