The Lifting Tower Brief: Concept Art and Submitted Ideas

Design Board of Concept Art

In order to start designing for this idea, we compiled a list of structures and landmarks that we thought represented Leeds well; Trinity Horse, Owls, Barrel Man, Town Hall, Hyde Park, the Market, Corn Exchange. I selected five and I tried to keep the drawings relatively simple and not involve too much/any shading, as ribbons or playful lines were going to be making up the shape of the object or building. I kept these relatively consistent, but gave the ribbon more detail so that it would contrast with the rest of the drawings/animation. I thought this would help wrap up the animation (pardon the pun, if you will). 

Once I had completed the concepts for the first idea, we were able to sit down as a group and thumbnail the storyboards for each of the ideas. From here, Katy put together the final storyboards and Emma was able to pair these with our concept work to present on art boards.

Final Art Boards

I'm really pleased with how smoothly this process has gone, at it's been a nice way to get back into the swing of working, especially as part of a team. Now we've submitted, it's just a matter of waiting for the results. 

A New Year: Taking on a Live Brief

To get us back into the swing of working, we've been provided with a live brief to participate in. The brief requires us to come up with and present three ideas for a one minute animation that will be projected onto the Lifting Tower. As I have never worked with projections before, and because the deadline for the initial ideas is the 7th October, I thought it would be best to collaborate with other animators. Myself, Emma, Katy and James have formed a group and we have begun working on ideas to fit the brief, and since meeting up we have 'dished out' roles.

The three main ideas we have come up with are:

- Ribbons/Lines that build up into iconic structures/landmarks that represent Leeds.

- An orb/trail of light that weaves in and out of trees in a forest, lighting it up as it flies through.

- Focusing on the German Market. A camera pans through a scene to show close ups of 'the essence of the market', for instance, beer and mulled wine, pretzels, hand made toys and wooden soldiers.

Discussion of Ideas

I have been assigned to focus on our first idea. I am going to sketch up concept art and initial thumbnails for potential shots, which I shall pass over to Katy who is in charge of storyboarding.