One of the things I wanted to learn most at ITP is the skill of designing assets. I believe animation is completely dependent on the aesthetic and if the assets are weak so too will be the film. Neither Nicole or I are particularly adept fine artists so we needed to find another way to make our assets beautiful. The irony of the story is contingent on the look being either super childlike or traditionally appealing. It gives a stronger set up for the pay off. As a huge fan of Van Gogh, we found a way to build visuals that would work for us.

Some of our assets are drawings while others are photographs and still others are more computer designed type images so we needed to turn them into an even aesthetic. The above image is the backdrop for our under the sea world. This was based on a computer-designed image before we added effects to give it what I like to called “the Van Gogh Effect”.

The fish above was originally derived from a photography, but with a bit of Van Gogh, he seamlessly fits in with the rest of the aesthetic. For now, I am going to keep the image of our heroine secret, but she will also match the rest visually-speaking. And now that we figured out our assets, the fun of animating them will take up the next week.