Where I project all my anxiety into Caupair and then beat it out of him with the power of animation
This particular animatic has been a few months in the making; it was briefly put on hold so that I could speedrun Dangerous, but I came back to it after because I just couldn’t bring myself to let it rot in my drafts folder forever. So here we are, some time further down the line; it’s finished at last. (Props to anyone who can spot the several-month gap where I worked on Dangerous in between, I feel like my art style jumped quite a bit but it might not be as noticeable as I fear it to be.)
I have a few notes on this one I’d like to share, if you have a minute (or three) to spare. If not, you’re welcome to scroll down to the video itself– or just click here. But for those willing to bear with me, let me take you on a little trip behind the scenes.
First of all, I want to talk about storytelling and theme. The idea behind this one was simple; to visualize the struggles against mental issues of Caupair, one of my characters from Rust & Revolutionaries. From time to time, his programming overloads and he loses control of himself completely; a timid librarian briefly becomes a ruthless war machine. He sets out to search his library for any information regarding his own robot-model, but finds nothing that can explain his predicament. Then, when all hope seems lost, he encounters another one of his kind– Cooper– who perhaps can provide the much sought-after information he needs. They make a deal, and there our story ends, for the time being.
While the exact details of the setting and scenes aren’t strictly canon (like I said, I started this project a long time ago), the sentiment still holds true. Caupair’s problems are abstract, but to make things ✨interesting✨ I gave it a physical form. It had to be shadowy, crooked and ominous, and so shadow!Caupair was born. It’s… well basically just Caupair’s silhouette except with sharper claws and using the glasses’ glare to emote. Next step: find a way to demonstrate when Caupair isn’t in control. I went for sparkle-shaped irises; subtle, but it gives an edge to any expression that seems nice and manic. Bonus points for being able to reintroduce it when Cooper shows up.
Then next, technical focus of the project; I wanted to use this project to try and experiment with more dynamic camera angles in my storyboards/animatics. I tend to deviate towards primarily front-facing half-body shots, so this time I paid extra attention to mixing things up– doing some extreme closeups, side angles, and continuous camera shots rotating around characters like the shot right after Caupair falls into the shadow realm. I messed up the 180 rule in the sketch here and there, most of which I cleaned up, although some shots felt too odd to flip. (Note to self: pay more attention to that while sketching next time). On top of that, I wanted to mess with light and shadow and try some different styles with that, as you can see throughout the animatic (contrast the moonlight at the start of the animatic with the rising run at 1:27, for example).
Overall I’m very happy with how it turned out; sure, it’s not perfect, and the storytelling isn’t entirely clear to those unfamiliar with the characters, but that’s something to continue working on as I go. For a passion project, it serves its function; expresses my passion xD. I hope you enjoy watching it as much as I enjoy having it done so I can go on to the next project on the list ;). But that’s enough chatting; enjoy the final video!
Software: Procreate Dreams
Character: Caupair from Rust & Revolutionaries
Song: Midnight Thoughts