Pika & The Peacock

Pika & The Peacock

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Full storyboard above

the assignment

Create a five second animation based off the style of an early animator.

the process

Early animator inspiration: Chuck Jones

Style: Traditional animation/Looney Tunes

Observations of the brand: Minimalism, extreme responses, careful timing, unharmful violence, repeated gags, anticipation, speed and action, and character overpowering need that it fails to get. These concepts are recreated in the storyboard on the right.

Designing Characters:  Pika the cat is created using round spheres to give off a lovable personality to get audiences to connect with the character. The Peacock, on the other hand, has some roundness but not as much as the cat.

Plot: Pika is walking through the forest when his stomach gives a rumble. His hunger makes him notice the peacock’s buffet and in particular a chicken leg. However, the peacock wants all the food for itself, so Pika tries several outlandish ways to get food.

Storyboard: Before animating the storyboard is vital to test ideas, understand what motion the characters will do, and compose the composition of the scene. The full and final storyboard is on the right.

Animate: During Chuck Jones’ time, animations were created by drawing each and every frame. 12 frames equal one second and the drawing changes slightly on every fame. Here I drew the picture by hand, scanned it into the computer, colored it in Photoshop, and put it in a sequence in After Effects.

the challenge

There was one month to create a two minute short using traditional animation techniques. It was impossible. I’m lucky I got six seconds (120 drawings) completed. However, the animation is smooth, which was also a challenge as I could only flip through the drawings to gauge if there was enough change in the drawings to make them smooth. I’m proud that I stayed true to the brand, was able to plan how it would look if completed, and managed to get this far with the animation in the time given.

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