Introduction
For my Zenith I wanted to create something combining my favorite parts of 2D and 3D Animation. I really enjoyed the mobility of a 3D background, the way you only need to make the set once and then you can capture it from any angle. But I also really missed drawing things in 2D, so I decided to make a 2D character, animated over shots of a 3D background. This was partially inspired by works like Arcane which also composite 2D and 3D.
Once I had decided the medium of my Zenith, I began thinking about what setting I wanted to model, and what story would take place there. I bounced around a few ideas, a pirate ship, a medieval castle before settling on a forrest with a castle in the trees.
I was specifically inspired by the California redwoods. They are huge and beautiful, and I have one in my own backyard.
I wanted this project to combine all of the things I’ve learned in the last two years. 3D and 2D modeling were part of that for sure, but I think I also learned how to apreciate nature more as well. I hope that this project make the audience feel something, and maybe just expand their minds a little.
Concept art
Process
Maya
If you’ve ever tried 3D modeling before, you might have struggled with getting started… I know I certainly did. Luckily, I have some tips for you:
First really clarify your vision: look up references (no shame in directly modeling from references BTW, it’s great practice), make multiple drawings from multiple angles, make a floor plan if you can!
To make something that looks really detailed, make use of repeated elements: I think repetition is one of “elements of design” or “principles of art” so repeating a shape unifies your design. You can use ctrl D to repeat the transformations you’ve done upon an object, as well as the object itself.
You can see how I used this arch to create little modular terraces, and then stuck copies of that same terrace all around the tree.
Here is a shot of my model when I had finished the first step in Maya. Surprisingly, It came pretty close to my vision, if you compare it to the marker drawn concept art above. I decided the buildings looked good as is, but the trees were looking like stiff unnatural poles, which leads us to the next step.
Z-Brush
This is something you’re gonna learn in animation next year: Z-Brush. Basically, Z-Brush is more detailed sculpting. I only Z-Brushed the trees, to make them look more natural.
Back to Maya
Here I made a breakdown of my Maya background. Around the outside you see this big hexagon thing, that was a cool thing I learned how to do from a youtube tutorial, basically you take a flat panoramic photo (or drawing) and put it on a big cylinder to serve as a background for your scene. Then there are the trees with the buildings on them. Some big spotlight on the top for lighting. Then I added some planes with a leaf texture between the trees as a quick and dirty way to add the feeling of being in a dense forest.
Here I set up cameras, to get all the shots I wanted.
Photoshop
On the right you can see my simple character design for my little ghost girl, on the left you can see the animation test walking across the scree. I animated in a weird way, blocking in colors first and then drawing lines over top. Typically animators start with lines and then color them in, but I find starting out the animation with lines confusing, so I decided to do it the other way around. I don’t know if this saved me any time, but it definitely made for a unique style. I was pretty inspired by this game called Ori in the Blind forest, but I’ve mostly just been told that it looks like a Ted Ed video which I choose to take as a compliment.
Now you can see how I took the playblasts into photoshop, and hand animated my character over them.