Hopelessly Devoted, a Ghost Story Mai Ly Degnan MFA Illustration Practice 2014
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Hopelessly Devoted, a Ghost Story Table of Contents An Introduction....................................................4-5 First Year Experience..........................................6-12 Illustration in Motion.............................................13 Stop Motion Workshop....................................14-17 Thesis Proposal................................................18-19 Preproduction..................................................20-45 Hopelessly Devoted, a Ghost Story.................46-67 Meanwhile: Pattern..........................................68-79 The Exhibition..................................................80-85 In the Future.....................................................86-87 Acknowledgements...............................................88
Mai Ly Degnan, MFA Illustration Practice 2014 www.mailydegnan.com
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Matchbox Girl, Self Portrait
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An Introduction From comics to movies, I’ve always had a love for the kitschy and the strange. Because of this, I grew up with a serious affinity for outcasts and underdogs. While the majority of my friends were watching Disney princess classics, I looked up to Lydia Deetz from the Beetlejuice cartoon and Wednesday Addams from the Addams Family. Both characters were strange and misunderstood but remained endearing despite their morbid tendencies. Their dark humor was what made them so fun to watch. Wanting to create and tell these kinds of stories was a big reason why I chose to study illustration. Because of artists like, Charles Addams, Edward Gorey, and Julia Pott, my love for such offbeat characters has heavily influenced the kind of artist I’ve grown to be today. Stylized characters, tedious line work, and hand drawn patterning are probably the three most important and consistent elements within
my illustrations. I work using a combination of traditional and digital mediums. I begin with an inked image, and then later add digital color, along with collaged photo textures using Photoshop. I like to work in layers digitally and sometimes will even us cut paper in order to create depth. When illustrating, much of my subject matter focuses on eccentric characters. I’ve always been fascinated with dysfunctional relationships as well as the socially awkward. I want the audience to empathize with a character rather than judge. I like to deconstruct upsetting subject matter and reassemble it with my own visual sarcasm using elements of humor in order to poke fun at uncomfortable situations. I do this by juxtaposing serious topics with playful children’s-book-like illustrations. This pairing of opposites often comes across as strange and offbeat, which is exactly my aesthetic. 5
First year experience Sketchbook Project
During my first year in the MFA Illustration Practice program, I experienced an intensive amount of experimentation, exploration and reflection. Through challenging illustration assignments and workshops, we were pushed outside of our comfort zone. Because of this, I am incredibly thankful. This program pushed me to be open minded, and allowed me learn new skills in order to further my own illustration practice. Initially, the idea of a thesis year was completely new and somewhat scary for me. 6
I was really challenged to think critically about my own work. Our first year workshops helped me realize that my work is best when I can build upon a theme. Our sketchbook project was the start of a mermaid obsession, which later influenced many other projects all under a mermaid theme. For my thesis project, I kept this in mind and worked similarly, using a theme about ghosts, and building upon that theme, referencing a few of the workshops during our first year experience.
“M” is for Merciful Mermaids, Jaime’s ABC book
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Patterning Workshop
Sunbathing Mermaids
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Mermaids and Fish (blue)
Mermaids Building Sand
Mermaids and Jellyfish
Mermaids and Fish (orange)
Mermaids and Their Men
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Personal Work
Mermaids and Orcas
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January just collects jellyfish.
Penny prefers producing pearl necklaces.
Serious Centaurs
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Harassing Harpies
Illustration in Motion As technology develops, magazines and books are being transformed and digital platforms are becoming popular. With inventions such as smart phones, iPads, and kindles, more and more publications are becoming digital, and not only are they going digital, but some are even becoming animated and interactive. These changes seem to have inspired many illustrators to work in different industries and one of these industries is animation. Because of this recent shift in technology, along with illustration, I’ve also been thinking of more and more about ways to integrate animation into my own work. For my thesis, I wanted to create a stop motion animation. Looking at my past work, there is a reoccurring theme to sympathize with the endearingly awkward. Realizing this has led me to create a story under the theme of misunderstood ghosts. I wanted to create a body of work that sympathizes with a character
that is not typically liked. The story line for my animation was inspired by the painful crushes everyone experiences during those awkward years from adolescence to adulthood as well as those necessary steps to move on. My stop motion, Hopelessly Devoted focuses on blind love, one-sided relationships, and the inevitable grieving process that happens post breakup. The story focus’s on a ghost in love with a boy that moves in, who doesn’t know she exits. The stop motion is made entirely from photographs taken of printed illustrations cut in layers and paper doll puppets.
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Stop Motion Workshop Animating with paper dolls We were incredibly fortunate to have had the opportunity of working with Melinda Beck in a stop motion workshop, spring semester of last year. Since being at art school, I’ve always been so jealous of animation majors because they had the ability to make their characters move. Because of this, the stop motion workshop was workshop that I was most looking forward to. In getting ready for Melinda, we were required to prepare three story boarded pitches. We pitched our projects Thursday, and had to have a 30 second stop motion animation completed by Monday. Because of my recent mermaid kick, I knew that I wanted to do something with mermaids and unrequited love. I ended up using an old illustration about a fisherman that gets pulled under by a group of
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pretty yet evil mermaids. It was interesting to think in terms of the before and after, comedic timing, as well as being mindful of the kind of music that would accompany the animation. I created all of the puppets using cut paper and string to sew the joints. Using the stop motion Dragon Frame software, I shot my animation in four hours, at 12 frames per second. Though this was an incredibly quick and fast paced workshop, it was so very vauble to me. Not only did it show me how that I could animate my characters, but it also taught me the all the steps that I needed to kow for my final thesis project, which ended up being an actual five minute animation.
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Deep Blue Sea, A Love Story
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http://vimeo.com/64037354
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Thesis Goals - to create a full and finished animated short - to push my color use - to animate using only paper - to create a story that sympathizes with a character not typically liked
Thesis Proposal Because I fell in love with the first year stop motion workshop, I decided that I wanted to create an actual stop motion animation for my thesis. My goals for this year was to create a polished animation and to also push my use of color. Looking back at my past work, I’ve realized that I have a love for creating illustrations that sympathize with underdogs and the endearingly awkward. Realizing this has led me to the theme of “misunderstood ghosts.” I wanted my thesis to be focused around a story that sympathizes with a character that is not typically liked. Instead of a scary ghost, I wanted a ghost that the audience will love and sympathize with. The story line for my animation was inspired by the painful crushes everyone experiences during those awkward years from adolescence to adulthood as well as those
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necessary steps to move on. My animation is a linear narrative, told entirely from a girl ghost’s perspective. The premise of the story is about a ghost being hopelessly devoted to a living boy who has no idea that she exists. Because they enjoy doing the same things, unfortunately, the ghost believes that they are an item. This unhealthy, and one-sided relationship goes on for the length of the boy’s lease until the boy finally finds a girlfriend. This sudden loss of relationship is traumatic, and the ghost has no choice but to through the five stages of grief. The overall animation will show the ghost as she experiences denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally acceptance. In the end, the ghost accepts the fact that they are no longer together, and reaches acceptance as she falls in love with the next tenant who moves into the house.
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First ghost sketch
Preproduction Character Design For me, character design is most important part of illustration. Without a likeable or relatable character, a good story may sometimes go unnoticed. Because of this, character design is always my first step in the brainstorming process. The way I work is usually by brainstorming with sketches and doodles. Once I finally come up with a character I am happy with, I then try to build a story that sympathizes with or around that character. The image on the top right of this page is from my sketchbook and is actually my very first ghost drawing which eventually inspired my thesis project.
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Character designs
Final ghost character design
Playing with translucent paper
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Brainstorming by sketching
Early thumbnails
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Early sketches
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Building Background Sets In total, 14 background scenes were made for Hopelessly Devoted. Much of my inspiration for the setting of the animation came from actual places around Baltimore. Growing up being obsessed with John Waters movies (all of which were set in Baltimore), instilled in me a true love for the city’s aesthetic. I tried to embody as much as I could using references to Baltimore graveyards, an ice cream shop in Hampden, and especially the charming multi colored Baltimore row homes. I approached background building the same way I approach a normal illustration. I begin with an inked drawing, which scan and digitally color in the computer. I make sure to draw everything in layers so that I could later cut out the image and build it in 3-D so that I could create shadows in order to give each background a sense of depth. 24 24
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Background sets are Baltimore inspired
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Line work
Color sketch
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Digital color
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Stop motion still
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Saint Mary’s Cemetery, Hampden Baltimore 31
Line work
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Digital color
Stop Motion Still
For this particular scene, I wanted to show Lucy floating away in a graveyard. Because of perspective, I needed to create replacement puppets for Lucy so that she would get smaller as she floats further and further away. I also partially cut the grave stones so that Lucy could float behind them instead of only on top of them. I did this so that it wouldn’t feel like the viewer was looking at a flat piece of paper. I wanted them to feel as though they were in the same environment as Lucy. 33
Digital color (in progress)
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Stop Motion Still
Each set was built in layers of balsa wood and cut paper.
The movie theater scene was probably one of the most difficult scenes to make and shoot because I originally drew the extra people in the seats without movable arms. After looking at the
crowd as a whole, I realized it looked strange without actual movement in the crowd, so I had to redraw each person so that I could build them with moveable arms. 35
Drawing puppets in pieces
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Puppets
Because paper hinges were easier to hide than string, I chose to use them to make the movable joints on my puppets. Each puppet was made using cut out body parts and incredibly tiny paper hinges. Because of the small scale I was working at, it took me around half an hour to an hour to finish each puppet and their joints.
Tiny paper puppet
Super tiny paper hinges
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Character Inspiration Each of the characters in my animation are based off of my own personal quirks and insecurities, people I know, and things I love.
Main Characters in Hopelessly Devoted Lucy: Ghost Boy #1: first boy that moves in Amber: Boy #1’s new girlfriend Dexter: the cat Boy #2: send boy that moves in
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Lucy in love.
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Amber: the other woman
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Dexter the cat
The boy in my animation’s obsession with cats is in direct reference to my boyfriend and his relationship with his cat Dex.
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John Waters at the Charles
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Being from Baltimore, Lucy only watches John Waters films.
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Hopelessly Devoted, a Ghost Story Animation is the vehicle I use to bring my illustrations to life. Hopelessly Devoted was created entirely using digital photography and hand built sets. The animation was shot at 24 frames per second and was animated entirely with paper doll puppets. I used a stop motion program called Dragon Frame and photographed the sets with an EOS Rebel T3 DSLR Camera. 2:30 minutes were shot over fall semester, and the rest was shot during the beginig half of spring semester. Each 20 second scene would take around four to six hours to shoot, and most of the scenes were shot twice. Hopelessly Devoted was certainly a labor of love. The following are stills from the animation. 46
Lonely Lucy.
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A boy moves in.
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Lucy watches from far away.
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Lucy gets closer.
Lucy falls in love. 51
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But some things change...
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Lucy is feeling left out.
Lucy gets upset.
Lucy gets angry.
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Lucy unplugs the television.
(She only likes John Waters movies.)
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Lucy HATES Amber.
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Lucy hangs up on Amber.
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The boy is sad.
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Boy moves out.
Lucy can’t watch...
A new boy moves in.
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Lucy falls in love
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Meanwhile, Patterns
While working on my animation, I desperately needed second project to work on outside stop motion in order to not get bored with me thesis. Half way through our first semester, I caught myself drawing ghost doodles all the time. I was creating these drawings as part of a brainstorming process, but many of them turned out to be unrelated to my animation. Subconsciously, I think I did this as a way to have a break from the amount of hours spent alone in the stop motion room. Since I was constantly drawing, I decided to use this illustrations by
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making them into “friendly ghost� patterns. Above are the four black and white tiles which were then colored and turned into finished, illustrated patterns. From these patterns I also had tote bags printed. Seeing my illustrations on an actual object was so gratifying and definitely makes me want to work with surface pattern design in the future.
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Patterns applied to products
Friendly Ghost Tote Bags
Ghosts in windows
Surprise ghosts
Camping Ghosts
Boy Crazy Ghosts
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Illustrations from Pattern
Ghosts in the Forrest.
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Campfire Ghost.
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Ghost Outside.
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Ghosts in Row Homes
Ghosts Under the House
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Boy Crazy Ghosts
They Followed Me Home
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Illustration Practice, MFA Meyerhoff and Decker Galleries March 28th-Aril 6, 2014
Thesis Exhibition
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In the future... Focus: Animation, Publishing, Pattern Design, Festivals
In the future I plan to focus on promoting my Hopelessly Devoted animation. I will be submitting my short to animation festivals over the next few months, and then eventually making it public online. I also plan on continuing the “Lucy the Ghost” story possibly through a web comic or a zine. Depending on how long I stick with the ghost stories, I’d also like to try merchandising my character, through apparel, bags, pencil pouches, etc. In regards to animation, I want to try broadening my knowledge by learning other animation techniques and software. I love stop motion, but I also want to experiment with other ways that I can speed up the animation process. Ideally, down the line, I would love to collaborate with musicians and make animated music videos. I would also like to one day work in a stop motion studio working on character designs, making puppets, or coming up with story. My next few months after graduation, will be consumed 86
with building a portfolio so that I can apply to work at such places. This portfolio will probably include more short stop motion shorts (like the mermaids), as well as experimentation with 3-D stop motion. Aside from animation, I will be promoting my freelance illustration career. I have a very strong interest in publishing. Picture books are why I fell in love with illustration to begin with, and I would love to eventually publish one of my own. After talking to a number of people at the thesis exhibition, I am also thinking about publishing my ghost story to a publishing company one day. Along with my interest in picture books, this past semester, I worked with Jaime on redesigning book covers, which opened my eyes into a whole other illustration market that I would really love to beak into. I really enjoyed to process, and I would really like to explore this market more.
Book Covers
Illustrating covers using pattern to tell a story
Illustrating Stephen King covers based on landscape
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Special thanks to... Jaime Zollars for being an incredible, hardworking, patient, and perfect mentor, who made herself readily available to each and every one of us. You were by far one of the best motivators/teachers I’ve ever worked with. Whitney Sherman, for accepting me into this program and allowing me to be apart of this wonderful illustration community, as well designing an illustration program that pushed everyone way outside of their comfort zone. Eric Leland, Rebecca Bradley, and Lydia Nichols, for all your advice, support, and encouragement during our thesis year. And especially, my fellow Illustration Practice classmates, who were like family and kept me sane during these crazy past two years. Going to miss each and every one of you ridiculously.
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E-mail: mailyillustration@gmail.com Personal Website: www.mailydegnan.com Tumblr: http://mailyillustration.tumblr.com/ Thesis website: http://hopelesslydevotedaghoststory.tumblr.com/
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