I created a frame-by-frame animation called ‘Forward’ as part of the ‘Motion Design’ course.
The story follows two small spirits who are summoned to a fantasy forest and must explore their new surroundings on their journey to find their summoner, the Inky Cap Witch. Along the way, they encounter a variety of creatures, both large and small.
I created the animation in Procreate at 12–14 fps, and my partner refined it in After Effects. The sound design was done in Reaper.
Luka Sandvoss & Elisabeth Schenk
SoSe 2022
In a fantasy forest, two small spirits are summoned and explore their new surroundings on the way to their summoner, the Inky Cap Witch. In the process, they encounter a wide variety of creatures, large and small.
The Spirits
The spirits are two flying little flames with completely different characters. Whereas one is serious and disapproves of fooling around, the other is playful and curious about every twig and stone.
These characteristics are evident not only through their behaviour, but also through their colour palette: the blue spirit is serious, while the pink spirit is childish.
For their animations, I first studied how flames behave and move, and how they can be animated. I then created a reference sheet to help me work more efficiently.
The emotions and expressions are mostly conveyed through the spirit’s eyes; you can see examples here.
Styling
We wanted a mystical, inviting and colourful world with a simple, watercolour style that would be fitting for a children’s book.
First, I sketched the environments, then I added base colours, and finally I added shadows and lights to create depth.
These environments are static, while the animals and spirits are animated on top. For scenes where the background needs to be animated, I adapted it accordingly, using different layers for the foreground and background, or elongating the background.
Animals
In addition to the spirits, I practised animating different kinds of animals, such as hummingbirds, butterflies and deer. The spirits encountered a mushroom that needed to be animated, too.
