## Independent Game Art Studio Practice (1J6Z1015_2324_9F)
## Jannah Tasnim Rahman 21343319
## Introduction

For this project, I am asked to make up a diorama scene either with characters or environment in 2D or 3D. I choose characters for this project as I am more confident in creating them and making animations. I am going to document everything I do and show progress.

## Idea
For the theme of my project, I was thinking about a dystopian world overtaken by technology. For my characters, I am intrugued by the idea of a squad rather than just one main character. I want to show that there are multiple heroes in the diorama scene. Their job is to restore the planet and prevent it from being dystopian. I will go down the path of 2D to make this.

## Inspiration and Research

#### Sonic CD

Sonic CD is a 2D side-scrolling platform game. In this game, the objective is to save 'Little Planet' by Doctor Eggman. However in this world, players can travel to the past, present and future by hitting signposts. There can be two endings achieved for each zone. The good future is gained if players hit the past sign post to travel in the past and destroy the machines by Doctor Eggman to prevent a bad future. A bad future is gained if players hit the future sign post. This time travels ahead of time and shows how Little Planet would look if the past was not changed. This all results in the ending of the game. (SEGA, 1993).

This game heavily depends on the use of time travel to play the game. Different time lines provide different variation of stages, enemies and story endings. Palm Tree Panic is the first zone to play in. It is a tropical environment featuring palmtrees and heavy greeney.

*Figure 1:* Palmtree Panic Environment (Source: Giantbomb, 2022:online)

Here is what the beginning of Palmtree Panic in Sonic CD shown in *Figure 1:* Palmtree Panic Environment (Source: Giantbomb, 2022:online). It starts of as a beautiful scenery in the present timeline. Players have to progress to find signposts for the past or presents depending which one they want to go to.

*Figure 2*: Palmtree Panic Past (Source: Medium, 2023:online)

In *Figure 2*: Palmtree Panic Past (Source: Medium, 2023:online), it shows the past of Palmtree Panic. The past looks calm but it is the beginning of destruction and oppression. The trees appear younger compared to the one shown in *Figure 1:* Palmtree Panic Environment (Source: Giantbomb, 2022:online). The use of muted colours bring a soothing and calm atmosphere. In this time line, there is a machine you have to destroy. This machine creates enemies which leads to a bad future if players do not go to the past.

*Figure 3*: Palmtree Panic Future (Source: SEGAbits, 2011:online)

This is what the future looks like in Palmtree Panic in *Figure 3*: Palmtree Panic Future (Source: SEGAbits, 2011:online). The dark use of colours makes the environment become gloomy and some what creepy. The palmtrees are withered and overtaken by machinery by Doctor Eggman. This happens when you hit the future sign post instead of past signpost.

I like this idea of using timelines to show a change in environment. It gives an understanding of things changing if you do not take the right action as a player. I will use this game as inspiration when creating an environment for my characters to be set in. There job is to show that they can change the planet by restoring it.

#### Power Rangers

The Power Rangers franchise is a very popular TV show which has many titles released throughout the decades. This is a live action show that has a squad of heroes fighting villians.

In every Power Ranger show, the main characters are always in a coloured suit unique to them. The suits they wear are always require a helmet to hide their identity too.

*Figure 4*: Power Ranger Costumes (Source: MyCast, no date:online)

Here is and official poster for Power Rangers S.P.D which is the thirteenth franchise in the series. (Power Rangers S.P.D, 2005). In *Figure 1*: Power Ranger Costumes (Source: MyCast, no date:online), it shows the characters displayed in their power ranger suits. Each character has a colour and number unique to them. These little changes allows viewers to differentiate the characters from each other despite them wearing similar suits.

This inspires me to create a sqaud similar to the Power Rangers. I think the use of similar suits are good for squad characters because it easily shows a team who is determined to work on the same cause they fight for. I will use this as refernce when creating my own characters.

#### WALL-E

WALL-E is a movie which takes places 700 years in the future (WALL-E, 2008). This planet is filled with trash and not a single organic organism is in sight. All humans live in space and a robot named WALL-E is on earth making blocks out of junk. This is to clean the planet. The result of humans not taking care of the planet has lead to this cause. This is a theme of a dystopian future that has gone downhill.

A character named EVE is also a robot which fascinated me because of her job role. Her job is to sustain plant life to look for hope to restore Earth sent by humans from the ship they live in.

*Figure 5*: EVE (Source: Pixar, 2008:online)

Here is the character EVE in *Figure 2*: EVE (Source: Pixar, 2008:online). Unlike WALL-E, she is built simple and sleek in contrast to the dull and broken environment around her.

https://youtu.be/GyBeACKZOU4?si=U2XPp1NSWHXfsRhr
Here is a scene of the film where EVE takes a plant given by WALL-E. In the end of the clip, EVE is fascinated by the plant WALL-E has given her and scans it as this is the type of thing she is looking for. She then takes the plant and stores it inside her then goes straight into hibernation. (JoBlo Animated Videos, 2022: 3min 54 to 4min 19). This plant is kept safe in her as she hibernates. It will be used as hope to restore the planet later in the film. This shows nature and technology working together innovatively to reverse the effects of humans not taking care of the planet or themselves.

I will be using this as inspiration to my own characters. I like the combination of techology and plants as it both is a unique contrast to combine. For my characters, I want organic life to be a power source for them as they will be robots. I will research plants that I like to use on my characters and use this as refernce.

#### Cyberpunk

Cyberpunk is a sciene fiction genre that combines technology and humans together in a dystopian future. There are many types of features this genre can come with. Usually in this kind of dystopian world, technology can take over many things by changing the way people do things or get rid of it completely. There is also a change in aesthetics since technology makes things look artificial and robotic. Buildings are usually lit up with LED lights and people in biomechanical attire. There is also some sort of power that oppresses peoples freedom in this genre. This genre is used in both video games and films.

#### Flowers

Since I will be creating 4 characters, I will look into 4 types of flowers.

#### Rosa Rugosa

Rosa Rugosa comes from the rose which comes from the Rosaceae family. This flower is also known as 'Japanese Rose'. The summer time is when this flower blooms. It can be planted in rich and moist soils as well as soils that lack in richness such as droughts, sandy soils and clay soils. Rosa Rugosa can be tough and are resistant to diseases which makes it a strong plant.

*Figure 6*: Rosa Rugosa (Source: GardeningKnowHow, 2022:online)

Here is what the Rosa Rugosa flower looks like in *Figure 6*: Rosa Rugosa (Source: GardeningKnowHow, 2022:online). It has a vibrant colour on its petals and is usually yellow in the middle. It grows as a small bunch togther on a bush.

I admire this flower so I will be using it for my character design. This is a flower that is described to be strong and can grow in any kind of state depending on the soil.

#### Lily

Lilies are large flowers that come from the Liliaceae family. Lilies are seen symbolically as a good thing in many places around the world. In China, these flowers are held in weddings to symbolise 100 years of love to the married couple. In Greece, Lilies represents motherhood because of the ability to conceive children and pass on the bloodline.

*Figure 7*: Lily Plant (Source: Almanac, 2024:online)

In *Figure 7*: Lily Plant (Source: Almanac, 2024:online), the Lilies are shown to be quite big flowers. The petals are elongated and has got filaments in the middle. The colours fade on each petal and contains spots.

I will be using this as refernce with my character design.

#### Wax Begonia

Wax Begonia comes from the Begoniaceae family and is know to bloom in the summer and early autumn and even in colder climates. These flowers are usually in clusters meaning multiple of them are bunched together.

*Figure 8*: Wax Begonia (Source: Rainbow Gardens, no date:online)

I am interested in this type of flower because of how it grows in clusters and as surrounded by leaves shown in *Figure 8*: Wax Begonia (Source: Rainbow Gardens, no date:online). The flowers are simple with a lot going on in one space. I like the crowdedness so I will be using this for my character design.

#### Rose

The Rose comes from the Rosaceae family and is widely recognised as the symbol of love and romance. This rose is also associated heavily on Valentines Day. There are many types of colours Roses can grow in. Red Roses are the iconic colour in which it is recognised.

*Figure 9*: Rose (Source: Interflora, no date:online)

Here is what the rose looks like in *Figure 9*: Rose (Source: Interflora, no date:online). It is a bunch of petals wrapped around as layers which creates a spiral display. I will use this flower in my character design because it is one of the most iconic flowers and is loved for its beauty.

## How will I do this project?

To carry out this project, I will make:

* Sillhouettes - This helps to create unique shapes for characters and environments.
* Colour swatches - Gives off a personality and mood to each characters. Can also do the same with environments.
* Character sheets - To display final outcomes
* Sprite Animations - To bring characters to life.

## Moodboard

After doing some research for inspiration, I gathered some images to create a mood board for my character design. Here is my mood board:


These images consists of mainly robots since all my characters will be robotic. Some of these pictures have robots that are simple while others are more detailed. On the left, I included some astronaught pictures which could impact my ideas when creating sillhoeuettes. I do like a space suit look so I will experiment with this reference. I added some plants in the mood board to get an initial idea of how I will contain this in my character designs. The plant in a bowl gives me an idea to create the characters head this way.

## Primary Resource

To include primary resource in my project, I took a picture of some flowers my mother grew in front of our house. This plant is Wax Begonia.

## Sillhoeuettes

As a base, I sketched this sillhoeutte. This figure has a plant for a head that levitates above the body. For now the body looks organic but I will make changes to it to fit a more robotic style.

Here are two variations I made with the base. On the left, I added more detail to the body while keeping the space suit astronaught look. However the arms are attached with hinges to replicate joints. I did this to move away from a body that looks completely organic. On the right side is a more mechanical approach. It is a more skinnier figure and looks more skeletal. I like this look more because it appears to be more artificial and robotic which is the aim of my character design. I will be taking the right sillhoeuttes variation forward to my final designs.


I took away the tubes that are connected to the arms and head. I did this to see what it would look like if the robot functioned completely wirelessly. Since technology is becoming more wireless, I think this would be a reasonable design to include in my characters.


Here are some other variation without the tubes. Since I want to make a squad of characters, they will have the same body but different heads. I sketched different shapes on each figure.

To create a front character view, I used the symmetery tool.

Here is the result of a front view. Here is the start of my character sketch in detail. I decided to keep a triangle head as a place holder for now since all my characters will have the same body.

I then coloured the sketch in black to use as line art for later.

Using the front view sketches, I used it as a reference to draw a side view. With the help of guidelines, I could measure the height and distant of my characters body parts.

Here is the sketch.

Here is another sketch I made to get a better idea of what my character will look like. I drew a 3/4 view from above just to have a play around.

I had an idea to add vines around the robot to add more nature to it. I sketched them around the upper body. After consideration, I decided that I do not like them as much because it looks like there is too much going on at once, so I will just stick with the plant inside their heads.

I made three backpack sketches with different shapes. The backpack will be embedded the the characters back rather than wearing it seperately. Each of them has a heart icon to represent kindess and love since my characters will be heroes. I decided that I liked the middle backpack the most because it is more of a square shape which looks mechanical in my opinion. When I think of machines, I imagine technology that are angular with very little round shapes as it is made from metal. Metal are usually straight with angles.



Here is the backpack on the back of my character.
I coloured the sketch to make it as a lineart.

I already liked how the legs are and did not want to change the details too much so I kept it as it is. I drew the side view so I can visually understand how it looks.

For the arms, I also wanted to keep it simple. I did try to make some tweaks in the design for example on this sketch, it has bevels on the end of each piece.

In this sketch sheet, I took away the bevels. I am going to keep the arms this way instead because I want them to look minimal.

I began to start on a 3/4 view which I will use on all my chacters for the concept art sheet when they are done.
Here is the rough sketch.

Here is the clean up sketch.

Here is the line art. I will swap head shapes for the other three characters when I create and choose colour swatches.


Here is the design of my robot in 4 different views all put together. The overall shape of my character is slim and looks as if it has a skeletal anatomy. I am happy with the out come of my design.

## Colour swatches

I am going to create various colour swatches and experiment different combinations of colours. I am aiming to create bright colours rather than anything that is muted or neutral. This is because I want these robots to look friendly as they are supposed to be heroes, not villians. I will pick 4 colour swatches for each of my characters.

Although I stated that I will be using bright colours, I did try some dark colours to see if I would change my mind.


I created a total of 18 different colour swatches. Again, I used a triangle shape as a placeholder. In the place holder shows the colour the flower will be in their heads.

These are my chosen colour swatches. Instead of having entirely bright colours for each character, I chose some that are darker such as the dark blue and orange swatches on the left. I decided this because I wanted more variety in colours from brigh to dark and I believe it adds more personality to them. If they all had equally bright colours, they will some what look the same.

#### Line art and Colouring

To begin line art and colouring, I will colour one and fully render it then change the colour settings for the other characters.

I will use the 3/4 line art I created earlier and swap the heads only since that is the only difference they have with each other. I have not given them names yet so I will address them as character 1,2,3 and 4.

Using my research on flowers, I will reference them on each character.

#### Character 1

For the first character, I will be using Rosa Rugosa flower for the head. Here is what it will look like.

I then drew the flowers on my 3/4 lineart.

Here is the flat colours using one of my chosen colour swatches..

I then rendered it with different shades to create dimension.

I then sketched the back view of the character in 3/4.

Here is the lineart.

Here is the rendered version.

#### Character 2

For my second character, I will be using Lillies based on my research. This characters head is taller than the other characters so Lillies will be the perfect plant to fit in it.

Using the first character that I rendered, I merged the layers then used the colour balance settings to adjust to the colour I want. I used the yellow colour swatch for this character.

I did the same to the 3/4 back view.

#### Character 3

For my third character, I put Wax Begonia to place in the head. I have chosen it for this characters head because of its round shape. Wax Begonia are grown in bushes which looks circular so I drew it to fit in a sphere. Here it is.

Again, I adjusted the colour balance to match my orange colour swatch.

I did the same for the back view.

#### Character 4

For my fourth character, I will be using a rose for its head. I decided to use a rose for this one to make it look like a display since this characters head will be sqaure shaped. Roses are seen as one of the most beautiful flowers, so making it look like a display box will look as if it is precious and being guarded.

I adjusted the colour balance to blue

I adjusted the colour balance on the back.

## Concept Sheets

I put the rendered artwork into a character sheet. I named this sqaud 'BOTANIKS' because of the words botanic and robotic sounding similar. I used a 'K' instead of 'C' to have some uniqueness.

Here is the character sheet for my first character. I named it 'RUG0S4'. This comes from the name of the flower in its head. I changed the vowels of the letters to numbers to make it look robotic since robots are coded in their systems.

Here is my second character sheet. I named it 'L1LL-13' which is inspired by the flower Lily contained in its head. Lily sounds exaclty like the name Lillie so I used Lillie as the spelling and changed the vowels with numbers. I used the name rather than the flowers name to add more numbers when swapping the vowels.

Here is my third character sheet. I named it B3G0N1A which comes from the flower Wax Begonia and is in the head of this character. I did not use 'Wax' in its name because it would have been too long.

Finally, here is my fourth character sheet. I chose the name R0S4 which is from the name Rosa. This translates to Rose from Latin.

I am satisfied with the outcome of my final character designs because they all look equal but different to each other and can be recognised as a sqaud working together. They have similarities such as having flowers in their head and the same body type but they all vary in colour and sizes.

## Character Animation
I am going to create 2D sprite animations using Photoshop. I will create common actions which are:
* Idle
* Running
* Jump/Fly

#### Idle

Character 1: RUG0S4

To start, I used the timeline setting and sketched each frame. I am creating an idle animation since that is the most common animation for a character.
Here is what it looks like.

Here is the GIF of the idle animation.

I then created the line art.

I coloured the line art and rendered it.

Here is the final outcome of the idle animation on RUG0S4.

I will use colour balance settings to change the colour adjusting to my other characters.

Character 2: L1LL-13

I adjusted the colour balance to yellow for L1LL-13.

I then swapped RUG0S4's head to L1LL-13's head.

I added the flowers.

Here is the outcome idle animation for L1LL-13.

Character 3: B3G0N14

I adjusted the colour to orange.

I swapped the head to B3G0N1A's head.

I coloured it in.

Here is the outcome idle animation for B3G0N1A.

Character 4: R0S4

I adjusted the colour to navy blue.

I swapped the head to R0SA's head

I coloured it in

Here is the idle animation outcome for R0S4.

#### Running

I will create a running animation so my characters can move around. I will be using the same process as my idle sprite animation.

Character 1: RUG0S4

This animation will have a lot more movement going on so I used different colours to differentiate body parts when they are in different positions in each frame.

Here is what it looks like in a GIF.

I proceeded to create the line art.

I then coloured and rendered it. Here is the outcome.

Character 2: L1LL-13

Using the colour balance, I changed the colour to yellow after duplicating the run animation. This is to create a copy and save time.

I swapped the head to L1LL-13's head.

Here is the complete running animation for L1LL-13.

Character 3

I duplicated the run animation and adjusted the colour to orange.

I swapped the head to B3G0N14's head.

Here is the outcome running animation for B3G0N14.

Character 4

I duplicated again and changed the colour to navy blue.

I swapped the head to R0S4's head.

Here is the outcome running animation for R0S4.

#### Fly/Jump

As my last animation, I will create a fly/jump animation. It will be partially flying since my characters have backpacks to help them levitate around.

Character 1: RUG0S4

Here is the start of the fly/jump animtion. I used different colours for each body part to differentiate them. I used frames from my idle animation on the part where the character floats. I did this since the frames would look similar when idle and levitating. I changed the position of the legs when the character is levitating.

Here is the GIF.

I then duplicated a copy and created the line art.

Here is the outcome of the fly/jump animation.

Character 2: L1LL-13

I duplicated the first fly/jump animation and adjusted the colours for L1LL-13.

I then swapped the head.

Here is the outcome fly/jump animation for L1LL-13.

Character 3: B3G0N14

I duplicated the fly/jump animation and adjusted the colour to orange for B3G0N14.

I swapped the head.

Here is the outcome fly/jump animation for B3G0N14.

Character 4

I duplicated the fly/jump animation and adjusted the colour to navy blue for R0S4.

I swapped the head.

Here is the outcome fly/jump animation for R0S4.

### Environment Mood board

I gathered images showing dystopian environments because that is what I want my background environment to look like. I like the idea of isolation because the environment looks abandoned and is in need of restoration. Here is my mood board.

### Primary Resource

I took some pictures outside my house of the trees. These trees have no leaves or any greenery. I will be referncing these for my background.




### Environment sillhouettes

Here are two environment sillhouettes I created using shades of grey. I created two because I want to show the purpose of my characters. They are built to restore the environment so I will demonstrate two environments that changes to their power.

Here is my first environment. This will be the dystopian version as everything is broken and dull. The trees are dead and are barely living so a machine is attached as support.

This is the second environment. Here, the environment looks more lively because the trees are not dead and the grass has grown.

I will be drawing both of these in greater detail.

### Environment 1 process

Here is the blockout for my first environment. I used brown shades and created flat shapes to create the scene.

I added some shading and lighting for greater detail.

I added a dark lighting using the colour burn mode.

I added lighting using yellows and oranges with linear dodge (Add) and screen mode

Here is the final result of my first environment.
I achieved an abandoned and dystopian background as my first environment. The dead trees and dark atmosphere tells that this place has no sign of life and is in need of restoration.

### Environment process 2

For my second environment, I duplicated the first one and changed the colours of everything. I swapped the dead tree at the back with a waterfall to show natures power.

I added cherryblossom leaves on the tree in front.

I added more darker green to give it more richness.

I added some blue lighting on the right side which is the reflection of the blue sky.

Here is the result of my second environment.

This environment is a contrast to the first one I created. This one shows the restoration done by my characters as it is there job to do it. This is how they will fix a dystopian world.

### Animation Scene

To create a small movie clip, I used Adobe Animate to piece all my work together. This software will allow me to use keyframes to animate my GIFs on my environment backgrounds. I placed my first environment as the start of the animation.


I then added my character running animation GIF into the screen stage like a side scrolling game. Each character will run into the screen from the same direction.

I had to move each frame forward to keyframe it.

As the first character moves forward, the next character behind comes along.

Once they are all in the stage, I set the idle animation and keyframed it.

I then set the fly/jump animation at the same time.

To make a transition, I added a white screen and created a motion tween to animate the opacity.

I had to choose the alpha settings for the colour effects.

I set the time it will change its opacity to look like it will flash. After the flash the environment will change.

I key framed the fly/jump animation for more longer while the stage flashes.

This is how it looks after the flash. It looks as if the robots restored it.

Here is the animation I uploaded on Youtube.
https://youtu.be/PQvzXcvY8C4

## Conclusion

I made a standard amount of work in the project as I have shown all my progress in character art, environment art and animation. I clearly represented the purpose of my characters in my final animation about their ability to restore a dystopian world. Animating them has brought them to life to show their purpose.

However I do believe that I could have produced more animations such as an attack moves, crouches and backflipsetc. It was not possible for me as there was not enough time due to me having mental health issues which greatly impacted my studies, so I made the best I could with the time I had. I did lack time management and research. If I had done those two well, I could have made a lot more pieces of work because I would have had more references to use and better time to produce work.

In future projects, I will make sure to plan ahead of time so I can consistently produce work without struggling.

### Bibliography

SEGA. (1993) *Sonic CD.* Sega CD, Windows, Android, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, iOS, Apple TV [Game] Japan: SEGA.

*Figure 1:* Palmtree Panic Environment (Source: Giantbomb, 2022:online)
https://www.giantbomb.com/sonic-cd/3030-14433/

*Figure 2*: Palmtree Panic Past (Source: Medium, 2023:online)
https://medium.com/@TTTTTsd/looking-back-at-2d-sonic-sonic-2x2-c4411e8e2a9b

*Figure 3*: Palmtree Panic Future (Source: SEGAbits, 2011:online)
https://segabits.com/blog/2011/12/21/follow-up-review-sonic-cd/

*Figure 4*: Power Ranger Costumes (Source: MyCast, no date:online) https://www.mycast.io/talent/power-rangers-s-p-d/images

Power Rangers S.P.D. (2005) Directed by J. Laing. P. Grinder. B. Hawkins. A. Merrifield. G. Aronowitz. M. Beesley. C. Haskell [Video] California: ABC Family

Alex. (2011) *Series Review: Power Rangers S.P.D.* My Shiny Toy Robots. [Online][Accessed on 18th January 2024]
https://www.myshinytoyrobots.com/2011/10/tv-times-14-power-rangers-spd.html

WALL-E. (2008) Directed by A. Santon. [Film] California: Pixar Animation Studios

IMDb. (no date) *Summaries*. [Online][Accessed on 18th January 2024]
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0910970/plotsummary/

*Figure 5*: EVE (Source: Pixar, 2008:online) https://www.pixar.com/feature-films/walle#:~:text=WALL%E2%80%A2E%20

JoBlo Animated Videos. (2022) WALL-E Clip: "Wall-E Meets Eva" (2008) Pixar. *WALL-E*. Pixar Animation Studios [Online video][Accessed on 18th January 2024]
https://youtu.be/GyBeACKZOU4?si=U2XPp1NSWHXfsRhr

https://cointelegraph.com/news/what-is-cyberpunk-a-beginner-s-guide-to-the-sci-fi-genre

SEGA. (1993) *Sonic CD.* Sega CD, Windows, Android, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, iOS, Apple TV [Game] Japan: SEGA.

### Flowers

Rosa Rugosa

Gardenia. (no date) *Rosa rugosa (Rosa Rugosa)* [Online][Accessed on 23rd January 2024]
https://www.gardenia.net/plant/rosa-rugosa-rugosa-rose

*Figure 6*: Rosa Rugosa (Source: GardeningKnowHow, 2022:online)
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/flowers/roses/growing-a-rugosa-rose-bush.htm

Lily

Interflora. (no date) *Lilies* [Online][Accessed on 23rd January 2024]
https://www.interflora.co.uk/page/flower-types/lilies

*Figure 7*: Lily Plant (Source: Almanac, 2024:online)
https://www.almanac.com/plant/lilies

Wax Begonia

UMassAmherst. (no date) *Identification Notes* [Online][Accessed on 23rd January 2024]
https://extension.umass.edu/plant-identification/wax-begonia

*Figure 8*: Wax Begonia (Source: Rainbow Gardens, no date:online)
https://plants.rainbowgardens.biz/12250005/Plant/17791/Wax_Begonia/

Rose

Liz Mcclenaghan. (2020) *Rose Symbolism, Colours and Meanings* Floraly. [Online][Accessed on 23rd January 2024]
https://www.floraly.com.au/blogs/news/rose-symbolism-colours-and-meanings

*Figure 9*: Rose (Source: Interflora, no date:online)
http://www.flowers.org.uk/flowers/flowers-names/q-t/rose/