©©©Mid-February Report
This February I have been working on some watercolour
studies for my upcoming project on water health in South East Queensland Rivers.
In my last project I made an animated film set in Fiji which
included close to 30 watercolour backgrounds. These watercolour images provided
me with a great opportunity to improve my technique and experiment with new
ideas. However, due to my constant improvement and experimentation I did notice
that many of these backgrounds were quite inconsistent. As such I am focusing
on documenting my process for this second project in the hope that I can work
out some kind of formula to keep these backgrounds in check.
My thoughts on backgrounds in animation
Backgrounds can play many roles in animation but most
notably their function is world building and creating an environment which
feels immersive and believable. As such, it is important that there is nothing
in the backgrounds which could potentially compromise this. Inconsistencies are
very dangerous and when something unintentionally stands out it removes you
from the illusion and you are no longer partaking in the stakes of that world.
Water Colour Study 1
For my first study I used an image of the Lockyer Valley, home to the Lockyer Creek which is one of the water basins that feeds into the Brisbane river. I thought it would be interesting to see how much clearer the water was further away from the city and whether or not there was a greater density of surrounding vegetation. In the photo reference I used, it looks like one of the sides of the embankment has collapsed in the past. This would be good to look into later on as I try to depict erosion in my film.
Technique wise; I started with a mechanical pencil sketch and began colouring the image with aquarelle pencils. A light wash was done, brushing the paper which had been shaded with a sandy coloured pencil. Progressively more colours were added each time to build up the depth and definition of the scene. Because pencils were the only medium used in this image it has a very light and overexposed appearance, not unlike the photo reference used.
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