Concept Art/Drawings

Concept art is a type drawing that is used in games, animation, films and comics. it is used to 'bring to life' designs such as characters , environments, and even the mood of the piece. concept art is important as it brings different styles and methods to designs which can effect the way they are used in the final product. For example , if there are several people working on one character, and they all draw them with a different 'feel' it could effect the way the character is used. . Concept art is also used to get a final feel for designs , and to make sure that there are not any problems which could arise further down the line.

Here are examples of concept art for The Hobbit from John Howe:

Moodboards

A mood board is a image made up of lots of different images. They help to create a specific style or vision of something which you are trying to create, for example you could have mood boards to help visualize specific colours, different styles of fonts, environments or layouts of different elements within your work. in animation they can be useful to help show the various styles and layouts of different story settings. i find them very useful when 3D modelling as they help me pick out different elements i like from others work and put them into my own.

Examples of my own mood boards:

Script and StoryBoard

The script is another vital part of pre-production. the script consists of what is going on on screen , actions and dialog.However with the script alone it is hard to visualize how each scene will play out. this is why the script can be turned into a series of storyboards.
Storyboards are essentially a series of images that are put together in a comic book style that help you visualize what is going on in each scene.storyboards can also help to understand how long each section will be and the animation as a whole. while creating my own animation plans, i find it easier if i have the script and the story board together, as the story board gives you a idea of the setting ,where the characters will be placed and what each scene will look like, and then you have the story script which goes into each scene in more depth.
Examples of scripts:

Examples of Story Boards:

Creating story ideas

Creating story ideas Creating initial story ideas is the first thing that should be done when creating a animation. The story idea will effect everything in the animation , from character designs, background music and the general animation style. you can create story ideas in many different ways. personally i find it easiest to use mind maps and brainstorms.













I would start with one very open idea, for example fairy tales, and break it down into many different sections and themes. there are many other ways to help create story ideas,such as peoples personal experiences , recreating stories from books, and using the 'What if?' method. There are normally several different people that work together to create the story, as you can see in this screenshot from the movie UP's credits: