Interim Crit By Tia Whitehead
Premise
Little Monster
When I first came up with an idea for the project, I liked the idea of creating an animation based on my life with Diabetes and what I have to do each day because of it This would include injections, watching what I eat and the struggles that I can encounter. The first step that I took in order to help me with trying to write how I feel when my blood sugars are high and low is writing down the emotions on a bubble map. This allowed for me to visualise my emotions. I also looked at how I feel in general with having diabetes.
Script #1 When creating my first script I spoke about how me and my family found out that I had Type One Diabetes. I also went deeper into my Diabetes and spoke about how I feel when my blood sugars are high and low, how I used to feel a lot of anxiety around my diabetes when I was younger, how my confidence with my Diabetes has increased as I have grown up and how people react to be testing my blood sugars and injecting myself with insulin in public (although I do not display the fact that I am doing either).
Script #2
After writing my first script I then moved on to write a second in a similar style but as though I was telling the events of how I found out that I had Diabetes like a story.
Script #3
I was then told to approach the script as though it was a monologue. This meant that the script should sound more like I was having a casual conversation with somebody about my Diabetes and as though I was naturally talking about my experiences.
Script #4
After receiving more feedback I then came to writing this script. I believe that it is very successful as a script in the style of a monologue. It outlines what happened on the day me and my family found out that I was diabetic without going into too much detail.
After speaking to Alan and Phil about what I had written as a rough script I was told to look at trying to personify diabetes as a character. I came up with some rough sketches and decided that I would look at the pancreas as a starting point for character design as that is the organ that fails to work correctly. I tried to incorporate the pancreas as a mouth in different characters. I then spoke to Alan who suggested looking at the shaping of the character and looking at how to personify diabetes more but drawing it as I believe to see it. I started off sketching basic shapes to see whether I could come up with any ideas.
After looking further into incorporating the pancreas within the character design I decided that doing so could make the character look fairly scary and that the pancreas would be a hard shape to subtly incorp[orate as it’s shape is very specific. After listening to some advice, I then decided to look into the emotions that I felt when thinking about Diabetes to see whether the overall outline of the character could be used to express them. I started to look at the basic shaping of the character using shapes such as squares, circles and triangles. Although it did help me consider the shaping of the character, I believe that ha[ving the character’s body shaped so obviously like a square, circle or triangle, was not the right way to approach designing him.
This then led me into also researching how other people feel about Diabetes and how they believe Diabetes would look if it was a monster.
This research included looking into how people feel about having both Type One Diabetes and Type Two Diabetes. This is as they are both similar and each person reacts and feels similarly in having it.
I also believed that looking into how many people in the UK have Type One and Type Two Diabetes would be useful, as it enables us to see why it is important to understand.
For the research I decided to look at a website that I have used myself to research into diabetes. The website is Diabetes UK.
https://www.diabetes.org.uk/about_ us/news/new-stats-people-livingwith-diabetes
From the research into the Diabetes monster character I created these drawings. I decided to look at their body shapes, starting with more circular shapes and then moving to more angular shapes. I also decided to look at the character’s jaw. I believed that the monster having a large jaw gave the character more personality and also made the character look more child friendly.
Alan then suggested taking the idea of how I believe Diabetes should look, further. Looking at the Disney Pixar film Inside Out as a reference to see why the characters are shaped like they are. I also then considered more about the character’s shape and colour and what could effect both.
While researching the inside out characters, I found that each character is shaped by something that either symbolises the emotion that they are, or relates to how the main character in the film, Riley, reacts to certain things, for example, Disgust is shaped like a broccoli because Riley is disgusted by broccoli. Anger is shaped like a fire brick because he is hot headed and fear is shaped like a nerve ending because he is always nervous.
I also found that Joy is shaped like a star when her arms and legs are spread out, this also relates to the characters colour.
Sadness is shaped like a upside down tear drop. The character also adopts the colour of a tear drop which also relates to the phrase ‘feeling blue’.
Normal colour
High blood sugar
Sugar crystals
High blood sugar with sugar crystals
Sugar crystals practice texture
I then looked into texture and how the monster could be textured to help represent how I view diabetes. I looked at perhaps having the character textured to look as though it has sugar granules on it, this is as diabetes does revolve around blood glucose levels (sugar). Alan and I then spoke about the monster looking like a sugar cube or a bag full of sugar cubes which linked to the Disney flour sack. Character. I also decided to have it so that the colour of the character changes when my (present and past me) character's blood glucose levels are high or low. I like the idea of the monster being blue when my blood glucose levels normal, the blue colour starting to drain from the character when my blood glucose levels are going low and then red when they are high. This is as these are the colours which I believe represent the way that I feel when I feel high and low. I also like the idea of the colour fading to help suggest feelings and to give the character more personality.
This research then lead me onto drawing blood splatter shapes as I believe that blood relates a lot to diabetes as that is what is used to measure the amount of glucose in the body. I decided to look at a variety of different splatters to see whether any shaped popped out to me that I could use to draw a character. I was then advised to revisit one of the designs that I had created earlier and adapt the design to look more like the Disney Flour Sack, which I began to research.
I was also advised to decide what my style influence would be and what my natural style is like. I decided to draw in the style of the cartoon television series Adventure Time and similar animation design to the company Pictoplasma. The screenshot above is from their portfolio page called Pictofolio.
Disney Flour Sack – Character Design Research After looking at multiple versions of the Disney Flour Sack concept, I find this concept easy to understand. The flour sack shows that even simple shapes can be animated and given character. It can also be used as an example to show how small details can help suggest the character's personality, so I tried to incorporate the shaping and style into the design of my character.
Possible Diabetes Monster Design I decided to stick with this character as a final design. This is as I found the monster to not be what I find diabetes to look like. I also like the idea that the monster is not too complicated and that it is easy to draw as this also fits into the Adventure Time and Pictoplasma style.
Other character design research I then decided to look at what other characters I would need to design for the animation that I am going to create. I knew that as the story was about me, I needed to create a present day character version of myself, and as I was going to talk about when I found out that I had diabetes, I also needed a younger version of myself from when I was about 5 years old. In order to research, I found some old pictures of me and started to draw the pictures in my own style and the style that related to both Adventure Time and Pictoplasma.
Research for my character – Me (Present self)
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2.
From the pictures shown above I prefer image 3, this is as I believe that the character looks more like me. It also seems to include my characteristics without being too obvious.
Research for my character – Me (past self)
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Out of the three images shown to the left, I believe that the first image is the best. This is as I believe that it resembles how I looked when I was younger, with the slimmer face and the ponytails. It also looks similar to the design that I have picked of my present day character.
Possible Character Designs for past and present me
UPA is an animation studio that was founded in 1943 and owned by Universal Studios. The company started by creating training films for WW2 and then progressed to create movie shorts such as Mr.Magoo. They then moved on to create TV series such as Gerald McBoingBoing and later moved on to create animations such as 1001 Arabian Nights. The company also focused on creating cartoons focusing on the economy at the time. The company then closed in 2000.
I decided to create mood boards showing UPA's popular cartoon shows in order to look at their character design style to see whether I could adopt any of the styles. Looking at the first mood board, I liked the style of the Gerald McBoing-Boing show and how the characters are more rounded. I also liked the colours that UPA used in their shows as they are all very bright, something that I wish to adopt into my project.
From this research I then proceeded to look at the face shapes used within the cartoons. I decided that the more rounded face shapes were more suitable for my characters. I then continued to look at my own face shape to see which was more suited to me. While experimenting with face shape, I also looked at how the colours of the face could be shown. As shown below, I liked the idea of having the face's colours slightly away from the front of the face.
After looking at the character's face shapes. I then looked into how the female characters were shaped. Specifically the women. I then decided to sketch different was in which my body could be shown. I found that in UPA cartoons, the female body was usually elongated and that the women had longer necks. I looked into how my character would look with this adaptation.
Younger Character Design
I then drew more character designs in a similar style to UPA's cartoons that also have my own style incorporated into them. I believed that having a circular head showed that this character was younger. I also included pigtails to also suggest this. I then looked at different skin and hair colours I could use in the character as well as other face designs and clothing that could be worn by the character.
Older Character Design
I then also looked at the face and hair styles that could be used for the design of my older character. I also looked into how her body could be shaped to look like mine and the clothing she would wear.
I then looked further into how I could design my Diabetes monster character. I was told to look more at the Disney Flour Sack character design and other designs from a similar era to UPA, such as the character shown above. While looking at the Disney Flour Sack character design I found that personality can be shown very easily through posture and movement.
Diabetes Monster Character Design
I then drew different versions of my Diabetes Monster character to see how I could suggest emotion through a limited amount of shapes.
I decided to look at how my character would show a variety of emotions. Including happiness, sadness, anger and frustration. I like how I can see each character's emotion even though there is hardly any detail on the character.
Script #5 Hi, my name is Tia and I am a type one diabetic. Type one diabetes is an auto-immune disease that causes the body to attack the pancreas, causing your pancreas to stop working. This means that when I eat, instead of my own insulin naturally breaking down sugar to send to different parts of my body, my insulin is not produce. This means that I have to regularly inject myself with insulin via a needle to ensure that I stay fit and healthy. I do not remember much about how I found out that I had diabetes, all I remember is that… It started one day when I was 5. I was on my way to London with my Mum to go to the Natural History Museum. On the way I kept drinking and eating, once I’d finished drinking one drink I was already drinking another. It was non-stop and the more I drank, the worse I felt. My Mum was getting worried. Even with the distractions around me, it still wouldn’t stop. The drinking and eating lasted all day and as you can see, it wasn’t very normal. On the way home my Mum decided to take me to the doctors. She got an appointment for me for the next day and I was taken out of school, which I was very happy about! Although once I realised I was going to the doctors, I think I would have preferred to stay at school.
Script #5 When we got there the doctor tested me for a few things and spoke to my Mum about each of the test. He knew that there was something wrong with me and told us to go to the hospital that night. So we went home and packed our bags.
We rushed over to the hospital and spoke to one of the specialist doctors and that’s when we were told that I was diabetic. It all happened so quickly and I hardly remember any of it of it now, which I guess is quite nice because I was only 5 and it was quite a change for me. A lot of people like to say “It must have been hard for you” and “Oh no, I feel so sorry for you”, but it’s natural to me now, I don’t remember a life without injecting myself and testing my blood sugar. Although I am used to having to test my blood sugar and inject, I do still, at times, feel self-conscious about it. Due to the amount I test my blood sugars, and for ease of access, in the past I have tested my blood sugars on my arms and fingers. I used to tend to test more on my arms because I was worried about my fingers becoming sore and not being about to feel properly. This has resulted in my arms becoming more and more bruised, making it seem as though I’ve been taking drugs. Which has definitely not happened.
Script #5 Due to this, I have become more comfortable with testing and injecting in front of people, sometimes, depending on the location and where I am sitting, I inject myself in public. I make sure that if I do then it is discrete. I have had it a couple of times while I’ve been out in public and injected my insulin and people on other tables have starred at me, even though I have tried my best to hide the fact that I am doing it. Most of the people that look at me are older people and I do find it very aggravating that people tend to stare, even once I have realised they are, and then continue to stare throughout the whole time I am injecting. I have said to multiple people that I know that I would prefer them to speak to me and ask me questions rather than making me feel uncomfortable. It may not be completely natural but if I don’t do it then I would result in my becoming really unwell.
I do find living with diabetes hard at times, feeling unwell and getting stressed because of how it is making me feel. I have learned over the years, to control my diabetes. When I was younger it used to rule my life, making me feel anxious and concerned about whether I was safe being by myself, in case something went wrong. Over the years I have ‘tamed’ it, making sure I have back up plans in case something goes wrong and always telling people close to me about it, in case I need their help. Looking back now, being in control of my life from a young age has helped me to develop into who I am today. Diabetes does not control me. It is a part of me.
Jet Pack Jones
Submission commitment: Fully explained concept Final overall design and character influence maps Set and asset designs – objects such as needle, blood testing meter, chairs for character to sit on, etc. Final character Design – Younger me, older me and Diabetes monster Concept Art – Environments (e.g. on the train, museum, coffee shop, bedroom) Storyboard Final script Voiceover Animatic and/or [pre-viz 3D work and Maya tests Creating 1 0r 2 character views on Maya for 2D characters
Project Schedule Week 14 8th – 14th April
Monday • •
Character design Jet Pack Jones (2 hours)
Tuesday • • •
Easter Holiday 15th – 28th April
Complete character design Set and asset design Jet Pack Jones (2 hours)
Monday • •
Concept art Jet Pack Jones (2 hours) -------------------• Animatic • Jet Pack Jones (2 hours)
Wednesday • • •
Tuesday • •
Concept art Jet Pack Jones (2 hours) -------------------•
Jet Pack Jones (2 hours)
Thursday •
Set and asset design Storyboard (What is diabetes) Jet Pack Jones (2 hours)
• • •
Wednesday • •
Concept art Jet Pack Jones (2 hours) -----------------• Jet Pack Jones (2 hours)
Friday •
Set and asset design Voiceover Storyboard (what is diabetes) Jet Pack Jones (2 hours)
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Thursday • •
Animatic Jet Pack Jones (2 hours) -------------------• Jet Pack Jones (2 hours)
Saturday
Storyboard (museum trip) Jet Pack Jones (2 hours)
Friday • •
Animatic Jet Pack Jones (2 hours) ---------------• Creating characters (Maya) • Jet Pack Jones (2 hours)
• •
Storyboard (selfconscious) Jet Pack Jones (2 hours)
Saturday • •
Animatic Jet Pack Jones (2 hours) ----------------• Creating characters (Maya) • Jet Pack Jones (2 hours)
Sunday • •
Storyboard (selfconscious) Jet Pack Jones (2 hours)
Sunday • •
Animatic Jet Pack Jones (2 hours) ----------------• Creating characters (Maya) • Jet Pack Jones (2 hours)
Week 15 29th – 5th May
Monday • •
Creating characters (Maya) Jet Pack Jones (2 hours)
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Tuesday
Wednesday
Creating characters (Maya) Jet Pack Jones (2 hours)
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Week 16 6th – 12th May
Monday •
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Creating scene – Train and Doctor’s surgery (Maya) Jet Pack Jones (2 hours)
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Creating characters (Maya) Creating 3D object (chair) Jet Pack Jones (2 hours)
Tuesday
Wednesday
Creating scene – Museum (Maya) Jet Pack Jones (2 hours)
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Creating scene – Coffee shop (Maya) Jet Pack Jones (2 hours)
Thursday • • •
Creating characters (Maya) Creating 3D object (diabetes equipment) Jet Pack Jones (2 hours)
Friday •
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Thursday • •
Creating scene – bedroom (Maya) Jet Pack Jones (2 hours)
Creating 3D object (diabetes equipment) Jet Pack Jones (2 hours)
Saturday •
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Friday • •
Creating 2D scenes Jet Pack Jones (2 hours)
Creating 3D object (diabetes equipment) Jet Pack Jones (2 hours)
Sunday • •
Saturday • •
Creating 2D scenes Jet Pack Jones (2 hours)
Creating scene – Train (Maya) Jet Pack Jones (2 hours)
Sunday • •
Creating 2D scenes Jet Pack Jones (2 hours)