These images are taken from the Altan Urag website, they are a Mongolian rock folk band that use animation and footage of Mongolia for their videos.
I have been in contact with them and they have said that we can use their music in our film if we create a music video for them in the future. This was initally met with applause from our director but now he has decided he does not want to use their music.
This is quite a cool logo and could be inspiration to Dean for the title sequences and using the Mongolian style of art or writing.
Inside of the Yurt incase we have the Mongolian coming out of his and we see the inside of it:
Beautiful landscape, especially the colours of the mountains in the backgrounds
I found the above image looking through my photographs and thought he looked good inspiration for the Marmot as he looks cheeky, and has a large head and bid eyes to make him endearing to the audience. He is cute but you can tell he could be mischievous.
Just a few reference images for Marmots so everyone knows what they are.
I found this doorstop and thought his roundish shape may help for the design of the marmot, especially his leg positioning and where his weight is held
The body is really round so this would probably be slimlined for the Marmot.
Although it is quite cute. I am going to use this as reference for my concept art or poses. For example this could be good for the Mongolian looking down into his cute eyes...
This morning I have also watch the Tale of Despereaux, and really liked his design. I think if we removed his big ears, his face would be worth trying to emulate in some form, mainly because of his big eyes.
The big eyes and nose are essential to our Marmot, and these images show the expressions that Despereaux shows. The realistic looking eyes with large irises(?) work well with the character so I will look into that aswell.
Evidently he will have a different shaped jaw however, probably being more rounded or square to make it more prominent, and also no whiskers.
I know we have plenty of videos, but I couldn't resist... I am starting to think that maybe the arms could be a bit bigger with the Marmot though, or the tail definitely should be.
This one is good showing the Marmot infront of the background environment, kind of like on the cliff at the end of our film
Also this video shows one moving, and how important the tail will be to the animation. I think we need to make it really big so that it can 'flap' around like this.
Hey guys I just downloaded this from Creative Crash, I am going to practice on it for animation for the Marmot. David I don't know if this helps you for the shape of the Marmot as the body is kind of similar and he is on two legs.
Let me know if this is the kind of thing you want me to use for modelling the Marmot. If anyone else wants hi I just searched for 'rabbit' on the site, he is free and seems quite good with the controllers.
I just found this video of a Marmot walk cycle, this person has used four legs instead of two what do you reckon?
I also quickly just did this little walk on the Rabbit rig, I am going to try and make it faster but I liked having more of a hop or bounce to his walk as it makes him look more cartoony. I will test it faster tomorrow to see if it will look like too much movement on a run as this will not come across well in the animation.
I wanted to look back at my animation books for reference of how to create a run and walk cycle. I have been looking in The Illusion of Life, The Animator’s Survival Guide and Timing for Animation mostly as they are the clearest about the positions. I realise that these images are for traditional animation and that in Maya it is necessary to not make the poses as extreme as they will either break the rig or not look natural and this will ruin the suspension of disbelief in the characters.
f fffSome working out of a walk cycle, with the rotation of the hips and the up and down action: Trying to make the walks more cartoony - maybe make the Marmot lean forward and the Mongol lean back?
I don't know if we have all seen this film but I think the opening to it is awesome! The background and colours especially create the moods straight away without being detailed. I don't know if this is the kind of look we want or a softer one, but it does look cool anyway.
This video shows an animal that normally walks on four legs animated in two, I think we should definitely go with this for the Marmot :)
I watched this for the first time yesterday and think Toothless would be great research for the modelling of the Marmot with his really large eyes as they as so well animated! Also the way he sits down could be used as reference for Marmot movement. He is really cute but has this dark side and I think the Marmot should be that way too :)
It won't let me embed the video, but I think the camera work is awesome in this sequence.
he is merely walking to the side but the camera cuts are sharp and zoom into the key features. We could try something like that when we have a long side shot of the two running, if they jump over something or if the Marmot looks behind him to make it more dramatic.
The Mongolian is in his late twenties/early thirties, and is quite a loner and enjoys living a tranquil life by himself in his own tent. He likes to move around and explore the freedom of Mongolia with its beautiful scenery, and has rested in an idyllic spot near a ruin and natural woodland and hills.
However, being nomadic he is also rather poor and cannot afford any cattle to move around with him, so any food he has is greatly appreciated as it is scarce. He is very overprotective of it and will protect it to the death. Being antisocial has also made him rather aggressive and prone to attacking anything that comes near his food.
His poverty and lack of food has impacted his size, making him somewhat anorexic looking. This impacts his fitness levels making him look somewhat gangly when he runs and gives him a lack of stamina, aggravating him even more when chasing after his prey.
Marmot:
Wild to the medieval planes of Mongolia, this Marmot is always on the look out for any meal it can find. He is cheeky, often managing to sneak right in front of humans and steal their food before making a break for it and devouring the meal. He must be cunning in order to survive in these harsh conditions so he does not become prey to both humans and other Mongolian creatures. Can often be found hiding waiting for the opportune moment to strike. He is fast moving despite having a relatively round body, using it to his advantage to propel himself forward (learned from a lot of practice of running away).
Inside of the Yurt incase we have the Mongolian coming out of his and we see the inside of it:
