Animation Reference:

We are doing animation reference for Stick-Man Studio, having fun.

Finally some animation.

We have finally managed to create some proper assets and one of the characters for the series. I have also started doing some animation references to test the rigging on the character.

Office Cubicle (first rendition):

Office Kitchen:

Animation Test:

Character Bios:

Here are some character bios. Some of them are a bit thin so far, but the will be fleshed out as the pre-production work goes on.

The Producer:

Bio: He is the producer of a medium sized animation studio. He is the planer and organizer of the company and takes it upon himself to keep the employees in check and make sure that they do their work. He sees himself as calm and laid back person, but when put under stress, like when they are approaching a deadline he tends to be the one to panic the most. His default state is very balanced. His power center is in his gut and he has a normal=>low energy level. 

The Art Director:

Bio: He is the leader of the studios art department. He is the artist of the group and is known as a bit of an eccentric. He is a perfectionist and is very stubborn. He has a tendency to overdo things and if he feels like he has a good idea he will go with that without consulting his superiors, leading to a lot of friction between him and the producer. The art director's default is slightly of balance. His power center is around his chest and his energy level is normally quite high, but drops considerably when he is concentrating on something.

 

 

The New Guy:

Bio: He is a new employee to the company. He has no former knowledge of animation and/or IT and has lied about his abilities to get the job. He is a very physical person and he gets frustrated easily, leading to a lot of broken equipment. He has a centered power center and his energy is usually low, but it rises up if he gets provoked. 

  

   

Asset creation and texture test:

I have started putting together some assets for our scene. We are going for a two-dimensional look all though we are creating three-dimensional models. We are currently testing one way of doing this by creating 2D textures on planes and putting them together like building blocks. Tore started of by making the textures and a plan of attack.

After Tore had given me the instructions I started putting his textures into 3D Studio Max and started putting the object together. This is how it looked as a 3D object.

I think that the style used here will work well with the style of the rest of the project, but we will need to test them together with the characters when they are textured to see if it clashes.

Character Design

Soon is here..

Hello to you all, my name is Tore A. Thoresen.
I am Håkons colleague, and we work together on several projects.
One of them is the Stick-Man series.

I am here to present for you some of the character designs we have come up with.
Håkon will tell you more about the concept and narrative for the series.

This is the concept drawings for the three main characters in the series.

All of them with pretty stereotypical characteristics, often found in an office/work environment.

This is the first character 3D model made in 3Ds Max.

I've been running lots of tests to figure out what techniques to use to get the desired look.

To preserve the drawn style, I have used a mix of different texturing tools;
The flat, shaded surface is camera-projected onto the mesh, while the contours are either Ink'nPaint-textures or hand drawn.
This is not the final texture-work, but I think it nicely indicates how the final product will turn out.


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We love feedback : )

Stick-Man Studios:

Hello my name is Hakon  Sorensen and I am an animator and 3D-designer. I am creating this blog to talk about the production of an animated web series that me and some of my colleagues are working on. We have already created a lot of the pre-production assets and will be posting about that work soon.