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Advanced Animation - 2026 Capstone Progress
GAA 4020 | Blog Post 1 | 9/14/26
Week 1:
I came up with three potential capstone projects. Project 1 was an animated short project I started last semester, however I wasn't sure if I still wanted to continue it. Project 2 was more of a lighthearted idea with a slightly different art style than I've used before. Project 3 was more in line with my first project, but would possibly be a bit too big of a project for a capstone.
In the end I decided to go with Project 2, the monster speed dating short.
Week 2:
This week, I began to research concept art and gather references for my project. I also used this time to finalize the scope of my project and plan out my weekly calendar for this project.
Week 3:
This week, I planned out my main character for the short, going through the full character design process with silhouettes, alternate designs, and combining elements until I got to a design I loved.
I decided to go with the first design from these final three. Once I solidified this design, I drew the front and back view in the style I wanted for my final capstone animation.
Once I got the design finalized, I decided to break down the basic story beats of my animation to prepare for writing the full script later on, and to give me an idea of how many character designs and backgrounds I'd need in total.
GAA 4020 | Blog Post 2 | 10/12/26
Week 4:
This week, I began collecting references and inspiration for my backgrounds. Once I was happy with the general vibe of each, I began sketching out some rough thumbnails of how I would like each scene set up. Below, I have inspiration and sketches for two of the three backgrounds I'll need in total.
Week 5:
For week 5, I focused in one the rest of the characters for my short film. I decided I wanted 5 monster characters for my main character to interact with during the speed dating montage.
I started with collecting references and inspiration for each new character, as well as jotting down some notes on how I wanted each character to act, and the archetype I wanted them to portray.
I then moved on to some rough sketches, planning out what I wanted the characters to actually look like.
Finally, I began finalizing the designs! So far I have two out of five complete, each needed a few little adjustments before I'm happy with moving on.
Week 6:
I got the first draft of my script complete! It still needs to go through a few rounds of editing and peer review, but it has the general story beats I'm looking for.
Week 7:
This week was our first round of critiques! I got a few small notes on my monster character designs, mainly the shirt of the slime guy looking too much like skin, and the details on the flame guy possibly being difficult to animate. I decided I would simplify the flames and recolor the slime guy's shirt to help with this. I was also asked what program I'd be animating in, which I'm not sure about yet, so that something I'll have to begin researching soon.
