THE MAKING OF

All progress is posted in chronological order 

from the most early work (Bottom of Page) to the most recent (Top of Page)

Character Rigs

 Our riggers have been hard at work throughout the past couple of months preparing the rigs for our two main characters Captain Beautiful and Renee. It is safe to say that progress has been great and the rigs are coming along extremely well.

Characters in Environment V2

 Since our previous attempt at coming up with the final look of the film, we have gotten tons of feedback from our mentor in order to help make our film look much more cinematic. After revising the lighting in the scene and applying all the feedback we received, we now have a much more solid test render.

Characters in Environment V1

 After making just a handful of new changes, we tried rendering the characters together with the environment. This helps to give us a better idea on how the final film could look like.

Refined 3D Environment Interior  

 Our 3D Environment Modeler has been hard at work further developing the look of the interior environment. Changes are made according to the team and mentors feedback. Some props and accessories were revised and added into the environment.

  

Skyline Matte Painting 

 A matte painting of the skyline is painted as a representation of the landscape in which our Laundry is situated. We hope to fully utilize matte paintings for those pesky shots that require us to show distant locations

 Exterior Colors

 Concept art for the exterior environment is produced and we play around with a number of color moods till we arrive at the perfect consistency. 

Final Character Color Schemes

After months of hardwork, sweat and blood, we now had the final look of our characters. We also compared our character colors with the color of our environment to have a better understanding of the final Mood for the whole film, Laundry Quandary. After receiving feedback from friends, family and mentors, we decided to go for a rather Warm character color scheme while leaving the Environment in a Cool color scheme so that the characters will be more prominent, pop up and not fade into the background.

3D Environment Lighting Test
After refining the story even further, we now experiment with different lighting for the environment. 

Environment Color Scheme Variations

We experiment with multiple color moods alternating between cool and warm colors on our environment and characters. This allowed us to able to get a better idea of the colors. Therefore, we later decided to go for a cool environment and warm characters so that the characters will stand out clearly.

Character Poses

The next step was to explore both Captain Beautiful and Renees poses. Sketches were made to depict clearly the poses each character would assume throughout the story.  

Test Render with Character in Environment
The 3D environment is further refined according to the most recent concepts. Test shaders are applied as the character is now placed into the scene for us to experiment with the lighting and effects

Character Costumes/Color Thumbs

We now had a rough idea of what sort of alternate costume we wanted to have for Captain Beautiful. With character designs almost at a finalized stage, it was now time to experiment with possible color moods for our characters that could fit best for our story. 

We played around with several warm and cool colors for the characters.

Interior/Exterior Color and Tone 
We then refined and improved our story, now having a clearer direction towards the final look and layout of the environment. Therefore, our Visual Development team came up with a more comprehensive and accurate representation of the Laundromat and its contents. The concept also served as a reference point for test shaders.

3D Character Expression Sheet 

Our 3D Modelers got down to business right away, creating the 3D bust for both characters and also producing test results from using Blend Shapes to create the 3D Character Expression Sheet.

 

3D Environment Interior/Exterior [Version 2]

After further discussion within the group and also receiving feedback from our mentors, we improve on the previous version of the rough 3D environment to produce an even more  refined and detailed version.

 

 

Character Alternate Costume Designs

Through further brainstorming and heated discussions, we refined and tweaked our story. We found that we required our main character, Captain Beautiful to also have an alternate costume. Our Character Artists once again went back to the drawing boards to produce several sketches for costumes that could possibly work best for the story..

3D Environment Interior/Exterior [Version 1]
Using the concept art as a point of reference, our 3D Environment Modeler gets cracking and comes up with a rough first model of our Environment. 

Character Facial Expression Sheet

One of the most important aspects when it comes to creating our characters is infact the Facial Expression Sheet. We tried to have each character crack a unique face for each expression and emotion depending on his/her personality and traits. This also served as a brilliant refrence point for our 3D Modelers to create test Blend Shapes for the 3D Character Expressions 

Characters Costume Color Variations

Numerous costume color variations were produced for both Captain Beautiful and Renee,

while trying to keep a clear contrast between both characters.

Lighting and Mood Environment Concept
The concepts that we picked earlier to be grayscaled were now colored in to better simulate the colors and mood of the environment. We decided that the setting and lighting should be during the daytime, sometime between the afternoon and evening time frame

 

Character Ortographic

Ortographics were drawn for both characters so that our 3D Modelers can get a better idea

 of the characters look as they begin work on the rough 3D Models.  

Final Design and Height for Characters
After receiving feedback from various mentors, we now have the rough look for both of Laundry Quandarys characters. A height reference sheet was then created 

Early Environment Exterior Concept Sketches 
We then came up with several sketches for the exterior of our Laundromat. We conducted heavy research through the internet to find reference material of old laundromats to help with the visualization process. 

Grayscale Environment Concept

After coming up with several more concepts, we picked out our top choices. We then digitally colored the sketches in grayscale. Overall, we wanted a bright and lively environment for our short film.

Early Character Concept Sketches for Renee
After a long discussion on the personality of our second character, Renee. Once the prominent traits of the character was established, our Character Concept Artist then came up with sketches for Renee. Various hairstyles and costumes were explored.

Environment Interior Concept Sketches 
 The team came together to discuss and come up with various designs for our most prominent environment, the Laundromat Interior, We carried out our research by visiting local Laundromats to get a better understanding of the environments layout and design. We also looked online for references of Laundromats from the 1950s-1960s as it was the era we were going for in our short film. We then proceeded to come up with rough sketches for the short films environment. We then compiled our top picks.

Early Character Concept Sketches for Captain Beautiful

 A brainstorming session was held for us to come up with various designs for our handsome and charming main character, Captain Beautiful. We tried to explore multiple possibilities when it comes to silhouettes, proportions and also costume choices. We then compiled our top picks.