Designing the Witch

I spent this weekend working on the design of the witch that appears in the climax of the film. She doesn't get a lot of screen time but she is the main villain of the film. The witch is controlling the circus from deep within. She is like the heart, the tent is the body, and the acrobats and performers are the blood. To show her connection with the circus, the curtain walls flow out from her dress and form the tent. I also wanted to bypass one of the biggest villain clichés, which is that the bad guy has to wear dark clothes. There is no black in her outfit because 1.) The tent is red and white so her clothes have to be red and white 2.) black accessories would be too predictable 3.) all the acrobats are wearing black so I don't want her to be confused for an acrobat. Her dress is broken up into sections to allow me a little bit of room to divide up the animation. If her head and shoulders are moving but her waist is stationary, I can get away with only animating from the belt up.

I was surprised how much thought I put into just her hair style. The desired criteria was that the style had to be flashy enough for the circus, simple enough to draw over and over again, and something that an old lady would do with her hair. I decided to go with my original design because it is composed of simple shapes and I found the vintage feathered headband to be a nice little detail.

Nippen the Cat

I am a lifelong lover of cats. I have had them my whole life and it would be insane of me not to weave my appreciation of cute kitties into this film somehow. Macey's cat, Nippen, is her friend and her delivery partner. When it's time to make a bread run, Nippen lets his wings out and they fly to their customers. He plays an important role in the film as a personification of instinct and good judgement as well as Macey's fuzzy little guardian.

Choosing a breed for Nippen was no sweat. I had a cat in mind that was big, powerful, sturdy, smart, loving, fluffy, friendly, and had an instinctual knack for the outdoors. It's the Maine Coon.

Nippen has to be a big and powerful enough of a cat to carry a little girl. I know, I know. Even the strongest house kitty on earth couldn't move a human child but use your imagination! It's a movie! I figured that the maine coon was the perfect design for Nippen because of their big muscular bodies, soft fluffy coats, and large expressive facial features. Also, Maine coons are one of the few breeds of the semi-long hair group that come in solid colors as well as patterns. I'm still not 100% positive on the color (I'm thinking white or cream) but I am sure that he'll be a solid colored cat with no markings or patches.

I didn't take the photos. I googled them.

More Macey Studies: Poses and Color

My first colored illustration of Macey. I might change the colors but I think that blonde hair just might be working for her. If anyone has any suggestions then leave a comment because I greatly appreciate the input.

Macey Figure Studies

I've been thinking a lot about the anatomical structure of my main character. One of the lessons I learned from my last film endeavor is that if you're going to be traditionally animating a character for an entire year then you better design something that you'll like drawing hundreds of times. For my last traditional film (which was sadly never finished) I designed two characters that were very human-shaped in terms of their anatomy and I paid the price for that one because so much extra effort had to be put into making their animation look good. But with the slightly more cartoony structure I've given Macey, I have a lot more freedom with her motion and expression.

Acrobat Studies and Inspirations

Cookin' up some character studies! It's one of my favorite parts of a project. Drawing those acrobat poses were really fun. Even though there are many acrobats in the film, I can't help but think of them all as the same character. I had a lot of fun doing these figure studies and I can't wait to animate this creature.

The acrobats in my film aren't exactly your typical circus performer. I guess if you cross a gymnast with the Shinigami from Death Note, you would get something like what I'm trying to make. Creepy, yes?

Acrobat from Bravo Parties

Ryuk from Death Note

The First Sketches and Concepts

I've chosen to do a film about a little girl that tries to run away to join the circus and the experience that she has with the choice she has made. I've began doing some concept sketches and rough storyboards. I still need to think up names for some characters and locations.

The First Sketch

The Main Character: Macey

Parent Concepts

"Nippen" Kitty Concepts

The Windmill

The Circus