The adventure of a little stray cat in a big future world!
This was made during the 24 Hour Animation Challenge '22. We won 46th out of 300 teams despite it being Purdue's first year!
This was made in 24 hours by 5 students from Purdue University:
Hayley Pike........lead character designer and lead cleanup
Paige Kuper........rough animator and cleanupLiam Miller........lead backgrounds artist
Mickenzie Randle........storyboarder, cleanup, and asset artist
I, Andy Sliwa........lead storyboarder and rough animator.
CONCEPTUALIZING
Our theme was "imagine the world 100 years in the future". We had a lot of different ideas, but eventually decided we wanted something light hearted and sweet. We discovered a common interest between us all: we loved cats. And so, we did our animation on a little cat!
Here are the thumbs I did:
We all contributed to the storyline. While we all talked, however, I sketched out quick thumbs on paper and would show everyone for approval. Once everyone liked what I did, I ran to my desk to digitalize it and add more details.
After I finished the thumbs, I worked on the color script. Here was my process:
We want pastel/muted colors. We want this to be a "feel good" short, so I tried out a warm color palette.
Instead of yellow, what if we leaned into the "blue", machine environment people imagine for futuristic settings?
Eventually, we agreed on this palette:
I drew the color scripting keeping in mind the influence of colors on emotions. Trashcan goes from a neutral state in a muted background, to a hopeful state when seeing a bright, happy sign. Once disappointment comes and things seem their lowest, it turns dark. When Dumpster (the robot) appears, the light illuminates Trashcan, signifying something good upcoming.
I also assisted the character designer in coloring our subjects. Final is seen below.
Trashcan - Drawn by Hayley Pike
Dumpster - Drawn by Hayley Pike
ROUGH ANIMATIONS
CLEAN UP
I rough, cleaned, and colored this! I also colored half the shots in Trashcan.
THANK YOU
