For the animation I started to flesh out character designs! I’m excited about these characters but I’ve been having a rough time formulating concrete designs. I’m still a little torn in what kind of style I want to follow through with, but so far the designs above are my ideal ones. In the image above, I laid out colors, and tried to figure out how I could tie these three family members together in terms of genetics, similarities in hairstyles/postures, and style.
Linnéa (Linnie’s) character design is straight from the 1970s, since this is the time period she is presented in, in the animation. I designed her with basic bell bottoms, loafers and a striped turtleneck, sporting Farrah Fawcett hair. Linnie’s character design presents her as bright and spunky, one may assume she is into fashion, rock music and more casual activities. In reality, her personality reflects obscure interests and hobbies such as playing competitive board games, working on computer codes/inventions, and having an obsession with ever evolving technologies. She is what one would describe to be a bookwork and a nerd.
Jean is Linnie’s daughter. Throughout the animation, you see Jane evolve into her own person. Growing up, Jane was very much into sports and had a more tomboyish lifestyle, and preferred rough housing and exploring. Jean is presented as the ordinary, middle character in the story. Jean is a more quiet and reserved individual compared to her mother and her daughter Brigitte. She is also known to have problems handling her emotions, keeping them bottled up most of the time.
Brigitte is Jean’s daughter, and Linnie’s granddaughter. Brigitte, or “Bee,” has a more fluid lifestyle. She loves to wear overalls and her father’s baseball caps, and sometimes puts on the occasional bow in her hair. She is into nature, and is very enveloped in her own curiosities. Brigitte is always inventing imaginary friends, and is always up for adventure. Brigitte explores her emotions in this animation as a five year old, and learns about the feeling of longing and nostalgia through her explorations on her grandmothers’ computer.
After finishing up with the drafts of my characters and their designs, I began to work on background structure for certain scenes. I began to flesh out a couple of backgrounds, two that I started to specifically focus on, are ones that will remain important and reflective scenes in the whole animation.
