Artist's Statement

My capstone project is “Main Sequence Star”, an animatic featuring my set of original characters known as The Cosmicals. The 3-minute animatic involves Stelle the Star doing a series of strange tasks to revive the ghost of her dead grandma. The animatic is done using Toonboom Storyboard Pro 20 (TOON BOOM ANIMATION INC 29). 

​

For those who don’t know, an animatic is a series of storyboards compiled into a video with audio and correct timing. Storyboards are a series of rough illustrations to pre-visualize any motion scenes, or in this case, an animated short. This is typically an important part of pre-production within the animation industry.

​

Central Question

By accident, I found myself exploring the question: “How possible is it for someone to continue a project they planned long ago?”

I explain this in more detail in the “Creative Experience” section.

 

Literature

I own a fantastic book called Cartoon Modern by Amid Amidi which goes over a lot of iconic 50s animation and how they used a lot of minimalistic, geometric, contemporary design techniques to tell their stories. I also took inspiration from golden age Spongebob because the Cosmicals character dynamics and overall goofiness is largely inspired by the content from Spongebob (Cohen). I constantly find myself going back to old Spongebob episodes to try to capture their atmosphere and how they execute humor.

 

With that mindset, Cosmicals is one of the few projects I’ve ever made that lets itself be stupid. I don't have to sit there and think, “Wait… this is too silly. This doesn't make sense.” It’s Cosmicals. It can be off the walls and I don't have to worry about it.

 

Methods

I’ve done animatics in the past but with this one, I wanted to revamp my process for making it. An aspect I made an effort to improve on is becoming more familiar with Storyboard Pro 20. After some research, I came across many helpful videos and guides about tips for the software from industry professionals. 

For instance, I was unaware of many of the advanced editing features that existed within the program that I could’ve used for my previous animatic. I remember there was so much tedious and unnecessary copying and pasting that I wasted a lot of time on. I also realized I can use built-in perspective guides within the software to maintain consistent perspective. With better knowledge of my tools, I can streamline my process.

 

Audience & Impact

The intended audience is always going to be myself because I will never make anything if I'm not obsessed with the final product. I talk about this more in the “Creative Experience” section. Naturally, the other people who would also like my project will have to be clones of myself. I think anyone who is fond of astronomy and cartoons will have a fun time.

​

References

“Toon Boom Storyboard Pro 7 Getting Started Guide.” TOON BOOM ANIMATION INC., 13 July 2020, https://docs.toonboom.com/download/storyboard-pro/20.0/backup/Storyboard_Pro_20_Getting_Started_Guide.pdf.

Official PDF documentation on how to use Storyboard Pro 7, the software I will be using. It goes through making a project, what all the tools do, troubleshooting, and how to export your project.

​

Cohen, Sherm. “Words and Pictures.” Cartoon SNAP!, 2008, cartoonsnap.blogspot.com/2008/09/how-to-draw-lively-poses-spongebob-tip.html.

A series of handouts featuring Sherm Cohen’s SpongeBob drawing tips were prepared for a class at Nickelodeon. It gives tips about posing, depth, silhouettes, line of action to help give your drawings more life and movement.

 

Acknowledgements

Thank you to my great friends Slick, Lyd, Michael, and Ian for supporting The Cosmicals! Kudos to Heather and Gabi for guidance on this project.