Animating Greek Mythology: Heroes - Perseus - Progress Update 2
Male and female base with the heads of Perseus and Danae. The clothing is still very WIP and was quickly drawn with the pencil tool. It's there so that I can get a better idea of how their proportions will look when finished.
Here is a short clip showcasing the 3d armature for the male puppet. The modularity of these characters should help cut down on time. I still need to make a control rig for the armature.
Here is the current selection of repeating patterns that will adorn different areas and objects. The cloud texture at the bottom is for my illustrator class but those assets will be repurposed to create clouds for this animation as well.
This is the royal palace of Argos which will be featured in the opening sequence. Partially based on some archaeological reconstructions from the ancient palace in Knossos on the island of Crete. I have yet to incorporate repeating patterns into this.
Each of these images will be a short motion sequence with the first being Danae's visit from Zeus and the second being the newly born Perseus. These will lead into the transition from the city of Argos to the sea and their exile. *Colors not final*
The Acropolis at Argos. For reference, I used artist renderings of the Athenian Acropolis and placed it atop the existing ruins of medieval battlements and structures that are still present in Argos.
A clearer picture of the clouds with some possible color combinations. Note: I have since found what I would consider to be the most consistent orange color (see the puppets above) based on an averaged hue taken from my pottery reference images.
Now that I have made my repeating patterns, I am seeing how they will look once I incorporate them into scenes. Here is the wooden chest, containing Danae and Perseus, having been set adrift in the Aegean. The eyes in the clouds represent Zeus.
This is the same image as above but the sky has turned black as Zeus is angered by this turn of events before asking Poseidon to carry the chest to safety.
Most of the work from this past week has gone towards the repeating patterns that will be used in the background and foreground elements in each scene. I will probably make a few more flowery and swirly designs similar to those fronds frequently found on ancient Greek and Etruscan pottery.
In between this update and the last, I have turned the Perseus vector into a puppet that is rigged and weight painted to a skeleton in Blender. I have since created a female bodied variant of the base puppet. Between the male and female puppet bodies, I will only need to make a selection of faces and clothing for the remaining humans and gods. I have done some quick sketches for the various male and female hairstyles and faces. Over the next few days, I will be making vector art for them as well as creating a selection of robes, tunics, and armor. At that time I will also make Perseus's shield, Harpe, and winged sandles.
The next thing to complete following the character creation process will be to make the base artwork for the non-human characters such as the Gorgons, Ceti (sea monster), and possibly Pegasus and Chrysaor who sprang from Medusa's neck upon her death.
I hope to be finished with all characters by the end of next week, then I will begin making the different set pieces and scenery for the rest of the locations which are: Serifos (coast, palace, and temple to Athena), Cisthene (home of the Graeae Sisters), Sarpedon (coast, cave, and the Gorgons' lair), and Aethiopia (rocky sea, maybe palace). Each location will be set up in a linear fashion where the camera only moves to the right and then, upon Medusa's death, it moves only to the left. For travel between locations, first the crate containing Danae and Perseus will travel across the sea, then Pereus will fly using the winged sandles above the sea and below the clouds for each remaining destination until he finally reaches Argos at the end.
I will be staging the entire scene so that it is similar to a level from a sprawling side-scrolling game where the areas are connected and the transitions are relatively seamless. I still want to try and include multiple colored backgrounds, but I am finding it difficult to change the vector colors on a whim after importing the SVGs into Blender. So, I may attempt to turn all of the non-black areas into holdouts, which will render as transparent gaps in the final images, and then I would add the background color and texture in After Effects for more control and consistency.
For the narrative elements of the story: I have been re-writing and condensing the story so that I can hit the main beats without dragging on or spending too much time making more assets. I have a general outline but will solidify it once I have the assets complete so that I can set up all of the scenes and have proper timing.
Audio: I don't know if I will include any sound effects but, if I do, they will be minimal. There won't be any diegetic dialogue; the entire story will either be narrated by me, someone else, or AI. I was thinking about possibly finding/hiring someone to read the story in Greek while incorporating English subtitles at the bottom of the screen (and maybe greek at the top - time permitting). It may be more time consuming but I really like this idea. Also, the addition of subtitles would allow for those with impaired hearing to engage with the story as well.
